I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. My body was drenched in sweat, and the air in the room felt heavy.
Blinking a few times, I realized I was in my bed. The sheets were tangled around me, and my head was pounding. Something wasn't right.
Turning to my side, I froze.
Rose was there, lying next to me, her hair a mess, the blanket barely covering her. Her face was calm, peaceful even, like she didn't have a care in the world. I sat up quickly, my heart racing. The realization hit me,
I wasn't wearing anything.
"What the hell..." I muttered, my voice hoarse.
I tried to think back, to remember how this happened, but my mind was blank. Last night was a blur...a mix of chaos and confusion.
Rose shifted, opening her eyes slowly. She looked at me and smiled, completely at ease.
"Morning," she said, her voice soft, almost comfy.
"Rose," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, "what happened? Why are you here?"
She stretched lazily, looking completely unconcerned. "You don't remember?"
"No," I snapped. "What the hell is going on? Why am I... like this?" I gestured to myself, frustration boiling over.
Her smile widened slightly. "You were pretty out of it last night. Don't worry, though...I took care of you."
"Took care of me?" I repeated, my stomach twisting. "What the hell does that mean?"
She sat up, the sheet falling slightly as she did. "Relax, Ethan. You'll figure it out eventually."
Her calm tone only made me feel worse. Something about all this felt wrong, but I couldn't piece it together.
"Rose, I'm serious. What the hell happened?"
She tilted her head, watching me like she was amused. "Maybe you should think about it for a while," she said simply.
I clenched my fists, the frustration mounting. Whatever had happened, I needed answers and fast.
I sat there for a moment, still trying to wrap my head around the situation. Rose, My best friend, Aaron's girlfriend, was in my bed.
Aaron. The baseball captain. The guy who could have any girl he wanted. The guy who actually had her.
What the hell was she doing here?
Did she… cheat on him?
The thought made my stomach churn. But before I could make sense of it, another memory surfaced...Lisa.
Lisa had been here last night. I could still picture her standing in front of me, that smug look on her face as she talked about making her boyfriend, Miles, jealous. That was her plan, wasn't it?
She wanted me to help her. She wanted us to do it just to prove a point, But Lisa wasn't here now.
Rose was.
I glanced at her again, my chest tightening. She was lying there like everything was normal, like none of this was completely messed up. But it was. It definitely was.
How did it even end up like this?
I racked my brain, trying to piece together the timeline of last night, but the harder I thought, the more everything blurred together. One moment it was Lisa, and the next… nothing.
And now this.
"Damn it," I muttered under my breath. This wasn't going to end well.
I stared at her as she stirred beside me, her lips curling into a small, knowing smile. Her eyes fluttered open, catching mine.
She chuckled softly, a sound that sent a chill down my spine.
"Confused?" she said, her voice low and teasing. "You should be."
I blinked, trying to steady my thoughts. "What the hell is going on, Rose? Why are you here? What happened last night?"
She stretched lazily, completely unfazed by the situation, before sitting up and meeting my gaze. Her tone turned almost playful.
"Whatever happens," she began, leaning slightly closer, "don't go look in the living room. Trust me, Ethan, you won't like that view."
Her words froze me in place. My heartbeat quickened as my mind conjured a hundred scenarios, none of them good.
"What do you mean, Rose?" I asked, my voice sharper now.
She tilted her head, her smile widening as if she enjoyed seeing me squirm.
"Just… don't," she repeated, her voice steady but laced with something unsettling. "Let's keep it a mystery, yeah?"
My stomach churned. I wanted to press her for answers, but something about the way she said it made me hesitate. Whatever was out there, it wasn't good.
I stared at Rose, struggling to keep up. "Wait...Aaron's in the hospital? What the hell happened?"
She chuckled, the sound cold and detached. "Confused? You should be."
Her expression darkened as she continued, her tone quick and matter-of-fact. "Aaron's house is gone, Ethan. Completely wrecked. And now we're homeless."
"What?" I blinked, her words hitting me like a freight train. "What do you mean wrecked?"
Rose leaned closer, her eyes narrowing. "It's not just wrecked..it's a massacre. People died, Ethan. Horribly. The old man, park guard? He survived, but his wife, his son, and his son's wife? Dead. Jake and Megan? Gone too."
I swallowed hard, my stomach knotting. "How… how bad?"
Rose's smirk faded, replaced by a grim expression. "Bad doesn't cover it. Their spines, guts, everything... ripped apart. It looked like someone turned their insides into soup."
My breath caught as the images formed in my mind, and I felt like I was going to be sick.
"And Aaron?" I managed to ask, my voice shaky.
"He's alive, but barely," Rose said, her tone sharp and brisk. "He's in the hospital. I'd be surprised if he even remembers last night."
I rubbed my temples, the sheer weight of her words pressing down on me. "And we're the only ones left?"
Rose nodded, a twisted grin creeping onto her face. "Yeah, Ethan. Just us, Aaron, and that old man. Funny how that works, huh?"
I glared at her, the unease growing stronger with every word she said. "What the hell is so funny about any of this?"
Rose chuckled, leaning back. "Nothing. But you've got to admit...this isn't exactly your typical nightmare, is it?"
I glared at Rose once again, my mind in turmoil. She stood there, expression unreadable, yet her words echoed in my mind, a warning I couldn't ignore.
But something inside me snapped. I needed to know. I had to see what was in the living room, no matter the cost.
I swung my legs off the bed and stood up, the cold air of the room hitting my skin. My muscles felt tense, my heart racing as I took a step toward the door.
Every instinct in me screamed to turn back, but I ignored it, driven by a force I couldn't explain. The thought of Mia...the chaos, the destruction, the terror she could bring...haunted my mind. But even then, I couldn't let this go. Not now.
As I reached the door, I could feel Rose's eyes boring into my back, watching me with that unsettling calm. I could almost hear her amusement in the silence.
"I warned you," she had said, but her words barely registered now. I was too far in, too deep in this mess to back down.
I grabbed the doorknob, the metal cold under my fingers, and hesitated for a split second. My heart thudded in my chest, and for just a moment, I wondered if I was making a huge mistake.
But the thought of Mia...her terrifying form, her twisted intentions, made the fear feel small, insignificant.
I turned the knob and slowly pushed the door open.
The silence in the house was suffocating, almost too much to bear. My breath caught in my throat as I stepped into the living room, not knowing what I was about to face.
And there it was.
The sight in front of me stopped me in my tracks.
I stood frozen, my heart pounding in my chest as my gaze locked onto the horrific scene in front of me. My eyes refused to believe what they were seeing, but the gruesome sight before me was undeniable.
There, hanging from the ceiling fan by a rope, was Lisa. The girl who had come to my room last night, trying to seduce me to make her boyfriend jealous. But now, she was no longer the girl I had seen just hours before. Her body had been mutilated beyond recognition.
Her ribs were opened in a grotesque pattern, splayed out like a bird's wings, the flesh torn apart to reveal the organs beneath. Her gut was exposed, and her intestines hung loosely, some of it draped over her disfigured face.
Her eyes had been crushed, the delicate globes no longer whole, just a mangled mess of flesh and fluid. Her face was unrecognizable, a twisted mask of death and agony, every feature obliterated by the brutal force of whoever...or whatever...had done this. Every limb had been savagely torn, devoured, leaving nothing but remnants of what once was.
My breath caught in my throat, and for a moment, I felt like he might pass out. The world around me spun, but he couldn't look away from the twisted horror that hung before me. My mind raced, trying to process what I was seeing,
but all I could feel was the cold, suffocating grip of terror tightening around my chest.
My common sense kicked in, and then I realized...of course, Mia did this. She must've been the one to kill Lisa like that. But... this? This was different.
This was the most brutal way she had ever killed someone, and it shook me to my core. I couldn't even begin to comprehend what kind of twisted logic Mia had in her mind to do something like this.
As I stood there, frozen, Rose placed a hand on my shoulder. I flinched, not expecting it.
"Told ya," she said, her voice calm, too calm for the scene we were facing. Her expression was almost indifferent, like she had already accepted the madness of everything happening around us.
I stood there, still trying to piece it all together, but one thing was still clouding my thoughts, the one question that gnawed at me.
Why was Rose sleeping with me?
Had she done something else? Was there something I wasn't seeing?
Rose must have noticed the confusion written all over my face because she chuckled softly. She leaned closer, her gaze softening, almost like she understood the storm raging inside my head.
"Is there something wrong?" she asked, almost too casually, like she wasn't standing next to a murder scene.
I couldn't help myself. "There's a dead person in the house, of course it's wrong!" I snapped, my frustration bubbling over. I had to get this out. I couldn't just stand here pretending everything was fine while my entire reality was crumbling.
Rose didn't say anything, but she pulled me into a hug. I hesitated for a moment, then slowly wrapped my arms around her, my body shaking with the sudden weight of everything I'd seen and heard.
The tears came, hot and overwhelming, and I couldn't hold them back any longer. I needed someone to hold me, to reassure me that I wasn't losing my mind.
But even as I sobbed, the question still lingered. "I don't get it, Rose," I said, voice breaking between words. "Why'd you sleep with me?"
Her response was gentle, almost too simple. She pulled back slightly to meet my eyes, her expression soft but serious.
"Ohh, it's because you saved me, Ethan," she explained, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I stared at her, confused. What was she talking about? Saved her?
"What happened to Mia?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. My mind was racing, trying to make sense of everything...the deaths, the brutality, the inexplicable actions of the people around me. And Mia... Mia was the one who had been the catalyst for all of this chaos.
Rose looked at me, her eyes soft, almost reassuring. "Don't worry about her, Ethan... you made everything right."
She leaned in closer, her lips brushing against mine in a quick, soft peck.
My mind short-circuited. I pulled back, my head spinning. Okay, this is not what best friends do, I thought. And wait...
she's taken!
But the thoughts swirling in my head didn't stop there. A new realization hit me like a ton of bricks.
I'm a virgin…
And then the pieces clicked together. She slept with me last night. The realization slowly crept into my mind, but it was like my brain couldn't fully process it. How had it happened? Why had it happened?
The weight of it all was too much...too many dead bodies, Mia's terrifying absence, and now... this. Rose, standing here, so close to me, acting like nothing had changed, but everything had changed.
I couldn't make sense of it. None of it made sense. My world was spinning, but I couldn't stop it. Every thought collided with the next, and I was left standing in the center, lost and confused.
What had I even done?