The best friend
“Hey watch it ”
Sarah shouted at the delivery guy who almost knocked her down ,the guy looked at her surprised like she was supposed to apologize to him for almost falling down from the scooter when trying to avoid hitting her . He just looked at her nodded his head and said something ,no one who have heard and then went on his way . Sarah stood there heaving a sign of relief , like she expected the guy to do something or anything. A message alert came up , she looked at it and groaned silently,her parents picture of their upcoming pre- anniversary photos .
“who takes pre-anniversary photos , such a parent I have ” she silently went through her phone checking different things on the net , groaning and asking questions why other people gets thousands of likes and she on the other hand gets just twenty likes on a photo she posted three month ago .
As she was about to cross the main road after the green light sign ,she was pulled by someone , she angrily turned around to take out all the anger she has being harnessing only to discover it was her childhood best friend sisi.
“Sisi come on we’ve talked about this ”
Sisi stood there with a confused looked “ dude you should be thanking me I literally just saved you from getting hit by that bus” sisi said folding her hands .
“Ohh really , the traffic light showed green what are the odds ”
“Huh” sisi said looking surprised
Sarah explained how she almost got hit by a delivery guy in a scooter , she showed her disapproved for a delivery guy to be riding a scooter. After much conversation which Sarah didn’t even involve herself in because of all the activities going on in her phone , sisi and Sarah finally bid themselves goodbye and promised to see each other again before the day ends .
Sarah was always glued to her phone. She rarely left the house and spent every waking moment scrolling, typing, and swiping. She barely noticed the world around her and things just seemed to evolve without her .
When she finally got home ,the whole house was empty , her little brother wasn’t back for the day care .she felt so happy at the fact that she could finally enjoy the house all to herself not that she planned on doing anything other than going through every nook and cranny in the world of social media .
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It was midnight already ,
Sarah just off the phone with sisi who was in the hospital with her dying grandmother. After the phone ended , she wondered how one can be so close to their grand parents she never really understood. She on the other hand struggled to even maintain good relationships with her parents . Still alone in the big mansion,which seems to be a dream come through she wasn’t even bothered why her parents and her younger brother wasn’t home yet .
The window suddenly came open and the wind gushed right in , Sarah unbothered by it let alone the dark presence lurking in the shadows of her room as her stayed glued to her phone watching an episode of who’s next a tv series .
A dark invisible shadow taking the form of something not from this world .At first, it was just a flicker in the corner of her eye, a fleeting glimpse of something huge and hulking. The presence grew stronger watching from the side of the windows . Sarah felt it’s presence finally and at first stood still and pretended like she was still focused on watching the series . She stayed there still. ears vigilant to know if there was really anything or her mind was just playing tricks on her . Finally after a long time of silence,she hurriedly stood up from the bed and moved towards the window to shut it like it was her worst night mare . After closing the window , she turned to go back to her bed , when she noticed a black shadow up the ceiling, she immediately ran to the bed picked up her phone and put on the flash light and pointed it to the ceiling. This time around there was nothing there ,maybe she was imagining things she said to herself . Her stomach groaned and then realized she had not eaten anything since she came back from school . She dropped her phone and moved towards the door of her room , the lock on the door twisted like somebody was locking her in , the lock twisted making an eerie sound . After that the key dropped , scared to death she hurriedly picked up her phone to call for help . The No service showed on the corner of her screen for the first time , she looked up and walked round the room to get better service but still no service . An idea came to her, she could make a video of this and post it online and get lots of likes. She switch to camera and kept her phone in the dark corner of her as if hiding it from who so ever was after her .
She went back to the door , picked up the key and tried opening the door .
“you should get back to your phone ”
“Who said that ” scared to death , she turned around looking for the trespasser , the tone of the imposter sounded very calm like it knew her . The shadow she had seen earlier suddenly came out of the walls and slowest walked towards her . Sarah stood at the door speechless, many thoughts came to her mind what if she was dreaming ,the shadow grew more closely and closer until it was finally face to face with Sarah . Sarah buried herself at the door as if seeking comfort and protection from the door .
She tried to scream, but her voice was choked off. She tried to run, but her legs were weak and heavy.
The presence loomed over her, its shadowy form filling the room.
Sarah was paralyzed with fear, unable to move as the presence drew closer. She closed her eyes, bracing herself for the worst.
But instead of the cold grip of death, she felt a strange, ethereal tugging. The world around her seemed to dissolve, and she felt herself being pulled into another realm, one of pure darkness and cold.
She was no longer in her room, but somewhere else entirely. The presence was still with her, a looming shadow in the darkness.
"I have taken you," it said, its voice like the rustling of leaves in the wind.
Sarah opened her eyes and wanted to scream, to fight, but she couldn't. She was trapped, frozen in place. The presence loomed closer, its form growing even more enormous and menacing.
"You will stay here with me," it whispered, "forever. You will never see the light of day again."
Sarah looked around her, unable to see anything beyond the dark, engulfing void. The space was silent,except for the eerie whispers of the presence. The silence seemed almost tangible, a cold, heavy blanket that weighed down upon her.
As she stood there, she felt something crawling up her leg, its sharp claws digging into her skin. She gasped in fear and looked down, but saw nothing. The crawling continued, creeping up her body, sending shivers down her spine.
The stench of rotting flesh permeated the air, making her want to retch.It pulled away ,as if giving room for her but again she could feel the presence drawing closer, its icy breath chilling her skin.
"You will stay here, with me," it said, "and you will never leave. We will be together, forever."
Sarah struggled against the presence's grasp, but it was like being held in the clutches of a great, powerful beast. Gathering every courage in her she finally spoke in a shaky low tone
"What are you?" she cried. "What do you want with me?" Unsure if it heard her .
At first there was no answer , like it went silent or had gone , Sarah turned around this time using her hands to find her way . she couldn’t still understand where she was as everything around her even where she was sitting felt like air , like she was floating .
“I watched you," it spoke , "always online, always staring at that screen. You were attached to it, as if it were your life's purpose. Now, you will be mine."
She put her hands on her hands as if trying to open her eyes more ,she couldn’t still see anything despite the fact that her eyes were wide open . It was as if she was blind ,she couldn’t even see a tiny glimpse of light .Fear shook her body as her mind went back to the night stories her grandmother always told her when she was young . About a monster who was lonely and wanted to have a longtime partner .Her grandmother explained how the monster sought his victims,those who made something part of them and their day wouldn’t go on without them being with it . The monster would watch them from the dark corners of their room waiting for day it will finally get the opportunity to take that person into their realm and the person never returns .In grandma words “it was looking for a lifetime partner to distant from the world and all to itself ” Sarah remembered the look she gave her mother who stood just at the door listening to the stories,she didn’t sleep well that night and the night after until she gathered courage went to her and asked her if the story grandma told was true . Her mother told her about how grandma behaved anytime she saw her pressing her phone later in the night would come up with many scary stories .Her mothers words of assurance calmed her and from that day on she distance her self from her grandmother who she now considered a freak . Another thought came to her head ,what if grandma was right .
"No!" Sarah screamed. "I won't stay here! You can't keep me here!"
But the presence only chuckled, its voice twisting into a dark, mocking imitation of laughter. "You have no choice," it said.
"You belong to me now, as much as you belonged to that phone."
Sarah fell silent, her fear and despair palpable in the heavy, cold air. Sarah fell silent again trying to make out what it had just said to her .
"huh ?" she whispered lost in thoughts ,she sat speechless
The presence was silent for a long moment, and then it spoke. "you were willing to give up everything for that screen," it said.
A thought came to her , scream Sarah scream
Sarah opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. The darkness consumed her, engulfing her in a miasma of blackness. She could feel the presence all around her, its will crushing her, breaking her down until there was nothing left but fear and submission.
“you belong to me now”
And then, with a final, whispered scream, she became part of the darkness. She would never see the light of day again. The presence had won, and Sarah had become just another victim of the endless night.
But in the world she had left behind, her phone lay on her bed, its screen glowing with a sinister, electronic light.
