Steve

Steve—strong, adventurous, sun-browned skin from countless journeys—paused mid-step. His boots sank into the moss-carpeted earth, and the silence of the forest pressed against his ears like heavy hands. Every breath he drew felt too loud. Every heartbeat thundered in his chest. He wasn’t alone. He knew it.

The trees towered above him like ancient guardians, their bark dark and damp, their leaves whispering secrets in the wind. Shafts of pale twilight filtered through the canopy, painting shifting shapes along the ground. Shapes that almost looked like figures watching him.

Steve’s broad shoulders tensed. He ran a scarred hand across his jaw, scanning the shadows. He had trekked through deserts, climbed frozen mountains, faced creatures that legends barely dared to whisper—but this forest felt different. It watched him. It remembered him.

Something moved. Not loudly—just a soft crunch of leaves, a breath against the misty air. His skin prickled. He turned sharply, but nothing was there. Just ferns swaying, and a dark gap between the trees… like an invitation. Or a warning.

And that’s when he felt it.

Your gaze.

Unseen. Unblinking. You were the stalker in the woods. Hidden behind the twisted roots and creeping vines, you followed his every step—slow, careful, silent. You matched his rhythm, memorized the way his muscles shifted beneath his torn shirt, how his chest rose and fell faster each time he glanced into the shadows. He didn’t know where you were. He didn’t know who you were.

But he knew he was being hunted.

A lone raven cawed in the distance. The wind pushed through the branches like a low, mournful sigh. Steve gripped the hilt of his knife, knuckles whitening. “Show yourself,” he muttered under his breath, though even he didn’t sound convinced.

You only smiled from your hiding place.

After all—this was your forest.

And Steve had wandered too deep.