Emily didn't need to be told twice. The word burned into her brain like fire. Her legs moved before she could think, crashing through the undergrowth, branches whipping her arms.
"Emily, wait!" Sophie's voice rang out behind her, shrill and panicked.
Leaves and twigs snapped underfoot as the girls scattered. Emily's lungs screamed, her chest aching, but the terror pressing in on her was stronger than exhaustion. She could still hear it—the deliberate crunch of footsteps chasing them. Too heavy to be an animal. Too close to be safe.
"Over here!" Jade's voice cut through the chaos. Emily turned sharply, nearly tripping as her flashlight beam bounced wildly across the trees.
Mia stumbled beside her, panting. "We're not—going to make it—"
"Keep moving!" Jade barked, her voice iron.
Behind them, Sophie screamed.
Emily froze, spinning. "Sophie!"
Her flashlight swept across darkness, then caught the blur of Sophie's hoodie as she fell hard onto the forest floor. She tried to scramble up, but her ankle twisted under her.
"Go!" Sophie cried, her voice ragged. "Just go!"
"No!" Emily bolted toward her, heart slamming in her chest.
Another sound ripped through the night—a low, deliberate whistle.
It was playful. Mocking.
Emily's blood ran cold.
"Get up!" she cried, hauling Sophie to her feet. Sophie whimpered, leaning heavily on her. Together, they staggered forward, but every step was agony.
The whistle came again, closer now.
Jade skidded to a stop ahead of them, her crowbar gripped tight in her hand. "Come on! We're almost out!"
Mia caught up, gasping, "Out? Out where?"
Jade pointed with her flashlight. Through the trees, Emily saw it—the faint orange glow of a streetlamp. Civilization. Safety.
They crashed through the last line of trees, bursting onto the road, lungs heaving, hearts still clawing out of their chests.
But Sophie collapsed against the guardrail, clutching her ankle. "I can't… I can't walk."
Emily dropped beside her, shaking. "We're safe now. We're okay."
Jade's face was grim. "No, we're not."
Mia frowned. "What do you mean? We made it out—"
Jade lifted her phone. The screen glowed with a new message, sent seconds ago.
Emily's own phone buzzed. Sophie's too. All four of them read the same words, their stomachs turning to stone:
"You can run. You can scream. But you'll never leave me behind. I'm closer than you think. – R"
Emily's breath hitched. She dared a glance back at the tree line.
For a heartbeat, she swore she saw a figure standing there.
Then the streetlight flickered, and the shadows swallowed it whole.
The silence after the last buzz was unbearable. Even the cicadas seemed to have gone quiet, as though the whole world was holding its breath.
Mia paced in small circles, her hands tearing at her hair. "This isn't normal. This isn't just some sick prank. They were there. In the woods. Chasing us."
Emily wrapped her arm around Sophie, trying to steady her. Sophie's face was pale, lips trembling. "I saw them," she whispered. "I swear I saw them… tall, wearing—" Her voice cracked. "—black."
Jade's eyes narrowed. "You're sure?"
Sophie nodded quickly, too quickly, as if terrified to say the wrong thing.
Mia stopped pacing, glaring at Jade. "And how do we know she's not covering for you?"
Jade spun on her. "What is your problem?"
"My problem?" Mia's laugh was sharp, brittle. "Let's see… Rachel disappears, you admit you fought with her, R sends us messages that line up suspiciously well with your secrets, and you walk around acting like you're in charge. That's my problem."
Emily's stomach twisted. "Stop—please. We can't keep blaming each other. That's what R wants."
Jade's jaw clenched. "And what does R want from you, Em? Because they seem to know you better than the rest of us. The box. The diary."
The words sliced her open.
Mia's gaze snapped to her. "You still have it, don't you? Rachel's diary."
Emily's throat closed. "I… yes."
Sophie's eyes filled with tears. "You kept it from us? All this time?"
"I didn't know what to do," Emily whispered. "Rachel gave it to me because she trusted me. She said I couldn't show anyone until—until it was safe."
"Safe?" Mia repeated, voice trembling with fury. "Rachel's gone. Nothing about this is safe. Hand it over."
Emily hugged Sophie tighter, her voice shaking. "If I give it to you, what then? You'll just tear it apart looking for answers you don't want to hear. And then we'll be even more broken than we are right now."
Jade stepped closer, her shadow long under the streetlamp. "Or maybe the answers in that diary are the only way to survive whatever game R is playing."
Emily's phone buzzed again, sharp and shrill in the quiet.
Her hand shook as she lifted it.
"Read it," Mia demanded.
Emily's vision blurred as the message glowed across the screen:
"She wrote about you, Emily. Every secret. Every lie. Page after page. How long before they find out the truth? – R"
Her stomach hollowed out.
Sophie's voice was barely a whisper. "What truth?"
Emily opened her mouth, but no sound came. The words caught in her throat, heavy and poisonous. She thought of Rachel's handwriting, the looping scrawls etched in ink that only she had seen.
Jade's eyes bored into hers. "Tell us."
Another buzz.
All their phones lit up at once:
"She trusted the wrong person. And so do you. – R"
Emily felt the ground sway beneath her. Sophie was crying again. Mia's fists shook. Jade looked ready to explode.
And all Emily could think was—R knows everything.
Even the thing she hadn't dared admit to herself.
Emily's hands trembled as the others closed in around her, their shadows stretching long under the flickering streetlamp.
"I can't," she whispered.
Mia's voice snapped like a whip. "You don't get to say that anymore. Rachel is gone. We're getting hunted by some psycho. And you've been keeping her diary like it's your personal treasure chest? No. Not anymore."
Sophie's tear-streaked face crumpled. "Emily, please. Just tell us something. Anything. We deserve to know."
Emily's chest ached. The words clawed at her throat, heavy with guilt. Finally, she forced them out.
"She wrote about… secrets," Emily said, her voice low, each word costing her. "Things none of us were supposed to know. Things she said could destroy people if they ever got out."
"What kind of things?" Jade's eyes narrowed.
Emily hesitated. Rachel's words burned in her memory, every detail sharp as glass.
"She wrote that someone in our group was lying about who they really were," Emily whispered. "That they weren't the person we thought."
The air seemed to snap.
Mia's face twisted. "Which one of us?"
Emily's eyes darted between them—Sophie, pale and broken; Jade, a storm barely contained; Mia, vibrating with rage.
"I don't know," Emily lied. Her heart hammered. "She never said a name."
Jade stepped closer, her expression unreadable. "But she suspected someone."
Emily bit her lip until she tasted blood.
Sophie's voice cracked. "Was it me?"
"No!" Emily said too quickly. "No, Soph. She… she cared about you."
Mia crossed her arms, glaring. "So it's one of us, but you won't say who. Convenient."
Emily shook her head, tears spilling. "You don't understand—Rachel trusted me to keep her words safe. If I tell you everything, I'll be betraying her."
"Betraying her?" Mia's voice rose, sharp with disbelief. "She's not here anymore, Emily! And maybe if you'd told us sooner, she would be."
The words hit like a slap.
Sophie gasped, covering her mouth. "Don't say that—"
But the damage was done. Emily staggered back, her lungs tightening, her whole body shaking with the weight of guilt.
Then, all at once, every phone buzzed.
Four screens glowed in the night, synchronized like a heartbeat.
Emily read hers first. The message made her blood run cold:
"She told you not to trust. But you didn't listen. And now, one of you will pay for her mistake. – R"
Sophie whimpered, clinging to Emily's arm. "What does that mean?"
The streetlight above them flickered once… twice… then went out.
Darkness swallowed them whole.
The darkness pressed in, suffocating, absolute. Emily's breath hitched as she clutched Sophie's arm tighter. The woods around them hummed with hidden life—an owl's distant cry, the snap of a branch underfoot—but every sound felt wrong, too deliberate, too close.
"Stay together," Jade hissed, her voice low but sharp. She flicked her flashlight on, the narrow beam slicing through the dark. For a second, Emily felt relief—until the light sputtered and died.
"Not funny," Mia snapped, fumbling for her phone's flashlight. She tapped the screen, but it wouldn't respond. Dead.
Emily's pulse hammered. She tried hers—black.
"They're draining our batteries," Sophie whimpered.
"That's not possible," Jade said, though her voice trembled just enough to betray her doubt.
Then it came—the whistle. That same low, mocking sound they'd heard in the woods. Only this time, it wasn't distant. It was right behind them.
Emily's scream ripped out before she could stop it.
"Run!" Jade barked. She grabbed Mia by the arm, shoving her forward. The girls bolted, stumbling in the dark, tripping over roots and stones. Emily half-carried Sophie, her shoulder aching under the weight.
Something crashed through the trees behind them. Heavy. Fast. Too fast.
"Go, go, go!" Mia's voice cracked, pure terror.
Suddenly, Sophie was yanked from Emily's grip.
Her scream pierced the night. "Emily!"
Emily spun, reaching out into the black, but her hands grasped only air.
"SOPHIE!" she shrieked.
Jade doubled back, swinging the crowbar into nothingness. The clang echoed off the trees, hitting only empty space.
Then, silence.
No footsteps. No whistle. No Sophie.
Just… gone.
Emily's chest collapsed, air refusing to fill her lungs. "We have to find her—she's hurt, she can't run—"
Her phone buzzed, glowing suddenly alive in her pocket.
Hands shaking, she pulled it out. One new message blinked on the screen:
"She's with me now. Don't worry, I'll keep her safe. – R"
Emily's scream tore through the night, raw and broken.