“Group hug?” April said, spreading her arms wide.
Without any complaints or wisecracks, they huddled together and held each other close for a minute before heading upstairs in hopes of getting some sleep.
THE DIGITAL ALARM AND the smartphone went off at the same time, jarring Kayleigh out of a sound sleep that she never expected to come. She punched both alarms off, the sound still ringing in her ears. She heard the bedroom door across the way open and laughed as April and Sean argued over who would get to use the bathroom first. April always won.
Quickly changing out of her pajamas, Kayleigh put on a pair of baggy jeans and a shirt that featured Jack Nicholson peering through a ragged hole in a door, with “Here’s Johnny” written in red below his face. By the time she was changed and downstairs, Sean already had the laptop open, and the game website loaded up. “Fancy some coffee?” Kayleigh asked.
“Uh, yeah. Sorry. I guess I could have made some.”
“What, and break a lifetime habit,” Kayleigh said, laughing as Sean flipped her the bird.
April was last to arrive, looking as though she had just stuck her finger in a light fixture. Her usually perfectly groomed hair shot off in all directions, and she wore a T-shirt and sweatpants that were home to many mysterious stains.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes, Apes,” Kayleigh said.
Trying her best to smooth down her hair and failing miserably, April said, “Don’t look at it. If I started my morning ritual now, I’d never be done by nine.”
“You look fine, sweetness,” Sean said, refusing to make eye contact with his girlfriend.
Coffee made and served, they sat around the island, looking at the laptop and willing the screen to change to something other than black with a blinking cursor.
“This is bullshit,” Kayleigh sighed. “Is it just me, or is the time going slower than my legs when I need to run in a dream?”
Time continued to drag, but eventually, the clock on the bottom right-hand corner of the laptop turned over to 9 a.m., and the video feed appeared. The robed man stood in his usual spot, head turned to look at the girl slumped in the chair. Without turning to face the camera, he spoke. “I hope you are here, Miss Barnes, and I hope you have been keeping track of your answers. You are going to need them now.”
Sean opened the memo app on his phone and nodded, letting his friends know that he had the information at hand.
“In a moment, I am going to close the video feed and ask you to deliver one more answer. Are you ready?”
“Yes, we are fucking ready,” Kayleigh screamed. “Do you think he heard that?”
Finally, he turned to face the camera. “When I close this feed, enter the numbers from the last three days into a Google search, in the order you received them. You should see a name appear in the search results. Enter that name correctly on this site, and you will save the hollow-eyed girl. Good luck.”
“Tell me you guys caught that,” Kayleigh said.
“I got it. I got it.” Sean opened a new browser window and went to the Google landing page. He typed in the numbers from the last three days and watched as the search engine delivered a single result.
“What does that say?” April asked.
“Maury E. Eoin,” Sean said, tongue tripping over the strange-looking name.
“What kind of name is that? Click on it,” Kayleigh said.
Sean clicked on the name, and a new page opened up, offering up personal details about the person in question. Other than the name and number, everything else remained blank. “There’s nothing here. Should we dial it?”
Ever the voice of reason, April said, “No. We should enter the name and get this over with.”
Knowing better than to argue with his better half, Sean tracked the mouse over the name and copied it before going back to the game website and pasting it in. They all read the name a few times to make sure that it was correct. Happy with the answer, Sean hit enter and watched as the video came back to life.”
The robed man applauded and took a bow. “Well done. The last order of business we have is for you, Miss Barnes, to come and collect your prize. You will get to meet the players in the game, plus you will receive a handsome financial reward and the exclusive rights to be an affiliate for our future offerings here at Diablo Games.”
Kayleigh jumped out of her stool and danced a jig. “Jackpot.”
“Now, Miss Barnes, there are some rules involved here. I will need you to come to the address that I send to you on your own. There are some behind the scenes things that we would sooner not have others privy to. I will ask that you sign a non-disclosure agreement before you take possession of your prizes. If you agree, please type yes.”
The screen went blank again, and April grabbed Kayleigh by the arm. “I’m not letting you go there alone.”
“I love you, Apes, but it’s fine. We won. Game over. I’ll be home before you know it.” Nudging Sean aside, Kayleigh leaned over and typed in yes.
“Wonderful, Miss Barnes. Please, get into your car now and head toward I-85 South. I will contact you in fifteen minutes with my address. Thank you for playing the game.”
The screen went black, held for a moment, and then delivered an error message saying that there was a server error and that the website was not available.
“What happened?” Kayleigh asked, slipping on her shoes and getting ready to leave.
“The site went offline. I’m with April; I don’t think you should go alone.”
“I don’t have time to argue. I need to get on the road. I love you guys.”
“Call us and let us know where you are going, please,” April said, running out to the car after Kayleigh.
“Quit stressing. Go watch some TV. I’ll text you when I get done and give you all the juicy details of our prizes.” With a wave, Kayleigh backed out of the parking spot, hit the horn a couple of times, and sped off down the street.
MERGING INTO THE TRAFFIC on I-85, Kayleigh stayed in the outside lane, believing that she was going to need to exit once she received the address. Exactly fifteen minutes after seeing the last message, her phone began to ring. Pushing a button on her steering wheel, Kayleigh directed the call through to the speakers in her car. “Hello.”
“Miss Barnes. Are you on the road as instructed?”
“I am. I just hit the highway a few minutes ago.”
“Very good. I am going to text you the address for Diablo Games. Please use your GPS to get here as quickly as you can. Your prizes await.”
“Thank...” Before Kayleigh could finish what she was saying, the call ended, and her phone beeped to let her know that a text was incoming. She slid the device into a smartphone holder mounted on the dash and opened the text app. The address was clickable, so she tapped it and watched as her destination appeared on Google Maps, with the directions loaded. The exit off the highway was just a few miles away. Pushing down harder on the gas pedal, Kayleigh smiled and imagined what amazing prizes would be waiting for her.
APRIL PACED BACK AND forth between the kitchen and the living room, muttering to herself and twirling her hair around her pointer finger. Her stomach was in a knot, and she felt on the brink of throwing up the meal from Nico’s the night before. “We shouldn’t have let her go, babe. This doesn’t feel right.”