Darren opened his eyes.
Cold earth pressed against his palms.
For a moment, he didn't understand why — why he was staring at dirt, why the air burned in his lungs, why the night felt so close. Then the chill crept in, sharp and immediate, and he realized he was outside.
In the woods.
He lay on his side, one knee twisted beneath him, like he'd just stumbled and fallen hard. A cold wind slid through his hair, brushing past his ears, carrying the damp smell of leaves and soil.
It was dark.
Not completely — just enough moonlight to turn the trees into tall, crooked shapes, watching in silence.
Get up.
The thought came before the decision did.
His body moved.
Hands pressed into the ground. Muscles tensed. He pushed himself upright, breath coming fast and shallow, heart pounding as if it had already decided to run.
He didn't remember standing.
He just was.
Something was wrong.
Not just the forest. Not just the cold.
The feeling returned — heavy, suffocating.
That sense of being watched.
And this time, it felt closer.
He didn't wait another second.
A scream tore through the woods behind him — high-pitched, raw, echoing between the trees.
He ran.
Leaves and branches blurred past as his legs moved faster than his thoughts. His heart thundered in his chest, so loud it drowned out everything else.
He risked a glance over his shoulder.
Nothing.
The forest stretched on behind him, empty and dark.
He turned back—
Too late.
A low branch slammed into him. He threw his arm up instinctively, pain exploding through his shoulder as he crashed hard to the ground, skidding across damp leaves and dirt.
Something slipped from his wrist.
He saw it — just for a second — a watch, the strap flashing dully as it tumbled away and landed near the edge of the slope.
"No—"
He dropped to one knee, fingers scraping uselessly against the ground as he reached for it.
Another scream split the air.
Closer this time.
He didn't think. He couldn't.
He pushed himself up and ran again, leaving the watch where it lay as the sound chased him through the trees.
Then—
Darren jolted awake.
The darkness of the forest was gone, replaced by the dim interior of the tent.
His breath came fast, chest tight, heart still racing like it hadn't realized the dream was over.
He let out a shaky breath and sank back against the sleeping bag.
It's just a dream, he told himself.
It had felt too real — the cold, the panic, the sound of that scream — but it was still just a dream. He closed his eyes briefly, trying to calm the tight feeling in his chest.
Another one.
He frowned.
He'd had a similar nightmare back at home, before Charlie picked him up. Different details, same feeling. The same forest. The same sense of being watched.
They felt… connected.
Maybe I've just been worrying too much, Darren thought. About the trip. About the woods.
That had to be it.
He brushed the thought aside and turned his head toward the small mesh window of the tent. The light outside had changed. The sky was dimmer now, the gray slipping toward orange and shadow.
How long was I asleep?
Darren exhaled and shifted — then froze.
The sleeping bag beside him was empty.
Darren sat up, blinking, his eyes adjusting to the dim light inside the tent.
Charlie wasn't there.
He glanced around. Charlie's backpack still rested near the tent wall. His jacket lay crumpled beside it, shoes pushed off to the side.
"Gosh…" he muttered quietly.
The forest outside was silent, save for the soft rush of the stream nearby.
Too silent.
Darren shifted, listening, suddenly aware of how small the tent felt with only one person inside.
He didn't waste another second.
Darren grabbed the zipper and pulled it open, stumbling out of the tent into the open air.
It was darker now. Way darker.
The sun was dropping fast, hanging low behind the trees, its light stretched thin and weak, casting long shadows across the campsite.
Too fast, Darren thought.
He turned left. Then right.
No voices. No movement.
No sign of anyone.
"Gosh…" he muttered under his breath.
He stepped away from the tent, eyes scanning the clearing, then the trail beyond it. Maybe Jenna and the others just haven't come back yet, he told himself.
But Charlie should've been here.
"Charlie?" Darren called, louder this time.
Nothing answered.
He walked a little farther, edging closer to the trees, his boots crunching softly against leaves and dirt. The forest stood still around him — no birds, no insects, nothing.
Then he felt it.
A cold rush of air slid across the back of his neck.
Darren froze.
Goosebumps broke out across his arms, crawling up his spine — not from the temperature, but from something deeper, something instinctive. The kind of fear that didn't need a reason.
Don't look back.
The thought hit him suddenly, sharp and urgent.
He swallowed… and turned anyway.
There was nothing behind him.
Just trees. Twisted trunks. Shadows stretching longer as the sun sank lower, bending and overlapping until they barely looked like shadows at all.
His heart thudded in his chest.
"Wait…"
Movement caught his eye near the campsite.
Someone was walking between the tents.
Relief flooded him so fast it almost hurt.
"Charlie?" Darren said.
He broke into a run, heading straight toward him.
"Charlie? Where were you?" Darren asked.
Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Where am I? Where were you?" He smirked. "I went out for a piss, and when I came back, you were gone."
"Yeah, yeah—right," Darren said, forcing a weak laugh. "I just… thought you got lost or something."
Charlie was about to respond when he glanced past Darren. "Hey. Look—they're back."
Darren turned just as Jenna and her friends emerged from near the stream, heading back toward the campsite.
Hey… sorry we took so long," Jenna said, a little breathless. "I—uh—the fish were… hard to catch."
James quickly chimed in. "Yeah. I hate fishing. I'm terrible at it." He scoffed. "It's annoying."
Darren froze.
Hate fishing?
Jenna's words from earlier flashed through his mind.
James is good at catching fish.
Darren glanced at Charlie and saw the same flicker of doubt cross his face.
Was she lying? Darren wondered.
Or maybe she'd just remembered it wrong.
He didn't know.
Jenna looked calm enough. Beautiful, even. Honest.
She wouldn't lie unless she had to… right?
"Alright," Stacy said suddenly, breaking the silence. "Let's see what we caught."
The group gathered as the campfire was lit, flames crackling to life as the last of the daylight disappeared behind the trees. They roasted marshmallows, talked quietly, and cooked the fish over the fire.
From the outside, everything looked normal.
But something about Jenna felt… off.
She didn't look happy. If anything, she looked distracted — worried, maybe. Sad.
Charlie didn't seem to notice, but Darren did.
She used to be more cheerful than this.
Maybe it's nothing, he told himself.
I'm probably just overthinking it.
"Damn," Charlie said between bites. "This fish is actually good. Tastes just like that sea fish we had yesterday, remember?"
"Yeah," Darren replied quietly.
He barely tasted it.
Before anyone could say more, a strange sound came from across the fire — low and uneven, almost like someone swallowing too fast.
Stacy stiffened.
"Stacy?" James said with a grin, lifting his marshmallow stick. "You hungry or something?"
She shook her head quickly. "No. Sorry. I just… need to use the bathroom."
"Oh."
"Anyone got toilet paper?"
"Yeah, here," Jenna said, handing it over.
Stacy took it and started toward the darker edge of the campsite.
Darren watched her go. Something about it didn't sit right.
"Hey, Stacy," he said suddenly.
She stopped and turned.
"You sure you wanna go alone?" Darren hesitated, then pushed on. "I mean… it's pretty dark out there. Maybe you want someone to go with you?"
Stacy opened her mouth—
"Darren," James cut in with a smirk. "What is this?" He laughed lightly. "She's not twelve, man. She's seventeen."
"Yeah. Right," Darren said.
He hadn't meant for it to come out that way.
But after everything that had happened — the dreams, the cold, the feeling that wouldn't leave — he couldn't shake the bad feeling twisting in his gut.
Stacy gave a small, awkward smile. "I'll be fine."
Then she turned and disappeared into the dark.
Darren kept watching long after she was gone.
A quarter of an hour passed.
The fire crackled softly, the sound suddenly too loud in the quiet.
Stacy didn't come back.
Darren shifted, glancing toward the dark trees for the third time. "Hey," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "I think it's been too long."
No one answered right away.
"Maybe we should go check on her," Darren added.
"Wait… are you sure?" Ava asked. "It's only been like fifteen minutes. She always takes forever, even at school."
"I know," Darren said. "I'm just… worried."
Another five minutes passed.
No one spoke.
Stacy didn't come back.
James sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Okay. Yeah. This is getting weird." He glanced toward the trees. "We should go look for her."
No one argued.
They grabbed their flashlights and followed the narrow path into the woods — the same direction Stacy had gone.
"Stacy?" Darren called.
"Stacy!" Jenna added, her grip tightening around her flashlight.
No answer.
The forest swallowed their voices. It was completely dark now, the firelight gone, the cold pressing in as their flashlights cut thin beams through the trees.
"Where would she even go?" Ava whispered.
"Wait," Jenna said suddenly. "I know where."
She led them a short distance off the trail.
A small, weathered building emerged from the darkness.
"What is this?" Charlie asked.
"An old restroom," Jenna said. "From some camp that used to be around here. We found it earlier today when we were… looking for food."
"You think she went in there?" Ava said, uneasy. "It's disgusting."
Jenna shook her head. "I don't know."
"I'll check inside," Darren said. "Charlie, come with me."
The two of them stepped into the building.
The air inside was stale and damp. Three stalls lined one wall, their doors hanging crooked. A single light bulb dangled from the ceiling, long dead. Dirt and grime coated everything.
They moved slowly, flashlights steady, opening each stall one by one.
Empty.
Just stained toilets and the sharp smell of decay.
Charlie stepped back, exhaling. "Darren… maybe she just—"
He stopped.
His eyes locked on the cracked mirror above the sink.
For just a second, something moved in the reflection.
A shape.
Humanoid.
Dark.
Charlie froze.
Then he spun around, heart hammering.
Nothing.
Just empty air.
He turned back to the mirror.
Nothing there either.
Did I imagine that?
"Hey! Guys!" Jenna's voice came from outside. "Guys!"
Darren and Charlie rushed out.
On the ground near the trees lay a phone, its screen cracked, the casing scratched.
"Is that—" Darren started.
"Stacy's," Jenna said quietly. There was no mistaking it — the case, the wallpaper. "She wouldn't just leave this."
Charlie scanned the ground, then stopped.
A few steps away lay something else.
"Guys…" he said slowly. "Look at this."
He bent down and picked it up.
A police hat.
Darren's stomach dropped.
The sirens, he thought.
The police car speeding past them earlier.
What were they chasing?
The cold feeling inside him deepened.
Then—
A scream ripped through the woods.
High-pitched. Wrong. Powerful.
It echoed between the trees.
Another scream followed.
This one was weaker.
Broken.
Human.
"Stacy," Jenna whispered.