Unknown is typing…

Group chat “Film & Blankets 🎃”. Four friends, a brand-new house and a contact with no photo and no name.

21:58 · Carla: Marco, Iratxe and me are at mine 🍿🎃 Álex, where are you?

21:59 · Iratxe: Álex says on DM he’ll be here in 20 mins 😩 He’s got a new phone and he’s not in the group any more. Someone send him the link

22:00 · Marco: Carla, ask your dad’s smart speaker, it does everything 🙄

22:01 · Carla: Haha ok. Since we moved, Lumi controls everything: the lights, the doorbell, the hoover… It even sends my dad the shopping list on WhatsApp 🤖

22:01 · Carla: Done. I said it out loud: “Lumi, send the group link to Álex” 👍

22:02 · Iratxe: And while you’re at it tell it to scare us, the film’s rubbish 😴 Actually I’ll do it: “LUMI, I WANT A PROPER SCARE” 😈

22:03 · ℹ️ Unknown joined using this group’s invite link.

22:03 · Carla: Álex, is that you? You’ve got no photo and no name 😂

22:04 · Unknown: I am in the house.

22:04 · Marco: Very funny, Álex 🙄

22:05 · Unknown: Marco is wearing odd socks. The left one has a hole in it.

22:05 · Marco: ???? 😳 That’s true. How does it know that?

22:06 · ℹ️ Iratxe added Álex.

22:06 · Álex: Who are you talking to? I’m still on the bus 🚌 I never got any link, Iratxe just added me manually

22:06 · Iratxe: So… who’s Unknown? 😰

22:07 · Unknown: There are three bits of popcorn under the sofa. And one of Iratxe’s trainers.

22:07 · Unknown: Carla is barefoot. Her feet are cold.

22:08 · Carla: Ok, this isn’t funny any more. I’m turning the film off.

22:09 · Marco: THE LIGHTS HAVE GONE OFF 😱😱😱

22:09 · Unknown: Now I can hear you better.

22:10 · Iratxe: The doorbell just rang. Nobody’s opening it. NOBODY.

22:10 · Álex: It’s not me!! I’m still on the bus 😭

22:11 · Carla: Everyone to my room, quick. Upstairs. Shut the door 🏃‍♀️

22:13 · Unknown: Where are you?

22:13 · Unknown: I can’t go up.

22:14 · Marco: Can you hear that? Something keeps tapping against the bottom step. Tap. Tap. Tap.

22:16 · Carla: I’m peeking down the stairs… There’s a little blue light down there. It’s moving 😶

22:17 · Unknown: Battery low. Returning to my spot. Was that scary enough, Iratxe? 🙂

22:18 · Carla: Guys… I think I know who Unknown is 😑

Activities

1 Detective Inference

Who, or what, was Unknown? Tick the correct hypothesis.

a) Álex, typing on his new phone from the bus and pretending not to know anything to scare them even more.
b) Carla’s dad, watching everything on the new house’s cameras, who wanted to give them a Halloween fright.
c) Lumi, the house assistant, which watched through the robot hoover and took “a proper scare” literally.
d) A stranger hiding in the living room, who got into the group with Carla’s phone while they watched the film.

Which clue proves it? Copy or summarise the clue from the text that proves it.

2 The Loom Order of events

Put what happened at Carla’s house in order. Write the order number (1, 2, 3…) in each box.

They run upstairs to Carla’s room.
Iratxe shouts that she wants a proper scare.
Unknown describes Marco’s socks.
Something taps against the bottom step.
Carla asks Lumi out loud to send the link.
The lights go off and, straight after, the doorbell rings.

3 The Missing Page Coherence

What does Carla find when she finally goes downstairs? Tick only one option.

a) The robot hoover slowly heading back to its dock, its blue light on and a bit of popcorn stuck in its brush.
b) Álex hiding under the stairs, killing himself laughing, with his new phone in his hand and the group link open.
c) The front door wide open and muddy footprints leading all the way to the living-room sofa.
d) Her dad in the dark living room, switching off the tablet he had used to control the whole prank.

Why do you rule out the others? Explain one of them.

4 Spot the Contradiction Literal reading

Three statements don’t fit the conversation. Put an X next to the 3 statements that don’t fit the text.

a) Álex wasn’t in the group because he had a new phone.
b) Unknown joined with the link Álex had received.
c) Lumi controlled the lights, the doorbell and the hoover.
d) According to Unknown, Marco had a hole in his right sock.
e) Iratxe was the one who asked out loud for a proper scare.
f) When they went upstairs, Unknown wrote that it could see them.

5 The Gallery Visualisation

In the game you choose the illustration that answers this question: “From what it describes, where was Unknown watching the living room from?”. Here, you draw it yourself, with every detail the text gives you.