Page 2

T he surrounding air suddenly dropped in temperature.

A coincidence, right? Looking at my friends, they appear not to notice the change.

A low layer of mist covers the ground, making it hard to see where to place my feet as we walk.

I can’t hear a sound other than our group’s footsteps.

Surely, animals should be making noise. This isn’t normal, and my heartbeat quickens.

I take a few deep breaths to calm my nerves and continue to place one foot in front of the other.

Snap.

Snap.

Hearing the sound of branches cracking, I turn to face my friends to see them laughing quietly. Tim is standing there holding small branches, with a smirk on his face.

“HAHA, I totally got you! Ass!”

Great, he has brought back the terrible nickname from high school, thanks Mum and Dad for a name with ‘ass’ in it, what did they think was going to happen?

“You wish!”

Dick. He did get me, not that I would let them know this.

As we venture further into the woods, the light of the modern world is left behind.

Luckily, with it being autumn, the trees have no leaves - it is odd though, they shouldn’t be this bare.

Light from the full moon shines bright, and it illuminates the pathway.

I take it back, it’s not lucky; all it’s doing is adding to the uneasy atmosphere.

Before me, the pathway feels like it’s stretching into the horizon. Trees curve, bend, and twist towards us like the forest was expecting guests. Further and further, we walk as the mist starts to rise from the ground, our bodies being enveloped the deeper we go.

“I don’t like this,” Talia whimpers.

“I’m here, babe, nothing to worry about,” Tim says, pulling her close.

I find myself rolling my eyes over her reaction to the strangeness occurring.

There’s a bit of fog in the forest, what’s the big deal?

Although it is getting harder to see where we’re going.

Hearing my friends nearby is the only way I have of knowing we’re all still together.

Fuck it. I pull out my phone and turn the light on, shining it around in hopes it might break through the fog. Trying to find out where they are.

“Tim? Talia?” I ask.

“We’re here!” Tim replies.

“Bentley? Callie?”

“Here!” They respond in unison.

I suggest we pick up the pace and find somewhere to stop and gather our senses.

I expected to face some jeers and resistance, but as the girls are seemingly starting to get a little freaked out, we agree.

It takes some time, but we manage to find a small clearing that has no fog.

A small circle clearing surrounded by blackened trees that look burnt and dead.

Not ominous at all. I keep this thought to myself, though.

“I don’t like this idea anymore,” Callie complains.

Bentley just kisses her to help calm her down.

“I agree! This was a stupid idea!” Talia moans.

“It was your idea, Talia!” I argue back.

“Back off, man! She’s scared!” Tim says, squaring up to me.

Holding my hands up, I back off, muttering to myself in a low, annoyed tone.

Gazing off through the woods that surround us, I spot a dark figure in the distance that’s standing there, observing us.

Footsteps quietly approach behind me, and I’m so transfixed by the figure that when the hand lands on my shoulder, I jump out of my skin.

Physically jumping into the air. My heart begins to race at a mile a second.

It starts to calm when I’m faced with Bentley staring at me, his shaved head and trimmed beard suit his cut jawline.

He has a bulkier muscular build, and his arms are covered in tattoos.

Always the knight in shining armour. When Tim takes things too far with his jokes, Bentley is always there for me.

“Everything okay?” he asks sweetly.

God, what I would do to have him take me to bed as well.

“Just a little spooked. Can you see that thing over there?” I say, gesturing towards the creepy figure just staring at us.

In the peripherals of my vision, I see him nod.

We lock eyes, and his gorgeous emeralds glint with worry toward me.

This was a bad idea coming here. We group back up, and Bentley explains what we’ve seen, and this freaks the girls out more.

Just as we decide to leave, we realise that we have no clue which way we came. Shit.

“Kaaasssssiiiiussssss,” I hear my name being whispered inside my head. How the fuck is there a voice in my head?

Turning around on the spot, I look for the source of the voice. Fear starts to form on my face, causing unrest in the group. That confirms it. The voice is definitely in my head.

“Kaaasssssiiiiussssss.”

Snapping my head around the clearing, I check that it’s not my friends pulling a prank, but am met with vacant expressions and looks of concern.

Maybe they weren’t the ones saying my name.

Then, who did? Circling the tree line, I look for someone else.

Someone who would enjoy scaring people on the verge of it being Halloween.

“Kassius. What’s wrong?” Callie asks with a tremble in her voice.

Hearing my name being said, I snap my head to her.

“Dude, what the fuck is going on?” Tim snaps.

“Kaaasssssiiiiussssss.”

“Kaaasssssiiiiussssss.”

“You guys can’t hear that?” I ask.

“Hear what? You’re freaking us out man!” Bentley chimes in.

Crack.

Snap.

Crack.

A high-pitched scream echoes through the forest. In the blink of an eye, we all run.

Faster. Run faster. Dammit Kassius, why did you let yourself go!

Fucking run to safety. I can hear myself panting as I continue to make ground from where we were.

Hitting a wall of dense mist, my feet catch something, and I start to tumble.

Rolling and rolling from the momentum of my run, I come to a stop as my body hits something rigid.

Relief momentarily hits when my hand feels the tree trunk behind me.

Pushing myself up, my hand cuts itself on something sharp.

I wince from the flash of pain, and blood begins to flow, the sticky liquid drops from my hand.

I freeze when I see what caused the gash.

A snapped bone. It looks like a human one, too.

“Find me, Kassius. I’ll give you everything you desire and more.”

Instinct takes over my body as I begin to walk in the direction the voice is leading me.