The Message At 3:17

Chapter Two-The Second Warning

THE MESSAGE AT 3:17

Chapter Two — The Second Warning

David didn't tell Jay about the paper.

He didn't tell anyone.

Not his mother.

Not his sister.

Not even Amara, the girl who sat two rows ahead of him in mathematics and seemed to notice everything.

He simply folded the paper, put it inside his pocket, and spent the rest of the school day pretending nothing had happened.

It didn't work.

His mind kept returning to the same question.

Who was watching him?

And how had they known about the alarm?

By lunchtime, David had convinced himself that there had to be a reasonable explanation.

Maybe someone at school was playing a prank.

Maybe the emergency alarm had been planned.

Maybe the person in the hoodie wasn't even connected to the messages.

There had to be an explanation.

There always was.

At least, that's what David wanted to believe.

---

“You're acting weird.”

Jay dropped into the seat opposite him in the cafeteria.

David looked up from his food.

“I'm tired.”

“You've been tired since morning.”

“Maybe I didn't sleep well.”

Jay stared at him.

“You're lying.”

David smiled.

“You've suddenly become a detective?”

“No. But I've known you for years.”

Jay leaned closer.

“What happened at the gate?”

David's smile disappeared.

“What do you mean?”

“I saw you chasing someone.”

David looked away.

“Nothing happened.”

“David.”

“Jay, seriously. Leave it.”

Jay studied him for another few seconds.

Then he leaned back.

“Fine.”

David thought the conversation was over.

It wasn't.

Jay lowered his voice.

“Was it about the message?”

David froze.

For a moment, the entire cafeteria seemed to disappear.

“What message?”

Jay's expression changed.

He knew.

David looked around.

Nobody seemed to be paying attention.

He lowered his voice.

“How do you know about the message?”

Jay didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he looked toward the cafeteria entrance.

Then back at David.

“I don't.”

“You just said—”

“I guessed.”

David stared at him.

“That wasn't a guess.”

Jay sighed.

“Okay. You're right.”

David waited.

Jay looked uncomfortable.

“Someone sent me something last night too.”

David's heart skipped.

“What?”

Jay reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

He unlocked it.

Then he showed David the screen.

An unknown number.

One message.

David read it.

DON'T LET DAVID GO TO SCHOOL TOMORROW.

David stared at the screen.

His mouth went dry.

“When did you get this?”

“3:17.”

David slowly looked at Jay.

“Why didn't you tell me?”

“I thought it was some stupid prank.”

“You should have told me!”

“I know.”

David stood up.

Jay grabbed his wrist.

“Sit down.”

David looked at him.

Jay's voice became serious.

“Look around.”

David did.

Students were everywhere.

Talking.

Eating.

Laughing.

Nothing seemed unusual.

Jay whispered:

“Whoever sent these messages knew we'd both be here today.”

David sat back down.

Neither of them spoke for several seconds.

Then David's phone vibrated.

Bzzzt.

Both boys looked at it.

David slowly unlocked the screen.

A new message.

You're asking the wrong person.

David's eyes moved toward Jay.

Jay's face had gone pale.

“That's not funny,” Jay said.

“I didn't send it.”

“I know.”

Another vibration.

Bzzzt.

A second message appeared.

Ask Jay what happened three years ago.

David stared at his friend.

“What happened three years ago?”

Jay didn't answer.

“Jay?”

“Nothing.”

The answer came too quickly.

David stood.

“Tell me.”

Jay looked down.

“Not here.”

“Then where?”

“After school.”

David shook his head.

“No. Now.”

Jay's eyes hardened.

“David, trust me.”

David almost laughed.

“Trust you?”

He held up the phone.

“The person sending these messages knows things about both of us.”

Jay didn't respond.

For the first time since they had become friends, David wondered whether he actually knew Jay at all.

---

School ended at 3:10 PM.

David waited outside the gate.

Jay never showed.

He called him.

No answer.

He called again.

Still nothing.

David sent a message.

Where are you?

No reply.

He checked the time.

3:27 PM.

He decided to go home.

Maybe Jay needed time.

Maybe he was avoiding the conversation.

David walked toward the bus stop.

Halfway there, his phone vibrated.

He stopped.

Unknown number.

He opened the message.

You shouldn't have trusted him.

David stared at the words.

Then another message arrived.

He knows why your father disappeared.

David's breathing slowed.

His father.

That was impossible.

His father hadn't disappeared.

At least, that's what his mother had always told him.

His father had left when David was seven.

That was all he knew.

Whenever David asked where he was, his mother gave him the same answer:

“He's somewhere far away.”

David had stopped asking years ago.

He looked at the message again.

He knows why your father disappeared.

His fingers trembled slightly.

He typed:

What does Jay know?

The reply came almost immediately.

Ask him about the night at the old warehouse.

David frowned.

What warehouse?

He searched his memory.

Nothing.

Then something clicked.

Three years ago, when David and Jay were fourteen, they'd gone exploring with some other boys near an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town.

They'd found nothing.

Or at least, that's what David remembered.

He suddenly remembered something else.

Jay had begged him never to tell anyone about that night.

David had never understood why.

His phone vibrated again.

You forgot.

Then:

He didn't.

David looked up.

Across the road, someone was standing beside a parked car.

A dark hoodie.

The same figure from school.

David stepped toward the road.

The figure turned.

David ran.

But a bus passed between them.

By the time it moved away, the person was gone.

David stood there, breathing heavily.

His phone vibrated.

This time, it wasn't a message.

It was a photograph.

David opened it.

His stomach tightened.

It was an old photograph of him and Jay.

Three years earlier.

Standing outside the abandoned warehouse.

David zoomed in.

There were four people in the photograph.

He recognized himself.

He recognized Jay.

The third person was someone he didn't know.

But the fourth—

David's fingers froze.

He recognized him immediately.

His father.

The photograph had been taken three years after his father supposedly left.

David stared at the screen.

Then a final message appeared.

Now you know where to start.

David looked toward the road again.

Nobody was there.

But somewhere in the distance, a phone began ringing.

And for some reason, David knew exactly what time it was going to be when he answered.

3:17 AM.