No Country for the Tide
adventure◐ MatureBefore he reached the church, Halloran nearly fell into a pit. It was an old grave, dug long ago, and the bottom was lined with dozens of small shoes. Children's shoes. A cold feeling crawled up his spine. Whatever Meridian buried here, they hadn't done it quietly.
Halloran climbed out of the pit and kept going. He had no time for ghosts. At the church he dug up the iron box, but the lid was rusted shut. He hammered it with the bell's clapper until it sprang open, spilling out a ledger of names and one brass key tagged "the door."
What happens next?
1 ways forwardHalloran read the ledger as he ran for the boat. The names weren't victims. They were the settlers who'd left, alive, each one paying for passage with one child given to the door. The key in his fist suddenly felt like a debt someone expected him to pay. He rowed away fast and never spent a night near the coast again.