The story below was inspired by the writing prompt that u/SugarFrostedDonuts posted some time ago. Before reading, please take a minute to look at the picture from the link above. I hope you enjoy the story.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Deep dives into the waters of videos from the internet occupy my nights. It’s just as weird as you would expect. From the odd and disturbing to the dark and unexpected. But these videos entertain me.
One night, a certain video catches my eye. The title is “Static.” The thumbnail was just a still of static. Something about one word titles pique my interest. I play it. The sound of static plays but the video is black. I look around. The thought of being alone in my unlit room and the static from this video has me on edge. The sound is almost reminiscent of cicadas surrounding me, watching me. Slowly, the video starts changing color.
The image of static comes into focus, but the color is still very dark. I notice the static gets louder and rises in pitch. I try to lower the volume on my laptop but it’s not working. “Fuck this,” I whisper. I get up from bed and flip the light switch.
At that moment, the sense of being watched heightens. The cicadas are closer, and multiplying. The volume reaches a point where I cannot think. I notice my wall reflecting the color of the video, which is now red. My body feels like insects have burrowed my skin and made it their home. They’re crawling towards my head. My eyes twitch at the feeling. My response was to turn the light off.
Though the sound of static continues, it returns to a volume I can deal with. A sigh of relief lets out. I then cover my mouth. My ears catch the sound of my sigh, coming from the speakers of my laptop. I slowly uncover my mouth and whisper, “what the fuck?” Again, my words are not heard from my mouth, but from the speakers. Without saying another word, I approach my bed to look at the screen. The image on the video is still static, but now it’s blue.
I scream. The sound is not coming from my mouth. I keep screaming. All of it is being heard from my laptop. I cover my ears, but the sound is still heard crystal clear. There has to be a logical explanation for this. I close my eyes, trying to focus on understanding the situation at hand. What is this video doing to me? Is the sound causing me to hallucinate? As I am coming up with all these questions to try and answer, I peek at the screen of my laptop. Once I get a clear picture of what I am seeing, my eyes widen.
I see myself, but it’s more like a distorted copy of the original. It looks tired, as if it has been awake for days. The skin has a tint of blue. No, it’s not just the skin. The entire being is blue. The eyes are fixated on me, as if I have just been discovered also. I notice the background of the video is my room. I look behind me and realize that it’s a clear reflection of my background. My head turns back to the screen. There is confusion in his eyes, similar to what I imagine my face looked when I started this video. As he tries to understand what is happening, his blue lightens. At this point, I realize the sound of static has stopped.
As I notice my heartbeat regulating to a steady pace, the words “fuck this” is heard from the speakers. My copy gets up and leaves the frame. Now, I am confused. My mind wanders, thinking of possibilities of what could be happening. Before I can come up with a reason, the screen goes red. After a few seconds, the screen reverts. My face inches closer to the screen. Then, I hear an audible sigh from my laptop. I pull back. Oddly, this all seems like deja vu. I then hear a whisper of the words “what the fuck” from the speakers.
My copy returns to the frame. His eyes are now different. There is black surrounding the eye I can see, his hair blocking the other. His face is emotionless. As I take notice of the changes, a smile slowly grows from his face. His blue body start distorting. There’s a very distant sound I hear coming from my laptop. I lean in to listen while my eyes focus on my digital doppelgänger. As my face closes the distance from the screen, his smile widens. The eyes that stare at me shrink and the surrounding black widens. My face stops moving in. Before I can take another second to figure out what is going on. a scream from my copy lets out, piercing my ears. I pull back as he continues to scream. Static matches the volume and suddenly I feel as if I am drowning in a pool of cicadas, being dragged by the blue digital assailant. I hold my breath, grip my laptop and close it. Sweat escapes my face and stabs the outer shell of my laptop. All is silent but my heavy breathing. Like the ocean, there is so little we know about the depths of the internet.