My scream pierced through the stillness, deafening my ears as I stood, preparing to run as away from the edge as I could to escape what was watching me. A figure, tall, dark, and menacing, stalked us from behind a tree. Its large almond-shaped eyes glowed white and unblinking.

"What?" Atem hoisted the smaller camera up to aim it at me. "What happened?"

"What is that?" I pointed, only hearing the drumming of my heart and Atem's awkward shuffling as he pivoted, trying to capture the unworldly creature on film. "Oh, my god. What is that?" He stood unmoving, focusing, and zooming on the figure as it crept closer, hunching as if preparing to pounce and break into a full-on sprint to capture its next meal.

Something didn't add up as Atem grew more concerned with his shot and camera angle than the immediate danger.

"What's going on?" Before I could fully raise an eyebrow, the invader fully emerged from the darkness.

"Boo!" A male figure stumbled forward, and laughter erupted from under the monster mask he wore. When he removed the silicone disguise with light-up eyes, the fresh-faced Zeke appeared. "Did I scare you?" He and Atem laughed in unison like a couple of drunken hyenas.

A searing anger steamed inside of me, threatening to explode, but I somehow contained my emotions. "Zeke, what are you doing here? What is this Atem?"

"It's ok, babe," Zeke's apologetic blue eyes gleamed with help from the flickering light of the campfire. "Atem invited me."

My stare could've been red hot iron by the way Atem reacted when I looked at him. His eyes widened as he explained, "I thought having them here would make the film more interesting."

Just as he said the words, on cue, a flashlight beam nearly blinded me from the forest. Before I could question who else was out there, Felicity Weiland stepped out from the shadows just as fit, petite, and as pretty as always. Her straight brunette locks were in a in a loose ponytail at the back of her head and contrasted her lightly tanned skin.

"Sorry to crash your party, but creepy ass woods sound like my kind of good time." She grinned and swirled her phone and its flashlight in her hand, stealing all the attention.

Nothing new.

Zeke was too busy chuckling at Felicity to notice my irritation. "I thought you wouldn't make it here with how clumsy you are. I swear, she just kept stepping on stuff and plowing into things."

"We were creeping through the forest in the dark. Of course, I would run into a stupid tree or two." She made a mocking face at Zeke.

"How did you get here?" I looked back and forth between the two, purposely avoiding eye contact with Atem. So much for taking this journey seriously.

Zeke pointed to Felicity. His toned forearms and milky smooth skin were devoid of all body hair. He forever insisted on being neat and presentable, not even trusting the unpredictability of the natural hair growth process. "We took her dad's car and got here a few hours ahead of you guys. I've been texting you about the gig The Garbles had across town. I thought you didn't answer because you suspected something."

The only thing I suspected was that I would be boyfriend-less this weekend. "I put my phone away so I could get in the zone and not get distracted by anything, but it's okay."

"Oh, no." He rushed to my side and pet my shoulder like a stray dog. "I thought you would be excited to see me. I didn't want to intrude."

"No, it's fine." I shrugged. "I mean, we can make it work."

"It'll be fun!" Felicity squealed. Her black eyeliner lay thick as it curled into little wings at the outside corners of her eyelids, punctuating her light brown eyes and suntanned skin perfectly. The total opposite of my bare face and dark brown irises. "Ooh. We can tell spoopy campfire tells." She grinned.

Although Atem's eyes lit up with the idea, he shuffled the camera in his hands. "Actually..."

"I'm on a spiritual journey to find answers and Atem came along to document it."

"Oh." Felicity's disappointment was loud and clear with her lackluster response. "Spiritual journey? You really believe in that Ayahuasca stuff?"

"I do." Why was she here? "I had a brew prepared by a shaman who stated that I drink it when I was at peace from distractions to become awakened."

"A shaman?" Felicity cocked her head. "A real shaman?"

"Yes." I nodded. "I found him and his special brew online. He ships the plant medicine from Peru and Costa Rica where the ingredients are pure."

"Okay..." Felicity brought her hand to her mouth to stifle her snickers but failed. "If you say so."

"What's this about?" Zeke finally caressed my shoulder as a boyfriend would, gliding his warm, gentle palm ever so gently along the curve. "Is this about Clay?"

"Something like that." I stared into his soft blue eyes and glimpsed him trying to maintain a look of concern. "I'm just trying to figure things out. This is a personal journey. I really wish you all would've talked to me before—"

"Is that blood?" Zeke interrupted, staring at me while tapping the side of his nose.

I brought my fingers to my nostrils to feel the sticky wetness. "Shit." I looked around in my bag for a tissue, opting to use the easily assessable clean black sock instead to wipe away the mess.

"Well, what kind of party is this?" Felicity smacked her lips.

I glanced at Atem, directing all my anger toward him. He only hid behind the camera and continued to shoot.

"We can leave you alone, babe," Zeke offered, running his hand confidently through his short, styled, wavy hair. "Me and Felicity can go back to the car. We drove it up to the other campground. Not that far. It actually has the same layout with a fire pit and stuff."

"That's fine, Zeke." I shook my head at the idea. "You don't have to do that." They were here now, might as well get used to it.

"Are you sure?" He pointed further back toward the other campground. "I brought some goodies, some beers. We can go hang out up there and leave you two to it."

"Leave her to what, exactly?" Felicity chimed in. Her skintight, flesh-toned leggings disturbed me. "Are you supposed to perform some ritual or something?"

All eyes and the camera landed on me.

"I'm supposed to drink a special Ayahuasca brew made from roots and potent herbs, and it's supposed to help me receive my intention through meditation and grounding." It was as if I spoke a foreign language. I huffed. "It produces a spiritual trip."

"Ooh, psychedelics." Felicity sat on the ground getting comfortable as she cuddled up to the dancing flames. "So, it's that kind of party, huh? Alright. Are you gonna be generous with your brew, or do I have to put in for my spot?"

"It's not that kind of brew." I sighed.

She chuckled. "I mean, you act like it's concocted by God himself. Did he use the menstrual blood of virgins to produce it or something? I'm only asking for a sip."

"That's not how it works. It works by being spiritually ready and setting an intention."

She scoffed. "What is this The Craft type shit? God, you really know how to be a buzzkill."

Zeke stepped forward. The crunch of leaves and dried pine needles sounded in the atmosphere. "This seems important, especially if it's about Clay. It's only been six months and I know you're trying to work through the loss. So, if doing this will help you heal, then I don't want to bother you."

I wished I saw the sincerity in his eyes when he spoke to me. That most obvious expression wasn't there. Detachment. Why did he agree to come? "Thank you, Zeke. But it makes no sense to send you guys away. We'll make it work."

"Does that mean we're gonna stop filming?" Atem finally looked from behind his camera.

I shook my head and sneered. "That should have been something you thought about before trying to get a good scare out of me."

"Sorry." He frowned. "I mean, this trip doesn't have to be a waste. You have your novel." He put a dainty hand out before him. "Your novel about bad boy millionaires and handsome wild cowboys."

"False," I corrected. "That was the last novel."

"Oh, millionaire bad boy shamans." He smacked the air with his kissy face.

A chuckle bubbled in my gut. "Shut up, Atem." I went to my notebook. "Speaking of, I swore I read something in my notebook about Zeke sneaking up, trying to scare me. I read it right as it was happening too. And the creepy thing is, I don't even remember writing anything like that."

"What are you talking about?" Felicity raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

"There's a passage in my notebook that warned me someone was in the forest, right as Zeke popped out."

"Bullshit." Felicity stood, skepticism written all over in her body language. "Are you sure you didn't have a sip of your trippy brew already?"

"The bottle's not even open yet." I pointed to the container in my pack. "I swear, reading it creeped me out. Made the hairs on my body stand on end."

"Ew!" Atem grimaced, teasing me to get a reaction out of Zeke.

I stuck my tongue out at him to mock his childish humor and attempt at attention.

"Let me see." Felicity pulled the notebook out of my hand before I could protest. "Where is this passage?" She flipped through pages.

"Those are personal notes, you know." I tried to reclaim my notebook, but she turned her back to me, preventing me from getting near while she searched the text.

"What is this?" Her tone made me stop in my tracks.

"What?" I saw the anger on her face and grew curious.

"Character traits," she started. "Character one; determined, analytical, grief-stricken. Character two; gullible, prankster, creative. Character three; single-minded, fickle, musician. Character four; dimwitted, clumsy, attention-seeking? What?! Is that supposed to be us? Let me guess, Ima, you're the determined one and I'm attention-seeking?"

"What?" I finally snatched the notebook from her and looked at it myself. The words were there, written in my handwriting, but... "I never wrote this."

"Ha, ha. Funny." Felicity rolled her eyes. "Dimwitted, really? Might as well call me stupid."

"That's what she did—" Zeke started.

"Shut it," Felicity barked, pointing her finger with pink and red ombre polished nails.

I scanned the page. "Listen, I didn't write this." I flipped the book in my hands, looking for distinguishing characteristics from the scribble. It was the notebook Clay left for me months ago to store my story notes and ideas. It was Clay's idea to use free form writing as a manner of mediation. He was a big advocate of method writing and insisted on feeling the words on the page to connect with the emotions of the characters. He called the meditative aspect Zoning.

"If you didn't write it, who did?" Zeke stepped closer to get a better look at the book and its contents.

"It's weird. It has my notes for the romance story I was writing, but this here is strange." I ran my finger along the unfamiliar text.

Atem placed the second camera on a smaller tripod. "Well, what else does it say?"

I flipped the page and read the first thing that caught my eye. "After the creature begins chase, the group retreats to the nearest car to escape the forest. Unbeknownst to them, a greater force is at play, expecting each player to take their places in its game."

"Bullshit." Felicity shouted. "Told ya. She wrote that."

"But I didn't." My voice grew louder with the accusation.

Felicity went on, ignoring my protest. "Her and Atem are planning some stupid horror film and they want us to be characters in it, Zeke. She was in on the whole thing. That notebook is proof that her and Atem are scripting a movie."

Atem finally stepped away from the cameras. "That would be awesome if it were true, but it's not."

"I swear, Atem is here to film my spiritual journey. You guys weren't even supposed to be here. I really didn't know Atem asked you guys to come."

Zeke seemed confused, scratching his temple as Atem and Felicity continued bickering about films and screenplays.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Who else did you have come out here, Atem?"

"No one." He seemed sincere. And judging from his online movies, he wasn't that good of an actor to lie so well. "I wanted to have a little fun with you guys, but nothing like what that notebook is suggesting."

As I flipped through the pages, trying to figure out where the text came from or what was going on, their arguing turned into insolent noise in the background.

A paragraph caught my attention and I read it aloud. "'The Hangedman's cries echo throughout the dense, dark thickets. From which direction the howling originates, no one knows. The one thing they are sure of is the longer they listen, the closer he gets until his acoustics penetrate their brain and spill out as blood.'"

The Hangedman? I looked up from the pages. My breathing grew rapid as the hot tears hovered on my lids. Who would write such a thing?

"Did you say the hanged man?" Atem shook his head slowly, the look of sorrow in his eyes.

"I didn't write that." I tried to keep my body from shuddering and shaking uncontrollably but failed. "Why would I write that?"

"Because you're grieving." Zeke bowed his head mournfully.

I shook my head, staring at Atem for reassurance. "I write romance, not... this. Why would I write about my brother's death like that? It's not entertaining or healing."

Silence grew loud. Only the crackle of burning wood sounded in the atmosphere. I stared at the orange and yellow dancing flames and sniffed away the moisture in my nose. I couldn't stop my tears from rolling down my cheeks, but I hid them by swiping them away with the back of my hand.

Zeke stared. He must've noticed.

"I'm fine," I reassured him, hoping to stop him from running to my side and bringing unwanted attention to my tears.

"I know," he said. "It's just your nose is bleeding again."

I swiped my knuckles against the tickle of moisture on my nose. He was right. "Argh," I groaned in frustration.

And from somewhere deep within the woods surrounding us, a deep, haunting groan responded. It was nothing like an echo but sounded ominously like the deep and guttural growl of an unearthly being.

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