LOGINShare
The Home That Calls You Back
Last Updated:
2025-07-17 11:34:08Chapter 3: The Home That Calls You Back
The next time Atlas sees Nova, she’s not at the graveyard. She’s sitting on the church steps, notebook closed for once, her eyes watching nothing in particular. He almost walks past her, but something in her posture—the way her shoulders are set like she’s waiting for a storm—makes him stop.
"You avoiding the graves today?" he asks.
Nova looks up, her mouth curving into half a smile. "Even ghosts need new scenery."
He sits a step below her, knees pulled up, chin resting on them. For a moment, neither says anything. The air is heavy, the way it always feels before a rain.
"I asked my dad," Atlas says quietly. "About why it’s just here. Black Salt. He didn’t have answers. Just warnings."
"He’s not wrong to warn you," Nova replies. "People don’t want to know why. They just want to survive."
"But you know something," Atlas presses. "Don’t you?"
Nova’s eyes flick to his, then back to the horizon. "I know a story. I don’t know if it’s true."
"Tell me."
She sighs, stretching her legs out. "My mom told me when I was little. She grew up here, remember? Said the land remembers every wound it’s ever been given."
"What does that mean?"
"A long time ago, before settlers came, this place was sacred to the people who lived here. A resting place. Not just for bodies, but for spirits. A balance between life and death. But then settlers came, greedy and desperate. They built over it. Burned it. Buried the bones deeper, like that could erase them."
Atlas listens, the wind tugging gently at his hair.
"My mom said the land cursed them for it. Not like magic spells or witches. More like... grief made flesh. Heartbreak embedded into the soil. And it started pulling at the hearts of everyone who stayed. Every time someone loved too deeply, the land pulled that love down. Turned it to rot. Made sure no one could build a life on top of the dead."
Atlas swallows, the story settling heavy in his gut. "But why just people from here? Why doesn’t it affect outsiders?"
Nova glances at him, expression sober. "Because you have to belong to Black Salt for it to claim you. It’s like the land knows your bones. If your family roots touch this dirt, it marks you."
Atlas thinks of his mother, his father, himself. Roots deep and tangled.
"So it’s blood."
"Blood, bones, memory. Doesn’t matter how far you run, the land remembers."
Atlas stares at his hands, flexes them like he could feel the soil just under his skin.
"Then why come back?" he asks. "Why would your mom bring you here knowing that?"
Nova's smile is small and sad. "Because the land calls you back. You ever feel like this place is a voice in your head, whispering? Telling you that no matter where you go, you belong here?"
He wants to deny it, but he can’t.
"She thought maybe if we faced it, if we lived with it, it wouldn’t touch me. Like respect could undo the curse."
"And?"
Nova looks down at her palms, pale and scarred. "And I don’t think it works that way."
Atlas sits with that, the wind finally carrying the scent of coming rain.
"What if we find a way to break it?" he asks.
Nova laughs, soft and humorless. "You wouldn’t be the first to try."
"But maybe the first to survive."
Their eyes meet, and for the first time, Atlas sees a flicker of something in her gaze—not fear, but hope, buried deep.
The sky splits with a distant roll of thunder.
Somewhere beneath their feet, the earth remembers.
Latest chapter
To the Bone Healing in the Stillness
Chapter 144: Healing in the StillnessThe morning came quietly, a soft haze of golden light stretching across the estate grounds. Dew sparkled on the grass, the world briefly hushed by the kind of peaceful silence that only came after a storm—the kind that whispered of new beginnings.Lilly woke wrapped in Link’s arms, her cheek pressed to his chest, listening to the slow and steady rhythm of his heartbeat. It grounded her, calmed the ache that lingered like a shadow after seeing Grant the day before.She shifted slightly, her fingers tracing slow circles over his bare skin. He stirred but didn’t wake, only pulling her closer, his breath warm against her hair.She smiled softly. For the first time in days, maybe weeks, there was no fear pressing behind her ribs. Only the stillness. The comfort.Sliding out from under the quilt, she padded to the window, tugging open the curtains to let in the light. Outside, the forest stretched toward the horizon, the tops of the trees gilded with ea
To the Bone What the Dreams Mean
Chapter 14: What the Dreams MeanMonday morning broke with a thick pink fog curled low over the streets of Black Salt, like something had clawed its way outta the earth and didn’t much care about bein' seen. It wrapped around the cracked sidewalks, clung to front porches, and smothered the school yard like breath from somethin' sleepin' too close. You could taste it—like copper and river mud.Wren stood outside the school doors, arms folded tight over her chest, chin buried in her scarf. "That fog ain’t right," she muttered.Nova stepped up beside her, rubbing her hands together. "Neither are the dreams."The others trickled in, faces drawn, silent. Milo barely glanced up from his boots, and Luce looked like she hadn’t slept at all—dark half-moons under her eyes, twitchy fingers tugging at her sleeves. Atlas hung back, as always, but his stare was fixed on the treeline, like he expected it to blink.Inside, the school was louder than usual, but not in the normal way. It buzzed. Whispe
To the Bone The Marked
Chapter 13: The MarkedBy Sunday, Wren had stopped looking in mirrors.Her reflection felt off. Like it lagged a half-second behind. Like her eyes knew something her mouth couldn’t say. She scrubbed at the corners of them until they turned raw, but the wrongness stayed.Back at school, things hadn’t returned to normal. Not really. Sophie’s name stayed unspoken, but her absence echoed in every empty glance, every quiet shiver. Ezra hadn’t come back either, and the longer he stayed gone, the more people started whispering.It wasn’t just grief.It was fear.They met in the Bone House after the sun dipped low, each of them carrying the weight of what they’d seen."I can feel it," Nova said first, wrapping her arms tight around herself. "Since the tree. Like... like somethin' inside me knows I stepped somewhere sacred and didn’t bow."Luce looked up from the candle she’d lit. "Same here. Got these dreams now. Hollow places and roots reachin'. Every time I wake up, I swear I can smell dirt
To the Bone The Shadowline
The ShadowlineBy Friday, the town had already twisted Sophie into something else. Something easier to forget. Her name wasn't mentioned out loud, not in the halls, not in the diner, not even during the long, sagging sermons on Sunday. There was no funeral. There never was. Black Salt didn’t bury what it couldn’t explain.But the Bone House held her.Wren had stayed up late the night before carving Sophie’s name into the beam above the back wall. Luce had brought flowers from her mama's dying garden—dry, brittle lavender that still clung to a scent. Nova pinned a crumpled note with Sophie’s favorite book quote, scrawled from memory: "There is no beauty without something to break your heart."They sat in silence for a while, cross-legged on the dusty wooden floor, the thick hush of the woods pressing in around them. It was the only place that didn’t lie."You notice anything strange about Ezra today?" Milo asked, breaking the quiet."He ain't comin' to school no more," Wren replied. "P
To the Bone The Spaces We Keep
The Spaces We KeepThe next morning, no one mentioned Sophie.At school, the halls buzzed with low conversation, but her name wasn’t in it. Teachers called roll as if her absence was normal. The seat she used to fill in homeroom stayed empty, a vacancy no one acknowledged. In Black Salt, people learned to forget the moment forgetting became easier than remembering.But Atlas couldn’t.He sat through his classes with Sophie’s hollow eye socket burned into his mind, the way her skin peeled like wet paper, the way her lips trembled when she tried to speak but couldn’t. He thought about her mother, too—the way she hadn’t screamed, hadn’t asked questions. She had just taken what was left of her daughter and folded her into the house like she was something broken but familiar.At lunch, they all sat together—Wren, Milo, Luce, Nova, and Atlas—but the table was quieter than usual.Nova picked at her sandwich. Wren stared at her nails like she could scrub Sophie’s image from beneath them. Milo
To the Bone The Weight of Whispered Things
Chapter 8: The Weight of Whispered ThingsThe morning after the arcade, Black Salt felt heavier.Atlas woke before the sun had fully risen, his room shadowed in the grey half-light that made everything colorless. He sat on the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees, his eyes fixed on the floorboards as if they held some kind of secret. They didn’t, of course. Nothing did in Black Salt.His father was already gone, the familiar ghost of burnt coffee lingering in the kitchen. The air felt stale, the house too quiet even for morning. Atlas pulled on his hoodie and stepped outside where the sky was heavy with clouds, but no rain had come yet. It smelled like wet concrete and the kind of mildew that never really went away.He met Nova at the usual corner, where the bus stop shelter sagged a little more each year. She was already there, hoodie up, hands shoved deep in her pockets, staring out at the empty street."Morning," Atlas muttered."Morning," Nova replied, barely more than a whisper.
You may also like
My Sister's Boyfriend: A Bully Romance
Abigail Rose87.7K viewsBilly: Branston High Series
Bella Aisling24.2K viewsPrivate Lessons
Chaotic Soul271.8K viewsThe Bad Boy Next Room
LiLhyz173.8K viewsStep Brother, I'm Stuck
King Mufasa19.0K viewsOwned By The Bully - Part 2 in the bully series.
Anrose Amillie24.6K viewsTrafficked
Ezeala3.0K viewsFractured
F.BlackWood308 views
