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Friday, 4:47 pm.

Seven clouds passed by my window. Slowly, leisurely they floated against the hazy blue sky. All seven, one after another as I watched. I, of course, had actual work I was supposed to be doing, but anyone who says they are still motivated on a Friday afternoon is a liar. I am not a liar.

So, I watched the clouds, and I listened to the tick of the clock on the wall behind me until it finally struck five o’clock.

Giddy from the high of quitting time I packed up my notebook and lunchbox, logged out of my work-issued laptop, and shut it down.

“Headed out?”

Janine, my coworker and cubicle neighbor asked, watching me as I fumbled with the buttons on my coat.

“Yes,” I smiled politely, “I don’t know about you, but I am so ready for the weekend.”

She nodded in agreement, and tucked a lock of her auburn hair behind her ear, “Big plans?”

“No. No plans at all really, just planning on not being here is enough.”

Janine laughed and agreed, “Well, have a good one.”

“You too, see you Monday.”

I trekked across the parking lot to my car. As usual, my sensible little four-door was parked in one of the spots farthest away from the office door.

I really have to start getting here earlier. I muttered to myself.

I used my thumbnail to scrape a little ice off of the door handle before getting in, still shivering as I started the engine.

Buzz buzz buzz. The vibrations from my phone shook my entire purse, which made it even more difficult to find than usual in its hiding place at the bottom of my bag. I finally dug it out on its last ring and swiped up on my sister’s face on the screen.

“Hey,” I said casually, trying not to appear as the mess that I was.

“Hey!” she was chipper, as usual, and her perfect blond locks were pulled up into an effortlessly bouncy ponytail. “did you see that email from mom?” She continued.

“No.” I hadn’t checked my email since lunch, probably another reason I wasn’t on the fast track for a promotion. “Why? Is Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” she waved a hand, “I mean I think so, she wants us to come over sometime this weekend and help clean out our closets and stuff before the open house.

Oh, right. The open house for the sale of my childhood home, another thing I’d put into the avoidance category of my thoughts. “Okay, that’s fine.” I replied, “I can stop by for a while tomorrow morning.”

“That’s what I was thinking too, let’s just get it over with.”

I nodded, “sounds good, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“see ya’,” she started to hang up before adding, “Email Mom back though, so she doesn’t think you’re ignoring her.”

“I will.”

“Okay thanks, love you Gwennie.”

“Love you too Em, see you tomorrow.”

Twenty minutes later I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex. I looped around looking for a spot and groaned as I realized the only available spaces were the farthest ones from my door.

Why are all of these people home already on a Friday afternoon? I grumbled to myself.

I slushed my way through the snowy parking lot and winced as the air, significantly colder than it was when I left work, cut through my cheeks to my teeth.

I used to love winter. When mom moved Em and me up here from Florida after the divorce, I spent all of that autumn dreaming about my first white winter. When the first snowfall finally arrived I was in awe, a fifteen-year-old completely marveling over the wonders of winter. I couldn’t get enough of the giant, fluffy snowflakes; or of the icicles that magically appeared on our gutters and the metal frame of our van. Emma and I spent hours making snow angels and trying to catch snowflakes on our tongues.

Now, ten years later, I was just cold. And the magical snow? That was just an obstacle that made me late for work in the morning.

I trucked up the stoop to my cracker box apartment and pushed my way through the narrow door. I was greeted by a meek meow and the feeling of my cat rubbing up against my legs.

Wallace.

“Hi, sweetie.” I bent down to give him a good scratch and he squeezed his big yellow eyes at me in response.

I immediately changed out of my work clothes and into my home uniform of sweatpants and a hoodie, and put the kettle on for some tea. Wallace hopped up on the counter, and I stroked his black fur as I waited for the water to boil. My conversation with Emma was still on my mind, and I grabbed my phone, remembering that I still needed to respond to my mother. I shuffled across the room and plopped down on the couch, opening the email app on my phone, I scrolled through the first dozen or so emails, all messages from deal websites and stores that I had no recollection of subscribing to. I found the email from my mom with the subject line Assistance needed, please. I skimmed the message and saw all of the same information my sister had relayed to me over the phone.

- Need to get a move on selling the house...realtor coming soon to schedule an open house...need you to get your stuff out of your room. -

I hit reply and let her know I was planning on coming by in the morning. I even threw in a smiley face emoji for good measure. I hit send and started to close out of my phone when an unopened email caught my eye.

Urgent- Rabbit in Danger.

Oh please don’t have pictures of sad bunnies. I murmured to myself as I clicked on the message. I was a glutton for punishment. It was probably some scam or at best an animal relief fund.

I froze as a photo popped up, not of a rabbit, but of my sister Emma.

It had to have been taken from far away. It showed her walking down the street in front of that cafe she frequented. It was in black and white, like one of those stalker photos I always saw on Law and Order.

Beneath the photo was a message.

They have your sister.

They are coming for you.

That’s when it hit me.

I used to call Emma rabbit when we were kids, because she was quiet, and a bit of a fiend for those snackable, bite-sized carrots.

I jerked up from the couch in a panic. This had to be some kind of trick. Some scam or some pervert or one of those emails that spread a virus through your device when you open it. I looked at the message again, it had landed in my inbox at three o’clock, hours before I spoke to my sister, and even saw her face, on video chat. She was fine.

I took a breath. Damn, these scammers were getting good.

I stood there for a moment longer, and then picked my phone up and dialed Em’s number.

You are being so ridiculous, I told myself it’s obviously fake and Em is going to make so much fun of you for this.

Still, the picture was creepy, I needed to call her.

The phone rang once.

The phone rang twice.

The phone rang a third time.

“Hello?”

I breathed a sigh of relief, “Em?”

“Um, yeah. Gwen, what’s up?”

My face rushed with the familiar warmth of embarrassment. I knew it was fake. There was no way that I could tell Emma about this.

“um.”

“Gwen?”

“Yeah, so I just wanted to check if you needed a ride to Mom’s tomorrow?” Not a great lie, but not the worst.

“Oh, no thanks, I’ve got an appointment first thing in the morning so I’ll just come from that.”

“Okay, that’s good...so what are you up to tonight?” I asked awkwardly, not ready to hang up just yet.

“Not much, Nikki and I are just going to chill at home and watch a movie. We were going to go to see that new comedy in the theater, but I think it’s too cold.”

I smiled at her mention of Nikki. Em’s girlfriend was funny and a very no-nonsense kind of girl. I had nothing to worry about.

“That sounds nice.” My heartbeat felt like it was finally returning to its normal rate. “Well, I’ll let you go then, give Nikki a hug from me.”

She paused before replying “Will do, you sure you’re alright over there Gwennie?”

“Yeah I’m good, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See ya.”

Emma was fine, there was nothing to worry about. I would figure out what was up with that weird email tomorrow.

I spent the rest of the evening catching up on reality TV competitions and dozing off a little bit on the couch before I finally forced myself to go to bed. I went through my evening routine a little more thoroughly than usual, I was still feeling a little creeped out from the earlier events of the day. I checked the locks, twice, and turned off all the lights before crawling under the covers with Wallace at my feet. Just as I was about to drift off, I heard the familiar buzz of my phone from its place on the nightstand.

I picked it up, my eyes squinted, unable to adjust to the bright light of my phone screen so quickly.

A new text from a number I didn’t recognize.

My heart started to race as I swiped it open.

Sleep Tight, Gwennie.