Loyalty is doing the wrong thing together....That's what friends are for.
> "Smile for the camera."
— Unknown
---
That night, I crashed on the couch, eyes fixed on the ceiling.
Across from me, Sam lay stretched out, one arm slung over his face.
We'd been there for hours, maybe more. No words. Just silence thick enough to suffocate.
"You feel it too, don't you?" he said finally, voice barely audible. He didn't move, just spoke into the dark.
I didn't need to ask what "it" was. I knew. "Yeah," I replied. "But I think… whatever this is, it started long before Ray showed up."
Sam rolled to his side to face me, his eyes bloodshot.. "You think Elise ever really got over him?"
I didn't answer right away. The way Elise had been acting lately, shaky smiles, distracted stares..made me wonder the same. "I don't know," I swallowed hard.. "But I think him being back might be even worse for her now. He's not...he's not really Ray."
Sam nodded slowly. Then his voice dropped. "Do you remember what happened that night? The night he disappeared?"
I opened my mouth. Closed it. My brain throbbed.
"I—sort of,"
"The woods. A fire. Someone was laughing...."
"Yeah, but… how? Like—how did it happen? What exactly went down?"
The question rattled something loose in me.
I sat up. "Wait. Are you saying you don't remember?"
"I mean, I remember the trip. The cabin. The trees. Music I think. Not really. Just… fog."
I rubbed my temples. "Fuck. That's all I remember too. Trees... Cold... Someone laughing. Then nothing."
Sam stared at me, his eyes wide now. "Fuck man…"
We sat there stunned until Lexi showed up. She wandered in from the hallway, barefoot, and half-awake, holding a beer by the neck. Her hair was a mess, her eyes shadowed. "You guys up? Couldn't sleep."
"Hey," Sam said. "Random question—do you remember what happened the night Ray disappeared?"
Lexi raised an eyebrow. "Uh… why?"
"Just humor us," I added. "Really think. Try."
She rolled her eyes. "Look, I try not to think about that night. It was awful. But… I mean, same old stuff—trees, marshmallows, someone fell, I think? I don't know. I bloc—"
"Blocked most of that night out?" I finished her statement.
She stopped mid-sip and stared at me. "How did you—?"
"Exactly," I said. "Blocked it out. Same here."
That stopped her. She looked from me to Sam, the sleep draining from her face.
"What do you mean 'same here'?"
"We just see fragments. Hazy stuff. Nothing that explains what actually happened to Ray."
"Because that's all any of us remember," Sam stepped in.
Lexi looked genuinely unsettled now. "Okay, what the fuck?"
Her grip on the bottle tightened. "You're messing with me."
I left them and went looking for Jared. Found him in his room, face aglow from his phone. He was on a video call, laughing softly with someone...his girlfriend, probably.
"Hey," she said, from the other end.
I waved back, stepping into the room. "Sorry, I need to talk to you. Now."
He looked up. "Hey, Noah. You good?"
Before I could stop myself, I walked over and pressed the 'end call' button.
"Dude, what the hell?" he snapped, standing up. "What the hell is your problem?"
"Shut up and listen," I whispered. "Tell me what happened the night Ray disappeared."
Jared scowled. "That's what this is about? Are you serious right now?"
"Yes," I hissed. "You remember anything? Anything at all?"
He hesitated, taken aback. Then, finally, he shrugged. "I mean… not really. Music. Drinking. The woods. Same shit."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
I stepped back, and laughed, but it came out hollow. "Same as Lexi. Same as Sam. Same as me."
"None of us fucking remember, Jared. None of us."
His expression shifted from confusion to dread. "That doesn't make sense," he muttered.
"No," I said. "It doesn't."
---
Later that night, Elise was walking through the hallway when she froze. She saw Sam and Lexi. But… younger. Like teenagers. Laughing.
Running past her down the corridor.
She stepped into the living room, her face pale. "Weren't you guys just… running?"
Sam and Lexi looked up from where they were seated on the couch, whispering.
"What?" Lexi asked.
"I just saw you two running through the hall," Elise said. "Kids. You—like—years ago."
Sam was about to reply when a sound pulled their attention: Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.
Like someone dragging a shovel through dirt.
They stepped out onto the balcony.
Far out in the darkness, just visible in the porch light, someone was digging. A younger version of Noah. His hands blistered, shirt soaked in sweat, and back bent as if he was trying to exhume a grave.
Lexi gasped. "Noah?! What the hell are you doing?!"
He didn't answer, didn't see them. Just kept digging, faster, more desperate. Dirt flying in every direction.
Lexi turned to go inside, and bumped straight into Noah.
"What's going—?
She screamed, stumbling back. The others turned their attention instantly to him, in shock.
"You.. you were just outside." Elise said.
"No. I just came down."
They looked back toward the spot in the trees.
No one was there.
No shovel. No hole. Just a smooth stretch of forest floor like nothing had ever happened.
"What the fuck is going on?" Jared choked.
Everyone looked wrecked. They drifted back inside like ghosts returning to a house that no longer welcomed them.
—
The cabin became a pressure cooker.
Everyone scattered...pacing, muttering, trying to breathe. The walls felt closer now. The floor groaned as though it didn't want us here anymore.
"I don't like this," Lexi whispered. "We need to leave."
"Not until morning," Jared said. "We'll get lost in the woods."
"We're already lost," she snapped.
Sam muttered, "We… haven't seen Ray since earlier."
"Shit," Jared said. "Where the fuck is he?"
We checked all the rooms. The bathroom. Even the woodshed out back.
But he was no where.
It was as if he had been absorbed back into the trees.
We gathered in the living room again, hollowed out and half-afraid to speak. Eventually, we decided we'd leave at first light.
We sat together for a while. Half asleep. Half waiting.
—
Hours later, around midnight, I think. Lexi woke screaming.
She'd fallen asleep without us noticing. Elise grabbed her, trying to calm her down. She was curled into herself, sweat soaking her shirt.
"What happened?" I asked, my heart still hammering wildly in my chest.
Lexi clutched Elise like a child, shaking. "I remember."
"What?"
"I fucking remembered!"
"Remembered what?!" Sam asked.
"That night... Ray died."
The room fell deathly quiet.
"We were drunk. Stupid. Ray said something...something cruel—He slipped—no, someone pushed him. He hit his head on a rock. There was...blood. We panicked. We thought he was dead. And we buried him in the woods. We made a pact. We said we'd forget... Pretend he ran away."
"No, that's not—" Jared stammered.
"Yes, it fucking is," Lexi sobbed.
But then Sam stood up, looking pale and trembling. "No. That's not what happened. It was me. I… I think I pushed him. I remember yelling. It was an accident."
"You're wrong," Elise said quietly. "It was Jared. I remember seeing him shove Ray. We were all screaming."
"What the fuck are you talking about?!" Jared shouted. "I never—"
Everyone started talking over each other. Screaming. Arguing.
Each version different. Each memory contradictory.
In mine, it was… Elise.
I remembered her face covered in dirt and tears. I remembered her screaming, "It was supposed to be a joke!"
Everyone remembered something different.
But every version ended the same.
Ray. Blood. The forest. A shallow grave.
"None of this makes sense!" Lexi screamed, sweating profusely. "How can we all remember different versions?"
"Because," Sam said hoarsely, "someone isn't remembering. They're hiding."
Then the power stuttered.
We fell silent.
"I'm leaving," Lexi whispered.
"No—don't," Sam said. "It's too dark. Just wait till morning."
"I can't stay here another fucking second."
The room splintered with panic. Truth no longer mattered. Only survival.
And Ray? Still gone.
———