Secrets of the mist

Lily made her way through the foggy streets, her camera slung over her shoulder. She had no idea where she was going, but she was determined to get to the bottom of the bride of the mist legend.

As she wandered deeper into the town, she noticed that the streets were starting to empty. The festival had ended, and most people were either heading home or back to their hotels. But Lily felt a sense of urgency, as if she was running out of time.

She spotted a small, nondescript building down a side street. It looked abandoned, with boarded-up windows and a rusted metal door. But something about it drew her in, and she approached it cautiously.

As she got closer, she saw that there was a small sign on the door that read "Town Hall." She tried the door, but it was locked. She peered through the cracks between the boards and saw that there was a dim light on inside.

She hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should try to find someone to let her in. But the thought of getting caught and kicked out of town made her nervous. She decided to take matters into her own hands.

She fished her lock-picking kit out of her backpack and set to work on the door. She had learned the skill as a teenager, when she used to break into her parents' liquor cabinet. She had always been good at it, and she managed to get the door open within a few minutes.

She slipped inside and closed the door behind her. The room was small and musty, with a few old chairs and a wooden desk in the center. There was a single lamp on the desk, casting a dim glow over the room.

Lily made her way to the desk and saw that there were a few old files stacked on top of it. She rifled through them, but they were all filled with mundane paperwork: zoning regulations, tax forms, and the like.

She was about to give up when she spotted a small drawer on the side of the desk. It was locked, but the lock was old and rusty. She picked it open easily and pulled the drawer out.

Inside, she found a thick folder with the words "Bride of the Mist" scrawled on the cover in faded ink. Her heart skipped a beat as she opened it and began to read.

The folder was filled with old newspaper clippings, handwritten notes, and even a few photographs. Lily read through them all, her eyes widening with each page.

The legend of the bride of the mist wasn't just a story; it was a real event that had happened almost a hundred years ago. A young woman named Emily had gone missing on her wedding day, and her body was later found floating in the mist-covered lake.

But that was just the beginning. As Lily read on, she discovered that there had been other disappearances over the years, all on misty nights when the veil between the living and the dead was said to be thinnest.

The town had tried to keep the incidents quiet, but word had gotten out over the years. There were even rumors that the town's founders had made a pact with the spirits of the mist, promising to sacrifice a bride every year in exchange for protection from the elements.

Lily was horrified by what she had read. She couldn't believe that such a dark secret had been kept hidden for so long. She wondered how many people in the town knew about it, and how many had been complicit in the cover-up.

She decided to leave the folder where she had found it and slip out of the town hall before anyone caught her. She was still processing everything she had learned, and she needed time to think