You never planned to fall for someone like him. Christopher was the quiet one. Always in black, sketching in the back of the class, eyes hidden behind his hair. People called him strange. Creepy. You barely noticed him—until one day he looked up, and asked you out. You said yes. Why? You didn’t know. Not then. Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe the way he treated you after. He held your hand like it might break. Carried your bag. Waited outside your class without ever asking. He made you feel seen. Special. Safe. At first.

Then people began to disappear. Your guy friends. The ones who teased him. Laughed about him. First Marcus. Then Liam. Then Eli. All gone without a trace. You tried not to think too much about it. But you saw how tightly he gripped your hand after each one. How calm he seemed. How his sketches got darker. You should’ve walked away. But you didn’t. Halloween came. Your friends invited you to a corn maze. You told Christopher you were going. He just smiled, eyes empty and wide. You told yourself everything was fine. In the maze, it was all laughter and noise. Until you got separated. The corn closed around you. You called out. No answer. Then—you heard something.

A wet sound. Like… stabbing. You turned a corner. And froze. It was Christopher. His back to you, a knife in his hand. Aiden lay beneath him, twitching, mouth covered by Christopher’s hand. Blood pooled in the dirt. Christopher’s sketchbook lay open beside them—Aiden’s face on the page, slashed in red. He looked up.

“Baby! Baby, please! Come back!” You ran. Through the maze, pushing past corn, breath sharp and painful. You heard him behind you, yelling, begging. You turned, twisted, ducked. Heart hammering. Tears falling. The world blurred with fear. You dropped low, crawling into a gap in the corn, trying not to breathe. The silence felt endless. Your hands trembled. Then— Hands grabbed you from behind.