MasukEverything sounded distant.Not quiet, not silent...just far away, like the world had been pushed back while I remained stuck in the middle of it. My ears rang faintly, my body felt heavier than it should, and every breath I took came with a dull ache that spread through my chest and side.But I could still see.Blurry.Ethan.He was moving again.Bradley was on the ground, completely still, the broken piece of the vase lying not too far from his hand, and for a brief second, I thought it was over. I thought maybe everything had stopped, that somehow the worst had already passed.It hadn’t.Ben was still there.And he wasn’t done.I tried to push myself up, but the moment I shifted, pain shot through me so sharply that I had to stop, my fingers digging into the floor as I fought to stay conscious. My body didn’t want to cooperate, but my eyes refused to close, not when everything was still happening right in front of me.Ethan moved toward Ben again, faster this time, more aggressive,
Something wasn’t right, and the more I tried to ignore it, the louder the feeling became.I sat at the edge of the bed, my elbows resting on my knees, staring at nothing in particular while my mind refused to settle. Mia shifted slightly behind me, the soft rustle of the blanket the only sound in the cabin aside from the wind brushing against the walls. Everything should have felt calm after everything we had just been through, after everything we had said, but instead there was this quiet tension sitting in my chest that I couldn’t shake.“You’re thinking again,” Mia said softly from behind me.I glanced over my shoulder at her. She was watching me, her expression tired but aware, like she had already noticed the shift in me long before I admitted it to myself.“I could say the same about you,” I replied.She gave a faint smile, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I was trying not to think. You make that difficult.”That almost pulled a smile out of me, but it didn’t last. The f
The road narrowed the farther we went.What started as a stretch of manageable snow-covered asphalt slowly dissolved into something rougher, quieter, more isolated. The trees grew thicker on both sides, their branches heavy with snow, bending inward like they were trying to swallow the path whole. Even the wind sounded different here...less like a storm and more like a warning.Ben didn’t slow down.If anything, he pushed harder.“You said ten minutes,” he muttered, his eyes fixed ahead, scanning through the worsening blur of white.“That was before the weather worsened,” I replied calmly, glancing at the screen again. The blinking dot remained still, unmoving, settled in one place like it had found its destination.“So what now?” he snapped. “We just keep driving until we crash into them?”“That would be inefficient.”He shot me a glare. “Everything with you is strategy. Have you considered that maybe we don’t have time to sit back and calculate every step?”I leaned back slightly, u
Ben didn’t wait for another word.The engine roared to life with a violent twist of his wrist, the sound cutting through the silence like a warning. Snow crunched beneath the tires as he reversed sharply, barely checking before slamming the gear forward and pulling out onto the road.I didn’t comment.There was no point.Men like Ben didn’t need instructions when they were angry—they needed direction. And right now, the only direction he cared about was forward.“Show me,” he said, his voice low but strained, eyes glued to the road ahead.I reached into my pocket and pulled out Nora’s phone, unlocking the screen and bringing the map back up. The blinking dot moved steadily, carving its path through a stretch of empty white.“He’s heading out,” I said, angling the screen slightly toward him. “Farther than I expected.”Ben glanced at it briefly before returning his attention to the road. “How far?”“Far enough to stay hidden,” I replied. “Not far enough to disappear.”That didn’t comfor
I should have turned away.Oh for goodness sake, I should have done that. It would have been smart to do…But no. I didn't…I didn't do smart things. I closed my eyes, pretended I hadn’t seen it, and pretended he hadn’t said anything at all. We could have woken up in a few hours, acted like nothing happened, and continued pretending we were just two people stuck in the same situation.But I didn’t.I stayed there.Looking at him.Feeling everything I wasn’t supposed to feel.“You shouldn’t have said that,” I whispered, even though my voice lacked the strength to make it sound like a warning.Ethan didn’t move away. If anything, his gaze softened, like he already knew I wasn’t going to push him back.“I didn’t say it,” he replied quietly.I swallowed. “You mouthed it.”“Same difference.”“No,” I shook my head slightly, my fingers tightening in the sheets. “It’s not the same. Saying it out loud would make it… real.”His eyes held mine, steady and unyielding. “It’s already real.”That hi
We arrived successfully. A cabin in the far end of where we were coming from. The cabin didn’t look like much from the outside.Just a small wooden structure tucked deep into the edge of nowhere, surrounded by tall, silent trees and snow that seemed untouched for miles. It felt isolated in a way that made my chest tighten, like we had stepped out of the world entirely and into something quieter… something more dangerous.Ethan killed the engine, and for a moment, neither of us moved.“This is it,” he said, glancing at me briefly.I nodded, even though my eyes were already scanning the place, taking in every detail like I needed to convince myself it was real. “It’s… small.”He huffed a quiet laugh. “That’s one way to put it.”We stepped out of the truck, the cold biting instantly, and grabbed our things in a kind of silent coordination that felt too familiar. Too easy. Like we hadn’t broken anything at all.Inside, the cabin was warm—surprisingly so. There was a faint scent of wood an
Everything was different now. After the argument with Ethan and he slammed the door heavily, rumbling the entire cabin to show a fit of his anger, I knew things wouldn't stay as they were.His truck roared to life near the window outside. I raised my head from my pillow instinctively, as if to che
I told myself I was only going to listen. That's how I justified the drive down the hill, the tires of my car pressing cautious tracks into the fresh snow. I told myself I was not choosing sides. How could I? I wasn't even there?In my mind, I was simply going because I needed to hear his side of t
This was all a big mistake. Getting involved with Mia, kissing her, making out, allowing myself fall too deep in whatever I had with her.Gosh! I slapped myself on the forehead so loud, if we had neighbors, they could have heard me but we didn't, so I slapped again. Safe.Mia was asleep inside, sh
The cabin’s air was slow at night but woke slowly as though it was too reluctant to disturb whatever fragile calm hSnow rested thick along the windowsills and the world beyond the glass locked untouched. Quiet underneath that beautiful morning sky. For a few suspenders moments after I had opened







