WikiHow Didn’t Prepare Me for This

I read through the article one more time as the sun's first rays peeked above the horizon. It was way too early for this, but I wanted to get in and out before Luke woke up. I laid back in bed and put my noise-cancelling headphones on. I tried to relax as much as I could and practiced moving my hands and feet in my mind until it felt real. My body seemed to vibrate a little bit, just like the article said. It was working! In my mind, I got up and looked down at my physical body still lying supine on the bed. I smiled to myself and walked out my bedroom door, grabbing my phone on the way out.

The two blocks I walked through to get to Luke's house were magical; everything seemed so different now that I was not attached to my physical form. However, reaching Luke's house brought on a new wave of fury as I remembered my original mission: to expose Luke for the creep he is. I found the key hidden in a planter and quietly entered the house. I walked to Luke's room where he, Kya, and I had spent countless days playing video games and teasing each other. Luke lay snoring in his bed, completely oblivious to my presence. His phone was charging on his bedside table.

I picked it up and typed in his old pass code. It didn't work, so I was going to have to do this the hard way. I carefully picked up his hand and pressed his thumb on the home button. Luke moved a little in his sleep, but he didn't wake up, and his phone did. I went into his camera roll and found the pictures I was looking for...and more. I knew that he had been blackmailing Kya with her nude photos, but I didn't know he was doing it to other girls. I deleted the pictures off his phone. They probably weren't backed up to anything, as Luke had never seemed like the type. Then again, he had never seemed like the type to harass women, and here we are.

I was looking through his social media and taking pictures of his disgusting chats with the girls at our school when someone opened the window and climbed in. When she straightened up, I could tell it was Kya. Something glinted in her hand, and she raised it toward Luke's sleeping form. A revolver. She was going to shoot Luke. She hesitated, giving me a minute to decide how to proceed. On one hand, I did not care about Luke. But on the other hand, Kya could easily go to prison for years for this. It would ruin her entire life (and I guess Luke doesn't really deserve to die).

I panicked and tried to wave to her, but Kya couldn't see me. I lifted up the two phones. That got Kya's attention. Her brows furrowed in confusion, and she slowly approached the levitating phones with her gun trained on them.

I opened the notes app and typed out a simple-but-hopefully-effective message: "Kya, it's Harvey." The movement of the phones made her tense up, but when she saw the message, she let her guard down. I carefully took her gun while she grabbed the phone.

She reread the message a few times before whispering "How?"

I took back the phone, too scared to wake Luke up and get us both caught, and typed, "I tried astral projection to get some revenge, but I guess you wanted some too." Her jaw dropped as she read my message, but I was not done typing. "Do not kill Luke," I wrote. "This will destroy your life, and he's already done enough damage. I was planning to expose him to the entire school. It will ruin him. Please, don't let him ruin you, Kya. You're better than this."

After a deep breath and a lingering glance at Luke, she said in a low voice, "Fine, give this plan of yours a try and get the hell out of here." I smiled, but she couldn't see it. I knew my friend wasn't a killer.