Chapter 31 Files
Amrah
I stared at the bowl of salmon salad Daphy had brought me, it looked so appetizing but I was too lazy to lift a finger.
My stomach had settled partially after the hot shower and the tea I had taken, but eating still felt like a task I wasn't quite ready to do.
"You need to eat something, Amy," Daphy urged.
She was sitting on the edge of my bed with a worried look on her face.
"I will, I promise. Just... give me a minute." I pulled my blanket tighter around myself and pressed the hot water bottle against my lower abdomen.
Daphy's leg bounced anxiously and her fingers drumming against her thigh. She had been like this since she arrived, a bit distracted and restless.
"Have you heard from Yvonne?" she asked after a moment of silence.
I thought for a moment, thinking about my recent messages and emails but none from Yvonne, and I haven't seen her in the hallway nor bumped into her in the elevator.
"No. Why?"
"That email I told you about…” she hesitated as if waiting for me to remember.
“The one with the timer?"
“Yes,” She pulled out her phone.
"It unlocks tomorrow morning. 7 AM exactly." she tapped on the device anxiously.
A cold shiver slithered down my spine despite the warmth of my blanket.
“That's... odd…”
"I know, right?" Daphy's voice came out higher, pitched with nerves.
“I'm honestly scared to open it alone. Can I come by in the morning? We can look at it together?"
The way she asked made my chest tighten. Daphy wasn't usually the scared type, she was the one who watched horror movies alone at midnight and laughed at jump scares.
Whatever this was, it had genuinely scared her and that scared me more.
"Of course," I said, managing what I hoped was a reassuring smile.
"Thank you." She let out a breath, some of the tension leaving her shoulders.
“Okay, I should let you rest. Please eat something, and don't stay up too late working on those blueprints, okay?"
"Yes, mom," I teased trying to cheer her up, even though I had become nervous myself.
She stuck her tongue out at me but smiled as she gathered her things.
“I mean it, Amy. Rest. You were as pale as a ghost earlier."
After she left, the apartment felt too quiet. I forced myself to eat the salad and to my surprise, I cleared the bowl.
Daphy always knew exactly how I liked it. I rested for a while before my mind drifted to the partially completed blueprint spread across my desk in my study.
I should rest, but I was anxious about the contest and I haven't even told anyone about it.
I couldn't sleep because my mind was too full of everything that had happened today from the confrontation with that Remi girl to Zayd carrying me away.
The look on his face when I had whispered about my period. The way he had been so careful with me, so concerned, did things to me, things I couldn't explain.
Work would quiet my thoughts.
I wrapped myself in my robe, grabbed my hot water bottle, and went to my study.
The building design I was working on was for a sustainable housing project with all clean lines and eco-friendly materials as the contest theme specified.
I lost myself in the familiar routine of sketching, adjusting angles, and calculating until Zayd’s message came in.
I felt giddy on seeing his message that I used a blushing emicon twice. I even told him about the contest because I didn't know what else to tell him, I just wanted to talk to him. He reminded me to rest early.
The hours slipped by unnoticed until my eyes started to blur. I texted Zayd that I was going to bed before I could even stop myself.
I dragged myself to bed, but sleep was elusive. My mind kept circling back to Yvonne's mysterious email, to the timer counting down, to the strange tension in Daphy's voice.
Something felt wrong. I hated the heavy weight feeling on my chest as I forced my eyes shut.
The buzzing of my phone jolted me awake from my restless sleep. I fumbled for it, squinting at the bright screen. It was 6:47 AM.
Daphy: I'm outside. Are you up?
I groaned and rolled out of bed, everything aching. My period always hits hardest on the second day. I feel so shitty and just wanted to scream at top of my lungs.
Daphy looked worse than I felt when I opened the door. Dark circles under her eyes, hair pulled into a messy ponytail, still wearing yesterday's clothes.
"Did you sleep at all?" I asked.
"Not really." She pushed past me into the apartment, laptop already clutched in her hands.
“I kept thinking about that email and Yvonne. What if something's wrong? Why would she send it to me? What if she's in trouble?"
"Then we'll deal with it," I said, trying to calm her down even though I was agitated myself.
"Want some coffee first?"
"No time. It unlocks in ten minutes."
We settled on my couch and Daphy's laptop on the coffee table in front of us. I watched the timer count down—7:03, 7:02, 7:01—my own anxiety building with each passing second.
Daphy's knee bounced rapidly beside me as she stared at the screen, barely blinking.
"What if it's bad?" she whispered. "What if something happened to her?"
"We will know soon enough," I said, reaching over to stop her shaking hand with mine.
At exactly 7:00 AM, the email unlocked with a soft ping that seemed too cheerful for the dread in my stomach.
Daphy's hand trembled as she opened it. No message. No explanation. Just a folder of video files. Over twenty of them, each with timestamps spanning the last several months.
"What the hell?" Daphy muttered, her cursor hovering over the first file. She glanced at me, and I saw my own apprehension reflected in her eyes.
“Should we...?"
"We have to," I said, though every instinct screamed at me to close the laptop and pretend we had never seen it.
She clicked.
The video loaded, and I felt my entire world tilt sideways.
Chris.
It was Chris naked in bed with someone I didn't recognize, a blonde woman whose face barely visible as she humped over his dick moaning rather loudly.
The video quality was too clear. This wasn't some accidental recording but one that was filmed intentionally.