In the heart of the West Midlands, nestled among the bustling urban centres, stood the West Midlands Media office, a hub of creativity and digital innovation. For years, they had been at the forefront of the digital frontier, crafting masterpieces for clients far and wide. But this Halloween, something was amiss.

As October approached, the team began noticing strange occurrences. Files went missing, only to reappear in random folders. Eerie whispers echoed through the office after hours. And most disturbingly, the server, which held the heart of all their digital creations, began to act unpredictably. Each day, as the sun dipped below the horizon, the server would flicker and hum, displaying old, archived websites that had been long forgotten. Sites that had been taken down years ago due to various unsettling reasons: businesses with mysterious owners, sites with eerie lore attached to them, and portals that some said were haunted.

Jack, a curious developer at West Midlands Media, decided to investigate. Late one evening, he delved into the server logs, searching for a clue. To his shock, he found a series of unauthorised entries. They all originated from a username they had retired years ago, belonging to a developer named "Dave." But Dave hadn’t worked at West Midlands Media for years. One night, during a thunderstorm, he had mysteriously vanished without a trace, leaving only a cryptic note: "The digital realm is more alive than you think."

Jack recalled tales of Dave's obsession with digital entities, spirits that lived within the binary code. Shivers ran down his spine as he realised that these digital phantoms were trying to communicate through the old websites, bringing past digital eras back to life.

Determined to restore peace, Jack and the team decided to confront these entities on Halloween night. Using a mix of old code, digital rituals, and powerful algorithms, they initiated a "digital séance." The office grew cold, screens flickered, and spectral figures formed from binary code floated around. Among them was Dave, who revealed that he had become a guardian of the digital afterlife, ensuring that forgotten sites and their stories weren't lost to time.

With Dave’s guidance, West Midlands Media created a special archive, a digital realm for these lost sites to exist in peace. Every Halloween, the team would pay tribute to these digital ghosts, ensuring their stories live on, and remembering the mysterious world that lies just beneath the surface of the web.

From that year on, West Midlands Media wasn't just known for their expertise in the digital present, but also as keepers of the digital past. And while the server no longer flickered with old sites, on some nights, if you listened closely, you could hear the soft hum of stories being told from the digital beyond.