About a month ago my girlfriend broke up with me. The love of my life ended things seemingly out of the blue – over text, of all places. Didn’t even have the decency to do it in person.
I spent the next few weeks laying in my dorm room, refusing to get out of bed, letting myself soak in my own bitter, heartbroken tears. I didn’t enjoy my downward spiral, but I couldn’t bring myself to escape from it.
That’s when my roommate James decided to take matters into his own hands.
“Hey Will,” he told me one morning, “I can’t stand to see you like this, man. You gotta get back out there. Meet new people. That’s the best way to get over her.”
“Not yet,” I muttered, “give me a few more days.”
“That’s the fifth time you’ve said that.”
“I mean it this time.”
James sighed. “Lucky for you, I knew you’d say that. So, I set up a Tinder profile on your behalf.”
For the first time in quite a few hours, I sat up in bed. “You what?”
James smirked and pulled my phone out of his pocket. “I should’ve never told you my password,” I grumbled, snatching the device from him.
I scanned my profile, surprised by how well put together it was, considering I only had about 3 or 4 good pictures of myself. The bio simply read “6’1.”
“That matters,” James noted.
-—————————
Three days later, I had my first bit of luck on the app. I had had a few matches, but never a single response to my messages. That was until Jessica.
Jessica, 19. No bio. One picture on her profile. A mirror pic with her wearing a flowy white dress like she was getting married on a budget. Weird fashion sense for a college student, but pretty.
I had started things off with Love the wedding dress but take me out to dinner first! Cheesy, I know. I wasn’t very good at this. I was working at my desk when the first response came.
Fair enough lol. Can we skip the dinner and go straight to a movie?
I reached for my phone so fast I almost fell out of my chair. James had advised me not to respond right away, but I couldn’t care less.
Great idea, but don’t think there’s any theaters on campus. We could watch something at my dorm?
As soon as I hit send a wave of guilt washed over me. I was shallow inviting her over within 3 messages. I was betraying my ex. It hadn’t even been a month. I shouldn’t be doing this. All these concerns didn’t stop me from keeping my eyes glued to the screen like my life depended on it.
Sounds like a plan ;) when r u free?
Holy shit. Was I actually doing this? Before I could talk myself out of it, my fingers were flying across the digital keyboard.
Tomorrow night?
My eyes remained fixed on the screen. Three dots appeared. She was typing.
10 seconds passed. Then 30 more. Then a minute.
Then the three dots disappeared.
“Fuuuuuck,” I muttered. I crawled into bed, resuming my almost-fetal position that had become routine since the break-up. She would respond eventually. She had to, right? She wouldn’t ghost me like that.
I laid there, eyes fixated on the tiny screen, for a couple more hours before finally accepting reality and dozing off.
-—————————
The next evening, I was tearing through a box of Thin Mints when there was a knock at my door. I slid out of bed and stumbled over to the mirror, debating whether I should make myself presentable before greeting whoever it was. I was wearing a Cheeto-stained white t-shirt and blue pajama pants. My hair looked like it hadn’t been washed in days because, well, it hadn’t. I decided against fixing any of it, guessing it was just a neighbor, all of whom already knew about my circumstances anyways. My sobbing immediately after the break-up had been loud enough to break the sound barrier. I opened the door.
It wasn’t a neighbor. It was Jessica.
She was short and thin with incredibly pale skin, yet pretty enough to stand out in any crowd. She had pure blue eyes and luscious, wavy blonde hair. Her beauty was so distracting, it took me a moment to realize she was wearing the same white dress from her profile.
“Hey Will,” she said with a cute smile.
“Hey,” I replied, stunned.
“Can I come in?” she asked, stepping around me and into the room before I could answer. I glanced at the clock. 9:01PM. I hadn’t specified a time when we were messaging, had I? Wait… I hadn’t said where I lived, either!
“Sure,” I said, though Jessica had been in the room for a good thirty seconds at this point. “Sorry I look like this. I wasn’t really expecting you to show up.”
Jessica giggled. Her laugh was bubbly and contagious. “It’s ok,” she said, her voice squeaky in a cute way. “So, what do you want to watch?”
“I don’t mind,” I said. “But Jessica?”
“Yeah?”
“If you don’t mind me asking, how’d you know I lived here?”
Jessica scanned the room for a moment, her cool blue eyes locking on James’ bed at the other end. “Your roommate told me,” she said.
“Oh, you know James?” I asked. Of course. I had complained to James that morning about Jessica, showing him her profile and the messages between us. He had laughed and told me not to worry about it. He must have recognized her and texted her, convincing her to go through with the date. A couple hours ago he had left to “go study,” but it seemed to me now that he was clearing the room so I could have some alone time with Jessica. I just wished he had told me she was coming so I could have cleaned myself up, but he probably assumed I would have chickened out if he did. To be fair, I probably would have chickened out. And now here she was, in my room, in that beautiful white dress.
“Yes,” Jessica said, “but Will… I’m here for you.”
She looked at me when she said this, her crystal blue eyes staring straight into my soul. She batted her eyelashes at me. Butterflies erupted in my stomach. Maybe this was what I needed to get over the break-up, after all.
Jessica climbed onto my bed, beckoning for me to follow. I grabbed my laptop off my desk and started in her direction. “Oh, and Will?”
“Yeah?”
Jessica gave me a flirty smile. “I think you should lock the door.”
-—————————
Forty minutes later, I laid on the bed next to Jessica. The laptop rested on the edge of the bed, playing some sappy Disney movie she had picked out. “Every girl loves Disney,” I remembered James saying some weeks ago, when he had just begun giving me getting-back-out-there advice.
Since the movie had started, the two of us hadn’t said a word. Jessica would occasionally look at me and smile, I’d smile back, and we’d go right back to watching. I had started sitting as close to the edge of the bed as possible, not wanting to make Jessica uncomfortable. As the film had gone on I’d slowly scooched my way closer and closer to her. Jessica had definitely noticed, but not said anything. A good sign, I thought. Now there were mere centimeters between us. I was anticipating the best moment to make a move.
A character in the movie made a joke. Jessica laughed then turned to me, looking at me with those wonderful blue eyes. I laughed too, not entirely knowing what was funny. She turned her head back to the laptop but I kept mine on her. She turned back to me and smiled. She kept her gaze on me now. This was it.
I leaned in. So did Jessica. Our heads moved closer together. Her eyes seemed to glow brighter. We were so close now. I puckered my lips and closed my eyes, preparing for the kiss. After another moment… I felt nothing.
I opened my eyes to see the brick wall behind Jessica, but not Jessica. After a moment of brief confusion I was suddenly overcome with a furious chill that coursed throughout my entire body. I jerked my head back. The chill instantly subsided and out of nowhere I was seeing not the wall but her again, my face millimeters from hers, staring into her eyes. They were no longer baby blue but instead a dark, bloody red.
I screamed and launched myself backwards, toppling off the bed and onto the floor. I couldn’t believe it. I had just been inside her. My head had just passed through hers. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. But it had just happened. Something in me knew that there was no other explanation.
Jessica wasn’t Jessica anymore. Her skin was no longer pale. It was pure white. It matched the color of her dress exactly. Her face was no longer quaint and attractive, it was long and wrinkled and distorted. Her blonde hair was now tainted with dark gray streaks. Her mouth curled up into a crooked smile that was no longer cute but deeply unsettling. I watched in horror as Jessica jumped – no, floated – off the bed.
My shock was quickly replaced by fear. I crawled away from her, unable to find the strength to stand up. Jessica swiftly blocked the path between me and the door, hovering just above the ground, her white dress creating a silky barricade.
“You disappointed me, Will,” Jessica rasped. Her red eyes bore into my soul. She floated towards me.
I continued to crawl away, quicker now. Adrenaline was kicking in, reminding me that I needed to act. I reached up and snatched my laptop off the edge of the bed and threw it at her with as much force as I could muster. The laptop passed right through her torso, hitting the door behind her and smashing into pieces.
Jessica didn’t even flinch. She threw her head back and erupted in laughter. Her once bubbly laugh was now an inhuman cackle. I continued crawling until I was pressed against the back wall of the dorm.
“Please don’t hurt me!” I screamed. Jessica stopped laughing, her face morphing into a scowl, her blood-red eyes reflecting a deep rage.
“For a second I thought you were better than the rest!” she shrieked. “You seemed kind. Respectful. Above temptation. But I tested you and you cracked. They always do.”
“I’m sorry!” I cried. Jessica was floating towards me quicker now. I glanced around desperately for anything I could use to defend myself, but it was no use. Anything would just pass right through her. There was nothing left to do, nowhere left to go.
“No, you’re not!” Jessica screeched. “But you will be.”
“Please!” I cried, the word coming out quivery and weak.
Before I could react, Jessica lunged through the air towards me. I shrunk against the wall, bracing for my impending doom. I slammed my eyes shut, not strong enough to witness my own demise.
After a few seconds of overwhelming anticipation, I noticed that I still felt… alive. I willed myself to open my eyes. Jessica’s ghastly figure was unmoving, hovering mere centimeters away from me. Her eyes were staring directly into mine, just as they had been only a minute ago, when I had thought I was about to kiss a cute, innocent girl. Now it was a wretched monster looking back at me. But in that monster’s blood-red eyes I could see something breaking through. Behind the ferocious rage was a sliver of surprise – and fear.
“Wh-“ I began, then realized what was happening. I could hear the jingling of keys and the clicking of a lock on the other side of the door.
Jessica disappeared instantly, her entire body fading from existence in the blink of an eye. A moment later the door swung open and I was greeted by James and his goofy grin. He stood there nonchalantly, no idea that he had just saved my life.
“Hey man,” he said. “Sorry I was out for so long. This test tomorrow’s gonna be a bitch. Why are you on the floor?”
“I- she-“ I tried to form words, sentences, questions, explanations, but failed.
James looked down at the smashed laptop, over at my upturned bed, and then back at me. “What happened?”
“J-Jessica,” I managed to get out.
“Who’s that?” James asked. “Oh, that girl from Tinder? Did she ever respond?”
“Gh-ghost,” I muttered.
James laughed and walked up to me, placing a sympathetic hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, dude. I get it. Getting ghosted is the worst.”