Prologue:
The glow from the campfire resonated on the teenagers’ faces. Tabitha looked at her friends sitting there, all six of them. Brad, her boyfriend, had one arm slung carelessly around her shoulders, while the other was holding a beer. At seventeen he had quite the stomach for alcohol, but he was never violent.
Alyssa and Rachel were sitting together, looking at Alyssa’s phone. Alyssa was showing Rachel a picture of her girlfriend. When Alyssa had come out, Rachel was the one person who had supported her decision and consequently they were now best friends. They had joined our group only two weeks ago, but had fit in so easily.
Erin and Cooper, two other girls, were playing hide and seek in the nearby trees, making it easier to find one another. Cooper was quiet and deadly, and Erin made so much noise when she hid, but she was great at finding hiding spots. Finally, there was Freddie, sitting, staring at the flames, his eyes were glowing an eerie red. Freddie was quiet, and he usually got teased at school for being so shy, but in our group he was funny and loveable, and it was obvious that Erin and Freddie had fallen for each other.
There was talking and laughing around the campfire and Brad leant in for a kiss. The tents behind them were rippling in the wind loudly, and it was then they heard Erin’s distress.
“Coop. Cooper! This isn’t funny! Where are you?” Erin was wailing, clearly distraught.
Freddie went over to calm her down, “Relax. She’s probably just playing around with you. Cooper! Come out! We’re going to roast some marsh mellows! Come on!”
Roasting marsh mellows was probably Cooper’s favourite thing to do on a camping trip, but she didn’t show. Tabitha stood up quickly, gripping Brad’s hand. He got up slowly, but you could see the panic on his face.
“Cooper!” They were all yelling for her now, ignoring the raucous noise they were all making.
They started going around the nearby trees, calling for her, unwilling to go too far into the forest.
Tabitha stopped and listened. Laughter flitted through the trees. Alyssa was next to Erin, gripping her hand tightly, while Erin cried her eyes out. Brad was close to Freddie now, after Tabitha had let go of his hand to search for Cooper, and Rachel was trembling so hard that she could barely stand up.
It was then the intruder showed himself, eyes glowing in the dark, right in front of Tabitha. It was Tabitha who screamed, causing random campers from family campsites nearby to come running, and it was Tabitha who run as fast as she could: into the woods.
She could hear her friend’s feet behind her, pounding on the rough Earth, but Tabitha never looked back.
It was when she realised that she could no longer hear any feet running that she looked back, eyes wide.
Brad was pinned against a tree, by a boy no older then themselves. Tabitha made no noise, but instead watched. It was then Tabitha saw the snake tattoo on his wrist.
The boy cracked Brad’s neck to the side, breaking it. Tabitha watched as the light dimmed in his eyes, but again, she made no noise. In fact, she realised she was more curious then afraid. Just as she was about to back away, Freddie charged into the scene, stopping and staring at Brad’s body.
The unknown boy turned to him and smiled sweetly. Freddie shook his head and said, “You have gotta be shitting me! I don’t want to die!” Freddie tried running, but the boy moved with such speed and grace, it left Tabitha blinking and in shock.
“You can never run from a Faerie!” the boy whispered in his ear, before breaking Freddie’s neck as well.
At that point, several different campers reached the campsite, making heaps of noise. The boy turned, looked through the trees, and then backed away. Tabitha struggled over to Brad’s deformed body lying there. The tear’s fell on his peaceful face, and Tabitha blacked out.
She never knew it took the campers fifty minutes to find her, and that when they did, they never found any other bodies.
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