The forest kept secrets.
Some were happy, the love and wishes of every pair of initials carved into a tree, and some were not. The forest remembered the last thoughts of every person who entered and never came out again.
She searched for the Heart of the Forest, the place where the secrets were kept. She started looking when she was a small child and spent her life hiking hidden paths.
She was an old woman when she finally found it.
“Why did it take me so long?” She asked the Heart.
“You weren’t ready to be kept,” it whispered.

“ANF Old-Growth Forest (1)” by Nicholas is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

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Everyday Drabbles © 2025 by Hugh J. O’Donnell is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0