# 🌲 **8. "The Whisperer of Epping Forest" – a very long horror story**---

## *Prologue: A Forest with a Voice of Its Own*

Epping Forest is one of the oldest places in England.

Wild, vast, full of winding paths that stretch for miles among trees that have lived for centuries.

Locals say it's easy to get lost in this forest.

But the real trouble begins when the **forest starts talking to you**.

Not as a hallucination.

Not as a gust of wind.

But as a voice—clear, close, whispered directly into your ear.

Because in Epping Forest lives something people call the

**Whisperer**.

And once you hear its voice…

it never stops.

---

# 🍂 *Chapter I: The Man Who Didn't Believe in Legends*

Oliver Hensley had always believed that people's fears were exaggerated.

He worked as a therapist, specializing in treating phobias, especially those related to darkness and space.

So when his sister—a young policewoman from Walthamstow—disappeared while on patrol in Epping, Oliver didn't believe the reports she sent just before her disappearance:

> *"I hear a voice.

> It's calling me.

> Please don't go into the woods.

> Don't look for me."*

The police dismissed it as panic.

Then as disorientation.

And when she wasn't found, they presumed she was missing.

Oliver didn't believe it.

He entered the woods at dawn, armed with a map, a flashlight, his phone, and a recorder. And with the belief that he would solve the case like a rational person.

But logic didn't work in Epping Forest.

--

# 🌫️ *Chapter II: The First Whisper—Innocent as the Wind*

The beginning was ordinary.

Birdsong, rustling leaves, cool air.

No magic, no miracles.

Oliver delved deeper and deeper.

Until suddenly he felt… that he wasn't alone.

He stopped.

The forest fell silent—absolutely.

As if someone had turned off all sounds at once.

And then he heard it for the first time:

> *“Oliver…”*

The whisper was so close, as if someone was standing right behind him.

But when he turned around—no one was there.

He pulled out his phone and recorded it.

“Whoever's there, I'm not afraid, sir…”

> *“Oliver…”*

This time the sound came from the left.

“It's an echo,” he said to himself. “Nothing more.”

But an echo doesn't speak by name.

---

# 🍁 *Chapter III: The Recorder Transcript—The Evidence He Didn't Want*

Oliver reached the spot where the last trace of his sister had been found: an abandoned flashlight and a footprint leading deeper into the woods.

He set the recorder on the ground.

He surveyed the area.

At some point, he pressed play.

At first, he heard his own footsteps and breathing.

And then:

> *“Stay…”*

Invisible.

Close.

Almost human.

And something else.

Walking.

Slow, heavy footsteps—but **not his**.

Oliver picked up the recorder.

Someone else was moving nearby.

---

# 🌑 *Chapter IV: The Voice That Knew His Fears*

With each passing hour, the voice repeated more and more words—as if learning to speak.

> *“Oliver…

> why are you running…?”*

> *“Come…

> I see you…”*

> *“You’re not alone…”*

Oliver tried to dismiss it as a psychological phenomenon: stress, panic, the forest, isolation, susceptibility to autosuggestion.

But one thing shattered all rationality.

The voice began to speak **in his sister’s voice**.

> *“Ollie… come back… please…”*

Oliver doubled over.

He dropped the flashlight.

It illuminated a tree trunk, where fresh scratches had been carved:

**HENSLEY**

**DON’T COME BACK**

Below—the print of a human hand.

Too large, too long, as if the fingers were unnaturally thin.

---

# 🌲 *Chapter V: A Figure Among the Trees*

The sun had set.

The forest had fallen into darkness, absorbing the light like a well.

Oliver heard branches snapping.

Rustling sounds.

Quiet, drawn-out sighs, as if someone were walking among the trees.

The flashlight trembled in his hand.

At one point, he saw **something** at the edge of it.

A silhouette.

A human…

probably.

Tall, hunched, with his head tilted unnaturally to the side.

He stood motionless.

He wore something like a mask over his face, except… it wasn't made of cloth.

It was an expressionless face.

Smooth.

Inhuman.

And yet, his lips moved.

And he uttered a whisper:

> *“Ollie…”*

Oliver recoiled abruptly.

He tripped over a root.

The flashlight fell from his hand.

When he picked it up, the figure vanished.

--

# 🌬️ *Chapter VI: The Place Where the Forest Breathes*

Oliver ran to a clearing that wasn't on any map.

The trees around it were bent in one direction—toward the center, as if something had drawn them.

His sister's jacket lay on the grass.

He sat on it, smelling her perfume.

His heart ached as if it were digging into his ribs.

And then he heard his sister's last whisper:

> *"Run."*

At that moment, the forest came alive.

Tall, pale shapes emerged from behind the trees.

They moved slowly, unsteadily, as if each tree wanted to keep them close.

Oliver ran, not knowing where.

In the darkness, through the thicket, through the moss and swamp.

The whisper chased him like a voice in his head:

> *"Too late…

> I already have you…"*

---

# 🍃 *Chapter VII: The Exit That Wasn't an Exit*

Oliver reached the road leading to the edge of the forest.

The Spectator The house lights were on.

He felt the asphalt beneath his feet.

He was saved.

But when he looked at his phone, he noticed the recorder screen was glowing red.

Playback was still ongoing.

On the screen:

**00:00:01**

One second of recording.

But he'd left it on the whole way…

With a trembling hand, he pressed "play."

He heard:

> *"You're still in the forest."*

And then the house lights… went out.

The road dissolved like mist.

And the trees closed in again.

Epping Forest didn't let those who heard the Whisperer go.

--

# 🌙 *Epilogue: The Voice That Never Quiets*

Oliver remains missing to this day.

Locals claim that sometimes at night they hear a man calling out:

"Can anyone hear me?! Hello?!

And then a quieter voice—so quiet you can only hear it when you walk really close:

> *“Oliver…”*

Some say it's an echo.

Others say it's a recording.

But those who truly know the forest know this:

**The Whisperer learns new voices.

And now he has two.*