OFFLINE- Chapter 4
The Figure That Only Appeared on Stream
Darkness swallowed the apartment instantly.
Only the glow from Kai’s monitors remained, casting cold blue light across the room while rain hammered violently against the windows outside.
Kai Mercer stumbled backward against the desk breathing hard, his eyes locked on the livestream monitor.
The figure still stood there.
Tall.
Motionless.
Half-hidden in the hallway darkness behind him.
But now—
it looked closer.
The stream chat moved so fast it blurred into a wall of messages.
ITS MOVING
DONT TURN AROUND
HE CAN SEE THE CAMERA NOW
END THE STREAM BRO
Then immediately:
NO DON’T END IT
KEEP STREAMING
YOU’LL MAKE HIM ANGRY
Contradicting messages flooded the chat nonstop while the viewer count climbed past 23,000.
Kai’s pulse slammed painfully inside his ears.
This couldn’t be real.
Had to be some kind of livestream hack.
Augmented reality prank.
Something.
But deep down, he already knew something worse was happening.
Because the fear inside him felt real.
Raw.
Ancient.
The figure on stream slowly raised one long arm toward the camera.
Kai physically jerked away from the monitor.
Then his phone buzzed violently across the desk.
Another Unknown Number.
He stared at it without answering.
The call continued.
Buzzing.
Buzzing.
Buzzing.
Then the voicemail notification appeared instantly without him declining it.
A new voice message.
The stream chat exploded immediately.
PLAY IT
DONT PLAY IT
HE’S INSIDE NOW
Kai’s hands shook while opening the voicemail.
Static crackled softly through the speakers first.
Then came breathing.
Slow.
Wet.
And finally—
his own voice whispered:
“He’s behind me.”
The message ended.
Kai froze completely.
No.
That wasn’t edited.
That wasn’t AI.
That was his voice.
Exactly his voice.
The hallway behind him remained dark and silent.
Then the livestream glitched again.
The monitor distorted briefly before stabilizing—
and the figure had vanished.
Gone from the hallway completely.
Kai immediately turned toward the real hallway.
Empty.
His chest tightened painfully.
“Okay,” he whispered shakily, “I’m ending this stream.”
The chat exploded harder than ever before.
Thousands of numbered accounts instantly began spamming identical messages:
DON’T
The stream donation alert screamed loudly across the room.
$20,000.
User-0
If the stream ends tonight, your neighbor dies first.
Silence hit the apartment.
Kai stared at the screen.
Neighbor?
A loud banging suddenly echoed through the apartment wall beside him.
His neighbor’s apartment.
Someone screaming faintly next door.
Kai jumped upright instantly.
“What the hell—”
The banging continued.
Muffled shouting.
Then silence.
The chat went insane.
HE STARTED EARLY
TOLD YOU NOT TO END IT
KEEP THE STREAM RUNNING
Kai rushed toward the apartment wall instinctively.
“Mrs. Delaney?”
No answer.
Only silence from the neighboring apartment.
Then another message appeared in chat from a numbered account.
User-411:
Check the peephole.
Kai slowly looked toward his front door.
The apartment suddenly felt freezing cold.
Every instinct screamed not to go near it.
But another bang echoed faintly from the hallway outside.
Someone running.
Then silence again.
Kai moved carefully toward the door while thousands of viewers watched live.
The stream viewer count hit 41,000.
Rain thundered outside harder.
The apartment floor creaked beneath his feet.
And somewhere behind him—
very softly—
he heard breathing again.
Closer this time.
Kai ignored it and reached the front door slowly.
His hands trembled while leaning toward the peephole.
The hallway outside looked empty at first.
Dim apartment lights.
Wet carpet near the stairwell.
Nothing unusual.
Then a face suddenly appeared directly against the peephole.
Kai screamed and stumbled backward violently.
The chat exploded.
The face had been pale.
Smiling.
Wide-eyed.
And completely motionless.
His neighbor.
Mrs. Delaney.
But something about her expression looked deeply wrong.
Like someone forcing a smile without understanding how humans actually smiled.
Another donation alert flashed instantly.
$50,000.
User-0
Don’t let her inside.
Then Mrs. Delaney started knocking softly on the apartment door.