Tuesday, 12:01
Maddox, 12:01
The moon shone proudly in the sky while stars twinkled in the distance on the perfectly unclouded night sky. It looked like something out a painting. On any other night, Maddox would run outside to admire it for hours before his cold bones forced him to come back inside.
But tonight he admired something else. Something he took for granted too many times before.
The silence surrounded him like a warm blanket and after hours of hearing nothing but the sound of endless humming, he accepted it as a gift.
Though the silence was welcomed with opened arms, Maddox stayed curled up in his ball. His hands still clamped down on his ears, dry blood caking his fingernails, his throat raw from his screaming.
He wanted nothing more than to stand up and stretch his sore limbs yet everything in him told him to stay put as if this was just a sick joke to trick him into believing it was finally over before starting up again and taking him by surprise.
All he could do was lay as still as he could, but nothing happened.
Little by little he lowered his hands, starting with the task of pulling his nails from the side of his head before working to lower his hands. His jaw unclenched as he peaked up to look around him.
He saw nothing but the green trees all around him but a sigh escaped him when he saw everything was as clear as it usually was. He was able to make out clear shapes even though darkness surrounded him.
He stood up slowly; looking around the once familiar forest yet nothing seemed out of place. He turned in circle in hopes he would be able to find his way back home, his mind not even drifting to the reason why the humming stopped.
It had been forever since Maddox had been in these woods, but when he stood up everything came into place. He knew where he was and how to get out of the woods that seemed never-ending just a few seconds earlier.
He took one step in the right direction before coming to a complete stop and squinting suspiciously in the direction something inside of him made him want to go.
His mind told him this could be another trick but without the constant screaming, he was able to think things through a bit more.
With a deep breath, Maddox lifted his foot that shook with anticipation as he took another step forward.
He figured if it were another trick the sick humming would be beckoning him closer like it had done earlier that day.
Step after step, one foot in front of the other, he slowly walked in a random direction. He began feeling a sense of dread the longer he walked. He didn't think he had traveled this far and he started wondering if he was even going the right way.
Just when he was about to turn around and go back the way he came, he saw the most beautiful thing he had seen in a long time. Far in the distance, he saw the tree line come to an end. Without a second thought, he ran to it.
On the other side of the line, a clearing would be waiting for him. A long gravel driveway would lead to an old run-down building that looked like it was about to fall down.
But for now, that didn't matter. All that mattered right now was the fact the humming was gone, this nightmare was almost over, and he would be able to go home soon.
Sage, 12:01
Sage sat limply in the old wooden chair in the middle of the room. Nothing had changed since she had gotten here. No floating orbs, or shadows popping out of nowhere. Just a girl sitting in a chair, not being able to get up due to the invisible ropes wrapped around her.
She had somehow managed to fall asleep at some point during the long night. Her head hung off the back of the chair, surely to causing a crick in her neck later, her mouth wide open as she sucked air into her body.
That changed quickly when the time ticked past midnight.
With no explanation, the hold on her disappeared.
When the ropes had been removed, nothing kept Sage upright. Her body lazily rolled off to the side of the chair before harshly connecting with the cold ground beneath her.
Nothing but a small groan of discomfort escaped her mouth as she slowly began waking up.
Her arms burned where the rope once held her, her throat was dry, and her lips cracked but her dull pain wasn't what she was paying attention to.
The old white door that was locked earlier now creaked open slowly. It screamed in protest but Sage didn't care. She jumped off the ground quickly, causing her sight to blur for a second but she didn't care.
She ran to the door even though she couldn't see exactly where she was going. Her arms were opened in front of her to make sure she wouldn't hit anything.
Just as she had come in contact with the door her vision was back.
She could have chosen to focus on the dirty hallway, the cracked foundation, or even the mold spot in all of the corners, but she didn't. All she could think about was getting out of this building.
She stumbled around and bumped into everything as she ran but she barely noticed.
Her chest heaved as she got closer to the door she had been trapped in front of earlier that night.
The second her foot reached past the threshold she felt free. The constricting feeling that had been lingering around her for the past weekend was finally gone.
Her lungs selfishly took as much fresh air as they could before letting it all go again.
With her eyes closed and her breaths labored, Sage stood right outside the door, savoring her freedom. Her knees gave out and sent her to the ground but even then she didn't care.
She sat like that for a while. With her forehead resting on the ground beneath her she enjoyed the cold air for the first time.
She didn't know how long she had stayed there like that but she did know that was almost asleep when she heard a muffled voice far away from her.
She jumped up quickly, thinking there was one last part of this twisted game. Her heartbeat raced as she looked in the direction of the voice, expecting to see the shadows that brought her but all she saw was a very confused looked Maddox.
He slowly walked closer to her as if making sure it was actually his friend and not just a random person lying face down in the middle of the woods at midnight for no reason.
"Sage?" She heard him ask again. She stood up on shaky legs as she ran to him with tears in her eyes, relieved that all of this was over.
Sage was just about to jump onto her best friend for a hug when she saw the look in his eyes. The look wasn't of relief or happiness, it was nothing but pain.
"Are you okay?" Sage asked, her voice full of concern as she looked into her friend's eyes.
One word escaped his mouth. One word that made Sage's world crumble around her.
"Lily."
Tears quickly gathered in Sage's eyes as the realization dawned on her. One of them was supposed to die tonight. Only two people were here night now.
Lily was dead somewhere and they don't even know where to look for her body.
Before Sage could say a word, Maddox's arms wrapped around her, pull her into a warm hug.
"I left her." Sage gasped out as tears slowly slipped out of her eyes.
"It's not your fault."
"How is it not my fault?" She yelled as she pushed her friend away. "I left both of you and now out best friend is dead!"
"It wasn't you, the game made you do it." He said coming at her again to comfort her with another hug but Sage only pushes him away as she looks around her quickly before bolting down the long, dirt driveway, Maddox running after immediately her.
"Where are you going?" He asked when he finally caught up to her.
"We have to find Lily. We have to tell someone. We have to tell the police so they can help us."
"And what are we going to tell them? 'Our friend called a haunted numbers and now she's dead because of the call'? I don't think that would help us in any way."
"We have to do something!" At this Maddox grabbed her arm and made her stop running.
"There is nothing we can do Sage! Lily is dead! We're lucky to be alive! All we can do is wait until someone finds her."
"And what do we do until someone finds her? Just sit around and act like nothing is wrong while her family worries themselves sick until she is finally found dead somewhere?"
With a small sigh, Maddox wells himself to calm down before pulling Sage into another hug and not letting her get out of it.
"We'll call the police tomorrow saying that she's missing. They'll start looking for her and eventually, they'll find her. After that we'll have a small funeral, turn Lily into a tree like she always wanted, and try to move on with our lives."
Sage couldn't help but smile as she thought about how persistent Lily was about becoming a tree after she died. She had stumbled upon a random website at the time and read all about how they did it and was suddenly infatuated with the idea. She even went as far as telling her best friends that if she didn't become a tree after her death she would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
"What do we do until then?" Sage asked, tears slowly rolling down her face.
"We go home, take a night to think, and process, and grieve, and remember her the way she would want to be remembered, and try to get some sleep before tomorrow," Maddox said calmly, fighting back tears of his own since he was trying to stay strong for Sage.
That night the remaining pair went back to Lily's house and laid her bed as they talked.
They shared every single memory they could think of. About how they first met, how many fights they had to hold Lily back from, all the times they laughed at her because of how stupid she was being.
That night Lily lived once last time through all the memories being shared and stories being told. It almost felt like she was really there as if she was really laughing and crying with them all night. But as the sun began peeking over the horizon her presence disappeared and reality hit them in the face.
Lily wasn't here anymore.
Things got serious when Maddox pulled out his phone and called the three-digit number.
It had only been a few hours but Sage could already tell Maddox had a new nervous tick. He would rub the back of his ears soothingly as he willed himself to stay calm.
Sage had noticed she did the same thing with her arms where a light scar lay where the ropes once were. A permeate reminder of what they went through that night.
Sage couldn't hear what the person on the other line was saying but what she heard was enough to make one last trail of tears roll down her face.
"I need to report a missing person."