What Lies Beneath The Clearing

8.4

Evergreen forest was beautiful in the summer. Filled with blossoming flowers as far as the eye could see. Trees so full that the sunlight didn't stand a chance of getting through to the forest floor. Fields of rich greens, pinks, and yellows attracted millions of honeybees, but no-one ever ventured passed the first barrier of trees shielding the open fields. In the winter, the once blooming forest became a daunting silhouette of shadows dancing in the night. The trees fell bare of their leaves, yet it never seemed any easier for the light to reach the forest floor. Every year, when the seasons changed from fall to winter and the nights got colder, there was at least one homicide case, where the forest claimed a victim somewhere along its vast trails. For many years, an unlucky member of the town would lose track of their location, and what had previously been a wonderful walk in the woods had become a maze of dizzying illusion. The officers even had a wager of how many people they might find each time the cold season rolled around. They joked and told stories, as did many of the people who told tales of the legend, of the alleged curse over Evergreen forest, but for decades, nobody with any sense had the courage to prove the stories untrue.