Chapter 396

Claire’ phone buzzed silently. A message popped up. It was from her grandma’s phone: “Sweetheart, are you here yet? Granny’s waiting for you on the rooftop~” That little tilde at the end, mixed with the fact that whoever was messaging might not even be human, or if they were, not exactly sane—it gave off serious creepy, psycho-vibes. Chills ran down her spine. Somehow, it felt familiar, eerily so. She tried to pin down where that feeling came from, but before she could grab hold of it, another message came in—a photo this time. One look, and Claire inhaled sharply. On a terrace cloaked in night, two elderly women sat slumped in chairs. Behind them, just darkness—a cloudy moon barely cast a soft halo of light. Weak LED strips ran along the bottom of a short railing, lighting their wind-tossed hair and fragile faces. There wasn’t terror in their expressions anymore. Just pure exhaustion, like life had almost drained out of them. Brandon leaned over from the driver’s seat to look at the p