The Girl Who Braids at Dawn

They found Júlia at dawn with a braid woven into her own hair, paralyzed,

eyes wide open. The girl from the woods had marked her. It started weeks

before when farmers noticed perfect braids tied into their horses' tails overnight.

They laughed, cut them out, called it a prank. Then the animals vanished,

leaving only polished horseshoes and the smell of wet earth. Júlia went to check the stables one

night and found every horse frozen, breathing hard, tails freshly braided. She turned and saw

her. Pale skin, dripping hair, smile too thin. The girl whispered,

you cut mine, no one cuts what I leave behind. The braids unraveled like snakes.