"THE BEGINNING" Daisy’s room was quiet except for the faint ticking of the clock on the wall. The wallpaper, patterned in soft colors, caught the light filtering in through the curtains, giving the small space a gentle warmth. Her bed stood neatly in the corner, but Daisy was far from calm. Seated at her desk, her fingers hovered above the keyboard of her laptop, eyes dull from exhaustion. For three hours she had stared at the blinking cursor, and all she had to show for it was barely five hundred words. Her frustration boiled over. With a groan, she gulped from the water can on her desk and slammed her palm down hard. Shit! she muttered under her breath, glaring at the empty page. The title at the top of her screen mocked her "DAISY THE WRITER" Meanwhile, across town, Dave pushed his body through a relentless routine. His room smelled of sweat and energy drinks. Every muscle in his able-bodied frame strained with each movement as he completed yet another set of push-ups. Hi

BETWEEN LIGHT AND FEAR The morning after Daisy’s nightmare felt strangely heavy. Sunlight streamed through her curtains, golden and bright, yet it carried no comfort. She sat at the edge of her bed, her fingers clutching the sheets, staring at her reflection in the mirror across the room. Her face looked pale, her eyes ringed with shadows. She barely recognized the girl staring back. Lucia still slept soundly, sprawled across the bed with one arm thrown dramatically over her head. Daisy envied her peace. How could her friend sleep so deeply while she herself wrestled with images of faceless men and cold blades slicing through the silence of her dreams? She pulled herself to her desk and opened the laptop, as though forcing herself into a sense of normalcy. The screen flickered to life, the document still there with its meager three thousand words. She typed a sentence. Deleted it. Typed again. Deleted again. It felt like pressing her head against a wall, waiting for it to crumb

FIRST NIGHT IN THE LODGE The car crunched to a stop on the gravel driveway, and for a long moment, no one spoke. The building loomed ahead, half-shrouded in creeping vines and shadow despite the fading daylight. Its tall windows reflected the last slivers of sun like watchful eyes, and the silence surrounding it felt unnatural too still, too deliberate. Daisy sat frozen in the back seat, her fingers gripping the strap of her bag until her knuckles turned white. Something about the lodge unsettled her in a way words couldn’t explain. It wasn’t simply old or isolated it felt alive. Watching. Waiting. Lucia leaned forward between the seats, her voice carrying a forced cheer. Well… here we are. Home for the weekend. Dave opened his door with a grunt, his heavy boots thudding against the gravel. Looks fine to me, he said. Bigger than I expected. Alex was already halfway out, enthusiasm undimmed. Wait until you see the inside. Moses told me it’s even better than the photos. D

WHISPERS IN THE DARK The second morning in the lodge arrived with a pale, washed-out sun struggling to pierce the mist that clung stubbornly to the forest. Dew beaded on the windows, streaking the glass like tears. Daisy pressed her forehead to the cool pane, staring out into the endless green. Even in daylight, the trees looked foreboding, their shadows layered thick, as if hiding something that didn’t want to be seen. She hadn’t slept well. Every time she closed her eyes, the faceless man returned. Each dream brought him closer. In the last one, she felt his breath against her ear, though when she woke, the room was empty. By the time she joined the others in the dining hall, the group was already gathered around the long table. Moses sat at the head, cracking jokes, his booming laugh bouncing off the walls. Sugar lounged with her feet on the chair beside her, smirking at whatever Derek had whispered. Rebecca was buttering slices of bread with her usual calm precision, while

NO WAY OUT The morning after Sugar’s attack dawned with heavy silence. Mist clung stubbornly to the forest outside, thickening like an unbroken wall around the lodge. The sun tried to push through but only managed a gray haze that did nothing to lift the mood. Daisy sat on the edge of her bed, staring at her open suitcase. Her hands moved mechanically as she folded clothes, her heart hammering with every movement. She didn’t care how it looked. She had to leave. Sugar’s screams from the night before still echoed in her ears. The sight of her friend sprawled on the floor, clutching her arm with angry red welts, wouldn’t leave her mind. Daisy didn’t need any more convincing. Whatever lived in this lodge wasn’t just a nightmare anymore, it was here, and it had touched one of them. She zipped the suitcase, grabbed the handle, and pulled it toward the door. Her pulse quickened. She would walk down the stairs, through the front door, and keep going until she found a way out of the forest