The Forest in Appalachia Remembered Her Face and Followed Her Home

The Forgotten Town

Harper traced a map Mike had marked years ago, back when they used to hike the old trails. One dot stood out: Pine Hollow, a name she’d never heard him mention. She drove out anyway. GPS didn’t register it, and the road got narrower as the trees swallowed the sun.

Then she saw the sign: Welcome to Pine Hollow—faded and bullet-riddled. But there were no homes, no stores: just crumbling foundations, chimneys with no roofs. Harper saw a woman on a porch that stayed whole amidst the weather-beaten carnage. She just sat and stared. When Harper looked again, the porch was empty. But the rocking chair was swaying.

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