Kiss Of Death (Are You Afraid Of The Dark)

7

Rachel had no idea what to do. Everyone else was trying to look at the envelope and wondering if they should open it or not. She stood there paralyzed, and somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she heard Mr. Tophat whisper to her. She couldn't make out what he was saying, but just hearing his voice sent chills down her spine. 

"Rachel?" Gavin's voice shook Rachel from her reverie. She turned to look at him. He had a frown on his pretty face, so she shook her head once. "Do you think we should open this?"

"I don't know," she whispered. "What if it does something?"

"What would a letter do?" Jai asked, snorting. "Give you a paper cut? Just open it." He went silent, so Rachel looked over at him. A scared look passed over his face. "Unless it will unleash a crazy spirit or something."

Rachel held her hand out, and Gavin gently placed the envelope in her hands. Running a finger over the front of it, Rachel felt the smooth surface of the white paper. It looked like a regular envelope, but it felt so much more than that. It was pristine and clean and otherworldly, almost. Her skin prickled at the touch, but she wasn't going to let go of it.

Louise's name was printed across the front of the envelope, the curls and loops of her name so perfect that Rachel knew that a normal person hadn't written it. There wasn't a return address on the top left corner of the envelope, which was weird. Usually, whenever people sent mail, they put a return address. On the back of the envelope, directly across the wax seal, was the bright red lipstick stain, a stark contrast against the white background. What did that mean? Was it a clue as to who did it? Or was it just a sinister joke?

Rachel's breath got caught in her throat at the sight behind the seal. There was a faint outline of a person shining through the envelope underneath the bright lights. Was there a photo inside it? She turned on a lamp that was sitting on the coffee table and held the envelope up to the light. Sure enough, there was a photo on the inside, and while she couldn't make out who exactly it was, she knew that it was important.

"So?" Gavin asked, his voice hushed. "Do we open it or not?"

"I don't know," she repeated. Rachel sat down next to Gavin on the couch, closing her eyes for a second. The envelope was cold in her hands, so she dropped it into her lap. "I don't know what to do. How could one girl suddenly go missing like that?" And then her eyes opened. She looked at her friends, an idea hitting her brain. "Wait. Adam hasn't been answering his phone, has he?"

"Not recently, no," Graham said, shaking his head. "Why?"

"Something must have happened to him too," Akiko said, her voice sounding grave. "It's not a coincidence that both Louise and Adam are missing." She turned toward the other group, who was sitting on the other couch. "You guys are here when things start going south for us. Something planned for this to happen."

"First of all," Hanna said, holding a hand up, "who's Adam? And second of all, Jai stumbled upon your film back home. It was a part of an indie filmmaking thing, and that's where he got the idea to find you guys."

"Adam is a new member of our group."

Akiko gasped loudly. Rachel looked at her to see her scrolling through her phone. "My film wasn't supposed to be in that indie filmmaking thing. I sent it in, but they said that they wouldn't show it yet. I thought you were talking about some of my other films I posted on my YouTube, not that one."

"I knew they were talking about this film," Graham said, grinning widely. "'Cause this one was the only one where you included my music."

"Graham, I told you that they rejected my film. You knew that, so why did you think they were talking about that one?"