The next day Lily couldn't shake the sense of being drawn to the edge of Graywood toward the thick, foreboding forest that bordered the town. She'd caught murmurs from the townspeople as she went into town- warnings about the "cursed woods" and how they were best left alone. But there was something about them drawing her, a strange insistent tug she couldn't ignore.
The air got thicker with every step inside the woods. It nearly suffocated her. Trees stood tall, entwining their branches across each other, blocking the sunlight to most of its extent. There was a complete silence around her. She did not hear the sounds of nature at all. It was as if she had crossed over into another world.
She froze, staring intently into the dimness, trying to distinguish details. The figure had vanished. She stepped back again. Her heart pounded with its rhythm. Then, from a distance, almost not visible at all behind the mist, she saw it once more: a dark form, indistinct but watching her.
Hello?" she cried out, her voice quivering. No answer returned. But as she turned to go, a chill presence followed her from behind, whispering its words in her ear.
"Come back… don't leave…
Lily stumbled backward, breath caught in her throat, and ran out of the forest, with every step accompanied by the shadow's piercing eyes. When she reached the house, she slammed the door shut; her heart still pounding hard. She could feel it, that gaze of something watching her from inside the forest.
That night, the shadows in her room seemed to move about, stretching and twisting in ways that seemed almost possible, as if something from the woods had followed her home.