11 Months Later
My phone buzzes loudly. “Sorry, I thought this was off..” I look over to her nightstand and find my phone buzzing in a zig-zag pattern, the screen flashing white and then off, repeatedly with every buzz. Cass stops kissing my neck and follows my gaze.
“Weird.” She stands up and picks up my phone. “What the hell is Resolution Keeper?”
“What?” I stand up from her bed, coming to stand beside her to peer over her shoulder. “I forgot about that app.” I watch as Cass presses ‘accept notification’. A screen pops up with a few sentences in bold, red letters.
“Attention user. Your account has been inactive for the past 11 months and two weeks. We’ve noticed that you've so far failed to complete any of our resolutions- what the hell is this?”
“Just keep going.” I cross to the bed and sit down.
“We’d like to remind you that the date is December 21st and that you have until the end of the year to complete your resolutions. Remember if you do not complete your tasks in the order you have chosen the consequence will be enforced!? Failure to complete resolutions will result in the consequence!? Elliot, what the hell is this? It's freaking me out. I swear if you're pranking me-”
“It's not a prank, I knew something was up from the beginning…”
“Elliot, come on, please. Just explain this! It's weird.” I take a shaky deep breath.
“Last New Year's Eve, me and some friends all downloaded this app that we could keep track of our resolutions on. There was this huge, I don't know, a myth I guess? It was that if you submit your resolutions, the app gives you a consequence if you don't finish them, in the order you gave to the app. It’s stupid though. I could've sworn I deleted it…”
“You really think that something bad might happen to you? I mean like, this sounds like some, some countdown shit!”
“No, it's not. I doubt an app on my phone would kill me. Let's just uninstall it.”
I hold out my hand and Cass slowly hands over the phone, her hand notably shaking slightly. “Hey, it's ok. It's just a stupid app. If it makes you feel better, I’ll text my friends and see if the same thing is happening to them. Ok?” Cass nods, coming to cuddle next to me. I press and hold on the app, and shake away the bad feeling as my finger hovers over the uninstall button.
“What are you doing? Get rid of it.” Cass’s breath is warm on my neck, and I press uninstall. I watch as, after a few seconds, the little icon is gone.
Well, that was easy. I open up messages and go to text Finn, but see I have a new message. I click on it.
“What the-”
“Oh shit!” Cass stands up, covering her mouth. “Ok somethings wrong somethings wrong!”
“Shh shh it's fine, it's ok. It's gotta be a prank. You're right. You know I bet it's Evan. It was his idea, I'll bet he's the one controlling the app too.”
I couldn't help but read the message. PLEASE NOTE THAT DELETING THE APP WILL NOT STOP YOUR RESOLUTION KEEPER FROM GIVING ITS BEST PERFORMANCE. 10 DAYS TO COMPLETE TASKS IN ORDER. REMEMBER, IF YOU DO NOT COMPLETE THESE TASKS IN THE ORDER YOU CHOSE, THE CONSEQUENCE WILL BE ENFORCED. FAILURE TO COMPLETE ALL TASKS BY THE NEXT NEW YEAR WILL RESULT IN THE CONSEQUENCE.
“I'm just gonna call Evan, ok?” Cass nods quickly. My mind races as I fumble, trying to call Evan. “Come on pick up, pick up…. Evan!”
“I'm guessing you’re seeing this too?” I exhaled, not realizing I'd been holding my breath.
“What do we do? Is it everyone else?”
“Finn called but I was in the shower. I think we all got it at the same time, so I assume Conner and Lillian-”
“What are we going to do? What's ‘The Consequence’?”
“I don't know, I think I'm just gonna uninstall it though, it's super creepy, dude.”
“No! Don't uninstall it, I did and the app texted me a warning. It said, I don't know. Hold on, let me screenshot it.” I pull the phone away from my ear and open up the message.
“What's he saying? Does he know how to fix it?” Cass is pacing the room, heightening the mood.
“What the hell?” I say, bringing the phone back up to my ear. “Evan?”
“Yeah?”
“When I try to screenshot it, the pictures are just black. Dude, I don't think I can show proof.”
“It's fine, I believe you. Look, whatever is going on, if it’s in your phone, it's a hacker. We need to get the group together and gather any information we can.”
“Ok, that sounds good.” I look over at Cass sitting in her chair in the corner, her legs bouncing, her brows furrowed.
“Ok. No matter what you do, don’t complete any resolutions, not until we meet up, ok?”
“Ok.”
“Meet at Finn’s house in ten?”
“Ok. Yeah. See you then.”
“Be safe man.”
“You too.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
I wait to hear the chime before pulling my phone away. “What are you going to do? Who is this? What are they doing? I think this counts as a threat. Does this count as a threat?”
“Cassady, please! I don't know! I. Don’t. Know.” I feel my chest rising faster than I'd like it to, along with my fingers tingling. “Elliot. Shh. Elliot.” Cassy’s suddenly wrapped around me, hugging me tightly, and stroking my back. I take a few deep breaths.
“I have to go.”
“Where?”
“To Finn’s house. I have to help figure this out.”
“You're not going anywhere without me.”
“No. Whatever this is, I don't want it near you. I don't want you getting these messages.”
“I thought you were the one who said an app wouldn't hurt you?”
“I said an app won't kill me. I don't want it to hurt you, Cass.”
“I don't want to leave you!”
“You don't understand. If something happened to you and I was the cause-”
“No, you don't understand! If something happened to you and I wasn't there!? I love you, I can’t let you go, please let me come with you, I promise I won’t leave your side.”
I reached up and held Cass’s face, feeling the sting of tears with all emotions behind them, burning in my eyes. “Ok.”
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It takes us only a few minutes to drive from Cass’s house to Finn’s. It’s a wonder that they live so close, on account that they've never known each other. When I turn onto his block, I see Conner’s car, which insinuates Lillian is here too, and Evan’s Moped. I pull beside the curb right in front of his house. “Are you sure you wanna come?” I ask, looking into Cass’eyes.
“Yeah.” She says, her voice more sure than my own. I nod, parking and turning the car off. 189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GFvUip2fX
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I go to ring the doorbell when the door flings open and Finn stares at me, then Cass, then me, before nodding us inside. I look over at Cass but she steps inside, not thinking anything of it. We follow quietly down the hall and then up to Finn’s room, not making any noise.
Once we reach Finn's door, I can hear some chatter from inside, and when Finn opens the door, I see Evan laying on the bed, Lillian sitting in Finn’s desk chair, and Conner sitting on the floor, leaning against Lillian’s legs. They all three look up at me, Evan bolting up from the bed. “Elliot! My main man! Get over here!” He wraps me in a hug, patting my back like any man older than the age of 40 would.
“You seem rather cheerful to figure out who’s hacking all your phones, maybe even threatening you with violence.” Cass has her arms across her chest, giving Evan the look she gives me when she knows I know I'm wrong.
Evan goes quiet and sits back on the bed. Finn goes and sits against the closet door, I go and sit beside Evan on the bed, and shutting the door and locking it as she walks through, Cass comes and sits beside me. “Ok, what the hell is happening to you guys?”
“Why is she here?” Lilian whispers to Conner, but loud enough so we can all hear.
“I'm here because you all clearly aren't smart enough and mature enough to handle this. This is a serious issue. Someone could be downloading information off of your phones, maybe even getting passwords.”
“What’s so important about a password?” Lillian says, almost jokingly. No one laughs.
“Bank accounts, social media, information about your address, where we go to school, all at the click of a finger if there's a hacker in here!” Evan says, holding up his phone. Lillian’s mood quickly shifts.
“What do we do to get it out?” She says softly.
“I say we call the police,” Conner speaks up for the first time, his voice lighter and less sure than I remembered it being.
“We can't call the police. What would we say? That we downloaded an app and it gave us a bug that is creeping us out?” Finn’s pessimism is exactly what the group needs right now. Though,
“He’s right. Whoever this is, they're good. I have no proof that this isn't a friend's number, and you guys have no proof that the app has said anything weird.” We all go silent.
“What if it's not a who, what if it's a what?” Lillian, Finn, and Conner all start hollering for Evan to stop with the stupid myth, but Evan stands up, his hands flailing for everyone to stop. The room goes quiet. “I'm not kidding guys! What if the stories about the app are true!? What if, unless we complete all the resolutions we die!”
“You're insane! That's just a stupid story. None of it is true.” Conner leans back as Lillian plays with his hair.
“Oh yeah?” Evan says. Conner looks up at him.
“Yeah.” Conner stands up. In one swift movement Conner lunges for Evan, Evan hops around to where Conner was standing, leans over, and kisses Lillian on the lips.
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