“Val? Val! Wake up!”

Valerie’s eyes shot open. Screaming, she sprang to her feet and-

The sun's rays hit her like a slap on her face. Her ragged breaths quickened. Where was she? Where was that Rambo?

She spun around, ready to fight an old man to the death, only to see Kyler standing there with a worried look on her face.

“Val, are you okay?”

No, she wasn’t. She lowered her shaking fists. Her eyes flitted over the surroundings. This was her old room. Back when she lived together with Kyler. How had she ended up here? Did Rambo bring her all the way back to Kyler’s place?

“You’re shaking.” Kyler stepped closer and placed a hand on Valerie’s shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

Valerie shrugged off Kyler’s hand. She shook an accusing finger at her sister. “What are you and Rambo up to?”

Kyler frowned. “Who’s Rambo?”

“Don’t take me for an idiot!” Valerie’s voice trembled. “You sent me to this fortune-teller called Rambo and he spiked my drink!”

“Val, I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t know any fortune teller.”

“You-” Covering her mouth with a shaking hand, Valerie cut herself off when she noticed that Kyler’s right eye had not twitched.

Her little sister was a terrible liar. Like every terrible liar, Kyler had a tell. And that was a slight twitch in her right eye.

Kyler wasn’t lying to her. Valerie’s head spun. She lifted her hand to her forehead and steadied herself on her study desk. If Kyler wasn’t the one who told her about Rambo, who did?

“I’m sorry, Ky,” Valerie mumbled. “I just need my phone.”

She fumbled around her desk. Presuming Kyler didn’t send her that text about Rambo, someone else did. She had to find that message again. Now, where was that phone?

“Val.”

She turned. Kyler held out an old phone model. A phone that Richard had tossed into the depths of the ocean in a supposedly romantic gesture when he had bought her a new one. Three years ago. 

A chill ran down her spine. It couldn’t be that same phone. There was no way that phone could have been fished out of the water.

She snatched the phone away from Kyler and turned it over in her palm. A customized handphone skin of her favorite singer stared back at her. There was no doubt. This was her phone.

Turning it over again, she unlocked the phone. The screen came to life, loading her wallpaper which was a photo of Kyler and her. Her eyes darted to the top where the date and time were displayed.

Her heartbeat quickened. It couldn’t be.

She raced to the wall-length mirror behind her cupboard. When she saw her reflection, an audible gasp left her lips. She ran a trembling hand through her short, straight hair. Angling her body to one side, she looked at her shoulder. The tattoo of Richard's name that she had done in 2020 was not there.

It couldn’t be.