Her Soul for Revenge Chapter 1

Lilith Ashford

Grandpa used to tell me never to answer if I heard my name called from the woods. It didn’t matter if it sounded like my mother calling, or my brother, or even my best friend. He drilled it into my head from the time I was a little girl, barely old enough to toddle around the yard, let alone the woods.

Lilith Ashford

“If the woods call your name, don’t answer. Run.” He never explained why. He didn’t need to. The rule stuck with me into my teenage years. Every time I rode my bike down the winding road, the trees whizzing by on either side, I’listen to the boughs creaking, and the pine needles rustling. Sometimes, I’d imagine my name was called and I’d peddle faster, my heart racing until I reached school and was safely behind the iron fence surrounding the campus.

Lilith Ashford

Dad claimed it was all bullshit. “Ain’t a thing in these woods you can’t kill,” he said. “Don’t you forget that, You just keep your wits about you. Don’t go wandering around after dark.”

Lilith Ashford

No matter who you were, if you lived in Belgaum, you held a strong belief about the woods. About when you should go out, when you should hike, when you should lock your doors. Everyone would tell it a little differently, but the general belief was the same: the woods weren’t safe.

Lilith Ashford

General sense of unease about the pines; the kind of thing that made people avoid certain trails and certain roads. Older folks made little charms out of twigs, twine, and fish bones, and would hang them up outside their house or around the edges of their yard. Grandpa kept them on his fence posts, around the field where his horses grazed, right at the edge of the trees

Lilith Ashford

There still came a year when one of the mares went missing. He kept them in the stable at night after that. By the time I was fifteen years old, I realized the superstitious stories were only good for scaring little kids. From the trailer park where we lived, it was a four-mile bike ride to school if I took the road. But it was only a mile and a half if I cut through the woods. I started taking the shortcut when I was fourteen, peddling as fast as I could through the forest

Lilith Ashford

Even with the shortcut to school, I was usually late, especially when Mom was fighting with her boyfriend all night, and I couldn’t drown out the yelling enough to sleep.

Lilith Ashford

Wasn’t afraid of the woods. But something felt wrong about lingering under the trees too long, as if the longer I stayed in their presence, the more irritated they’d get to have me there. I rode through quickly and didn’t linger. No point in pushing my luck.

Eilene

😑😑😑😑 hah ha ha very funny why you're always thinking about that damned forest Lilith. Girl just chill don't overthink and give me a break. If you keep thinking about it one day a ghost will show up and take you away 👻👻👻👻

Eilene

🤦🤦🤦 let's go to cafeteria I'm starving I'm craving something sweet let's go