The four of them stood frozen in the clearing, the glow of their phones casting eerie light over their pale faces. The woods were silent now, too silent, as if even the trees were listening.
Emily couldn't take her eyes off the phone in Sophie's trembling hands. The cracked screen reflected the moonlight, the enamel star charm swaying gently in the damp air.
Rachel's phone. The proof she had been here. The proof she hadn't simply vanished into nothing.
"Put it back," Mia hissed, her voice sharp, panicked. "We shouldn't have touched it. What if—what if there are fingerprints? Evidence? The cops already searched this place. If they find out we had it—"
"No," Jade cut her off, snatching the phone from Sophie. "This is ours now. We can't trust the cops, and we sure as hell can't trust R. This is the first real clue we've had."
"Clue to what?" Emily whispered. Her voice shook. "To who took her? To who's tormenting us? What if it's both?"
Lightning flickered far away, followed by a low rumble of thunder. Sophie hugged her arms around herself, her voice small. "We should go. Please. I don't like being here."
"Fine," Jade said, shoving the phone into her jacket pocket. "But we're not telling anyone about this. Not a word."
No one argued. Because they all knew: whatever secrets that phone held, they belonged to them now.
Emily barely remembered getting home. Her shoes were muddy, her hair damp with sweat and mist. She scrubbed her hands raw in the bathroom sink, but the dirt seemed to cling to her skin, to her memory.
In her bedroom, she lay in the dark, listening to the hollow thud of her heartbeat. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Rachel's phone. She saw the box, the dirt, the messages.
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand.
She didn't want to look. But she couldn't stop herself.
''How does it feel, digging up your past? Sweet dreams. – R''
Emily let out a shaky breath, clutching her blanket to her chest. There would be no sweet dreams tonight.
The next morning, they gathered again—this time in Jade's garage, where the smell of motor oil and dust clung to the air. Jade dropped Rachel's phone onto the old workbench with a dull thud.
"Okay," she said, crossing her arms. "We figure out what's on it. Simple."
"It's not simple," Mia shot back. "It's locked. You think Rachel would just hand over her passcode?"
Sophie sat quietly, her hands folded in her lap. "Maybe we don't need her passcode," she murmured. "There are ways to get into phones. If R could find it, maybe we can too."
Jade smirked. "Look who suddenly found her voice."
Sophie flushed but didn't back down. "We can't just sit here. We have to try."
Emily reached out, her fingers brushing the cracked screen. A wave of dread washed over her, like the phone itself was haunted. "What if R wanted us to find it? What if everything on here is just… planted?"
"Then we'll know," Jade said. "But if it's real? It could tell us who she was meeting that night. Who she texted before she disappeared. That's worth the risk."
The phone buzzed suddenly, making all of them jump.
Emily's heart stopped. The screen lit up with a notification. Not from a text, but from the camera roll.
A new photo.
The girls crowded closer.
It was a shot of them—standing in the woods last night, bent over the dirt, digging.
Taken from behind.
"Someone was there," Mia whispered, her face draining of color.
Emily's stomach twisted into knots. Whoever R was, they weren't just toying with them from afar. They were close. Watching. Always watching.
And now they had proof.
Jade snatched the phone off the bench, her jaw tight. "This is impossible. Phones don't just… take pictures by themselves."
Emily shook her head. "No. Someone's controlling it. Remotely. They wanted us to see that they were there. That they were watching."
Mia backed toward the garage door, her eyes wide. "I told you this was a trap. We should burn that thing, smash it to pieces, and pretend we never found it."
"Destroy the only link we have to Rachel?" Jade snapped. "Not happening."
Sophie had gone pale, but her voice was steady. "If they can send photos… maybe they're still inside it. Like spyware or something. If R has access, they'll know everything we do with it."
Emily's chest tightened. "So you're saying we can't trust it at all?"
"No," Sophie said. "But maybe we can outsmart it."
Jade leaned forward, her eyes gleaming with determination. "Good. Then that's what we'll do. Tonight, I'll find someone who can crack this thing. Someone who doesn't ask questions."
"Who?" Mia demanded. "Who do you even know that can do that?"
Jade's silence was answer enough. She had someone in mind, but she wasn't about to share.
Emily's pulse quickened. Secrets on top of secrets. They were already fracturing, and R was making sure of it.
That night, Emily sat on her bed with her laptop open, pretending to do homework while her mind replayed the photo again and again. The shadows behind them, the angle of the shot—it had been so close.
Too close.
Her phone buzzed. A new message.
"You look good in the dark. Not as guilty as you feel. – R"
Emily's breath caught in her throat. Her hands shook as she typed back before she could stop herself:
"What do you want from us?"
The reply was instant.
"The truth. Or the next picture I send won't be so flattering."
Emily dropped her phone like it burned her.
The next day at school, the four of them huddled in the far corner of the library. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, the hum of whispered conversations blending into the air.
Jade placed Rachel's phone in the middle of the table like forbidden treasure.
"I've got someone looking into it," she whispered. "By tonight, we'll know what's inside."
Mia rubbed her temples. "And what if it's nothing but more traps? What if R planted the phone just to mess with us?"
"Then we'll deal with it," Jade said firmly. "But what if it's not? What if it shows us who she was with that night?"
Emily swallowed hard, staring at the cracked screen. She remembered Rachel's laughter echoing in the woods, the way she'd vanished into the trees with her phone in hand. What if the last messages she ever sent were still trapped inside?
"Fine," Mia muttered. "But if this blows up in our faces, don't say I didn't warn you."
Sophie finally spoke, her voice barely louder than the turning of a page. "It already has."
The three of them stared at her.
Sophie looked up, her eyes wide and glassy. "Don't you get it? R isn't just threatening us. They're showing us they can be anywhere. Anytime. They want us scared. And it's working."
Emily shivered, because Sophie was right.
And if R could reach into Rachel's phone… what else could they reach into?
That night, when Jade finally messaged them all—Meet me at the old diner. I've got it unlocked.—Emily's blood turned cold.
The phone was open.
But whether it would bring them answers, or drag them deeper into the nightmare, she didn't know.
The diner sat on the edge of town, its neon sign buzzing faintly in the night. Half the letters were burned out, so it only read "Di_er." Inside, the smell of burnt coffee and fried food clung to the air, the vinyl booths cracked from years of use.
It was nearly empty—just an old man nursing a mug and a waitress cleaning the counter.
Jade was already there, sitting in the back booth. The glow from the streetlamp outside made her look sharper, colder, like she'd been waiting in the shadows for hours.
On the table in front of her lay Rachel's phone.
"You actually got it open?" Emily whispered as she slid into the booth. Her pulse hammered in her ears.
Jade gave a thin smile. "Told you I had someone."
"Who?" Mia asked immediately, her voice tense.
Jade's smile vanished. "Doesn't matter. What matters is this." She tapped the phone, the cracked screen flickering awake. "It's not clean. Whoever's been messing with it, they've hidden things. Deleted things. But not everything."
Emily's throat went dry. "Show us."
Jade swiped through the phone, her movements quick, precise. "Most of her texts are gone. Her call history too. But…" She pulled up the photo gallery.
The screen filled with dozens of images—selfies, shots from the bonfire, blurry pictures of the lake.
And then, a series of photos none of them recognized.
Dark shapes. Trees. The edge of the clearing. Taken at night.
"Wait," Sophie whispered, leaning closer. "Those weren't from the bonfire. She must've taken them later."
Mia's hand flew to her mouth. "Why would she be in the woods alone?"
"She wasn't," Jade muttered, scrolling to the last photo.
It showed Rachel, partially illuminated by the beam of a flashlight. Her eyes were wide, her mouth slightly open as if caught mid-word.
And behind her—just barely visible—was the shadow of another figure.
Emily felt her entire body go cold. "Oh my god…"
Jade's jaw tightened. "She wasn't alone. Someone was with her."
The phone buzzed suddenly in her hand, making all of them jump. A new message appeared, not from their numbers but straight on Rachel's screen.
"Careful. You're getting too close. – R"
Mia's voice cracked. "How—how are they still using her phone?!"
Jade locked the screen with shaking fingers, shoving it back into her pocket. "Doesn't matter. We've seen enough for tonight."
But Emily couldn't stop staring at the darkened screen. She knew what she had seen—the fear in Rachel's eyes, the shadow behind her.
And now she knew one thing for certain.
Rachel hadn't disappeared.She had been taken.
And the person who took her… was still watching them.
The hum of the neon sign outside buzzed through the glass, but inside the booth, the silence was suffocating. None of them moved. None of them spoke. The waitress clattered dishes behind the counter, oblivious, and the old man by the window slurped his coffee without looking up.
Emily's hands were clammy against the tabletop. She wanted to breathe, to speak, but her throat felt locked. The image of Rachel's face—terrified, caught in the beam of light—was burned into her mind.
Mia was the first to break the silence. She shoved herself back against the vinyl seat, her voice sharp. "This is insane. We shouldn't even have that phone. What if it's evidence? What if by touching it we just ruined everything?"
Jade rolled her eyes, though her knuckles were white where she gripped the phone. "Oh, please. The cops had their chance. They didn't find her, didn't find this. They don't care. We're the only ones who can do something."
"Or we're the only ones stupid enough to get ourselves dragged down with her," Mia snapped back.
Emily flinched. She hated the way Mia said "with her," as if Rachel's disappearance was already a death sentence for them all.
Sophie finally looked up, her voice barely above a whisper. "It means someone else was there. Someone she trusted. That's why she left the fire. She wasn't alone."
Jade's gaze snapped toward her. "Trusted? Or someone who made her think she had no choice?"
A chill ran down Emily's spine. She thought of all the times Rachel had smiled, whispered, leaned too close during their secrets. Rachel had always carried a gravity about her—drawing people in, making them confess things they shouldn't. Had someone taken advantage of that?
Emily spoke before she could stop herself. "Whoever it was… they're probably still here. In this town. Watching us."
Her phone buzzed in her pocket.
So did Sophie's. And Mia's. And Jade's.
All four lit up at once, screens flashing like warning sirens in the dim booth.
Emily's stomach dropped as she read the message:
"You think you want the truth. You don't. Stop digging, or I'll bury more than secrets. – R"
Mia slammed her phone down on the table. "That's it. I'm done. I don't care what you three do, I'm not getting buried because of her." She jabbed a finger toward the phone in Jade's hand, as if it were radioactive.
Jade leaned forward, her voice low and dangerous. "Don't you dare talk about her like that. Rachel was our friend."
"Was," Mia shot back. "She was our friend. And now she's gone, and whoever did it is making sure we're next. You want to keep playing hero, fine. But I'm not dying for your loyalty."
Her words hung in the air, heavier than the smell of stale grease.
Sophie's eyes shimmered in the fluorescent light, but she didn't speak. Emily felt the tension coil tighter and tighter, like the booth itself was about to snap in two.
Finally, Jade stood, shoving Rachel's phone deep into her jacket. "Nobody's backing out. Not yet. We've already gone too far. If R wants to scare us, fine—but I'm not giving them the satisfaction of running."
She grabbed her bag and strode toward the door, her shoulders stiff with anger. The bell above it jingled as she pushed outside into the night.
Mia muttered a curse under her breath but didn't follow.
Emily sat frozen, staring at her own reflection in the darkened window. The message pulsed in her mind, word for word. Stop digging, or I'll bury more than secrets.
For the first time, she wondered if Rachel was lucky to be gone.
Because whatever game they were playing, there was no way all of them would make it out whole.