Stygian means very dark. Thats how Ryia Stewart had always described herself. Others had used the words 'weird', or 'different'. But that's not fair.
She's always felt that way. That is until she met her best - only- friend, and everything became a...
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Bright, amazing beams of light escaped the bowl in the middle of the room. The phones inside illuminated the room beautifully, completely missing the mood of the girls around them.
"I told my mom I was sleeping over at your place, Rowan." Hailey explained. "She's so gulible."
Ryia sent Hailey a glare. Her mom might be kind of mean but at least she didn't kick her out of her house and take her baby brother away.
"I don't see anyone." Elicia reported as she walked back to the three girls. "You guys should stay here for a while, though. In case he cut the power. In case he's out there."
Ryia's hand reached out and grasped Elicia's, cheeks burning bright red. Elicia looked at her best friend hopefully but Ryia couldn't meet her eyes.
"The timer is down to forty-seven hours." Rowan said as she took her phone from the glass bowl. "Two days."
"Then what happens..." Elicia questioned. Ryia rubbed the pad of her thumb over Elicia's hand.
"It'll be Saturday." Hailey said, sounding like she was about to give some big speech about how it'll just be another Saturday and we'll be fine. Of course that's not the case, though. "Nicki's having a party."
"Not interested."
"Not invited."
"Definitely not going."
"We should probably stay at home anyways. To be safe." Hailey proposed, although you could see that she was sad about her statement. She defintly wanted to go.
"I don't feel safe at home. Do you?"
The girls bearly had a moment to think about what Rowan had said when one of their phones went off. A snooty post from Nicki appeared on Hailey's screen and she sighed in relief. "It's just Nicki."
And in the moment of happiness that it wasn't their stalker Ryia left, saying she needed to go to the bathroom. In reality she just sat on the floor and listened to the other girls argue. Honestly, they needed to get it together. Pill problem, sleeping with someone much older than you, and cutting yourself? Seriously, people, get a grip. At least her thing was something she couldn't stop doing for the good of herself and others. Then when Ryia heard the noise indicating she had a message she turned the water on to make them think she didn't lie and ran out to pick up her phone.
Rowan, Hailey, and Elicia sat in scared silence when Ryia walked back into the bedroom. She took her original seat, also feeling horrified to look at the screen of her phone.
Rowan's hand slowly crept up the bowl until she reached the handle. She timidly pulled the lid off and took her phone out. A video titled 'shooting range' appeared showing guns, bullets, and pom-poms laid out on a bed.
"Pom-poms?" Elicia questioned as Ryia whispered, "Oh Gods."
"The Spirit Assembly. What if he's gonna bring these guns to school?" Hailey exclaimed. "He said it's my turn. We can't go-"
"We have to go. No, we have to go, we have to warn people Hailey." Rowan interrupted while Hailey just shouted 'no' over and over again. Ryia closed her eyes and hugged her knees to her chest. "Call a bomb threat, do something!"
And as Rowan tried to convince Hailey her phone went off, alerting her that her dad was calling.
"Oh shoot. It's my dad. I have to go." Rowan said. She got up and grabbed her coat, revealing a monkey mask. The monkey mask.
"Elicia..." Rowan questioned, picking up the mask and causing Ryia to shriek in terror. "Why do you have this?
