Chapter 4
Maybe Max couldn't bring himself to let a woman step out first. Or maybe he just wanted to save face. Either way, he staggered out of the car.
With a dramatic shout like he was charging into battle, he stood in front of the hood and started loudly talking to the darkness—half threats, half nonsense, as if sheer volume alone might fix the problem. But it did nothing.
After that, Ryan got out. Then Jack followed. The three of them split up, muttering nonsense in different directions. Ten minutes later, the car still hadn't budged an inch.
Sophie was curled up in her seat, pale as a sheet and shaking like a leaf.
Lucas, meanwhile, tried to get in touch with the production crew.
The livestream comments exploded: [Some folks are actually doing something, some are just acting busy, and some can't even pull off the act.]
Just then—"Bang!"
A loud bang rang out from the darkness.
The three so-called tough guys dropped to their knees, clutching their heads. Sophie screamed and burst into tears.
In the chaos, I walked out from behind the car, screwdriver in hand. Everyone stared at me like they'd seen a ghost. I looked at them calmly and said, "The car ran out of gas."
The world went dead quiet.
The internet, on the other hand, completely lost it.
[Who else is laughing out loud in the middle of the night? This is diabolical—giving them a car with no gas and stranding them halfway into a cemetery. Horror level instantly maxed out.]
[Somebody help; those three guys were seconds away from losing it. If Emily had waited any longer, they would've been apologizing to every ghost in the zip code.]
[I'm officially switching sides. Emily was the only one keeping her head—no panic, tried restarting the car, then calmly checked it herself. Standing there in the dark with a screwdriver? Absolute main-character energy.]
[Compared to Sophie, who spent the whole night screaming. I'm done. Nerves of steel? More like nerves of jelly.]
Sophie hadn't expected to start bleeding fans five minutes into the show. Still, she knew she'd overreacted. Especially when she noticed how calm I'd been the entire time.
Her face darkened. Then, all of a sudden, she stormed up to me and snapped, "You were driving. How did you not know the tank was empty? Don't tell me you planned this with the production crew—letting us embarrass ourselves just so you could look cool and collected?"
She was so worked up her voice practically hit dog-whistle levels.
Max jumped in to back her up.
That was when my patience finally ran out.
"It was the producers messing with the car..." I tried to explain, but the familiar burn hit the back of my nose. The more anxious I got, the harder it was to control. The harder I tried, the fewer words came out.
The moment Sophie saw it, she pounced. "Do you have to cry every time something happens? It's exhausting. If you've got something to say, then just say it. Standing there like this only makes it look suspicious."
I didn't say a word. This stupid tear-trigger reflex couldn't be poked at. The moment I got worked up, my face flushed, my ears burned, and my brain went completely blank. But Sophie just kept piling on.
What made it worse was knowing that the way I looked right now was only going to lock in that "professional crybaby" label even harder. Honestly, I really wanted to smack her.
"She has nothing to do with it. It was just the production gimmick." Lucas reappeared out of nowhere. Under the moonlight, his sharp features looked cold and detached.
Maybe it was because someone finally had my back. Suddenly, I felt like I'd leveled up. I squared my shoulders and yelled at Sophie, who was still stunned. "Exactly!"
The livestream comments refreshed instantly.
[I'm crying—Emily got mad and then immediately ran out of steam.]
[Am I the only one who finds her kind of adorable? I'd be pissed too. She literally saved them, and they turned around and accused her. Without her, those three guys would still be out there apologizing to the spirits.]
[But Sophie's not totally wrong—someone who cries this easily being that calm all night is weird.]
[Since when does crying mean you're a coward?]
I had no idea what the internet was saying. But once Lucas spoke, no one dared push the issue any further.