There was only a small, old bunk bed, likely stolen from a school. Amy wasn't used to sleeping on the top bunk, so I let her have the bottom one. We were good friends, after all.
We didn't mind the poor living conditions. Having a place to sleep after work was enough. Like thousands of graduates flooding into the city for jobs, we were struggling. Our bosses were decent to us, just two ordinary graduates. Amy's boss kept her late, so she often returned after midnight. I grew accustomed to the sound of her coming home, eventually relying on it to fall asleep.
She would sometimes visit her boyfriend but always returned within three days to avoid losing her job. This time, a week passed with no word from her. No replies to my messages, no answer to my calls. I was worried.
Tonight, just as I was drifting off, a text message alert shattered the silence. It was from Amy. The message read only: "good friends, back to back."
Frowning, I called her, but the line was dead. I texted back, asking where she was. The reply was the same cryptic phrase. Exhausted, I silenced my phone and tried to sleep.
Suddenly, I awoke. The blue light of my phone glowed like a restless eye. It was Amy calling. I answered, hoping for an explanation, but heard only a chilling repetition: "good friends. back to back." The voice was wrong—Amy was quiet, never this playful. As I pondered, the voice on the line suddenly shrieked hysterically, "good-friends-back-to-back!"
Terrified, I dropped the phone. Climbing down from my bunk to retrieve it, I felt a cold, sticky droplet hit my neck. It was a thick, black liquid. More of it stained the bedsheet. Panic seized me, choking my breath.
I looked up. Above me was just the simple underside of the top bunk, a surface I never paid attention to. There, Amy's wide, unblinking eyes and parted lips met my horrified gaze. Her limbs were nailed firmly to the bed frame.
Another drop of the dark liquid fell from a nail onto my phone screen. It lit up once more, displaying the same message: "good friends, back to back."