“I never got one. Every piece of correspondence I received ended in DG, which I assumed stood for Diablo Games. I never gave it too much thought. It was easy work and ridiculous money. Learn some lines, sign you up, and deliver an envelope or two.”
Kayleigh eyed him suspiciously, wondering if he was acting and playing along as part of the game, or if he was there of his own volition. She thought about asking that very question, but the fact was that it didn’t matter that much. If he was a paid stooge, it made the game even better, which was why she shifted her focus back to the game. “Speaking of envelopes, I’m guessing you have one for me now,” Kayleigh said, holding out her hand.
The grin returned as Terry reached inside his jacket and pulled out a pair of white envelopes with words scribbled on each in red ink. “Very perceptive, but I have two.”
Studying the envelopes, she saw that one had, “Open First...History” on the front, while the other read, “#2...Repeating.”
“Well, my work here is done,” Terry said, rising from the chair. “Thank you for the soda.”
“Will we see you again over the next couple of days, in a robe or otherwise?”
Recoiling at the statement, Terry screwed up his face. “No, probably not. I received a rather unpleasant email from Diablo Games last night, scolding me for being seen by you guys, but, um, why would I be in a robe?”
“It’s just a joke,” Kayleigh said, scrutinizing his face for any sort of giveaway that he might know exactly what she was talking about, but he looked nonplussed. “Anyway, thanks for coming, and for what it’s worth, you are a good actor. You sure as shit had me fooled.”
“Thanks,” Terry beamed.
Just before closing the door, Kayleigh asked, “What’s your username on Instagram?” She hoped to knock him out of his stride by asking the question out of the blue, but he never batted an eyelid.
“I’m thespterry, thanks for asking.”
Kayleigh watched as he walked down the street before stepping into a beaten-up, green Honda parked in one of the visitor parking spots. The vehicle coughed loudly and expelled a black cloud of oily exhaust fumes as Terry backed it up and then turned away and around the corner. Satisfied that he was gone, Kayleigh went back inside, locking the door behind her. She hated that she had become so suspicious and cautious over the last few days, but it was all just another example of how effective the game was proving to be.
Drinking the remainder of her beer, Kayleigh ditched the empty bottle in the trash and opened up Instagram again. Opening up her follower’s list and performing a quick search, she found Terry’s profile. While not as active as Kayleigh was, he did regularly update, mostly with pictures of him in a variety of different costumes, including the clown garb they had seen him in the previous night. Her finger hovered over the follow back button, but she closed the app instead.
The phone vibrated in her hand, and April’s smiling face showed up on the screen. Kayleigh took the call and said, “What’s up, Apes?”
“Lots of good stuff, but how has your day been? Any updates on the game?”
“Terry was just here, but I’ll tell you all about that when I pick you up.”
“No need. Sean and I are in an Uber now. I told Gallagher that you would be up for a meeting tomorrow. He was positively giddy, Kaylz. He has a dinner reservation all set up for the three of us, and he gave me the rest of the day off.”
“How did you get Sean out of there, too?”
“I told Gallagher that I would need to wait for my boyfriend, so he called down to the IT department and told them to let me beautiful boy go home for the day.”
“You should have called. I would have come and picked you guys up.”
“No way. I already feel bad that you run us back and forth on your week off. We’ll be there in a couple of minutes. See you then. Tata.”
Tossing the phone onto the couch, Kayleigh picked up the envelopes and held them up to the light individually. She could see that there was indeed something inside each, but they looked like smaller scraps of paper. Intrigued, she went to tear open the first one, but with her roommates so close to home, she decided to hold off until they arrived.
Unlocking the front door, Kayleigh sat on the front steps and waited for her friends to arrive. The street was quiet, the parking spots mostly empty, with the majority of her neighbors out working. Looking up and down the road, she saw plenty of places where people could hide and spy on the front door, besides the obvious. Trees and bushes suddenly looked like potential observation posts, while the cars that sat parked on the street provided plenty of cover.
A gentle gust of wind rustled the bushes across the street, making Kayleigh jump as she imagined someone in a robe shifting position in their hiding spot. Thoroughly freaked out, she stood and wiped her butt to remove any dirt picked up from the steps. Movement out of the corner of her eye made her turn, just in time to see the Uber vehicle turn onto the street. Kayleigh couldn’t remember a time when she was happier to see her friends get home.
Back inside the house, Kayleigh waited until her friends prepared a snack and settled on the couch before filling them in on the details from her meeting with Terry.
“Do you think he was telling the truth?” Sean asked through a mouthful of turkey sandwich.
“Mostly, yes. He has been following my Instagram page for a while, and he does do the whole acting thing. That said, I’m sure he knows more about the game that he is letting on, which brings us to the next clue,” Kayleigh said, placing the envelopes on the table.
“You haven’t looked inside yet?” April asked.
“I wanted to wait for you guys.”
“Aw, that’s sweet. Go on, open up the first one.”
More than a little relieved to find that the envelopes were open, Kayleigh untucked the flap on the first one. Reaching inside, she pulled out a scrap of paper with a YouTube URL written on it. Kayleigh opened a new tab on her browser and typed in the website address. They all watched as Cher appeared in the video window, prancing around in a battleship wearing very little and singing about being able to turn back time. “That’s gross,” Kayleigh said.
“Not bad for an older lady,” Sean muttered, a comment that earned him a punch in the arm from April.
“How does this have over four million views,” Kayleigh said, scrolling down the page.
“STOP,” Sean yelled.
Hitting the mute button on her laptop, Kayleigh turned to face her roommate. “We need to listen. There has to be a clue in there.”
“It’s not in the song; It’s in the comments. Look at that the third one down.”
Scrolling back up, Kayleigh saw what Sean was talking about and let out a little giggle. “Good catch.”
Falyn – 4 hours ago
I wish I could turn back time to a few days ago.
Kayleigh opened another tab as April opened up the other envelope, removing the piece of paper inside. It contained another YouTube URL. Leaning the scrap of paper against the bottom of the laptop screen, Kayleigh carefully punched in the address and hit enter. It took a moment for the page to load, but when it did, it landed on the video for “Sunday Bloody Sunday” by U2. As the song played, she scrolled through the comments until she found the one she wanted.