For a moment, all I could do was stare at the screen with Claire’s last warning still echoing in my head. Then I grabbed the phone, folded the note, and walked out before I completely came apart in front of Megan.
I cried the whole drive home, pulling over once because I couldn’t see the road through my tears.
***
That evening, Ryan walked through the front door with yellow roses and a box of cupcakes from my favorite bakery.
“Hey,” he said softly. “I thought maybe we could…”
He stopped.
Claire’s camera work was shaky, hurried, and furious.
Both our families were in the living room. My parents sat stiff and pale on the couch. His mother stood near the mantelpiece. And I was standing by the coffee table with Claire’s phone in my hand.
“Sit down,” I said.
Ryan’s eyes moved to the phone as I pressed play.
The room stayed silent except for Claire’s shaky video and Ryan’s own voice coming out of the tiny speaker. When the first clip ended, his face had gone gray. When the second began, his mother sat down without looking for a chair.
