𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑮𝑰𝑹𝑳 | ᵍʳᵉʸˢ ᵃⁿᵃᵗᵒᵐʸ

⁰³² 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤

The night stretched on, the stars twinkled above us, and the music of our laughter and conversation mingled with the rustling of the leaves.

We were all a little too drunk, a little too high, and in this hazy euphoria, Ethan suggested we play a game.

"What's your brilliant plan, Ethan?" Noah asked with a grin, passing the joint to Michael.

"Let's play hide and seek!" Ethan exclaimed, spreading his arms wide as if he had just invented the best game in the world.

"Hide and seek?" I repeated, my words slightly slurred. "How old are we again?"

"Oh, come on, Missy," Ethan said, leaning on Liam's shoulder to keep from falling. "It'll be fun! The park is perfect for this."

"I'm in!" Jake shouted enthusiastically, though he was a little unsteady. Noah, Michael, Cal and Liam joined him.

So I gave in.

"All right, if you're all doing it," I said, standing up as well, "I'm in too.

And so we soon found ourselves in the middle of the park, ready to play a game that took us back to our childhood.

"Okay, who counts first?" I asked, trying to steady my shaky legs.

"I will," Liam said, turning to face a tree.
"I'll count to thirty. Hide well!"

"Thirty seconds?" Cal shouted. "That's way too little time!"

"Stop whining and run!" Liam yelled back, covering his eyes with his hands as he began to count loudly.

We all ran in different directions. The darkness of the park swallowed us almost immediately.
I hid behind a large tree and pressed myself against the trunk. Suddenly I heard footsteps nearby. I leaned closer to the tree, hoping the shadow would cover my hiding spot.

"Missy?" a voice whispered softly, and I recognized Cal, trying to hide behind the same tree. "Are you here?"

"Yes, you idiot," I hissed back, trying not to laugh out loud. "Find a better place to hide, or he'll find us both."

But it didn't take Liam long to find us all, and he chose me as his successor.

As I leaned against the rough bark of an old tree to count, I felt a strange energy pulsing through the park. The boys had already gone into hiding, their muffled giggles blending in with the sound of the wind.

I started counting out loud, my voice trembling slightly in the cool fall air. "One, two, three..."
With each number, I felt more drawn into the darkness, filling my mind with fleeting shadows.

"Twenty, twenty-one..." The last number sounded like a whisper, and as I shouted, "Thirty!" I turned and looked into the darkness.

Finding the boys was harder than I had expected; their hiding spots were well chosen.

But as I continued to seek, a strange feeling spread through my stomach. My senses seemed to sharpen, and the sounds of the park grew louder.

The trees appeared darker, more menacing, and the familiar paths of the park didn't feel like my reality anymore. Instead, I was in another park, a place from another time.

And then I heard a giggle - a giggle that didn't belong to the boys.

"Katie?" slipped out before I could stop myself. My heartbeat quickened, and suddenly I felt very alone. Too alone. My forehead was damp with cold sweat, and a shiver ran down my spine.

What was going on? Why did I feel so lost, so scared, so... abandoned?

"Missy!"

It was Katie's voice, as clear and distinct as if she were standing right next to me. She had been my idol, my protector, and at the same time, my worst nightmare.

Tears welled up in my eyes, hot and fast. I was alone, completely alone in this darkness, and the past held me tight.

The underbrush grew thicker, and my footsteps took me deeper into the park, past the big oaks and an old slide that shouldn't be there, but somehow was.

Suddenly, I tripped over a root and fell hard to the ground. The shock of the impact momentarily disoriented me, and as I looked up, the faint light of a streetlamp flickered through the branches, casting ghostly shadows on the path before me.

"Katie!" I screamed, my breath heavy and tears of frustration and fear streaming down my cheeks.

Panic gripped me completely, and the memory merged seamlessly with the present. In that moment, there was no boundary between then and now, only the urgent need to prevent a tragedy that had already happened.

We had played hide and seek, she was supposed to find me, but she never did.

Something had gone wrong.