The night weighed heavy with an eerie silence, broken only by the distant hum of the neighborhood. My room, once familiar, now felt foreign—like I no longer belonged here. The mirror on the wall reflected a face I didn’t recognize, yet I couldn’t look away. My fingers brushed against my cheek, tracing the soft lines of my features. My skin felt strange, smoother, and the unfamiliar shape of my lips twisted into a frown.
I wasn’t Jamie anymore.
“Jamie?” Jessica’s voice called softly from the doorway, barely above a whisper. “Can I come in?”
I didn’t answer at first, still staring into the mirror. Finally, I nodded. She stepped inside, her movements cautious, as if she were afraid to disturb the fragile air of the room.
“I found something,” she said, her tone low, almost conspiratorial. “In your backpack. It’s… weird.”
My heart leapt into my throat. “What do you mean?”
Jessica held out a small, crumpled piece of paper. It looked like it had been hastily shoved into the bottom of my bag. “This. It was folded up with your stuff. I didn’t notice it earlier.”
I unfolded the paper with trembling hands. The writing was jagged, hurried, as though whoever had written it had been in a rush—or scared.
“Don’t trust them. If you’re reading this, it’s already started. The machine is only the beginning. They’ll come for you. Don’t let them find you.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who wrote this?” I whispered, clutching the note tightly.
Jessica shook her head. “I don’t know. Do you recognize the handwriting?”
“No.” The word came out barely audible. My mind raced, piecing together fragments of memory—images of the glowing machine, the sixth graders jeering, and the strange, unshakable sensation that someone else had been there, watching from the shadows.
Jessica sat on the edge of my bed, her expression grim. “Jamie, this… this isn’t just some weird prank. Whoever wrote that note knew something was going to happen to you. And if they’re right…” She hesitated, her voice dropping lower. “If they’re right, you might be in danger.”
I swallowed hard, my throat dry. “But who’s ‘they’? Who’s coming for me?”
Jessica didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. The answer hung unspoken in the air, a heavy weight neither of us wanted to acknowledge.
“I think we need to find that machine,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt. “If it did this to me, maybe it can undo it. And maybe… maybe it can tell us who’s behind all this.”
Jessica hesitated. “Mom’s not going to let us just go looking for some random machine. She’ll freak out if we leave the house.”
“We can’t tell her,” I said firmly. “Not yet. Not until we know more. I don’t want to put her in danger too.”
Jessica nodded reluctantly. “Okay. But where do we even start? Do you remember anything about where you were when it happened?”
I closed my eyes, trying to force the memories to surface. The alley behind the school. The laughter of the sixth graders. The faint hum of electricity, the flash of light, and then… nothing.
“There’s a spot behind the school,” I said finally. “That’s where it happened. Maybe… maybe there’s something left behind. Something we missed.”
Jessica glanced at the window. The sky was dark, the moon casting long shadows across the yard. “We can go tomorrow,” she said. “It’s too dangerous to go out now.”
I shook my head. “No. We can’t wait. If someone’s after me, we need answers now.”
Jessica sighed, rubbing her temples. “Fine. But if we get caught, you’re explaining this to Mom.”
I grabbed a jacket—my old one, oversized and loose enough to hide my new frame. It didn’t help much. No matter how I adjusted it, I still felt exposed, like I was wearing someone else’s clothes.
As we crept downstairs, the house seemed unnaturally still. Mom’s bedroom door was closed, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched.
The night air bit at my skin as we stepped outside, the world around us quiet and dark. Jessica led the way, her phone flashlight cutting through the shadows.
The school loomed ahead, its empty playground and darkened windows eerier than I remembered. The alley behind it was even worse—a narrow, claustrophobic space littered with trash and overgrown weeds.
“This is where it happened?” Jessica asked, her voice hushed.
I nodded, stepping forward. My heart pounded as I scanned the ground, searching for any sign of the machine—or whoever might have left the note.
And then I saw it.
A faint, glowing imprint on the ground, like the afterimage of a light burned into my vision. It pulsed faintly, casting an otherworldly glow on the concrete.
“What is that?” Jessica whispered, her voice trembling.
“I don’t know,” I said, crouching to get a closer look. The glow seemed to shift and move, almost alive. I reached out hesitantly, my fingers brushing against the edge of the light.
The moment I touched it, a wave of energy surged through me, sharp and cold, sending me sprawling backward.
“Jamie!” Jessica screamed, grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet.