You know what? I like him. I definitely like him. I like everything I’ve noticed about him - Which is a lot, considering I’m very observant. And yes, My crush is concerning, Given the fact we’ve never even had a conversation before. But I’ll still sit here, thinking about him.

Not thinking about anything else.

Not thinking about how my “best friend” is homophobic. Not thinking about how I’ll never tell her about him, because she doesn’t get to know some of me and not all of me. Not thinking about how in just two days, I’ve all but cut her out of my heart. Is that cruel?

Not thinking about how my mom told me I need to do more, put in more effort. Not thinking about how she had every right to say that, given my screen time and how I can barely drag myself out of bed every day. What’s wrong with me?

Definitely not thinking about all the lines I swore to myself I’d never cross - that have all been crossed a million times over. Why am I like this?

Nope. Not thinking about any of that. All that’s on my mind is how I crossed him in the hallway, like, five times yesterday. (Not thinking about how it’s really, really sad that’s the best thing to happen this week.) Yep, all I’m thinking about is how his team played my team in volleyball today, And I managed not to humiliate myself. Quite remarkable, honestly. (Not thinking about how not making an utter fool of myself for five seconds is what I’m most proud of.)

Haha, see? All that’s going through my head is boys. Not depressing thoughts. No suicidal tendencies here! Feelings of self hate? Nope, only feelings about that stupid boy!

I wish that were true.

Lights in the distance Flickering as they walked Ran to see the lights Discover shimmering flickering It sped in all directions Angels No ufo Aliens Advance jet Who knows

Emilia was pretty sure the cold air was supposed to invigorating. Or at least something along those lines. Something even slightly better than absolutely fucking awful would be great actually. Despite every precaution taken to bundle herself up as much as possible, because no she didn't really want to go hiking in the freezing cold in the middle of bloody nowhere North Yorkshire, her two pairs of leggings and fluffy undershirt were doing very little to help the fact that she was cold and grumpy. Apparently she looked cute, with her red nose, but she knew Mason was lying; no one really looks good with a snotty nose and teary eyes, and even if despite it all she looked somewhat decent, the fury in her splotchy red eyes was enough to make the man snap his mouth shut and carry on forward.

It all came to a crescendo as they reached the crest of the hill they'd be marching up for the past two hours, and that was it. There was no grand sense of victory, just aching feet and burning cheeks whipped red by the wind. Mason was grinning and drawing wide gestures as if trying to will a view into existence. Because there was none. The clouds were thickest here, shrouding the landscape in grey which stirred the notion of when one breaths against the glass of window, the moisture hung in the air to smear the scenery into a blur.

Emilia felt the overwhelming urge to scream. She resisted. Mason took out his phone to capture the impressive underwhelming nature and she was struck again with the urge to scream. She hadn't wanted to go on a hike. She hadn't wanted to travel to the middle of nowhere. She'd wanted lounging on the poolside and idyllic sunny beaches. Mason wanted her to be more healthy. Sometimes she wanted Mason to be less of a dick.

"I told you it would be worth it."

She turned to snap, teeth gnashing, but then saw that he had indeed found something of note amongst the grey-scale. Her eyes traced his outstretched arm to see flickering lights on the hilltop opposite; it would seem they chose the less interesting of the two. Or perhaps over there, on that happier hill was a much brighter couple. A healthy couple who liked to hike and weren't simultaneously freezing and dripping with sweat beneath their many layers.

Despite the new development, Emilia remained resolute in her determination to be thoroughly unimpressed and some dancing lights were hardly enough to reimburse her for the last two hours of utter misery, never-mind the fact they had to march themselves back down the blasted hill.

"I can't believe you."

With a huff she turned to begin the descent; the sooner she got down the closer she was to a nice hot shower. Dragon's breath puffed out of her mouth as she cursed and muttered to herself, stumbling across the jagged surface of the summit following the handy signposting. Only when she began to notice a slight decline and turning, she went to grasp her partner's hand for stability did she realise she was alone. She had thought she was receiving the silent treatment, but she hadn't considered he would stoop so low as to leave her. But he hadn't. Unless he knew some secret path, he hadn't gone on ahead, her eyes weren't yet so teary she had failed to see him; retracing her steps she found he hadn't moved. Hand still outstretched, pointing at the lights in the distance.

"Yes, the lights, I saw them. Let's go."

Mason made no inclination to move. His body language was closed off and he gave no indication even of acknowledgement.

"I'm going."

No acknowledgement again and Emilia was just about pissed off enough to leave him here. It's not like he would get stuck or lost, if anything she was putting herself more at risk of such things by going alone, but god she was furious. She was cold and tired and so beyond fed up. And so, with a stern resolution she called out,

"I'm gone."

She began her downhill march again, following the sign, the smiling face pointing her back where she'd come from. The ground came at her at an angle, she slowed herself and carried on with careful footing, but found that it wasn't so steep as it looked, her feet finding purchase with surprising ease. This was something she could almost appreciate as she felt a swell of pride at her independence as she followed the smiling signs for the next hour, each one promising her only a little further.

Coming to what promised to be the end she followed the path of the final sign, smirking face promising just a ten minute walk to the nearby village where her room waited for her above one of those old fashioned English pubs. The cloud had seemed to cling to her as she made her descent, fogging over her vision; she'd turned on her little phone flashlight for the last half an hour, the waning daylight in combination with the grey shroud proving somewhat dangerous as she lost her footing one too many times.

The light from the torch was, in simple terms, pathetic, and did little to illuminate much beyond her next step, but the flickering lights in the distance told her she was nearly there.

“Do you see that over there, Mike?”

“The rocks?”

“No, the lights. The three of them, over on the horizon. They’re flickering.”

“Oh! I do see them now. What is that?”

“I’m not sure but it’s at the edge of this cliff, just before it drops down. Whatever it is is on the edge of the cliff.”

“Is it our eyes playing tricks on us? Are they just stars?

“I don’t think so. They’re flashing too much.”

“Should we go see what it is?”

“We should probably turn back…but…it might be someone who needs our help.”

“Let’s go see what they are, but be careful. It’s real close to the edge, whatever it is.”

“Are those…headlights? On a bike helmet?”

“I see the helmet. It’s getting darker, though. Take out your phone flashlight.”

“It is. Flickering, dying lights on this helmet. I’m afraid to look down below.”

“Whatever’s below, nature will reclaim it as Her own. She’ll claim this helmet, too. The lights will die off, and weeds and flowers will grow around it and nobody will ever know that it was ever-“

“Well, we should tell someone, right?”

“When we get back, yeah. Hopefully nature won’t mark us with a vendetta. We’re taking what’s Hers.”

“Strange perspective to have. Let’s head out. It’s getting chilly.”

"We are almost there." said Mike almost dropping his lantern. "I hope your right." said Kayla "Can we take a break?" replied Zach out of breath.

They have been hiking for more then 5 hours with no break. They could only take one item each since it was a long time away.

"We are here." said Mike "Finally." said Kayla running toward the campsite. Zach did not say anything, instead he dropped and fell right asleep. Soon Kayla and Mike fell asleep in the tent.

When they woke up they went to go see Zach, but he wasn't there. They figured he went in a tent, they checked every tent. Nothing. Where did he go?

"Maybe he went to get food?" said Kayla. "Where? There is no streams anywhere near here." said Mike nervously. "Well, lets look around he couldn't have gone that far." said Kayla starting to walk. "Who knows what time he left? He could be in canada right now." Mike's voice went higher so she could hear. "Stay positive." screamed Kayla

After hours of looking they still could not find him. He was gone. Who knows where he was.

It was eventually night and no light source anywhere. They had to sleep in the woods.

"Goodnight." said Kayla, you could hear she was crying with the pitch in her voice. "Dont worry Kayla, we can keep looking tomorrow." said Mike trying to dtay positive. "Yu-" Kayla was cut off by A light source. How could there be light they were in thr middle of the woods. "You saw that too, right?" Mike said making sure he was not going crazy. "Yes." Kayla whispered "We should go see what is is." Mike said, starting to walk forwards. "Hell no, who knows what that is." Kayla says stepping back. "It could be Zach." Mike kept walking.

Soon Kayla gives in and they starts walking towards the light.

"Hopefully we dont die." said Kayla.

No answer.

"Mike?"

Silent.

Suddenly she heard A scream. Mike. She ran and when she got there she saw something. It was a black figure smiling and laughing.

"Hello, Kayla." said the figure

“Did you see that or am I going insane? You saw that, right?! The flickering was like a rapid ‘blip blip blip’, it was sick.” One of the hikers mimicked the way a car light flickered on and off.

Yeah! A-and that noise, what even was that?!”

“Will you guys shut the hell up before I ‘blip blip’ you out of existence.” Said Skye, the group leader, as she raised her hand to silence them.

The small group stopped just before a small clearing. Skye wanted to figure out what they were about to witness. It wasn’t not uncommon for people to abandon their bikes (with the signal lights) or put up a barrier that warned people to stay away. It was a gut feeling. And the girl didn’t want to make a mistake again, so she crept closer.

“Skye? Yo, what’s wrong. See somethin’?” One of them said.

“It’s a…car. It looks abandoned though.” She responds quietly as she starts to investigate the vehicle.

The rest of the group hesitatingly follows to check it out. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a little dented. Skye reassures the group that it’s probably a deer or something, until one of them drops their flashlight with a gasp.

The others walk over, and color soon drained their faces. An unconscious girl whose clothes were shredded and bloody. Her balayage hair covered her face yet there were no signs of injury, yet her skin was pale, and her lips were blue. All of them exchange glances at one another, wondering what to do. Should they try to move her? What if she’s already dead? What if they were all drunk and it wasn’t real? Just in their imagination. That was, until one of the boys, Casper, already crouched down, pressed his finger against the person’s neck.

𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜.

“No way a deer did that. Unless, ya know, it was a wendigo or a rabid one with wasting disease.” One of them stifled a laugh.

Casper stood up and glared at his friend. “No shit Sherlock. So why don’t you be useful and call 911.”

While the two boys bickered amongst themselves, the failed to notice that Skye made her way toward the girl, curiosity taking over. She crouched down beside the lifeless body, her eyes fixated on it, her stomach churned. The sound of the bickering, along with everything around her became muffled until only the pounding of her own heart could be heard. Part of her felt bad considering that the girl was only a little older than them but another part of her expected it to stand up and chase the group like in every horror movie.

She reached her hand out but recoiled, as the once motionless girl jolted upright. Skye scrambled backwards quickly as it lunged at her.

Their friend's scream made the boys turned around and once they saw her in trouble, they both rushed to help her. Casper delivered a hard kick to the girl's head then helped Skye to her feet then ran. And ran. Ran deeper into the woods, not worried about getting lost. As long as they create as much distance as possible. The duo hid behind some trees to catch their breath until agonizing screams pierce through the quiet forest. Both peeked their heads out to find a new...grisly scene. The girl had torn open the other dude like a pinata, tearing the poor boy’s flesh apart. There was nothing anyone could do. All the group could do was watch in horror as the women ate like a vulture inside a carcass.

The blonde girl clasped her hand over her mouth, silent tears running down her cheek as she desperately tried to hold herself together.

One night out of the week a group of three friends take the time out of their busy college lives to meet up and go hiking together since they don’t see each other for most of the week. They came up with this tradition to make sure they never lose the bond they have with each other and to just take the time to unwind and take a nice walk. Tonight was supposed to be the same.

“What’s going on Mike?” One of the friends exclaimed excitedly.

“What’s good Davey!” Mike replied “Where’s Teo?”

“Yoooo” said a voice they heard from behind them. It was Teo!

“Yoooooo” Dave and Mike responded in sync

“You guys ready?” Teo said with a smile on his face

“Yeah!” Dave and Mike both responded once again in sync. Then they started their walk on the usual forest trail nearby the college campus.

“So how was school for you guys this week?” Dave asked the other two

“Man, this week has been so stressful with all these tests” Teo said while facing the ground, “I’ve had 4 tests and an essay due this week alone.”

“My week has been pretty calm actually, nothing too bad,” Mike responded, “Even got hang out with a few girls.”

“Sometimes I think we don’t go to the same school because HOW?” Teo said loudly but trying not to yell. “What about you Davey?”

“Same old same old” Dave replied smiling hard

They continued to walk down the trail until suddenly in the distance they’re was a series of flashing lights in the distance off the trail.

“But you know me” Dave said while trying to hold in his laugh, “I don’t mess with nobody ugly.”

This elicited a laughter among the whole group.

“Wait… Do y’all see that?” Mike said in confusion since he was the first to notice the light.

“Notice what?” Dave said. He then looked over and noticed it too, “What the hell?”

“Duddddeee. We gotta go see what it is!” Teo starts going towards it, “Come on!”

“Wait!” Dave tried to call out to Teo but Teo was not listening and kept moving forward. “That idiot.” He said right before going off trail following him.

“I guess” Mike shrugged then followed behind Dave

The three of them ran towards the flashing lights stepping on what felt and sounded like a thousand leaves and branches before it felt like it was just a few trees away. But it was strange. This area that they were in was illuminated as if someone had lit a bonfire. But it couldn’t be a campfire since the light that was coming from the area was more of a bluish green light. Teo was the first to make it to the source of the light and Dave was behind him and Dave noticed Teo didn’t say anything, instead he just stood there stunned.

“Teo what the hel…” Dave said when he and Mike caught up to him but then they saw what Teo saw and they too were stunned. It was a glowing blue green rock that looked like it could barely fit inside the palm of someone’s hand. This rock was the source of the light and it was flashing, cycling through a dim and bright light every 5 or so seconds.

“You guys see that too right?” Teo asked, eyes still fixed on the mysterious object, “I’m not trippin am I?”

“We see it too man” Mike responded

Everyone stood looking at it for what felt like an eternity until Teo started taking steps towards the object.

“What are you doing?!” Dave yelled silently

“We can’t just keep looking at it.” Teo responded trying to hide his excitement.

“Yes we can? We don’t know what it is or what it could do.”

“That’s why we gotta see obviously.” Teo says while continuing to walk towards it.

“Okay. we’ll stay over here” Mike says

“Why are you encouraging this?” Dave says baffled that they are even thinking this through.

“Chill out Davey. Whats the worst that could happen it’s just a rock.” Mike responds with a care free attitude.

“Just be careful Teo” Dave says after he sighs nervously

Teo nods his head in agreement then starts approaching the mysterious glowing rock slowly. His heart starts beating faster and faster with a mixture of excitement, anticipation, and nervousness. Increasing with every step, every leaf stepped on, and every time the light goes off and comes on. Then he finally arrives right above the rock. He looks at it deeply first. This is when he notices that the rock is so shiny and metallic he can almost see his reflection and he does when it dims. He goes to pick it up, hesitates, and then goes through with it, holding it in his hand. At first when he picks it up he notices that the texture is about what he expects it to be, metallic and solid and but then the light starts to shine and dim at a quicker pace than usual? lt keeps going faster and faster until it stops dimming and it only lights up but this time it doesn’t stop lighting up. It keeps getting brighter and brighter!

“Watch out!” Dave shouts out as he and Mike start running over to him

“Teo!!!” Mike screams out

But they couldn’t reach him in time. BOOM! The rock exploded.

My will-o-the wisps Do not lead me to my doom But to my future.

The day started out as fine as it could. I was with three of my brothers, exploring the great Russian wildness in the winter. Some might say that was too dangerous, but we had been doing it since we were kids. This season was actually much nicer than most. “Hey guys,” my brother Ivan exclaimed in front of me.

“You see those lights in the distance?” “They look like planes to me,” my older brother Alexander responded. I looked out in the distance to see what they could possibly be, and low and behold, there were lights dancing across the horizon. “I don’t think those are planes,” I nervously commented. “Yeah I think we should head the other direction,” my other brother Dmitry chimed in.

“Come on,” Ivan moaned. “We have to see what those lights are.” “Are you really going to be that stupid?” “You always have to be that guy, don’t you Dmitry? It’s not like we are ever going to have the opportunity to see strange lights in the woods again.

“What do you say?” I could feel my blood turn as cold as ice when Ivan pointed at me. Alexander was staring back at me as if he was having flashbacks to war. Despite my gut violently turning inside of me, I passively agreed with Ivan. “See, he gets it,” Ivan proudly exclaimed.

“Come on, let’s go.” “He’s going to be the death of us,” Dmitry signed as we began to follow Ivan. “For real,” Alexander nervously chuckled. As we walked to the lights, my head was beginning to tighten. I felt a burning sensation in my stomach, so bad that I asked if I could stop for a second. “I’ll stay with you,” Dmitry reassured, coming to my side.

“You guys are such panties,” Ivan signed, walking away with a hesitant Alexander. Dmirty could only give a glare as I walked away with me. Eventually, we reached a rock covered in snow. “What do you think that light could be?” I asked Dmitry, getting out a water bottle from my pocket. “I don’t know,” he nervously replied, letting his gaze wander away.

“Are you sure Ivan and Alexander are safe?” For a moment, Dmitry was as pale as a ghost. “I’m sure they will come to their senses,” he answered quickly, turning his face away from me. Despite knowing that he was lying, I refused to further pressure him on the question. That was until we heard a loud scream.

“What is that!” I screamed as my heart began to race. “I don’t know,” Dmirty responded, sounding as equally panicked as I was. In that moment, bright lights began to spark in the distance, almost creating a fake sunrise. “Wait,” I said.

“Ivan and Alexander are there. We have to go back.” “No,” Dmirty cried out. “We have to go get help.” “But they could be already be dead.” “And we have nothing to fight with against, whatever the hell that light is suppose to be. Come on.”

Despite Dmirty having his back already turned towards me, I stayed in place. “Please,” he begged. Unfortunately, I took one last look at Dmitry before running off. “Come back!” He shouted as I plowed through the snow. I passed through many frosted trees, with my only guide being the lights.

“Ivan!” I shouted. “Are you there?” I heard in the distance. The voice of Alexander was enough to comfort me, even for a second. Unfortunately, that feeling was comfort completely disappeared once I saw what happened to Alexander. He was barely alive, half frozen as he stumbled towards me.

Alexander’s skin was even cracked. “Alex,” I screamed. “What the hell happened to you?! Where’s Ivan?!” “It’s the fei,” Alexander mumbled as he fell into my arms. “They took him.”

“The what?” Just then, everything around me became as bright as day. Looking at the trees, I saw it, a horrifying creature. The creature was a giant, resembling a horrible mixture of a shard of ice and a bear. Its smile was the worst, extending endlessly and marked by sharp bloody teeth.

“Go,” Alexander croaked. “Save yourself.” Despite hearing Alexander’s pleas, I didn’t follow through with his dying wish. I stood there, as frozen as a tree. The horrible beast came closer and closer to me, with its low growl echoing in my ears.

Eventually, it came over me. Finally, as the creature breathed its wretched breath upon me, I had the courage to drop Alexander and run. Unfortunately, it did me no good as it grabbed my ankles the moment I turned my back. The creature’s cold claws dug into my flesh as it hurled me towards the ground. I tried to grab onto something, anything, but my fate was sealed as it dragged me to the forest.

All I could do is scream for help as I saw Alexander’s corpse becoming farther away from me. If only my fate was as merciful as his. When the creature stopped dragging me, it grabbed my neck and twisted its arm to face me. As I was forced to stare into its vacant eyes, it pushed my back against a tree. That was when I experienced the worst pain I could have ever imagined, with all of the roots suddenly growing around me.

They burned as they caved into my flesh. As soon as it was done, I was frozen cold. The creature was still staring blankly at me, only leaving soon after the tree had stopped growing around me. I don’t know what became of Ivan. I don’t even know if Dmirty is safe.

All I know is that I’m now imprisoned within this wooden prison, with the creature only coming back to mock me. Not even death can free me now. All because those damn lights.

The 2 couples were hiking back to thier cars at dusk. They had started this hike knowing they’d be cutting it close on daylight. Nor were they far from the car when they saw the flashing lights at the top of the hill. It looked as though someone was flashing a light at them to provide direction back. There had been a few hikers that were concerned about their timing in the trail. The 2 couples just assumed the hikers out of concern had waited to make sure they could find their way. They flashed a light back at them and the flashing lights on the horizon stopped.

When the couples reached the top of the hill and their car they found that their right rear tire had been slashed. Only one of the four tires had been slashed. The boys considered that a sign that they weren’t in danger. The person that slashed their tire was just trying to send a message not strand them. The boy had worked together at a tire shop in high school so they made quick work of putting the spare on. With the spare on the started the slow journey back to their hotel. That message whatever it was had just ruined the couples weekend get away.

As they drove back to the hotel they had plenty of time to reflect on their interaction with the hikers at the start of the trail. They definitely didn’t feel that interaction warranted the “lesson”.

Upon having pulled up to the trail Taylor, one of the two boys, felt they drove in a little fast but not so fast to upset anyone, he had been driving. It just showed what a hurry they were in to get the hike done. Getting out of the car the couples quickly set about gearing up while two of the hikers had attempted conversation with them. It looked like they were drinking so the couples gave short answers but weren’t rude. The hikers had expressed some concern about the timing of the hike but Taylor having done the hike assured them they would be fine. The hikers even joked with the couples as they set off, “If you see two old hags on your way down tell em’ we left em’!” The boys laughed the girls scowled. Still nothing to warrant the slashed tire. When they passed the “old hags” one slipped and the boys helped her up makings sure she was ok. That was probably reason enough to not have their tire slashed. They couldn’t make sense of it. Seemed just like a senseless crime.

Taylors grandpa was actually from the area they were staying in and his parents had a ranch just a half hour away. His parents as it happened were there that weekend, so the next morning they set out to his parents ranch It was better for them to leave the car there with the flat tire then to limp it all the way home. His parents would give them all a ride home. As Taylor relayed the story to his parents his dad offered a reason for the slash. They had driven his wife’s Subaru and could have taken them as out of towners. The locals were feeling inundated by out of towners moving in, and some weren’t as friendly as others. Thier Subaru and thier desire to get to hiking could have been associated with a competing lifestyle. The locals didn’t realize they had slashed one of their owns tires.

They joked on the way home about getting a magnetic “Trump 2024” sticker for thier “liberal” car when they visited the area.