The crack didn’t disappear.
If anything, it followed me.
By the time I got home from school, I had convinced myself that I was overthinking everything.
Caleb had died.
That was real.
The bear trap was real.
The words on the wall had probably never been there.
And the strange memory of the woods?
That was probably my brain trying to make sense of a month-long coma.
There was nothing wrong with me.
At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.
I was sitting at the kitchen island that evening, scrolling mindlessly through my phone while Grandpa prepared tea, when I suddenly remembered someone else.
Vera.
I hadn’t seen her since before everything happened.
Actually…
When had I last seen Vera?
I frowned.
The memory wouldn’t come.
I remembered her face.
Her voice.
The way she used to tuck her hair behind her ear whenever she was nervous.
But I couldn’t remember the last time I’d actually spoken to her.
I looked up.
“Grandpa?”
“Hm?”
“What happened to Vera?”
The spoon in his hand paused.
Only for a second.
But I noticed.
“Vera?”
“Yeah.
Vera.”
He continued stirring his tea.
“I believe she moved.”
“Moved?”
“To stay with a distant relative.”
I frowned.
“When?”
“A while ago.”
“Where?”
He shrugged.
“Somewhere out of town.”
I stared at him.
“People can leave Bailey Falls?”
His eyes lifted to mine.
There was the tiniest pause.
“Of course they can.”
Something about his answer bothered me.
Not the words.
The way he said them.
Like he’d rehearsed them.
“Oh.”
I looked back down at my phone.
Maybe I was imagining things again.
But then I remembered something.
Nobody left Bailey Falls.
At least…
That’s what everyone had always said.
The town had one main road leading out, but there had been stories for years about cars breaking down before they reached the outskirts.
People getting turned around.
People claiming they’d driven for hours only to end up back at the town sign.
I’d always thought it was one of those ridiculous Bailey Falls legends.
But now…
“How long ago did Vera leave?”
Grandpa’s spoon stopped moving again.
“Destiny.”
“What?”
“Why are you suddenly so interested in Vera?”
I shrugged.
“I don’t know.
I just remembered her.”
He gave me a strange look.
“Sometimes memories are unreliable.”
My stomach tightened.
“Yeah.”
I smiled.
“I know.”
But something inside me whispered:
Not that memory.
That night, I couldn’t sleep.
I lay on my back staring at the ceiling.
Vera.
Caleb.
The woods.
The writing on the wall.
The scar.
Conrad.
Everything seemed to exist separately inside my head, but somehow they were beginning to overlap.
I touched my stomach.
Nothing.
I lifted my shirt.
The skin was smooth.
No scar.
Nothing.
I remembered the scar so clearly.
The pain.
The cut.
The way it had burned.
I pressed my fingertips against the spot.
Nothing.
I laughed quietly at myself.
“See?”
I lowered my shirt.
“You’re fine.”
Then it happened.
A spark of pain.
I gasped.
My hand flew back to my stomach.
The pain spread beneath my skin.
Slowly.
Burning.
Familiar.
My breathing became shallow.
“No…”
I pressed my palm against it.
The pain intensified.
It was the same sensation.
The exact same sensation I’d felt in the woods.
The same place.
The same burning.
The same deep ache that seemed to come from somewhere beneath my skin.
I scrambled out of bed and rushed toward the mirror.
I lifted my shirt.
Nothing.
But the pain was still there.
I touched the spot.
And suddenly—
I remembered.
A tree.
A branch.
Blood.
A scream.
Something behind me.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Stop.”
The pain vanished.
Just like that.
I stood frozen in front of the mirror.
My reflection stared back at me.
I looked normal.
I was normal.
So why did it feel like my body remembered something my mind had forgotten?
I don’t remember falling asleep.
One second, I was sitting against my headboard.
The next—
I was standing in the middle of the woods.
I knew immediately that I was dreaming.
Or at least, I thought I did.
The trees stretched impossibly high above me.
Mist crawled across the ground.
Everything was gray.
Cold.
Still.
“Hello?”
My voice echoed.
No answer.
I took a step forward.
A twig snapped behind me.
I spun around.
Nothing.
Then I heard someone crying.
“Hello?”
The crying became louder.
I followed it.
Through the trees.
Around a fallen trunk.
Until I saw her.
Emily.
She was standing in the middle of a clearing.
Barefoot.
Her clothes were dirty.
Her hair was tangled.
Tears streamed down her face.
“Emily?”
She looked up.
Her eyes widened.
“Destiny.”
I stepped toward her.
“What happened?”
She shook her head violently.
“You have to wake up.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“Wake up, Destiny.”
Her voice cracked.
“You have to wake up.”
“I am awake.”
“No.”
She grabbed her head.
“No, you’re not.”
I stared at her.
“What are you talking about?”
She stepped toward me.
“This isn’t real.”
My heart began pounding.
“What isn’t real?”
“Everything.”
She looked around desperately.
“Destiny, please.”
“Emily, you’re scaring me.”
“You can’t stay here.”
“Where?”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“Here.”
A sound came from the woods.
Emily’s expression changed.
Fear.
Pure fear.
She grabbed my arm.
“Please.”
“What?”
“Don’t let it find you.”
I looked behind her.
The trees were moving.
Not swaying.
Moving.
As if something enormous was pushing through them.
Emily’s fingers tightened around my arm.
“Wake up!”
I screamed—
And opened my eyes.
I sat upright in bed.
My chest heaved.
The room was dark.
My sheets were tangled around my legs.
I stared around frantically.
My bedroom.
My bed.
My curtains.
My lamp.
Home.
I pressed a hand against my chest.
“It was a dream.”
I said it aloud.
“It was just a dream.”
But Emily’s voice wouldn’t leave my head.
This isn’t real.
I shook my head.
No.
I wasn’t doing this again.
I lay back down.
Closed my eyes.
And eventually…
I fell asleep.
This time, I wasn’t in the woods.
I was somewhere else.
A field.
No.
A clearing.
I could hear voices.
I followed them.
Then I saw them.
Conrad.
Parker.
Kennedy.
Jeffrey.
Miss Nilsson.
Mr.
Martin.
They were all there.
But something was wrong.
Conrad had blood running down the side of his face.
Parker was holding her arm.
Kennedy was crying.
Jeffrey was limping.
Miss Nilsson kept looking behind them.
Mr.
Martin was holding something in his hands.
A flashlight.
Everyone looked terrified.
I tried to run toward them.
“Conrad!”
He didn’t hear me.
I ran faster.
“Conrad!”
Nothing.
I was standing right in front of him now.
He looked straight through me.
“Where is she?” he asked.
Mr.
Martin shook his head.
“We don’t know.”
“She was with us.”
Kennedy started crying harder.
“We shouldn’t have let her come.”
Parker grabbed her hand.
“We’re going to find her.”
Conrad looked around frantically.
“She’s still in there.”
I stepped closer.
“I’m right here.”
Nobody responded.
Conrad turned toward the woods.
“I’m going back.”
Mr.
Martin grabbed him.
“No.”
“Let me go.”
“Conrad!”
“I said let me go!”
He struggled against him.
“She’s in there!”
I felt my chest tighten.
“I’m right here!”
Nothing.
Then—
The scene changed.
Not gradually.
It snapped.
One second, I was standing with them.
The next, I was somewhere dark.
I heard voices.
Familiar ones.
Harold.
Charity.
I looked around.
They weren’t standing beside me.
They were somewhere ahead.
Behind a wall of darkness.
I couldn’t see them clearly.
But I could hear them.
“I don’t understand,” Charity whispered.
“It knows she’s awake.”
My heart stopped.
Harold’s voice was low.
“It knew she would wake eventually.”
“What do we do?”
“We keep her asleep.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
I tried to move toward them.
My feet wouldn’t move.
I was watching.
Listening.
Like someone who had accidentally walked in on a conversation that wasn’t meant for them.
Charity’s voice trembled.
“How long do you think we have?”
“Not long.”
“What if she remembers?”
A pause.
“Then it will know.”
“Know what?”
Harold didn’t answer.
Charity’s voice became quieter.
“You said it couldn’t reach her if she remembered.”
“It can’t.”
“Then why is it changing things?”
Harold sighed.
“Because it doesn’t need to stop her from remembering everything.”
A pause.
“It only needs to give her something worth forgetting for.”
I felt my blood run cold.
“What does that mean?” I whispered.
They couldn’t hear me.
Harold continued.
“She’s already beginning to settle into it.”
“Into what?”
“The life it’s giving her.”
Charity was silent.
Then:
“Conrad.”
My heart stopped.
Harold didn’t answer immediately.
“Yes.”
“Do you think that’s why it chose him?”
I stared.
My pulse pounded in my ears.
“No,” Harold finally said.
“It didn’t choose him.”
“Then what did it choose?”
Harold’s voice became almost a whisper.
“It chose what she would feel.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Charity sounded frightened.
“And when she believes those feelings are hers?”
“Then she’ll stop looking for the truth.”
I stepped forward.
“Wait.”
Nothing.
I tried again.
“Wait!”
Still nothing.
Harold continued.
“The creature doesn’t need to keep her trapped physically.”
Charity whispered:
“It only needs her to want to stay.”
My heart shattered against my ribs.
I thought of Conrad.
His smile.
His texts.
His hand in mine.
The way I felt when he looked at me.
The strange warmth that spread through me whenever he came near.
Were those feelings mine?
Or—
No.
I shook my head.
No.
That was ridiculous.
I knew what I felt.
I knew—
Harold suddenly stopped talking.
His head turned.
Slowly.
Toward me.
I froze.
He couldn’t see me.
He couldn’t.
But his eyes settled directly on mine.
My breath caught.
“Harold?”
His face changed.
Fear.
Not confusion.
Fear.
He looked at Charity.
“She’s listening.”
Charity’s eyes widened.
“What?”
“She’s here.”
I tried to move.
Nothing.
Harold looked directly at me again.
“Destiny…”
My heart pounded.
He shouldn’t have known my name.
He shouldn’t have been able to see me.
But he did.
And then he whispered:
“Don’t wake up.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
Charity turned toward him.
“Harold, what are you doing?”
He didn’t answer.
He kept staring at me.
“Don’t wake up.”
Something moved behind him.
A shadow.
Tall.
Too tall.
Standing just beyond the darkness.
I couldn’t see its face.
But I knew it was watching me.
Harold’s expression changed.
“It’s already here.”
I turned.
Nothing.
I looked back.
Harold and Charity were gone.
The darkness was gone.
The forest was gone.
Everything disappeared.
I was standing alone.
Then—
Something breathed behind me.
Slow.
Deep.
Wet.
My entire body went rigid.
I didn’t turn around.
Somewhere inside my mind, something screamed.
A memory.
A warning.
Words carved into wood.
Don’t let her look behind you.
The breathing came closer.
Closer.
Closer.
A hand settled on my shoulder.
And a voice whispered directly into my ear.
“You really shouldn’t have been listening.”
I woke up screaming.