The afternoon at the Blackwood Reserve had felt like the final piece of a puzzle clicking into place. The Forest Gala had culminated in the annual Scavenger Hunt, an event whispered about as the ultimate test for the academy's power couples. Richard and I had moved through the forest like a single entity. We were in sync, our minds finishing each other's thoughts as we navigated the private trails to find the hidden silver tokens.
When we returned to the lodge, breathless and laughing, and were announced as the winners, the applause felt like a coronation. I had looked at the leaderboard and saw our names etched at the top, right where the whispers said Eva and Richard's names used to be. For a few glorious hours, I felt like I had finally outrun the ghost of his past. I was not just a replacement.
I was the new standard.
But the high of the afternoon was a cruel setup for the night.
As evening fell, the retreat shifted toward the central clearing for the late-night bonfire. The air was thick with the scent of woodsmoke and the excited chatter of students preparing for the optional nighttime orienteering challenge. The fire crackled, its orange tongues dancing in my vision, but the warmth did little to thaw the sudden, inexplicable chill that snaked down my spine.
I turned to share a joke with Richard, but my hand met only empty air. He was gone. One moment he had been right there, laughing with Tessa and Alex about our victory; the next, he had vanished into the shifting wall of shadows beyond the firelight.
Panic, cold and sharp, clawed at my throat. I retraced my steps toward the refreshment tables, my voice a frantic whisper as I asked Tessa and Alex if they had seen where he went. They had not. They were too busy discussing the orienteering maps to notice a single person slipping away.
My fingers fumbled for my phone, the screen a stark, clinical white in the darkness. I dialed his number, each ring a hammer blow against my rising fear. No answer. I tried again. Still nothing. Each unanswered call echoed the growing dread in my chest. Richard never missed a call. He was the most disciplined person I knew. Something was wrong.
I started walking away from the noise, my eyes scanning the long, distorted shadows cast by the pines. I was not looking for a romantic moment; I was looking for a sign that he was safe.
"Richard?" I called out, my voice a desperate plea into the night. "Richard, where are you?"
The trails were treacherous in the dark, the roots like reaching fingers. I pushed further toward the stone stables, away from the sanctioned paths of the orienteering challenge. Then, I saw them.
They were standing in the alcove of the old equestrian building, barely illuminated by a single flickering torch. Richard had his back to me, his silhouette rigid against the stone. Eva stood before him, her voice a venomous caress that sliced through the night air.
"C'mon, we are over, I am with Sadie now," I heard him say. His words should have been a comfort, but they felt like a betrayal simply because he was here, in the dark, defending our relationship to her.
Eva's reply was a calculated play, her voice like a viper's tongue. "Are you really? Aren't you just being with her because you want me back? Isn't it all just to make me jealous? Well, you have my attention now, Richard. Let us just get back together."
I stood there, frozen in the shadows, as Eva's voice dripped with a familiarity that cut me to the core. "Pssst, don't you miss me?" she asked, her voice a siren's song.
"Eva! Not everything is about you!" he snapped, but even through the distance, I saw him waver. He did not walk away.
"It is different now!" he insisted, but the words felt hollow. I watched, my heart shattering into a thousand jagged shards, as Eva wrapped her arms around his neck. Her words were a taunt, a claim on a territory she clearly believed she still owned. I could see him succumb, his body leaning into her touch as if he had forgotten I existed.
"Pull away if you want," she purred.
And then, the kiss.
Tears welled, blurring my vision into a smear of orange and black. The world tilted beneath my feet. The win this afternoon, the texts, the hand-holding, it was all a lie. I was a pawn, a tool to manipulate Eva back into his arms.
The realization struck me with the force of a physical blow. I turned and ran, the sobs wracking my body. I did not stop, did not slow, and did not care where I was going. I just needed to escape the sight of their betrayal.
My blurred vision collided with a solid, unyielding chest. I gasped, stumbling back as I wiped at my eyes, and saw Carl. Of all the people in this school, it had to be my enemy. The last person I wanted to witness my devastation.
"Leave me alone, Carl," I choked out, my voice raw and broken. I didn't want him to see me like this. I wanted to scream, to run again, but my strength had evaporated.
Carl stood there, his face unreadable in the moonlight, his eyes reflecting the distant firelight. He did not ask what was wrong.
The silence between us was heavy with the fact that he had seen everything. He had warned me at the equestrian trail, and I had thrown his words back in his face.
He did not mock me. He did not refer to the warnings he had given me earlier. He simply looked at me with a dark, silent gravity, a flicker of something I couldn't comprehend.
I pushed past him, my shoulders shaking. I expected him to stay there, or walk away like I'd yelled at him to. But he did not.
Instead, he followed. He became a silent shadow in the darkness, maintaining a respectful distance as I stumbled back toward the lodge. He didn't speak, didn't offer a hand, and didn't try to fill the silence. He was just a dark sentinel, ensuring my safe passage back to my room while my world was still on fire.
In that moment, I hated him a little less. And I hated the world, and the boy who was still in the woods, a little more.