The town of Maple Hill never changed. The same red-brick library stood across from the post office, and the air still smelled of pine, wet leaves, and something faintly sweet Ellie could never name. Maybe that was memory playing tricks. Maybe it was guilt.
Ellie Carter sat in her rented hatchback outside the Carter family home, a two-story Victorian with peeling shutters and a porch swing that creaked even without wind. She hadn't been back in nine years, not since the accident. Not since her life turned into a podcast episode waiting to happen.
She stepped out into the crisp autumn air, her boots crunching against scattered leaves. Her mother was waiting inside, but Ellie hesitated, her eyes drifting to the house next door. Miss Whitaker's house.
Except Miss Whitaker wasn't there anymore.
She had vanished three days ago. No break-in. No struggle. Her wallet and keys still on the kitchen table. The only clue was a handwritten note found inside a diary no one had ever seen before:
> "The past has roots deeper than the maple trees."
The police called it a disappearance. The townspeople called it strange. But Ellie felt it in her bones—the way the wind stilled when she read that note, how her name had been written on the inside cover of that diary.
She hadn't spoken to Miss Whitaker in years. So why had the woman written her name?
Inside the house, her mother was asleep in the recliner, wrapped in a faded quilt. Ellie tiptoed past her, heart pounding with something like fear, something like anticipation. She went upstairs to her old bedroom and opened her laptop. The power light glowed like an old friend.
She hadn't recorded anything in over a year. But her fingers hovered over the keyboard as instinct took over.
Episode 1: The Maple Hill Disappearance
She typed the title, hit save, and looked out the window at the trees blazing with color. They were beautiful. They were hiding something.