Y/N pov

  The next morning when I arrived at Norte Rosaville, the only university in town, there were a few police cars parked outside and two middle-aged inspectors were in the hallway talking to students who had attended the party at Mike's. Memories of last night came flooding through my mind, making my legs tremble again and I almost fell to the ground. An alluring scent hit my nose as a strong arm wrapped around my shoulder to steady me, looking up, I saw a familiar face came with a gentle grin.

      "Need a rest?" Jed asked me in his calm tone, which strangely comforted me." I heard you were there last night too, it must have been a terrible experience."

  Jed narrowed his eyebrows, expressing his worry toward me. I was about to shake my head and excuse myself to leave when one of the inspectors approached me, obviously because I was the one face-to-face with the killer. However, I did not feel ready to talk about that bloody scene haunting my mind, I would probably lose my consciousness again.

      "Miss Y/N, would you give me a few minutes to report what you had witnessed?"

      "This isn't the right time to question her, George, she is still in shock." So it was true when Jed said he was working with the cops. He seemed to know each of the inspectors here. "She will come with me."

  Jed was right about my current state and he was my only escape in this situation. I then nodded slightly, agreed to go with him.

  The inspector named George made no further objection, after giving me a look of pity, he gave me his name card and made an appointment with me for another meeting.

  As Jed had suggested, I followed him to his office at the end of the hallway. A room that was not too fussy but very spacious and airy with two large windows opposite the door, a dark wooden desk located a few steps away from the window, on the right is a bookcase approximately 7 feet high, having the same dark color as the wardrobe on the left. There was no sign of any greenery except for a dazzling bouquet of red roses placed on the coffee table in the middle of the room. I looked around the room in amaze as Jed walked over to his desk and opened his laptop, then politely invited me to sit down on the sofa, which is made of leather and surprisingly soft.

  How could a newcomer like Jed have his own office at Norte Rosaville? Or maybe he actually worked at the university and I didn't get a chance to meet him until now.

      "Professor Dowan left his work and the office to me temporarily." Jed explained as if he could read my mind.

      "I've never been in a professor's office except for detention."

      "You got detention?"

      "Are you surprised, Mr. Olsen?"

  Jed laughed, the sunlight streaming in from the window, illuminating his jet-black hair, painting a ravishing picture. Then he took out multiple files from one drawer, gently placing it on the table before pulling out a chair and sitting down.

      "You can rest this morning, I won't mark it as absent, you can stay or go home." Jed still remained looking at the laptop screen, his fingers were flipping through pages from the document.

  And suddenly his lustful eyes were on me.

      "But if you stay, you will have to keep quiet for a bit, I need to concentrate on work." Then Jed put his index finger on his lips, signaling to be quiet.

  My face heated up as my heart raced at his every move. When I realized how red my face was, I quickly turned away, drawing my attention to the bouquet of red roses on the table in front of me.

  Maybe it was for his lover, so he had been dating, but why was I so disappointed? I already had Mike.

      "Maybe I should go''. Damn that was a lie, I did not want to leave at all, he seemed to have some kind of hypnotic power to keep me hoping for something else..

  But if I stay in Jed's office for too long, there will be rumors floating around, not to mention that he might have a girlfriend or fiancé... I glanced at that bouquet of flowers again and sighed, I did not want to get involved in misunderstandings again.

      "Fine, but you can come to my office if you have a problem." Still in a calm tone, Jed continued with a wide grin, showing his pure white teeth. "I could be a good therapist."

      "Thank you."

Jed Olsen's POV

  Y/n left in awkwardness, like any other prey, she got everything she wanted, I stroked my hair in satisfaction at the thought of taking what's hers, making her life miserable.

  Tonight is going to be an interesting night.

***

Y/n's POV

  There was darkness before my eyes, my whole body ached as I tried to move, my head excruciatingly in pain. What had happened? I vaguely remembered stopping by the convenience store to buy some snacks and then when I returned to the parking lot I collapsed, all memories after that were cut out. To be clear, I got hit on the head by someone.

  It was not until a few minutes of struggling with the pain that I had the strength to get up, even though my eyelids were heavy with fatigue. I staggered to my feet, trying to readjust my vision, and soon I realized that my surroundings were unfamiliar. To be exact, I might be in a private estate, even though the area was full of dense trees, the ground was neatly paved into a path. Moreover, the lights still worked, maybe this place had been frequently used. But the most important question was why the hell I woke up here.

  Feeling a sudden vibration on my one side, I took out a cell phone from my left pocket, obviously mine. I was relieved thinking I could call the police when unexpectedly a text message was sent from an unknown number. I gulped, slowly touching the screen.

      "What the..."

  I was stunned to see the picture I had just received, a photo of Tiffany sleeping, fortunately she was still at home, but who took the photo? A madman with a penchant for photography, Ghostface.

  I was still confused about that photo when the phone rang, it was that strange number again.

      "Do you like horror movies?"

  The hoarse voice on the other end of the line, bringing a chill to my bone.

      "Do you want to be a part of a horror movie?"

  I went silent for a moment, not sure what I was facing. If this was really Ghostface then I did not think I would have a way out, my hands were shaking and sweating even more. I looked at the screen again, it was past eleven o'clock at night and no call from Tiff? He must have done something.

      "What do you want?"

  Gathering up my courage, I finally opened my mouth to question him.

      "As long as you follow the rules then nothing bad will happen, I guarantee."

  The discomfort and insecurity made me soon lose my patience, I hastily urged him to tell me the reason he brought me to this desolate place.

      "Just say it already."

  A menacing laugh came from the phone's speaker, he said that he had just brought me to an old abandoned park and in one hour if I could get out, he would let me go. Of course if I tried to call for help, Tiffany would be dead instantly. The threat from him made me shiver, I did not want Tiff to be involved in this mess, moreover, this stupid game he played wasn't just out of boredom.

  My intuition warned me that things were just getting worse from here.

      "You should hurry up, love, time is running."

  I stopped hesitating and started moving forward, although the lampposts on both sides of the road were illuminating the whole area, I still did not feel assured. Maybe he was right next to Tiff holding a knife to her neck or he was lurking around watching me in amusement.

      "And don't you dare to hang up."

  That was the last warning from him before the phone went silent, he had turned off his microphone. I kept on walking, my feet were no longer shaking, I needed to be strong for my friend. I was walking on an empty road for a while when two separated turns appeared in front of me. Under the lights, the old wooden sign and the dusty posters pinned on the bulletin board looked like scattered pieces of old memories. Had this place ever existed in town?

  Welcome to Lunar Park! Enjoy the weekend with your family.

  This really gave me the Liminal space vibe.

  I had no clue where the right turn would lead to since the sign in that direction had been broken, on the contrary, the left sign had a very clear title, fishing spot. I had no choice but to take the left turn, I only had one hour to get out of this rusty old park. After about a few steps, the beech trees on both sides of the road soon were replaced by green grass, on the right appeared a large lake, probably for fishing, there were wooden benches on the bank next to a few willows. The sparkling lake surface reflected the moonlight like the silver silk Cinderella wore on prom night. I smiled faintly, after everything had happened, how can I be so optimistic as to think of a fairy tale? Since that incident in my family, I was no longer able to drop a single tear.

  I took a few more steps closer to the lake, the glittering surface rippled and the cool breeze made me unconsciously exclaim, unaware that my phone was still connecting to his.

      "So beautiful."

  A clear exhale from the phone's speaker woke me up from my wandering thoughts. I was aware that time was still running, so I stepped back from the lake to return to the main road, continued moving forward. From the moment I took this turn I noticed a concrete building peeking out from behind the dense trees, and now it was right at my sight, maybe it would leave me some clues.

  It was locked when I finally got to the main door of the building. All the windows were pinned tightly by wooden bars from the inside, I gave it a fleeting look, that steel door turned out to be so worn as if it only took the right amount of leverage to open it. I looked around with strained eyes to find something similar to a crowbar or a decent one. How silly it is when the environment around was only covered with shriveled bushes and dry grass, if Ghostface also followed the rules of the game then there must be a way to open this damn door, or maybe I had to go back and choose another path.

  I walked back to the crossroad where he left me at the beginning only to find it getting more and more eerie, the darkness around slowly swallowing me until I became numb. Following the right turn, then after a while, another crossroad continued to appear, this time there was a rusty stainless steel pillar about 7 feet high in the middle with three arrows pointing in three directions, Parking lot - Playground - Picnic spot. For some reason, I continued going straight ahead, which led me to a small, dusty playground. All the slides were faded in color, none of the seesaws there was intact, the only thing that still worked properly was the swing.

  Should I try? It had been such a long period since the last time I actually had fun at the playground with my brother, I realized that I still could not let the past go.

      "What is in your head?" A chuckle came from my phone, Ghostface spoke up in an amusing tone."Are you so careless that you can't even see the escape?".

  He was right, I was such an idiot not to notice that the park entrance gate was right in front of me, about 10 meters away from where I was standing. I inhaled a deep breath and then sprinted forward, the trees rustling on both sides of the road as if to warn me that he wouldn't let me go so easily. It was true, obviously, the gate must have electricity to work, that meant power and control buttons were required for the gate to open, but the operator room next to the gate was also locked.

  This time I need a key.