My best friend died in a car crash seven years ago, and her phone was never found. Last night, I received a text from her number containing a photo of us laughing at her 16th birthday.
I replied, “Who is this?” Three dots appeared before the message came: “Check your inbox.”
Dozens of emails we had exchanged as teenagers had suddenly been forwarded from her account—all dated that day. Panicked, I called the number repeatedly, but the line was dead.
No more messages arrived. Her accounts were probably hacked, but for one chilling moment, I wondered if my best friend was somehow still with me.