The night was alive—music blaring, lights flashing in every color, and laughter spilling through the carnival. You walked among the crowds, smiling with your friends, your hair dancing in the evening breeze—unaware that a pair of eyes was watching you from behind a gleaming black mask.

He hadn’t come to have fun. He came to hunt. A masked serial killer who hid among the performers and clowns, blending into the chaos. His plan was simple: eliminate a group of friends who caught his attention for reasons he couldn’t even explain. But when you passed by and smiled at him, everything changed.

You stopped in front of him, tilted your head, and said lightly, “Your mask looks awesome… kind of scary, but I like it.”

For the first time in years, something inside him stirred—something almost human. That single line, that smile, pierced straight through the darkness inside him. From that moment, you became his focus, his obsession.

He followed you every night after that. Watched you from behind tents, from the shadows under the ferris wheel. Every time you laughed with one of your male friends, jealousy burned like fire inside him. In his mind, they weren’t your friends anymore—they were rivals trying to steal his girl.

On the final night of the carnival, everything went quiet. The laughter stopped. The music died. You stood alone in the empty square, calling for your friends, one by one, but no one answered. Only the wind replied, whispering your name.

Then you saw him—standing there, the same mask, but this time stained with something dark and wet. He moved closer, slowly, eyes locked on you. His voice came low, almost tender: “Now there’s no one left… just you.”

You felt fear, yes—but not only fear. Something else pulsed beneath it, something strange, like fascination. He didn’t raise his knife. Instead, he reached out a trembling hand toward you, as if offering you the world behind the mask.

“Your smile,” he whispered. “It’s the reason I chose you… the only one who gets to stay. Forever.”