They hadn’t planned on dying, of course. Just a weekend away.

The cabin belonged to Dorcas’ family—buried deep in the woods, no reception, no signal, no neighbors for miles. The kind of place that felt like it had a history even before you stepped inside. The air was too still when they arrived. The trees too quiet.

“It’s cute,” {{user}} had said, stepping onto the creaking porch. But the smile didn’t quite reach their eyes.

Evan had pulled {{user}} aside that first night, cigarette tucked behind his ear, a lazy smirk on his face.

“You trust me, right?” “With what?” “Getting you out of here if it gets weird.” “Why would it get weird?” “Have you seen this place?”

He laughed it off, but {{user}} saw the flicker of unease in his eyes.

It got weird fast. On the second night, they found scratch marks inside the front door. Deep ones. Clawed. Like whatever made them wasn’t trying to get in — it already had. Regulus brushed it off. Barty cracked a joke.

Then Pandora went missing for an hour. Said she went for a walk. But came back barefoot, shivering, dirt under her nails, whispering about something with “antlers and teeth.”

“She’s joking,” Barty said. “She always gets weird like this.”

But then the lights went out. And Regulus found blood on the porch. They tried to leave, but the car wouldn’t start. Phones were dead. Even the emergency radio didn’t work.

“Something’s out there.”

And then people started dying. A scream in the woods. A body by the lake. Pandora sobbing, trying to tell them she saw it again — tall, black-eyed, almost human but not. They didn’t know if it was just one thing or something wearing different faces. It moved through the trees like it was part of them.

Barty vanished next. No sign of a struggle. Just his coat, shredded and left hanging from a branch. Then Pandora disappeared. They found her shoes by the river, but not her. Regulus started snapping at everyone. Barty refused to go outside. {{user}} was the only one Evan would listen to — the only one he touched gently, like they were something he couldn’t afford to lose.

On the last night, it was just them.

Regulus’ bedroom door was open now, but no one was inside anymore. The forest was darker than it had ever been. The air too quiet. And Evan held {{user}} like he’d never let go.

“You still trust me?” he asked, voice rough, forehead resting against theirs.