The Hollow Space
Welcome to In The Cards, a twenty-two author collection of standalone thriller and horror short stories. In this series, you’ll find stories inspired by the meaning of a specific Tarot Card, thoughtfully written with that thread woven through. Whether you’re a Tarot Card lover or not, you’ll find thrillers and horrors that will creep under your skin and into your thoughts. *Knowledge of Tarot Cards is not necessary to read or enjoy these stories.*
The Hollow Space is based on the High Priestess Tarot Card.
Some families pass down heirlooms. Hers passed down a curse.
On the night she turns thirty-five, librarian Tess Davis discovers a hidden book concealed inside her library’s antique shelves. The journal tells an impossible story—one that traces back to 1855, when a desperate mother bargained with a demon to save her child. The price was blood. Every woman born into the family would live long enough to raise a daughter, then die at thirty-five.
Tess has one lunar month to uncover the truth hidden in books her ancestors left behind. As the demon’s influence grows stronger, reality fractures. Time slips. Reflections move on their own. The line between madness and truth disappears.
The answer is terrifyingly simple and devastatingly final. To save her daughter, Tess must destroy the library that anchors the curse—burning history, reputation, and her own future to the ground.
A haunting, emotionally driven horror short story about inherited trauma, motherhood, and the terrible cost of survival.
Make sure you come back and check out the other 21 stories, because you never know what’s In The Cards.
Reader Reviews
15 ratings
tanya k.
What a captivating story! I couldn't look away. It's a nail biter!
A generational curse and a race against the clock. The women in this family have been collecting clues for a millennia, but will it ever be enough to stop what their own ancestor started? Try not to hold your breath!!
Mandy S.
This is a quiet, creeping horror that leans on dread over shock. It’s brief, haunting, and lingers long after the final page.
Heather S. C.
I LOVED this story! This was my ideal type of story! Books. Curses. Love. Sacrifice. I know I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time to come. So well written and captivating to say the least!
Michele M.
Some authors are just a guaranteed creep out, Carly B. is one of them. I finished this story and still can’t get that “something is behind me” feeling to go away. So fun!! A really good story.
Grace .
This was supposed to be a horror story yet I found it sad. I liked that it gives you some sort of magical-demonic vibes when the curse started to manifest but the longer she looks for a way to break it, the sadder it becomes. And it’s even sadder that she has to go through all of it alone. Where are her friends? Didn’t she trust his husband enough? The emotions are heavy for me towards the last part. But still, it made me sad.
Koen S.
5🌟
An amazing short story with supernatural vibes and a generational curse that needs to be broken! A mother trying to save herself and more importantly trying to save her daughter. A great read
Brandy A.
This short story may be short but will stay in your mind long after finishing! I loved the pace of the storyline and how it felt more suspenseful and leaves you questioning your own sanity. Truly a suspenseful read that you don't want to miss.
Nel H.
I really enjoyed this book. It is not my usual style as I am more of a thriller/psych thriller/crime mystery person but this got my attention quickly and kept me reading to the end.
For such a short story there was a lot of character development which drew you in and had you rooting for the family.
I felt it left you guessing as to if the curse was truly broken and wanting to know more.
Cheyenne Joy .
ARC Review
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Hollow Space- An in the cards story by Carly Black
Release date: May 25, 2026
First, thank you to Carly Black and InsideStory for handing me yet another story that quietly crawled into my brain wearing muddy shoes and refused to leave.
This is one of those stories that either completely gets under your skin… or does absolutely nothing for you. There is no middle ground. Personally? I live for this kind of psychological rot. The slow dread. The feeling that something is wrong long before you can explain why. The kind of story that makes your brain itch in places it shouldn’t even have access to.
And somehow Carly Black manages to do all of that in such a short amount of pages. Which honestly feels slightly rude.
The tension in this story doesn’t explode at you. It creeps. Slow enough to make you uncomfortable, but never slow enough to lose you. Like standing in a dark hallway convincing yourself you’re fine while every survival instinct in your body quietly whispers: girl… absolutely not.
What hit me hardest was the emotional conflict underneath all the darkness. That terrifying feeling of wanting to protect the people you love while slowly starting to question your own mind at the same time. Do you trust yourself? Do you trust what you’re seeing? And if you don’t… what does that cost you?
That’s the kind of horror I love most. Not cheap jump scares. Not gore thrown around for shock value. I mean the deeply personal kind of horror. The kind that sits on your chest afterward and keeps talking.
And listen… this story personally made me very grateful to be over 35. Which sounds dramatic until you read it and suddenly age starts feeling less like a crisis and more like protective armor. Unexpected life lesson. Thanks for that.
What I loved most is that the story never fully releases you. Even after finishing it, one thought kept circling in my head:
What if the fear of not escaping is the exact thing keeping you trapped?
Yeah. Enjoy sleeping after that one.
This story doesn’t scream at you. It whispers. And somehow that makes it worse.
Snuggle up, turn the lights low, and let this strange little nightmare crawl under your skin where it belongs.
Katlin S.
Thank you to the author for a copy of this book. I absolutely loved this! Tess' fight to save her daughter from the curse had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.
Bob F.
ARC Book Review
The Hollow Space
by Carly Black
My rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Part of the In The Cards 21 short story collection.
This is an amazing horror thriller by Carly Black that drew me in with quite an enthralling and intense story that piqued my interest.
As Tess Davis married with a 13 year old daughter, has turned 35 and discovered a hidden journal in her libraries antique shelves that tells an unbelievable story dating back to 1855, where a desperate mother makes a deal with a demon signed in blood to save her daughter's life.
The price to pay is that every woman in her bloodline would live to have a first daughter, then die aged 35.
Tess has 28 days, 1 lunar month, to discover the truth from books left by her ancestors, but the demons control over her grows stronger the closer she gets to finding a way to break the deal.
Is Tess losing her mind, the dreams, the warped reflections she sees, is this all for real, madness, or truth.
The answer is simple but terrifying, and Tess is devastated that she has to destroy the library that's holding the curse to save her own daughter's life.
I was totally addicted to this emotional and suspenseful horror story, I read it in one sitting, a story with so much detail it felt like a longer novel.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one, a must-read.
Rachel B.
“The Hollow Space” by Carly Black is a gripping addition to the In The Cards short story collection. Centered on a mother racing to break a deadly curse, the story is intense, suspenseful, and packed with suspicion. It pulls you in quickly and keeps the tension high until the very end, another strong, chilling installment in the series.
Samara H.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ARC Review
This short story was absolutely fantastic! From the moment Tess discovered that eerie hidden journal, I was instantly pulled into the chilling, atmospheric world the author created. The blend of generational trauma, supernatural horror, and emotional depth was incredibly well done for such a compact read.
The pacing was tight, the tension was steady, and the descent into fractured reality was gripping. I loved how the story balanced haunting suspense with a powerful sense of family history and sacrifice. It felt complete, compelling, and genuinely memorable.
A brilliant, eerie, and beautifully written short story. An easy 5 stars!
Jen S.
The Hollow Space by Carly Black straddles the line between thriller and horror. The author builds an intensely eerie atmosphere as Tess uncovers supernatural clues, racing against the clock to solve a mystery before time runs out. Tess is a highly sympathetic protagonist, making it easy to root for her and stay invested in the unsettling narrative.
Because it is a short story, I expected the pacing to be a bit faster, but it settles into a solid medium pace, leaning more into a creeping dread than a breakneck speed.
While I didn't love the ending due to a personal stylistic preference, it was handled exceptionally well and made perfect logical sense for where the plot needed to go. Overall, it’s a highly atmospheric, genre-blending read that succeeds at being both suspenseful and spooky. This feels like a great book for a thriller reader who wants to ease themselves into the world of horror.
Crystal O.
Tess is a wife, mother, and a librarian who just turned thirty-five, the same age as her mother was when she died of a heart attack. Instead of family heirlooms, Tess's family passes down a curse that every woman in that family dies within a few weeks of turning thirty-five.
Tess must race the 28 days before the curse and demon take over and find a way to end the curse to save herself, her daughter and the future female line.
Carly Black is a phenomenal writer and this is no exception!