Tess Lincoln sighed and checked her watch for the tenth time. Her best friend, Lori Tyler, was late. Again. Today was not the day to be late. Their high school was holding a candlelit vigil for Miranda Moore. Miranda had been Tess and Lori's best friend since they met in first grade. Miranda had gone missing four months ago and there were still no clues as to what happened to her.
Opening her locker, Tess looked at the picture of the three of them taken by the pool last summer. Miranda was a beautiful girl, all that blonde hair, blue eyes, and a smile that hinted at mischief. Tess herself had long, dark brown hair and the chocolate colored eyes. Her skin was more of a darker shade, taking after her grandparent's Greek heritage. Lori was a complete contrast to them both. All that fiery wild curly red hair surrounded her face and almost hid her bright green eyes. She always looked like she had a secret and her laughing green eyes hinted at the devilment she was about to cause.
Looking at the three of them standing there, laughing and smiling for the camera, caught Tess off guard. She missed Miranda. The three of them had been thick as thieves growing up, each a permanent fixture in the other's homes. They'd shared everything growing up, survived puberty and their first heartbreaks together. She would never forget Miranda marching up to Aaron after he broke up with Tess for Dana and lighting into him in front of the entire school. She'd told him off but good. It still made her laugh just thinking about his shocked and mortified expression.
Miranda had been her very best friend, more so than even Lori, and sometimes, she wondered what might have happened if she'd just not answered her text. Miranda might still be here, laughing and getting ready for college next fall. They'd all been accepted into the same school and had planned on sharing a dorm room. Tess shook her head sadly. Miranda was gone. None of that mattered now because she wasn't coming back.
Lori was half an hour late. She should just go on out onto the football field and let Lori find her. The service would be starting soon and she didn't want to miss it. She closed her locker and sighed. Lori was being a pain these days. Making up her mind, she started toward the end of the hall where the exit door was. Lori could find her or not. Tess wasn't going to be late for Miranda's service.
The school was pretty much empty by the time Tess started out. Everyone else had wandered outside a good fifteen minutes ago. They'd opened the school on the first floor so they could use the cafeteria. Their small West Virginia mining town was big on get togethers being hosted by the mountain of food everyone brought.
Empty hallways had always creeped Tess out, especially at school. It was because of the movie, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Tess's mom had forbidden her to watch scary movies, but Miranda had somehow gotten her hands on a copy of it and they'd all snuck and watched it one night. It had scared the bejesus out of Tess. The part where Nancy had ran from Freddy in the school...Tess shuddered just thinking about it. Since then, she'd been almost terrified of empty school hallways.
Today was no different either, maybe a little worse. Considering she was going to a memorial for Miranda, yeah, it was more than just a little worse. For some reason it seemed darker in here today, shadows jumping out at her everywhere as she walked down the hall. A creak sounded to her left and she glanced back, but all she saw was the empty hallway. None of the doors on the first floor were open. It had to be her nerves. She'd been dreading the day when the school would finally give up and hold a sort of memorial for Miranda, even if it was just a candlelit vigil at dusk.
She started out again, her thoughts on Miranda and their last day together. Tess couldn't say she regretted her decisions, but sometimes in the middle of the night when no one but the shadows kept her company, she was afraid. If only she hadn't answered the text...well, nothing to be done now. All she could do was mourn her friend and move on with her life. It was what she'd wanted, what she'd planned, but days like today made it hard for her to do that.
Footsteps sounded behind her and she turned, frowning. Nothing but the empty hallway, darker now that the sun was setting and the light from the windows was disappearing. The overhead fluorescent was on, but it was very dim. Her eyes swept over the empty hallway, the rows of lockers, and the closed doors. There was no one in here but her. There wasn't anywhere to hide.
Repeating that to herself, she picked up her steps to a slow jog almost, her thoughts creeping back to Nancy fleeing down the hallways in the movie. She kept her back to the exit door and started to walk backwards, her eyes moving back and forth over the empty hallway. It was dark outside now, the sun having set and the dim lighting in the hallway cast an eerie glow over the lockers, making them seem almost sinister, places where anything or anyone could be hiding.
A metallic tapping sounded and her head swiveled to left side of lockers. She stopped moving and listened. The same gentle metallic tapping began again and she froze. It sounded like someone tapping their fingernails on the locker, not impatiently, but just idly, like they were waiting for someone. Tess swallowed and took a step toward the lockers and a cool breeze swept through the hall, wrapping around her and she shivered. Had to be the AC kicking on. Had to be. The tapping grew a little louder, taking on a slightly impatient tempo and Tess moved forward, searching for the sound. She stopped at locker 54.
Miranda's old locker.
She shook her head. It can't be coming from in there. Someone had to be playing a trick on her. There wasn't anything in there. Straightening her shoulders, she reached out her hand to touch it and the tapping stopped when her hand was about an inch form the metal door. Tess stood still, her hand suspended in front of the locker.
Silence surrounded her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her imagination was playing tricks on her. She'd been dreading today and her mind decided to play the biggest April Fool's day prank of all. Miranda was gone. There wasn't anything in the locker.
She knew the combination by heart and quickly opened the door. Pictures of the three of them were plastered on the inside of the door, mirror images of some of the ones in Tess's locker. Her books were still tucked away, a sweater shoved in between her gym bag and her clarinet case. Her parents couldn't bring themselves to clear out the locker and the school decided to leave it alone as well, at least until the end of the year. The locker itself was a memorial to the three of them, their friendship, and the bonds that tied them together. A single tear slipped down Tess's face, but she quickly wiped it away. Things couldn't be changed now even if she wanted them to and truthfully, she didn't.
She ran a finger over the picture of her and Miranda under the old oak tree out in front of the school and smiled. That was a good memory. They'd both just been asked to Homecoming by the guys they'd wanted to ask them. She'd close the locker on that memory and walk away with a smile instead of dark thoughts.
Laughter, soft, almost like a whisper sounded around her and she froze.
No.
It couldn't be.
It sounded almost identical to Miranda's.
That wasn't possible.
The locker door beneath her vibrated and she jumped away from it. The whole thing shook like something inside was trying to get out, the motions violent and angry. Tess backed up until she hit the other lockers, staring at it in a kind of awed horror. The locker was moving so volatilely, the lockers around it started to shake as well.
Footsteps and laughter echoed up and down the hall and Tess cringed. It sounded just like Miranda. It couldn't be Miranda.
A hand came down on her shoulder and she screamed, falling to the floor, terrified.
"What are you doing?"
She looked up to see Lori staring down at her, her expression worried and confused. She looked around and the hall was empty, the lights brighter than they were. Miranda's locker quiet and at rest.
"Did you hear anything?" she whispered, glancing back to Miranda's locker.
"No," Lori said, her red ponytail waving as she shook her head. "Just you standing here looking like you'd seen a ghost or something."
Tess pulled herself up off the floor and brushed off her capris. She looked around once again, but found nothing. "I don't know," she whispered. "I thought..."
"You thought what?" Lori looked around the hallway herself. "Was someone in here? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Tess sighed. Her imagination really was playing tricks on her today. "Just had a bad minute, you know?" She gestured to Miranda's locker and Lori's expression softened.
"It's okay, Tessi," she said. "You miss her. It's understandable. We've both had some moments since the night she disappeared. Come on, we can't be late to Miranda's party. We're supposed to speak."
"Yeah, let's go." Tess gave the hallway one last look and before following Lori out of the building and heading toward the football field.
A stage had been set up at one end and chairs lined the entire field from one end to the other. Every chair was filled. The bleachers were overflowing with people and even more crowded around the packed space between the chairs and the bleachers. Looked like the entire town turned out for the vigil. News anchors were setting up video cameras in front of the podium while several police officers tried to keep order amongst the crowded field.
They'd all turned out to support Miranda and her parents. The Moore's refused to give up hope that their daughter would come back safe and sound. She'd left one night, got into a car that had been caught on the apartment complex's security camera, but it had been too grainy to make out a license plate or to even really describe the car. That was the last anyone had seen of her. The police were at dead ends. They'd gone through all of her things except her laptop. She'd taken it with her that night. Everyone had been questioned, including Tess and Lori, but no clues had been unearthed.
Where she was remained a mystery to the sleepy little town of Jacob's Fork.
The town had come up with the idea of holding a vigil to help not only the Moore's start to heal, to move on, but they hoped if anyone had any information on the missing girl, they'd come forward or make an anonymous call to the police tip line. It was a last ditch effort by the police to scrounge up any new leads.
Tess and Lori took their places on stage. They'd been asked to say a few words in memory of their friend. Lori had made a huge photo collage of the three of them, from the first day they'd met at age six to the last picture they'd taken sitting on Miranda's bed the day before she'd gone missing. It was the history of them and Tess found herself staring at it while the memorial service started. She ignored the mayor opening the vigil, ignored some of her classmates speaking and just studied the photos. They all looked so happy.
Lori nudged her. Their drama teacher, Mrs. Fillison, was finishing up her speech. It was Tess's turn. She stood up and took her spot at the podium when Mrs. Fillison sat down. She blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust to the bright lights of the cameras. The people she could make out up front were the people who loved Miranda the most, her parents, her aunt and uncle, Tess and Lori's parents and finally, Miranda's boyfriend, Max Rivera. He looked stone-faced, but everyone else was openly weeping. She had to get through this.
"Hi," she said, leaning in close to the microphone so she could be heard. "Miranda has been mine and Lori's best friend since first grade. We miss her so much. There isn't a day that goes by we don't think of her. Sometimes I pick up my phone to call her, wanting to tell her about...well, everything. Sometimes, I just randomly call her number or send her a text to see if she answers." She looked over to the Moore's. "It's hard, admitting she's gone and that she may not come back, but we have to. Miranda wouldn't have wanted us to spend all our time grieving. She loved life, she loved us, and she'd want us to be happy, to live life like she lived it every day. She was always so crazy, saying that you shouldn't let things pass you by, that you should jump in head first and fly like the wind. I love her, I always will, and I am going to live my life like she would have wanted. I'm going to jump in head first and fly like the wind."
Several people in the audience were nodding and she let out a little sigh of relief. She'd been half afraid her small speech would be met with hostility. It had only been a few months since Miranda went missing, but it seemed like years to her. It was time to move on and live life.
"Miranda went missing and even though I am going to let go of my grief, I am still going to ask anyone out there who might know something about what happened to my best friend, please come forward, help us find her, help us to either bring her home, or help us to find peace with what happened to her. Miranda needs your help. Please, if you know something, no matter how small the detail, just call the anonymous tip line. It won't cost you anything, but for us, it would mean the world to find Ranni. Help us find her. Please."
Tears slipped down her face, and she took a deep breath, before stepping away from the podium. She staggered back and fell into her seat, wiping away the tears that were trailing wet paths down her cheeks. Lori took her place and Tess ignored it. They'd practiced their speeches yesterday and she knew Lori's as well as she did her own.
Her phone chirped at her and she pulled it out of her back pocket. A text message was waiting from Anonymous. Frowning she opened it and stared in shock.
I know what U did.
Tess checked the number but it was blocked. Her heart sped up just a little. What did they mean, they knew what she did?
Lori sat back down, her own face wet, and pulled out her own phone. Like Tess, she stared at it in shock. The identical message from Anonymous flashed at her.
I know what U did.
The girls stared at each other, a small tremor of fear running through Tess. She saw the same fear reflected in Lori's eyes.
Their phones chirped again and they ignored the disapproving looks form the mayor. They had another message from Anonymous.
U cant hide what U did.
Tess looked up to see Detective Steven Mallory staring at them, Officer Maria Remirez, beside him. They were both watching Tess and Lori. Why were they watching them?
A third chirp sounded and Tess jumped. Another message from Anonymous.
U pay 4 what U post.
I grew up on horror movies. I remember sneaking down with my brother to watch them when everyone else was asleep. Scared us senseless, but it also made us impervious to scary movies. The only thing that can really scare us anymore are ourselves. We start talking about old scary movies and by the time we go to bed at night, we start to remember those parts of the movies that scared the bejesus out of us when we were little. And we find ourselves, looking for things in the dark that we know aren't there, but we turn on all the lights anyway.
There is also something else that can scares me. People can scare me. Normal, everyday people that we go to school with, see in church, or hang out with at the mall. Those people can be monsters and we'd never see it coming. They could secretly be sociopaths and we wouldn't know until it was too late. The evil that lives in people is what scares me, the greed, the envy, and the hate over some small or imagined wrong. It can drive people to do violent things.
That's why I'm so excited to be working on the Unfriended movie campaign. I want to be able to show you that the scariest monster in the world is the one that lives next door to you, sits beside you in the pew at church, or says hello when you see them at the local grocery store. The scariest things in this world are the things that don't go bump in the night, but the things that stare you in the face every day, and you don't notice it.
Social media is a massive worldwide platform that so many of us take for granted. We get on and we chat, we share our memories in posts, photos and in videos. We can also share the darker part of ourselves and think just because we hit delete, it's gone, but it's not. Once you post something, it's out in cyber-space just waiting to be found. You can't hide behind the word delete or behind a firewall anymore. There's always a way to find what you've done online. It's scary really to think about the things we've posted and immediately deleted. Those very same things can come back to haunt us.
That is why I am so happy to be able to write this story. It's why I will be sitting in the theater on Unfriended's opening night, April 17th to watch it. You all need to grab a group of friends and go see this amazing story of what can happen when you post things you shouldn't.
Remember, you can't hide from you post, so be careful.