Horror story: village in the Norwegian fjords where the kids have no ears

okay I wasn't going to post this but here we go.

There's a village in the western Norwegian fjords that doesn't show up properly on maps. I stumbled into it by accident while I was traveling to shoot landscapes. Train, then bus, then a jeep, then a long walk. Just to get there.

The village was called Hilder. Stone walls, wooden rooftops, little houses all clustered together. Looked like something out of a fairytale, honestly. But it didn't take long to feel that something was off.

All the kids wore their hats pulled way down low. Scarves and hoods wrapped around the sides of their faces. I figured it was just cold. Norway, whatever. But then I noticed, even inside. Even sitting next to a fireplace. The kids NEVER showed their ears. Not once.

I asked a middle-aged woman I met in the village.

"All the children cover their ears, huh."

She smiled instead of answering. Corners of her mouth went up. No warmth behind it at all. The whole village was like that. People only ever whispered or muttered, never spoke at a normal volume. On the street, in restaurants. Just. Quiet.

Then one afternoon I was walking past the little village school and I saw it.

Kids playing in the yard. One kid's scarf blew off in the wind.

And I saw.

The side of that kid's head... no ear. Not small. Not tucked away. No ear. Just smooth skin, like there had never been anything there at all.

I got out of there fast. That night I asked the inn owner about it.

"The kids' ears. why are they like that?"

He was quiet for a long time. Then he said softly:

"In this place, hearing too much... brings bad things. It's been that way for a very long time."

"What kind of bad things?"

"Something follows. Whoever has heard it. It comes for them."

I tried to laugh it off. But his eyes were completely serious.

A few days later I decided to leave. Got to my car in the morning, tried to start it. Nothing. Plenty of fuel. It was fine the night before. The inn owner didn't ask where I was going.

That night in my room I heard something approaching. Door was locked. Nobody in the hallway. But I heard it, clear as anything, right next to my ear.

"so you heard it too."

I jolted awake. And then I felt it. blood. running from my ear.

After that my memory cuts out. When I opened my eyes I was in a hospital. A general hospital on the outskirts of a Norwegian city, under police protection. The doctor looked at me and said:

"There's damage to your hearing. You'll barely be able to hear sounds anymore."

And my camera, which they recovered from my things. Hundreds of photos on it. Every single photo from that village was deleted. Except one.

It was a photo of me from behind, standing among the village children. Wearing a hat. A hood wrapped around my ears.

The file name was:

"you're next."