𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫? - 𝐓𝐌𝐑 𝐀𝐔, 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐨

016 - disappearance and dreams

Fear is eating me alive.

"What are you doing out here?" Minho asks, rushing over to me. He crouches down to the grass and notices my tear–stained cheeks. "Ley, are you okay? What happened?"

I quickly wipe my tears away, hoping he isn't going to ask further on about it. "Nothing—well, it's something, but I don't want to talk about it."

He pauses, scanning my face, then nods understandingly. "Alright. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to. I'm not going to force you."

I give him the best smile I can, to which he returns kindly.

"I heard your screams," he says. "Well, one of them. You needed help, so I ran over here."

"Thank you."

He nods, but then his expression switches to confusion. "Ley? Are you okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ley!"

I blink twice and rub my eyes. I'm no longer in the forest. I'm in my cabin. In bed. Soaked in sweat.

"Ley." Minho lets out an exhale of relief. "I'm so glad you're okay. You were screaming, talking, and crying. Nightmare?"

I look around. It seems to be morning, and the others aren't here. Sensing my confusion, Minho explains that the others are already eating breakfast in the main hall.

"How did I get here?" I ask.

He shrugs. "Found you lying on the sand. Checked to make sure you weren't hurt. Brought you here."

"Did you stay the whole time?" I question. I hate myself for it, but I really want him to say yes. And he does.

"Of course," he answers, fulfilling my wishes. "Why would I just leave you there?"

I smile warmly at him. "Thank you."

Returning the smile, he says, "Anything for you."

I get a weird feeling in my stomach. Am I going to throw up? I hope not, I hate vomit.

"Do you want to stay in bed or get up?" He asks me.

I pause to think, then make my decision. "I'll get up now. If I don't, then I'll probably stay in bed the whole day.

He chuckles. "Alright. I'll leave you to get changed." Doing as he says, he leaves the cabin.

I force myself out of bed, and I take some plain clothes—a blue shirt and ripped jeans—out of my suitcase. As I take my shirt out, a piece of paper falls out. I pick it up and read the words.

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED, WHITLEY REID. GOOD LUCK.

A shiver runs down my spine as I throw the note back into my suitcase. I don't need to think of Tyler right now.

Putting on the clothes, I try my best to get everything out of my head.

"Are you almost ready?" Minho asks from outside.

"Almost." I quickly do my jeans up, then open the door.

"Wait." Minho stops me as I start to make my way to the main hall.

"What?" I tilt my head in confusion.

"I need to give Mr Vince this note." He holds up one of the notes we wrote. "I'll meet you afterwards."

Not wanting to be alone, I shake my head. "I'll come with you. Let's go."

**

"Where the hell is she?"

We are standing in the makeshift dodgeball court on the beach. One team has six players, but one has five. And nobody has seen Teresa since her call.

"Did she even leave the call room?" I ask, my heart pounding.

"She wasn't in there when we locked it," Mr Vince says, fear creeping into his voice despite his efforts to hide it.

I see Sonya pacing the court, her hands on her head. Harriet looks just as worried. But when I glance at Astrid, something seems off—she isn't smiling, yes she doesn't seem scared. She looks... impatient. Did she plan this? What is she waiting for? Isn't she scared for Tes?

"Everyone, stay calm," Mr Vince orders, his voice shaking.

"Where is she?" I wonder to Braedyn, who is standing beside me.

He shrugs.

"We need to go find her," I say, already making my way to the edge of the court.

"Whit, stop," Braedyn commands, causing me to twist around to face him.

"What?"

"We can't go look for her," he shakes his head. "It's dangerous. The only thing we can do is wait."

Without even a protest, I turn back around and leave the court.

"Teresa?" I call, venturing around the campsite in hopes to find her. "Teresa? Hello?"

"Whit?"

I stop in my tracks, spinning around to find the source of Teresa's body. And there she is. Standing there. But she doesn't look normal.

"Teresa?" I take a step towards her, but she shakes her head, looking up at me with cleared eyes.

Her head twitches, her nose scrunching, but it's in a dramatic way. "Don't... talk to me. Go... away," she struggles to say, as if she doesn't want the words to leave her mouth.

Suddenly, she looks back and screams, "Help!"

My eyes widen as she falls to the ground, two hands clasping around her neck. She pushes the hands off and replaces them with her own. The hands disappear.

"Teresa," I say quickly, watching in fear of what she is going to do to herself. "Stop that. Teresa!"

She ignores my orders, her hands gripping her throat as she struggles to speak. In a desperate moment, she manages to whisper for me to call for help.

I take a shaky breath. "Help!" I shout for her. "Help us! Help!"

But no one hears.

"Okay, Teresa, listen to me," I command, crouching down next to the choking girl. "Take your hands off your throat."

Her grasp loosens just enough so she can say, "I can't. He'll kill me." Then her eyes roll back into her head and she passes out.

"No," I mutter, checking for a pulse. A sigh of relief escapes me as I find one.

And that's when it clicks—she was being forced.

(A/N)

Okay, since it's confusing, someone was ordering her to do that, and they started to choke her when she wasn't
The reason she replaced the hands with her own was because she didn't want to make people suspicious, as the person controlling her said they could hurt her loved ones.
I hope that makes sense. If it doesn't ask questions and i'll answer them <3 

- Ivy