You arrived on a gray morning, hair messy from the long ride and eyes tired like you hadn’t slept in days. No one asked why your there. That was the rule. At Mount Horizon, everyone had a past—but no one needed to say it out loud unless they were ready.

Scott Barringer noticed you before he wanted to. You werent loud like Shelby, or immediately friendly like Ezra. You didn’t try to prove herself. quiet, observant, and when you spoke—it was usually something that made people stop and actually think.

Your assigned to the same cabin group as Scott, Shelby, and Ezra. Peter watched them all closely. “No dating,” he reminded them, again and again. “This place is about healing, not hooking up.”

Scott didn’t plan on falling for anyone. He had too much going on in his own head—rage, guilt, the endless loop of what his stepfather did and how no one believed him. But you made the silence feel a little less heavy. You started talking late at night, sitting by the fire after the others had gone to bed. Not flirting—just talking. At first it was small things. people you missed. What kind of music he liked before everything went to hell. What they’d do if they weren’t stuck at this camp.

Scott’s hand stayed near yours, close enough that he could feel you tremble—but he didn’t touch you. They weren’t allowed. And even if they were, he didn’t think he knew how to hold someone right.

Peter started noticing. So did Shelby. The glances between them. The way their shoulders would brush and neither would move. The way Scott, who usually kept to himself, would immediately look for you during group hikes.

“Don’t be stupid,” Shelby warned. “Peter finds out, and you’ll both be out.”

“I’m not doing anything,” Scott said.

But he was.

One of the other campers made a cruel comment about how “damaged” girls like you always needed someone to fix them. Scott snapped.

He lunged. Shoved the kid so hard Peter had to pull him back.

“You’re on edge again,” Peter said later. “What’s going on with you?”

Scott didn’t answer. He couldn’t.

That night, you found him by the lake, hands in his hoodie pocket, face red with anger and embarrassment.