The Whispering Woods

In the heart of the dense forest, there was an isolated village that had long been forgotten by the outside world. The villagers were a tight-knit community, but there was something eerie about them. They rarely spoke to outsiders and seemed to live by their own set of mysterious rules. One day, a curious traveler named Alex stumbled upon the village while exploring the woods. The villagers welcomed him with strange smiles, but their eyes held a hint of something dark. As night fell, Alex heard whispers in the wind, voices that seemed to come from the very trees themselves. He tried to ignore them, but the whispers grew louder, urging him to leave before it was too late. When he finally decided to flee, he found the forest had changed. The path he had taken to get there was gone, replaced by a labyrinth of twisted branches and shadows. The villagers appeared at every turn, their smiles now twisted into sinister grins. Alex realized too late that the village was a trap, and the whispers were the only warning he would ever receive.