An aspiring eighteen-year-old author realizes she is a character in an unwritten horror novel and must use her storytelling knowledge to survive.
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Eighteen-year-old romance writer, I...
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I wasn't the only one to hear the groan as Felicity threw her arms up in annoyance. "Really? Who else is out here for your little movie, Atem? Did you put the entire Sophomore theater geeks up to this? I'm telling you up front, you don't have permission to put my face anywhere online."
"It's probably already up on a porn site somewhere." Atem brought his hand over his mouth as if to stop the words from escaping, but obviously it was too late.
She gasped. "Asshole!"
"Hey, slut shaming isn't nice." Zeke's eyebrows dipped.
"Are you calling me a slut?" Felicity's voice went up an octave as she turned to Zeke.
"You guys, please!" I butted in. "Atem, is this part of a movie you're planning? Just be honest with me. Did you plan this?"
"No, I didn't write in your notebook. No, I didn't invite anyone else out here. No, I'm not planning anything. I swear on my..."
"Swear on your grandma," Felicity urged, crossing her arms over her chest. For her to be a sophomore at Prescott High, she sure acted like the queen of the world.
"My grandma?" Atem whined. "My grandma didn't do anything to anybody, but I'll do it. I swear on my grandma." He turned to me. "Now you know I'm telling the truth."
He was by his grandma's side for weeks while she was in the hospital after having her leg amputated because of diabetes. He needed her, and she needed him. She was all he had, and he would never want to see her in ill health again. And putting her name in vain was something he wouldn't take lightly.
"Isn't this weird?" I pressed the sock to my nose and held it there to stop the bleeding, as the cool forest air nipped my cheeks. "Just like earlier, the notebook mentioned something watching me in the woods, and then Zeke pops out from a tree. Now it mentions a groan from some unknown creature, and then we hear a groan."
"Are you sure it wasn't just your echo?" Zeke did a three-sixty to peer around the ominous forests, where the trees bent and stood over the campgrounds like towering protectors. "Maybe your senses are super sensitive right now, bridging things together that really have no correlation."
The more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed to be the boogeyman and possibly my voice echoing through the trees. But that didn't explain the notes in the book, the perfect timing, or even these crazy nose bleeds.
"I don't know." I tossed the notebook near my pack of clothes and items. "It feels like I'm going crazy or something. Ever since Clay's been gone, I've kind of been isolating myself." Why he did what he did? I don't think I would truly understand his actions until I got that moment alone to connect spiritually and hope the universe provided answers. "I'd usually just drown myself in happy, romantic, imaginary worlds to get past the pain, until I thought I'd take the initiative and actively look for answers."
There was the cold paw on the shoulder again. "Maybe you should talk to your parents about it."
Felicity butted in, her shoes crunched the dead leaves and pine needles as she took a step. "Not everyone has parents like yours, Zeke."
