## Chapter One — The Message
The rain had been falling for almost an hour when Maya received the message.
She was sitting alone by the window, watching droplets race down the glass while the rest of the house slept. The only light in her room came from the small lamp beside her bed.
Her phone vibrated.
Once.
Then again.
Maya reached for it without much interest.
Until she saw the name.
**Unknown Number.**
She almost ignored it.
Almost.
Then she opened the message.
> **Do you still remember what happened that night?**
Her heart stopped.
For several seconds, Maya couldn't move.
The room suddenly felt colder.
She stared at the screen, reading the sentence again and again, hoping she had misunderstood it.
But the words remained the same.
*Do you still remember what happened that night?*
There was only one night that could mean.
Seven years ago.
The night she had promised never to talk about again.
The night that had destroyed five friendships.
The night they had all agreed to bury forever.
Maya quickly locked her phone.
"No," she whispered.
She forced herself to breathe.
It was probably a prank.
Someone had found an old photograph. Someone was trying to scare her.
That had to be it.
She placed the phone facedown on the table and stood up.
Then it vibrated again.
Maya froze.
She slowly turned around.
Another message.
This time, there was a photograph attached.
Her hands trembled as she picked up the phone.
The picture was old and slightly blurry.
Five teenagers stood together beside an abandoned house.
Maya recognized herself immediately.
Beside her stood Daniel.
Her best friend since childhood.
On his other side was Chloe, the girl who had once been like a sister to her.
There was Ethan, always smiling.
And finally, Lucas.
Lucas.
Maya's breath caught.
She hadn't seen that photograph in seven years.
She hadn't seen Lucas in seven years either.
Her thumb hovered over the screen.
Then she noticed something in the photograph that she had never seen before.
In the background.
Behind the five of them.
There was another person.
A shadow stood in the doorway of the abandoned house.
Maya zoomed in.
Her heart began pounding.
She knew that person.
She knew exactly who it was.
"No..."
The phone slipped from her hand.
It landed on the carpet.
At that exact moment, someone knocked on her bedroom door.
Three slow knocks.
Maya couldn't breathe.
"Maya?"
Her mother's voice came from the other side.
"Are you awake?"
Maya stared at the photograph on her phone.
The past had found her.
And this time, it wasn't going to stay buried.
She picked up the phone with shaking hands.
A final message appeared on the screen.
> **You buried the wrong person.**
Maya's face went pale.
Because suddenly, she remembered something.
Something she hadn't remembered in seven years.
Someone had survived that night.
And they had been watching her ever since.
