The Hollow Mist - Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE – Welcome To Ridge Hollow

Alex Hale had been driving long enough for the road to stop looking like a road and start looking like distance. Ridge Hollow wasn’t on most maps, which was part of the appeal. You didn’t stumble into this place — you chose it.

Or you ran to it.

She wasn’t sure which one she was doing.

A hand-painted sign leaned crooked beside the roadside:

RIDGE HOLLOW — POP. 612

Even the wood looked tired, as if it wanted an excuse to fall over and leave.

Quiet town. Mountains pressed against its back. One road in, one road out.

Perfect.

She parked outside a small café the locals simply called The Corner. Warm lights glowed behind fogged windows. Normal places looked like this. Normal people sat inside, drinking coffee and believing in safety.

Alex stood on the sidewalk longer than she meant to, scanning rooftops, the treeline, alley mouths. Old habits didn’t ask permission.

Finally, she pushed the door open.

Heat hit her first — then the smell of coffee, cinnamon, and an oven that needed cleaning. A few heads lifted. New faces were rare here.

Alex kept her shoulders loose, even though every muscle stayed coiled beneath the surface. Years of training didn’t vanish just because you wanted quiet.

She took a seat near the window, chair angled so she could see the entrance without looking like she cared.

The waitress — small, blonde, bright green eyes that didn’t miss much — stepped to her table.

“Coffee?” she asked.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

The waitress poured without asking for sugar or cream. People here seemed to be born knowing how you liked things. She flashed a polite smile — the kind that didn’t pry.

“I’m Bree,” she said. “Let me know if you’re hungry.”

Alex nodded. Words felt heavy today.

Bree moved on, chatting with a man in a work jacket, laughing lightly at something he said. She fit any space she stepped into. Alex envied that — quietly, silently, the way people envy warmth when they’ve been cold too long.

Outside, fog crawled along the treeline.

Thin still — just a suggestion of grey — but the way it hugged the ground made Alex’s skin tighten. Fog should drift. Wander. But this… gathered.

She sipped the coffee. Hot enough to sting. Her hands were steady. They always were. The shaking came later, when danger was gone and adrenaline had nowhere left to go.

She hoped she wouldn’t get to that part again.

Bree returned with a plate of something warm Alex hadn’t ordered.

“Breakfast sandwich. On the house. People always look hungry when they first roll into town.”

Alex’s mouth almost twitched into a smile.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” Bree lowered her voice. “You passing through, or staying a while?”

Alex hesitated — just long enough for Bree to notice. Not suspicion. Just awareness.

“Staying,” Alex said. The word felt unfamiliar. Like a promise she wasn’t used to making.

“Well,” Bree said softly, “welcome to Ridge Hollow.”

Alex nodded once.

She didn’t say she wasn’t here for a welcome.

She was here to disappear.