Hey Steemians!

Welcome back to Week 3 of Season 24 of the Steemit Challenge!

Nadeesha always felt more comfortable in the forest rather than in the village. While most people were afraid of its silence, she found satisfaction in the rustling of leaves and animal sounds from far away.

Her camera was her closest friend, and she and it had captured the keening loveliness of her native land: sunlight on deer antlers, leopards stretching on branches, birds in mid-flight.

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That morning felt different.

The air was lighter, the wind chill, and the trees rustled with their secrets she couldn’t make out. With an unknown lake, that no villager had ever ventured into, somewhere deep beyond the marked trails. It was precisely the sort of mystery that she lived for.

She looked back to her younger brother. “The farther that I go, the closer I get to where I need to be. If I’m late, don’t worry. All you need to know is that I’m going after something beautiful.”

But when the sun was hidden behind the hills and Nadeesha was not back, the fear laid into her family full hearted as a storm does. Villagers, forest rangers and rescue volunteers became a team and enter the jungle. They found nothing–not a footprint, not a trail”. Just silence.

It was not until one of them spotted the glint of metal near the stump of a massive, gnarly tree that they realized their mistake. It was her camera—dirt-smudged but unharmed. The memory card in it was almost full. Most photos depicted her normal work: birds perched on branches, a tiger paw, squirrels jumping from tree to tree.

And the last photo… left everyone in the photo frozen.

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It was an old and rotten hut made of wood, which was hidden below moss-covered branches. A tall figure, partially obscured by the door, stood still. Its body resembled that of a man but its proportions were all wrong, too tall, limbs too long.

The face can not be identified, but the mood of the picture felt heavy… almost unreal.

Terrorized yet determined, the team went back to the place where the camera was discovered, scrounging for the hut. Day after day, they walked in circles. But the forest had opened its mouth a large to swallow all signs of it. Some swore that at night, they had heard weird whispers in the trees, as if someone were calling from far away.

A week later, one old villager stepped forward. Above all, he called his name Muthu, and he used the local myth which was long forgotten.

He used to say that he had forsaken everything for the sake of his confessions, his secret prayers, and especially for his intense dual meditations: all-night vigils before the kindling fire, and the frequent, heart-piercing examination of soul.

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There was once a man,” he said, “a forest monk, who lived deep in the woods alone. They say he discovered the means of talking to animals and moved into the animals' world.

There are those who believe that he made a hut, by a well-concealed lake. It shows to only those with a pure heart… and to a camera bold enough to face.”ankoitedextracommentableismΗΜΑ

Nadeesha’s brother clung to hope. Time went by but he continued to take her old camera with him everywhere, around his neck, walking along the trails every weekend. On a foggy morning, he tracked a deer that was going in a curious direction, more deeply than he’d ever been.

And then—he saw it.

The hut.

No figure this time, only silence.

He didn’t dare go near. Instead, he would leave a note at the door: “If you are with them, stay safe. If you can return, come home.”

He then turned around and walked off, his cheek dribbling with one tear.

According to some, it was said that Nadeesha discovered the secret lake. It is rumored that the forest herself chose her. But her pictures endure, depicting a world that lots and lots of people worry and handful of people know.

And the hut? It still waits… for the next dare to pick the trail trodden by wildlings of whispers.

Regards,
artist1111