Mag-log inHis gaze locked on mine, and for a second everything stopped. Me. Him. The world. Then he launched forward, his muscles coiling like ropes ready to snap. The ground shook beneath the weight of his body.I turned and ran. I ran with everything I had. The trees blurred past me, branches whipping at my skin, but I didn’t feel them. My heart pounded, not just from fear but from urgency. I couldn’t let him change his mind and go after her. It's my job now. To be faster. Smarter. More desperate.His growls tore through the night, closer and closer. Branches cracked behind me like breaking bones. I knew he was gaining. I knew I couldn’t keep this up much longer. I risked a glance over my shoulder and nearly tripped. He was there. Massive. Foaming. His red eyes burning with hunger. With want.I forced my legs to go beyond what they were capable of. The air scorched my lungs, and the edges of my vision began to darken. But I kept going. Because this was for her.And then, up ahead, a chance: a
The sound came again. Closer this time. The crunch of dead leaves and branches being pushed aside under something heavy. It was deliberate, steady. Then silence. The kind that pulses. The whole forest seemed to be holding its breath with us.We held our breath, muscles locked, like any movement might draw its attention. The sound began to circle, first to the right, then to the left, then it vanished. Slowly, every muscle screaming, I stretched my neck, pulled air back into my lungs, and with my heart lodged in my throat, I peeked through the roots.Nothing. No shadow. No sound. But the terror was still there, clinging to my skin like a second body.“He’s gone,” I murmured, trying to believe it, as if saying it out loud might make it real. A brief wave of relief passed through my chest, but it vanished in the same instant, swallowed by an even deeper emptiness. “But... where?”“Don’t go out there, June,” Cherrie tugged on my clothes, and there was so much desperation in the gesture it
I nodded, even though I couldn’t say a word, with the air burning in my lungs like I’d just inhaled fire. The road was already behind us, swallowed by the blur of darkness, and all that existed now was the forest, dense, suffocating, far too tight. The pines swallowed us whole like a sea without light, and the sharp smell of wet earth and needles hit me in the face like a slap. The ground was uneven, covered in roots and jagged branches that seemed determined to stop us, to hurt us. Every step was a new scratch on my skin, every branch a warning that we shouldn’t be there. But we couldn’t stop. Behind us, his howls tore through the air, mixed with the horrible sound of claws ripping through the ground. Closer every second. More real with every breath.“We have to keep going. Find shelter, anything,” I shouted, even though my throat was already raw and burning. My voice came out choked, cut by short gasps. “He’s close, Cherrie. Way too close.”She stumbled beside me, her body trembling
“What... what is that!” Cherrie stammered, her eyes wide with fear. “June, this isn’t funny. He’s terrifying.” Her voice was barely audible, and it looked like she might fall apart right there in the car. She shrank into herself like she wanted to disappear.“I want to leave,” I whispered back, almost unable to form the words. My eyes were glued to his, or whatever that thing was. Something about him was wrong. Wrong in a way I couldn’t explain, only feel.Cherrie started apologizing so desperately it hurt to hear. Her voice broke, shaking, and her eyes were already full of tears, ready to fall. “I’m really sorry, officer. I didn’t mean to litter. Please, forgive me.”He leaned in. Not fast, not aggressive. But the way he filled the space… it was like the air had grown heavier, thicker. His head tilted slowly to the side, like an animal sniffing out danger. And that’s when I saw his eyes. Red. But not like someone tired. A pulsing, restless red, like something was about to explode fro
I froze, my body reacting in ways I didn’t even know it could. It wasn’t just the shock of being caught, it was something in his voice. Deep. Rough. But with an unsettling intimacy. It had a strange edge, like it had crawled into my skin. It made something inside me tremble, like an echo of something ancient. Something forgotten. The kind of voice that could show up in a nightmare, or a dangerously good fantasy.For a second, everything else vanished. And all I could think was: Who, or what, has a voice like that? And with that thought came a weird tightness in my chest, a mix of fear and fascination that I couldn’t explain.Cherrie smiled and lowered the window. “Good evening, officer. Is something wrong?”He stepped closer. Tall. Broad shoulders beneath a dark uniform. His face half shadowed by his cap. And devilishly handsome. But not in a nice-boy kind of way. The dangerous kind, sharp like a blade in a dark room. The kind you know can cut you, and still, you’re drawn to it. His f
ight fell too fast, almost without warning, and it brought with it a chilling sense that we were in the wrong place at the worst possible time. One moment, the sky still held that soft golden glow, and the next, it was just a dark curtain closing in around everything. I felt that twist in my stomach, like the kind that hits when you realize too late that you’ve made a bad decision. And it wasn’t just because of the sign at the park entrance saying it closed at dusk. It was something deeper, more instinctive, like my body was trying to warn me before my mind could catch up.The wind changed too. It turned colder, damp, carrying a strange smell, damp earth mixed with decaying leaves. The kind of darkness that feels heavier somehow. Denser. I shifted uncomfortably in the car seat, like the air was thickening around me, pressing down, making it harder to breathe.I glanced over at Cherrie. She wasn’t laughing anymore. Her fingers now tapped nervously on the steering wheel. She didn’t want







