The storm hadn't let up all day. By nightfall, Lake Haven was drowned in rain, the streets slick and glistening under the weak glow of streetlights.
Emily lay in bed, her phone clutched like a weapon. She hadn't told her parents anything—they wouldn't understand. They'd probably think she was making it up, or worse, find out what she had been hiding since last summer.
Her screen lit up. Another message.
''You want the truth? Meet me. Midnight. Pier by the lake. Come alone. – R''
Her pulse spiked. She typed back quickly, her fingers stiff.
''Who are you?''
The reply came instantly.
''The one who knows. Don't be late.''
Mia was already at the lake when Emily arrived, her umbrella useless against the sheets of rain.
"You got the message too," Mia said, voice tight. It wasn't a question.
A flashlight beam cut through the darkness—Sophie, her hair plastered to her face. Jade trailed behind, muttering curses under her breath.
None of them had come alone. None of them trusted the others enough to admit that.
The pier stretched out into the black water, creaking with every gust of wind. Together, they stepped onto the slippery boards, their footsteps echoing in the emptiness.
Halfway down, Sophie froze. "Look."
At the end of the pier sat a small cardboard box, soaked through, the edges curling in the rain. A single envelope was taped to the top, their names scrawled across it in thick black ink.
Mia glanced around, her breath visible in the cold night air. "This is insane. Someone's playing us."
"Then let's find out who," Jade said, ripping the envelope free. She tore it open, her hands shaking despite her bravado.
Inside was a single sheet of paper. Four words, written in neat block letters:
''TELL THE TRUTH.''
Beneath the note lay five photos—one for each of them.
Emily's was on top. A grainy shot of her slipping into the pharmacy late at night, clutching a bag she thought no one had seen.
Her stomach dropped.
Mia's photo showed her in a car, parked outside the teacher's house she swore she'd never been near.Sophie's—sitting alone on the school steps after dark, watching someone argue across the street.Jade's—her hands stained, dirt under her fingernails, kneeling at the edge of the woods.And Rachel's—smiling, phone in her hand, vanishing into the trees.
The rain hammered harder. None of them spoke.
Then Emily's phone buzzed again. A new message appeared, brighter and colder than the storm around them:
''This is just the beginning. – R''
The rain battered the lake, turning the surface into a sheet of black glass. The wind cut through Emily's soaked dress, but she hardly noticed. All she could see were the photographs, lying like wounds in Jade's trembling hands.
Her photo. Mia's. Sophie's. Jade's. And Rachel's.
The edges of the pictures curled with water, but the images were sharp enough to carve through her. The pharmacy bag in her hand was unmistakable. She had told herself no one had seen her that night. She had been so careful—waiting until nearly midnight, paying in cash, slipping out the side door with her hood up.
But someone had seen. Someone had been watching.
"I—this has to be Photoshop," Emily stammered, though her voice cracked as she said it. "Anyone could fake these."
"Don't be an idiot," Jade snapped. "That's dirt under my nails. My nails." Her jaw tightened, and she shoved the photos back into the box like they might burn her fingers. "Who the hell took these?"
Sophie flinched at her tone. She tucked her damp hair behind her ear, her pale face illuminated by the flash of lightning across the water. "Whoever it is… they've been watching us. For months."
Mia shook her head, water dripping from her ponytail. Her voice was sharp, but her hands betrayed her, shaking at her sides. "This doesn't make sense. None of us said anything. None of us told anyone. So how—"
"Unless one of us is lying," Jade cut in. Her eyes flicked from face to face, narrow and accusing.
Emily's chest tightened. "You think one of us…?"
"Don't act so innocent." Jade's voice rose over the storm. "Look at us! We all had something to lose that night. And what's the easiest way to keep the heat off yourself? Point it at your friends."
Mia scoffed, but it came out brittle. "Please. If I wanted to frame someone, I wouldn't risk being caught standing here in the rain with you."
"Unless you wanted to see our faces when we realized we were screwed," Jade shot back.
Lightning split the sky again, and for a moment, the world was nothing but white light and their tense silhouettes.
Emily's phone buzzed in her pocket. She nearly dropped it as she pulled it out. Another message from the same number glowed against the storm-dark night.
''Secrets don't stay buried forever. Time to dig them up. – R''
Emily's throat went dry. She handed the phone to Mia, who read it with a clenched jaw.
"'Dig them up,'" Mia repeated. "What does that mean?"
The answer came with a low creak. The four of them froze, their gazes snapping to the tree line beyond the pier.
A shadow moved there, tall and indistinct in the rain.
"Did you see that?" Sophie whispered.
"Yes," Jade hissed, already stepping forward. "Hey!" she shouted, her voice tearing through the downpour. "Who's there?"
No reply. The shadow slipped back into the trees, swallowed by darkness.
Sophie's breath came quick and shallow. "We need to go. Now."
For once, no one argued.
They hurried off the pier, the boards slick underfoot, the box of photographs left behind. None of them wanted to carry the proof with them. It felt like poison.
But when Emily glanced back over her shoulder, her stomach dropped.
The box was gone.
By the time Emily reached home, she was shivering so hard she could barely hold her keys. She crept upstairs, peeling her soaked dress off and shoving it deep into her laundry basket. Her parents were asleep; the house was silent, safe.
But her phone wasn't.
Another message blinked onto her screen as she sat on her bed, hair dripping onto the sheets.
''You failed your first test. Next time, the whole town learns your secrets. – R''
Emily pressed her fist to her mouth to keep from screaming.
The next morning, the storm had passed, leaving the air heavy and damp. The town of Lake Haven looked washed clean, but Emily felt dirtier than ever. She dressed quickly, pulling on jeans and a hoodie, trying to disappear into normalcy.
At school, whispers traveled faster than the morning bell. Someone had posted an anonymous update on LakeHaven Confessions—a student-run gossip page.
Emily read it over Sophie's shoulder in the hallway, her stomach plummeting.
''Confession #112: Even perfect girls have addictions. Don't trust the one with the angel face.''
Her face. Her secret. Out there for everyone to read.
Her hands went cold. She shoved past a group of girls who were already whispering, her name curling in their mouths like smoke.
At her locker, she found Mia. She looked furious, clutching her phone. "They posted about me too," Mia muttered. "Not by name, but—'Sleeping with someone older? Careful, teacher's pet.'"
Jade appeared a moment later, eyes blazing. "Mine says, 'You can dig all you want, but you won't find her where you left her.'"
Sophie came last, pale and wide-eyed. "Mine just says… 'The girl who saw everything.'"
The four of them stood in the crowded hallway, surrounded by classmates laughing and scrolling, oblivious to the way the walls were closing in on them.
Emily's phone buzzed again.
This time, the message wasn't private. It was a notification.
A new post on LakeHaven Confessions.
''Confession #113: Four liars. Four secrets. One truth buried in the woods. Tick, tock. – R''
The screen blurred as Emily's pulse thundered in her ears.
The woods. The place Rachel had vanished.
And now the whole school knew.
They met again at lunch, crammed into the corner booth of the cafeteria like conspirators. None of them ate.
"This is insane," Mia hissed. "They're turning everyone against us. We can't even defend ourselves without admitting everything."
"That's the point," Sophie whispered. "They want us trapped."
Emily's eyes darted between them. "Then what do we do?"
For a long moment, no one answered.
Then Jade leaned in, her voice low and dangerous. "We go back to the woods. Tonight. If this freak wants to play games, let's find what they think is buried there—and end it."
Her words sent a chill through Emily. But as she looked at her friends' pale, frightened faces, she realized something even worse:
Whether they went into the woods or not, "R" wasn't going to stop.
The game had already begun.
By the end of the school day, Emily felt like she had been walking through a dream—no, a nightmare. Every time she caught a whisper behind her, every glance from a passing classmate, she imagined it was about her.
Her secret. Her shame.
The post hadn't used her name, but it didn't have to. Anyone who looked closely enough could connect the dots.
At her locker, she found Sophie waiting, arms crossed tightly over her chest. Her expression was unreadable, as always.
"They're enjoying this," Sophie murmured.
Emily blinked. "Who?"
"Whoever's doing it. R. They're not just trying to scare us—they're playing with us." Sophie's voice was soft, but her eyes were sharp. "Like we're pieces in a game."
Emily wanted to argue, but she couldn't. The thought had been gnawing at her too.
"Meet at Jade's after dark," Sophie said before slipping away into the crowd.
Jade's house was on the edge of town, a sagging two-story with peeling paint and an overgrown yard. Her mother worked nights, and her father was long gone. It was the kind of place where no one asked questions.
By the time Emily arrived, the storm had cleared completely, leaving the night cool and damp, the grass slick beneath her sneakers.
Jade greeted her at the door with a flashlight in one hand and a grim smile. "Ready to hunt for ghosts?"
Inside, Mia was pacing the living room, her phone clenched in her fist. Sophie sat on the couch, staring at nothing, her face pale.
Emily dropped her backpack onto the floor. "So what's the plan?"
Jade leaned against the doorway, twirling the flashlight like a weapon. "Simple. We go to the woods. We dig. We see if R actually buried something—or if this is just another scare tactic."
"And if we find something?" Sophie asked.
"Then we deal with it," Jade said flatly.
Mia stopped pacing. "This is insane. Do you hear yourselves? We're talking about going into the woods at night because some psycho told us to. Do you know how bad this could get?"
"It's already bad," Jade snapped. "Unless you want to keep waiting for R to drag us through the mud one by one."
Emily's stomach twisted. She didn't want to go. Every part of her screamed to stay home, lock her door, pretend none of this was happening. But she also knew Jade was right—if they didn't take action, R would keep tightening the noose.
Mia threw her hands up. "Fine. But if we're doing this, we need to stick together. No wandering off. No secrets." Her eyes flicked to Emily as she said it, and Emily felt the heat of suspicion burn her skin.
An hour later, they stood at the edge of the woods.
The trees loomed black against the faint glow of the moon. The air smelled of wet earth and pine. Somewhere in the distance, an owl called, low and haunting.
Emily hugged herself, shivering despite her jacket. "So… where exactly are we supposed to dig?"
"Near the clearing," Jade said. "Where the bonfire was. That's where she disappeared. That's where everything started."
The path was muddy, their shoes sinking into the ground as they made their way deeper. Every step seemed louder than it should have been, every snap of a twig echoing like a gunshot.
When they reached the clearing, the air grew colder, heavier. The charred circle where the bonfire had been was still visible, blackened earth surrounded by scattered beer cans and broken bottles.
Memories flooded Emily—Rachel's laughter, the way the firelight had flickered across her face, the moment she slipped into the trees, phone buzzing in her hand.
She swallowed hard. "So… now what?"
Jade tossed Emily a small shovel she'd been carrying. "Now we dig."
The four of them knelt in the dirt, the sound of metal scraping against earth filling the silence. Their breaths came heavy, mixing with the damp smell of soil.
Minutes passed. Nothing but mud and rocks.
"This is pointless," Mia muttered, straightening up. "There's nothing here. We're just making fools of ourselves."
But then Sophie's shovel struck something solid.
The sound made all of them freeze.
"What was that?" Emily whispered.
Sophie's hands trembled as she scraped away the dirt. Slowly, the outline of a wooden box emerged—small, weathered, buried shallow beneath the earth.
Her voice was barely audible. "Someone did bury something here."
The four of them exchanged looks, hearts hammering in their chests.
"Open it," Jade said.
Sophie hesitated, then pried the lid open with the edge of her shovel.
Inside was a single object, wrapped in a plastic bag. She reached in with shaking fingers, pulling it free.
When the bag slid away, Emily felt her stomach drop to her knees.
It was Rachel's phone.
The screen was cracked, mud streaked across the case. But the charm dangling from the corner—an enamel star Rachel had never taken off—was unmistakable.
Emily's breath caught. "It's hers."
Mia staggered back, her face pale. "This—this doesn't make sense. They searched the woods. The police searched everything. How could they have missed this?"
"Because it wasn't here before," Jade said darkly. "Someone put it here later. Someone wanted us to find it."
Sophie clutched the phone to her chest, her eyes wide with fear. "Then… what else is buried out here?"
Before anyone could answer, all four of their phones buzzed at once.
Emily's shaking hands fumbled for hers. A new message lit up the screen.
''Congratulations. You passed. Next time, it won't be so easy. – R''
The woods seemed to close in around them, the shadows pressing tighter.
Emily's stomach churned as she realized the truth:
They had done exactly what R wanted.
And it was only the beginning.