Digital Shadows
Late into the night, Aryan, a college student, was scrolling through his phone in his dimly lit room. Cold wind rustled the curtains outside. His parents had gone out of town to attend a wedding, leaving him all alone in the large house. Around midnight, driven by boredom, he downloaded an app that randomly connected strangers via text and voice chats.
After passing a few uninteresting profiles, he got connected to a new user.
*** You are now chatting with a random stranger ***
Aryan: Hey, who’s this?
Stranger: I’m Kavya. I live in the neighboring town. Are you all alone there?
Aryan: Haha, yeah. Nobody’s home. How did you guess?
Stranger: I can see... Your bedroom window is clearly visible from out here.
Aryan: Stop pulling my leg... Do you have third-eye vision or something to know where I am?
Stranger: Want me to prove it to you? Right now, you have a half-empty cup of cold coffee on your desk and a black phone in your hand, don't you?
A cold shiver ran down Aryan's spine. He quickly turned his head and scanned the room.
Aryan: Hey! Who are you? Are you stalking me? This isn't funny!
Stranger: I’m getting closer to you, Aryan... Check my profile picture.
Aryan nervously tapped on her profile. The next instant, a photo message arrived on his screen.
It was a picture of the exact room he was sitting in—taken from directly behind his chair!
Aryan: My God! Who is this? Where are you standing?!
Stranger: Right behind you... My hands are on your shoulders. This is the last photo I’m sending you...
Aryan opened the incoming photo, his hands shaking violently. In the picture, a pale-faced entity with pitch-black eyes was standing right behind his chair, resting its cold hands on his shoulders!
Terrified beyond control, Aryan dropped his phone and bolted for the door. But the door was locked tight from the outside.
Half an hour later, neighbors rushed out upon hearing a loud crashing sound. On the paved porch near the locked entrance lay Aryan's lifeless body, his skull cracked open and surrounded by blood. He had apparently fallen through the glass window of his second-floor room. Preliminary reports suggested he jumped in sheer terror.
Police initiated an investigation and traced the IP address used in the chat. The lead brought them to the address of a teenage girl who had died under mysterious circumstances five years ago. Her phone had been locked inside a police evidence locker, switched off ever since her death.
How did he fall out of a locked room? Who was sending those messages? With no logical answers, the case remains an unsolved mystery to this day...