Sliding along the couch, Sean patted the space beside him and invited his girlfriend to have a seat. “Come here and try to relax. I know it’s tough, but what else can we do? You know how hard-headed she is. The entire game started because she signed a contract without looking at it.”
Plopping onto the couch, April placed her head on Sean’s shoulder. “I just worry about her,” she pouted.
“I do, too, but she’ll be fine. Come on, let’s watch some trashy morning television,” Sean said, powering on the TV and going through the menu to find something to watch.
They settled on The Today Show and watched as one of the hosts tried to pretend that they were enjoying some awful looking meal made by a celebrity chef. As the show went to the commercial break, Sean imagined the host spitting the food in the trash, an image that brought a little smile to his face. Picking up his phone, he Googled the chef to see how much he was worth. The number that the search results delivered were more than a little surprising.
“Is this guy for real?” April asked, pointing at the TV.
Sean looked up from his phone in time to see a lawyer in a suit swinging an ax and talking about how he was the man to call if you wanted to cut through the legal red tape. Shaking his head, he returned his attention to his phone.
“I mean, babe, he doesn’t even have a real phone number.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s mostly letters. 1-800-LAW-CHOP. How do you even dial that?”
“It’s pretty simple, Apes. Each number on the phone has a...” Sean stopped and turned to face April, slack-jawed.
“Has a what?”
Ignoring his girlfriend, Sean leaped off the couch, opening the memo app on his phone as he picked up the pen and paper from off the counter. Looking from the phone to the envelope, he wrote down the numbers from the game before opening his phone app. After a few scribbles on the paper, he turned to April, pale as a ghost, and said, “Fuck.”
THE EXCITEMENT THAT Kayleigh felt began to ebb as she turned onto the street where her destination lay. What was once probably a thriving residential neighborhood was now a rundown street where most of the houses either sat in darkness or behind boarded windows.
Stopping the car, Kayleigh backed up to make sure that she was in the right place. The name on the street sign matched what was on her GPS, so she put the vehicle into drive and moved slowly down the middle of the road. As she rounded a small curve, Kayleigh saw a bunch of brightly colored balloons tied to a mailbox, which leaned to one side like a drunk man. “This must be it,” she said, noticing the tremor in her voice.
Stopping the car by the mailbox, she noticed that the front flap was hanging open. She turned off the ignition, snatched up her phone, and stepped out of the car. After a few failed attempts where she snatched her hand away, Kayleigh finally reached inside, but the mailbox was empty. Slamming the flap shut, she breathed deeply and headed up the path to the front door, where she could see a note attached.
The driveway of the house ran alongside the path, weeds poking out from between the cracks. A wide gated fence sat at the end of the drive; the gates held closed by a shiny new padlock. As she climbed the steps to the house, Kayleigh could just make out the roof of a green car parked beyond the fence. “Terry. Shocker.” She turned her attention back to the door and read the attached message.
The Hollow-Eyed Girl After Party
Welcome, Diablo Games staff, actors, and contestants.
Please come on in and join the party.
The main event is in the basement.
Have Fun!!
Kayleigh had been to a ton of parties in her time, but she couldn’t remember one starting this early in the morning. She thought about knocking, but the note did say to go right in, so she tried the handle first. The door swung open, and Kayleigh stepped inside.
“WHAT IS IT, BABES? You’re scaring me.”
Sean carried the pen and paper over to the couch and sat down, placing the envelope on the counter for April to see. “If you take the numbers used in the game and look for them on the dial pad on your phone, you get the corresponding letters. There are only so many word options for each number, but I think I know what they are spelling out.”
“I don’t want to know what it says. I don’t,” April said, covering her ears with her hands.
Reaching out, Sean gently pulled her hands back and held them in his own. “You need to hear this. I think Kayleigh is in trouble. This isn’t a game.”
“Okay, tell me.” April’s bottom lip began to tremble, and tears gathered in her eyes.
Picking up the remote, Sean turned to mute the TV, but he stopped when a familiar face filled the screen. Instead of hitting mute, he turned up the volume and listened to the story.”
THE HOUSE MAY HAVE been in a crappy neighborhood and look terrible from the outside, but the interior was tastefully decorated with modern furnishings. The place reeked of money, making the location choice a strange one, but Kayleigh imagined that the game creators had probably received a startup investment of some kind. Just like a bunch of computer geeks to load up on cool shit and not care about how the place looked from the street.
Stepping further into the house, Kayleigh could hear music drifting up from downstairs. As she moved down the hallway towards the kitchen, the beat became louder. On her right was a door to the basement, the word “PARTY” painted on in a glaring shade of lime green.
Opening the door, Kayleighy followed the steps down to a small landing, then turned right and peered down the remaining stairs. The music was louder then, and she could just make out the bottom edge of the pentagram painted on the floor. Without giving it a second thought, she descended the rest of the way.
“ARE YOU GOING TO TELL me the message, or are you going to watch TV?” April whined.
“I love you to death, but could you PLEASE be quiet for a minute and pay attention to what’s happening on TV.” Sean touched the volume a little higher and caught the reporter in mid-sentence.
“...had been missing since last Friday. It seems that the candlelight vigil might well have done the trick, as the Lawrenceton woman arrived home last night, safe and sound. We are awaiting more details on her disappearance, but Jenna Carlson will be enjoying some home cooking this evening. And that is it for your local news. Let’s get you back to The Today Show.”
“I don’t know what’s happening,” April said.
Hitting mute, Sean retook her hand. “First off, I’m sorry I got snippy, even though that Jenna girl isn’t the one in the video, I still think Kayleigh is in trouble.”
“Show me.”
Flipping the paper around, Sean showed her the words he had written down. “IF YOU SOLVE IT YOU ARE MINE.”
“Are you sure that’s right?”
“Positive. That name they had us find, that Maury E. Eoin. That name is an anagram of you are mine.”
“I just thought they’d used an Irish sounding name, like the demon name. Falyn.”
“Both names felt weird to me. Let me check what number relates to Falyn. Tell me if it means anything.” Comparing the letters to the numbers, Sean wrote the answer down.”