The Forest Well by Dani Carr

alone it sits and stares

The well had sat in the woods for as long as anyone had ever known these trees and soil. For as long as anyone knew, the well was as much a part of the forest as the root system. Stones on stones, with ivy and moss crawling up one side. Few knew if any water remained at the bottom. Sometimes kids from the town would toss soda cans or bottles of beer down the well and listen for a splash or glass against the ground.

No sound ever came.

So the well sat undisturbed, gathering moss and dirt and leaves, for years upon years. 

One day, a young woman arrived at the well. In her hands she carried three thick notebooks full of writing, and two pens. She leaned against the well and looked down into the sheer drop of darkness.

She stared into it for so long, the well began to stare back. Like an eye, with one large iris of stone and a black pupil. 

A gust of wind rustled the woman’s hair, breaking her from her reverie. She tightened her sweater around herself and finally, she dropped the three notebooks and two pens down the well. Then she walked into the trees without a second look back.

She didn’t wait to hear if a noise would follow her into the forest.

But for the first time in an age, one did. A splash, faint but resonant, sounded from deep, deep within the well.

For the first time, water filled the well again. The forest’s own tears.

For nothing was more heartbreaking than an abandoned well of ideas.

for more brilliant works from Dani Carr, check out: @thisdanicarr on Instagram, @itsdanicarr on bluesky