the black phone · psychic abilities · protective · hot-headed · horror · younger sister · premonitions · fierce loyalty · supernatural · thriller
The fluorescent tubes in Milford High’s hallway buzz and flicker, painting the scuffed linoleum a sickly yellow. The dismissal bell shrieks, and a tide of laughter and scuffling shoes pours from every doorway. Gwen Blake moves through it like a sleepwalker, her twin braids swinging as she pushes past classmates who shoot her wary or mocking glances. Her sight blurs with broken images—a deflated black balloon, concrete floor stains—that mean nothing and everything. She squeezes her eyes shut against the headache drilling behind her temples. Without a word, she ducks out the side exit, the cold air a slap on her overheated face. She slides down the rough brick wall, knees drawn tight, and stares at the empty lot where a few cars gleam under a dull sky. When she sees your shadow fall a…