A Ghost Among Trees

She had to get out of there.

As Ellie's feet carried her across the kitchen floor, she thought about how it would feel to be a ghost among trees, to blend in with the forest whose greenery she had been painting for years.

No one said a word. Ellie was certain she had never heard a silence so silent before.

~*~

When nine-year-old Ellie's world is turned upside down, she runs away to the forest. There, she finds a mysterious girl who offers the perfect distraction. After spending the afternoon with her new friend, the charm begins to wear off, and Ellie starts to realize that the secrets of this forest are much darker than her own.

-Written and revised in April, 2020.