Ryleigh was running.
The trees blurred past her in streaks of gray and black, skeletal limbs clawing at her skin as she pushed forward. Her lungs burned. Her bare feet tore against roots and stones, but she didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop.
“Derek!” she cried into the cold.
The forest didn’t answer.
Her voice bounced off endless trees, swallowed by shadows. The more she ran, the thicker the darkness became. Fog curled around her ankles like smoke. A sharp wind howled through the branches, whispering cruel things she couldn’t understand.
“Derek!” she screamed again. “Where are you?”
No reply. Only silence.
Her pace faltered as panic overtook her. She turned in circles, trying to find a way out—but the woods had changed. There was no path behind her. Only fog. Only trees. Only—
A cliff.
R
