The further she went, the harder it became to see. Shapes blurred, branches melted into one another, the path behind her lost somewhere in the darkness. She turned around, but there was nothing no light, no house, no sign she had ever come from somewhere. Just an endless darkness pressing in.
Panic flickered faintly in her chest.
God.
How far had she walked?
Her breathing quickened. The stillness was so wrong, it was too silent. No chirping insects, no rustling leaves, no whisper of life. The entire forest seemed frozen in a moment that wasn't supposed to exist.
The only sound left was the steady thud of her heartbeat, loud and uneven in her ears.
She turned again, just to be sure…
And that was when it hit her.
Not something physical. But a shift in the air so sharp that her instincts screamed.
