(✓) iv.| 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐒 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇 𝐂𝐈𝐑𝐂𝐋𝐄, 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝.

⁴⁴ now or never

—

THE GROUP IN NEW YORK SAT WAITING PATIENTLY BY THE BURNER PHONE, all of them standing around, anxiously waiting for it to ring, evening casted down on the horrors new york city held beneath itself,

it was time for x to call them with an update.

x was actually supposed to call them five minutes ago, which austin made it a point to stress multiple times,

"it's ten o five, he was supposed to call us at ten" austin said once again, for the seventh time in a row, causing ethan to groan loudly, "dude, shut up! you've said this like eight times now" he said with annoyance,

"seven" amelia corrected softly, making them all turn to face her, "...i-it was actually seven times" she repeated once again nervously, causing ethan to shoot a death glare at the timid girl, making her look down.

ethan laid on the couch, patiently waiting with the burner phone laying on his chest.

"he's gonna call any second now" he reassured the group, who were all nervously shaking, which is how everything had been for months since their lives had been completely uprooted.

the people they once knew were gone within a flash.

and they weren't even sure if three of them were still alive.

the burner phone suddenly rang, making all of them jump before ethan quickly sat up on the couch, shushing everyone loudly before answering it,

"you're five minutes late" he groaned into the phone, making jade smack him for talking to this mysterious x person with such an attitude, ethan only rolled his eyes before hearing muffles from the other side.

he furrowed his brows before putting it on speaker so everyone else could listen,

then, the deep distorted voice that they heard

"meet in the woods by violettas parents house in two hours, don't be late" the distorted voice spoke through the phone abruptly,

then...

the line went dead.

x hung up the phone.

all of them looked around at each other with looks of horror, not even knowing what to think. compared to the last call they had with x, this one was much more abrupt and aggressive, and they definitely weren't expecting it.

"what the fuck" austin said breathlessly as he attempted to process what was even going on at this point,

"do we do it?" amelia asked while looking around anxiously, causing austin to immediately stand up, "no! no— no fucking way! that's so obviously a set up dude! just what i thought, x is setting us up!" he quickly jumped the gun,

"woah slow down—" ethan stood up as he held his hand out, attempting to calm his friend down, but they were way passed that.

"—no! i'm not going to slow down. we don't know who the fuck this guy is or if he's even reliable, now he's telling us to meet him in the middle of the woods, are you insane?!" austin shouted at him like he was an idiot,