Magic in the Woods (flash fiction)

Jack heard that there was magic in the woods. Amy had told him stories when she got back from vacation with her sister and her dad. She told of strange happenings, unexplainable things that made him wonder if there was truth to the stories the older boys told around the campfire with flashlights under their chins. 

Daniel and Jason told stories about their fishing reels spinning on their own, and their canteens refilling themselves. They told of strange melodies coming from the rocks on Lookout Hill, and shadows that changed their shape from human to beast. Jack had always thought that they made up those stories to scare the girls, but now he wasn’t so sure.
 
Amy told him about the morning she woke up and couldn’t find her sneakers. She was certain she had left them by the inside flap of the tent she shared with Sue. They had both searched for them, and when they were finally spotted late the next day, they were hanging on a branch so high that even her dad couldn’t have thrown them up there. Amy also told Jack that she heard those strange melodies too, the ones coming from deep inside the rocks on Lookout Hill.
 
Now it was his turn to brave the rustling leaves, the shadows, and the night sounds. He was going into the woods with Steve, Marc, and Steve’s yellow lab Bennett. Their parents had finally given in to the boys incessant nagging. They were leaving at first light for the weekend.
 
Jack was glad Bennett was coming along. He loved that dog, and he trusted him to alert them to danger. He also knew that Bennett would be an always-wagging source of comfort.
 
Jack was ready. He was nervous and excited, and he knew that when he came out of the woods on Sunday, he would be one of the older boys, and that he would have a story to tell…

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