STORY ONE: Unread Messages
Maya pushed the door shut behind her and dropped her bag by the wall, the quiet of her small apartment settling around her almost instantly. It had been a long day - one of those that seemed to drag on forever - and now that she was finally home, everything felt heavier, slower. She didn't bother with the main lights, just flickered on the lamp in her bedroom, letting the soft glow fill the space. Kicking off her shoes, she sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed at her eyes, already feeling sleep pulling at her. Her phone lay beside her, screen dark, as she reacher over to set an alarm. It buzzed.
Maya frowned slightly and picked up her phone, expecting a late message from work or some random notification. Instead, a single text sat on the screen from an unknown number.
'You'll wake up at 3:17am'
She stared at it for a moment, her brows knitting together in confusion. There was no name, no context, just the message, like it was supposed to mean something. Maya let out a small breath of amusement, shaking her head as she unlocked the phone to check the number. Nothing familiar.
"Right..." she muttered quietly, dismissing it as a wrong number or some half-hearted prank, and set the phone back down beside her.
Sleep came quickly, heavy and uninterrupted, the kind that pulled her under before she even realised it. When Maya woke, it was sudden, sharp like she'd been pulled out of the dark rather than eased from it. She lay still for a moment, staring at the dark ceiling, her heart beating just a little faster than it should have been. Frowning she reached for her phone and tapped the screen.
'3:17 am"
She paused, her thumbs hovering slightly as that small, uneasy feeling crept in her chest.
"...Just a coincidence." She murmured though it didn't quite sound convincing in the quiet. Her phone buzzed again.
Maya didn't reach for her phone straight away this time. She just stared at it where it rested beside her, the screen dimming again, her chest rising and falling a little too fast. After a moment, she leaned over and picked it up, slower than before, like she wasn't sure she actually wanted to see it. Another message.
'Don't get out of bed.'
Her grip tightened slightly around the phone, a small frown forming as she read it again. The wording felt different, less random, more... specific. Like it wasn't just guessing anymore. Maya let out a quiet breath, shaking her head at herself, trying to push the thought away. She shifted slightly under the covers... like she'd been about to get up anyway.
Maya exhaled quietly, pushing the unease aside as she swung her legs toward the edge of the bed.
"I'm not just going to lie here," she muttered under her breath, cold beneath her feet as she shifted forward. Her phone buzzed. She glanced down.
'You're going to stand up.'
A flicker of confusion crossed her face, her brow tightening as she read it. For a spilt second, it didn't make sense - then something cold settled in her chest she was already moving. Her weight had shifted. Her body had already risen before the thought had fully formed. Maya's breath caught slightly, her movements slowly as awareness crept in unease sharpening into something closer to fear. She froze... but only after she was already standing.
Maya stayed where she was, her body still, her mind trying to catch up with what had just happened. the apartment had gone completely silent around her, the kind of silence that pressed in a little too much. Then - a knock. Soft. Controlled. Just enough to be heard. Maya's head snapped toward the sound, her breath catching as she listened. No second knock followed. No footsteps. Just silence again, like nothing had happened. Her phone buzzed in her hand.
'Don't answer the door.'
A chill ran through her, sharper this time, settling deep in her chest as her grip tightened around the phone. Slowly, she turned toward the hallway, staring at the door she couldn't see.
Maya swallowed, forcing herself to breathe steadily as she took a slow step into the hallway. It could be anything she told herself - a neighbour at the wrong door, someone drunk, someone who'd made a mistake. People knocked on the wrong apartments all the time. It didn't have to mean anything. Another step. The silence on the other side of the door felt wrong. No shifting, no footsteps, not even the faintest sound of someone waiting. Just... nothing. Maya reached out slowly, her fingers inching toward the handle, her pulse loud in her ears. Her hand hovered there... not touching it yet.
Her fingers hovered there, just inched from the handle, her breath shallow as she stared at it like it might move on its own. The silence pressed in around her, thick and suffocating, making every small movement feel too loud. Her phone buzzed. The sound made her flinch. Slowly, she lifted it, he chest tightening before she even looked.
'Stop.'
The word sat there simple, direct Maya's stomach dropped. It knew. Not what she had done... but what she was about to do. Her breathing picked up, uneven now, as she pulled her hand back slightly, her fingers curling in on themselves like she'd been burned. Another knock came. This time, a little louder.
Maya didn't move, her eyes fixed on the door as if looking away might make it worse. The word 'stop' still echoed in her head, her pulse loud and uneven in her ears. For a moment, everything held its breath. Her phone buzzed again. She didn't want to look this time, but she did.
'They know you're there.'
Her throat tightened. 'They?' Not one person. Not a mistake. Something about that word made the space beyond the door feel heavier, wrong in a way she couldn't explain. Maya's gaze flickered back to the handle, her body rigid as she listened. Nothing. No footsteps. No voices. Just the same empty silence pressing against the other side. Then... the handle moved. Just slightly.
Maya stared at the handle, her body locked in place, waiting for it to move again, for something else to happen. Nothing did. The silence stretched, thick and unmoving, until even her breathing began to sound too loud in her ears. Seconds passed. Then longer. No more knocks. No more movement. Just the stillness of the apartment settling back into place like it had before. Slowly, carefully, she stepped back from the door, her eyes never leaving it, half-expecting it to shift again the moment she looked away. It didn't. Her grip loosened slightly around her phone as the tension in her chest eased just enough to breathe properly again.
"It's fine," she whispered to herself, the words quiet, uncertain. She told herself it was safe... but didn't fully believe it.
She lingered for a moment longer before finally turning away from the door, her movements slow, reluctant, like she expected something to happen the second her back was turned. The hallway felt colder now, the shadows deeper as she made her way back into the boredom. Everything looked the same as she'd left it - lamp still glowing softly, bed untouched - but it didn't feel the same. She paused beside it, phone doorway before she sat down. For a second, she just stayed there, shoulders tense, like she wasn't sure if lying down was a good idea.
"I just want this to stop..." she murmured quietly. Carefully, she lay back, pulling the covers over herself, her body still tight, with leftover tension. She closed her eyes... but not comfortably.
Her phone buzzed softly beside her, the sound muted against the mattress. Maya stirred slightly but didn't reach for it this time, her body too heavy, sleep already pulling her eyes back under. Her eyes stayed closed, her breathing slow and steady as she drifted further away from it all. The screen up briefly in the dim room.
'You won't wake up tomorrow.'
She didn't see it. Her breathing steadied, deepened... and she fell asleep.
The apartment was still again, wrapped in that same quiet calm as before. The soft glow of the lamp east gentle shadows across the room, unmoving, undisturbed Maya lay asleep beneath the covers, her breathing slow and even, the tension from earlier gone from her face like it had never been there at all. Nothing move. Nothing made a sound. Her phone buzzed softly beside her, the screen lighting up the darkness just enough to be seen.
'They're inside.'
