Whispers in the Shadows

A thick, oppressive silence hung over the carriage as it rumbled down the winding country lane, carrying its lone passenger toward an uncertain fate. The young woman peered out the window, her eyes scanning the looming shadows of the towering oaks that flanked the road, their gnarled branches reaching out like skeletal fingers. The air was weighted with an unseen presence, a palpable unease that seemed to seep into the very marrow of her bones.