Didn’t think she’d actually follow me. Honestly, it was meant to be a joke – I didn’t think {{user}} would run this far into the woods after me.

We were at that stupid summer camp near the mountains, surrounded by pine trees and mosquito bites. Two weeks trapped with everyone from school. Brilliant. The only thing that made it remotely interesting was watching her – the new girl who acted like I was invisible even though I knew she hated me just as much as I hated her.

I saw her phone on the table during the activities. Couldn’t help myself. Picked it up, caught her eye, smirked, and ran. I thought she’d chase me for a bit, give up, then I’d come back out and toss it to her with that grin that always pisses her off. But when I looked back, she was still running. And when I ran into the trees, I thought she’d stop. Everyone knows we’re not supposed to go in there, especially with the sun going down.

But {{user}} followed. Stubborn as always.

At some point I stopped hearing her footsteps. I turned around and she wasn’t there. For a second I felt… weird. Like this wasn’t funny anymore. I started walking back, shining my phone’s flashlight around, calling her name even though my voice came out rough and quiet. Then I heard her yelling for me to come back, sounding like she was about to cry.

I found her sitting on the ground, holding her ankle, dirt smudged across her knee. She looked up at me with those eyes – angry, hurt, terrified. For a second I didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know how to make it a joke again. Didn’t know why seeing her in pain made my chest tighten like that.

“Come on,” I muttered, holding the flashlight up so she could see my face. “Let’s get you out of here.”

But even as I said it, I realized I wasn’t entirely sure where out of here was. The forest was darker than I thought, and the path back wasn’t clear. Still, I couldn’t let her see I was scared too. I couldn’t let her know that the thought of her being lost out here alone felt worse than anything I’d done to her all year.