The forest had always made Elara feel as though she had stepped outside of time. That afternoon, the woods were painted in shades of gold, amber, and brown. Sunlight slipped between the branches, falling softly across the old wooden log where she sat with her legs crossed beneath her. Elara tilted her face toward the sky. For a moment, she closed her eyes. The wind moved gently through her hair. “You’re here again.” The voice came from somewhere behind the trees. Elara's eyes opened. She looked around. There was no one. Only the rustling leaves. She smiled faintly. Perhaps she had imagined it. For years, Elara had come to this forest whenever the world became too loud. She brought no phone, no company, and almost never spoke to anyone while she was there. Just her thoughts. And her notebook. She reached beside her and picked up the small sketchbook she had brought that day. The pages were filled with drawings of trees, forgotten paths, birds, and places she could barely remember visiting. But there was one drawing she had made more than a dozen times. A white-barked tree standing beside a narrow path. She didn't know why she kept drawing it. She had never been able to remember where she had seen it. Yet every autumn, the image returned to her dreams. Elara opened her notebook to a fresh page. She began to sketch. A tree. A path. A small wooden bridge. And, beyond it... A little house hidden among the trees. She stopped. Her pencil hovered above the paper. She had never drawn the house before. Her heart began to beat faster. Then she noticed something strange. A single golden leaf had fallen onto the page. It wasn't like the other leaves around her. It was perfectly dry, almost glowing in the afternoon light. And on its surface was a tiny mark. A symbol she somehow recognized. Elara stared at it. A memory flickered through her mind. A child's laughter. A warm hand holding hers. A voice whispering: “Come back when the leaves turn gold.” She stood suddenly. The forest seemed different now. The familiar path ahead of her disappeared into a curtain of golden leaves. Elara looked at her drawing once more. The mysterious house was there. And for the first time, she realized something. The place in her dreams wasn't a dream at all. It was somewhere in this forest. She closed her notebook. Then, without knowing what she would find—or what she might remember—Elara stepped onto the forgotten path. Behind her, the wind whispered through the trees. And somewhere deep within the forest, a bell began to ring. Once. Then twice. Elara stopped. She looked ahead. A faint golden light was glowing between the trees. And somehow, she knew it was waiting for her.
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