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A match was lit and dropped. The gathered wood caught fire, sending up sparks into the night.
Keith could feel the electricity in the atmosphere as he opened the first can of beer, the frothy liquid hissing as it met the cool night air. “Here’s to never going back to that shithole,” he announced, raising his beer in a toast. The group cheered, their laughter echoing through the trees, where it joined the symphony of crickets and owls. The excitement of the first night of summer had officially seized them, and they were ready to party.
“Alright,” he said, smirking. “Who’s up for some ‘Never Have I Ever’?”
“Oh, Jesus,” Roxy said. Despite the rolling of eyes, everyone else formed a circle around the fire, the flames flickering wildly in the darkness. Roxy reluctantly joined them, having nothing better to do.
“Never have I ever … skinny-dipped in a lake,” Keith began, raising his eyebrows suggestively. Roxy and Christine exchanged glances, taking a sip from their beers. Eric blushed a deep red but remained silent.
“Okay,” Christine chimed in, her eyes mischievous. “Never have I ever … kissed someone from this group.”
“Guilty!” Keith said, laughing as he took a swig. Stu and Christine drank. It was so obvious that everyone sighed and slapped at them, laughing. Roxy drank as well, though no one seemed to be sure what it meant.
As the game continued, Stu struggled to concentrate. His heart pounded in his ears like a ticking clock, counting down to the moment he’d have to tell Christine about the move. It was all he could think about. How could he break the news without shattering her heart in two?
“Stu, you’re up,” Keith prompted, nudging him with his elbow. Stu blinked, momentarily disoriented. He wondered how long everyone had been looking at him.
“Uh, right,” he stammered, racking his brain. “Never have I ever … lied to someone I care about.”
He didn’t know why he’d said that. His words hung heavy in the air as Christine’s eyes met Stu’s for a split second. She knew something was off, and Stu’s words only heightened her suspicions. Everyone else drank as well. After all, they wouldn’t be at the lake in the first place without lying to get there.
“Okay, okay,” Keith said, wanting to keep the mood light. “Never have I ever … snuck out of my parents’ house.”
Laughter filled the campsite as they all drank again. As the fire crackled and everyone shouted for the next question, Stu knew it was now or never. He was tired of his secret, and wanted more than anything to be free of it. He waited for a lull in the conversation before he caught Christine’s eye.
“Hey, can I talk to you for a second?” he asked, trying to keep his voice casual. Christine’s eyes narrowed, sensing the gravity of his question.
“Sure,” she replied, her lips pressed into a line. She followed him away from the warmth of the fire and toward the darkness at the edge of the woods. They stood in silence a moment. Stu paused, taking a deep breath before turning to face Christine.
“Listen, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you,” he began, his voice catching. “I didn’t want to ruin tonight, but it’s really important and I can’t wait any longer.”
“Stu, you’re scaring me,” Christine whispered, her features tight with concern, hands fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
“Okay,” Stu exhaled, steeling himself for the task. “The thing is … God, I don’t know how else to say this. My dad got a new job, and we’re … we’re moving to New York in two weeks.”
Christine’s breath hitched. The world froze around the two of them, the lake and the wind and the woods fading to black. It felt as if all the energy had drained from her body.
“Wait, what?” she choked out, her voice barely more than a whisper. “You’re … you’re leaving?”
“I’m so sorry,” Stu said, his heart aching as he watched her struggle to process the news.
“Two weeks?” Christine repeated, her voice rising. “And you’re just telling me now?”
“You have to understand—”
“Understand what?” she snapped, hands balled into fists. “That you’re leaving me behind? That you didn’t have the decency to tell me sooner?”
“I didn’t know how, I-I-” Stu stammered, trying to explain himself. Before he could say any more, Christine put her hand up to silence him.
“Stop it,” she spit, her voice cold and sharp. “Tell it to someone you actually care about, because it’s obviously not me.” She turned on her heels and left Stu standing there, gutted and helpless in the dark.
Everyone else shared uneasy glances, their attention drawn by the tension between Stu and Christine. Keith’s eyes darted between the pair as he downed the rest of his beer, then cleared his throat.
“Hey, everybody, let’s get another round going!” he announced. The group tried to shake off the unease and find their way back to the game, but the campfire only highlighted their forced smiles.
Meanwhile, Stu had stood rooted to the spot, unable to tear his gaze away from Christine as she retreated to the fire. His gut twisted into knots as a creeping dread settled into his head, a whisper that told him nothing would ever be the same.
“Come join us,” Eric called out to Stu, trying to snap him out of it.
“Y-yeah, sure,” he mumbled, forcing himself to take a step toward the group, then another. The once warm and inviting glow of the fire now seemed to cast more shadows than light, leaving him small and vulnerable beneath a starless sky.
Nancy Swanson hurried along the darkened path through the woods. She had kept her attendance to the party a secret, saying nothing about her plans to Christine or, in fact, to anyone. She couldn’t wait to see the look of shock on everyone’s faces when she arrived at the campsite unannounced.
It had taken nothing short of her finest acting to convince her parents to let her go out that night. She’d made up a story about volunteering at a late night blood drive, going as far as photocopying an old flyer and changing the time and date. She’d even impressed herself with that one. It took some serious skills to not only fool one’s parents into letting them go out late, but to commend them for doing so.
But as Nancy moved deeper into the shadows of the forest, she had the strangest feeling that somebody was watching her from the trees. It was a tickle on the back of her neck, one that stood her hairs up on end. She glanced back and saw only branches swaying softly in the breeze, and yet the feeling remained.
“Come on, Nance,” she muttered, “you’re almost there.”
She’d barely gone twenty more feet when a noise startled her. It was a heavy sound, like a rock hitting the ground beyond the trees. This time she knew she wasn’t imagining things. “Hello?” she called out, clutching herself. “Is someone there?”
No reply came, only the rustling of leaves and the distant sound of water sloshing at the lake shore. A sudden gust of wind whipped through the trees, causing shivers to run up her arms.
Nancy caught herself and had to laugh. She was acting like when she used to walk past the cemetery as a little girl. It was hardly behavior befitting a high school graduate, let alone one who’d just tricked her parents into letting her go drink in the woods.
“Get it together,” Nancy whispered to herself, taking a deep breath.
But as she continued along the path, an unseen figure drew closer in the woods, its gaze fixed on her. The shadow was massive, taller than any normal man. Its presence silenced the animals that lived in the forest. It was unnatural to them, a thing neither food nor friend, and each step it took was an insult to nature; an abomination walking amongst them.
A twig snapped off to Nancy’s left. This time, she was sure someone was following her. She stopped to listen, straining to pick up even the slightest sound that didn’t belong. After a moment, she swore she heard Keith Harrison’s voice drifting through the trees. All at once, she realized they were playing a trick on her. One of the group must have seen her coming up the path and decided to scare her.
Well, it wasn’t going to work.
“Nice try, you guys,” Nancy called out to the dark forest. She waited for a giggle, a you-got-me, an admission that she’d won the game, but none of those came. Instead she felt the presence of someone large moving up behind her, as if she’d turned her back on the ocean. A moment later a shadow fell over her, blocking out the moonlight.
Nancy turned to see who or what was there. She saw little more than a silhouette towering over her. It had no face that she could determine, no compassion or mercy. She had only a second to regret everything she’d done, the actions she’d taken to be standing in that exact spot, at that exact moment. Most of all, she regretted lying to her parents.
With one blow from his blunt weapon, the presence shattered Nancy’s skull in two. Her limp body crumpled to the ground, legs folding under her like broken branches in wet leaves. Nancy had been silenced in merely a moment, snuffed out like a weak flame.
And yet, even then, the presence was not done with her.
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