Chapter 4

I couldn’t make out what the person on the other end was saying.

But I could see Mom’s expression.

It changed little by little.

Mom hung up.

Her hand dropped to her side, her phone still clutched in her palm, but she looked as though she had suffered a devastating blow.

“Mom?”

I called out to her.

She didn’t respond.

“Mom, what did Dad say? Did he find Molly?”

Mom slowly turned to look at me.

Her eyes were red, and her lips trembled, but she couldn’t get a word out.

The noise around us suddenly seemed very far away.

I reached for her arm.

“Say something...”

Her lips parted, and she finally spoke.

But her voice was so hoarse that it barely sounded like her own.

“Kelly, go inside and take your test.”

I bit my lip and shook my head.

I knew something must have happened.

“I’m not going in. Tell me what Dad said.”

Mom still refused to say anything.

“Be a good girl.”

My voice was already breaking, drawing a few curious glances from the parents nearby.

“What happened to Molly? Tell me, and I’ll go take the test.”

Mom closed her eyes for a moment.

When she opened them again, her expression had changed.

It wasn’t anger or grief, but a kind of resolve I had never seen before.

Mom grabbed my shoulders, her fingers digging into me painfully.

“Kelly, go inside and take your test. I’ll handle everything else.”

With that, she seized my wrist and dragged me toward the school entrance.

I struggled to pull free, but her grip was like an iron vise. I couldn’t escape.

“I believe you about the messages now. I received one too. It was about you.

“Your father just called and said that he and Molly had received messages on their phones too...”

I was stunned.

Mom had received a message too?

No wonder she had looked so shaken.

“What did it say?”

Mom gritted her teeth.

“It said... ‘At 7:55, if you haven’t entered the testing center gate, you will...’”

Mom didn’t finish the sentence.

But I already knew what came next.

My breath caught.

I quickly checked my phone.

7:46 a.m.

There were a few minutes left.

I looked at the long line of students waiting to enter the testing center.

Then I glanced around, my eyes sweeping over the surroundings.

Two people arguing on the sidewalk, cars streaming along the road, a tower crane operating at a construction site in the distance...

When Mom saw me staring blankly, she pushed me into the line.

“Hurry up. Don’t waste any more time.”

More students arrived and joined the line behind me. When I turned around, Mom was already gone.

A strange feeling suddenly washed over me.

But with so little time left, I couldn’t stop to figure out what it meant.

At 7:47, the line inched forward.

The security checkpoint was still several dozen yards away.

At 7:48, another thought occurred to me.

Phones weren’t allowed inside the testing center. What would I do if another message came in and I couldn’t see it?

At 7:49, the security checkpoint drew closer and closer.

I should still have enough time.

A notification suddenly appeared on my phone, announcing a new message.

I closed my eyes for a moment, as if there were no escaping my fate.

Then I opened them, held my breath, and tapped the message.

A single line appeared.

My finger froze.

Just then…

“Kelly.”

A familiar voice came from behind me, and I instinctively turned around.

In an instant, I remembered the message I had just received.

[Don’t turn around. Don’t look at her. Don’t believe a word she says. She’ll kill you.]

But I had already turned around.

I had already looked.

And she had already begun to speak.