1
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Into the void, by Jordan Macon, rain pattered against the grimy, cracked windows of Mark
2
00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:13,840
Ellis' fifth floor walk-up in Denver, a dingy apartment he'd called home since losing his
3
00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:21,600
tech support job six months ago at a startup that folded overnight. At forty-two, he'd
4
00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:29,380
once thrived on untangling digital knots, servers, networks, code, but layoffs and a
5
00:00:29,380 --> 00:00:35,320
bitter divorce from Jen, who'd grown tired of his late-night troubleshooting, had stripped
6
00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:42,960
him bare, leaving just peeling walls, a sagging futon littered with crumbs, and a VR headset
7
00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:49,960
he'd splurged on with his last paycheck, a desperate bid to escape reality's grind.
8
00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:57,040
Nightmare Realm was the game, a horror title hyped on forums for its bone-deep immersion,
9
00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:04,200
a dark promise to drown out the world's noise with virtual terror. Tonight, at eleven-forty-seven
10
00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:11,160
p.m., after a day scouring job boards that offered nothing but rejection, he strapped
11
00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:17,880
on the headset its weight a cold comfort against his skull. The rain's rhythm faded as the
12
00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:24,720
game booted up, plunging him into a shadowed forest. Missed curling through gnarled trees,
13
00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:32,680
the air thick with a damp chill he could almost taste. The avatar materialized, its face his
14
00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:39,960
own, mirrored down to the jagged scar on his left cheek from a childhood tumble off a bike.
15
00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:48,760
You're trapped, it whispered, voice his but colder hollow, like an echo from a grave.
16
00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:54,680
The attack chuckled nervously, jabbing the quit button on the controller. Nothing happened.
17
00:01:54,680 --> 00:02:02,600
The headset hummed, a low vibration sinking into his bones, refusing to power down. He
18
00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:07,840
yanked at the straps, fingers fumbling, but they tightened, pressing the lenses deeper
19
00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:15,560
against his eyes. His apartment blurred, walls dissolving as the forest solidified around
20
00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:23,040
him. Rain fell, cold and real, soaking his faded t-shirt, dripping down his neck. Log
21
00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:29,280
out, he shouted, voice cracking, clawing at the headset. It wouldn't budge, plastic
22
00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:36,280
slick with sweat and rain. His phone buzzed on the futon, he reached for it, stunned to
23
00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:42,560
find it in his pocket within the game. Texts from an unknown number glowed.
24
00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:50,520
You can't log out. The game screen shifted, projecting his apartment, empty, silent. Then
25
00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:57,960
his body, slumped on the couch, eyes blank, headset glowing like a predator's gaze. Panic
26
00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:04,260
surged, bile rising in his throat, he stumbled through the virtual trees, branches snagging
27
00:03:04,260 --> 00:03:10,360
his skin, tearing shallow cuts that stung with wet earth. The avatar, shadowed him,
28
00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:17,080
a relentless doppelganger whispering, this is home now, its voice looping tighter with
29
00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:26,240
each step. His phone vibrated again, another text, look up, above. A camera lens glinted
30
00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:32,680
in the canopy, filming him, mics embedded in the headset capturing his ragged gasps,
31
00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:39,120
feeding them back in a distorted chorus of his own terror. Mark yanked at the headset
32
00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:46,160
once more, fingers slipping on wet plastic, but the straps dug deeper, fusing to his
33
00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:54,840
scalp as if alive, wires threading into his hair. He fell, mudsucking at his knees, the
34
00:03:54,840 --> 00:04:01,320
game projecting his apartment, neighbors pounding his door, their muffled shouts unheard beyond
35
00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:09,080
the forest's grip. Days later, they broke in, finding him, headset melded to his skull,
36
00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:15,600
skin fused around its edges, eyes wide and unseeing, rain sounds leaking from the speakers,
37
00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:23,440
his last plea looped endlessly. Let me out. He'd called maintenance weeks back, griping
38
00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:31,520
about a home in the walls. Had someone slipped in, tampered with his sanctuary. Police arrived,
39
00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:37,520
combing the scene, bare futon, a half empty beer can rain streaking the glass, but found
40
00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:45,320
no trace, just a headset with no brand, no signal, its battery impossibly alive. His
41
00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:50,880
ex-wife, Jen, came to ID him, her voice flat with exhaustion. He loved escaping, guess
42
00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:59,560
he found it. As she left, her phone buzzed, a text. He's still here. A photo flashed,
43
00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:07,480
Mark in the forest, screaming, shot from above, rain washing the screen blank. Jen hired Paul,
44
00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:13,040
a techie friend with a knack for forensics, to sweep the apartment. They uncovered mics
45
00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:20,240
in the drywall. A transmitter bolted under the floorboards, feeding to an encrypted server,
46
00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:25,760
active for months. Recording marks every sigh, curse and breakdown.
47
00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:33,120
Someone played him like a puppet, Paul said, voice low, unplugging the last wire. A final
48
00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:40,400
text hit. The void keeps him. Jen sold the place fast, fleeing to Boulder with cash from
49
00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:47,600
the sale, desperate to outrun the echo. She burned his gear in a backyard pit, the plastic
50
00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:55,160
melting into acrid smoke, and took a cashier job far from screens or circuits. But late
51
00:05:55,160 --> 00:06:01,760
nights brought a hum, rain through phantom speakers, a whisper of Mark's voice threading
52
00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:09,600
through the dark. Log out. She'd escaped Denver's concrete cage, but the void held
53
00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:19,040
him fast. Its hollow frequency, a tether snaking into her dreams. A trap he'd never exit.
54
00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:35,800
A scream she'd never silence. A shadow she'd carry forever.
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,080
Into the void, by Jordan Macon, rain pattered against the grimy, cracked windows of Mark
2
00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:13,840
Ellis' fifth floor walk-up in Denver, a dingy apartment he'd called home since losing his
3
00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:21,600
tech support job six months ago at a startup that folded overnight. At forty-two, he'd
4
00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:29,380
once thrived on untangling digital knots, servers, networks, code, but layoffs and a
5
00:00:29,380 --> 00:00:35,320
bitter divorce from Jen, who'd grown tired of his late-night troubleshooting, had stripped
6
00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:42,960
him bare, leaving just peeling walls, a sagging futon littered with crumbs, and a VR headset
7
00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:49,960
he'd splurged on with his last paycheck, a desperate bid to escape reality's grind.
8
00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:57,040
Nightmare Realm was the game, a horror title hyped on forums for its bone-deep immersion,
9
00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:04,200
a dark promise to drown out the world's noise with virtual terror. Tonight, at eleven-forty-seven
10
00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:11,160
p.m., after a day scouring job boards that offered nothing but rejection, he strapped
11
00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:17,880
on the headset its weight a cold comfort against his skull. The rain's rhythm faded as the
12
00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:24,720
game booted up, plunging him into a shadowed forest. Missed curling through gnarled trees,
13
00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:32,680
the air thick with a damp chill he could almost taste. The avatar materialized, its face his
14
00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:39,960
own, mirrored down to the jagged scar on his left cheek from a childhood tumble off a bike.
15
00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:48,760
You're trapped, it whispered, voice his but colder hollow, like an echo from a grave.
16
00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:54,680
The attack chuckled nervously, jabbing the quit button on the controller. Nothing happened.
17
00:01:54,680 --> 00:02:02,600
The headset hummed, a low vibration sinking into his bones, refusing to power down. He
18
00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:07,840
yanked at the straps, fingers fumbling, but they tightened, pressing the lenses deeper
19
00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:15,560
against his eyes. His apartment blurred, walls dissolving as the forest solidified around
20
00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:23,040
him. Rain fell, cold and real, soaking his faded t-shirt, dripping down his neck. Log
21
00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:29,280
out, he shouted, voice cracking, clawing at the headset. It wouldn't budge, plastic
22
00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:36,280
slick with sweat and rain. His phone buzzed on the futon, he reached for it, stunned to
23
00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:42,560
find it in his pocket within the game. Texts from an unknown number glowed.
24
00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:50,520
You can't log out. The game screen shifted, projecting his apartment, empty, silent. Then
25
00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:57,960
his body, slumped on the couch, eyes blank, headset glowing like a predator's gaze. Panic
26
00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:04,260
surged, bile rising in his throat, he stumbled through the virtual trees, branches snagging
27
00:03:04,260 --> 00:03:10,360
his skin, tearing shallow cuts that stung with wet earth. The avatar, shadowed him,
28
00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:17,080
a relentless doppelganger whispering, this is home now, its voice looping tighter with
29
00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:26,240
each step. His phone vibrated again, another text, look up, above. A camera lens glinted
30
00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:32,680
in the canopy, filming him, mics embedded in the headset capturing his ragged gasps,
31
00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:39,120
feeding them back in a distorted chorus of his own terror. Mark yanked at the headset
32
00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:46,160
once more, fingers slipping on wet plastic, but the straps dug deeper, fusing to his
33
00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:54,840
scalp as if alive, wires threading into his hair. He fell, mudsucking at his knees, the
34
00:03:54,840 --> 00:04:01,320
game projecting his apartment, neighbors pounding his door, their muffled shouts unheard beyond
35
00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:09,080
the forest's grip. Days later, they broke in, finding him, headset melded to his skull,
36
00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:15,600
skin fused around its edges, eyes wide and unseeing, rain sounds leaking from the speakers,
37
00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:23,440
his last plea looped endlessly. Let me out. He'd called maintenance weeks back, griping
38
00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:31,520
about a home in the walls. Had someone slipped in, tampered with his sanctuary. Police arrived,
39
00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:37,520
combing the scene, bare futon, a half empty beer can rain streaking the glass, but found
40
00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:45,320
no trace, just a headset with no brand, no signal, its battery impossibly alive. His
41
00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:50,880
ex-wife, Jen, came to ID him, her voice flat with exhaustion. He loved escaping, guess
42
00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:59,560
he found it. As she left, her phone buzzed, a text. He's still here. A photo flashed,
43
00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:07,480
Mark in the forest, screaming, shot from above, rain washing the screen blank. Jen hired Paul,
44
00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:13,040
a techie friend with a knack for forensics, to sweep the apartment. They uncovered mics
45
00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:20,240
in the drywall. A transmitter bolted under the floorboards, feeding to an encrypted server,
46
00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:25,760
active for months. Recording marks every sigh, curse and breakdown.
47
00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:33,120
Someone played him like a puppet, Paul said, voice low, unplugging the last wire. A final
48
00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:40,400
text hit. The void keeps him. Jen sold the place fast, fleeing to Boulder with cash from
49
00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:47,600
the sale, desperate to outrun the echo. She burned his gear in a backyard pit, the plastic
50
00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:55,160
melting into acrid smoke, and took a cashier job far from screens or circuits. But late
51
00:05:55,160 --> 00:06:01,760
nights brought a hum, rain through phantom speakers, a whisper of Mark's voice threading
52
00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:09,600
through the dark. Log out. She'd escaped Denver's concrete cage, but the void held
53
00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:19,040
him fast. Its hollow frequency, a tether snaking into her dreams. A trap he'd never exit.
54
00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:35,800
A scream she'd never silence. A shadow she'd carry forever.
