Belo held the phone and turned it over carefully, as if it might bite.
I just watched him, thoughts circling but never landing on an answer.
Still, the same question burned: How did I hear Mike's voice when his phone was here the whole time?
The call was logged on my phone at 10:07 AM.
The timestamp shouldn't exist.
"That's insane!" I muttered, eyes darting between the phones.
"Check the other calls?" Belo's voice barely cut through the fog in my head as he handed me Mike's phone.
I frowned and sank deep into my chair, spinning it around like turns might help connect the dots.
'If Mike had set up a meeting yesterday, the smuggler had to be the first thread that led to the trap he walked into.'
There was no time to figure out the impossible. Maybe there was a system error or signal interruption.
Following a solid lead was the logical thing to do for now.
Tap. Tap.
My eyes skimmed the log like a fishing net, ready to catch someone to blame.
But what I found left me speechless.
I paused. Then, I scrolled down slowly.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"First contact: The dude who stole the corpse."
"Second: The nice girl who sits next to me."
"Third: The dude who went to the same high school."
"…"
There wasn't a single name.
Just...situations...like logs.
'Was he dumb?'
Before I could dig further, Belo leaned over my shoulder, resting his chin on my head like I was furniture.
"Our brother's an open book," he teased.
"Since his phone looks like it was brand new, we could learn his whole life just from this list."
My ears twitched at the word our next to brother. Hearing it from Belo's mouth rang like a hammer.
I furrowed my brows, ready to reply, but stayed silent and turned back to the phone.
I grabbed a sheet of paper and scribbled the most frequently called contacts:
The dude who was in the same high school. (Possible friend.)
The dude who stole the corpse. (Smuggler?)
The girl who knew everything about me. (Stalker??)
The nice girl who sits next to me. (Normal human.)
The man who swore to kill me. (Killer to be?!)
My hand paused at the last one.
'Was that a joke? Or a warning?'
I sighed and dropped the pen.
My thoughts were torn apart.
'Should I report this to the cops? But what would I even tell them?
"Here's my missing brother's weird contact list. He saved a killer's number on his phone?"
They'd probably arrest me for wasting their time.'
My brain wondered if there was more to this list that we didn't know yet.
My eyes lingered on the phone.
Curiosity won.
I wanted to check one more contact since my eyes didn't catch it at first glance—but Belo was faster.
He snatched the phone, grinning.
That grin told me exactly what he was planning.
"Let's check what he saved you as."
My stomach dropped.
"Don't you dare—" I lunged for the phone, heart pounding.
He dodged, laughing—until he tripped and the phone almost hit the floor.
I stretched out my hand and caught it mid-fall.
Then our laughter died.
My fingers screamed in protest the moment they touched the phone.
It was cold. Too cold, like it had slipped through another space and come back hollow.
The chill didn't stop at the surface—the room felt silent, isolated, almost empty.
I tried to adjust my grip, but my hand wouldn't close. It was as if the warmth had been drained right out of it.
The phone slipped from my palm and hit the floor with a dull thud.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The sound echoed, looping like a hammer pounding inside my skull.
"Ahh—!" I placed my hand over my forehead. A wave of dizziness washed over me for a second, making my vision blur.
Belo's lips moved, but his voice didn't reach my ears. His hand landed on my shoulder to steady me.
"I'm fine," I said, voice steady but low. His eyes searched mine for a second, then he nodded, still tense.
I forced myself to focus and looked down.
On the floor, Mike's phone pulsed once, then its screen dimmed to black.
I thought it was broken—until the overhead lights trembled, their hum warping, as if something was disturbing the current itself.
'What's happening?'
After a few seconds, the noise faded, but the pounding in my head remained.
The weight on my chest pressed heavily.
From Mike's voice, to the girl on the call, to the list, to this… everything screamed danger.
Maybe it was just stress.
I hadn't slept properly in days, and Belo looked fine—normal. Whatever it was, it had to be in my head.
'That's got to be it.'
But reality hit: Mike wasn't here. He hadn't returned since he went to meet the smuggler.
I had to act.
I straightened, crossed my legs on the floor, and leaned against the bed, bracing myself for what would come next.
"Belo," I said quietly. "Hand me the paper."
He sat beside me.
"What are you going to do?"
I scanned the logs and asked, "Who would you call from his contacts?"
"The nice girl, of course!" he said, smiling, but it didn't reach his eyes. He still looked worried, though.
"Nah. Too clean. Too normal for now, but maybe later." I looked at him, and he smiled back.
I scratched her out, and the "killer" too—no point in inviting disaster.
That left a smaller pool. I didn't like any of them, but the smuggler was the most suspicious.
My throat tightened. I didn't want to think about what "trap" Mike was trying to escape.
Typing…
Staring at the message.
"Hey, my friend's interested too.…" It sounded stiff. I deleted it, rewrote:
"My friend wants in."
The moment I hit send, the weight of it sank in.
I watched the message as it was received, and my breath caught waiting for the reply.
Seconds passed. Then a minute. The phone stayed still—dark, waiting. My reflection stared back at me through the glass, hollow-eyed.
Then the screen blinked.
"There is a group exchange today. Get your friend and meet at 7 p.m. near the broken statue in the backyard forest."
'That was easier than I expected. But they wanted today — and in a group?'
"Now what? Are you going to meet them?" Belo asked.
"No," I lied. "Get back to school."
Because I was going. Alone.
I stood, my head still pounding, eyes wide open.
Today was going to be long, and I had to prepare for the unpredictable—but it came sooner than expected.
The light flickered again and went out for a few seconds.
Then, through the dark, I heard it:
Carl. Don't go.
It was Mike's voice.