𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓, ˡᵘᶜᵃˢ ˢⁱⁿᶜˡᵃⁱʳ ¹

10

10
𝗶 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗻𝘆
𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐄 𝐏𝐈𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 like a ripple slicing through glass, so sudden and sharp it seemed to resonate in the very marrow of Tessa's bones. They froze, every sense heightened, each breath a shallow whisper as the hairs on the backs of their necks prickled in unison.

The forest was thick and foreboding around them, cloaked in an eerie quiet that felt too heavy, too suffocating, as if the woods themselves were watching, waiting. Tessa's flashlight cast a thin, wavering beam, illuminating the twisted knots of roots and branches, but her eyes strained to see past the shadows at the edges. She could feel the boys tense beside her, each of them transfixed, suspended in the silence that had crept back in after that strange, otherworldly rustle.

And then she saw her.

A girl—small, pale, otherworldly—stepped from behind the trees, her figure half-obscured by the oversized, ill-fitting shirt she wore, with the faint, worn lettering of Benny's Burgers across the front. Her hair was shaved close to her scalp, her wide, dark eyes glistening in the moonlight, reflecting the barest hint of vulnerability against her haunting, silent presence. Her feet were bare, her skin smudged with dirt and something else, something raw that seemed to speak of unspeakable hardship.

The boys stared, slack-jawed, as if she were a vision rather than a girl, something conjured out of their most secret nightmares or half-formed daydreams. Tessa's mouth opened to speak, but her voice was gone, her words swallowed by the dark. She took in the girl's fragile form, the hollow of her cheeks, the tired, wary glint in her eyes, which never left them as she took another tentative step forward.

Mike was the first to break the spell. He stepped toward her, his hand outstretched, his gaze tender yet tinged with awe. "Are you... are you okay?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper, as if afraid that any louder sound might shatter her fragile existence.

The girl only looked at him, her gaze unwavering, her silence heavy with things left unsaid. Her small frame seemed almost weightless, yet there was a strength in her stance, a kind of determination that belied her fragile appearance.

Dustin spoke next, his voice trembling. "She... she doesn't look okay, Mike. She looks like... I don't know, like she's seen a ghost or something."

Lucas nodded, the seriousness in his eyes mirroring Tessa's own bewilderment. "Or maybe she is the ghost," he muttered, though there was no malice in his voice, only a kind of morbid curiosity.

The girl's eyes flitted between them, her expression unreadable, her hands hanging at her sides as though she had forgotten what it meant to hold anything, even hope.

"Listen, we have to take her somewhere safe," Tessa said finally, her voice low but insistent, breaking the spell of the silence that had engulfed them. "She shouldn't be out here, not like this."

Mike nodded quickly, his face lighting up with the hint of a plan. "My basement," he said, his tone hushed and urgent. "Mom's not there right now, so... we could bring her, just for a bit. Just to figure things out."

Lucas looked at him skeptically, but a flicker of hope crossed his features. "You're serious?"

"Yeah," Mike replied, already moving to guide the girl with a gentle gesture. She followed him with a quiet obedience that seemed both natural and alien at the same time, her footsteps barely making a sound on the forest floor as she walked. Tessa fell in beside her, close enough to lend support, though she wasn't sure the girl would even accept it if she offered.