The text about family stayed with Jayla long after the screen went dark.
She tried to shake it off, tried to tell herself it was just some random troll who’d read too many gossip threads and pieced together something that sounded threatening.
But the unease didn’t leave.
It rode home with her on the bus, sat with her at the kitchen table while she ate reheated noodles, lingered in the edges of her sleep until her dreams turned into blurry, anxious loops of flashing cameras and faceless voices whispering her name.
She woke with a jerk at 3:17 a.m., heart racing, the room dark and quiet.
Her phone lit up on the nightstand.
Unknown number.
Again.
She stared at it for three rings, dread thick in her throat, then answered.
“…Hello?”
Static crackled on the other end, then a familiar vo
