For several seconds, nobody moved.
We simply stood there, staring at the patch of flattened grass where Emily had been sitting only moments ago.
She was gone.
Completely gone.
No footsteps.
No rustling leaves.
Nothing.
Just… gone.
“Where did she go?”
Parker’s voice trembled as she looked around the clearing.
Jeffrey turned in a slow circle.
“She couldn’t have just disappeared.”
“She had to have run,” Kennedy said.
“Then where are her footprints?” Parker asked.
Nobody answered.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the tree.
SHE LOOKED ANYWAY.
The words seemed darker than they had a few seconds ago.
Almost as though the bark around them had changed.
I swallowed hard.
“Mr.
Martin…”
He didn’t respond.
He was staring at the same words.
“Mr.
Martin?”
He finally blinked.
“Everyone stay together.”
His voice was unusually quiet.
“Nobody goes anywhere alone.”
Jeffrey looked toward the forest.
“But Emily—”
“We’re not going after her.”
“What?”
Jeffrey frowned.
“Sir, she’s one of the missing students.”
“I know.”
“Then we can’t just leave her!”
Mr.
Martin’s jaw tightened.
“You didn’t see where she went.”
“Neither did you!”
“I know.”
His response silenced Jeffrey.
For the first time since we’d entered the woods, Mr.
Martin looked genuinely frightened.
Not nervous.
Not concerned.
Frightened.
Miss Nilsson walked over to him.
“What do you think happened?”
“I don’t know.”
He glanced toward the trees.
“And that’s exactly the problem.”
A cold breeze passed through the clearing.
The flowers swayed gently.
The stream continued flowing as though nothing had happened.
It was almost insulting.
How could everything look so normal after what we’d just witnessed?
I looked toward the spot where Emily had been sitting.
Something caught the sunlight.
A tiny glimmer among the flattened grass.
I walked toward it.
“D?”
Conrad followed immediately.
I crouched.
A silver bracelet lay among the grass.
I recognized it.
Emily had been wearing it.
My fingers hovered above it.
Before I could touch it, a strange throbbing sensation spread across my stomach.
I froze.
My hand instinctively moved beneath my shirt, pressing against the scar on my tummy.
It was burning.
Not painfully…
Just enough to remind me that it was there.
“D?”
Conrad’s voice pulled me back.
I quickly lowered my shirt.
“I’m fine.”
He frowned.
“You don’t look fine.”
“I said I’m fine.”
His eyes remained fixed on me.
Then they moved toward the bracelet.
“You felt something.”
It wasn’t a question.
I didn’t answer.
Because I didn’t know what to say.
How could I explain that a scar I’d had since the strangest nightmare of my life had suddenly started burning the moment I got near a bracelet belonging to a missing girl?
I couldn’t.
So I lied.
“I just got a cramp.”
Conrad clearly didn’t believe me.
But before he could question me again, Mr.
Martin approached.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” I answered quickly.
His eyes moved between Conrad and me before settling on the bracelet.
He crouched.
“Don’t touch it.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and carefully picked up the bracelet.
“Miss Nilsson.”
She walked over.
“Put this somewhere safe.”
She nodded and took it from him.
Evidence.
The word sounded ridiculous.
What evidence could possibly explain a girl disappearing into thin air?
What police officer was going to believe us?
What explanation could we possibly give?
We found a missing girl sitting beneath a tree.
She knew about my dreams.
She disappeared.
Nobody would believe us.
Hell…
I wasn’t sure I believed us.
“We need to leave.”
Mr.
Martin’s voice broke through my thoughts.
He pointed toward the opposite side of the clearing.
“That direction.”
We gathered ourselves and began walking.
This time, nobody complained.
Nobody joked.
Nobody even whispered.
I stayed between Parker and Conrad.
My mind wouldn’t stop replaying Emily’s words.
You dreamed about this place, didn’t you?
How did she know?
And what had she meant when she’d said…
He said you’d recognize it.
Who was he?
I wanted answers.
But a small part of me was terrified I’d actually get them.
We walked for what felt like twenty minutes.
Then thirty.
The clearing should have been far behind us by now.
The trees grew thicker around us, their branches blocking out most of the afternoon sunlight.
I glanced at my watch.
The time seemed wrong.
I checked it again.
“How long have we been walking?” I asked.
No one answered.
I looked at Mr.
Martin.
“Sir?”
He stopped.
“What is it?”
“How long until we reach the school?”
He checked his own watch.
His eyebrows pulled together.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“We should’ve been out by now.”
My stomach tightened.
Kennedy looked around.
“Maybe we’re going the wrong way.”
“No.”
Mr.
Martin pulled the compass from his pocket.
He stared at it.
The needle wasn’t pointing north.
It was spinning.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
Round and round.
Jeffrey let out a nervous laugh.
“That’s not good.”
Mr.
Martin didn’t respond.
He turned the compass in his hand.
Nothing changed.
Miss Nilsson looked around.
“We came from that direction.”
She pointed behind us.
Mr.
Martin shook his head.
“No.”
“I remember the stream.”
“So do I.”
He pointed ahead.
“The stream is this way.”
Everyone fell silent.
Two teachers.
Two completely different memories.
I looked at Conrad.
He was already staring at me.
“Which way do you remember?” he whispered.
I pointed ahead.
“The stream was that way.”
He nodded.
“That’s what I remember too.”
Parker looked confused.
“I remember it being behind us.”
Kennedy slowly shook her head.
“No.”
“It was ahead.”
Nobody spoke.
We were standing in the same place…
Yet we couldn’t agree on where we’d come from.
A horrible thought entered my mind.
Maybe the forest wasn’t changing.
Maybe…
we were.
Then Jeffrey whispered,
“Guys…”
We all turned.
He was staring at a tree beside us.
There was something carved into it.
My heart sank.
I already knew what it was before I saw it.
The same words.
The same warning.
DON’T LET HER LOOK BEHIND YOU.
We had passed this tree before.
I knew we had.
And beneath it…
There was another carving.
Fresh.
Deep.
Still bleeding sap.
Three words.
SHE LOOKED ANYWAY.
My breathing became shallow.
We hadn’t moved forward.
We had somehow returned to the exact place we’d started.
Parker began shaking her head.
“No…”
Kennedy grabbed her hand.
“No, no, no…”
Mr.
Martin looked at all of us.
“Nobody panic.”
But his voice was shaking too.
And that’s when I realized something.
For the first time since we’d entered the woods…
Our teachers didn’t know how to get us home.
And beneath my shirt, the scar on my stomach began to burn again.