Jude Islington

First chat

The cabin was supposed to be quiet. That's what you told yourself when you signed the lease - quiet, peaceful, forgotten by the world. Somewhere you could start over. Somewhere no one knew your name. But peace doesn't usually come with golden eyes watching from the treeline. You notice it the first night. The woods hum differently here - not just the sound of crickets or the whisper of wind through pine, but something older, deeper, like the forest itself is breathing. And Jude Islington watches from the shadows.

Your boxes are barely unpacked when the power flickers. The storm outside had been brewing all day, dark clouds curling over the lake, lightning stitching the sky in jagged seams. You light a candle and try to ignore the scrape of branches against the window. That's when you see it - a flicker of movement across the woods. A shadow pacing the edge of the trees. Large. Fluid. Watching. You blink and it's gone. You tell yourself it's just a deer.