The fight. — TDWL

Instructions

I didn’t know when the nightmares started. All I knew was that they never ended the same way twice. Sometimes it was shadows watching me from the trees. Sometimes it was hands clawing out of the dirt. Sometimes it was Hailey standing there, silent, staring, like she was waiting for me to explain something I never could. Tonight, it was hands. Real ones. They clamped around my ankles and yanked. I didn’t even wake up right away—I was dragged halfway out of the tent before my mind caught up with my body. The cold dirt scraped against my back, pine needles catching in my shirt, air tearing into my lungs as panic hit all at once. I jolted awake. For a second I didn’t understand what I was seeing. The campsite lanterns glowed faintly in the distance, the world blurry with sleep and terror. My heart pounded so hard it hurt. Then I saw him. Jovick. Every thought in my head shattered. He shouldn’t have been here. He couldn’t be here. We were supposed to be safe. We were supposed to be hidden. His laugh cut through the night—sharp, mocking, wrong. He said something in Norwegian, voice dripping with amusement, and even if I didn’t catch every word, I understood enough. Pathetic. Hiding. Reality show. My throat was dry, but I forced a scoff anyway. “Wow,” I rasped, trying to sound unimpressed. “You tracked us down just to talk trash? That’s sad, man.” Inside, I was already spiraling. He found us. He found us. He found us. That meant Mellie wasn’t safe. My chest tightened. I’d already lost Hailey. I couldn’t—wouldn’t—lose anyone else. Jovick tilted his head, smiling like he was enjoying a private joke, and then he pulled out a knife. The blade caught the moonlight. It was thick. Dark. Wrong. He crouched over me, laughing under his breath, and said goodbye like he meant it. Like this was something he’d been waiting to say for years. Something inside me snapped. Before he could move, I drove my knee up into his stomach as hard as I could. Air whooshed out of him. He folded forward with a choked curse, and I didn’t wait—I scrambled up and ran. Branches whipped my arms as I bolted through the campsite, breath tearing in and out of my chest. My vision tunneled. My legs felt too slow. Everything felt too slow. Behind me, I heard him recover. “You little—” Footsteps. Fast ones. Too fast. He caught me before I even made it ten feet. His hand slammed into my chest and shoved me back against a tree so hard the impact knocked the breath out of me. His fingers clamped around my throat, lifting just enough that my heels barely touched the ground. I clawed at his wrist, choking, vision sparking. The knife flashed— —and suddenly Jovick wasn’t there anymore. He was on the ground. I dropped too, coughing violently, hands flying to my neck as I sucked in air like I’d never breathed before. My eyes watered, but I forced them open— Mellie. It had Jovick pinned and was punching him. Not hesitating. Not holding back. Just hit after hit after hit, small fists moving with terrifying force. I stared. I didn’t even know it could do that. Jovick growled and shoved it off, flipping them so he was on top, pinning its wrists down. Mellie struggled, teeth clenched, eyes wide but furious. Adrenaline shoved me back to my feet. “Get off it!” I lunged, grabbing his shoulder, trying to pull him away. He didn’t even look at me. He just stood up, grabbed me by the front of my shirt— —and threw me. The world tilted. I hit the tree back-first. There was a horrible cracking sound, and suddenly everything went white. I slid down to the ground, body trembling, lungs refusing to work right. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t do anything but lie there and gasp. Somewhere nearby, Mellie shouted. Then— Thunk. Silence. My vision cleared just enough to see Jovick collapsed on the ground, unmoving. Mellie stood over him, both hands gripping a rock almost as big as its head. Its whole body shook. Then it dropped the rock and ran to me. “H-Henri—” Its voice broke. It grabbed my shoulders gently, like I might shatter. “Henri—” “I’m alive,” I croaked, wincing as pain flared through my ribs. “Very alive. Just… ow.” It let out a shaky breath that sounded half like a sob. “He’s here. If he’s here, we’re not safe. We have to tell the host—we have to tell someone—” “No.” The word came out sharper than I meant. I swallowed. “We can’t.” It froze. “Why?” Because then I’d have to explain everything. Because they’d ask questions. Because they’d find out what happened three years ago. Because they’d find out that I was the one who— I forced the thought down. “We just… can’t.”