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Superstitious - Part 1 of 2
🕑 Added 2023-02-27 00:35:54 +0000 UTCLilly had heard a couple of times that she should never go too deep into the woods that were nearby her home. Her whole village knew that. Every child was told as they were growing up that the woods had mysterious and olden magic’s in it that could have unforeseen consequences if the children ever wandered too far. Playing on the edges of the forest was fine, and even going into the forest itself was okay, but they were warned constantly that going any further past the wooden bridge found a mile or so into the forest was way too dangerous.
Like all the kids, Lilly had always obeyed those warnings. Listening to adults was just something that you kinda did as a kid without even thinking about it. You don’t know anything else. Lilly was 18 now though. Legally she was considered a full blown adult. In just a month or so she would be going off to college and starting her career in programming.
Something about the woods kept nagging at her though. She wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe it was that following the rule about the woods had been such a big part of her childhood, or maybe it was just that a very logical minded girl like her didn’t like having something superstitious held over her head her whole life. She had to fight against everything she had known and had accepted as a kid as she made a decision:
She was going to go deep into the woods.
It was something she felt like she had to do. No matter what the people of her town always said, she had to just go into the forest all the way once. That way she’d be able to just say she did it, and she could go off to college without anything holding her back. She had actually tried getting a friend or two to do it with her, but they were all too chicken. She’d have to go it alone.
Lilly did it very early on a Saturday morning. She had gone to bed very early the night before and woken up when it was still dark out. As logical minded a girl as she knew she was, she knew that if anyone else saw her entering the forest they might try and stop her. She put on a pair of black boots, jeans, and a long sleeve shirt. Then, she went out when she knew nobody would be awake yet. It was dark as she arrived at the forest entrance, and it only started to get bright out as she was crossing over the bridge itself.
She walked for at least a half hour. Even going a few feet over the bridge she’d already gone farther than she ever had as a kid. Even in the early morning she had to admit that the forest had an eerie feeling to it. It just felt so quiet and lifeless, yet at the same time it almost felt like someone... or something, was watching her.
“No, stop it.” She said aloud, chastising herself. The forest wasn’t scary or even weird. It was just her parents and her whole town’s weird obsession with supernatural superstitions. She had let it control her for 18 years, but not anymore.
With balled up fists, a deep breath, and reinvigorated courage, Lilly picked up the pace a bit as she moved deeper and deeper into the forest. It wasn’t long before she had gone farther than anyone in her town had gone in years... And for good reason...
As Lilly continued walking, she started hearing something very strange, very strange indeed. It sounded like... whispering, but the whispering felt like it was all around her at once. No matter where she looked though, she was alone. She heard giggling, and shushing, and shuffling like footsteps on the leaves around her.
She reminded herself once again that this was all just in her head. She was just imagining it. Letting the things she had believed as a child make her fantasies run wild. It was just the wind surely, nothing more. She was just being silly.
Lilly decided she should probably head back though, it wasn’t because she was scared or anything, she told herself, but she’d already gone in plenty farther than what was allowed. Besides, she reminded herself, if she didn’t go back soon, several of her neighbors or maybe even her parents would be awake by the time she got back and lecture her about going into the forest.
‘Oooh!’ She thought to herself. She would just have to prove to her friends what she had done and show them all how silly they were for not coming with her. Taking out her phone, Lilly snapped a quick photo of herself in a large clearing; an area she was sure all of them would recognize as not being one of the designated sections of the forest that were safe to play in. Once she had the photo snapped, she started heading back towards home.
But as she did so... the girl hadn’t noticed the blossoming feeling of crinkles coming from inside her jeans...
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This story was written by Zander Chesney
You can find more of his content here :
https://zanderchesneyoriginals.tumblr.com/
