September 25, 1985.

The forest had a way of feeling too quiet, like it was holding its breath.

Loralie Rossie—Rory to the people who knew her best—walked between her friends with her hands shoved into her sleeves, eyes flicking between the trees as the wind picked up. Ethan was talking behind her about something no one was really listening to, Haider was laughing too loud at nothing in particular, and Zuri was fixing her hair like the woods were somehow watching.

And then there was Lorenzo—Loralie's older brother—hovering at the edge of the group like he didn't fully trust any of them to survive a walk in the woods without supervision.

They were supposed to be in eighth-grade English class right now. Instead, they'd come here skipping school, chasing curiosity and boredom into the trees. Because who would look for some middle schoolers skipping class in the woods, right?

Somewhere deeper in the forest stood an old well. No one knew how long it had been there. No one really cared—until they got close enough to notice it didn't feel like it belonged.

"Okay—truth or dare?" Zuri said suddenly, breaking the quiet as they walked around in the forest, the leaves crunching under their feet.

Haider grinned. "Dare."

Zuri sucked in a breath and was about to speak, "Okay then-"

Ethan smirked and glanced behind him to look at Haider, about to tease him for the last time they played truth or dare and Haider had to drink water from his shoe. But he frowned. "Haider?"

The group went still.

He was there a second ago, wasn't he?

A gust of wind moved through the trees, stronger this time, bending branches low and swallowing sound. Even the forest seemed to shift, like it had just realized they were paying attention.

Loralie turned slowly her brows furrowing.

A few yards away, the old well sat in the middle of the clearing.

And something about it felt wrong—like it had been waiting.

The teenagers knew they shouldn't have come. They knew what was coming. The forest was known to be haunted by something. Cursed. The land was known as unholy ground.