Page 61 of Lost to the Woods

He drags the tip of the knife down my bruised throat, not slicing, just gliding—threatening.

My breath shakes violently. “Ghost, this isn’t you.”

“No,” he breathes, almost reverently, “thisisme. The side of me you’ve always pretended not to see. The one you flirted with and ran from. The one that fucking starved for you.”

He shifts even closer, his body pinning me down completely, the cool steel of the blade resting at the hollow of my throat.

“And you just loved playing innocent, didn’t you? Got the attention you needed to make you feel better about yourself, had your pussy soaking wet watching me lose my fucking mind over you, then left me high and dry to suffer.”

I shake my head fast, lips trembling. “I didn’t—I never wanted to hurt you, please…”

“Oh, shut up!” he growls. His voice drops, becomes cold and detached. “You know, I actuallytried. For the first time in my entire life. I fucking triedfor you. I was patient. I waited. I was so fucking good for you. I held back the worst parts of me. And I really believed we could be something.”

He drags the blade across my collarbone, letting me feel the sting.

“But you played me,” he says, voice dangerously low. “Just like you played Dev before me. Just like you played sad little Nate. Just like you play with everyone. You get off on it, don’t you? Making people fall in love with you, then moving to a new target.”

“No,” I sob. “No, that’s not true—”

“Oh, but it is.” His voice drops to a chilling whisper, “I should’ve fucked you on New Year’s Eve when you were passed out in my hotel bed. Maybe then I would’ve gotten you out of my system. Just taken what I wanted and walked away. One and done, quick and easy.” The blade presses harder into my skin, and I can feel the blood welling up. “I hate that I didn’t. Because that’s where I went wrong. You got so fucking deep under my skin. You poisoned me. Consumed my every thought. My every dream. Ibreathedyou. I let you matter.”

My heart shatters into a million tiny pieces. “I felt that, too!” I cry out.

“Liar!” he yells, and there’s something… unnatural in his voice, and I’m scared for my life.

“Please, you have to believe me! I was just afraid!” I choke on my tears. “Because we were friends! And things got too intense, and I knew if I messed it up, you’d be gone forever. But I couldn’t lose you! I—I love you. You don’t need to do this. Ghost, I’min lovewith you…”

The mask tilts slightly. He goes still. The silence drapes over the forest like a death shroud.

“See,” his voice is barely audible now, “I want to believe you…” The knife kisses my skin again. It slides over the thin line of blood he already drew and traces a new path—lazy, like he’s painting with it. “But I just can’t,” he adds, emotionless, measured.

Then, a scream rips through the woods.

Not his.

Not mine.

But distant and bloody, torn from someone’s lungs like they didn’t want to give them up. Familiar.

“Time to say goodbye to your friends,” he murmurs, almost entertained.

Before I can even grasp what he just said, chaos erupts.

Human screams reverberate through the trees around us. All too familiar.

My blood turns to ice.

Oh God, please, no.

I want to believe Kendra, Nate, and Dev are just that good at faking content. But my subconscious already knows.

There’s something else there. Not human, not animal, but something worse. Somethingwrong. It snarls in the trees—a noise I can’t name, something that doesn’t belong on Earth.

More screaming, then a brutal cacophony of crunching and wet tearing sounds. Bones breaking. Gurgling cries. Begging cut off mid-sentence. The sickening pop. A primal howl, too unnatural to belong to a wolf. I can almost smell the blood, metallic and hot and final.

Ghost doesn’t even flinch. He just tilts his head, listening, savoring. Like he’s living for this moment.

My stomach lurches as tears spill down my cheeks, and I can’t stop shaking. My heart is thrashing like it’s trying to shatter through my ribs and flee.

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