"Are you okay?" Caleb asked again when Sarah still hadn't replied.

Regaining her footing, she leaned on him to stand. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," she lied, unable to get the call's spine-tingling heavy breathing out of her head. It was probably a wrong number or even a telemarketer who didn't realize she'd picked up, and yet she was somehow sure that it was meant for her.

But if so, why? And more importantly, by whom?

"COPS!" The frantic yell interrupted both Sarah's train of thought and the surrounding conversations. Everyone fell silent, but the kids didn't have to be told twice. The party was officially over.

Throwing all evidence of wrongdoing on the ground, they scattered like roaches when the lights go on. As they clambered to reach their cars, many ran right through the spot that Sarah and Caleb had been talking. And while he was quick on his feet and tried to also drag her out of the way, she resisted.

"My phone!" she yelled, pulling her hand out of Caleb's to dive for the pile of leaves where she thought her device had landed.

"Sarah!" Caleb called out after her as a throng pushed between them.

Sure she could return to him in a few moments, she frantically patted the wet detritus. In the darkness, knees brushed her shoulder and someone stepped on her hand.

"Aargh! You fucker," Sarah screamed without slowing her search. That phone was probably the single most valuable thing she owned.

"Sarah, come on," Caleb continued to plead as he was pushed further and further away by the fleeing crowd.

Her heartbeat accelerating, Sarah became more harried. The phone had to be there. She saw it land just a few feet away. Unless someone had accidentally kicked it farther as they fled . . ..

Dum dadi doo. Dum dadi doo.

The shriek of her familiar ringtone broke through the enveloping panic. But the sound wasn't coming from the immediate area, rather from somewhere past the dark treeline.

Dum dadi doo. Dum dadi doo.

Sarah stood, concentrating on the ringing. Yup, it was definitely farther than she thought.

"Sarah!" Caleb's yell was almost indiscernible now, he'd been separated from her by so much. "I've ..."

Having a lead on her phone, she was less anxious as before. "Go to your car," she urged. "I'll be right there."

Unable to hear his answer or even see his reaction, she turned to the forest and walked in.

Dum dadi doo. Dum dadi doo.

The ringtone led her deeper among the trees, the sound becoming louder with each step she took. The chaos behind her faded equally, disappearing with the increased distance. Deeper, deeper, and deeper still Sarah went. And the phone just kept on ringing.

Dum dadi doo. Dum dadi doo.

Dum dadi doo. Dum dadi doo.

Where the hell was it?

"Sarah," someone whispered her name.

She whipped her head around, but no one was there.

"Sarah," came the faint call again, this time from the opposite direction.

"Who's there?" she croaked the question, unable to hide the quiver in her voice.

Dum dadi doo. Dum dadi doo.

The phone rang in answer, followed by the crack of a twig.

Sarah took a step backward, stumbling into a thorny bush. "Ow," she muttered while pulling away, snagging her leggings. "Son of a--"

"Sarah." The voice was closer now.

"What the fuck do you want?" she yelled, pushing the fear behind a bubbling anger. Whoever was playing this stupid game with her would pay once she found out who it was.

A rustling in the leaf cover made her jump and turn once more. In the distance, noticeable only thanks to the moonlight streaming through the forest was a figure. All black, it was more of a shadow, standing deathly still and just waiting. For what, Sarah didn't know. And she didn't want to find out.

So she ran.

Sarah tucked her head down and followed her feet, not caring where she ended up as long as it was far, far away from who or whatever was lurking in Bedlam Woods.

The air was cold on her face and it stung her lungs as she dodged the trees. The place was a maze and she could feel herself getting more and more lost. Stumbling, her palms hit the ground and broke her fall. The sound of footsteps made her scramble up and keep running.

"Oof," Sarah grunted as she bumped into something again. The steady grip on her biceps made her look up. "Caleb."

"Where the hell have you been?" he asked, glaring down at her before looking back in the direction she'd come from.

She turned too, following his gaze. "Someone was chasing me. I don't know who or why and--"

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" he asked, his tone immediately changing from accusatory to concerned. Letting go of her arms, he pulled her into a protective hug.

Sarah gladly accepted the comforting gesture, snuggling her face into his chest and squeezing her eyes shut. For a brief moment, all her fears vanished and the world was good.

"Sarah?"

Caleb's prompt brought her back to the present. "Oh, yeah. I'm okay, I think," she said, reluctantly letting him go. "I never did find my phone, though."

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "Of course you didn't. I picked it up right before you disappeared in the crowd. I was trying to tell you, but--"

"You had it this whole time?" she cut him off, grabbing the device from his hand. Even on closer inspection, it was definitely her phone.

"But I heard it ring. I followed the sounds. You believe me, don't you?" she asked, hoping she sounded less pathetic than she felt. Because if he truly did have the phone this whole time, then there was no logical explanation for what had just happened.

Caleb nodded and put his arm around her shoulder. "Yeah, yeah. Of course. But you said you saw someone? They were running after you or something?" he asked, while slowly leading her away from the edge of the forest.

Sarah swallowed. "It . . . it was this dark, shapeless character. Like a person in a cloak or something. But it didn't really look like a normal person, either," she said, clearly remembering what she had seen, but still having trouble putting words to the description.

"You mean like that guy?" asked Caleb, nodding toward Milton Park High School's mascot who'd just got to one of the last cars left in the parking area.

Sarah's stomach dropped at the sight of the kid dressed in the headless horseman getup. "Maybe?" she whispered, less sure now than before. Because although theoretically she could have confused the costume among the dark trees, she'd been so certain that whatever she saw had been deliberately taunting her. But if it had just been another student lost in the confusion, then she'd completely overreacted. "I . . . I don't know."

"It's okay," Caleb said as they arrived at his Jeep, fishing a key fob out of his pocket. He let go of Sarah only when he helped her into the passenger seat. "You all good?" he asked as she settled in.

She nodded, and he rounded the hood before he slipped behind the wheel.

They were one of the last to leave, driving past the bonfire two cops were spraying with foam from portable extinguishers. Caleb gave the officers a cocky two-finger salute while Sarah shielded her profile with her hand. The smell of smoke stunk up even the inside of the car.

"Bedlam Woods sure earned its name tonight," she said, as the red taillights of a car ahead of them glowed. They reminded her of the eyes of an irate demon.

Caleb remained silent, focusing on avoiding the biggest potholes in the packed dirt road. With the free reign, Sarah's brain switched to overdrive.

"Bedlam nowadays means chaos or confusion, but it comes from the word Bethlem, which was the name of an insane asylum in London. Did you know that? The history of Bethlem Hospital goes back all the way to the Middle Ages, but it's most famous for all the horrible things that it did to patients back in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. And who knows if everyone who got locked up in there was already a lunatic or if--"

When Caleb reached over and turned on the stereo, Sarah stopped babbling. It was a terrible habit, talking non-stop when she was extremely agitated. Most people never really noticed, since she knew enough about certain topics to sound more pretentious than anxious. Whether Caleb wanted to put her at ease with the distraction or if he just wanted her to shut the hell up, she didn't know. She was sure as heck wasn't going to ask. That would make it even worse. In fact, she'd be lucky if he would now actually tolerate having a daily class with her, much less if he ever wanted to see her again outside of school.

Oh, shit. She'd totally blown it with him, didn't she? He'd almost kissed her before everything went haywire, and instead of grabbing his hand and getting her ass out of there, she'd not only gotten lost, but also had some type of hallucination.

That'll teach her to drink beer again.

But what if it wasn't the alcohol? What if . . ..

No! She refused to believe it was that. It couldn't be. She. Was. Not. Her. Mother.

The only other explanation was that she didn't hallucinate. The figure that had scared her absolutely shitless in the woods was real. And it was most likely the horseman mascot.

But what if it wasn't him? What if . . .. What if ghosts were real? Would Jane's resident ghost follow her niece into Bedlam Woods on the off chance that she'd get separated from everyone and fall on the receiving end of her own, personal haunting?

Sarah inadvertently giggled at how stupid that sounded, even in her own head. Thankfully, the music was loud enough for Caleb not to notice. His full attention was still on the road, as though he'd completely forgotten about her existence even though she was just an arm's length away.

Her path forward was now clear. It didn't really matter what she saw or didn't see back there. Either way, she was obviously teetering on a knife's edge, ready to fall and cut herself open with the smallest of triggers. There was no way anyone like Caleb would willingly join her in that balancing act. And better yet, there was no way she'd ever expect them to.

When he finally pulled the Jeep in front of Jane's house, Sarah didn't even give him the chance to say goodbye. Jumping out as soon as the car came to a stop, she slammed the door in his face without looking back.

It was better this way. Whatever she was up against, she needed to face it alone.