Mia had barely slept. The last photo—her and Henry, a red X across both their faces—was still clutched in her hand as dawn began to bleed through her bedroom curtains. She hadn't moved since it arrived. The message was clear: whoever was watching her wanted her to stay afraid.
But something about Henry's message stuck with her.
"Something about you and Lily. We need to talk."
She thought she was alone in this story. But maybe she wasn't.
Later that morning, Mia stood outside the old willow tree in Rivercliff Park, arms wrapped tightly around herself. The early sun cast long shadows across the damp grass. The place was quiet, hidden at the edge of the town's oldest path, a place Mia used to go when she first moved here, before everything began to unravel.
Henry arrived a few minutes later. He didn't say anything at first. Just looked at her with that cautious, hurting expression she had come to know too well.
Mia was the first to speak.
"I didn't think you would come."
Henry stepped forward. "I didn't think you would say yes."
"I almost didn't."
They stood in silence for a few seconds more before Mia added, "This place feels like the only place left that hasn't been poisoned."
Henry looked around, then nodded. "Yeah. Everything else feels… watched."
Mia didn't respond. She pulled the folded photo from her pocket and handed it to him.
He stared at it. His hands clenched.
"They know everything," she said. "Even things I don't know yet. They're not just trying to scare me, Henry. They're trying to erase me."
"I think I know why," he said softly. "And I think it's connected to Lily and to you."
He reached into his coat and pulled out the old yearbook page, the one with Lily's name and the scribbled note.
Mia took it, reading aloud: "*Project Apparition – Trial Subjects: L. Charles, M. Lawrence…"
She blinked. "M. Lawrence? That's not just a code name."
"It's you, Mia," Henry said. "I think my father has something to do with you just as Lily."
Mia took a step back, breath caught in her throat.
"No. That's not possible. I would remember—"
"Would you?" he interrupted gently. "He covered up everything about Lily. He could've done the same to you. He has the resources and the reach."
She wanted to argue. But then she thought of the voices. The dreams. The way she sometimes just knew things that didn't make sense. The locked door in her house that had never been locked before.
"What if that's why I can tell when people lie?" she whispered. "What if it's not a gift… but something done to me?"
Henry's face crumpled with guilt. "I should have told you everything sooner about Lily, I just..."
"And I should have trusted you," she said. "But we both had pieces of a puzzle we didn't understand."
They sat beneath the willow tree together.
"What do we do now?" Mia asked.
Henry looked her in the eye. "We stop being afraid. We find the rest of the truth. And we expose whoever is doing this to you, to us."
Mia nodded.
"I'm tired of being scared."
At Allen High, Elise was in the computer lab, scanning through archived school reports and restricted server folders. She had taken a page from Lily's playbook start digging where no one else dared.
She clicked through a series of files labeled Student Research Projects – Private Authorization Required but found nothing.
That Evening, Hilda slammed the locker door shut, annoyed.
"I thought that would break her," she hissed.
"She's still breathing. That's the problem," Eve muttered, watching from the corner of the hallway.
"She met with Henry today. I saw them."
Eve cursed under his breath. "we have to try harder."
Mia didn't know how long she had been standing in front of the mirror.
Her reflection stared back with tired eyes, the edges of her face shadowed by sleepless nights. She had stopped wearing makeup. Stopped brushing her hair the way she used to. What was the point?
The notes, the photos and the fear that something or someone was always just a few steps behind her. But what haunted her the most wasn't what she saw but what Henry just told her.
At Allen High, It was Monday, and the air at Allen High felt heavier than usual. Whispers followed Mia through the hallway. Not the invisible kind she heard from shadows but these were louder, crueler and human.
She passed a group of girls laughing too loudly. One of them, Eve, sneered, "You would think she had learn to keep her drama at home."
Another voice added, "No wonder Henry's not around. I would run, too."
Mia kept walking, trying not to let the words in. But they pierced her anyway, like cold little thorns. By her locker, Elise was waiting.
"You're not gonna like this," Elise said before Mia could even ask.
She pulled out her phone and showed Mia a post from a school gossip page. It was a picture of Mia sitting alone in class, scribbled over with fake ghost hands and a caption that read:
"When the voices in your head are louder than your friends."
Underneath it:
#HauntedGirl #DramaQueen #AllenHighMystery
Mia's stomach dropped. "Who posted this?"
"No one knows. It's anonymous," Elise said, eyes full of anger. "But I have a guess."
Mia didn't have to ask who she knew it could only be Hilda.
At the Juvenile detention Center, Carl leaned back in the metal chair, one foot resting on his knee as he waited in the visitor's room. The door opened and in walked Hilda, wearing sunglasses even though they were indoors. She pulled them off and sat down across from him.
"She's cracking," she said.
Carl grinned. "Perfect."
"But we have a problem."
"What kind of problem?"
"She's not just scared anymore. People are starting to feel bad for her. She's walking around like a ghost, and now it's not funny, it's sad." Hilda said mockingly.
Carl scoffed. "Let them feel sorry. When she snaps, it will all turn."
"We need something bigger, something no one can ignore," Hilda said. "I want her to fall and to fall hard."
Carl leaned in, his voice low. "We've still got her address, don't we?"
Hilda's eyes narrowed. "You're thinking what I'm thinking?"
Carl gave a slow, cruel smile. "We should go visit haunted girl's house since I am getting released."
Back in Rivercliff, that evening, Mia stood in her room with the diary in her hands. She had flipped through it a hundred times already. But tonight, something was different. A new message appeared
In fresh ink and neat handwriting:
"They're coming.
Don't open the door."
-Lily-
Her heart pounded. She rushed to her window and checked the locks on the back door. Then the front.
Everything was closed. Everything was secure. Still, she pulled her phone and texted Elise.
Mia: I think something's going to happen tonight. Can you come?
Elise: I would be on my way.
Mia paced the room until her legs hurt.
An hour Later, Henry was standing at the edge of his driveway, keys in hand, debating whether or not to go. He had read Mia's letter a hundred times. He hadn't stopped thinking about her for a second. But he didn't want to make things worse. Didn't want to show up uninvited. Though, he and Mia were already on good terms but they had not make up. Then his phone buzzed.
Elise: Mia's not okay. I think someone is targeting her, she had some frequent issues. Hilda's getting bold. I would explain in details later.
That was all it took. He jumped in his car and drove toward Rivercliff like his heart was on fire.
Back at the House, Mia sat at the dining table, waiting. Her parents were out visiting a family friend. They wouldn't be back until late. The house creaked. The lights flickered. She looked toward the hallway. When she saw a shadow, long and crawling on the wall like fingers.
Then the sound of a soft knock at the front door. She froze. There was another knock and it was harder this time.
"Mia?"
It wasn't Elise's voice.
It was… different. She backed away, heart hammering in her chest. There was another knock followed by laughter. It was low and sounded like a male. Her breath caught in her throat.
Was that Carl?
She grabbed the bat from beside the couch and tiptoed toward the door. She didn't open it—but she peeked through the peephole but saw no one.
But something rustled on the porch. She turned on the porch light. A photograph had been pinned to the door with a knife. She opened the door just enough to yank it free. The photo showed her asleep in her room. It was taken from outside her window.
Beneath it, in red ink:
"We see you."
She stumbled back, nearly dropping the bat. Then headlights flashed outside. A car pulled into the driveway. Mia ran toward it, ready to scream until the door opened and Henry stepped out.
"Mia!" he shouted, rushing to her.
She collapsed into his arms, shaking.
"They were here," she whispered. "They were here." she said again and fainted.