Page 90 of Never Forget

“Fuck,” I groan. I didn’t set an alarm because I didn’t think it was possible for me to sleep this late, but I was really comfortable. “I left all three of my phones in the living room,” I tell him.

Cory disappears for just long enough that I think he might have left for good, but he returns, looming in the doorway while he scrolls through my phone.

Naz makes a sound like he might cry but pulls himself off me to sit up. He blinks blearily around the room, up at Cory, and then at me before grabbing a sheet from the end of the bed and throwing it on top of me. He pulls a pillow out from behind himself to cover his own lap before giving Cory a death glare.

“What exactly are you⁠—”

Naz is cut off by the sound of my recorded voice telling him to beg some more. His spine straightens, and I surge up, putting an arm around him like I can shield him from something that’s already happened.

“What the fuck, Cory?”

Cory holds up a finger. “Just… Shh. For a minute.”

He listens to it for a few seconds, then pauses it. From his own phone, the recording starts again, only this time it sounds different. The sound isn’t as clear, there are more ambient noises coming through.

“Listen to that again,” Scott says, rewinding it back. Naz and I lean forward, trying to catch on to what Scott is hearing.

Is that?

“Construction,” Naz says. “There’s construction happening on my property. It’s not super close, but you can hear it from my trailer.”

“Okay. Listen to this same part again now.” He plays it again from my phone.

“I don’t hear anything,” I say. There’s nothing in the background but our breathing, the faint sound of the vibrator, and the bed creaking a few times. “Play the second one again.”

We all listen, noticing more and more ambient sounds that aren’t on the version from my phone. The air conditioner kicking on. The construction. The ice maker in the kitchen.

“One more time,” I say. Naz doesn’t complain at having to listen to himself again, we’re listening to everything that happens in the background instead. Then I notice something. “Play the end of my recording,” I say when the released version stops.

“No, not God, pet⁠—”

“Scott… Please.”

“There’s a good pet.”

Then the recording cuts off.

“It’s not my recording,” I say finally. “It’s a recording of my recording.”

“What?”

I look at Naz. “The recording that was leaked, not only are there all those ambient sounds we can’t hear in the first, but that version is longer. It keeps going after my recording stops. Listen to how mine ends.”

Cory plays the end of the recording on my phone again.

“There’s a good pet.”

“Now play the released version again.”

“There’s a good pet… You want this?”

“Mmmph. Yes. Please give it to me. Please fuck me.”

There aren’t any more words after that, but the recording goes on for another few seconds, picking up on Naz crying out as I gave him what he was asking for.

“A recording of your recording,” Naz repeats slowly. “So we were being recorded the whole time?”

“The trailer must be bugged,” Cory says.