I was packingin my bedroom, laughing at something Max had said on the phone that morning. I felt the lightness of excitement. Mom was taking me to Colorado for the first time. We had finally gotten FBI clearance, and this was my first real vacation. Agent West was coming with us.
I jumped as Jackson’s voice cut through the air behind me.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, his voice dark with jealousy.
I froze. “Nothing… just something Max said this morning.”
The click of my bedroom door closing jarred my senses. He stopped, turning towards me.
“You think I don’t see it?”
“See what?” I asked, trying to keep my tone steady as irritation rose.
“What he wants.”
“He’s my friend, Jackson,” I said, folding clothes into my duffel bag.
“You think I’m blind?” His voice dropped to a low, dangerous rumble. “You talk to him every single day. Twice a day, sometimes. I see how much you like him.”
My throat went dry as dread seeped in. I spun around too late. He slammed me against the wall with brutal force. His hand clenched my head, pressing so hard it felt like my skin would tear. My neck cracked painfully. I struggled to move, but he held my head down.
A ragged gasp escaped my throat, unnoticed by him. His eyeswere hollow, vacant—completely devoid of humanity. He was a stranger. A monster who could crush me without a second thought.
“Do you want to fuck him?” His breath was hot against my ear.
I didn’t answer.
“Tell me, Kenz. Do. You. Want. To. Fuck. Him?”
His hand slid down my leg, fingers digging into my thighs, slipping beneath my skirt. I froze, my heart pounding. The air around us seemed to pulse with menace, the room narrowing until I barely had room to breathe.
“I know you get fucking ideas in your head. When he calls you, don’t you forget who owns you.” His teeth grazed my earlobe, tugging hard. I grimaced, a surge of dread tightening in my chest.
I didn’t fight. I couldn’t. Fear had shadowed my life, but now it was different. This was terror, guilt, and self-loathing.
“You smell so good,” he whispered, his voice icy and dripping with malice. It sent shards of terror racing down my spine. “Like yellow flowers in a field," he hissed, a sinister edge sharpening his words.
I blinked, paralyzed by horror. My childhood memories flashed before me: daffodils in our backyard, my secret hiding place.
How could he know?
“So pretty, Kenz. Just like you.”My dad’s voice echoed cruelly in my mind, a twisted reminder of what I was supposed to be—a girl who reveled in this pain, a girl who deserved a monster like Jackson. The daughter of “the Butcher.”
“Do you think I’m pretty?” my voice cracked, trembling under the weight of pain.
Jackson leaned in closer, oblivious to my tears and trembling. His obsession was pure, deranged, and all-consuming.
“Yea... yeah,” he stammered, eyes blazing with an insatiablehunger that sent chills down my spine. "You know they picked you specifically for me."
My breath hitched, heart pounding. I clenched my teeth as a sharp pain shot through my jaw. What did he mean? Who had chosen him for me? What the hell was he talking about?
But then he pushed in deeper. I wanted to scream, to run, but I was paralyzed. The darkness within him seethed with a terrifying reality, Satanic and all-consuming, and I was ensnared inside it.
He was my nightmare incarnate.
I blinked into the dark,my heart racing from the memory. Since Jackson had registered for camp late, he ended up in a different cabin. Still, his presence made me uneasy. In the middle of the night, it was worse, like the shadows thickened with him.
If I dared to look out the window, I was certain I’d see two eyes waiting for me. I could almost feel his fingers dragging over my skin, phantom touches that made me want to claw myself out of my own body.
