The footprints ended just beyond the entrance.
Elara stared at the soft earth, her heart pounding against her ribs.
“They…
just disappear,” Noah whispered.
He was right.
The trail ahead was untouched, as though the person who had walked there had simply vanished into thin air.
A cool breeze drifted through the trees.
The golden light floating ahead flickered once, then continued deeper into the forest.
It almost seemed to be waiting.
“We should leave,” Noah said, tightening his grip on his flashlight.
Elara nodded.
“We should.”
Neither of them moved.
Instead, they stood in silence, listening.
No birds.
No insects.
Not even the sound of the wind.
Blackwood Forest was impossibly quiet.
It was the kind of silence that made every heartbeat sound too loud.
Then, from somewhere in the distance—
Crack.
A branch snapped.
Both of them spun around.
Nothing.
Only rows of towering trees disappearing into the shadows.
“You saw something, didn’t you?” Noah asked.
“I…
I don’t know.”
But she did know.
For just a split second, she had seen a figure standing between two trees.
Tall.
Still.
Watching.
The moment she blinked, it was gone.
“We’re leaving,” Noah said firmly.
Before Elara could agree, the golden light drifted back toward them.
It circled her once, glowing brighter than before.
As it hovered near her hand, she felt warmth spread through her fingertips.
A memory flashed through her mind.
A little girl laughing.
A woman singing softly.
A wooden swing hanging from an old oak tree.
Then—
Darkness.
The vision disappeared as quickly as it had come.
Elara gasped and stumbled backward.
“What happened?” Noah asked.
“I saw…
something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
She couldn’t explain it.
The memories hadn’t felt like dreams.
They had felt real.
As if they belonged to someone else.
The sun had nearly disappeared below the horizon.
“We have to go,” Noah said.
This time, Elara didn’t argue.
Together, they hurried back toward the road.
The moment they stepped out of the forest, the strange silence vanished.
Birds chirped overhead.
A car drove past in the distance.
It was as if the forest had been sealed inside its own world.
Elara turned for one last look.
The hidden trail was gone.
Bushes and tangled vines covered the place where it had appeared only minutes earlier.
“If we hadn’t seen it ourselves,” Noah murmured, “I’d never believe it existed.”
That evening, Elara couldn’t stop thinking about the vision.
She searched the internet for anything related to Blackwood Forest.
Old newspaper articles.
Missing person reports.
Local legends.
Most of them told the same story.
People disappeared.
No evidence was ever found.
Then she discovered an article dated October 14, 1989.
LOCAL GIRL MISSING AFTER ENTERING BLACKWOOD FOREST
The girl’s name was Lily Bennett.
Age: Seven.
She had vanished without a trace.
Only one thing had been found.
A small silver locket.
Elara’s breath caught.
The girl in her vision…
had been wearing a silver locket.
Just then, someone knocked on her bedroom door.
“Come in.”
Her grandmother stepped inside carrying a small wooden box.
“You’ve been asking about the forest,” she said quietly.
Elara’s eyes widened.
“How do you know?”
Her grandmother smiled sadly.
“Because I asked the same questions when I was your age.”
She placed the old box on the bed.
Its surface was covered with faded carvings of trees and twisting roots.
“I hoped I’d never have to show this to you.”
With trembling hands, she opened the lid.
Inside lay dozens of yellowed photographs, brittle newspaper clippings, and an old leather journal.
On the very first page, written in elegant handwriting, were the words:
If you are reading this, the forest has chosen you.
Elara looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Her grandmother’s face turned pale.
“It means,” she whispered, “there’s no turning back now.”
Outside the window, beyond the rooftops of Ashwood, a single golden light appeared between the trees of Blackwood Forest.
It burned brighter than ever before.