The Chant of Hollow Pines

The town of Woodleaf always felt a bit too quiet during the fall. The leaves burned orange and red, the sky stayed stuck in a grayish haze, and the woods ... those woods ... seemed to breathe on their own when the wind picked up just right. At the edge of school property, just beyond the broken chain-linked fence no one bothered to fix, Sierra Kingsley sat on a crooked bench, bored out of her mind. Her phone was glowing with her fourth unread text from her mom, something about the prom this weekend and what she'd be wearing. She didn't respond. "Did you guys hear about that stupid chant thing?" Sierra asked, flipping her hair over one shoulder and staring at her reflection in her camera. "Supposedly, if you go to Hollow Pines and say some silly rhyme, you slowly disappear." Across from her, Hazel Marteen squinted unimpressed over the top of her book. "Disappear how? Like .. ghost stories and urban legends disappear ..? Or actual missing persons report ?" "It's the same thing," Sierra said with a shrug. "People just.. vanish. It's a thing." "Everything's a thing when you're bored," Hazel muttered, dog-earing her page and sliding the book into her backpack. Ryker Smith strolled over, earbuds still hanging from one ear, hoodie unzipped to reveal a T-shirt with this twitch handle in neon lettering. "Talking about that curse again?" he smirked. "I streamed a walkthrough of a game last night that had the same setup. Woods, chanting, poof -- people go missing. Classic creepbait." Sierra arched a brow. "So you're saying we should do it?" Hazel rolled her eyes so hard it looked painful. "No, that's not what he said. That's literally the opposite." Ryker chuckled. "I mean, I'd go. For the content." "You'd do anything for views," Hazel muttered. "I'd do it for fun," Sierra added, standing now, her designer boots crunching the gravel. "Just imagine it. Us, the woods, the thrill of proving it's all fake. Maybe even go viral." Hazel stood too, adjusting her bookbag strap with a frown. "There's a reason people leave that part of the forest alone. My older brother says some kid went missing there, like ten years ago. They never found him." Sierra gave her a flat look. "Your brother thinks comic books are historical documents." Ryker laughed. "Look, if you guys are too scared, I'll go without you. But wouldn't it be way more fun if we all chickened out together?" Sierra leaned in, eyes gleaming with a challenge. "So, we're doing it?" Hazel hesitated. She hated this kinda stuff. Hated the cold crawl of fear threading through her thoughts. But more than that, she hated being the boring one. "Fine," she said. "We go. But if I get possessed, I'm haunting you first." "Deal." Ryker grinned. They made a plan-- Friday night, after the football game. No flashlights, no phones, just each other and the woods. The chant? Sierra said she found it in a half-ripped notebook someone dropped in the library's lost and found bin. None of them thought to ask where the notebook came from. Or why every page before the chant was scribbled out.