{ Xavier Carver }
There was a moment of silence, we all glanced at each other. Suddenly and collectively, the room filled with taunting laughter directed towards this 'Shade' character. We were cut off by the screen changing. It was security camera footage, A figure in a hoodie and a young boy following him across the street. We all knew what this video was, we were there.
"Okay, that's it. I don't know who the fuck you think you are, but you've gone too far." Isaiah walked behind the t.v and started looking through the cords. The video continued, our eyes glued to the screen. We couldn't look away, not as the two argued, not as our old friend turned to leave, and not as the screen cut to black. "So..." Kaylen began, she trailed off when she realized there was nothing she could do in this moment, she wasn't there. "What now?" Isaiah spoke up from behind the t.v where he was sitting.
Before anyone could answer my phone buzzed. Lexi's phone buzzed and soon there was a chorus of phones echoing through the small room. I checked my phone it was a call from an unknown number, "That's uhm... I got an unknown number what about you guys?" I asked.
"Yeah me too." Isaiah held up his phone for the room to see.
"S... So we decline it... right?" Hunter finally looked up. He was a mess, he was shaking and his eyes were already puffy from crying. Lily put her hand over his and nodded. We hung up and one after another our phones began beeping. My screen turned to black and the black faded to the somewhat familiar basement. Hunter threw his phone across the room and the screen cracked on impact with the wall. "I told you not to unplug the television," Shade spoke, his voice coming from all five remaining phones, "Now, your friend is paying for your mistake." I glanced around the room wondering who was missing. Nobody. All our friends were here, in this room. "What do you mean, bro?" Isaiah finally got up from behind the t.v and propped his phone up on the t.v stand. Shade held up his own tablet, on it a big figure with a bag around their head tied to a chair. "Holy shit..." Lexi covered her mouth with her hands and in doing so dropped her phone. The figure struggled in the chair, but was hit over the head by another figure. This one was somehow bigger than the one in the chair, he had on a trucker hat that covered his face, that was until he looked up. An all too familiar face, just more rugged. His beard was scraggly and he looked tired, sickly almost. His eyes were sunken in bags, the right one twitched, but he didn't dare blink he just stared and it felt like his gaze looked through the screens and directly at me.
Not a word was spoken, the silence only broken by muffled sounds of crying or heavy breathing. Shade decided to speak up, "I think you all understand now, plug the television in." His voice was stern behind the cover of the voice changer, he gently placed the tablet down and waited for someone to get up. Lily was the one who got up, she walked past Isaiah and behind the t.v, finally she plugged it in and Shade left our phone screens for the television.
"Pay attention to me now, understood?" We nodded in response. "Perfect, who's willing to go first?"