An Unsettling Stillness
The forest sounds stopped.
No birds singing, no leaves moving, no monkeys talking.
It was so quiet it hurt my ears.
Everything was still.
My feet stopped on the soft path.
This wasn't right. The Blackwood Forest always had little sounds, a quiet hum of life.
This quiet felt bad.
A strange feeling went over my skin, like tiny bugs crawling.
I looked around, holding my dad's old knife tighter.
The trees stood still, their leaves not moving like they were holding their breath.
I need to be strong.
The ground felt cool on my hands.
Moving my body helped me feel real in this quiet.
Did the animals feel something I didn't? Is something dangerous nearby?
A change in the weather?
The sky I could see through the trees was clear and blue.
No sign of rain.
"Hello?" I said quietly, but it sounded loud.
It went between the trees and no one answered.
I told myself it was nothing.
Just a short quiet time in the forest.
Maybe it was too hot and the animals were hiding.
But the feeling stayed a cold worry in my chest.
It felt like waiting for something bad to happen.
Stay awake. My arms started to hurt a little.
I thought about the stretch, trying to forget the worry.
I remembered Mama's stories about the forest holding its breath before something old woke up.
I always thought they were just stories for kids.
But now, in this quiet, they felt real and scary.
I saw a shadow move a little.
I stopped, holding my knife up, my heart beating fast.
But it was just a leaf, moved by a tiny bit of wind.
I breathed out.
Even the air didn't want to move.
"It's just the forest," I whispered, trying to believe it.
But the words felt empty.
Don't be scared.
My arms started to ache more.
The pain felt normal in this strange quiet.
I kept walking, looking, and listening carefully.
Every little sound made me jump.
But there were no sounds. Only the heavy, quiet feeling.
I got to the Whispering Falls.
It always had the sound of water falling.
Today, the water was still.
It hung in the air, like a frozen curtain on the rocks.
I couldn't believe it.
Water doesn't just stop.
"What…?" I whispered, really shocked.
This wasn't just quiet. This was something else.
Something not normal, something wrong.
This isn't normal. Something happened.
My mind raced, trying to understand why the water stopped.
Maybe a big rock fell upstream? But even then, the small streams should still flow.
Fear, cold and sharp, finally hit me hard.
This wasn't just the forest being quiet.
It was like everything had stopped, frozen.
I took a step closer to the falls, holding my knife out.
The air around the frozen water felt cold, with a strange power.
It buzzed a little on my skin, making me shiver.
A small, colorful butterfly was still on a leaf, its wings open like it was flying.
I touched its wing gently. It was cold and hard. Not alive.
Everything stopped. It felt really bad.
The forest wasn't just quiet; it was frozen.
I started to panic.
I had to get out. Something terrible happened, and I didn't know what.
My gut told me to run.
I turned to go back, my heart beating fast.
But the path wasn't the same.
The trees looked different, their branches twisted in ways I didn't remember.
I was lost.
"Mom?" I shouted, but the quiet swallowed my cry.
I'm trapped. It felt like a cold weight.
The forest, my safe place, was now a silent, scary maze.
I walked through the still plants, the quiet making my fear worse.
Every frozen leaf, every still animal seemed to watch me.
I felt like the only thing moving.
Then, I saw it. One footprint in the soft ground.
It was new. It wasn't mine.
It was too big, too heavy. Someone else was here.
A little bit of hope came. I wasn't alone.
"Hello?" I called again, my voice rough with fear and hope.
Silence. Only the buzz from the frozen falls answered.
I followed the footprint, walking faster.
It took me deeper into the woods, away from the path.
The trees were closer together here, their frozen branches making a dark roof.
The footprint led to a small open space.
And in the middle, I saw it.
A person stood still, their back to me.
They were tall and covered, their shape hard to see in the shadows.
But I felt power coming from them, a cold feeling that made my arms prickle.
Who is that? My hand shook on my knife.
This was why everything was still.
The person slowly turned. I couldn't breathe.
It wasn't human. Its face was smooth, like stone. Its eyes glowed a little.
It raised a hand, and the buzzing around the falls got louder.
The air got colder, the quiet heavier.
Then, it spoke. But it wasn't a sound.
It was a thought in my head, cold and old.
"You… are… awake."
Elara faced a strange, powerful thing in a frozen forest.
The footprint was her only clue. She realized she was different, awake in this silent world.
What did this thing want? Why was the forest frozen? And what did it mean that Elara was awake?