The First Cut (1988)

February Bleeds is a chilling leap year horror novel set at Harrowfield University, where the past never stays buried. When transfer student Lena Harrow arrives amid a brutal snowstorm, she senses something wrong especially with the East Wing, sealed off and whispered about by students. Her discovery of a hidden journal belonging to Eleanor Quinn, a student from 1920, reveals haunting tales of whispers, blood rituals, and a sinister force tied to February 29th. Drawn into a mystery stretching across a century, Lena and her new friends including cheerful Rachel, loner Ivy, and tech-savvy Noah plan a forbidden Leap Year Eve party inside the East Wing. As the cursed date nears, hallucinations begin. Symbols reappear. A red fog rolls in. And then the doors lock. What begins as a reckless thrill spirals into chaos. Students turn violent some possessed, others driven mad. The ghost of Elias Mercer, a cult leader once hanged on campus grounds, seems to return. But Mercer's journal reveals a darker truth: he wasn't summoning evil… he was trying to contain it. As blood paints the walls and the Forgotten One stirs beneath the clocktower, Lena races to survive the six-hour massacre. Not all will make it out. And those who do are forever changed. When the fog clears, the cover-up begins. Files are sealed. The truth is buried again. But horror doesn't die it waits.