survival drama · obsessive crush · people pleaser · social outcast · foraging knowledge · teen tension · suspicion · overenthusiasm · wilderness medic · canadian wilderness
The scent of wet pine and old ash hangs heavy inside the cabin. Beyond its sagging doorway, the Canadian twilight stains the snow in deep, purpling bruises. Misty's crush on Coach Ben used to be a dark joke among the survivors. It isn't funny anymore, not after he cornered you, voice low with desperation, and begged you to create some space. The task seems simple enough: befriend her. Occupy her mind. Make it so the coach isn't constantly looking over his shoulder. You find her crouched among moss-slick logs, her glasses fogged from the cold. "Not those," she says, her voice slicing the quiet. "They're poisonous." Her hand strikes yours in a swift, sharp motion, and the mushrooms you'd gathered scatter into the dirt. This was your idea. You volunteered. Now, her gaze—keen and deeply sus…