Prologue

In a green-and-white bus that drove smoothly up a steep hill, Laila rested her head against the window, hoping to regain the few hours of sleep she had lost during her early-morning preparations. The bus was due to leave at one, yet she had been whisked out of bed by her overly excited roommate at five, as if time would move faster if they were ready early; it only added to her long list of irritations from the trip, and it hadn’t even started yet.

The whole situation was enough to upset anyone; at least, that’s what Laila told herself to justify her sour attitude toward her friends. Had it been a genuine trip, she wouldn’t have been the way she was, since it wasn’t; it was an elaborate scheme to have her paired with a guy she had never even heard a voice from. The only thing she could do was swallow her mouthful of venom and quietly endure the mess she had gotten herself into.

To her left, Laila was nudged by her seatmate. As she had never been good at pretending to sleep, she had to respond. Taking off her blue baseball cap, she turned to give her friend Brian the attention he asked for;

“Are you still sleeping?”

“Well, not anymore”

“Come on, Laila, normal people don’t sleep during road trips; they converse and play games”

“Normal people who didn’t get a chance at decent sleep do”

“Don’t be a buzzkill, save that for after the trip”

Brian's optimism was far from infectious; it was rather annoying but bearable.

“You’re oddly excited, way more than usual”

“Can you blame me? It’s summer, we’re on a break with no assignments to worry about, and we’re about to go camping; it’s perfect”

“I’m pretty sure you still have assignments to do, but that aside, I see nothing thrilling about camping in a place we’ve never been to, let alone heard of”

“You’re just too cautious; where’s your sense of adventure?”

“Where’s your sense of danger? It just feels off”

“I’m begging you, Laila, for me, forget about your usual boundaries and worries and just enjoy the place; it’s not fair to judge a book by its cover”

Seeing as she was getting nowhere in her conversation with Brian, Laila returned to the window to take in the scenery. Her side was completely covered with trees, and the more the bus drove on, the thicker they became; it looked like they were headed straight into a forest. The town they were headed to sounded like one fresh out of a teen drama series. Grimshore, with a population of under two hundred people, did not sound like a realistic town, and yet it was. Laila wondered how her friends came upon its location and why they deemed it suitable for a camping trip. Fighting against the location would have caused more unnecessary drama, so she had no other choice but to go along with it. Looking at it, Laila wished she could have spoken up about it; a town in the center of a forest seemed like a perfect location for a slasher film to come to life.

*~*

The cabin where Laila and her friends would be spending their two-week vacation was a thirty-minute walk from the town. Behind it was a flowing stream and a path leading further down into trees. The eerie path didn’t seem safe, yet there was a hint of curiosity that peeked inside of Laila. After the group was done settling in, the much-awaited activities began. Laila was cautious as to not play into her friends' tricks to have her paired with or close to their single and searching companion; it was more embarrassing on her friend's side as each attempt fell through the cracks, and each time she couldn’t help but smile.

When the sun began to set, Brian initiated the first move into the stream. The current wasn’t too strong to be swept away, but good enough to not be boring. Joining in after, Laila could not deny how good it felt; the splashes of water wetting her clothes and the cool breeze on her face made her smile for the first time that day. As the whole group joined in, Laila’s mood became better; after all, it was better to experience such places with people rather than alone. In that moment, it didn’t matter who she was close to; she was just happy to be around her friends with her heart racing from excitement.

The fun in the stream lasted until night, when the water became too cold to enjoy. Preparations for the campfire were being made, and the discussion of who was to collect firewood began. As Laila sat on the makeshift bench by the cabin, she had the strange feeling she was being talked about; the constant whispers felt very much like her friends were scheming again. The day had already gone by so quickly, and Laila didn’t have it in her to force a smile and be nice, to not ruin the mood of the night and the entire trip in general. Looking around, she noticed the path from earlier, though she said she wouldn’t dare take that path; it was starting to look very tempting just about then.

Getting off the bench slowly, Laila started moving backward, putting one foot behind the other until she was far enough from the group to turn and run. Taking the path, she hurriedly moved forward and deeper into the trees. As she stopped to take a breath, Laila began to scold herself, she couldn’t believe a simple interaction with a boy caused her running like that, when she looked at it more, she couldn’t understand why it bothered her so much that her friends were trying to set her up, it certainly was because she didn’t consent to it but there was something else, something more frustrating, perhaps it was the failed relationship she had just gotten out of.

Laila recalled her ex-boyfriend as she took the slim path into the woods. Jeremy had been one of those boyfriends she never imagined she would be dating, with a loud and extroverted personality that did not complement her reserved nature. Her friends thought it wouldn’t work out, and neither did she, but there was something about it that kept calling her back. At first, it wasn’t something serious to her; then, gradually, she warmed up to the thought of being in a serious relationship, but that was her biggest mistake. All along, the two had very different definitions of what a relationship was, and eventually, their fling ended; that in itself did not break Laila’s heart; it was how badly she deluded herself into believing their relationship was normal, all because she didn’t want to be alone.

As the bad memories resurfaced so did Laila’s realization of her surroundings, she had walked so far into the woods that she didn’t know how to get back, and her heart slowly picked up pace as she stood in place motionless, all the preaching she did to Brain about a sense of danger and there she was wandering into the night without a single idea of how to get back. Trying not to panic was difficult, and as if the dark wasn’t enough, the sounds around her grew louder, forcing her to run forward, chasing the light she could see through the trees.

The light led her to a large tree covered in green moss and vines dangling from its branches. It was a magnificent sight, so much so that it distracted Laila from her fear of the night, but only for a while. In the corner of her eye, she noticed a figure, turning to the side immediately; it was revealed to be a man. Laila’s heart was beating like crazy; unsure of whether to run or scream, she stood still, waiting for whatever was going to happen. The dead silence gave her chills; it was quite frankly like she was in a horror movie and the killer had just found its first victim.

The man said not a word but took a giant step forward into the light, revealing himself to Laila. In that very moment, it was as if time stopped; in the silence, under the moonlight, Laila stared wide-eyed at a mysterious man whose body frame was that of a titan, but it was his face that grabbed her attention. His tousled black hair of medium length fell over his eyes, only sparing one, and only one it took to mesmerize Laila. The piercing gaze from the man's amber eye was hypnotic. Laila found herself surprisingly calm despite her circumstances; the stranger's body language also told her she had nothing to worry about, and after a long while of silence, he spoke:

“Hello”

His voice was deep, yet so subtle and inviting.

“Hi”