Night fell like a guillotine... No stars. No moon. Just thick, swallowing black. Everyone was huddled together in Sarah's homestay. The doors were locked. Windows covered. No one dared to speak above a whisper. Loca rocked back and forth in the corner, eyes glassy, repeating something under her breath like a prayer. The power flickered and everything went dark... Dian lit a candle. The air felt wrong. Like it was pressing against their skin.
Suddenly, The window shattered. A violent explosion of glass and wind and something else. something fast and tall and masked. The candle blew out. Screams erupted. Jasper barely had time to turn around before a blade tore across his chest, spraying blood across the floor and walls. He dropped to his knees, gasping, trying to hold himself together literally. "RUN!" someone yelled. Maybe Natnat. Maybe Andy.
Chairs crashed. Footsteps thundered. People scattered in all directions. But Sarah didn't move. She couldn't. The sound of the glass. The sound of Jasper's scream. It froze her. Her ears rang. Her hands trembled. Her chest tightened so hard she couldn't breathe. PTSD hit her like a tidal wave. All she could do was sit. Hands clenched into her jeans. Froze and heart pounding like it wanted to escape her ribs.
Then she saw him. The killer. He stood tall almost look like someone she knew. A long curved blade in one gloved hand. His face was hidden behind a porcelain mask smooth and white, with no mouth, just two vertical black lines painted over where lips should be. His eyes were visible through slits. It was black, but alive. Watching. He tilted his head at her. Confused or guilt? She hadn't run. The killer slowly walked toward her, boots crunching over broken glass. Blood dripped from his blade.
Sarah couldn't move. Her breath was shallow, erratic. She was drowning in her own mind. The killer knelt down in front of her. Close... Too close. His head tilted again. He stared and then he look at their surrounding . He didn't move. Didn't speak. Just… stared. Like she was some sort of puzzle he couldn't solve.
Meanwhile, The others had made it out through the back. They were all panting, shaking, trying to count who was missing. "Where's Sarah?" Joanne asked, frantic. Everyone turned. Andy's face dropped. "She was right behind... "
"No, she wasn't!" Ashley screamed. "I didn't see her!" Andy turned sharply to Natnat. "YOU were right next to her!". Natnat looked stunned. "I.. I thought she followed. Dont pin this on me! We all scared and we all run!". "YOU FUCKING THOUGHT? You were beside her!" Andy shouted, shoving him. "Guys!" Dian barked. "Not now!" But Andy was already running. Back to the homestay. Back into the dark.
Andy's footsteps pounded against the earth, breath ragged, lungs burning. He crashed back through the homestay door, shouting Sarah's name but the room was empty. Shards of glass littered the floor. Jasper's blood still glistened, dark and sticky, but Sarah was gone. The candle had rolled under a chair, flame snuffed out in the chaos. Only silence answered him. Andy staggered back, fists clenched, eyes wild. Then he heard something.
"She's not there," Andy rasped, throat raw. All of them jumped to Andy's sudden pressence. Ashley covered her mouth, shaking. Joanne began to cry. Nobody dared to ask what that meant.
Somewhere, Sarah's eyes fluttered open. Not in the homestay. Not with the others. She was lying on damp earth, deep in the forest. Her chest was heavy, her head swimming from the panic that had swallowed her whole. Cold sweat clung to her skin. A figure crouched nearby, watching her. The porcelain mask rested in the dirt beside him, streaked with Jasper's blood. Without it, his face was startling. Familiar. "Natnat?" she croaked, voice trembling. But the man shook his head slowly. "Who the hell is Natnat?" His voice was deeper, steadier. "My name is Nathan." She tried to push herself back, but her body was weak, trembling. "You're his twin?" Nathan lowered his gaze. "I know why you ask that and no..." He drew in a sharp breath, then spoke fast, like the words burned him. "Three nights ago, something fell from the sky. Not a plane. Not a satellite. Something that carries a… thing. No face. No skin. Just… something. Me and my friend, we found it. We should've never gone near." His voice cracked. "It saw us."
Sarah's hands curled into the dirt. "We ran. Got separated. When I saw my friend again… he wasn't the same. He stuttered, like he'd forgotten how to talk. I thought he was just scared. I was a fool." Nathan's jaw tightened. "By the time we made it back to HQ, I realized he wasn't my friend anymore. That thing had taken his face, his body, his voice. Everything." Sarah's pulse roared in her ears. "That night, it started killing. Wearing faces. Wearing people." Nathan's eyes glistened under the moonlight. "I barely made it out alive."
Sarah swallowed hard, bile rising in her throat. "Then… then why attack us?" Nathan looked at her then, guilt twisting his features. "Because I don't know who's real anymore. I saw someone with my face and I... " He broke off, raking a hand through his hair. "I reacted. I didn't think. I'm sorry." Sarah's chest ached. Confusion and fear tangled inside her. She wanted to run. She wanted to scream. But instead, she whispered, "How do I know you're not lying? How do I know you're not… it?" Nathan hesitated, then glanced at her, voice low. "I don't know. I don't know how to prove it. The only one I'm certain of… is him. The one you call Natnat. Because he wears my face. That night 1 of those thing catch me and I felt his teeth. He bit me." He pulled back his sleeve. His arm bore jagged marks, half-healed but raw. Sarah's stomach dropped, her heart lurched. She's confused , scared and worried about her friends .