The flames reached high into the humid summer night, painting the trees in gold and red. Music pulsed from someone's speaker, laughter echoing across the dark water of Lake Haven. It was the kind of night that was supposed to be unforgettable—though none of them realized just how true that would be.
Emily Carter tugged at the hem of her white dress, wishing she hadn't worn it. Too easy to stain, too easy to notice. She forced a smile as Jade handed her a drink.
"Relax," Jade said, her eyeliner smudged, her grin sharp. "You look like you're about to give a speech instead of having fun."
"I am relaxed," Emily lied, though her hand trembled as she lifted the cup.
Mia Thompson was across the fire, her phone angled just right, catching the light on her perfect smile. Sophie Hayes stood a little behind her, not joining the photo, only watching with that quiet, unreadable expression she always wore. And then there was Rachel.
Rachel Moore was the center of it all, as usual. The flames lit up her hair, her laughter bright enough to drown out the music. She moved through the crowd like she belonged to everyone—and everyone belonged to her.
But later, they would all remember how Rachel disappeared into the trees, her phone buzzing in her hand, her smile fading for the first time that night.
Later, they would remember how none of them followed her.
And later still, when the first message arrived, they would wonder if the moment she vanished was the last time Rachel had been truly alive.
The message came exactly one year later.
Emily was in her bedroom, scrolling through her phone, when the screen flickered. A new text appeared from an unknown number:
''I know what you did last summer. – R''
Her throat went dry. Her hands froze. Because there was one truth Emily never told anyone about that night. Something only Rachel should have known.
And Rachel was gone.
Emily's hands shook as she set her phone on the desk. The room was silent except for the faint ticking of the clock above her mirror. Midnight. Exactly twelve months since that night.
Her first instinct was to delete the message, pretend it never existed. But her eyes kept returning to it, reading it again and again until the words blurred.
''I know what you did last summer. – R''
No one could know. She had buried that secret so deep she barely let herself think about it.
Emily grabbed her phone again, scrolling through her contacts. Her thumb hovered over Rachel's name—still there, untouched. She had never been able to delete it. With a sharp breath, she pressed "call."
The line went straight to voicemail. Of course it did. Rachel had been gone for a year.
She almost threw the phone aside when it buzzed again. Another message.
''Did you miss me?''
Emily's heart lurched. Her first thought: Rachel. But it couldn't be. Could it?
She forced herself to breathe. Maybe it was a prank. A cruel joke. But how could anyone else know—
Her phone vibrated once more.
''If you tell anyone, I'll tell everyone.''
Emily dropped the phone onto her bed as though it had burned her. She pressed her palms to her eyes, but the words stayed, branded into her mind.
Somewhere across town, Mia's phone lit up with the same unknown number. Sophie's did too. And Jade's.
Each message was different. Each one hit like a blade aimed at the place they thought was most hidden.
For Emily, it was what she had done after Rachel walked into the woods.For Mia, it was the secret relationship she'd sworn no one knew about.For Sophie, it was the truth she had overheard but kept to herself.For Jade, it was the guilt that kept her awake every single night.
The fire had burned bright that summer. But now, a year later, the real flames were only just beginning.
And none of them were safe.
Emily didn't sleep. By morning, her eyes were raw, her head heavy. She had deleted none of the messages, though the thought gnawed at her all night.
At 9 a.m., her phone buzzed again—this time, it was Mia.
Mia: ''We need to talk. All of us. Now.''
Emily's stomach twisted. She knew, before even answering, what this meant.
They met at the old café downtown, the one with chipped mugs and peeling wallpaper, where no one from school usually went. The place smelled faintly of burnt coffee and lemon cleaner.
Mia was already seated, her hair pulled into a sleek ponytail, but her eyes betrayed the sleepless night. Sophie slipped in quietly, clutching her phone like a lifeline. And then Jade stormed through the door, her leather jacket creaking, her jaw set.
For a moment, no one spoke. The silence stretched.
Finally, Jade slammed her phone on the table. "You all got them too, didn't you?"
Sophie nodded first. Then Mia. Slowly, Emily.
Mia leaned forward, lowering her voice. "Mine said: 'Tell the truth about who you've been sneaking around with, or I will.'"
Jade let out a sharp breath. "Mine wasn't that polite." She tapped the screen. 'You can't wash the blood off your hands, Jade. Stop trying.'
Sophie swallowed hard. "Mine said… 'Keeping secrets makes you guilty too.'"
Three pairs of eyes turned to Emily. She hesitated, every muscle in her body taut. She could lie. She wanted to lie. But their faces told her lying wouldn't change anything.
"It said…" She forced the words out. "'I know what you did last summer.'"
The table went cold.
No one said Rachel's name, but she was in the air between them, as heavy and inescapable as the shadows clinging to the café walls.
Finally, Mia whispered, "You don't think it's… her, do you?"
No one answered.
Because none of them knew which was worse—Rachel being gone forever… or Rachel being back.
The four of them sat in silence, the sound of the café's ancient refrigerator humming in the background. The weight of their secrets pressed down heavier than the stale air.
Jade broke the quiet. "If this is some sick joke, it's not funny."
Emily shook her head. "It's not a joke." Her voice came out smaller than she meant. "Who else would know?"
No one answered.
Sophie's gaze drifted to the window, where a gray drizzle had started, smearing the glass. She shivered, tugging her sweater tighter. "What if they're here?" she whispered.
Mia's phone buzzed on the table. The screen lit up with another message from the same unknown number. Her hand froze before she turned it over.
The text was short.
''Nice meeting you girls this morning. Cute café. – R''
Every muscle in Emily's body locked. Slowly, she turned her head toward the window, half-expecting to see someone outside in the rain, watching. But the sidewalk was empty.
Jade cursed under her breath. "They're following us."
"No," Mia said, though her voice was thin, almost breaking. "They're taunting us. There's a difference."
Sophie set her phone down carefully, like it might explode. "Either way," she said softly, "they know everything."
For the first time, none of them looked at each other as friends. Instead, they looked at one another with suspicion, as if any of them could be "R."
The café door creaked open behind them. All four girls jumped.
It was only the waitress, carrying a tray of mismatched mugs. She set them down with a tired smile. "Refills?"
No one touched the coffee.
Because now they all knew: whatever had started last summer at the bonfire hadn't ended.
It was just beginning.
Emily stared into her untouched mug, the steam curling up like smoke. The message still glowed on Mia's screen, its words carved into their silence.
It was impossible not to think of that night—the last time the five of them had been together.
The memory rose like fire in her mind.
The bonfire had been huge, built from branches and driftwood stacked taller than any of them. Sparks spiraled upward into the humid sky. Everyone from Lake Haven High seemed to be there—shouts, laughter, the clink of bottles, the occasional shriek when someone dared to run too close to the flames.
But Emily hadn't been laughing. She remembered standing apart, her phone in her hand, watching Rachel.
Rachel had been glowing, as if the fire itself fed her. She danced with strangers, with classmates, with Jade—her wild hair whipping in the smoke. She whispered something to Sophie that made Sophie's eyes widen. She looped her arm around Mia's shoulders, pulling her close, too close.
And then her phone buzzed.
Emily had seen it—Rachel's face falling for just a second, her eyes flicking toward the woods at the edge of the clearing. She whispered something no one caught, then slipped away, phone clutched tight.
Jade had noticed. "Where's she going?"
Mia had rolled her eyes. "Probably to meet someone."
No one followed her. Not one of them.
Later, when the fire was low and the crowd had thinned, someone asked, Where's Rachel?
And no one had an answer.
Emily blinked back into the present, her chest tight. Across the table, Sophie was pale, staring at her own reflection in the black surface of her coffee.
Jade leaned back, crossing her arms, her eyes sharp. "We all know what happened that night wasn't right."
Mia shot her a warning look. "Don't."
Jade leaned forward, lowering her voice. "Don't what? Pretend we didn't all watch her walk into those woods? Pretend we don't all wonder what she saw on that phone?"
The table went still.
Another buzz rattled Sophie's phone this time. Her hand trembled as she lifted it.
The message was short.
''Tick, tock. Time's running out. – R''
Sophie's breath caught.
Outside, the drizzle had turned to heavy rain, streaking the windows until the town beyond blurred to shadow.
And for the first time since Rachel vanished, Emily realized something terrifying:
This wasn't about what happened last summer.This was about what was going to happen next.