The park felt different now. What was once their secret meeting spot as kids had become a shell of its former self-rusted swing sets creaked in the wind, and overgrown bushes crawled over the cracked pavement. The air carried an unsettling stillness, as if time itself had stopped, trapping the memories of their youth within its confines. Yet, beneath that nostalgia lay something darker.
The group gathered near the broken-down slide, their eyes scanning the park for any signs of recent activity. This place was the next on their list, another spot that tied them to the past, and one they hoped would offer more answers.
Eric rubbed his hands together, trying to warm them against the cool evening air. "This feels too close to home," he muttered. "Why do we keep coming back to these places?"
Shaunce leaned against a rusted pole, his arms crossed. "Because they know we'll follow the trail. They want us to remember every single thing that went wrong."
Tera stood at the edge of the group, her eyes distant as she surveyed the familiar playground. "Or maybe they're showing us just how much they've been watching all along."
Isaiah looked visibly uncomfortable, staying close to Eric. His quiet voice broke through the tension. "This park... didn't we all come here that one night, right before...?"
Eric nodded, finishing the sentence in his head. Before everything went downhill. Before their friend had been taken. It was here they'd last seen him alive. The weight of that memory pressed against them all, like a silent accusation.
Von approached cautiously, scanning the area with the same sharpness he'd displayed back at the building. "We should split up into smaller teams again but stay within earshot. This place is too big to search all at once."
Shaunce shot him a look. "We're not splitting up. Not again. We stay together or none of us makes it out."
Eric nodded, feeling Shaunce's words strike deep. He didn't want a repeat of last time. Not after everything they'd been through.
Caden stepped forward, his expression unreadable. "Let's just cover the perimeter first. If they left something behind like the last place, we'll find it."
The group moved cautiously through the park, each step a reminder of how different things had become. The once vibrant hangout spot now seemed haunted, the echoes of laughter replaced with silence and tension. Caden and Sequoya took the far side of the playground, while Tera, Eric, Isaiah, Von, Shaunce, and Antasia moved together toward the wooded area bordering the park.
As they neared the trees, the sense of unease thickened. Eric's heart raced as he scanned the ground for anything that might give them a clue-footprints, symbols, something. He couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. Every rustle of the leaves or snap of a twig made him flinch.
"You guys feel that?" Tera whispered, her eyes darting around.
Eric nodded, keeping his voice low. "Yeah. Something's off."
Isaiah's voice wavered slightly. "It feels like they're here... watching us."
They moved closer to the edge of the woods, tension building with every step. It was then that Von stopped suddenly, his hand going up to signal the rest of them to freeze.
"Look," Von whispered, pointing to the ground.
There, partially hidden beneath a pile of leaves, was a small, weathered notebook. The edges were frayed, and the cover looked old-too old to have just been left there recently.
Tera knelt down and carefully picked it up. She flipped through the pages, her brows furrowing. "This... this looks like someone's journal."
Eric moved closer, trying to peer over her shoulder. "Whose is it?"
Tera's face paled as she skimmed the first few entries. "It's his. Our friend's. This was his notebook."
Everyone froze, the weight of the discovery settling in. Their friend had disappeared from this very park all those years ago, and now, here was a piece of him, left behind like a ghost from the past.
Shaunce stepped forward, his voice strained. "How... how is that even possible? We searched this place. We searched everywhere for him."
Tera shook her head, flipping through the pages faster now. "I don't know. But these entries... they stop right before he disappeared."
Eric's stomach turned as he read over the last few lines of their friend's handwriting. There was something desperate about the words, something unspoken that lurked beneath the surface. But it wasn't clear-it felt like there were pieces missing, gaps in the narrative that didn't quite add up.
Isaiah's voice was barely a whisper. "He knew something. That's why he disappeared, isn't it?"
Von's gaze was hard, his voice clipped. "Maybe he did. And maybe that's why they're still after us."
Eric's mind raced, trying to make sense of it all. Their friend had been keeping secrets, and now, years later, they were paying the price for whatever he had uncovered.
Antasia, who had been quiet up until now, spoke up, her voice shaking. "What if... what if we're next?"
The question hung in the air like a cloud of dread, the reality of their situation settling over them like a suffocating blanket. If their friend had been silenced for knowing too much, then what did that mean for them? And why had the killers waited all this time to come after them?
"We can't stay here," Caden said firmly, his eyes scanning the tree line. "We need to keep moving."
Eric nodded, slipping the notebook into his jacket pocket. "Let's go. There's nothing else here."
As they moved away from the park, the sense of danger grew stronger, the tension palpable in the group's movements. They hadn't just uncovered a clue; they'd dug up the past, and it was clear that the killers weren't done with them yet.
