I nod and smile, before walking down the hall to my dorm. Later that night, I call Max, its late, but its urgent.
I wake up suddenly, lunging towards the phone. "Ellie? It's
2 O'clock! You ok?"
2 O'clock! You ok?"
"What? It's 2 AM? Holy crap, whoops." I glanced at the clock, "I'm fine sorry, I just...I found something"
"What did you find? Is it something bad?"
"I got to thinking about it, and so I searched about a missing kid near us. Does the same Theodore Hastings have any meaning to you? That's the kid who went missing...but when I looked up his socials, nothing. It's all been wiped. Everything about this kid is gone. But Hastings...that's the big Tech company. I wonder if they're related...Max I feel like I knew this kid...It's like when you're trying to think of a word and you just can't remember for the life of you." I sighed, and closed my laptop. "I feel like something in my brain is missing."
"Hold on... Theodore's social pages were packed with stuff. His lizard, video games, memes... No way it should be empty..."
“So you knew him?”
"I guess you can say that. He was the anti-social type that wanted to be a internet celebrity. It's just that he content never was....well, good to be honest. His parents were rich so he just got shuffled here while they were doing other stuff."
“Hm sounds familiar, the last part I mean. Anywho, this is suspicious we can’t deny that.” I took a moment “what if they see we were trying to search for him?”
"Delete anything you have on him and install a VPN. All our classmates have it because the school would see anything we look at if not"
“Alright” I do as he says and put away my laptop. “Hey tomorrow I’m gonna go check out the crime scene. Wanna come?”
"The closets locked up. They closed it off to students. So....yeah I totally want to come."
I laugh, “awesome. See you tomorrow then”
"Right. Night." I hang up and fall back on my pillows.
The next morning I’m standing outside the door of a classroom. A book in my hands with my phone hiding behind it.
I see Ellie as I head to class. I sneak up behind her and whisper in my best teacher voice. "What are you doing, young lady?"
I jump and punch him in the stomach. "Oh my gosh! Max! You freaking scared me!"
I double over slightly, giggling. "You better be happy I'm used to fighting and getting punched or you'd be getting a call from my lawyer."
"I could've punched you harder. You're lucky I didn't." I don't smile at his giggle, and pick up my phone and book I dropped.
"Geez, girls have no sense of humor..."
Moderators: Ellie Jenkins (played anonymously)