Chapter 75

Elsie leaned back in her chair, lost in thought. Not far off, Grace's face flickered under the dim screen light, emotions hard to read. She knew exactly why Lucas hadn’t called her name on purpose. Faintly, Elsie thought she heard Lucas say, "Bro." It wasn’t from the video—it sounded way too real, yet so soft she wondered if it was just in her head. She couldn’t help but glance over toward where Lucas was standing. In the gloom, it almost looked like a tall, refined figure was standing next to him. The light on the screen suddenly shut off—the video had ended. With the blacked-out screen gone, the theater was left completely dark. A few seconds later, the ceiling lights flickered back on. Now fully lit, there was nobody standing beside Lucas. He stood alone at the back of the room, hands in his pockets, returning Elsie's stare with an expression that screamed, "Don't look at me—I know nothing." Someone sitting behind Elsie called out quickly, “Hey, Elsie!” In just a short few minutes,