Cameron Keen never expected her life to become entangled in the horrors of Blackwood Mountain.
Drawn back by a past she can't escape, she soon finds herself face to face with her old friend Josh Washington, a man haunted not just by grief, but...
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VERBATIM.
"Josh..." Chris breathed, his voice barely above a whisper, his wide eyes locked on the man they'd all assumed was dead.
"Oh my gosh, Josh?" Ashley's voice wavered, the shock evident as her hand flew to her mouth. She shrank back in her seat.
Josh laughed, a manic, high-pitched sound that bounced off the walls. He started pacing in circles around the group, his movements erratic, as if he were relishing the moment.
"Oh, very good! You guys got my name! And after all you've been through! I mean, how does that feel?" His tone was mocking, cruel, with no trace of the Josh they had known.
Cameron's legs felt like lead, but she forced herself to move. She stumbled toward Ashley, her hands shaking as she worked to untie the bindings that kept her friend trapped.
As soon as Ashley was free, she clung to Cameron's sweater, her grip desperate. But Josh loomed closer, his dark, wild eyes locking onto Ashley's.
"Did you enjoy feeling terrorized? Humiliated? Panicked?" He hissed, his words sharp. He leaned in closer, the intensity of his stare making Ashley whimper, her entire body curling away from him as much as she could.
Cameron's heart raced as Josh shifted his attention to Chris. He pointed accusingly, his face twisting with bitterness. "All those emotions that my sisters got to feel one year ago! Only—guess what?" He wheeled around, his gaze snapping to Mike. "They didn't get to laugh it off! No, they're gone!"
"I don't know if you noticed, Josh, but none of us are laughing." Mike said coldly. His eyes burned with anger, his posture rigid as he gestured to the group around him. Everyone was dead serious, their expressions hard as stone.
Josh scoffed, waving Mike off dismissively. "Oh, come on! It's good to get the heart racing every now and then, right? And race they did! Every one of you!" He grinned maniacally, eyes locking onto Ashley again. "Ashley, I hope you appreciated my little phantasmagorical spectacle!"
Cameron's stomach twisted as the realization hit her—the ghost Ashley had seen wasn't real. It was all part of Josh's sick game.
Josh continued pacing, gesturing wildly as if giving a grand performance. "And all that gore? I mean, gore! There was gore galore! Fake bodies, man. That shit was expensive." His voice was gleeful, almost proud. "You should've seen your faces when I got sliced through."
Cameron's chest tightened as she remembered that moment—the horror, the heartbreak when she thought she had watched Josh die in front of her. And now here he was, gloating about it.
