CHAPTER 7
The road out of the city felt longer than it should have. Buildings thinned into warehouses, warehouses into empty lots, and finally into open stretches of highway bordered by fields that seemed to go on forever. The morning light was pale, the kind that made everything look flat and unreal, like the world was a photograph instead of something alive.
No one talked much.
Liam drove with both hands locked on the wheel, eyes fixed forward. Aria sat beside him, scrolling through her phone without really looking at anything. Jasmine leaned against the window in the backseat, staring at the sky. Caleb sat next to Ethan, quiet but relaxed, occasionally tapping his foot to a song only he seemed to hear.
Ethan kept watching the road behind them.
The black SUV wasn't there. At least not now. But that didn't calm him. It almost made it worse.
They passed the edge of town, the familiar landmarks sliding by in silence. And then, ahead on the right, Ethan saw something that made his chest tighten.
The police station.
Or what was left of it.
The brick walls were blackened and broken, windows shattered into jagged emptiness. The roof had collapsed in on itself, beams charred and twisted like the skeleton of something burned alive. Yellow tape fluttered uselessly in the wind, clinging to what remained of the entrance.
"Liam…" Ethan said quietly. "Slow down."
The car eased back as they rolled past.
Aria twisted in her seat. "What… happened?"
Jasmine's breath caught. "That's… that's the station. Where we went. This morning."
No one spoke for a moment.
The place where they had reported a murder.The place where they had stood, shaking, hoping someone would stop what was happening.
Now it was ash.
"It wasn't like that earlier," Liam said, voice tight.
"No," Ethan whispered. "It wasn't."
Caleb leaned forward slightly, looking out the window. "It looks like a fire," he said. "Maybe an accident?"
"An accident?" Jasmine repeated. "The whole building?"
Aria shook her head slowly. "That's not normal. That's… that's targeted."
The car passed the ruins, the smell of smoke still faintly hanging in the air. Ethan's pulse hammered in his ears. Something cold crawled through his chest.
They reported a murder.
And the police station burned.
Ethan swallowed.
And then—just for a split second—he felt it.
He glanced at Caleb.
For a fraction of a heartbeat, he thought he saw a grin.
Not wide. Not obvious. Just the barest curve of lips, like a shadow of something that didn't belong there.
His stomach dropped.
But when Ethan really looked, when his eyes focused and his mind caught up to what he was seeing, there was nothing.
Caleb was just sitting there, staring out the window like everyone else, his expression calm, unreadable, normal.
Too normal.
"You okay?" Caleb asked, noticing Ethan's stare.
Ethan forced a breath. "Yeah. Just… that was a lot."
Caleb nodded. "Yeah. It was."
No grin. No tension. No sign of anything wrong.
Ethan looked away, angry at himself for even thinking it. He was tired. Shaken. His mind was searching for patterns in chaos, meaning where there might be none.
Still… the image wouldn't leave him.
The road stretched ahead, empty and quiet. The farther they drove from the burned station, the more unreal it felt, like something that should have stayed in a nightmare had followed them into daylight.
"Do you think someone did it on purpose?" Aria asked.
Liam's jaw tightened. "I don't know. But I don't like it."
Jasmine hugged her knees. "It's like… like someone's erasing things behind us."
No one argued.
They drove in silence for a long time after that. Miles of trees blurred past the windows, branches swaying gently in the wind. The sky deepened into a soft blue as the day wore on, clouds drifting lazily like they had no idea what kind of world they were floating over.
Ethan kept replaying the moment in his head.
The burned station.The empty windows.And that split second of something on Caleb's face.
He didn't want to believe it meant anything. He didn't want it to.
But the feeling stayed, faint and unwelcome, like a splinter he couldn't pull out.
By late afternoon, a weathered wooden sign appeared on the side of the road.
RIDGEWATER LAKE — 2 MILES
"There," Liam said quietly.
Something shifted in the car. Not relief. Not excitement. Just… awareness. Like they all knew they were crossing into something new.
The road narrowed into a long, winding path that cut through dense forest. Trees pressed in close, their branches arching overhead, forming a tunnel of green and shadow. Sunlight filtered through in thin, flickering lines, painting the dashboard in moving patterns.
"This place looks… untouched," Aria murmured.
Jasmine nodded. "Like nobody's been here in years."
Caleb leaned forward slightly, eyes scanning the trees. "It's beautiful."
Ethan watched him carefully.
He saw nothing wrong.
No tension. No fear. No strange expression.
Just Caleb.
The forest finally opened into a wide clearing, and Ridgewater Lake revealed itself.
The water stretched out like glass, perfectly still, reflecting the sky in pale blues and silvers. Tall pines circled the shoreline, their reflections doubling the sense of depth, as if the lake were endless. The air was cooler here, cleaner, filled with the scent of earth and water.
For the first time all day, Jasmine smiled.
"It's… actually perfect."
Liam pulled the car to a stop near the designated campsite area. "We made it."
They stepped out one by one, stretching stiff limbs, breathing in the fresh air. The world felt distant here, like whatever burned behind them couldn't quite reach this place.
Aria turned in a slow circle, taking photos. "I can't believe something like this exists."
Caleb grabbed one of the bags from the trunk. "Alright. Let's set up before it gets dark."
They unpacked quietly. Tents came out. Sleeping bags. Coolers. The familiar rhythm of camping settled over them, grounding in its simplicity. Jasmine struggled with one of the poles until Ethan helped her snap it into place. Liam argued with Aria over where the fire pit should go. Caleb disappeared briefly into the trees to collect firewood, returning with a grin and an armful of branches.
Everything felt… normal.
Too normal, maybe.
Ethan stood for a moment at the edge of the lake, watching the water ripple gently beneath the evening breeze. The reflection of the sky shimmered, broken only by the occasional movement of a fish beneath the surface.
Behind him, his friends laughed.
Behind them, somewhere far down the road, something had burned.
Ethan didn't know what waited ahead. He didn't know what the black SUV wanted. He didn't know why the police station was gone.
And he didn't know why, for that single heartbeat, he had thought he saw something dark in Caleb's expression.
But as the sun dipped lower and the first stars began to prick the sky above Ridgewater Lake, one thing was certain.
Whatever had followed them this far…had not let go.
The tents stood.The firewood waited.The water was still.
And the night was only just beginning.