+1 (605) 123-4567
Wed, Oct 28, 17:41
Hey
How are you?
hi? who is this??
“Really? You’re texting while we’re watching a movie?” Kieran whined as he threw his head back against the couch. Kieran Samuels had been Max’s best friend since the day he transferred to Keystone Middle School. She was sitting in homeroom when they walked in. They both had blond hair, but his was a mess; the skin underneath his forest green eyes had a slight purple tint to it, almost as though he hadn’t slept in a while, and the uniform that he had on was wrinkled. In layman’s terms, he looked a mess compared to his blond counterpart. Maybe that’s what drew Max towards him instead. The teacher, Mrs. Daniels, pulled the pair over to talk and the next thing Max knew was that the messy one was walking over to sit in the desk next to her. Just as she was about to introduce herself, the teacher called for attention. As Mrs. Daniels droned on about attendance, Max took it upon herself to write out a note on a torn piece of paper. ‘Hi! I’m Max Jones,’ The note read. She folded it up and slid it onto his desk. She turned back towards the front and listened to the teacher for a while before she saw the paper in her peripheral vision. Underneath her handwriting was just one word, ‘Kieran Fischer.’ Now, five years later, they were each other’s closest friends.
Max rolled her eyes at him and turned her phone off, taking a minute to stare at her reflection. A pair of mismatched eyes stared back at her. Her left eye was a deep chocolate color while the right one shone a steel blue that contrasted with the almond color of her skin. A few fake red curls escaped the bun atop her head and framed her face. Freckles draped across her nose and cheeks, some even rested in the crest of her cupid’s bow and spilled onto her full lips. She resembled her mom, almost strikingly so, and she hated it.
Her mom died due to complications during childbirth and so she grew up without a mother figure present in her life. What she knew of her mother came solely from stories paired with pictures of mom that her dad would bring up when he wasn’t actively ignoring her presence. She would always catch the inflection in her dad’s voice whenever he talked about her mom, and it always caused a pool of guilt to settle in her stomach. Knowing that she killed her mom, the love of her dad’s life, always caused a horrible feeling to seep into her bones whenever he talked about her. Coupled with the fact that she was a carbon copy of her mother, she felt that she was the ghost of her mother, haunting her father with the reminder that his wife was no longer with them.
Kieran grabbing her phone from her hands pulled Max out of her thoughts. “Give it back!” Max exclaimed as she reached her hand across Kieran’s chest in a weak attempt at getting her phone back. He was holding it above his head with his right hand.
“Do you not want to spend time with me? Watch the movie,” Kieran said in a weird tone as he tossed her phone onto the love seat next to them. She cast her eyes downwards out of guilt. She always ended up making him mad one way or another.
“Sorry,” Max muttered as she sat back in the couch.
+1 (605) 123-4567
Fri, Oct 30, 07:10
Good morning, sorry I haven’t responded. I’ve
been busy.
I missed you.
08:23
You should wear your hair down more often.
Makes you look more mature.
23:11
Stop working and talk to me.
The destination number you are trying to
reach is blocked from receiving this message.
“What the fuck,” Max muttered as she blocked the number. The same number had texted her two days prior, but she brushed it off as a mistake and now, she wasn’t so sure. Either one of her friends was pranking her, or it was one weird coincidence that she had also worn her hair down today. Deciding to call up her friends to interrogate them, she opened up contacts and dialled the first one. It rang a few times before he answered.
“Hello?” Kieran’s groggy voice answered.
From her desk she glanced at the clock on her nightstand.
“Oh sorry, I didn’t realize the time,” she said softly into the phone as she stood up from her desk. She had been doing homework for the past four hours thanks to her sadistic teachers.
“Well you already woke me up so you might as well make it worth it,” he said through the phone. She could barely hear him because of wind brushing against the mic.
“Close your window dude. The wind is more obnoxious than you are,” she said as she flicked off her lamp.
The darkness enveloped her instantly with only the dim moonlight illuminating her massive room. Max walked towards her window seat and sat down as she looked out the bay window. Past the greenhouse and towards the skyline where her extensive backyard met the border of trees.
“Sorry Maxine, no can do. My mom has the heat turned too fucking high so I’m keeping the window open so I don’t die.” Shuffling could be heard as he paused for a moment. “Now why did you wake me up from the only good sleep I’ve had all week?” he joked. A small hint of guilt crept up her spine as she looked up at the full moon.
“Do you know if Arianna or Prisha mentioned any pranks or anything lately?” Max questioned before biting her fingernails. It was a bad nervous habit.
“No, why?” he said after a brief pause.
A sigh escaped her lips before she answered. “It’s nothing really. Someone has been texting me but it might just be a wrong number type thing.”
Kieran hummed before he replied, “You’re thinking too much about it. It’s late and you’re paranoid, so just…block the number and get some sleep.”
Max got up from the window and walked to the side of her king bed. She kicked off her slippers and slid feet first underneath her comforter. “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry for calling,” she all but whispered. Her cheeks felt hot from embarrassment over waking him up for something so stupid. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll even help you clean up after the party to show no harm done.”She could hear his smile through the phone. They said their goodbyes before hanging up. Max rested her head against the fluffy pillows and almost instantly fell asleep.
+1 (605) 765-4321
Sat, Oct 31, 10:38
Blocking someone for no reason is rude.
Did your dad not teach you manners?
haha guys ur so funny. great prank.
tricked w no treat, wow so cool
really great job, im scared shitless
It’s not some joke. Can’t I talk to you?
I know you’re not doing anything.
Why do you talk to Kierran, but not me?
get a fucking life and leave me alone
Incoming call from +1 (605) 765-4321
Call declined.
10:45
Answer me.
The destination number you are trying to
reach is blocked from receiving this message.
+1 (605) 365-7456
Sat, Oct 31, 22:26
Maxine, I’m sorry for being so forward.
Incoming call from +1 (605) 365-7456
Call declined
Maxine, answer my calls.
Incoming call from +1 (605) 365-7456
Call declined
Maxine. I love you.
The destination number you are trying to
reach is blocked from receiving this message.
The music was too loud. The noise penetrated Max’s skull. She leaned against the kitchen counter as a feeble attempt to keep from falling over. Some random redhead dressed as Fred Weasly dared her to take another shot of tequila with him and Max wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. She should’ve backed down since that was her 6th shot of alcohol all night and she was already too drunk to walk properly, but she was stupid. Fred shouted some cheer before stumbling past other people in the kitchen and disappearing into the crowd of people dancing under the LED lights. Being that Max’s dad was a well-known lawyer, they were well off and since she was popular around school, her house became the common spot for parties every weekend. It was Halloween, so her house was even more packed than usual. A sloppy grin graced her face as she followed behind him. She slowly maneuvered her body into the flashing lights. As she crossed the threshold into the living room, the sound of the music got louder and crashed against her head like a wave, making her dizzy. The smell of weed grew stronger as she walked by the couches. White powdered lines could be seen on the living room table. She turned a blind eye to it, as she normally did. She made her way into the throng of people, passing Jokers and angels, and started dancing with anybody and everybody, swaying to the music as best as she could. Whoever is on AUX needs a medal, she thought to herself.
Time blended together until the next thing Max knew, she was outside on her porch, staring at the cars parked on her lawn while she caught her breath. It was cold out and the cop costume she had on didn’t supply the warmth she wanted at that moment. Everybody else was inside, so when she heard footsteps approaching from behind, she turned around to see who joined her. The person was dressed as Michael Myers so she couldn’t tell who it was, but based on their stature she assumed it was a guy.
“Too stuffy in there for you too huh?” Max slurred as she smiled at the masked figure. He only stared in response. Max turned back around and sighed, enjoying the state of silence they were in. The music from the house was pulsating slowly through the air. Crickets, or cicadas, she couldn’t tell which, were heard alongside the noise emanating from the house. Michael walked closer to her, his footsteps heavy on the floorboards, until his body heat could be felt right behind her. Too inebriated to truly sense the danger that she was in, she turned and smiled up at him. She was by no means short, but the guy easily towered over her 5’10 frame.
“Whoa there, bud. Personal space is a thing you know,” She said with a nervous chuckle. An eerie feeling overcame her as she felt goosebumps rise on her arms. Michael placed his arms on either side of her, trapping her in a small cage. “Okay. Seriously, get away from me.” she slurred as she raised her hands to his chest to shove him. He barely moved. “This silent and brooding thing isn’t attractive. Back off asshole,” she said while preparing to knee him in the nuts, but before she could, the arms that were caging her in suddenly wrapped around her body and lifted her off of the ground.
A scream erupted from her lips while she struggled against his hold, but the volume of the music drowned out her cries for help. He roughly hoisted her over his shoulder; her face slamming into his hard back. She balled up her fists and pounded them against his back. She watched the ground move by as he walked farther from her house. Different emotions swirled through her head as tears started to form behind her eyes. Fear. Anger. Disbelief. There’s no way this was happening with a house full of people. Someone had to hear her screaming. If no one else was going to help her, she had to do it herself. Realizing that her punches weren’t holding any weight, she resorted to flailing her legs around. The unexpected movement caused his grip on her legs to loosen so she took his surprise to her advantage and managed to fall from his shoulder. Not spending any more time on the ground then when she initially collided, she stumbled up to her feet and ran towards the separate garage. Max made it to the back door and slammed it closed behind her, taking care to lock the deadbolt. Nothing but her quick breaths could be heard. She backed farther into the dark garage, trying to catch her breath. Silence elapsed for minutes before someone banged on the door.
“Max! Are you in there? It’s Kieran,” Kieran said while rapping his fist against the door. She let out a sigh of relief and cautiously went to unlock the door, but as soon as she turned the lock, Kieran forced himself inside. To Max’s surprise, and misfortune, somebody else followed behind him too. That somebody was the person dressed as Michael Myers.
Upon seeing his mask, Max’s heart plummeted. “So was this just some sick prank between you two? Because it wasn’t funny,” Max yelled as she backed away from the pair. Kieran held his hands out towards her as an attempt to calm her down. It wasn’t working.
“Yes! It was just a prank Max. We didn’t think you would be so lame about it. Lighten up,” Kieran said as he walked over to wrap Max in his arms. She hesitantly relaxed into his chest as the person behind him took their mask off. An identical copy of Kieran stared back at her. If there was one person she couldn’t stand, it was Kiel, Kieran’s identical twin brother. They had the same face; the only thing that could tell them apart was Kiel’s hair was dyed brown. He had always creeped her out, whether it was from his incessant staring or the way he would always find his way around her during school. She didn’t understand how Kieran could be so normal, but Kiel turned out so…weird. She was nice to him regardless.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Max sighed as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “Those texts were creepy though, guys. Did you actually have to watch me?” She awkwardly chuckled as she tried to pull away from Kieran. He wouldn’t let go. A deep, gravelly voice spoke up from behind him.
“Maxine, you have to understand that we would never hurt you,” Kiel said as he inched towards the pair. Max’s heart rate rose, despite being with someone she fully trusted. She felt a small prick in her neck, which made her look up at him. He had an almost remorseful look on his face as he avoided eye contact. The struggle drained from her body as she felt her motions slow. Her vision started to go black around the edges as she struggled to keep her eyelids open. “I’m sorry, Maxie,” was the last thing she heard before it all went black.