For years I’ve listened to tales of the forest, how it protects us, blessing our village with peace and harmony in turn for a simple offering.

 

It’s said to be a great honour being the chosen one—the girl whose fate is willingly handed to the spirits of the forest so the rest of us could thrive. But it’s all lies, untruths told to conceal the many secrets our elders are keeping from us.

 

The truth is out there prowling the woods, and I will find it. I’ve been preparing for this my whole life, to finally find answers and prove that there’s something wicked hiding in the forest.

 

Lurking. Watching. Waiting.

 

And every seventeen years it hunts. This year…it’s my turn.