Melissa had known it was only a matter of time. The second she dropped the envelope into Shauna's mailbox, she felt the weight of inevitability slam against her chest. Inside the unassuming manila folder was a DAT tape, containing audio proof of everything: the screams, the crackling fire, the silence after Lottie stabbed the hiker. The tape wasn’t just evidence, it was a confession, a curse, a tether to the girl she used to be.

Now that tether had come home to strangle her.

She should’ve known Shauna wouldn’t come through the front door like a normal person. She should’ve known better than to think a woman like her would knock.

The first blow had come from the shadows, fast, reckless, desperate. A lamp shattered against the wall as Melissa stumbled into the living room, catching a glimpse of fury in Shauna's eyes. Her once-friend, once-sister-in-trauma, had waited in the coat closet like a predator. Melissa's ribs ached from the hit.

Shauna’s voice was feral. “You think you can blackmail me? You think you get to come back and destroy all of us because you couldn’t handle it?” Melissa didn’t scream. She didn’t cry. She just fought.

She shoved Shauna hard, enough to stagger her into the bookshelf. The two women tumbled, a chaotic mess of fists, elbows, teeth, old memories made flesh. From nowhere Shauna pulls a knife on her, Then — a voice.