The Fake Sister’s Lies Couldn’t Silence Me Chapter 03
The Blue Trail was dead quiet.
Twenty minutes in, I hadn’t seen a single person.
I opened the junior trip group chat. No locations were shared. No one was talking about where to meet.
I sent a message.
[Hey blue team, did you all disappear??]
The text bubble turned green. The ‘Delivered’ sign was gone. I was still blocked.
So I talked to a tree.
“Hi. Any idea which way the campground is?”
The tree didn’t answer.
“That’s fine. You’re still nicer than Brennan. At least you didn’t call me crazy.”
It started to rain.
The trail turned slick. I grabbed at tree trunks to keep my footing.
I came around a bend where the guardrail had collapsed, and the ground dropped out from under me.
Muddy water rushed down my neck.
I tumbled down the slope and hit solid rock.
Everything went dark.
When I could see again, I reached for my left leg. It was wedged between two boulders. I couldn’t move it.
The phone screen was cracked halfway, but I still had a signal.
I called Brennan first.
Three rings. He hung up.
The second call went straight to voicemail.
I texted him.
[Brennan, I think I’m on the wrong trail.]
[My leg is stuck. Can you send a teacher?]
Green bubbles. No delivery receipt.
I called Mom.
She didn’t pick up either.
I tapped Sloane’s name.
This time, the messages went through. Blue bubbles.
[Sloane, I think I got the wrong trail tag?]
[I fell down a slope and my leg is stuck.]
[Can you tell Ms. Hart? Please.]
The typing indicator popped up.
My heart jumped. Someone was reading my messages. That alone was enough.
A few seconds later, her reply came through.
[Are you done with the whole act?]
Before I could type anything back, my next text turned green. Blocked.
I sat there for a few seconds.
Then I opened my contacts and started calling. Everyone.
Classmates. Teachers. The school nurse. The bus driver. Security.
Thirty-seven calls. Not one answer.
They were following the rules. Not even a single text back.
Rain kept pouring down around me. The water was above my shoes now.
I held my phone above the water and recorded a video for Mom.
[Mom, I’m not making this up.]
[Look. My leg is stuck between the rocks.]
[Just get someone to come find me. I’ll go right back to the blackout after, I promise.]
I sent the video and checked the time.
Fifty-one hours left.
I could make it.
My third foster family locked me in a storage closet once. I was in there for two days.
I kept pounding on the door.
I was too loud, so my foster father shoved a cabinet against the door.
That’s when I learned something.
When you’re begging for help, you can’t be too loud. If you are, they only get more annoyed.
The red group had already reached the campground.
Ms. Hart frowned, counting heads.
“Are we missing someone?”
Sloane didn’t look up from her phone.
“Tessa wasn’t feeling great. She said she was heading back to the bus early.”
Someone nearby spoke up without thinking.
“But I think I saw her heading toward the Blue Trail…”
Brennan shot them a look.
“Nobody talks about her during the blackout.”
“She does this, disappearing so people worry. If you play along, she’ll never stop.”
They shut up.
At six, the group got back to the bus.
Mr. Harlan did a head count.
“We’re one short.”
Ms. Hart looked at Sloane.
Sloane didn’t flinch.
“Tessa called her family driver to pick her up.”
“She knows everyone. I’m sure it wasn’t hard to get a ride.”
Nobody questioned it.
After all, I was Tessa.
You could drop me in the desert and I’d talk a camel into being my long-lost brother.
Mr. Harlan still looked uneasy. He tried calling me.
My phone rang while I was tying a shoelace around my bleeding leg.
My hands were shaking.
I picked up.
But on the other end, someone snatched the phone away.
Brennan’s voice echoed through the speaker.
“Nobody answers her calls.”
The line went dead.
I stared at the black screen. I didn’t move for a long time.
So they knew I was calling.
Nobody wanted to answer.
