Page 128 of Nocturne

Matt’s expression changes in an instant. The pain on his face fades into something worse—something pure and unrelenting: fear.

His eyes dart back toward me, his voice breaking as he calls out again.

“Ara! Help!”

The urgency in his voice snaps me into motion. I sprint forward, the dread in my gut rising with every step. But just as quickly as I close the distance between us, something shifts again.

Matt pulls himself up with desperate strength, his eyes wild with fear. He glances back over his shoulder once more, as if he’s seen something—or someone—that I can’t. The panic on his face is raw and real, and it stops me cold.

My breath catches in my throat.

I don’t want to look. I don’t want to know.

But it’s too late.

Before I can reach him, before I can help him up, something grabs him from behind. It’s quick—so quick that I don’t even see it coming. He’s yanked backwards with terrifying force, his body jerking violently, and the air is filled with his scream.

“ARA!”

His voice cracks, filled with a raw desperation that cuts through me like a blade. It’s a scream that I’ll never forget—one filled with pain, but also with an undeniable terror.

I can’t even see who’s dragging him into the woods. I don’t know what it is—who it is—but the force of it is enough to make my blood run cold.

I stop, paralysed by fear. I want to help him, but my body betrays me. My legs feel as if they’ve turned to stone, my muscles frozen in place.

Matt’s screams grow fainter as he’s pulled farther into the forest. His cries are distant, a terrible mixture of pain and pure fear. I try to move, but I’m rooted in place, watching him disappear into the dark trees.

And then, with a final, blood-curdling scream, he’s gone.

I stand there for what feels like an eternity, the sound of his voice echoing in my ears, my heart pounding in my chest. The air feels colder, the shadows deeper. I can’t move. I can’t breathe.

And then, I scream.

* * *

There is no way I’m letting my fear get the best of me. Not again.

There is no way I’ll let my selfish intentions win. Not again.

Despite the suffocating grip of terror that tightens around my chest, I push forward, crossing the boundary of the fence. My hands tremble uncontrollably, and my legs feel as though they’re made of jelly, but I step into the forest. Into the very heart of it, the place I’ve warned countless students to stay away from.

I step into the forest, and the canopy above quickly swallows the faint light from the parking lot. The trees stand like ancient giants, their twisted branches clawing at the sky, casting long, dark shadows across the uneven ground. The underbrush is thick and suffocating, tangled with brambles and roots that seem to shift and writhe beneath my feet, as though the earth itself is alive and watching me. The air is damp, and heavy with the scent of decaying leaves and earth, filling my lungs with every breath. A suffocating stillness presses down on me.

The deeper I go, the darker it gets. The wind whispers through the trees, low and indistinct, like a murmur I can’t quite make out. The path narrows, the foliage closing in around me, and I feel as though the forest is trying to keep me here, to trap me in its grasp.

Each step feels like I’m sinking deeper into some forgotten place, where time no longer matters. Neither do lives. The shadows shift unnaturally, as though they have minds of their own, making me second-guess every sound I hear. The rustling, the creaking, the soft snaps of twigs underfoot—everything feels wrong, like the forest knows I don’t belong here. And is angry that I dared to venture this close into its womb. It’s nonsense of course. Right?

I stumble over a branch, my breath catching in my throat as a cold gust of wind rattles the trees above. The air is thick with an oppressive weight, like something is hanging over me. There’s no sign of Matt anymore, no trace of where he’s gone.

The darkness is complete now, swallowing up the world around me, and the further I go, the more it feels like the forest is pulling me in. A creeping unease wraps around me, crawling under my skin. The longer I stay, the creepier I feel, like this place might become something else entirely—something that won’t let me leave. Ineedto stop watching supernatural shows!

A hoot of an owl somewhere to my side has me letting out a short shriek of horror. I keep looking around, keeping my eyes and ears open for any possible threat. Animal control did not report any dangerous animals in this part of the woods, but there is a possibility that I might encounter one. Guessing that it is an animal which has dragged Matt into these woods.

I’m not sure what I think I’d achieve venturing into the woods when I think it is an animal attack. I don’t even have my phone with me to alert anyone. Surely, someone would have heard me and Matt screaming. Right? If not, whichever animal had dragged him here is going to have a scrumptious dinner.

I slap myself, trying to stop my head from engaging in morbid humour. It is a reckless thing to do. Instead of panicking, I step into humour. I’m not sure how good it is.

Just when I’m about to give up the search and turn around to fetch someone for help, the narrow path opens into a tiny clearing. Moonlight shines down from the canopy that isn’t very thick here. But what stops my breath and has my heart quickening at a maddening pace isn’t the light, but Matt’s body lying face down in the space.

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