Katie Matthews Doesn't Exist

Chapter One

Katie Matthews Doesn't Exist

Chapter One

"I'm so excited! Did you see the--" were the last words Cameron heard before the line went dead.

The room felt chilled. Not because cold air was coming in, but more like whatever was keeping things warm was being siphoned away.

"Katie?" he asked, repeating her name a few more times before removing the phone from his ear and looking down at it. The call had dropped, which wasn't unusual for his area.

He groaned and softly cursed his cell provider under his breath.

He hit the button to call her back and there was no response. In fact, there was no connection at all. No voicemail. Nothing.

He resisted the urge to toss his phone against the wall. Phones were expensive. Even a cracked screen could be a few hundred dollars to replace.

Instead, he shut it off, holding down the buttons to reboot it. It was going to take a few minutes to come back to life and Cameron hated waiting. What if she was trying to call him back?

Cameron generally hated technology, and right now, he hated it more than ever.

He missed Katie and missed seeing her since they had broken up. It had been a little over six months now, but it was still fresh in Cameron's mind and heart.

He knew it was for the best and in many ways they were now closer than ever. He was still in love with her and she loved him too, just not in the way Cameron wanted.

When his phone came back to life, there was no record of the call or of Katie's name or phone number. It was like she'd been completely erased from his phone.

His hands were shaking a bit as he scrolled through his apps.

He opened his Instagram and looked there too.

No Katie Matthews. No account. No record of her.

He checked his camera roll. No pictures. No selfies. Not even the one from their trip to Santa Cruz. The thread in Messages? Gone too. Like she'd never existed.

Now his heart was racing.

"What the fuck?" Cameron thought. "Did she block me somehow? Everywhere?"

For a moment, he considered going over to Katie's house. He figured she'd be home, but her parents would be there too and they never really took a shine to him. It was already dark and he didn't like the thought of riding his bike at night.

The other option, the last option, was Morgan. Calling Morgan meant actually talking to her, and Cameron didn't particularly like the idea.

Morgan.

Katie's new girlfriend.

If anyone would know where Katie was, it was going to be Morgan and that just made it sting more.

Morgan had always been nice to him, almost too nice, like she was trying to prove something. Still, he couldn't stop the sharp twist of resentment that knotted in his gut whenever he thought of her with Katie.

He scrolled to her name and hit the call icon, reluctantly.

It rang twice before a voice answered, "Hello?"

"Hey Morgan, it's Cameron. Have you talked to Katie today?" he asked somewhat tentatively.

"Huck?" Morgan asked.

"No, not Huck. Matthews. Katie Matthews," he said, more slowly this time. His throat felt dry. "You're her girlfriend..."

Katie Huck was the other Katie at Ridgewood. A senior. Not the one he meant.

"Um... who? Are you okay?" she asked.

"And who the fuck is Katie Matthews?" Morgan continued, now sounding even more confused.

"Jesus, Cam. Girlfriend? What are you even talking about?"

"Sorry, Morgan. See you at school," he said as his mind drifted, struggling to process the last twenty minutes.

First Katie. Now Morgan. His heart was pounding and he felt sweat on his brow.

He thought of how Katie always complained about her frizzy hair and split ends, but he loved how it smelled after the rain. Once, she caught him sniffing it.

He thought of Katie's lips and their first kiss. He could picture her eyes and how, no matter how down he was, the way she looked at him would always cheer him up.

Cameron hung up, not even realizing it, while Morgan was still talking.

Was he losing it?

He was starting to wonder.

He said her name again out loud, "Katie Matthews," as if that might somehow make her materialize in front of him.

Morgan texted him a single word: "Weirdo."

That wasn't like Morgan. She always went out of her way to be friendly, probably because she knew how much Cameron meant to Katie and didn't want to get in the middle of their friendship.

Cameron ignored the text and made six more calls to six different people.

None of them had even heard the name Katie Matthews. They had no idea who she was or what Cameron was talking about. When he would press the issue people would sound worried or concerned.

He was starting to wonder if he had just made her up.

He stood up and climbed off the bed. He was lightheaded and standing made him a bit dizzy. Maybe he had been asleep? Maybe it was all a dream? Maybe he was having a blood sugar drop and needed something to balance his glucose.

He looked at his phone again. The last seven calls were still there, as was Morgan's text.

Cameron walked down the hall. He shivered for a moment as a chill seemed to catch up with him, following him into the kitchen.

He opened the stainless steel refrigerator, peeked inside and then pulled out a glass jar of orange juice. He held it up, disappointed to see it was less than a quarter full, unscrewed the cap and thought for a moment.

He was going to finish it off, so no need for a glass.

He drank straight from the jar, like he always did when no one was around, half rebellious, half lazy. A few drops ran down his chin and he wiped them away with the back of his hand.

Whether it was actually a response to his glucose level or just his imagination, he didn't know. Either way, the orange juice made him feel better.

On the counter, by the fridge, was a small white notepad that had been there forever, used for grocery lists, sibling doodles, his mom's passive-aggressive reminders.

His mom's voice echoed in his head, "If you finish it, write it down."

He penciled in 'OJ' under 'bananas' and left the jar on the counter. Sometimes his sister used jars like that for art projects. Otherwise, he'd have to wash it and put it out for recycling.

That decision could wait until tomorrow.

He felt another breeze and with it another chill. Cameron watched as the top page of the pad rose up, danced gently, and then settled down back into place.

When Cameron looked at it more closely, something about the pad caught his eye. At the bottom there were indentations, hardly visible. He picked up the pad and examined it.

When he held it to the light and tilted it, it looked like something had been engraved into the paper. It was like a clue from an old mystery show. He remembered a detective running the side of the pencil tip over the pad, revealing the hidden words underneath.

Cameron did the same. Slowly, the pad gave up its secrets.

The trick came from one of those old detective shows Katie used to binge when she couldn't sleep and would tell Cameron about the next morning. This one they had watched together, just a few months ago. How could he forget that?

One by one, letters appeared. White lines, in the middle of wide, gray swatches of graphite.

The message read: "FIND ME."

The words stared up at him. After three years, he knew every curve of every letter. The loopy Qs. The rounded Es. Katie's handwriting was unmistakable. His throat tightened. He didn't move. Didn't breathe. Just stared.

The OJ was cold. Tangy. Real. The fridge was real. So was the kitchen. So what the hell was happening?

Suddenly, he was afraid for her. How could she just disappear like this? And how was he supposed to find her?

Those were definitely her words. If he was the only one who could see them, maybe he was the only one who could save her.