Page 13 of Horror and Chill

Then. “What? What do you mean Jay’s dead? What happened?”

I grip the steering wheel with one hand, the other clutching my phone to my ear like it’s the only thing keeping my brain from shattering. My breath fogs up the windshield.

“I don’t know. I thought he was the one chasing me, like we planned. He was supposed to show up in costume, give me the signal, and scare the hell out of me on camera. We’d done it before. A little primal chase scene, ya know?”

I swallow hard, pressing my knuckles into my mouth, then shake my head. “He came out of the trees, masked, silent. I thought it was Jay. So I ran. I thought it was part of the show.”

My voice starts to shake.

“I hid. Waited behind a tree, waiting for him to catch me like always. Only… he didn’t. Not right away. When he did…”

Another breath. Another swallow.

“When he did, it felt different. Rougher. He didn’t say anything, not at first. I still thought it was Jay. He wore the same mask. Same build. I didn’t even question it. It was supposed to feel real.”

Lorna listens. No words. No judging. Just waiting.

“We went through with the scene. Everything streamed. I…I didn’t realize something was wrong until he said somethingafter. Just a few words. And it wasn’t Jay’s voice. That’s when I knew.”

She still doesn’t interrupt.

“I ended the live. Ran to look for Jay. Found him on the path… already dead. There was blood everywhere.”

Lorna exhales like she’s been holding her breath too. “Jesus, Aggie…are you alright?”

“I didn’t know,” I say, more to myself than her. “I didn’t know it wasn’t him.”

“Are you somewhere safe now?” she asks. “Did the police come?”

I nod, even though she can’t see it. “Yeah. I’m in my car. I called them. They came. Took my statement.”

“What did you tell them?”

I stare out through the windshield. The parking lot is dark. My reflection looks like a ghost in the glass. “I told them I was meeting a friend for a video project. That we got separated. That I came back and found him like that.” My throat tightens. “I didn’t tell them about the man in the woods.”

A pause stretches between us.

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. I think I went on autopilot. I kept thinking…what would they do with that? I didn’t see his face. I don’t even know if he was the one who… who hurt Jay.”

“That’s alright,” she says. “If you didn’t get a look at him, that’s not something they could’ve acted on anyway.”

She’s trying to be kind. Trying to help me feel okay about it. But I didn’t just see him. I felt him. All of him. Because what kind of person admits they let a stranger inside them under false pretenses?

What kind of person confesses they moaned for someone they thought they knew, and liked it when they realized they didn’t?

The guilt feels like acid in my lungs. It eats at everything. My voice. My honesty. My memories. It makes me a liar. A coward. A traitor to someone who trusted me.

“I just didn’t think,” I whisper. “Didn’t realize until it was too late.”

Lorna’s voice softens again. “Aggie. Breathe. You’re safe now. You did what you had to do.”

But did I?

I close my eyes. “I think I’m okay.”

It’s a lie, but I say it anyway. Because I can’t stop thinking about him. Not Jay. Him. The masked man. The stranger who pressed into me like he already owned me. The one who vanished into the trees. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know how he found me. I don’t know how he got Jay out of the picture. I don’t know why he didn’t kill me too.