The video cuts off with a sharp click. Then the music resumes like nothing ever happened.
But the sound keeps echoing in my skull. The begging. The breathless panic.
Everything I work so hard to keep hidden—on display.
I barely register the voices around me now, shouting, mocking, laughing. The burn behind my eyes. My nails are digging into my palms. The way the earth tips sideways beneath my feet.
I turn slowly to look across one of the bonfires burning, seeing the four boys I know are responsible for this stunt. They stand just beyond the flames, their faces lit in flickering gold and shadow. Jace in front, arms folded, watching me with that unreadable, storm-slick stare. Luca leans in to say something to him, smirking, like this is all some private joke. Tex looks bored, and Noah is tapping on his phone, probably queuing up the next round of humiliation.
I don’t move. I keep my spine straight and my chin high. My face burns—anger or shame, I can’t tell—but I meet Jace’s gaze and don’t look away.
They want a reaction. They want me to crack, to give them a reaction.
I won’t.
But inside, something fortifies.
As if I’m slammed back into my own body, I realize that I’mstill frozen in place, still standing in front of the screen that projected my nightmares. My cup slips from my fingers and hits the dirt with a soft thud, liquid splashing out around it.
I blink, but the scene is still there. My worst moment on loop. My breathing. My begging. My terror. Broadcasted like a joke.
“Isobel…” Dakota runs up, and I push past her.
I can’t. I’m too busy trying to hold myself together.
Laughter crashes around me. I’m drowning.
My stomach churns. My lungs can’t take in air. My heart slams so hard against my ribs it feels like it’s trying to break free and run without me.
I walk as calmly as possible back out of the forest. Past all the laughing people, teasing and taunting. Past the people making out and grinding on the dance floor. Past people moaning in the darkness. I hold it all in all the way till the edge of the forest, then I run.
13 SURVIVE
The next morning feels like a punishment, too bright, too normal for how hollow I feel inside. My eyes are puffy, my throat scratched raw from crying until there was nothing left in me. I haven’t even changed out of the sweatshirt I threw on the night before. Everything still smells like bonfire and embarrassment.
I sit on the edge of my bed, staring at the wall where the camera once was. It’s gone now. But the damage has already been done.
My hands shake as I pick up my phone.
It rings twice.
“Gracie?”
Lucian’s voice is low, calm.
I open my mouth to speak, then close it again.
“What’s wrong?” he presses.
Something tightens in my chest. I blink fast, pressing the heel of my palm into one eye. “They… they showed a video of me. From my room. Everyone saw it. They’re watching me, Lucian. Laughing at me. Like I’m nothing. Like I’m a game.”
His voice hardens. “A video? What kind of video?”
“Just me,” I say quickly. “Just me… crying. I was having a nightmare. It wasn’t supposed to be anyone’s business.”
A breath on the other end. “The cameras—your room is secure. That shouldn’t be possible.”
“It was before the cameras were installed. When they broke into my room the first time.” My voice cracks, ugly and vulnerable. “I thought they just messed with my stuff, but they hid a camera.”
