Part 3 — The Voice Near the Well
(Part 1) ➡️ https://storiesworld.us/archives/9886
(Part 2) ➡️ https://storiesworld.us/archives/9884
That evening began quietly.
The group gathered around a fire outside the cabin and talked late into the night.
For several hours nothing unusual happened.
Then one of Mike’s friends noticed a strange orange glow moving through the trees.
At first, they assumed it was moonlight.
Then the glow intensified.
Soon it looked as though part of the forest itself was burning.
Everyone stood up.
The light flickered between the trees like distant flames.
Concerned that a wildfire might be starting, Mike decided to investigate.
A few hundred yards from the cabin sat an old well that his grandfather used decades earlier.
If the woods were truly on fire, they would need water immediately.
So, Mike grabbed a bucket and headed into the darkness.
As he walked through the trees, he found himself approaching the same area where he had earlier spotted the strange deer-like figure.
The forest felt different at night.
The silence seemed heavier.
The darkness deeper.
Then he heard it.
A voice.
A little girl.
“Help me!”
Mike stopped immediately.
The voice sounded incredibly close.
“Please help me! I’m over here!”
Every instinct told him a child was in danger.
Yet another part of his mind recognized how impossible that seemed.
They were miles from town.
Miles from neighboring properties.
The area was completely isolated.
The voice called again.
“Help me!”
This time it sounded farther away.
Almost as if it had moved deeper into the woods.
Mike began walking toward it.
Then he remembered the sheriff’s warning.
The uneasy locals.
The strange figure among the trees.
Something felt wrong.
Very wrong.
The voice called again.
Now it sounded even farther away.
And yet somehow louder.
As though it wanted him to follow.
According to the story, Mike took another step forward.
Then stopped.
The realization hit him all at once.
The voice wasn’t asking for help.
It was leading him somewhere.
Slowly, he backed away.
The crying became more desperate.
More urgent.
More convincing.
Yet every time he moved away, the voice seemed to move deeper into the forest.
Always staying just out of reach.
Mike returned to the cabin as quickly as possible.
His friends immediately noticed something was wrong.
Before he could explain what had happened, they all noticed something else.
The orange glow was gone.
Completely gone.
There was no fire.
No smoke.
Nothing.
The forest stood silent and dark.
The next morning, Mike and his friends searched the area.
They found no burned trees.
No footprints.
No child.
No sign of anyone being there at all.
Years later, Mike still claimed he heard the voice that night.
And according to him, the most terrifying part wasn’t that something called for help from deep within the woods.
It was that the voice never sounded frightened.
It sounded patient.
As though it knew that eventually, someone would follow it into the darkness.