I REMEMBER
834 Words
The first message arrived at 7:13 on a Monday morning.
Emma Carter was halfway through brushing her teeth when her phone vibrated against the bathroom counter.
She ignored it.
Her phone vibrated again.
Then again.
Emma sighed and grabbed it.
One new message.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
I remember what happened that night.
The toothbrush slipped from her hand.
For several seconds, Emma simply stared at the screen.
Then she typed:
Who is this?
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Then:
You really don’t remember?
Emma’s stomach tightened.
She deleted the conversation.
Then she deleted it from her recently deleted messages.
She stood in front of the mirror.
“Get yourself together.”
But her reflection didn’t look convinced.
⸻
By 8:05, LenWood High was already alive.
Students crowded the hallways. Lockers slammed. Sneakers squeaked against polished floors. Teachers shouted reminders about tardy passes.
Everything looked normal.
Emma hated that.
Normal felt wrong.
She spotted Lila near the vending machines.
“Lila.”
Her best friend turned around.
One look at Emma’s face made her smile disappear.
“What happened?”
Emma pulled her into an empty stairwell.
“Did you get a message?”
Lila’s eyes changed.
That was all Emma needed to see.
“You got one too.”
Lila slowly pulled her phone from her hoodie pocket.
She showed Emma the screen.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
One year ago tonight. You promised nobody would talk.
Emma’s heart began pounding.
“Delete it,” Emma whispered.
“I already did.”
“You sure?”
“Emma.”
Lila lowered her voice.
“Who else knows?”
Before Emma could answer, footsteps echoed from the hallway.
Harper walked into the stairwell.
She looked between them.
“You both got it.”
It wasn’t a question.
Emma stared at her.
“You too?”
Harper nodded.
Then Mia appeared behind her.
“Please tell me this isn’t happening.”
Four girls.
Four phones.
One message.
I REMEMBER. They met during lunch in the old library.
It was the only place in LenWood where nobody went anymore.
They sat around a dusty table beneath a flickering light.
Mia kept checking the door.
“This is probably somebody messing with us.”
“Then how do they know about the party?” Harper asked.
Mia stopped talking.
Lila crossed her arms.
“Maybe somebody saw us.”
“Everybody saw us at the party,” Emma said.
“No,” Harper replied.
She opened her notebook.
“Not everybody saw what happened afterward.”
Silence.
Nobody said his name.
They didn’t have to.
Evan.
The name lived between them like a ghost.
A year ago, Evan Vale had been at the party.
The next morning, he was gone.
By Monday, his parents had reported him missing.
By Friday, rumors were everywhere.
But the four girls never told anyone what they knew.
Because what they knew could destroy all four of them.
Emma leaned forward.
“We agreed.”
Lila nodded.
“Nobody talks.”
“Nobody tells.”
Harper finished the sentence.
“Nobody breaks.”
Mia looked toward the library door.
Then her phone vibrated.
Everyone froze.
Mia slowly looked down.
A new photograph had arrived.
She opened it.
Her face went pale.
“What?” Emma asked.
Mia didn’t answer.
Emma grabbed the phone.
The photograph showed the four girls standing outside the abandoned house from the night of the party.
But that wasn’t what terrified her.
Behind them stood Evan.
Alive.
And standing beside him was someone wearing a black hoodie.
The face had been deliberately scratched out.
Emma zoomed in.
Her breath caught.
“That’s impossible.”
Harper took the phone.
“What?”
Emma pointed at the photograph.
“Look at the clock.”
In the background, above the front door, was an old broken school clock.
Its hands were frozen at exactly 11:47.
Harper whispered:
“That was the time Evan disappeared.”
Mia shook her head.
“No.”
Lila looked at her.
“You’re hiding something.”
Mia’s eyes filled with tears.
“I got another message before you guys.”
Emma stood.
“What did it say?”
Mia looked at each of them.
Then she turned her phone around.
The message read:
ASK MIA WHAT SHE DID AFTER EVERYONE LEFT.
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Emma stared at Mia.
“You told us you left with us.”
Mia’s lips trembled.
“I lied.”
The lights suddenly went out.
The library fell completely dark.
Lila screamed.
Something crashed against the far side of the room.
Then a phone screen illuminated the darkness.
Not theirs.
A fifth phone.
Sitting on the table.
None of them had put it there.
The screen displayed one message.
YOU HAVE 60 SECONDS TO REMEMBER.
Then another appeared.
START WITH THE BODY.
Emma’s blood ran cold.
Because suddenly she remembered something she had spent an entire year trying to forget.
They hadn’t left Evan behind.
They had buried something.
And somebody had just found it.
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