“Why not?”

“Because, child, it is forbidden.”

“Why is it forbidden?” Millie looked up at the elder. He was patient, and could see in her eyes, her countenance, that she was not being defiant, merely curious; As the young always are.

“It is forbidden because it is forbidden, that is all you need know for now, child. Stay clear of Gau-Do, little one. Nothing good can come from it.”

Millie stood...

“All the villages were terrified of the creature in the forest, but one day a curious child decides to investigate, and surprised everyone with what they found—“

“Balki?” Larry interrupted. He looked at the pair of two year old boys already enraptured in Balki’s story.

“Cousin, I’m telling a story here.”

“I just want to make sure this won’t be a scary story,” Larry said, not wanting to admit t...

Everyone is scared of what’s in the forest, but no one knows what it is. All we know is that the only people who have ever seen it have gone missing. Today I’ve decided that I’m going to try to find it. I’m going in the forest at night so no one sees me. I packed only a little not much. I’m going to have to ration it.

It’s night time to go in the forest. Making sure no one sees me. Once I ge...

The forest was off-limits. The villagers had long told the story of some dark creature that lived in the depths of the dense woods. Anyone that dared enter never returned. Life was generally happy in the village. Working together in a peaceful bliss meant most villagers never left. They enjoyed staying there and living together as long as no one enters the forest.

One day, a young boy was pickin...

My name is Kathleen McCullough. I am eight years old, I have a red dress that matches my hair, and my favorite time of day is the night. My family lives on the western outskirts of the village. The Woods run close to us, right up to the wards of the boundary stones. Our neighbors say that the fairy road runs right through the property, that it was bad luck to build here in the first place. Mother ...

The woods aren’t allowed. That’s what my Mom said when I turned 4, it’s what Greta said when I turned 5. When I turned 6 no one brought it up, because Greta had broken the rules. Greta had gone in, and she never returned.

So when I turned 7, I went in. 7 was an odd age. Everyone treated me like the porcelain doll my pale, burnt skin implied I was. But Greta, with her olive, sun kissed skin, and ...

"Come on, Marisa! We're almost there!" Yasmin pulled her shy twin sister along, who was already shaking. The two were adventuring into the Arca Forest, trees spiraled high to shade from the light of the sun and moon. Legends have it, if you were to visit the cave and offer up your treasure, you'd get taken to heaven.

Marisa and Yasmin jumped over the roots of the trees, pushing aside the leaves ...

George’s mother had told him the tales of the creature in the forest. How when the lumberjacks were logging down the trees, a monstrous noise came from the forest. It made them run away, tripping over branches of the fallen trees they had just cut down and even abandoning their axes. When they returned, they found that their axes were gone and the trees they cut had disappeared. Like a phantom spi...

A loud screech called in the forest. The people of the nearby town shivered and ran around outside or hid in their houses.

A young boy named Oliver snuck away one morning carrying a backpack full of snacks and water. He had a pocket knife in his jeans. Green plants and tall trees stood near the bushy area that Oliver entered. He sang, “I’m going to the forest, going to the forest to see what is i...

“Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there was a village called Rybom. Rybom was a tiny little village very near the eastern edge of the desert between lands. The village had a few shops and homes, a schoolhouse for the children, a courthouse for the adults, and an orphanage.

“In the orphanage, there was a little boy—“

“Oh, that the boy that sees the—!” The old woman claps a ha...