She had been sitting alone when her phone started ringing. Nothing unusual about the being alone part. That was the norm since she’d lost her only friend. A mix of misunderstandings had led to her being on her own. Again.

Most of the time she could handle it.

The phone had vibrated three times before she’d answered it. Heard the words that started it all.

‘Hello, Holly. Do you know who this is?’

The voice had sounded unnatural, robotic almost. Like a computer was talking to her. ‘Should I?’

‘Not yet,’ the voice said, flat and emotionless. ‘I hope you will soon, though.

‘I don’t want to scare you, Holly,’ the voice had said, as Holly sat open-mouthed, unable to speak. ‘I just want you to listen. We know what you’ve been doing. And we’re going to tell everyone who you really are. Unless you do exactly as we say.’

She had been playing The Game since that moment six hours ago.

Holly tried to remember a time when she’d been comfortable in her own skin. When she didn’t feel lost. Out of place. Anywhere she’d been in her life – all seventeen, almost eighteen, years of it – she’d always felt like she didn’t belong, no matter where it was. At school, at parties – when she’d still been invited to them – at gigs, anywhere. It didn’t matter, it had always felt the same.

Now, she was a part of something.

A game.

This was the first part of it. Watching the stranger on her camera come into view finally, then disappear almost as quickly. Into his house.

She breathed silently, wondering what the next step would be. How far she would have to go.

Level One.

How far was she willing to go?

And she knew, right then, that she was ready to do whatever it would take to finish The Game. Was ready to do anything she was asked to do to stop people finding out about what she’d done.

Pretending to have cancer wasn’t something people would understand. Not something her mum would understand, more than anyone else. Not after losing her own mother and sister in the same year to the disease.

That had given her the idea. Finding the support group online, the people reading Holly’s invented story, giving her the time of day for once.

The story growing bigger and bigger. The lies becoming harder to hide.

Yet, they were there for her. More than anyone else.

Someone had found out what she’d done. And she couldn’t let her mum know about it.

She had to play their game.

The alternative was too difficult to imagine.

Her phone buzzed in her hand. She lifted it to her ear and listened to the words. The instructions.

Then, walked out of the shadows and towards the house.

PLAYER TWO