Curse of the Village Myst

The warm, golden sunset bathed the rural road in a soft glow. The air had a crispness to it, and in the distance, smoke of chimneys had coloured the sky orange and pink. Ling breathed in deeply and took a moment to appreciate her surroundings. She was on her way back from an afternoon shopping trip, driving along a winding country lane that cut through rows of farmland. Her car was silent, heavy with anticipation.

"I can't wait to see what's in store for me," she murmured to herself.

Her eyes were fixed on the row of poplars that bordered the road on one side. They swayed gently in the evening breeze, their long, thin leaves rustling softly. Ling slowed down as she approached them and began to drive past them slowly. She caught sight of a small figure standing amongst them, as still as a statue. It was dressed in old-fashioned clothes - wearing a shabby dress that looked straight out of Qing dynasty times - and its hair was tied up into two thick braids on either side of its head. Its back was turned to her, but it seemed to be looking at her from over its shoulder, craning its neck slightly to do so. It seemed like an eternity before they passed each other by; Ling tried to keep staring at it as long as possible while trying not to break the speed limit.

Once they'd passed each other, she turned her head back around forward and speeded up again until she'd driven past the line of trees and could no longer see them anymore. As she drove away, her heart beating faster than usual, Ling wondered why that little girl had been standing there all by herself in the middle of nowhere when it was getting dark out. That part of town wasn't very developed yet; just fields and farms here and there; so where did she come from? Ling thought about it for a few moments more before deciding that she must have been taking a shortcut home from school or something, given how far off the road she'd been standing on. She didn't want to think about it too much any longer though; not after she had such wonderful news waiting for her at home tonight.

All day long during work today, she'd felt like something remarkable was going to happen today; like someone had whispered something exciting into her ear during breakfast this morning, or maybe some mystery had beckoned for her attention during lunchtime when she'd gone outside to take a quick smoke break... There were times where she'd felt like someone was watching her almost obsessively, although once she went home at night and locked herself safely behind closed doors again, all those feelings would disappear with no trace left behind them. But now that she'd seen that little girl dressed all in black among those trees... Ling began to wonder if perhaps her premonitions were more than just mere figments of imagination after all.