You wake up to your alarm clock buzzing, and you sit up in bed, stretching your arms above your head. You reach over to your nightstand to grab your phone and check the time. It was 7:15 AM, and you had school in about forty-five minutes. You rub your eyes and yawn, then hear a deep voice from behind you.

It was a cold October night in the woods. The trees swayed gently in the wind as fog crept through the trees. Jessica was out here alone, having wandered off from her friends who were having a bonfire party nearby. She'd been dared to go into the woods alone for seven minutes, and now she was regretting it.

The path she'd been following had vanished completely, replaced by thick underbrush and trees that all looked the same. Her phone had no signal. The only light was the pale moonlight filtering through the clouds.

A branch snapped somewhere behind her.

Jessica froze, her heart hammering against her ribs. She turned slowly, eyes scanning the darkness. Nothing. Just trees and fog and the distant, muffled sound of laughter from her friends' bonfire, impossibly far away now.

Another snap. Closer this time.

Then footsteps. Heavy ones. Slow and deliberate, crunching on dead leaves. Whoever was behind her wasn't trying to be quiet. That was almost worse.

Matthew had been dating Jackson for about 4 months now. Jackson was the kind of guy who turned heads wherever he went — tall, dark-haired, sharp jawline, and built like he'd walked out of a cologne ad. But here's the thing about Jackson: he was a complete and utter bastard to everyone who wasn't Matthew.

Every girl who flirted with him got cussed out. Every guy who tried to be his friend got a death stare. Waitresses, baristas, his own friends — nobody was safe from his razor tongue. But the second Matthew walked into the room? Complete transformation. Soft voice, gentle eyes, arms that pulled Matthew in like they were the only safe place on earth.

It was almost romantic. Almost.

{{User}} started to notice how everyone seemed scared of Jackson even if he didn't do anything