Whispers of the Trees: In the Midst of Silence

i. "What's that?"

Lizzie arranged the goods on the her counter, making sure to double check the amount as there were pesky thieves around who were often stealing her items. With a little hum under her breath, she continued to arrange the items on her shop, writing along the way with how much was left, how much was bought, and so on.

Lizzie lives in a quaint little province, deep in the mountains. Trees grew around the place, providing a good amount shade for the people. The vast mountains were beautifully painted in the distance, its bluish color oftenly hiding behind the clouds during the mornings and the afternoons.

Lizzie leaned on her glass display inside her little store after finishing her tasks, sighing as she opened a newspaper whilst she waits for customers. Just as she was flipping through the pages of the daily news, the hairs behind her back began to rise and her spine was giving off a tickle-y feel. She shifted uncomfortably on her seat, running a hand across her nape in an attempt to rub off the chilly feeling.

She nonetheless continued to read her newspaper, shaking the feeling off as nothing but a normal gut feel.

And just as she was in the middle of an article that had something to do with the recent murders, a little girl passed by carrying a raggedy doll. She gleefully whispered words to it, as if the doll would reply back. However, she stopped walking and turned to look at Lizzie, uncannily.

Lizzie noticed and eyed the child in return, brimming. "Hello there, is there anything I can get for you?" She asked.

The child blinked and eyed the area behind Lizzie. The little girl points at something behind Lizzie, innocent eyes slightly wide with an unexplainable emotion in the depths.

"What's that?" She asked innocently. Lizzie blinked, confused. She then turned to where the child was pointing and was only met with the deer's head protruding from the wall—a memoir from the last hunting season.

"What's what, hon?" Lizzie asked. Quite peculiar of a child to point to a deer's head wherein fact, it was all so common in their place. Every household usually had a remembrance from the wild animals that they killed. This particular one in Lizzie's shop—her late grandfather owned it. The old man often tell tales of how his leg got caught in between a tree, a snake biting it in the process and in turn, it had to be removed. And that exact same deer on the wall— that was a token of that same happening.

"That. What's that?" The child replied.

"The deer?" Lizzie questioned, growing confused with the sudden strange onslaught of questions from the small innocent mind of the little child.

"No. That," the little girl kept pointing to a portion behind Lizzie and she turned around for the second time, only to see that nothing was there still—all aside from the deer's head stuck on the wall.

"That's... that's a deer, hon," Lizzie then told the child. The latter shook her head, pigtails moving from the action.

"No. Not the deer. That," she kept pointing to a specific place and Lizzie then whipped around for probably the hundredth time, still... nothing.

She then turned back to the child, her small body already shaking, trembling in fear. She nonetheless, continued to point to a specific place and Lizzie couldn't help but be confused and disturbed at the same time.

"There's no one behind me," Lizzie explained. The child vigorously shook her head, pointed hands trembling as she still pointed to the area behind Lizzie.

Then, Lizzie flinched. She could've sworn she felt something run its nails on the skin of her neck. The hairs on her body then stood up and she feared as to whatever may be behind her.

She then turned around and let out a loud blood curdling scream.