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Fiction on Lit Up
The Echo in the Woods
if you should go into the woods today …
Lena had grown up hearing the stories — the ones about the whispering woods at the edge of the village, where voices called out from the shadows. Some said they belonged to lost souls, others believed they were just tricks of the wind. Either way, no one dared go too deep.
But Lena had never been one to fear stories.
One autumn evening, as the sun dipped low and the sky burned in shades of crimson and gold, she stepped past the tree line. The air smelled of damp earth and fallen leaves. Everything was still. Too still.
Then, the first whisper came.
“Lena…”
She froze, her breath hitching in her throat. The voice was soft, familiar in a way that made her chest tighten.
“Turn back.”
Her mother’s voice. But that was impossible. Her mother had been gone for years.
Lena swallowed hard. “Who’s there?” she called, her voice barely above a whisper.
Silence.
Then, another voice, fragile and pleading. “Help me…”
Her pulse hammered in her ears. Against every instinct, she followed the sound, pushing past branches that…
