Free Web NovelChapter 17: Don’t Go Alone
The floorboard creaked.
It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t dramatic. Just the quiet sound old apartments made when weight shifted where weight shouldn’t be.
Kai stared into the darkness of the hallway.
Every muscle in his body locked.
The static from the television hissed across the room while his monitors painted everything in cold blue light. The apartment suddenly looked unfamiliar, as if he were seeing it through someone else’s eyes.
The hallway.
The bathroom.
The bedroom.
The places beyond the reach of his setup’s glow.
Places he couldn’t see.
Places someone else could.
"Kai."
Luna’s voice cut through the silence.
Soft. Controlled.
"Talk to me."
His throat felt dry.
"I think I heard something."
The chat immediately exploded.
Boobykiller_051: NO SHIT SHERLOCK
Peepee_666: BRO LEAVE
WetHamster_420: I HAVE NEVER WANTED A STREAM TO END MORE
TaxFraudEnjoyer: WHY IS HE STILL SITTING THERE
Honestly?
That was a fantastic question.
Kai wasn’t entirely sure anymore.
Fear had tangled itself together with adrenaline. Adrenaline had mixed with attention. Attention had wrapped itself around the giant number sitting in the corner of his screen.
One hundred and thirty thousand viewers.
His biggest stream ever.
His worst stream ever.
The number sat there like a drug.
A disgusting, embarrassing drug.
And part of him couldn’t stop looking at it.
His phone vibrated.
A donation alert flashed.
RealDerekVoss donated $100,000
Call the police and get out.
No sarcasm.
No jokes.
No bait.
The message felt strangely human.
Kai rubbed his face.
"I know."
Nobody knew whether he was answering Derek or himself.
Probably both.
The television crackled.
Then the static abruptly vanished.
The apartment fell silent.
Everyone froze.
Including Kai.
Including Luna.
The screen went black.
A reflection appeared.
His desk.
His chair.
His room.
The hallway.
Empty.
For one brief moment, relief washed through him.
Then Luna spoke.
"Pause."
Kai frowned.
"What?"
"The reflection."
Her voice had become frighteningly focused.
"Look again."
His stomach tightened.
Slowly, he turned back toward the television.
At first, he saw nothing.
Just the apartment.
Just darkness.
Just himself.
Then something felt wrong.
Near the hallway entrance.
Not movement.
Not a person.
Just... a shape.
A slight difference.
Like the bathroom door was more open than before.
Kai stared.
Had it always been like that?
His brain immediately supplied an answer.
No idea.
Because he hadn’t looked.
Not once.
The realization hit him harder than he expected.
He’d spent hours monitoring chat.
Monitoring Luna.
Monitoring donations.
Monitoring Twitter.
Monitoring every possible threat coming from outside.
And somehow he’d forgotten to monitor his own apartment.
Sleep deprivation was one hell of a drug.
"Kai."
Luna’s voice softened again.
"Do you have anything you can use to defend yourself?"
He glanced around his desk.
A keyboard.
A half-empty energy drink.
A hoodie.
A fork.
Actually...
Three forks.
None of them matched.
"I have several emotionally damaged utensils."
A small laugh escaped her.
Despite everything.
Despite the fear.
Despite the situation.
The sound warmed something inside his chest.
Which was honestly becoming a problem.
"You should’ve laughed harder at that."
"I was worried."
The answer came so naturally that Kai forgot how to breathe for a second.
His heart immediately did something stupid.
Because of course it did.
A loud slam echoed somewhere outside the apartment.
A door.
Somewhere in the building.
The sound bounced through the halls.
The chat collectively lost its mind.
Jacksonvill3_89: IM GONNA HAVE A HEART ATTACK
Peepee_666: SOMEONE CHECK ON THE VIEWERS
Boobykiller_051: BRO THIS ISN’T CONTENT ANYMORE
Without really deciding to, Kai stood up.
The movement surprised everyone.
Including himself.
His chair rolled backward.
The apartment suddenly felt too small to remain seated in.
Too exposed.
Too vulnerable.
His phone buzzed again.
A Discord notification.
Luna.
Not the call.
A private message.
He opened it.
The message was short.
Don’t go into the hallway.
Kai stared at the words.
Then looked toward the darkness.
Then typed back.
what if someone is actually there
The typing indicator appeared instantly.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Finally, her reply arrived.
Then let the police find them.
Simple.
Reasonable.
Smart.
The problem was that Kai had never been particularly talented at making smart decisions.
His eyes drifted back toward the hallway.
Curiosity.
Fear.
Morbid fascination.
The same instinct that made people click on videos they knew would upset them.
The same instinct that kept him reading comments at three in the morning.
The same instinct that had answered Luna’s first message.
"Kai."
Her voice softened.
And somehow that was more effective than yelling.
"Please."
The room seemed to pause.
Not the chat.
Not the apartment.
Not the internet.
Just Kai.
Because Luna almost never said please.
Not like that.
Not vulnerable.
Not worried.
The realization settled heavily in his chest.
She was scared.
Actually scared.
For him.
His phone buzzed again.
A new message.
Unknown number.
No image.
No joke.
No smiley face.
Just one sentence.
she told you not to look
Kai froze.
The blood drained from his face.
The message had arrived less than three seconds after Luna spoke.
Three seconds.
His gaze slowly shifted toward Discord.
Toward the call.
Toward Luna’s name glowing beside his monitor.
The apartment suddenly felt different.
The internet suddenly felt different.
Everything felt different.
Because whoever had sent that message shouldn’t have known what Luna just said.
Unless they were watching the stream.
Except she hadn’t said it on stream.
She’d said it through the call.
Privately.
Only to him.
Only to Luna.
Only—
His pulse hammered against his ribs.
The typing indicator appeared beside Luna’s name.
Stopped. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
Appeared again.
Then a message arrived.
Kai.
A second one followed immediately.
I didn’t send that.
And somehow, that wasn’t the part that scared him.
The frightening part was that she already knew exactly what he was thinking.
Then, from somewhere deeper inside the apartment, a phone began ringing.
Not Kai’s.
Not a stream alert.
Not the television.
A completely different phone.
Hidden somewhere beyond the hallway.
Ringing loudly in the darkness.
Waiting for someone to answer.
