What Lies in the Woods

by Kate Alice Marshall

The mistake was the point. You couldn’t let someone in without it breaking you, but you could choose the way you broke.

“I understand,” I said, because I did. I understood the weight of a secret, and the urge to bury yourself beneath it.

“That’s the thing about trust, isn’t it?” Ethan said. “You gather all the evidence you can, use your brain, weigh character and past actions. But the final inch of it—that’s faith. Trust means believing in someone. It’s not just a conclusion. It’s a choice.”