Don’t you want to find out?

*This story is under my folder “Belville has some strange happenings”. Gacha Club character designs are under this forum: https://www.writerfeed.com/topic/117842-my-character-designs-lt-33-3?start=360. Enjoy!*

“Do you ever wonder why the animals at the center of the woods disappear?” Lena asked.

Layla was at the lunchroom with her friends, Lena, Aella, and Meara. The four of them were talking about small things and then there was silence, but suddenly, Lena asked that question.

“I try not to think about it.” Aella said, sticking her fork in her bowl of pasta.

Yes, it was quite strange that animals would disappear in one part of the woods and never return, but most people assumed that it was some wildlife thing they didn’t know about. They were only animals that were disappearing, nothing to worry about.

“What if Layla went into the woods to find out? She’s the most daring one out of all of us, anyway.” Meara suggested.

Layla felt her cheeks go red. All of her friends were looking at her expectantly, her skin crawled with goosebumps.

Why was she suddenly put in the spot?

“How come it has to be me? Why does anybody have to go into the woods? It’s not that important.” Layla said, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.

Yes, she was the first on high slides and yes, she liked crawling into caves, but that was all on vacation! Going into the woods was uncertain. Going into the woods alone…forget about it.

“Didn’t I just say that you were the most adventurous one out of all of us? Also, why not? I mean, like you said, it’s not that important, right? So nothing bad will happen to you. Just go and tell us what goes on. Do it after school.” Meara said.

“After school? But I have homework!” Layla protested.

She did not, in fact, have homework, but it was the one moment she wished that she did.

“So? You can complete it after the woods. It’s not that big. Besides, who cares about homework? You always get it done eventually.” Meara said.

Lena’s eyes glinted with curiosity, Aella looked concerned, Meara’s expression was blank and frank.

Yet nobody said a word.

“I’ll think about it.” Layla said hesitantly.

For on one hand, she didn’t wish to find what was out there, but on the other, she wondered…

She’d think about it. It didn’t mean no or yes, it just meant that she would think about it. Nothing to get stressed about, right?

Nothing to entirely stress about at all.