“Tori knew I wanted him and she tried to steal him for herself, like always.”
“Like always?”
“Yeah, and Heath wasn’t interested in her, just me, so he said to the guys, ‘save me,’ and they all made a bet who would get to ‘save’ him first.”
“And what, Jonathan won?”
“Yep, he won her and a thousand dollars that night. He said she was horrible in bed, the worst grand he’d ever made.” Marissa laughs. “How can you not remember this? He said he was ‘taking one for the team.’ Don’t you remember we went to that really nice steakhouse, and he paid for everyone?”
“Yeah, I do. But I had no clue any of that happened,” Tessa says. “What was the bet?”
“They all put in a hundred bucks to see who could get her to say the word ‘cherry.’”
“And whoever got her to say the word got to sleep with her?”
“Yep.” Marissa snickers.
“So who was in on the bet?”
“Jonathan, Griffin, a few guys we met that night. Not Hayes; he was dating Ava last year.”
“And Tori didn’t know what was going on?” Tessa asks.
“I doubt it. She was so drunk,” Marissa replies.
“Jesus, that’s pretty pathetic. She made it seem like she and Jonathan had a serious relationship,” Tessa says. “Oh, and I think she and Hayes are a thing now.”
“I’m sure it’s just for the weekend.”
“Do you know she fucked Lyle the security guard, too?”
“Ew.”
“Right? And then she got paranoid that he was after her today. Like this place is a real haunted house and people are trying to get only her.”
Marissa scoffs. There’s a loud pop and both girls screech before dissolving into giggles.
Rage surges through me, nearly choking me. I want to scream, but my throat feels too tight, my breath strangled. Shame and fury mix into a bitter cocktail in my veins, filling me with a nauseating sense of betrayal. My vision blurs, and I stumble back from the wall, cheeks burning. I was just a stupid bet?
The walls feel like they're closing in, a suffocating pressure mounting around me. My stomach twists with a mix of anger and heartbreak. It can't be true. My hands tremble as I ball them into tight painful fists. I need answers. I need to talk to him, demand to know the truth. But as I turn to retrace my steps, I freeze.
Standing directly in front of me, so close I can feel its unnaturally cold breath, is the shrouded figure. Its cloak billows around it like smoke, concealing any hint of a human form. Panic seizes me, and I backpedal, but my legs turn to lead. I crash into the wall, the rough stone biting into my shoulder, and I fall. My head smacks against rock with a sickening thwack, rattling my skull, sending stars shooting across my vision. My teeth sing like a bell and a wave of dizziness and nausea washes over me. Something warm and wet trickles down my temple.
A pathetic, stifled sound escapes me, my breath forming ghostly plumes in the frigid air in the space between me and this…thing.
The figure moves closer, gliding rather than walking.It’s fucking gliding—and the sheer unnaturalness of the movement makes my stomach churn. A low, menacing whisper seeps out from beneath the hood, a sound so inhuman and sinister it feels like it’s burrowing into my soul, vibrating in the marrow of my bones. My pulse thrums in my ears.
Its presence is overwhelming, like a crushing weight pressing down on my chest, squeezing the air from my lungs. I try to scream, but no sound comes out. I kick out with my feet, desperate to escape, scraping my arms along the jagged stone as I fight to stand. Pain stabs through my arms, sharp and immediate, as the sharp edges tear into my skin.
Tears blur my vision, and the figure looms even closer, its face a void of darkness. Every instinct screams at me to run, but my body is paralyzed, pinned by some invisible force.
Suddenly, it lunges. I throw my arms up to shield myself, but it passes through me like a gust of icy wind. A searing cold slams through my body, making me gasp. My insides freeze solid. I collapse completely, shivering violently, my vision tunneling as darkness edges in.
I can't move. Can't breathe. The whispers grow louder, more insistent, a dissonant chorus filling my mind. I try to focus, to force them out, but they dig in deeper, ripping through my consciousness.
The whispers become clearer, their sinister messages slicing through the fog in my brain: betrayal, lies, deceit. Every cruel thought I've buried, every doubt and fear—they’re all dredged up, magnified until they’re all I can think of. The cold deepens, spreading through my veins like poison. Each heartbeat feels like a hammer driving the frost deeper into my bones.
My muscles lock, my body rigid with terror. I try to scream again, to fight, but I’m frozen, my body isn’t mine. The whispers, now a deafening roar, obliterate all reason. They tear at my sanity, invading every part of me, until it feels like I’m dissolving into a fleshy, grotesque puddle of blood and viscera.
