The Chain

Back in the present, it’s been a few weeks since Kylie returned home. Pete is now in a romantic relationship with Rachel and lives with her and Kylie. He’s also in a methadone program to recover from a heroin addiction. Rachel saw her oncologist, had a surgery, and is now in chemotherapy again. On Thanksgiving, Rachel, Pete, and Kylie visit Marty, whose girlfriend Tammy recently broke up with him because she had to move to another state (which Rachel later links to The Chain). Rachel receives a threatening message from the distorted voice behind The Chain and cries in the bathroom.

Rachel undergoes more chemotherapy and Pete, Kylie, and Marty visit her. She appreciates her family and notes The Chain is scarier than cancer.

In the twins’ timeline, a few years have passed and they’re living with their father Tom and new stepmother, Cheryl, in Maryland. Tom and Cheryl changed Moonbeam’s name to Oliver (Olly), and Mushroom’s to Margaret. The twins are aware that their mother Alicia was killed. At a party, a child bullies Oliver, so Margaret gives him ipecac syrup to make him vomit.

Rachel, Pete, and Kylie meet Marty and his new girlfriend—whose name Rachel does not bother to learn—at a Starbucks, and then Kylie stays with Marty. At home, Rachel reads Kylie’s diary and finds evidence of suicidal ideation. She creates a blog for people to give tips about The Chain.

A few years later in the twins’ timeline, they are joined by a younger brother named Anthony. A stressed Tom works for the FBI and receives a promotion, moving the family to California. Cheryl uses drugs and alcohol, and verbally abuses the twins. The neighborhood children bully Margaret, so Oliver hits them; another boy hits Oliver, and Anthony laughs at his suffering.

Tom offers to take the children to Disneyland, but cancels the trip due to work. Margaret uses chain letters to scare the neighborhood bullies into doing embarrassing things, including standing outside naked. She then kills a neighbor’s rabbit. Tom starts drinking and physically abuses Cheryl.

Rachel takes Kylie to a therapist, but she’s not allowed to talk about the kidnapping. During the car ride home, Kylie lists all the things she wishes she could share and process with the therapist: witnessing the murder of a police officer, having a gun to her head, having her mother’s life threatened, and having to babysit a child whom her mother kidnapped. Later, Rachel receives an anonymous message warning her to delete her blog before The Chain leaders see it. However, the message also says she should look for ads in the personal section of the local newspaper.

In the morning, Rachel scans the newspaper and finds an ad for chains. She calls the phone number listed, and she and the poster decide to meet at an airport.

Rachel and Pete meet the poster, a mathematician named Erik Lonnrott, in the airport. He’s been “done” with The Chain for about three and a half years and doesn’t know how to track the leaders anymore, since they change their anonymous accounts once a month. Since Rachel was recently in contact with them, she could contact them again. The trio decides to move to a bar to discuss how to destroy The Chain.

Back in the twins’ timeline, Tom gets a different job with the FBI and the family needs to move to Boston. While packing, Cheryl finds a photograph of a naked child that the twins took when they were terrorizing the neighborhood with chain letters. She slaps Oliver; Tom beats him up, and Anthony smiles at his suffering. Margaret plans to kill Anthony and reassures Oliver that they will “get” the others.

Rachel, Pete, and Erik move to a bar; Kylie is still at school and will be going to her friend Stuart’s house afterward. Erik is a math professor at MIT whose wife died in an accident, leaving him with their daughter, Anna. The Chain kidnapped Anna, and though he got her back, she experienced trauma and attempted suicide; now, she lives in a psychiatric hospital. Erik wants to destroy The Chain, and has been researching it for over a year.

Erik scanned the internet and newspapers for hidden references to The Chain and concluded it’s several years old, but probably not as old as The Chain leaders lead everyone to believe. He believes The Chain is a national enterprise, and that the person running it is a man older than him. He wishes to identify the leader, so he can inform the FBI. In contrast, Rachel believes The Chain leader is a woman younger than Erik.

Erik has been developing an app that can trace calls from burner phones. The longer a call lasts, the more accurately the software works; it pinpoints which cell phone tower is closest to the burner phone making the call. Erik tried to develop a version of his app to track The Chain’s anonymous messaging apps—to no avail. Rachel believes the woman running The Chain is a local because she understood the local phrase “banging a uey” (261)—making a U-turn. She and Pete are uncertain if they want to make the call.

Erik returns to his MIT office and thinks about how lucky he is to have met Rachel. He’s being stalked by one of The Chain’s minions, but doesn’t notice her. The Chain leaders are reading his Google searches and know he’s up to something.

In the twins’ timeline, Tom gets another FBI promotion and takes his family on a cruise. Tom helped bring down the Patriarca family, who were a major threat in the Boston crime scene. This victory earned him respect at work, despite his anger issues and abusive nature.

Late one night on the cruise, Margaret wakes Anthony, claiming she has something to show him on the deck. Anthony doesn’t want to go, but Margaret convinces him by saying Oliver is already looking at the thing. The deck is empty and lacks cameras because the ship is old. The twins throw Anthony overboard, killing him, and don’t get caught because everyone thinks he sleepwalks.

Rachel and Pete again entrust Kylie to Marty and his new girlfriend for the weekend. This time, Rachel learns the woman’s name—Ginger. She’s an FBI agent who is working toward a doctoral Criminal Psychology degree; she and Marty met while jogging. Kylie’s grades are slipping, and she seems withdrawn. Ginger suggests a therapists she knows.

Rachel experiences nightmares, and Kylie experiences bedwetting and stomach cramps. Furthermore, Rachel is still going through chemotherapy and Pete struggles with his methadone program. The couple agrees to help Erik find The Chain leaders by calling them on Saturday because Rachel doesn’t want Kylie around when they do it.

Marty agrees to take Kylie for the weekend. He planned to meet Ginger’s grandfather and twin brother, but decides to bring Kylie along. Rachel forgot that Kylie’s friend Stuart was supposed to stay with them this weekend because his mother will be out of town. However, Stuart’s mother permits him to accompany Kylie to Ginger’s grandfather’s house.

Six months after Anthony’s death, Cheryl continues to use drugs and alcohol. She sees a therapist, but struggles with grief. The twins write Cheryl over a dozen anonymous letters, blaming her for Anthony’s death. One day, the twins come home from school to find Cheryl unconscious, having consumed a large amount of pills. They wait for Tom to come home, by which point she is dead.