**The Hollow Guest** is a supernatural horror novel about Olivia Dane, who inherits her grandmother's eerie, abandoned house in the secluded town of Ravensbrook. Ignoring local warnings, she moves in-only to awaken something sinister trapped within its walls. As whispers turn to shadows and nightmares bleed into reality, Olivia must uncover the house's dark past before she becomes the next victim of the entity known as *The Hollow Guest.*
Chapter 1 The First Knock
Olivia Dane stood at the edge of the overgrown pathway, staring up at the house that was now hers.
The air smelled of damp wood and forgotten years, and the towering pines surrounding the property
swayed ominously in the late autumn wind.
The house had been in her family for generations, though she had never set foot inside before.
Her grandmother, Eleanor Dane, had lived here until her death six months ago. The will had been
clear-Olivia was the sole inheritor of the house and everything in it. The lawyers had called
it a generous gift, but standing here now, Olivia wasn't so sure.
As she unlocked the front door and stepped inside, dust stirred in the stagnant air. The wooden
floors creaked under her weight, and the walls-lined with antique portraits-seemed to watch her
with hollow eyes.
She set her suitcase down in the foyer, exhaling slowly. It was just a house. Old, yes. A little
unsettling, maybe. But still just a house.
Or so she thought.
That night, as she curled up in the old armchair by the fireplace, sipping tea and listening to the
wind howl through the trees, it happened.
A knock.
Not from the front door.
Not from any door.
It came from **inside** the house.
Three soft, deliberate taps.
*Tap... tap... tap.*
Her breath caught in her throat. She turned her head toward the sound. It had come from upstairs.
The corridor at the top of the stairs was lined with doors. Three led to empty bedrooms. The fourth
one-**the locked door**-had been her grandmother's. Olivia had found the key earlier that day but
hadn't used it yet.
The knock came again.
*Tap... tap... tap.*
Heart hammering, Olivia approached the door. The knob felt cold under her fingers. Slowly, she slid
the key into the lock and turned it.
The door creaked open.
The room beyond was... empty.
No furniture. No dust. No sign that anyone had ever lived there.
Yet something **was** here. She could feel it.
Then-whispering.
A voice, soft and breathless, **right behind her.**
"You let me in."
A cold dread coiled in Olivia's stomach.
She spun around-
And the door slammed shut.