text: My finger hovered over the download button. I hesitated for a moment. This app, it promises to reveal one secret about any person who's name you type in. Simple as that. Type their name, get one secret Just clickbait, Right? It couldn't be real. No, no way. I swallowed down the fear that I hadn't even realised was there, then, closing my eyes tightly, I pressed download. Loading. Loading. Loading. The app opened. It buffered for a second, before revealing a black, Google-style, search bar across the top of the screen. Just a gimmick, thats all this app couldn't possibly know the things it claimed to, could it. Could it...? I shook my head, I was just being dumb. Forcing these stupid thoughts out of my head, I pressed the search bar. I pressed my lips together, wondering who's name to type in first. I decided on my little brother. My thumbs skimmed over the letters, Yeah, I type fast, I use my phone a lot, don't judge. The screen turned white. Words appeared on the screen again, Finding records on ***Joshua Jones, please stand by......*** they read. ***Extracting one secret about Joshua Jones.....*** another pause, the a small, spinning, loading wheel. Then, finally the product of my wait. ***When Joshua Jones was ten years old, he spilt Ribena on his mother's white carpet, and blamed it on his sister.*** I smiled. Josh had always gotten me into trouble when we were kids. Then I froze. My blood ran cold. How could it possibly know that? Perhaps this App wasn't as much of a joke as it seemed. Intrigued, I typed the name of my best friend. A pause. The same loading screen as before. **Extracting one secret about Nicole Geralds...** The loading wheel again. ***Nicole Geralds is romantically attracted to Terry Smith*** How could an app on a smartphone know this much about people. More specifically, the truth about the people that I cared about most. I was the only one in the whole world who knew about Nicole's little crush on Terry from football. Most people at this point would be scared, terrified even. Most people would delete the app, or, I don't know.... What I did know was that I wasn't most people. I found myself drawn in by this strange promise of power. Curious now, I typed in the name of my boyfriend. The result soon appeared on the screen ***Adam Roper is planning on dumping his girlfriend, Rose Jones, by text in 3 seconds.*** My brows narrowed in confusion. The number changed to 2. He wasn't, Adam wasn't gonna dump me. The 2 was replaced with a 1. This had to be some dumb joke. My phone vibrated in my hands. A text had just come through. From Adam. *I'm sorry, Rose, things just aren't working out for us.* For the second time in just a few minutes, my blood seemed to freeze. No way. Okay, I was beginning to get curious. What would happen if I typed in my own name. Rose Jones, I typed slowly. My fingers hovered over the search button. There was nothing about myself that I didn't know though. Right..? Perhaps against my better judgment, I pressed search. ***Extracting one secret about Rose Jones....*** The screen flashed white. Then, ***Rose Jones is currently admitted at Fetchfield mental hospital. She suffers from delusions. Rose, please wake up.*** The world flashed before me. I felt the cold air on my skin. I was lying down. On a uncomfortable bed in a room with white-washed walls. A lady with long fake nails, a spray tan and cheap blonde hair leant over me. Mascara stained tears ran down her cheeks. "Oh, Rose, you're awake" She said in a high falsetto "Mumsy missed her lovely daughter" I didn't know this woman, I'd never seen her before in my life, in fact. "Wh-what about the app" I croaked out "Mumsy doesn't know what you're talking about sweetie-cakes" "What about Adam. What about Josh and Nicole?" "Oh pumpkin-pie, there never was an Adam, or whoever else. You're In here for delusions, don't you remember that?" I shook my head "Don't you remember me, your own mother!" The woman's voice reached a pitch that I would've thought impossible. "I brought you in here when you first started having these delusions, but now, I've decided to bring you back home. I employed a carer to take great care of you honey" Did this mean that my whole life was lie? That my friends and my family were never real. It had certainly seemed real. Now I thought about, something about this place, this woman, seemed familiar, like something I'd only seen in my dreams, or perhaps my nightmares.... 'Mumsy', the woman with the spray tan and fake nails ginned to herself. Another successful transfer. It pained her to go to such lengths, but some things must just be done. No-one could be allowed to discover the secrets. No-one could be allowed to discover **The App.