Chased By Shadows

Chapter Five: The Woods Keep Secrets

The fog didn’t lift for three days. By the fourth, Elise began to believe it never would.

Kaia sat on the porch most mornings, motionless. Her eyes followed the tree line like it whispered to her. Sometimes, Elise caught her mouthing something under her breath, but the words were never audible.

“You don’t remember where you went that night,” Elise asked again, carefully. Kaia shook her head. “I remember trees. I remember... screaming. But I don’t think it was mine.” She looked up. “Something’s wrong with the woods.”

The town felt smaller than Elise remembered. Or maybe she was just noticing more.

She stopped at the bakery, the one she used to visit as a teenager. An old woman named Madge still worked behind the counter, though her hair was fully gray now. Elise hadn’t seen her in years.

“You were the one who vanished, weren’t you?” Madge said suddenly, without looking up.

Elise blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Ten years ago. Right before graduation. You disappeared for two days. They said you had a breakdown. But that’s not what I heard.”

“What did you hear?” Madge’s hands stopped kneading dough. “They found blood in your car.”

Back at home, Elise sat in her bedroom, that sentence echoing. She didn’t remember disappearing. She didn’t remember blood.

But something about the way Kaia looked at her sometimes like she was waiting for her to figure something out, it unsettled her.

She opened her laptop. Started typing keywords. “Elise Wren, missing 2015.” Nothing official. No reports.

But in an old message board archive, a post appeared: “Rumor: girl went missing in Ashridge. Parents covered it up. Said she was unstable. Cops found blood but no body. Same week a student disappeared from the next town over.”

“Her name was Sera.”

“Still not found.”

Kaia stood in the woods. She didn’t know how she got there again. But her fingers were buried in the soil. Like they had been there before. Her nails were caked with dirt and something darker.

A breeze blew. And a whisper came with it. “She’s close now.” Kaia turned. Nothing but trees.

That night, Elise left a voice message for Detective Mallory. “I need to know what happened in 2015. Not what you told me. The truth.” She didn’t expect a reply. But at midnight, someone knocked on the door.

It wasn’t Mallory. It was a girl. Short, dark hoodie. Big, unreadable eyes. She looked about sixteen. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Maren. I live up the street.” Elise hesitated. “You’ve been watching us.” Maren didn’t deny it.

“I saw you in the woods,” Elise continued. “I thought you saw me,” Maren said softly. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was... looking for something.” Kaia stepped behind Elise, suddenly alert. “What were you looking for?” Kaia asked. Maren’s eyes flicked toward her. Then away. “A grave,” she said. “Maybe two.”

They sat on the porch. Three girls. Each different shades of haunted. Maren sipped tea she barely touched. “Before we moved here, we lived near an old lake house. My dad said it was safer here, after... what happened.” Elise leaned in. “What did happen?”

Maren didn’t answer right away. Finally, she said: “A girl disappeared. From our school. Her name was Sera.” Elise sat upright. “I know that name.” “You should,” Maren replied. “She was last seen in your town. Same week you disappeared.”

Kaia stood. “That’s not a coincidence.” Maren looked at her, slow and sharp. “You look like someone I used to know.” Kaia didn’t blink. “Maybe I am.”

Later, in the quiet, Elise asked, “Do you trust her?” Kaia shook her head. “No.” “Do you think she knows something?”

“Yes.”

Kaia returned to the woods that night, without telling Elise. The cold didn’t bother her anymore. She moved like the trees knew her.

Halfway in, she found a red scarf tangled in a branch. She touched it—FLASH. Screaming. Dirt. Fingers clawing the earth. A body being dragged. She staggered back, gasping. Then— Footsteps.

Kaia turned. Maren. She held something in her hand. A small box. “What is that?” Kaia asked. “I found it buried,” Maren said. “Back where the ground felt wrong.”

She opened the box. Inside: a locket. Cracked. Dried red stains.Maren looked up. “I think it belonged to Sera.”

They didn’t sleep. Not that night. Not really.

Elise sat at the kitchen table, looking at her journal from 2015. Every page blurred. Smudged. Torn.bBut one entry stood out: “I keep hearing someone call my name from the woods. I think I followed it last night. I woke up with mud on my hands. Mallory told me to stop remembering.”

At dawn, Kaia returned with the box. Elise stared at the locket. She didn’t recognize it.

But her stomach dropped when she held it. Like touching a curse. “Why are these things always coming back to me?” she whispered. Kaia’s answer was soft. Cold. “Because they never left.”

Far away, Mallory opened an old case folder. Inside: a picture of Elise. Younger. Pale. Dazed. Beside her, A girl with grey eyes. Smiling. Kaia. Mallory traced her finger along the photo. And whispered: “Round two."