“DO YOU WANT TO CONTINUE? YES/NO”
The dim glow of the thinkpad cast an unholy chiaroscuro across Jonathan’s features. His glazed-over eyes reflected countless open tabs and pornographic WEBMs open for viewing. With a wheezy exhale, he quickly wiped his right hand off on a pair of basketball shorts and raised it back to its rightful position. That is, atop a double-mounded mousepad decorated by a suspiciously-young looking anime character.
Click.
He’d moused over the magenta button that said YES. Sounding as though he’d just finished a half-assed 5k, he grunted into his microphone.
“Jonathan. Jones. September eleventh. Nineteen-ninety-six.”
The screen lit up with a flourish and his bloodshot eyes narrowed behind their clunky frames. A small green indicator lit up right beside his webcam.
“Welcome back, JonnyBoy4201. Do you have more to spend?” cooed a vaguely feminine tenor. From Jonathan’s throat came a comically loud gulping sound.
“….y-y-y–y-yes, chef.”
“Good boy. Jonny, Jonny?”
“Yes, papa?”
“Eating sugar?”
“N-no, papa,” Jonathan stammered. He glanced to the right of his mousepad. Traces of a white powder coated the table. His trembling hand lifted from his mouse. Pinching a razor blade with two fingers, he began to comb the traces into a pile. SKRRREEEEEEEETCH. The man groaned at the tremulant frequency of razor-blade-on-chalkboard-textured-vinyl.
“TELLING LIES?” boomed the operating system.
Jonathan’s lip quivered.
“Y-yes, papa.”
His monitor transformed into a sanguine husk. In awe, Jonathan’s pupils rapidly dilate. His thumb twitches, slitting itself open on the razor blade. Reflexively, he attempted to drop the blade, but the blade had embedded itself into his now-gushing thumbpad.
Cartoonish eyelash-batting sound effects began to play from his monitor. The silhouette of something long-haired and horned danced across a backdrop of a red curtain.
HELO
VRFY
A nonsensical string of numbers floated across the periphery of the screen. Jonathan swore silently as he attempted to blindly pry the razor blade from his fingertip, no longer transfixed by the screen. With a disturbing squelch, he tears the blade back out. His expression softens ever so slightly, just before noting that he’d royally fucked up.
His neatly combed powder traces had been lost in the modest pool of blood forming beneath his hand.
Y O U H A D B E T T E R L I C K T H A T U P , B O Y
Comical gulp sound effect. JonnyBoy grit his teeth.
“I’m not..I’m not licking that..off the table.”
Y O U O U G H T A
The screen cycled through several new shades of red. Jonathan hiccuped.
“I…”
From the corner of the room, he noted that a quiet whirring sound had started. Jonathan fell silent and removed his thumb from between his lips, lowering his face down to the expanding pool of blood on the table.
G O O D
G O O D
G O O D
Saline droplets fell off of his chin and into the puddle. Barely pushing his tongue past his teeth, Jonathan went to work at spit-shining the blood and cocaine off of his desk.
E X C E L L E N T W O R K
A composite of a woman’s face appeared on the dancing silhouette. Jonathan slowly lifted his head from the table and averted his gaze from the monitor.
“It’s okay. You can look now.”
“I’m not…I’m not fucking looking, Beth.”
“I’m baaaa~aack.”
“I’m not fucking looking!”
Jonathan’s fist slammed down onto the desk. The monitor flickered.
“You really need to stop doing that, pumpkin. You’re going to harm the electronics. Although–”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”
“–it is kinda hot, I suppose,” cooed the voice. Jonathan glanced at the wall behind the monitor. In punching his desk, he’d decorated it with an artful arc of a blood spray. He grabbed a tissue, swaddling his thumb.
“I know it tasted good. Aaaaanywhooooo. ‘Bout time for s’more instructions, innit, bloke?”
“Stop fucking talking like that!”
“Um, okay. Well then. Fuck you. Here’s what’s next,” Beth mumbled.
Jonathan sniffled.
He looked down at the table, his pupils shrinking and darting as he took in the new information.
An inky black, pixelated smiley face filled the screen.
Y O U W A N T T O S E E M Y P U P P E T ?
Jonathan whimpered.
He reached towards his mouse, his finger hovering over the YES button. He hesitated.
He glanced down at the tissue wrapped around his thumb. The pad throbbed in tandem with the beats of his heart.
His eyes slowly refocused on the screen.
Beth was back, smiling up at him from the monitor. She was clad in a skimpy schoolgirl outfit, her hands folded in her lap.
Jonathan whimpered again.
He moused over the YES button.
Click.
The monitor began to flash with a sickening frequency. Jonathan groaned and held his free hand to his forehead. He blinked, and the flashes slowed down. They were now coming at a rate of about one every two seconds. With each flash, Beth would be replaced by a different image.
The first was a cartoonish rendition of a woman laying on a bed, her legs spread wide, her genitals dripping with arousal.
The second was a still image of a girl with long, brown hair. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was open, as though she had just come.
The third was something horrid. A grotesque, demonic-looking creature with a huge, erect cock. It was grinning at Jonathan.
The fourth was another anime character, this time with short, blue hair. She was wearing a slutty maid uniform.
The fifth was Beth again, but naked this time, and on all fours. She was looking into the camera with an expression of pure lust.
Jonathan groaned and felt his cock stiffen.
With each new image, the intervals between the flashes decreased.
He squeezed his eyes shut and covered them with his free hand.
But he could still see the images being flashed into his brain, burned onto his retinas.
They would never go away.
The flashes came faster and faster.
The frequency at which the demented images appeared between pornographic delights quickened rapidly. Jonathan tried desperately to keep his eyes covered. His erection was long-gone. He felt nauseous.
Suddenly, the flashing stopped.
He opened his eyes cautiously.
The monitor was blank.
A small chat window had opened in the center of the screen.
> HELLO ???
Jonathan stared at the message.
He didn’t want to reply.
But he had to.
He knew that if he didn’t respond, something bad would happen.
He wasn’t sure what it would be, but he knew it would be bad.
He typed slowly, with one finger, his injured thumb still throbbing.
> Hello?
The words appeared in the chat window.
There was no response.
Jonathan waited.
After a few minutes, he decided to try again.
> Are you there?
Nothing.
Jonathan sighed and rested his head on his desk.
He knew he should just close the chat window and go to bed.
But something inside him told him to stay.
He felt drawn to the empty chat room.
The screen flickered.
Jonathan’s head shot up, his eyes wide.
The chat window was still there, but the words had changed.
> I am here.
Jonathan stared at the words.
He wasn’t sure what to say.
He tried to think of something clever or funny to say, but nothing came to mind.
He sat there, staring at the screen, not knowing how to respond.
> Who are you?
He typed the words slowly, carefully.
The words appeared in the chat window.
Again, there was no response.
Jonathan waited.
After a few minutes, he decided to try again.
> Can you hear me?
Nothing.
Jonathan sighed and rested his head on his desk again.
He felt like an idiot.
What was he doing?
This was stupid.
He should just go to bed.
But something inside him told him to stay.
He felt drawn to the empty chat room.
The screen flickered again.
Jonathan’s head shot up, his eyes wide.
The chat window was still there, but the words had changed.
> I can hear you.
Jonathan stared at the words.
He wasn’t sure what to say. A knock came at his bedroom door.
“Honey?”
Jonathan quickly closed the chat window and minimized his browser.
“Yes?”
“Are you okay in there? I heard some strange noises.”
“I’m fine, Mom, just watching a movie.”
Jonathan’s mother opened the door a crack and peered into the room.
“You’re not…you know, doing anything else, are you?”
“No, Mom, I’m not doing anything else,” Jonathan lied.
His mother eyed him suspiciously.
“Okay. Well, goodnight then.”
“Goodnight, Mom.”
His mother closed the door and Jonathan let out a sigh of relief. He looked back at his computer screen. The chat window was still open.
> A R E N T Y O U A L I T T L E O L D T O B E L I V I N G A T H O M E ?
Jonathan stared at the words.
He typed slowly, carefully.
> Yes.
The words appeared in the chat window.
There was no response.
> Who are you?
Nothing.
Jonathan sighed and rested his head on his desk again.
This was stupid.
But something inside him told him to stay. There was some draw to the empty chat room. The screen flickered again. Jonathan’s head shot up, his eyes wide. The chat window was still there, but the words had changed.
> I am your friend.
He tried to think of something clever or funny to say, but nothing came to mind.
> W H A T ‘ S Y O U R N A M E ?
Jonathan stared.
> J O N A T H A N .
The words appeared in the chat window. There was no response. Jonathan began to fade out of consciousness, his head nodding down to his keyboard.
> I C A N H E A R Y O U B R E A T H I N G .
Jonathan woke with a start.
He was still at his desk, his face pressed against the keyboard. The screen was still on, the chat window open.
> I C A N F E E L Y O U R H E A R T B E A T .
In an instant, Jonathan was on two feet and his computer monitor was on the floor. He could hear his mother yelp from across the house.
“What’s going on?!” she yelled.
“N-nothing! I just…fell out of my chair!” Jonathan stammered.
His mother appeared in the doorway, her eyes wide.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jonathan said, trying to catch his breath. “I just…fell asleep at my computer.” He tried to stand in front of the destroyed monitor to disguise the obvious fist-shaped hole in its screen.
“Well, be more careful next time,” his mother said, shaking her head.
“I will.”
His mother left the room and Jonathan let out a sigh of relief.
He looked down at his computer and saw that the chat window was still open.
> Y O U ‘ R E A L L Y N O T S O B R I G H T , A R E Y O U ?
What the fuck does that even mean? Jonathan’s head throbbed. He was exhausted and confused. He decided to get some sleep. He fell down onto his bed and closed his eyes. But as soon as he did, he heard a voice in his head.
> I ‘ M S T I L L H E R E .