Moon Bound With You

I heard a crowd roaring from a distance. It was there, I was sure of it. I could hear it crashing over me like always when the game was this close, this critical, but this time it sounded muted, like I was underwater. My blades bit the ice with sharp intent as I glided, eyes on the puck before me. The rink felt smaller than it was supposed to be. I felt restricted, like the walls were closing in on me.Focus. That was my skill. Focusing so intensely that the world blurred out. The score was even and the clock was still ticking. Overtime loomed in our faces and the playoffs hung in the balance. I thrived on this, I always did. But tonight, something was off. Everything felt… wrong. My breath mixed with the air and my chest tightened under the weight of my gear. The tension in my body was coiled too tightly, my muscles anticipating doing more than just playing a game. My grip on the stick was too tight, fingers aching, knuckles strained. Sweat streamed down my temple although the air ar

The plane landed at a village so small it didn’t even have a tower. Just a stretch of runway, a leaning building that was also an airport and a gas stop, and a blue sky that hurt to look at.I was met by a woman in a parka with a sign with my name on it. She didn’t smile. Sebastian Vega? "That’s what my passport says." She gave no smile. Simply moved and walked toward the waiting SUV. "Is this place always like that? Friendly?" I remarked as I packed my duffel into the trunk."Duskpine honors privacy," she replied matter-of-factly. "You will fit in." It was supposed to be, but that wasn't comforting.We traveled in silence. Pine trees blurred by, tall and seemingly endless. Mountains loomed ahead, their snow-crowned peaks shining brightly and shadows streaming long along the road.Somewhere around twenty minutes later, she spoke again. "There’s a team doctor. You’ll see her every week. There’s also a local therapist. Highly, highly recommended." I laughed. "Does she do exorcisms, too?

I woke up to the sound of something off. Not the sharp crunch of a branch snapping under the snow or the cabin creaking with the wind. It was deeper and sharper. The kind of sound that makes you question if you're hearing it… or if someone is hearing you. My eyes snapped open to the blinding white light and the bite of cold air on my lungs. It was seconds later that I realized I was outside. I was sitting on the porch steps, arms hanging between my knees, exhaling into the winter day like smoke from an unreal burning chimney. The air was sharp and clean, but with a sour bite that was not quite identifiable. Snow was everywhere and in all directions, the tree line a black wall of pine and shadow. I didn't remember getting out of here. I didn't remember anything. Not dreaming, not waking, not even putting one foot in front of the other to walk out onto the porch. The last thing I remembered was the weird sound against the cabin’s window last night.The wood I rested on was cold enough t

“Fantastic,” I muttered to myself. “First week here and I’m already getting ghost visits from Little Red Riding Hood’s hotter cousin.”I turned, heading toward my room, my warm coffee sloshing dangerously in my mug. My thumb was numb now from earlier, and my brain still replayed her words.Oh, plenty of times, sure.What did that even mean? Was I supposed to find her standing in my shower tomorrow?I sighed, dragging my feet across the wood floor, when a voice deeper this time rolled through the silence. Well, at least you're in one piece.I jumped so hard I could have sworn I saw a glimpse of heaven. My beautiful, warm, well-prepared coffee poured on my sweatpants.“Son of a—!” I hissed, shaking my leg, hot liquid soaking down to my knees. “This place is determined to burn me alive.”I spun, teeth bared, ready to unload on whoever had snuck up behind me this time. And there he was. Rowan. Standing in the same spot she had stood only minutes earlier, hands in his jacket pockets, dark

I was lost. Yeah, little lost was an understatement.I stopped, spinning slowly in the middle of the trail if you could even call this mess of twisted roots and half-dead trees a trail. The moon painted everything silver-blue, but it didn’t help. The shadows leaned too close. Every branch looked like it wanted to strangle me.I rubbed the back of my neck, “Great job, Sebastian. Real smooth. Guy tells you to stay inside, so of course you go out wandering into the psycho woods at midnight. Brilliant.”A twig snapped behind me.“Are you lost, young man?” I turned fast, pulse jumping into my throat.An old woman, standing barely ten feet away was bending slightly as she leaned on a stick nearly as old and crooked as she was. Her skin looked ghostly pale under the moonlight, stretched too tight across a face where bones jutted sharply. Her nose hooked downward like a hawk’s beak, fingers crooked and stiff around the stick. My mouth opened, but no sound came out. She smiled, showing teeth