Colby, Sam and their six best friends are a popular circle of social media influencers. A terrifying encounter with the ILLUMINATI will completely transform their lives and career... forever.
A dark, very eventful and emotional fictional story...
Wa...
Anyway. It's you who decided to start reading this story, and "dark" was warning enough. Keep reading if you want to ! ☆ __________
Two weeks later -Friday afternoon.
The exams are over, finally. I'm crossing the front yard of the school, trudging behind a group of chatty classmates, leaving the campus with my backpack on my shoulders for the last time. I mean, I hope it's gonna be the last time. All that's left now is waiting for the results.
I miss Amber. I barely saw her throughout the past weeks, mainly because we don't always have the same subjects and exam days and periods, and we didn't talk or text either. Maybe when she told me to stay away from distractions, she thought I would stay away from my phone altogether, and from her ?
Talking about my phone... Today's the day I'm finally "getting it back" ! And I couldn't be more excited. The holidays have officially started for me.
"I'm sorry, guys, I have to go," I tell my friends as we reach the street. They're probably planning to go hang out somewhere or something, but I'm not really in the mood for that. "See you later !"
I walk up to my car and sink into my seat. I check the WhatsApp text I sent Amber this morning. It has still not been delivered, just like all the previous ones. Which is rather concerning, because Amber always receives messages within less than an hour.
And besides, why would she not want to talk to me ? I don't recall doing anything wrong to her. And we were perfectly fine last time I saw her. She even apologised for ignoring me, and spent the evening comforting me. So why is she avoiding me now ?
Could it be that something happened to her ? But some classmates told me she was in school yesterday. So what's wrong ?
I need to go see her.
Without thinking twice, I start the engine, put my seatbelt on and drive away. Fifteen minutes later, I reach her building, where she lives with her parents, and pull to a temporary stop on the side of the road.
She's always home at this hour on Fridays, so normally I should find her. And besides, she finished her exams yesterday, so she's probably still busy recovering from the fatigue of the week.
I jog up to the door phone, look for her last name and ring.
She doesn't pick up.
I press the button again, and it rings a second time, but she still doesn't pick up.
I wait a few more minutes before ringing again, but there's still no reply. Now that's worrying, because Amber always picks up the door phone. Always. Even when she's mad at me, even when she ignores my texts and phone calls, whether she knows it's me or not, she always picks up the door phone.
I leave the front door and walk around the building to the outdoor parking lot, where Amber always parks her car, just to make sure, and it is very much in its spot. Wow.
Disappointed, I stand with my arms crossed for a moment, trying to think about what I can do, quickly realising that there aren't many options. I let out a long sigh, reluctantly turn on my heels and go back to my car.
I live just a few streets away, so it's a very short ride home.
The air is filled with the satisfying smell of food cooking as I walk up to the front door. My parents came back home from their trip earlier this afternoon. And even though I enjoyed their absence, I have to admit that I missed them.
"Daisyyy !!" My mom and dad exclaim happily as I come in. We exchange our greetings, smiles and hugs, and they drag me over to the couches of the living room where their bags and suitcases are still laying on the floor, already bombarding me with questions about the exams and the end of highschool.
We spend a very long time talking, so long that my mom forgets about her carbonara burning on the stove, and she was reminded the hard way. She goes back to the kitchen, and my father decides to order food outside. I take the opportunity to flee, and run upstairs to my room.
I throw my backpack on the bed as usual, then jump next to it, snatch my phone from my pocket and turn on the Wi-Fi of the house. I then proceed to redownload, one by one, all the apps that I had gotten rid of, and which left my phone depressingly empty for the past two weeks.
But I have to say, this was honnestly one of the most effective things that helped me keep my concentration during all that time. Especially after what happened on that day, when I found that video... I sure wouldn't have been able to do much with my life if I had kept seeing notifications from the traphouse boys every single day.
But I missed them so much !!
Instagram is the first app to download. I type in my username and password with shaking hands, and hold my breath as the page starts loading, slowly, too slowly.
My feed finally appears, I swipe my thumb up... and a loud gasp escapes my already parted lips. My eyes wide open, I shake my head vigorously, intent on refusing to believe what I'm seeing, and scroll down a little more...
And a sharp pain suddenly goes through my head. My vision gets blurry, then everything goes completely black. The next thing I know, a hard surface violently hits the side of my face... and I don't remember the rest.
My mother comes up to my room long moments later, coughing, her throat rough from calling my name all evening to ask me to come down for dinner. She finds me lying still on the cold floor, unconscious. Her eyes dilating with horror, she falls to her knees in front of me, tears already rolling down her face as she tries calling my name again, shaking my shoulders in a desperate attempt to wake me up. She quickly glances around for my phone to call 911, and finds it laying upside down on the edge of the bed. She picks it up, and is shocked by what is displayed on the screen.
