“I am the one who waits in the negative space,” the text read.
Elias froze. That wasn't in the script. He tried to delete the line, but the cursor refused to move. The video didn't pause; it slowed down until the audio became a guttural, synthesized drone. The image of the witch on screen didn't look like a low-budget 80s mask anymore. Her eyes were hollow voids, and they weren't looking at Hackles. They were looking at the camera.
A new line of text appeared at the bottom of his screen, unprompted:
The subtitles started scrolling upward, faster and faster, a blur of white text that eventually formed a single name: his own.