[ WP ] The Aokigahara Suicide Forest

The forest was intensely quiet, as quiet as it had n't been in a while. The silence made the world close in softly, and the only thing to punctuate that was the occasional snap of twigs underfoot or the heftier cracking of bone. 
 
 There were a lot of bones. 
 
 There had always been bones. It was a sort of tradition, the kind spoken of in only the most hushed of tones. The forest provided an end for those who would take it - it called out and they answered. There was no stop that could be put to it, as the locals had once learned, and as had been confirmed in the last days. Before then, there used to not be so many bones. 
 
 Farther in, the ground became liberally peppered with white. Fewer and fewer twigs were the source of the crunching underfoot, and after walking farther the pale sky to be glimpsed through the canopy had a mirror in the carpet of remains from which the trees climb upward. It was hard to keep solid footing at this point, but it was not not much farther - the growing heaps of remains were a testament to that. Only the stronger folks had made it this far in, it looked like, and small scraps of clothing could still be seen amongst the field of remains. 
 
 The hill of bones crested to reveal a wide clearing, a gradually sloping pit in the dead thicket. Far away in the middle could be spotted a small ring of mossy stone untouched by the bone field. It was not too long of a walk, and more detail came into view. Several gnarled stones stood sentinel around a pedestal with something atop it. It was a large totem of some squatting figure clutching an hourglass between its legs, its mouth a teeth-baring rictus. From its off-center position it was evident that it had been disturbed once already. One small nudge, perhaps it had even been accidental, from a careless hiker or curious soul - one was enough though. Such a small action, with such large consequences. 
 
 It's not wise to reach out for the totem. There's a reason the inner circle is devoid of bones. 
 
 Still, the forest calls. 
 
 
 ( I got a bit fanciful with this, sorry if this was intended to be solely realistic )
