“She seems to have found someone for herself,” Jess said. “Maybe she should cover for Ash?”

"I'll cover it," Diana promised with a chuckle.

Vivien was their mutual friend who worked in the news department and knew the world of show business perfectly. Her boyfriend Ash, with whom Vivien rented an apartment together almost in the center of the city, was a jealous man and always tried to control the girl. Therefore, his call was not a surprise to Diane. Like Vivienne's frivolity.

- I hope he found someone better than this jerk, - her friend chuckled, not at all worried.

“Tell me,” Jess began timidly, who was completely uninterested in the relationship between Ash and Vivienne, and hallucination occupied a much larger place in her brain, “after absinthe, did you feel ... bad? she asked carefully.

- I sat in an embrace with the toilet, - a friend announced in a whisper, obviously not wanting her gentlemen to hear about it. "Did you feel bad too?"

"It was," Jess agreed with a sigh. She wanted to tell Diane everything, but she decided she would do it later.

“Happy birthday,” she said in parting.

“Thank you, dear,” Daina thanked her and hurried on:

- The boys are waiting. Till.

They said goodbye.

Jess got up from her chair, looked around carefully, and walked across the brightly lit room to the bar to make another cup of coffee. On the way, she looked out the window again, afraid to see anyone in it, but the street was completely deserted.

Jess returned to the TV, somehow avoiding the darkness of the second floor.

The match was coming to an end, and she listened to the commentator with half an ear, while scrolling through instagram and clicking on the hearts on the machine. The network and TV gave her a sense of belonging, and this feeling squeezed fear out of her consciousness. In a world with such advanced technologies, in a world where the future will be virtual, there is no place for mysticism and such nonsense.

Jess exhaled and continued her journey through the Internet.

Michael posted a photo from the holiday.

Like.

Megan boasted a new hairstyle.

Like.

Susan and Nick took a selfie. First joint?

Like. There is hope that they will be fine.

Jeverly was presented with a huge bouquet of roses.

Like? No, Jeverly doesn't deserve this.

Mary Ann finally posted a photo of her baby.

Angelok. “He's just adorable! He looks so much like his beautiful mommy,” Jess wrote, not forgetting to put a smiley at the end.

Adam also posted a photo - an old one, it seems, from school days.

La…

Jess' finger hovered over the screen.

“Guys from the school orchestra. It was a great time!” read the caption under the photo, followed by a long list of tags.

Jess looked.

There were seven students in the picture: not the entire school orchestra, but apparently only a part. They stood against the backdrop of the school - it seems that summer played with rich green colors in the picture. The faces seemed vaguely familiar, which is not surprising - Jess was talking to other guys from a different circle. Except for Adam. His family lived next door, and their parents socialized well and had barbecues together. Until Malone moved to the state capital.

In the center of the photo is Adam himself, a dark-skinned guy with a gorgeous smile. What did he play? On the pipe, I think?

Next to him were three girls: an unsympathetic lean blonde and red-haired frightened twins - Jess remembered them only because they looked alike.

A little further away are three guys: a sad Asian with a violin, whose name she either forgot or didn’t know at all, a joyfully grinning type with unwashed shoulder-length hair, and a fair-haired guy with chameleon eyes and a spiritual expression on his face.

Her chest burned with memories. And his lips touched the cold trembling that happens before you start crying.

It was empty and lonely inside.

Jess remembered that those eyes were either gray - like asphalt, then blue - like lake water on a sunny day, then green - like a wet leaf.

Changed from lighting and mood.

She hadn't allowed herself to look at his photographs for so long. Almost ten years have passed ... Jess hoped that over time everything would be forgotten and his face would also be forgotten, but as it turned out, it was an illusion.

She touched his face gently with her finger.

What would you look like now if you were around? Would you still smile openly and sincerely? And his hands remained the same tender? ..

Fear suddenly completely disappeared - he was flooded with uncontrollable sadness and panic.

No. No. Not!

The girl shook her head, forcefully forcing herself to stop thinking about this man. She let out a barely audible breath and hurried to close the app. And then she completely left her account, knowing full well that she didn’t remember the password by heart and just now she won’t go to Instagram and now she won’t see the photos on Adam’s page either.

It was a conscious decision.

It hurt too much to remember the past.

Too much happy present began to seem artificial and faded.

After taking a long sip of coffee that burned her lips and tongue, Jess began mindlessly flipping through the channels and settled on the live news. Immersed in her thoughts and in the struggle with herself, she heard only snippets of news:

- ... the celebrity divorce proceedings lasted a year and now ...

- ... the election race will begin at ...

- ... found another victim, and the police ...

The latest news caught Jess in their nets. She woke up from her thoughts and stared at the big TV screen, which showed a long shot of a dark street filled with people with worried expressions. There were police cars everywhere with flashing lights on.

“This is the fourth such victim found on the streets of the city over the past two months,” the correspondent said animatedly, and in her dark - almost like skin - eyes there was enthusiastic panic. – According to independent experts, the style of all murders is the same. Just like the rest of the victims, this is a young white woman, killed by a lethal injection of an unknown poison, and then frozen in a special refrigeration unit. The identity of the deceased has not yet been established. The police admit the possibility of the appearance of a serial killer in the city, however ...

When the camera focused on the stretcher, on which, apparently, the body of the unfortunate woman lay in a bag, Jess switched to another channel, which showed a popular sitcom. But she didn't enjoy it for a long time. Then, when the fear receded and the sense of danger dulled, then he came.

First it was a knock on the door. Lightweight, almost weightless.

It took Jess a moment to hear him, and as she tiptoed out into the hallway clutching the knife and telephone, she suddenly realized that the door was open and breezy.

There was a roar of laughter on the television.

And then there was a hiss. And screams rang out through him.

Something inside Jess snapped. Every vein is frozen. Each nerve - tensed, stretched out like a string.

“There are thieves in the house,” the girl said to herself, breathing haltingly. “You have to go, Jess. Get out of the house and run to the neighbors. Yell. Mantle will immediately hear your screams.

Looking around, the girl cautiously approached the door, ready to break loose and run away at any moment, but as soon as she touched the handle, the door suddenly closed itself. And the castle turned - also by itself.

The light turned off.

And Jess realized that she had fallen into a trap.