He Comes At Night

Rose's POV:

I simply stood there, scrambling for a decent excuse to dodge this whole homecoming ordeal, but before I could even part my lips, Aria spun on her heels and waltzed out the door, a triumphant smile plastered across her face—like I had been just as thrilled about it as she was.

Great. Could this day possibly get any worse without someone else dictating what I should do? You know what? Scratch that. Let's not tempt fate.

At least I could go to bed and pretend none of this happened; for a short while at least.

Dragging my feet up the stairs, I pushed open my bedroom door, only to be met with pitch-black darkness.

Instinctively, my hand flew to the switch before stepping inside. I hated being swallowed whole by the dark—whether in a dream or in reality.

A gust of icy wind bit at my skin, and a shiver snaked up my spine. My arms instinctively wrapped around myself, a strange, inexplicable unease creeping in.

Then, my eyes landed on the source of the cold.

The windows.

All of them.

Wide open.

The drapes billowed violently with each gust, flapping wildly like restless ghosts. I frowned.

I didn't open them last night. I didn't open them this morning either.

No wonder it felt like I had just stepped into an icebox. The wind roared through the room, howling past each open window, rattling against the walls.

My room had more windows than it had solid walls—three sides entirely framed with glass, offering an unobstructed view of the backyard and, beyond that, the thick, looming woods.

The very same woods I had woken up in last night.

I still had no recollection of how I got there. Then again, I rarely remembered anything from my sleepwalking episodes.

My gaze drifted out into the dark expanse, where the trees stood tall and menacing, their gnarled branches forming an impenetrable canopy.

The further I looked, the darker it got. No streetlights, no distant house glow—just endless blackness swallowing everything beyond the tree line.

My hand lifted to shut the window… but it froze midair.

Something about that darkness beyond the trees held me captive. It was like staring into a void—pitch-black gaps between the trunks felt like eyes staring back at me, unblinking, waiting.

I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry. Was something out there? Watching? Lurking just past the veil of the night?

My breath hitched, chest rising and falling faster with each passing second. My body refused to move, like some invisible tether had locked me in place.

Then—

*BANG!*

A door downstairs slammed shut. The sharp sound shattered my trance, yanking me back to reality.

The wind.

It had to be the wind.

I shook my head, exhaling a shaky breath. God, I was freezing. Still wrapped in a fleece blanket, I hurried downstairs to check the back doors, making sure they were locked tight.