The message arrived at 3:47 AM—a single word that changed everything: RUN.
Emma stared at her phone, the blue glow illuminating her bedroom walls. Unknown number. She should delete it, go back to sleep, forget the whole thing. But her finger hovered over the screen, trembling.
Because she recognized the handwriting in the screenshot attached below the text. Her own journal, the one she'd lost three weeks ago at the coffee shop. The page showed tomorrow's date with an entry she'd never written:
"Today I died. I should have listened."
Her heart hammered against her ribs. This had to be a prank. Some sick joke from—
The phone buzzed again.
"Check your coat pocket. The blue one. NOW."
Emma threw off her blankets and stumbled to the closet. Her blue peacoat hung where she'd left it yesterday. She'd worn it to the interview at Meridian Tech, the job she'd been dreaming about for months.
Her fingers found something in the right pocket—a small glass vial filled with clear liquid. A yellow hazmat sticker wrapped around it. And underneath, in neat block letters: SAMPLE 7—DO NOT INGEST.
"What the hell?" she whispered.
The phone lit up one final time.
"They put it in your pocket during the interview. You drank coffee from their breakroom this morning, didn't you? You have twelve hours. The address below is your only chance. Come alone, or you won't make it to sunrise."
Below was a location pin: an abandoned warehouse on the industrial side of town. The same area where two Meridian employees had "disappeared" last month.
Emma's mouth went dry. She had drunk that coffee. The receptionist had been so insistent, so friendly about it.
Her hands wouldn't stop shaking as she grabbed her keys.
Twelve hours.
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