The apartment was swallowed by darkness.

Not the kind that came from turning off a light. Not the kind that still left outlines and familiar shapes if you waited long enough for your eyes to adjust.

This was complete.

The refrigerator cut out mid-hum. The monitors died in the middle of their glow. Even the tiny LEDs scattered across Kai’s streaming setup blinked out one after another until the room became nothing but shadow and the faint orange spill of city light leaking through the windows.

Everything else was gone.

And in that absence, sound became too loud.

His heartbeat. His breathing. The soft shift of fabric when he moved his arm.

Kai swallowed.

"Luna?"

"I’m still here."

The answer came instantly.

That alone brought him more relief than it probably should have. Not because she could fix anything. Not because she understood what was happening.

Just because someone else was in it with him.

That thought lingered uncomfortably as he stared into the darkened apartment, trying to make sense of what was left.

Then—

Ding.

A notification sound.

Kai froze.

His eyes flicked down to his phone immediately.

Nothing.

No Discord alert. No message. No system ping.

The sound hadn’t come from his phone.

Ding.

Again.

This time closer.

Not from the living room.

From somewhere deeper inside the apartment.

The hallway.

Kai slowly turned his head toward it.

The darkness there felt different. Denser. Like it didn’t belong in the same category as the rest of the room. The narrow corridor leading to his bedroom stretched out like a cut in reality itself, swallowing what little light tried to reach it.

During the day, it was just a hallway.

At night, it looked like something waiting to be used.

"You heard that, right?" he whispered.

"I did."

Luna didn’t hesitate.

"Where did it come from?"

"I... can’t tell."

A pause.

"I think it echoed."

Kai let out a short breath that didn’t quite become a laugh.

"That’s helpful."

"It means don’t trust your ears."

He glanced around the dark room.

"Great. My eyes are already unreliable."

Despite everything, Luna gave a soft laugh through the headset.

"You still have your sarcasm."

"It’s all I have left."

"No."

Her tone softened slightly.

"You still have your common sense."

Kai raised an eyebrow even though she couldn’t see it.

"I’ve seen the decisions I’ve made this week."

"I didn’t say you always use it."

That got a real laugh out of him. Quick. Unplanned. The kind that slipped out before fear could catch it.

He clicked on his phone’s flashlight, and a narrow beam cut through the darkness. The apartment returned in fragments: couch, scattered items, a hoodie thrown over the armrest, a coffee mug he’d forgotten to wash.

Everything looked exactly as it should.

Uncomfortably normal.

Nothing displaced. Nothing broken. Nothing out of place in a way that meant anything obvious.

If someone had been here, they hadn’t left a trace.

Or they hadn’t needed to.

Ding.

The sound came again.

Kai’s grip tightened around the phone.

This time, he was almost certain it came from the hallway.

"Luna..."

"I’m here."

"I hate horror movies."

"I know."

"I finally understand people in them."

A pause.

"What people?"

"The idiots."

"The ones who go check."

His flashlight drifted toward the hallway without him fully meaning to move it.

"I used to yell at the screen," he admitted. "Like, ’don’t go in there, just leave.’"

He swallowed.

"And now I’m standing here thinking... maybe I should check."

A quiet sigh came through the headset.

"So humanity has learned nothing."

"Apparently not."

Silence settled again.

Not peaceful.

Just tight.

Outside, a siren passed somewhere far away, fading as it moved deeper into the city.

Kai took a step.

Then another.

The hallway floor creaked under his weight, each sound exaggerated in the darkness. The beam of his flashlight wobbled slightly as he forced himself forward, scanning every inch like it might suddenly change.

"Luna."

"Mhm?"

"If I disappear—"

"You won’t."

He stopped mid-step.

"...You interrupted me."

"I know."

"You don’t even know what I was going to say."

"I do."

That made him pause.

"...You do?"

"Yes."

Her voice stayed steady.

"You were going to make a joke."

Kai opened his mouth.

Closed it.

"...I was."

"I know."

Despite everything pressing down on him, a faint smile pulled at the corner of his mouth.

Of course she knew.

Another step forward. The hallway narrowed the world down to just light and shadow, everything else irrelevant. The bathroom door sat slightly ajar, just like it had earlier. The bedroom beyond remained unchanged—messy sheets, untouched, ordinary.

Everything looked fine.

Too fine.

Then—

Ding.

Louder this time.

Kai froze completely.

His flashlight dropped instinctively toward the floor.

A faint glow was spilling out from beneath a small console table pressed against the hallway wall.

"...What?"

He crouched slowly, the beam sliding underneath the furniture.

There.

A phone.

Black. Face-up.

Its screen illuminated faintly in the dark.

Kai’s stomach tightened instantly.

It wasn’t his.

He only owned one phone, and it was still in his hand.

This one looked older. Cheap. A scratched case with a cracked corner that suggested it had been dropped more than once and never cared for afterward.

It lit up again.

New Message

No contact name.

No icon.

Just a notification.

Kai didn’t touch it.

Didn’t move.

Didn’t breathe properly.

"Luna."

"What do you see?"

"A phone."

A pause.

Then her voice sharpened slightly.

"...Don’t pick it up."

"I wasn’t planning to."

"Good."

He stayed crouched, staring at it like it might explain itself if he waited long enough.

The screen dimmed.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then it lit up again.

This time, the preview was visible.

You finally found me.

Kai felt something cold crawl up his spine.

At the exact same moment—

his own phone vibrated in his hand.

He nearly dropped it.

Unknown number.

One new message.

Slowly, he looked down.

Only three words.

Wrong phone, Kai.

Before he could react, before his brain could even properly process what that meant—

the phone beneath the console table began to ring.