The woods were swallowed by an impenetrable darkness, the kind that presses against the eyes and steals every sense of direction. Only the low, ceaseless drone of crickets and the faint rustle of leaves in the night breeze broke the silence. Then a scream ripped through the air—high, desperate, raw—echoing between the trees like a dying note that refused to fade.
"Stupid bitch," a low, raspy voice hissed, very cold and barely louder than the wind itself. "Screaming for help in a place where no one will ever hear you."
The figure stood motionless, cloaked in shadow so thick it seemed to drink the moonlight. Gloved hands cradled a crumpled sheet of paper, the edges worn thin from being handled too many times. The charcoal sketch on it was rough, almost feverish: a woman's face frozen in terror, eyes bulging, mouth stretched in a silent wail. The figure tilted its head, studying the drawing with unnerving patience, as though memorizing every line of her fear.
"What was her name again… Rubella?" The whisper was soft, almost tender, carrying no trace, just malice wrapped in velvet. A gloved thumb, still tacky with drying blood, traced the line of the sketched cheek. The touch was slow, intimate, reverent, the way someone might caress a cherished photograph.
"Claire," the voice breathed, savoring the name like a secret too delicious to share. "Claire will walk straight into the trap now. She won't be able to resist." A faint tremor of excitement ran through the figure's frame, shoulders rising slightly as though the thought alone sent a current through its veins. "And then the real game begins."
The cracked wristwatch strapped to the gloved wrist—glass spiderwebbed, hands frozen—read 12:20. The figure didn't need to check it again. Time had become something it controlled, something it bent to its will. The timing was perfect.
For a long moment the figure simply stood there, breathing in the night. The air tasted of pine, damp earth, and copper. Dry leaves crunched softly beneath heavy boots as the figure shifted its weight. The trees seemed to lean closer, listening, their branches like skeletal fingers waiting to close around whatever came next.
Then, suddenly, a small, stifled sound escaped—half gasp, half laugh, giddy and utterly wrong in the stillness. The figure's posture loosened, shoulders dropping as though a weight had lifted. The footsteps turned light, almost playful, as the dark shape slipped between the trunks. The woods folded around it like a curtain, erasing every trace. One moment it was there; the next, gone, leaving only the faint settling of leaves in its wake.
12:25.
The night exploded.
Sirens wailed in the distance, rising like a chorus of wounded animals. Red and blue lights stabbed through the branches, flickering closer with every heartbeat. Human screams followed—panicked, overlapping, pleading. Names were shouted into the dark, voices cracking with terror and disbelief. The wind surged, whipping leaves into frantic spirals that danced across the forest floor. Shadows writhed and stretched like living things clawing at the ground.
A branch snapped somewhere deeper in the trees—sharp, deliberate.
The sirens grew deafening, bouncing off every trunk, filling every empty space with their relentless cry. Flashlights sliced through the darkness in frantic arcs, beams catching pale faces, wide eyes, trembling hands. Officers barked orders, radios crackled with static and fear. Someone sobbed openly. Someone else kept repeating "She's gone—she's gone—she's gone," the words looping like a broken prayer.
But the figure was already far away, moving silently through the underbrush, breath steady, pulse racing with something close to ecstasy. Every second of this night had been planned with meticulous care. The scream that had started it all. The blood left just enough to draw them in. The sketch tucked safely in the pocket, a promise of more to come. Every frantic cry for help, every sweeping flashlight beam, every trembling voice calling for Claire—it was all part of the design.
And Claire—sweet, detective Claire
The wind carried the chaos deeper into the woods, sirens fading into a distant, mournful howl. But the figure only smiled wider beneath the hood that hid every feature. The game had only just begun.
Somewhere ahead, the trees thinned into a small clearing. The figure paused there, breathing in the cool night air, listening to the far-off clamor of search parties. Then it turned, footsteps light and sure, vanishing once more into the black heart of the forest.
The trees stood silent witnesses, their branches swaying gently
as though nodding approval.