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KYLE: Captain of the girls’ softball team, shoo-in for valedictorian, perfect attendance, perfectteeth, perfect manners...

NICK: And you want to be a doctor, and Mel’s parents want her to be a doctor, and...

Trina throws up a hand to stop him.

TRINA: Enough! Jesus. I get it. But even if she hates me, she should be here for Sara.

NICK: Not Becca?

TRINA: We all know this isn’t for Becca. She’s gone.

JEREMY: Damn, this is getting heavy. Should I go stand over there by the not-friends-with-Becca tree?

ANTHONY: Which one is that?

JEREMY: I’ll pick the one that looks the most ashamed of itself. For Trina’s sake.

VANESSA: D-did you guys hear something?

Everyone falls silent for a moment. And then laughter breaks through the silence, along with crashing footsteps. Trina flinches and whirls toward the sound, prompting a startled chuckle from Kyle.

ANTHONY: Well. I think Mel decided to come after all.

VIDEO EVIDENCE

Retrieved from the cell phone of Sophia Henry

Recorded April 18, 2017, 11:41 p.m.

The phone’s camera focuses on the dimly lit face of Sophia Henry. The background is indistinct.

SOPHIA: Okay. We’re here. In the middle of nowhere. In the dark.

A flashlight beam sweeps across Sophia’s face, and she winces.

SOPHIA: Hey! Watch that thing.

MELANIE: [Laughing] Sorry! It wasn’t on purpose. So is this it?

Sophia switches to the forward-facing camera and pans around a small clearing in a dark forest. Two young women stand nearby. Melanie “Mel” Whittaker is tall and thin, her dark curls under a purple knit cap, the only splash of color in an otherwise black ensemble. She has brown skin sprinkled with dark freckles, and her features have the kind of elegant severity prized in models. Miranda, a white girl with long hair dark enough to look black in the poor light, stands next to her in a blue windbreaker, looking off into the woods. Mel holds a large flashlight, sweeping it around the trees.

SOPHIA: Surprise, surprise. A whole bunch of trees. I’m shivering in fear. Terrified.

MEL: Oh, come on. You have to admit it’s pretty spooky. The dark woods at midnight...

Mel’s eyes are a bit too bright, her gait sloppy, and her voice overly loud in the quiet woods.

SOPHIA: You realize the message didn’t say anything about midnight.

MEL: That’s because it goes without saying. Come on, Sophia. Get into the spirit of Christmas.

SOPHIA: It’s April, and this is a waste of time. There’s nothing here.

MIRANDA: We’re in the wrong spot.

Miranda moves off through the woods, not waiting for the other girls or the light. They scramble to follow, Sophia muttering indistinctly under her breath as the camera bobs and weaves, picking up their silhouettes sporadically.

MEL: Hey, who’s that?