Chapter 7: The Thing Learns

It was too much.

When the video ended, I gulped down a glass of cold water to steady myself.

The icy water hit my chest like a punch. I caught my reflection in the microwave door, willing myself to believe it was just a nightmare. But the images kept looping—the girl’s mouth moving, the not-human shriveling up.

If the thing still looked like that, at least you’d spot it coming.

But now… it could be inside anyone.

Or, more like, it could possess someone.

703 messaged again:

“Did you finish watching? Now you know why I’m scared.”

“If the thing switches bodies again, we can’t tell who’s who just by looking.”

“I can’t even imagine—if that thing hides among us, it’s too terrifying.”

I was about to reply when I heard shuffling in the hallway again.

The corridor lights flicked on.

I heard voices outside:

“Let’s go home. Maybe our daughter did wake up and wander out. If the door was cracked, it might’ve closed.”

“Honey, come on, you don’t believe that nonsense.”

“Can’t you tell 604 and 401 are just idiots? He said ‘my condolences’—I’m going to ask what he meant.”

...

Turns out, they were coming to give me a hard time—those jerks.

I punched the door, cursing 701 in my head.

But then a familiar voice called out:

“Dad, Mom.”

Cold sweat broke out all over me.