Someone Joined the Group Chat
horror◐ TeenDad: "i'm coming up. lock your doors." We heard him take the stairs two at a time. Then his footsteps just stopped, halfway up. Zoe: "dad??" Dad: "there's someone standing at the top of the stairs." Me: "no there isn't. we're all in our rooms" Dad: "i'm looking right at him. he's on his phone." And the gray circle's three dots came on.
The gray circle: "Tell your dad I like his slippers." Dad screamed. We all burst out of our rooms at once — and the hallway was empty. Dad stood alone on the stairs, white as paper, in his slippers. The header now says 5 members. It fixed itself. But scroll up and every message from the gray circle is still there. Sent from Dad's number. And the last one came in while all five of us stood there staring at him. His phone was dark in his hand.