KassyRaineWriting
The water is rising. The things we buried are starting to wake up.
Wilmington, North Carolina, looks beautiful under the coastal lights. But under the paved streets, old drainage tunnels and the dark riverfront, a century of unhealed history waits. Now, a huge unnatural storm is stuck over the Lower Cape Fear. The radar glows red, the power is going out, and the line between the living and the dead is disappearing.
The local legends are no longer just stories. They are alive.
A thick fog moves upriver against the current, bringing the smell of stirred-up mud and a ghostly pirate ship that doesn't belong. Deep in the dark water, the long serpent's shadow undulates. Broken radios crackle, calling out old bus stops as small, non-human hands press against the wet glass. Heavy footsteps echo through brick drainage tunnels locked for a hundred years. Down at Fort Fisher, still pools of water spin in slow circles, showing faces that are not alive.
The river is taking back its land. Every secret is alive, and every ghost is searching for a way out.
Warnings are everywhere. The instruments are breaking down.
If the river knocks on your boat, do not answer. Just run.
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⚠️ Welcome to the preview
This special Wattpad edition includes six complete stories as a teaser for the upcoming full-length book, Cape Fear: The Unquiet Past. Read these haunting glimpses into local legends before the tide rises. New chapters will be added every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.