My boyfriend is a nine-tailed fox

Chapter 3: A Strange Dream

Anita stood in a dense forest, the towering trees casting long shadows in the moonlight. She wasn’t sure how she’d gotten there, but she could hear whispers all around her, faint and eerie.

“Who’s there?” she called out, her voice barely above a whisper.

The whispers grew louder, forming fragmented words in a language she didn’t recognize. The sound seemed to come from every direction, pulling her deeper into the forest. Her feet moved on their own, brushing against soft moss and crunching twigs beneath her shoes.

In the distance, a faint light glimmered, flickering like a beacon. She felt an irresistible pull toward it, her heart pounding in her chest. As she got closer, the light took shape—a glowing bead, suspended in the air, spinning slowly.

Anita reached out, her fingers trembling. The whispers grew deafening, rising to a crescendo just as her hand brushed against the light—

Anita shot upright in bed, her heart racing. She blinked, her room bathed in the pale glow of moonlight. Her breath came in short gasps as she tried to shake off the dream.

“What was that?” she muttered, running a hand through her hair.

The dream had felt so real—too real. She could still hear faint echoes of the whispers, though they faded quickly. Her fingers tingled, as if they’d actually touched something.

She glanced at her alarm clock. 3:17 a.m. Great. She’d never get back to sleep now.

Sliding out of bed, Anita padded to the window and looked out. The forest loomed in the distance, dark and quiet. For a moment, she felt the same pull she’d felt in the dream, like the forest was calling to her.

“Nope,” she said firmly, shaking her head. “Not happening.”

Still, the dream lingered in her mind the next morning as she ate breakfast. Claire noticed immediately when Anita dragged herself into school, bleary-eyed and distracted.

“Late-night study session?” Claire teased, handing Anita a coffee.

“More like late-night creepy dream,” Anita replied, taking the cup gratefully.

“Do tell,” Max said, joining them at their usual spot by the lockers.

Anita hesitated. “It was just… weird. I was in this forest, and there were whispers. I don’t know what they were saying, but it felt like they were calling me.”

Max raised an eyebrow. “Calling you? Like, ‘Hey, Anita, come hang out,’ or ‘Hey, Anita, come meet your doom’?”

“Not helping,” Anita said, though she cracked a smile.

Claire frowned. “That’s… unsettling. Do you think it means something?”

“It’s just a dream,” Anita said quickly. “Probably my brain freaking out over the project.”

But deep down, she wasn’t so sure.

Later that day, as she walked home from school, her feet slowed when she reached the edge of the forest. The trees seemed to sway gently in the wind, almost beckoning her.

Her heart thudded as she took a hesitant step forward. The air felt different here—cooler, heavier. She stared into the shadows, half expecting to hear the whispers again.

“Get a grip, Anita,” she muttered, turning away.

But as she walked home, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the forest was waiting for her. And somehow, she knew she’d be back.