The Pages I Shouldn't have read

The woods were colder than she remembered.

Not because of the breeze or the rain—but because of the silence.It wrapped around her like wet cloth. Clinging. Smothering. Listening.

Alex Harper wasn’t the type to scare easily.

She’d fought boys bigger than her. Broken noses, stolen crushes, walked through the dark laughing like she owned it.

But tonight, the trees didn’t laugh back. And she wasn’t sure she wanted them to.

Her boots crunched against the wet earth behind Ben’s house.

She didn’t know where she was heading—just away.

Away from the music, the eyes, the lies.

Away from her.

She’d declared war minutes ago—finally, openly.

No more pretending. No more smiles that hurt.She told herself she was here for air. That the party had gotten too loud.

But the truth burned under her skin: she was furious.

Furious that she ever called Seraphina her friend. Furious that Ben still looked at Lily like she hung the stars.

So she stormed off into the woods to cool down—not to calm down.

Just to think. Or maybe to scream.

Leaves cracked behind her.

She spun, jaw tight.

Nothing.

“Real funny, Ben!” she called out.

Her voice sharp, almost laughing—but cracked open at the edges.

No answer.

She reached the clearing.

Moonlight spilled through the trees like a spotlight.The kind that traps you. The kind that says: this is where it ends.

Then—

a sound.

Low. Animal.

A growl without a body. A breath without lungs.

Her heart skipped.

“Hello?” she said, softer now, the bravado peeling away.

Something was listening.

And then it stepped out. Not Ben. Not human.

Eyes glowing. Shoulders heaving. Long, shadow-black fur slick with rain.

It didn’t lunge.

It watched. Like waiting for a command.

Alex’s lungs forgot how to breathe.

She turned. She ran.

Too late.

A shape moved behind her—fast, silent, practiced.

A flash of metal.

A glint of braid.

And then—

pain.

It wasn’t the beast that struck her first.

It was her. A girl.

With eyes colder than the rain. Alex gasped, but the breath was stolen.

Her legs buckled.

She knew that voice before it even spoke.

A whisper kissed her ear:

“Where do you think you’re going, bestie?”

And then the claws came.

And everything went black.

The rage. The fear. The betrayal.

Gone.

And silence swallowed the scream.