Clara immediately messaged Leo, and within minutes, he met her on the back porch. Armed with heavy flashlights and garden tools for protection, the two neighbors cautiously headed into the dark yard, following the exact path from the camera footage.
The bright beams of light cut through the midnight fog and finally landed on an ancient, massive oak tree that Clara had never paid much attention to. Nestled prominently on the side of its thick trunk was a grotesque, swollen lump, easily the size of a beach ball. And right then, the two froze.
They realized the faint, melodic whistling sound they had been hearing for days was vibrating directly from inside that very wood. As they stepped closer, they noticed a single, heavy drop of dark, thick sap slowly oozing from a hairline crack in the bark. It smelled slightly sweet, but mostly just heavy, thick, and intensely, suffocatingly overwhelming.