Elias finally found the courage to look behind him. The room was empty. The door was shut. He let out a shaky breath and turned back to the computer to delete the file.
The text scrolled across the bottom of the player one last time: BUFFERING COMPLETE. FJDRITTTTTTEWY mp4
The file was labeled FJDRITTTTTTEWY.mp4 , a string of digital gibberish that looked like a cat had fallen asleep on a keyboard. It sat in a forgotten "Downloads" folder on Elias’s desktop, dated three years prior, with a file size of 0 KB. Elias finally found the courage to look behind him
On the screen, the door behind the video-Elias slowly creaked open. A hand—long, pale, and multi-jointed—gripped the edge of the doorframe. He let out a shaky breath and turned
In the video, the "Elias" on screen was sitting at his desk, exactly as he was now, staring at a monitor. The video Elias turned his head slightly, looking toward the bedroom door.
The video-Elias turned his head all the way around to face the camera. His face was a featureless blur of digital noise, except for a wide, static-filled grin.