He was standing in the woods.
Not arriving. Not walking. Just… there.
Trees pressed in on all sides, their trunks packed too tightly, their branches woven together overhead like something built to keep the sky out. Whatever light the moon offered didn't reach the ground. It felt trapped above him.
The cold settled deep in his chest. Not the sharp kind—this one lingered, heavy and wrong, like it didn't belong to the night.
When he breathed, the sound felt too loud. Too close.
The forest wasn't silent.
It was withholding.
No insects. No wind through leaves. Just the slow, almost imperceptible groan of wood shifting somewhere far above him, like the trees were adjusting their weight.
Something cracked behind him.
He froze.
Whatever it was didn't rush him. Didn't chase.
It waited.
The sensation crept up his spine then—slow, deliberate, intimate. The unmistakable pressure of being noticed.
Not hunted.
Observed.
The ground slanted beneath his feet, leaves slick and dark, pulling him forward whether he wanted to move or not. Each step felt decided for him, like the forest already knew where he was supposed to end up.
Then came the sound.
Thin. Strained. Almost a scream—but wrong, stretched past what a throat should be able to make.
It cut off mid-note.
Not fading.
Stopped.
The air tightened after that, as if whatever made the sound had realized it had said too much.
And then—
Awareness.
Not from one place. Not even from many.
From everywhere.
As if the darkness itself had turned inward, focusing on him all at once.
He staggered—
Darren woke with a sharp breath, heart hammering, the echo of that attention still clinging to his skin.
His pencil slipped from his fingers and clattered against the desk.
Darren sucked in a sharp breath, heart still racing, eyes sweeping his room like he expected the trees to still be there.
But they weren't.
Gray daylight filtered through the curtains. His homework lay open in front of him, half-finished, the words swimming on the page.
Just a dream.
He rubbed his face, trying to slow his breathing.
Then his phone buzzed.
Charlie calling.
Right, Darren thought.
He picked up the phone.
"Darren, are you ready for the trip?" Charlie said.
"Yeah," Darren replied.
He grabbed his backpack, slung it over one shoulder, and headed outside just as a car rolled to a stop in front of his house.
The driver's side window slid down.
Charlie sat behind the wheel, grinning. "Come on."
Darren climbed in and tossed his backpack onto the floor.
As the car pulled away, the radio crackled to life.
"…another cloudy afternoon across West Virginia," a voice droned. "Storms are expected later today, with scattered rainfall and limited visibility in higher elevations—"
Charlie reached out and turned the volume down. "I hate this stuff," he said. "It's always wrong."
He glanced up at the sky. "This cloud? I'm sure it'll pass."
Darren glanced out the window. The sky was thick with gray clouds, heavy and unmoving, like it was waiting for something.
"Yeah," Darren said quietly. "I just… hope it doesn't rain. Not when we're out there."
A sharp wail of sirens cut through the air.
Charlie glanced in the rearview mirror just as two police cars tore down the road, lights flashing red and blue. He slowed slightly and shifted the car to the side, letting them pass.
They were gone almost as quickly as they'd appeared.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Charlie exhaled. "You think that's about the missing girl?"
Darren stared ahead through the windshield. "Maybe," he said. "They still haven't heard from her, right?"
"I don't know," Charlie replied.
The road stretched on in front of them, quiet again — like nothing had happened at all.
Darren's eyes shifted toward the window, unfocused. There was a tension in his face he didn't seem to notice himself.
"You sure you're up for this?" Charlie asked. "Camping out there?"
Darren didn't answer right away.
Charlie smirked. "Come on, man. It's with Jenna and the girls. You know how everyone talks about her. It's gonna be fun." He shrugged. "It's just a camping trip. Yeah, it's the Appalachians—but we live here."
He gave a short laugh. "We've driven past these mountains our whole lives. All that stuff people say about them? That's just stories. Legends to freak tourists out."
"Yeah," Darren said after a moment. "Right. Sorry."
He hesitated. "I was just thinking about something."
The image hit him without warning.
Dark trees. Cold air. That feeling of being watched.
Darren shook it off. He knew it was just a dream. Still, with the police cars speeding past earlier, the unease lingered longer than it should have.
He looked back at the road, trying to ignore the tight feeling in his chest.
Charlie turned off the road and slowed, pulling into a small gravel clearing. The car came to a stop.
They'd arrived.
Jenna stood a short distance away with her two friends, backpacks at their feet. She lifted a hand when she saw them.
"Hey," Darren said as he stepped out.
"Hey," Jenna replied, already turning toward the trail. "Let's go."
Darren followed her gaze—and noticed someone else standing nearby.
James.
He recognized him immediately.
Darren exchanged a look with Charlie. Neither of them liked James much. He hung around Jason at school, and Jason was the kind of guy you learned to avoid without being told.
James? Darren thought. Alright… I guess.
Charlie frowned. "Wait. I thought Jason said he wasn't coming."
James shrugged, unfazed. "Just because Jason's not here doesn't mean I can't be." He smirked. "I'm here."
No one argued.
They shouldered their packs and started down the trail, the sound of gravel crunching under their boots before it faded into dirt and leaves.
Within minutes, the trees closed in around them.
And just like that, they were walking into the Appalachians.
Darren tugged his jacket tighter. "Man, it's colder than I thought."
The forest was cold and quiet. No animals in sight. Other than that, nothing seemed out of place.
"Oh—gosh," Charlie said, slowing to a stop. "Is that a watch?"
The group stepped off the trail and closer to the ground.
It was a watch.
Jenna crouched slightly, squinting at it. "Someone must've lost it."
Charlie frowned. "Wait… is that blood?"
Along the edge of the watchband was a dark, dried stain — brownish-red, like it had been there for hours. The glass face was cracked, one corner spiderwebbed outward.
"It was probably an accident," James said. "Someone tripped or fell."
Charlie hesitated. "Yeah, but… they wouldn't just leave this, right?" He tilted his head. "That looks expensive."
James shrugged. "Maybe they lost it. Or dropped it and didn't realize."
No one answered.
Darren stayed where he was, a few steps back, staring at the watch.
Something about it felt wrong.
Familiar — even though he knew it wasn't his.
My dad's? he wondered briefly.
No. His dad's was darker than this.
The thought didn't make him feel any better.
Everyone brushed it off as an accident and continued down the trail.
Not long after, they found a small clearing just off the path, close to a narrow stream. It felt right. The ground was flattened in places, and the remains of an old fire ring sat near the center — a sign that someone had camped there before.
"Alright," Jenna said. "This is it."
They set up their tents, working quickly. Before long, everything was in place.
"Finally," Darren muttered, wiping a thin layer of sweat from his forehead.
"Um… hey, Darren?" Jenna said.
"Yeah?"
"So me and the girls are gonna head out and look for some food," she said casually. "We'll be back soon, okay? James is coming too — he's good at catching fish." She smiled. "In the meantime, can you and Charlie stay here and keep an eye on our tents?"
"Uh… yeah, sure," Darren said.
He hadn't expected that.
A small part of him had hoped he'd get to go with them — to walk beside Jenna, to talk, to enjoy the trip instead of sitting around doing nothing.
But the decision was already made.
So he agreed.
"Wait," Charlie cut in. "Why can't we come with you?"
Stacy, one of Jenna's friends, answered before Jenna could. "We don't know who else might be camping around here. It's better if someone stays back and watches our stuff."
"Right," Charlie said slowly.
"We'll be back soon," Jenna added. "Then we can do the whole campfire thing. It'll be fun."
Darren and Charlie watched as the others disappeared down the trail.
Charlie broke the silence. "That was a little weird, right? They invite us, then leave us here."
"Yeah," Darren said.
Charlie frowned. "Also… James is good at catching fish?" He shook his head. "I thought he said he hated fishing."
Darren didn't answer.
But the uneasy feeling returned.
Charlie pulled out his phone, frowning at the screen. "Come on… seriously?" He tapped it again. "Ugh. The internet here sucks."
He glanced over at Darren. "So what now? What do we do while we wait?"
Darren shrugged, shifting his weight. "I don't know. We just… wait, I guess."
Charlie snorted. "For how long? They didn't even say."
He pocketed his phone and looked past the tents, toward the trees lining the edge of the clearing.
The forest stood still beneath a heavy gray sky, the clouds hanging low and swollen like they were waiting to break. The air felt damp, cold enough to cling to his skin, even though not a single drop of rain had fallen yet.
Charlie tilted his head. "We could look around a bit."
Darren frowned slightly. "What do you mean?"
"I mean—" Charlie gestured vaguely with his hand, "we came all the way out here. Sitting around staring at tents is kinda lame." He hesitated, then added, "We don't have to go far. Just… explore a little."
Darren followed his gaze toward the woods. The stream nearby murmured softly, the sound flat and distant beneath the weight of the clouds. Everything looked normal.
Too normal.
"I don't know," Darren said slowly. "What if they come back and we're not here?"
Charlie waved it off. "We'll stay close. Ten minutes. Fifteen, max." He smirked. "Besides, it's the middle of the day. What's gonna happen?"
Darren didn't answer right away.
That feeling—tight and crawling—stirred faintly in his chest again. The same one from the dream. From the road. From the watch.
He told himself it was nothing.
"Fine," he said at last. "But we don't go far."
Charlie's grin widened. "Deal."