OFFLINE- Chapter 5
Mrs. Delaney Outside the Door at 2:43 AM
The knocking sounded gentle.
Almost polite.
That somehow made it far worse.
Kai Mercer stood frozen several feet away from the apartment door while rain rattled the building windows and the livestream chat spiraled completely out of control beside him.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
“Kai?”
Mrs. Delaney’s voice drifted softly through the door.
Normal voice.
Friendly.
Elderly.
The exact same tone she always used when asking him to help carry groceries upstairs.
Kai’s chest tightened painfully.
Maybe this was still explainable.
Maybe she’d heard shouting from the stream.
Maybe the face in the peephole looked strange because he panicked.
Right?
Then the donation alert flashed again.
$10,000.
User-0
Do not unlock the door under any circumstances.
The knocking continued.
“Kai, are you alright?”
The stream chat split violently now.
HELP HER BRO
THAT ISN’T YOUR NEIGHBOR
DONT OPEN IT
SHE LOOKS WRONG
Kai backed slowly toward his desk while keeping his eyes fixed on the apartment entrance.
The viewer count had reached 67,000.
Impossible numbers.
His tiny channel had become one of the most watched livestreams online within less than an hour.
Yet outside the stream—
his phone showed no social media notifications.
No viral clips.
No trending tags.
Nothing.
Almost like the audience watching him didn’t fully exist on the normal internet.
The realization made his stomach twist.
Then Mrs. Delaney knocked again.
Harder this time.
“Kai.”
The tone changed slightly.
Less warm.
More impatient.
Kai grabbed his phone immediately and dialed emergency services.
The call failed instantly.
No signal.
He frowned in disbelief.
The apartment internet still worked perfectly for the livestream.
But his cellular signal had completely vanished.
Another donation alert appeared.
$25,000.
User-0
Police won’t arrive before 3:17.
Kai stared at the message.
What was special about 3:17?
The number kept appearing repeatedly tonight.
Then another chat message caught his attention.
User-88:
Check the stream reflection.
Kai looked toward the monitor instinctively.
The livestream still showed his apartment through the webcam.
Including the front door behind him.
And standing outside the door—
visible through the thin frosted glass panel near the top—
was Mrs. Delaney’s silhouette.
Except it wasn’t standing normally.
Its neck bent sideways at an impossible angle.
Kai physically recoiled from the screen.
No.
The knocking stopped instantly.
Silence filled the apartment.
Even the chat slowed momentarily.
Then Mrs. Delaney whispered softly through the door:
“He can see me through the stream now.”
A freezing numbness spread through Kai’s body.
Because he never said anything aloud.
The donation alert screamed again.
$100,000.
User-0
Turn off your apartment lights. Now.
Kai didn’t hesitate this time.
He rushed toward the kitchen switch and killed the remaining lights immediately.
Darkness swallowed the apartment again except for the glow from the monitors.
Outside the front door—
the silhouette vanished.
The chat exploded harder.
GOOD
HE LOST SIGHT OF YOU
DONT GO NEAR THE WINDOWS
Kai stared toward the monitor breathing heavily.
“What IS happening?”
For the first time—
User-0 answered directly in chat.
User-0:
You were chosen for tonight’s broadcast.
Kai typed immediately.
Who are you?
Several long seconds passed.
Then:
User-0:
A previous streamer.
The apartment temperature suddenly dropped sharply.
Kai’s breath became faintly visible in the darkness.
The rain outside stopped all at once.
Complete silence settled over the building.
And from somewhere inside the apartment—
came the sound of another phone vibrating.
Not his.
A different one.
Somewhere down the hallway near the bathroom.
Kai slowly turned toward the darkness behind him.
The vibration continued.
Bzzzz.
Bzzzz.
Bzzzz.
The stream camera still pointed toward the hallway.
And on the livestream—
the tall figure had returned.
Standing directly beside the vibrating phone in the darkness.
Watching Kai silently.
Then the unknown phone answered itself automatically.
And a voice whispered through the apartment:
“The viewers can enter after midnight.”