Part IV: Traces in the Snow
The next morning—or what passed for morning—Adam awoke to a gnawing sensation that something had shifted. He immediately opened MyLoveMate, only to find a string of messages from Leila… their timestamps were chilling.
The first message, sent at 4:00 AM: “Adam, there’s a sound in the backyard.”
Two minutes later: “I see something on the snow… I’m going to get closer.”
Then, the stream cut off. No further messages followed that final sentence: “I’m going to get closer.”
Adam felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. Leila had ventured out of her house in that pitch-black, frozen void to investigate something in the snow… and then vanished from the chat.
Adam typed frantically: “Leila, are you okay? Answer me immediately.”
Ten minutes passed… nothing. An entire hour… silence.
Just as he was about to call the police to check on her residence, a new message arrived… from Leila. But it brought no comfort: “I found small footprints, but they don’t belong to any animal. Only three toes… they lead toward the edge of the forest.”
Adam stopped breathing for a few seconds. Since when do creatures with three toes walk these woods?
Leila continued: “The tracks are strange… as if they were imprinted by something neither human nor animal. Something was here.”
Adam gave her the only advice that mattered: “Go back inside immediately. Do not follow the tracks, no matter what. Take a photo, send it to me, then lock your doors.”
She replied: “I took the photo… sending it to you now.”
One minute passed… two minutes… yet no photo arrived. Then, a new message flashed, incredibly brief: “Adam… the tracks have vanished.”
A minute later, another message appeared—longer, but it wasn’t from Leila. It came from an anonymous account within the site, with no name and no profile picture, just a single letter: “L”.
The message read: “Adam, do you want to know where Leila went?”
Then, the account vanished from the site.
To be continued…
