The car sped down the dirt road, kicking up dust as it went. Atem seemed hyper focus on what the headlights illuminated on the path in front of us. With both hands on the wheel, his eyes went back and forth from the windshield, the rear-view, and the side mirrors.

"You have to turn around," I reminded him, twisting in my seat to look behind us through the back window. "The exit's the other way."

"Did you guys hear that?" he responded. "What were those? Footsteps? Didn't it sound like footsteps?"

Zeke constantly watched the fog through the passenger window. "It sounded like a hundred giants in a soccer game and the goal was us."

"Bigfoot?" Felicity turned to look at us for confirmation.

I opened my notebook to scan the pages, just as Atem pulled over near the other car in the second campsite. They had parked the other car at the outer edge of the circle, away from the center campfire pit that sat cold and desolate. The fire pit's large broken and chipped stones barely fit together in some places. The rim seemed like it would be one move away from collapsing.

"I'm not getting out." Defiant, Felicity tugged the seatbelt for good measure. "Like I said, screw that car. I just want to go home."

Atem made a U-turn in the large camping space, passing the other car completely, going around the center fire pit and back on the road heading the opposite way toward the ranger station. As we turned, the headlights washed over the nearby trees. The light reflected off a large pair of eyes high in the trees, watching us with unnerving accuracy. The red in the center of the eyes flickered inside pure, blinding white.

The car hummed as screams shrieked from everyone at the same time.

"Go, go, go!" I managed, keeping my eyes on the pair amongst the thick branches, and Atem stepped on the gas, leaving it in the dust. "I don't even want to know what that is."

"Just keep driving," Zeke instructed, as we all turned to peer out of the back window to see nothing but more dust at the bumper and fog in the distance closing in.

We passed the first campsite with flames blazing from the fire pit. Our equipment sat in the dirt like abandoned kittens awaiting an owner. I took a moment to scan my notebook. "I need a light."

Zeke aimed his phone's flashlight at the notebook that rested on my lap.

I skimmed my fingers along the pages as I read. "'And the game begins. Nightmare creatures are hunting for flesh and the warmth of human pulp. Creeping and stalking the forest far into the night until they have their fill. The characters learn that until they escape the confines of the vehicle, they are secure from the fog. However, even curiosity was a trickster.'"

"That doesn't help." Felicity said as we passed the lighted ranger station. She turned around in her seat to get a better look at the notebook. "What else does it say?"

I gulped and continued, despite the ache in my forehead. "'Her mind reels like the spinning cogs of a machine, or the wheels of a car, neither getting her far. The further she goes, the deeper she sinks, and the more her insides flow to become her outsides, painting her in a beautiful hue of deep rusty red.'"

A drop of blood splattered onto the page and sunk into the fibers of the paper. My knuckles grazed my nostrils and instead of stopping the flow, it only encouraged a steady stream of blood down over my lips and chin to soak the front of my shirt.

My head ached, pounding with the rapid beat of my heart. I groaned from the splitting pain. Zeke ripped a piece of fabric from the edge of his shirt to place over my nose and help stop the bleeding. I put my head back and whimpered against the cloth.

"What's wrong with her?" Atem asked, staying steadily on the rugged road but adjusting the rearview mirror to get a better look at me.

"I don't know." Zeke cradled me in his arms. "She's bleeding. A lot. We need to get to a hospital."

"Shouldn't we be out of the forest and back on the highway by now?" Felicity seemed just as panicked as Zeke as she pointed out the unnerving.

With that, we looked out the windows in silence as only dirt road, trees and fog surrounded us. We were nowhere near the highway.

Atem eased off the gas, slowing the car to a crawl. "Shit."

"What did you do, Atem?" Felicity whined, throwing her hands up in frustration.

"Nothing." He shook his head and mimicked her, throwing his hands up in defense. "I'm following the road. We should've—" He looked around in confusion. "This doesn't make any sense. We weren't that deep in the forest. The ranger station was maybe a mile from Highway Ninety, if that."

Felicity shook her head slowly. "Oh, no, no, no," she cried. "This can't be happening."

I thought about our position and how similar it was to those few fictional horror stories I was familiar with. The eerie, foggy woods, the creepy sensation of being watched, the eyes in the trees and so on. I cleared my throat. "I think we're the characters in this notebook."

It was silent for a few uneasy seconds as my words sank in.

"My god." Felicity rubbed her forehead. "She didn't even have a sip of that trippy brew or the warm booze. So why would she be saying stupid shit like that?"

I ignored her and raised the notebook. "I don't know how it's happening or how it's come to be, but this story is summarizing our experiences out here. You see it, don't you? We're the characters in a goddamn horror story."

Zeke stared at me, slowly inching back to his seat. "That's... These are just coincidences. I mean, you must've written those things yourself. It's your notebook."

I twisted in my seat to face him. "It doesn't matter who wrote it, it's a narration of the exact things we're going through. Can't you see it? Nothing else, especially coincidence, can explain this."

Atem glanced at me through the rearview mirror. "I know horror, and if we're characters in a story, that means someone's dying. All horror has death."

"You're not really buying into that, are you, Atem?" Zeke smacked his lips. "I mean, I admit this is pretty weird, but come on. Characters in a horror novel? When we get home, we're going to look back at all this and laugh our asses off. Trust me."

Felicity chuckled nervously. "I just wanna go home. Why haven't we seen the highway yet?"

Atem raised a trembling finger, putting the attention back on him. "Most horror stories have archetypes, right? Like... character stereotypes. If we figure out which archetype we are, maybe we can figure out who's going first."

"What?!" Felicity's shout hurt my ears. "No one's going first. We're all getting out of here. We're going home."

"Not if we're in a horror story," Atem went on. Eyes wide and serious.

Zeke's frustration was audible in his huff. "We're not in a horror story. That's insane. Don't you hear yourself?"

"I'm obviously the brains here," Atem went on. "So, my presence is important. I need to remain throughout the entire story. Till the end. So, it's not me."

"Well, it's not me either," Felicity declared, folding her arms across her chest.

Atem glanced from the narrow dirt road before us to Felicity. "You're obviously the ditsy girl who runs up the stairs when she should run out of the house."

"Are you reciting Scream right now?" The anger in Felicity's eyes was apparent even in the darkness.

"Sidney Prescott, to be exact." He sneered. "Would you rather be that or the promiscuous girl who dies buck naked in some gruesome way?" His wide eyes reflected in the small mirror when I looked, his fear and urgency visible by the display of the whites.

"Me? Promiscuous?" Felicity threw her arms up. "Ima and Zeke were the ones fucking in the car!"

"He's my boyfriend," I said in defense. "That doesn't make us promiscuous."

She glared, nearly growling through her clenched teeth. "Well, that sure doesn't make you the innocent virgin either. So, you're up for grabs too."

Atem snorted. "Well, in my book, Felicity would be that cliché."

"Really, Atem?" She sneered, visibly offended. "I don't know why you have a problem with me, but I didn't do anything to you."

"You're always in everyone's business at school, including mine, and worried about everyone's love life all the time, including mine." He shrugged, transforming his fear into anger. "You're just predictable and one-dimensional."

She gasped. "I have shit going on in my life too, you know. Just because I don't blab about it to you doesn't make me one-dimensional. You don't even know I'm making herbal lip gloss and plan to start an online business. I have aspirations too, you know. It's not my fault your movies are boring, and you don't like girls."

"See?" Atem's eyebrows dipped. "That's not true."

"Which part?" Felicity smirked.

"Are you gay bashing?"

"You slut-shamed me!"

Zeke shook his head. "Please, guys. This is ridiculous. Let's just find the way out of here. Alright?" He turned to me and whispered, "Freaking infants."

We continued driving, doing a steady speed of thirty miles per hour and still no highway. Obviously, we were lost. The road never turned or forked, so I was sure it would eventually lead to an exit.

"I want to look in the notebook, but I'm afraid to," I confessed, fingering the sheets of paper along the edge. "Since coming near this forest, I was getting nose bleeds. I thought nothing of it at first. Maybe the air was thin or dry and caused it, but now I see it happens every time I read from this notebook. That can't be good."

"No, it's not." Zeke grabbed the notebook from my lap. "And I know a way to fix that." His window lowered, sending in a steady flow of chilled pine scented air.

Before he could toss the notebook out the window, I stopped him by pulling his arm and grabbing hold of the book. "No, what are you doing?"

"I'm getting rid of it."

"I need it!" I cocked my head, surprised that he would just absentmindedly toss my hard-earned work out. "Give it back to me."

"This notebook is doing nothing but causing us to act crazy." His grip tightened. "I'm getting rid of it."

"No, it's important!" I cried, suddenly seeing something else in him I haven't witnessed before and not liking it.

"You can write more stories," he assured me. "You don't need this notebook."

"But I do." The words caught in my throat, and I was on the brink of tears.

Atem suddenly hit the brakes, and I fought against the motion of momentum to wrestle Zeke and pry the notebook out of his hands.

Satisfied, I held the notebook to my chest and my rapid breaths matched Zeke's as his blue eyes landed on me, confused. I knew he wouldn't understand, but I didn't care. I wasn't letting him destroy my property.

The quiet in the car took my attention, and I turned to see Atem staring straight ahead. My eyes followed. There on the side of the road, was the blazing fire pit and our abandoned equipment. The camera he had left behind was still on the tripod, recording us as we stared in disbelief.

"Are you shitting me?" Felicity whispered, a mixture of awe and doubt on her face.

"We must've gone in a circle," Atem suggested.

"Impossible." I murmured, looking at what the headlights illuminated on the tree ahead of us. The fog behaved like smoke as it rose and crept up the length of the trees near us. There on the trunk of one tree was a tattered sheet of paper that looked familiar even from the distance.

"Is that a note?" Felicity pointed ahead, bringing the paper to everyone else's attention.

The car moved as Atem brought us closer to get a better look.

I recognized the letter, the arrangements of words, as well as the paper they were on.

My heart sank as I built the courage to flip open my notebook to the letter Clay had left for me. His letter that contained his last words. Even from this distance I could make out his handwriting on the sheet attached to the tree, especially where it instructed to "Do as I couldn't. Love, Laugh. Live." However, where it should have been in my notebook, it was no longer there, only a ripped portion of the paper still attached to the spine in its place. 

Atem pulled the car as close to the tree as he could. Refusing to roll down the window or open the car door. "What does it say?"

"It's the letter Clay wrote for me before he left." I stared at the missing page, suddenly realizing how important it was for me to get it back. "I need that letter."

"I don't want to risk it. That fog is moving in." Atem looked around the car where he was correct. The fog was quickly closing in on us.

"I can get out really quick to grab it," I prompted, nodding to convince the others as well as myself.

Zeke pawed my thigh. "Babe, it's a piece of paper. It's not worth it."

I tossed the closest thing near me, the soaked and bloodied cloth, and sneered. "It's not just a piece of paper. It's of piece of my brother. The only piece of him I have left. I need that letter." I unlocked my door and popped it open. The wisps of fog reached in the crack like ethereal fingers.

"What are you doing?!" Atem and Zeke's voice matched in intensity.

Felicity shook her head. "And you call me the dimwit."

Of course, they didn't understand how important that letter was. "I'm getting the letter."

"Or a machete in your back!" Atem said. "I know horror, Ima Jean. Trust me. This is one of those moves that cost characters their lives."

"The heroine doesn't die," I said with certainty, closing the door and the ethereal fingers inside. All I wanted to do was quickly grab the paper and get back inside the car. It would have taken only five seconds.

"Nope." Atem shook his head so violently the car rocked. "In horror, anyone can die, including the main character."

Felicity smacked her lips in annoyance. "What makes you think you're the heroine anyway, Ima?"

"We're on this trip because of me and my journey," I said, pointing to the letter on the tree. It was obvious. "That's my brother's letter. The outline is in my notebook. We've been talking about me and my issues most of the time. This is about me."

"I have issues too," Felicity chimed in. "Just because you don't ask about us or talk to us to know what we're going through doesn't make you the heroine. There's so much about me you just don't care about because you think your story is more important."

"What are you talking about?" Atem glared. "We all have lives outside of this trip. Do you know that I've won an award for my short film Tales from the Creep? Do you know my grandma gave me ten thousand dollars to use toward tuition at film school?"

Zeke scoffed. "Okay, M. Night Shyamalan. Yes, we know. We knew you since freshman year. That's the superficial stuff you tell everyone you meet. I bet you guys didn't know how my parents put up tuition for me, too."

I sighed, trying not to disappoint him, but we knew that as well.

"And..." Zeke huffed and rubbed his forehead the way he does when there was a heavy weight on his chest. "I hate it. I don't want to go to college. In fact, I don't really want to do music. I hate the Garbles. I hate our music. We only started a band in the first place to get girls. There's no passion left in me for it at all. I want to quit, but something just won't let me. I always gotta win. Losing is not an option."

I looked into his sorrowful eyes, finally seeing what had been missing from him for so long. Honesty. He even sat differently in his seat. Something about him suddenly felt more human. "Why didn't you tell me these things?"

"I've been trying to be what everyone else wanted me to be." He sighed, avoiding eye contact. "Or at least what my parents wanted from me, my friends, girls."

I reached over to grab and squeeze his hand comfortingly. "Well, you only have one girl to think about now—" I rolled my eyes at Felicity when she scoffed and shook her head. "—and I won't pressure you to be or do anything you don't feel comfortable doing."

Felicity crossed her arms over her chest. "So, I guess they're the stereotypical 'hot couple.' They die too, you know. I'm surprised you two didn't get a kitchen knife to the spine while you were fucking."

Atem threw his hands up. "Why is our go-to about slasher flicks? There are other kinds of horror too."

"What's your deal, Felicity?" I sat forward, ignoring Atem to get a better glimpse of her. "You've been so angry since you got here. What have I done to you, huh? We used to be cool and lately you've been just as distant as everyone else in my life."

"Things change, okay?" She sat staring forward out of the windshield. "No one knows what I've been through the last few months. No one seemed to care, either. Our so-called friends are more worried about you and Clay's situation. I totally see why you'd be the heroine to a damn story."

Atem put a finger up to get our attention. "The term hero and heroine are terms usually used in romance, not horror."

"Well, maybe the outline is really a mislabeled romance novel. Romantic suspense?" I looked at Zeke, searching for his sad blue eyes.

His gaze went to my shirt. "A romance with this much blood in it?"

I looked down at my soaked sweater. "I have no clue." On the precipice of giving up, I slid back in my seat. "For all I know, this could literally just be a nightmare I'm having. I even determine what's real anymore."

"I can tell you right now what's real." Atem's eyes lit up as he stared into the rearview mirror. A light coming from behind the car washed out the reflection of his big brown eyes.

We all turned to look at the pair of headlights rushing toward us.

What are your thoughts?