Free Web NovelChapter 30: The Version of You They Built
The internet never forgot.
Kai used to think that was one of those dramatic sayings people posted online before vanishing for six months and returning with a new username, a fresh profile picture, and a long thread about personal growth.
Now he knew better.
The internet forgot facts. It forgot context. It forgot truth.
But it never forgot a story.
And somewhere during the nightmare of the past twenty-four hours, the internet had built a story about him.
The worst part was that it wasn’t entirely wrong.
The stream had ended nearly an hour ago, yet Kai still sat in front of his monitors. The apartment was finally quiet. No donation alerts. No flood of chat messages. No constant notifications demanding his attention every few seconds.
Just darkness.
Blue monitor light spilled across the room, painting everything in cold shades of gray. Outside the windows, the city hummed quietly beneath the night sky. Traffic moved far below like rivers of colored light.
And Luna was still there.
The Discord call remained connected.
Neither of them had spoken for several minutes.
Somehow, the silence wasn’t awkward.
That realization bothered him more than he wanted to admit.
There had been a time when sitting in silence with another person would have driven him insane. He always needed background noise. Music. Videos. A conversation. Something.
Now his brain simply accepted Luna’s presence.
She had become part of the room.
Part of the atmosphere.
Part of the night.
Like background music he no longer consciously heard.
Like breathing.
Like something that had always been there.
The thought was concerning for multiple reasons.
Kai rubbed his eyes.
They burned.
Not from crying. Not even from staring at screens all day.
Just exhaustion.
The kind that made reality feel slightly disconnected from itself.
The kind where thoughts stopped arriving in a straight line.
The kind where terrible ideas started sounding reasonable.
His phone vibrated.
Against his better judgment, he picked it up.
Social media.
Immediately, he regretted it.
His name was trending again.
Thousands of posts filled the screen.
Then tens of thousands.
Then more than he could count.
Clips from the stream were spreading everywhere. Screenshots. Reaction videos. Conspiracy threads. Analysis posts. Entire communities had already dedicated themselves to dissecting every second of the broadcast.
People were analyzing the stalker.
People were analyzing the hallway footage.
People were analyzing Luna.
People were analyzing him.
And, somehow, people were analyzing the people doing the analyzing.
The internet was a disease.
A very successful disease.
But a disease nonetheless.
One post stopped his scrolling.
It was a screenshot from the stream.
His face was illuminated by monitor light. His expression looked tired. Stressed. Older somehow.
The image had been captured right before everything spiraled out of control.
The caption underneath was simple.
"He used to look happier."
Kai stared at it for several seconds.
Then he locked his phone.
For some reason, that hurt more than the death threats.
Maybe because it wasn’t cruel.
Maybe because it was true.
"Bad?"
Luna’s voice broke the silence.
Kai leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.
"You ever wonder if people know you better than you know yourself?"
A brief pause followed.
Then Luna answered.
"No."
Of course that was her answer.
Kai let out a tired laugh.
"Right."
"I think most people barely know themselves."
Her voice sounded thoughtful.
Not rehearsed.
Not manipulative.
Just honest.
"The internet doesn’t know people, Kai."
"Twelve million people would disagree."
"They know versions."
The response came instantly.
"They know pieces. They take what they can see and build a person around it."
Kai glanced toward the dark apartment.
The hallway still bothered him.
The bedroom still bothered him.
Everything about tonight still bothered him.
Luna continued quietly.
"People see whatever fits the story they already want to believe."
Kai remained silent.
Because she wasn’t wrong.
Again.
That was becoming a problem.
"What version do you see?"
The question escaped before he could stop it.
For a few seconds, Luna didn’t answer.
It wasn’t awkward silence.
It was thinking silence.
Dangerous silence.
The kind that usually meant she was about to say something he didn’t want to hear.
Finally, she spoke.
"I see someone lonely."
Kai froze.
The words landed harder than they should have.
Not because they were cruel.
Because they weren’t.
Because they were honest.
His chest tightened.
A strange discomfort settled over him.
Like someone had opened a door he normally kept locked.
"I have friends."
"You do."
"I talk to people."
"You do."
Kai frowned.
"You’re agreeing way too fast."
A small laugh escaped her.
Warm.
Soft.
Brief.
The sound did something irritating to his chest.
Again.
He hated that.
"Those things aren’t the same," she said.
Kai stared at the ceiling.
Of course they weren’t. fгeewebnovёl.com
Everybody knew that.
The problem was hearing somebody else say it.
Because that made it real.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
Outside, traffic continued moving through the city. Apartment lights blinked on and off across distant buildings. Normal lives carried on while his own felt trapped in some bizarre alternate reality.
His phone buzzed.
Then again.
Then again.
Notifications flooded the screen.
Kai frowned.
"What now?"
He looked down.
Instant regret.
His mentions had exploded.
Again.
Only this time, the tone was different.
His stomach tightened as he opened post after post.
The same name kept appearing.
Luna.
Luna.
Luna.
Luna.
Thousands of people were talking about her.
Searching for her.
Investigating her.
Creating theories.
Connecting random accounts.
Claiming they knew who she was.
Claiming she wasn’t real.
Claiming she was dangerous.
Claiming she was protecting him.
The internet had discovered a mystery.
And mysteries never stayed buried.
Kai already knew what came next.
People would dig.
Obsess.
Speculate.
Harass.
Investigate every piece of information they could find.
They would turn Luna into content.
The same way they turned everything else into content.
The same way they had turned him into content.
His grip tightened around the phone.
"Luna."
"Hm?"
"They found you."
Silence.
A long silence.
Then:
"I know."
Kai blinked.
"What?"
"I know."
Her voice remained calm.
Far too calm.
"You sound disturbingly okay with that."
A quiet laugh drifted through his headset.
Not nervous.
Not afraid.
Almost amused.
"I’ve known for about three hours."
Kai stared at the monitor.
Of course she had.
Because apparently Luna existed several steps ahead of reality at all times.
"How?"
"People started searching sooner than expected."
Kai slowly lowered the phone.
Sooner than expected.
Expected.
The word rolled around in his exhausted brain.
Expected?
"Luna."
"Yes?"
"That sentence concerns me."
Another tiny laugh.
"I know."
"No, seriously."
Kai sat up straighter.
"Why did you expect people to search for you?"
Silence.
The typing indicator appeared.
Disappeared.
Returned.
Then finally:
Because they always do.
Kai frowned.
Something about that answer felt wrong.
Not false.
Incomplete.
Like he was staring at a photograph with half the image cropped out.
Before he could ask another question, his phone vibrated again.
This time it wasn’t social media.
It wasn’t Discord.
It wasn’t an anonymous number.
It wasn’t a stalker.
It was Derek.
An actual private message.
Kai stared at it.
In all the time he’d known Derek, the man had never sent him a direct message.
Donations?
Constantly.
Public comments?
All the time.
Private contact?
Never.
Slowly, Kai opened it.
Three words greeted him.
Call me.
Immediately.
His pulse quickened.
Because Derek never sounded serious.
Not when donating six figures.
Not when arguing.
Not when warning him.
The man treated sarcasm like a life-support system.
Seeing a message without any trace of it felt wrong.
Dangerously wrong.
A second message appeared almost immediately.
Do not tell Luna I’m messaging you.
Kai’s stomach dropped.
Across the room, Discord remained connected.
Luna was still there.
Quiet.
Patient.
Waiting.
The apartment suddenly felt colder than before.
His phone buzzed a third time.
Another message from Derek.
Longer this time.
Kai opened it.
Then froze.
The blood drained from his face.
Because the message contained only one sentence.
The girl you’re talking to isn’t the first Luna.
For several seconds, Kai simply stared at the screen.
The apartment was silent.
The city outside was silent.
Even the Discord call felt silent.
Then, through his headset, Luna spoke.
Very softly.
Almost like she knew something had changed.
"Kai?"
And for the first time since this nightmare began, he genuinely didn’t know what to say.
