Page 15 of Dance of Madness

I’ve doubled my time in the studio, demanding more of myself and sweating my ass off until my reflection in the mirror looks like a ghost barely clinging to the body it once inhabited.

And still he’s there.

The man in the wolf mask at Greymoor Manor.

In my head. Under my skin.

In every breath, invading every thought.

I replay the way he materialized from the dark, as if his entire purpose was to consume me. The way his voice ensnared me before his hands did. The way he chased me.

Worse, the way Irespondedto that chase. Yes, there was panic. Yes, I was in sheer survival mode when I was running away. But days later, my sick mind refuses to let me get off that easily.

It wasn’tjustfear or the survival instinct coursing through my veins as I ran through that dark house. It wasn’t just a need to escape as I felt him close in behind me.

There was…something else.

And thatsomething elsemight be a whole lot like “excitement”.

A thrill. A diseased, toxic desire, like a gnawing hunger I’ve always denied myself.

When he grabbed me, the entire world narrowed to the pressure of his hand over my mouth; the hardness of his muscled body at my back, the rasping sound of his breath at my ear.

I should’ve been terrified. Iwasterrified.

But I was also?—

God, I can’t even say it.

I sink deeper into the plié, ignoring the way my thighs burn. Good. Pain is clean. Pain is pure. Pain has nothing to do with masked men and a fucked-up desire to be chased and caught, and the sickening ache that’s suddenly been living between my legs.

I breathe deep. Hold. Release.

Out of the corner of my eye, my reflection shifts, and for a moment, I swear I see something in the mirror behind me.

A black mask. A wolf.

I blink, but then it’s gone.

Get a hold of yourself, psycho.

My fingers clench the barre so hard my knuckles go white.

When I got home the other night—home, not back to the party—all I did was text Alicia the stupid video of me saying “there’s no such thing as monsters” along with a quick message:

Me

Well, that was boring. Here’s the proof, bitch.

She replied almost instantly.

Alicia Houghton

And??

Me

And I took a book and left a dollar. What a craaaazy dare. It’s just an empty old house. Try harder next time.

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