Saoirse darted her hand out from under the duvet to click on the next video.
Bing.
The sound was sharp in the rare silence of internet chatter.
Marie: Please. It’s been a long-
Saoirse’s heart lurched. She flipped her phone over to hide the screen, pressing hard on the lock button. If the phone restarted, maybe the notification would leave her home screen.
Her phone vibrated back to life.
It’d been six months since Marie had last tried to contact her.
A shrill scream tore through the room, distorting into a guttural gurgle as it died away.
Just the local fox. Saorise told herself. Though it sounded like a woman dying in pain.
Bing.
Her phone twitched. Saoirse didn’t touch it.
She looked back at her laptop; rows of thumbnails bright against the black background, a line of tabs stretching above. There was a new notification.
(1) Instagram
Saoirse had to click into the tab to close it, accidentally glimpsing the message,
Marco98: Marie is really upset, why would you-
Her stomach twisted. Her instagram was new, none of them should have been able to find it.
Her phone vibrated excitedly, then sang the generic ringtone. She flipped it over.
An unknown number, but the profile pic popped up, Marie’s beautiful dark features unmistakable.
The shriek hit her like a slap, nearer this time, morphing with the incessant ringtone. The fox’s howl died away but her phone kept ringing.
BANG BANG
The banging on her apartment door throbbed down the hall and Saoirse dived off her bed, stumbling into her bathroom and slamming the door shut.
Her reflection in the mirror was white as a ghost.
Then her mouth opened, her eyes widening with horror, as she emitted another ear-splitting, jagged wail.
Just like a fox.
– Nilisa TENGUN