Insomnia’s a bitch, John thought as he sat in front of his computer.
It would be one of those nights…
For a while, he browsed Netflix before he watched a few funny videos on YouTube.
Before long he grew bored with funny fail compilations and silly jokes and he hit up a few more… adult-themed pages.
While he was browsing and checking videos, a new tab opened out of nowhere.
“Freaking pop-up bullshit,” he cursed in annoyance.
He was about to close the tab when a video started to play. A feeling of apprehension washed over him and he froze.
This video was different from what he’d expected.
What he saw on his computer screen was his very face, sitting in his room at this very desk.
At first, he was perplexed, then scared, then utterly confused. He didn’t own a webcam, never had, and told himself he never would. So how in the hell was this even possible?
His eyes wandered to the position where the camera would’ve to be, but there was… nothing. All there was, was the bleak, white wall.
He returned his attention to the screen, unnerved before he got an idea. He leaned forward, blinked, then moved his head from left to right.
Instead of following suit, his alter ego seemed to continue browsing.
A recording then, he realized. Was this some kind of joke by one of his friends? But why’d they do that and more importantly, HOW?
As he watched the video, his alter ego was clicking, moving the mouse, and every once in a while entering something via the keyboard.
Then the footage changed. His alter ego’s face grew annoyed as it mouthed a curse. Then it grew apprehensive before confusion washed over it.
For a while his alter ego stared directly at the camera, focusing on it before his attention returned to the screen.
John watched himself leaning forward, watched himself blink before he saw something else from the back of the room.
While his alter ego on the screen moved his head left and right, he saw how the closet was pushed open.
At first, there was nothing there, but then a mass of shadows seemed to seep from it.
John’s eyes grew wide as the shadowy mass contorted and wavered before it formed into a vaguely human shape. Long, pale, spidery limbs pushed from the darkness, their proportions all wrong. Then a head followed, a white, pale head. It was entirely smooth, but then the skin tore apart, revealing a ghastly, gorging maw.
On the screen, the creature inched closer towards his alter ego. John’s heart was beating in his chest. He started sweating, shaking, and told himself it was nothing but a fake.
Yet, when he finally closed the damned video, he felt long spidery fingers close around his shoulders and felt a disgustingly warm breath on his neck.
