Cold Hearts Club
TW: Abduction, cyberstalking, technological control, unauthorized location tracking.
MAYA
Guiding the cursor to the ‘support group’, I click on it and wait for the screen to load. It takes a while, but eventually, the website lets me choose my location and soon after, I’m brought to another page.
I really thought it would work differently, but the chat between hundreds of people instantly fills my screen.
Holding my breath, I pull my hand away from the mouse and read the chat as messages fill it in real time.
Barbara: Has anyone heard anything this year?
Dominic: About the app?
Sasha: Now that you bring it up, I haven’t heard anything yet. It’s supposed to show up on December 1st, isn’t it? We’re a week into December and I haven’t heard anything yet.
Barbara: That’s the point. Maybe the cops finally took us seriously and managed to ban that cursed thing?
Sasha: Or maybe, whoever is behind the app and the disappearances is waiting for something.
Dominic: Like what?
Sasha: I don’t know, the perfect victim?
My breath hitches, eyes fill with tears, but I can’t look away.
I learned about this support group from an ad in the local newspaper. It said the family and friends of every person who has gone missing because of the ‘December app’ is welcome to join to support each other, but I never assumed they’d be discussing it like this.
I’m seeking peace. I’m seeking support and comfort, a reminder that life doesn’t stop, not the assumptions that even more innocent people will go missing.
I’m half tempted to close the chat and stop reading, but I think of Lisa and can’t bring myself to do it. My sister went missing last year, just like that—she was here one moment and the next, she just wasn’t.
We tried everything, we did the right things—filing a missing person report, handing in her devices, any evidence we could find, really. We even printed flyers and plastered them all over the city.
But, no matter how hard we keep pushing, up to this day, the police insist that Lisa is a grown woman and could leave if she wanted to.
The only issue is that the police don’t know my sister like I do. I knew something was off the moment I stopped by her place and found the door left ajar.
She was nowhere to be found, but her new phone, the one I saved up for months to give her, was left turned off in the living room. Her old phone was in her bedroom, still open on that bloody app.
The chat pings with a new message and I look up to read it.
Sasha: I just got the notification about the app.
Dominic: Me too.
Barbara: Appeared on my devices just now.
More messages on the chat pop up, in a matter of minutes, the amount of people in live chat jump from fifty to over five thousand—the messages flash so fast, I can’t read any of them and more people join until eventually, the website crashes.
I stare at the frozen screen and take a deep breath. Then, with shaking hands, I pull my phone out of the pocket of my hoodie and stare at the pop-up message. “Lonely? Join millions of people in their search for love. Find your soulmate before December 31st.”
I bite the inside of my cheek and grip the phone so tightly my knuckles turn white. “What if…” I whisper but don’t allow myself to finish the thought.
Lisa would hate it if I took a risk like this, but then again, can I keep sitting here and doing nothing? What if by joining the app I figure out where she is, or at least how did she go missing? There has to be something I can do.
Just as I’m about to tap on the notification to download the app, my phone rings and startles me so bad, I scream and drop the device.
“God damn it,” I hiss and reach under the desk to feel for the phone. When I finally pick it up and look at the screen, my eyes widen. “Oh no.”
Somehow, while trying to reach the phone, I tapped on the notification and the app is already downloading. Okay, that’s an issue for later. First, I answer the call since the strange number is calling me again. “Hello?”
“Good evening, am I talking to Maya?” A pleasant male voice asks.
I clear my throat and nod as if he can see me, “That’s me. How can I help you?”
“My name is Eli Carrow, I used to work with the developers of the December app. Now, I’m one of the volunteers who works for the support group you were interested in joining. I’m calling about the application you sent in. Are you still interested in joining?” He explains softly.
“Uh, well,” I mutter and clear my throat again. “Well, yes, but I already joined the support group online.”
“That’s great,” Eli says and I can hear his smile.
“We have only one rule—the support group members don’t download the app.
As I said, I used to work with the developers, but whatever is going on isn’t one of the app's base features. It was supposed to be a simple dating app, not whatever it is now.”
“Shit,” I hiss, pull the phone from my ear and put the call on a loudspeaker. I take a steadying breath and freeze as I look at the screen.
“Maya? Are you okay?” Eli asks as I watch how my phone fills in the ‘dating profile’ information right before my eyes.
Name: Maya
Occupation: Stripper
Age: 29
Height: 5’7
Eye color: Green
“No,” I choke out and decide to come clean with Eli because maybe he has an idea what I could do to fix this mess.
“I got the notification from the app earlier. Then, you called me and I got startled, dropped the phone and accidentally tapped on the notification when I was reaching for the phone under my desk. It’s…
It’s filling the information in the app for me. ”
“Damn it,” Eli curses and his voice instantly drops. “Whatever you do, don’t answer the message that might come. No matter how tempting it seems, just don’t answer. Better yet, don’t even read it.”
“How is it doing this?” I ask as I watch the app choose one of my photos and set it as a profile photo.
“I have no idea,” Eli admits, sounding far too calm for the panic I feel coursing through me. “As I said, the app isn’t working as it was supposed to. Breathe, Maya, just breathe and exit the app.”
I listen to him and try to exit the app, but it’s like my phone doesn’t react at all. “It won’t allow me.”
“Okay, what do you see now?” Eli asks and I can hear frantic typing in the background.
“It filled in the information, added a photo-” I cut myself off with a loud gasp. “Oh, no, it took me straight to messages. There’s a message from a guy already.”
“Fuck!” Eli growls and by the sound of it, slams his fist against the desk. “Don’t answer, Maya!”
“I won’t!” I promise but the app opens the message for me anyway.
Sender: Noah
Subject: I’d love to take you out on a date.
Good afternoon, Maya.
My name is Noah, I’m a 33 years old architect.
I enjoy spending time with family, friends, but also, going out clubbing and having drinks. Would you be interested to join me for a drink or two?
If you’re not too big of a club scene person, I’m more than happy to take you to a nice restaurant so we can get to know each other better soon.
So, what do you think?
Noah xxx
“It opened the message. Some guy Noah messaged me,” I tell Eli. “This is the weirdest message I’ve gotten. It’s like he picked my favorite things as his own interests. How is that possible?”
“An architect, 33 years old?” Eli asks.
“How did you know?”
I hear another stream of curse words before he groans and mutters, “that’s the one thing we figured out is common among all the women that went missing. Every single one of them was messaged by that guy.”
“Wait, does that mean I’m about to go missing too?” I ask even though I know I won’t like the answer and deep down, I already know it.
“I hope not. Listen, I know this is awfully creepy, but do you want me to come over? I can stay with you for a while, so you don’t feel alone. Maybe, if you have a man around you, the creep won’t try coming for you?” Eli offers.
I think about his offer for exactly two seconds, then shout, “Yes, please! I’m already sending you my address, hurry please.”
“On my way. Don’t open the door for anyone, I’ll text you when I’m at your door.” Eli says and ends the call.
I’m left sitting at my desk, eyes glued on the app as the cursed thing answers the messages for me. I’m not even touching the screen, but somehow, I’m apparently flirting with the creep on the other side of the app.
A choked sob escapes me as I watch the letters appear out of nowhere and now, the app answers his question about flowers, somehow knowing that my favorite is white lilies.
As if all of this madness isn’t enough, a green dot appears on the screen and my heart drops when I realize I’m sharing a live location.
Finally, I come to my senses and try to delete the message or unsend it, but it doesn’t work. It’s like I’ve lost control over the device for good. Even as I try to exit the app to text Eli, it’s not working.
I don’t know how much time passes when I’m already damn near ready to throw my phone against the wall, but I’m stopped by a message notification.
Unknown sender: Maya, I’m at your door. Eli.
I release a breath, drop my phone on the desk and rush to the front door. As I swing it open, I cry out in relief. I don’t know this man, but I can’t help but feel like the weight of the entire world just fell off my shoulders.
Eli flashes me a shy smile and I’m a little taken aback by how handsome the man is.
And, while I could get distracted by his looks or the sense of safety he just brought to me for a brief moment—instead, I freeze in absolute horror.
He pulls a bouquet of white lilies out from behind his back and holds it out to me.