Hey guys! I'm back with another short story! Though this story can be read alone, I do suggest you read my other short story first, Eyes of a Killer. You don't need to read it to understand anything in this short story, but the epilogues are kind of intertwined. I hope you enjoy!
-Night

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It was the seventh of June. The sun was going down, and the stars were coming out. The branches swayed in the cool evening breeze, and the birds were busy gossiping. The night was coming, but with the night comes fear. Fear of the unknown things that happen when the sun goes to sleep. It was the seventh of June. Sydney Lyon's nineteenth birthday.

Sydney was calm and collected. She was the serious one among her group of friends. She enjoys her solitude and can be insensitive to the hardships of others. As a result of this, Sydney often gets left out of group activities, her friends would rather do stuff without her since she ruins all their fun with her seriousness. Sydney is a planner. Who likes to sit back and observe, waiting for the right time when her hard work will finally pay off.

For her birthday, Sydney has asked her friends to join her in the woods that her family owns. It would be just them, no adults to tell them what to do, or what not to do. And when asked, she reassured her friends that there would be alcohol. They would be taking Adrian's old, red pick-up truck. They would have a campfire, so s'mores were a must. They thought that a night in to woods would be fun, but they would soon be proven wrong.

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"Turn here!" Sydney shouted as Adrian almost missed the turn. They were heading to land that was owned by Sydney's family to have a campfire, some beer, and to celebrate Sydney's birthday. The sun was going down fast, but the sounds of the birds chirping, and leaves were rustling in the breeze.

"Okay, okay! I'm turning!" Adrian yanked the wheel to the left at the last minute, and the the passengers swayed to the right. Adrian was a people person. He was popular and sensitive, and puts others needs before her own. Marion, who was sitting in the back with Jayden and Ellie, was Adrian's girlfriend. Marion was quiet and kind, and was easily frightened, but was like Adrian in the sense that she tried to put others before herself.

A few minutes later they arrived at the spot where the campfire would be held, right at the edge of woods. They got out of the truck and Jayden started rounding up a few twigs and branches to start the fire. Jayden McCall was friendly, outgoing, was good at getting people to have fun, and loved being the center of attention. He grabbed a lighter from the truck, and in a few minutes he had the fire going.

"Someone should go get some more firewood," Ellie suggested, "Then when we're all drunk we won't die of hypothermia." Ellie was always the life of the party. She was outspoken and assertive, but she was always joking.

"That should be the least your worries, El." Sydney commented. "You can come with me to get firewood."

"Okay, fine." Ellie followed Sydney into the woods, while the rest of the group set up the chairs that they had brought.

The sun had disappeared from the sky, and the stars slowly appeared in the dark blue night as the crescent moon rose to the sky. The breeze stopped. The leaves became silent. The group at the campfire noticed, and conversations also became silent.

Except for Jayden, "What?" he inquired totally oblivious. A scream tore through the silence of the night. "Ellie?!" Jayden called. He knew Ellie well, they had been best friends growing up. He then did what he thought was most rational. He ran into the woods after her. But, he didn't get very far before he ran into Sydney. She was terrified. She tripped and fell into Jayden's arms. She was too hysteric to speak, and Jayden brought her back to the fire.

The group demanded to know what had happened, where was Ellie, and what had made her scream like that. When they finally got Sydney calmed down enough to speak, she choked out two words.

"She's dead." The others gasped in shock, Marion was already in tears, and Adrian was holding her comfortingly. Jayden was angry. He grabbed Sydney by her shoulders and shook her, demanding to know what had happened.

"What happened?! How is she dead?!" Adrian got up to stop him.

"Jayden! What the hell are you doing? She's obviously not going to talk if you shake her up even more." Jayden let go of Sydney, and took a step back, but didn't reply. Adrian turned to Sydney.

"What happened?" Sydney looked up, and reluctantly answered.

"We were getting the firewood, a-and we split up. I heard a scream from her direction, but when I found her, sh-she, she was dead. Her head had been sawed off."

After a few moments, they decided that someone, or something, was out to get them, and that they had to get out of there. They piled into Adrian's truck. The old truck sputtered and groaned, but never roared to life.

"Dammit!" Adrian shouted, desperately turning the key. "Now what?" Marion took out her cell phone.

"No service." she muttered.

"What if go to the top of that hill, we might find service there." Sydney suggested. "We should split up. Two of us go to look for service, while the other two stay here and try to get the truck working." Adrian thought for a moment.

"I should stay here, I'm the only one who could maybe have a chance at fixing my truck. Marion, want to stay with me?" Marion nodded. "Okay, that leaves you two to go find service, if anything looks sketchy, come back here and we'll figure out what to do next."

They split up as planned. Adrian and Marion stayed with the truck, while Jayden and Sydney went to find service. Sydney lead the way, she being the one who knows the woods best, and who knows the fastest way to the big hill.

The moon was high in the sky when Jayden and Sydney reached the top of a smaller hill, still about a mile away from the big hill. Sydney tripped on tree root, and tumbled down the steep slope into the valley below. It took Jayden a moment to realize that Sydney was gone, and another moment to realize what had happened.

"Sydney?" He called, as he made his way back down the hill. Jayden ran down the slope as fast as he dared. If he twisted an ankle now, then both he and Sydney were both surely dead. Ten minutes later, he reached the bottom. He couldn't see Sydney, so he look around the area where he thought she would have landed.

Soon he found signs that someone had been there. Some spots of blood here, a smear over there. He followed the blood trail as best as he could using the flashlight from his phone. After another few minutes of walking, Jayden froze. In front of him was the most gruesome scene he had ever seen.

It was Sydney. Or so he thought, it was hard to tell with all the blood. There was bloody foot tossed one way, a leg the other, a hand hanging from the branches of a nearby tree. Her face looked as if it was chewed and gnawed on, it was all just a big bloody mess. Jayden backed away slowly, then turned and ran back up the hill.

Back at the fire, Adrian had given up on his truck. He didn't have the parts he needed to fix it there. He sat by the fire with Marion, but now the fire was getting low. They needed more wood. Adrian left Marion by fire, so that she wouldn't get cold, and went into the woods. He found a decent amount of good firewood, then headed back to the fire.

The fire was gone. There should have plenty of wood to last until Adrian got back. "Marion?" There was no answer. Adrian dropped the wood, and took out the flashlight on his cellphone. He went to where he left her.

He heard a gurgling, and realized it was coming from Marion. Blood was gushing out of a deep cut in her throat. Adrian cradled her head as she reached for his face.

"No, no. You can't die. I love you too much."

"Love... You..." Marion choked out, just before her heart beat one last time, and she took her final breath. Adrian broke down in tears, but after a few minutes he forced himself to get up and look for Jayden and Sydney. He couldn't stay there with Marion. He couldn't look at her in the state she was in.

Jayden finally made it to the top of the big hill. He raised his phone to the moon that was slowly making its way through the starlit sky. Nothing. No service. No way out. He tried again desperate for a signal, but once again there was nothing. Jayden looked around, wondering what to do next, and saw a small, run down cabin.

He jogged over and placed his hand on the door. The door slowly creaked open. He took one step inside. Then another step. It didn't feel right. Something was off. He took another step and he felt something hit him in the head, hard. Jayden instantly crumbled to the floor. Blackness swarmed his vision and a moment later Jayden was unconscious.

When Jayden woke, he was sitting in a chair. His arms were tied behind him, and his legs were tied together. He looked to left and saw Adrian, who was also tied up.

"Adrian! Wake up!" Jayden shouted. Adrian stirred, but didn't wake. A light turned on in front of him. For a moment Jayden was blinded by the brightness, but his eyes quickly adjusted, revealing a person.

"Sydney? You were dead. How?" Sydney paced in front of him, knife in hand.

"It was easy to fake my death. The body you saw belonged to Ellie. I killed her when we went to get the firewood. I simply acted devastated by her death. And the truck not starting? Yeah, that was me too. After I faked my own death, I took the quick way back to the fire, and slit Marion's throat with this knife. She died in Adrian's arms. So sad. Out of all of you I hated her the least, I made her death quick. So after I killed her I came back here, and waited for you. I tied you up, and a little while later Adrian came." Sydney explained with a smile.

"Why? Why did you kill them you psychopath?!" Jayden screamed, trying to break his bonds.

"Do you know how many times I've not been invited to stuff, and then the next day I always had to listen about how much fun you had without me!" She screamed at him. "I was left out of everything. My 'friends' were never really my friends." She held the knife up to his face, then stepped back. She paced over to where Adrian was still unconscious, and drove the knife deep into his heart.

"NO!" Jayden struggled harder while Sydney plunged the knife into Adrian's body again and again. Sydney soon noticed his struggles.

"You mad, Bro?" Sydney laughed. Jayden stopped struggling, and looked Sydney in the eyes.

"You're not going to get away with this. You're not. You can't." Sydney raised the knife.

"That's a funny thing to say, Jayden, because I already have." She drove the knife into Jayden's chest, and Jayden screamed.