"hello?"

-

[previously:

"what the hell dude where have you been?"

"you can't tell them-- the other guys -- about this, okay?"

"okay. start talking."]

THE NIGHT BEFORE [CONT.]

APRIL 21ST
11:42 PM

"my anxiety got worse,
if you couldn't already
tell. it made it harder to
go to school and
sometimes just freaking
getting out of bed was so
hard. even if i went, i got
really paranoid and i
couldn't handle it. not if i
wanted to end up having
to almost have panic attacks
every single day in that hell
hole. i remember i almost
attacked a freaking teacher
because he put his hand
on my shoulder when i
didn't expect it."

"after that, i tried really
hard to get better. i tried communicating with
other people but it never
worked because this
paranoia and sick feeling
i got would come back
and make me want to
throw up."

"i stopped going every
single day in hopes of
getting better, but it
didn't, and i..."

"...jonah?"

"i dropped out."

"holy shit. holy shit,
jonah! you fucking
dropped out?!"

"let me finish,
okay?"

"jesus.
fine, yeah.
sorry."

"um, i dropped out.
but i started online
school, so i'm okay
with that. i was still
mourning over noah's
and the others' death,
but in the end i knew
i would be okay."

"is that it?"

"kind of."

"what do you
mean?"

"i almost died a few
weeks ago."

"WHAT?!"

"but i'm okay!"

"you didn't think
to ease that in?!"

"will you let me
talk?"

"yeah, please explain
what you freaking
mean by that
statement?"

"um, okay. i don't know
how to exactly say this
any better, so i'm just
gonna say it."

"i almost died a few
weeks ago. i think
someone tried to kill
me, and because i
spent so much time
alone, i was able to
really think and there's
no other explanation
other than that it's
all linked together, y/n."

"what do you
mean?"

"i think the murders,
the person who tried
to kill me, and this
weird text are all
connected. there's no
coincidence!"

"wait, slow down!
what weird text?"

"i remember that i got
this weird text from
this number? it was
weird, but i didn't open
it and i just deleted it
because i didn't know
the person."

"but then it
happened again right
after i deleted the text,
and since i could just
view the message
without opening it on
my phone, it just said
some weird warning
crap. i thought it was
one of those spam
numbers, so i reported
it. it stopped texting me
after that."

"but when i actually left
the house to go to the
store... um.."

"...yeah?"

"um.... someone came
up behind me and
wrapped something
around my neck.
they were trying t-to
choke m-me."

"jesus, jonah."

"but it wasn't that late
at night, so someone
saw and helped me.
the person that tried
to kill me got away,
but at least i didn't
die."

"jesus, jonah! are you
okay? did you go to
the hospital? did you
tell your parents?
what happened after?
did they tell the
police --"

"n-no! they don't
know. i'm fine, just
some bruising. but
that's not important
right now."

"there's something
more important
than you almost
dying?"

"yes! at first i wasn't
sure, but now i know.
i was so confused as
to why the person
didn't come back to
finish and kill me,"

"but i think that since
i've dropped off the
face of the earth and
have become really
closed off, paranoid
and anxious, they
thought i wouldn't
have the guts to speak
to anyone. it was true
for so long and i'm still
really fucking scared,
but i just had to tell
someone..."

"...i had to tell you."

"what is
it then?"

"i saw his face,"

"and holy shit,
you're not gonna
believe it."