Lily was obsessed with horror games. The thrill, the suspense, the heart-stopping jump scares—they were her escape from reality. Every weekend, she’d hunker down in her room with snacks and soda, ready to dive into the terrifying worlds on her brand-new PC. The machine was a sleek, powerful beast, one she had saved up for months to buy, every penny carefully put aside from her pocket money. Tonight, she was playing *Nightfall*, her latest obsession, alongside her online friend, Jake.
*Nightfall* was a dark, atmospheric game with a complex story, where players had to navigate haunted environments filled with supernatural creatures. Lily’s favorite character in the game was a male entity named Dorian—a brooding, enigmatic figure who guided players through the game’s many dangers. She always chose him as her avatar, drawn to his mysterious backstory and his calm, protective demeanor.
She and Jake were deep into the game, laughing and joking as they worked together to solve the latest puzzle. Dorian’s figure moved gracefully on her screen, leading the way through a dilapidated mansion. “Careful, there’s a trap ahead,” Jake’s voice crackled through her headset.
“Got it,” Lily replied, grinning as she successfully avoided the hidden pitfall. “This game never gets old.”
But then, just as they were about to enter a new area, Lily’s screen froze. A series of glitches flashed across the monitor, jagged lines and distorted images replacing the once-clear graphics. When the screen returned to normal, Dorian was gone.
Lily frowned, leaning closer to her monitor. “What the hell?” she muttered. This was a new PC; there shouldn’t be any issues like this. She clicked around, trying to find where Dorian had gone, but it was as if he’d been erased from the game entirely.
Before she could investigate further, her mother’s voice rang out from downstairs, calling her to dinner. With a sigh, Lily leaned back in her chair. “Hey, I gotta go. Mom’s calling,” she said into her headset.
There was no response from Jake.
“Heyyy, you there?” she repeated, but still, there was only silence. She frowned, assuming he must have gone AFK. Huffing in mild annoyance, she closed the game, turned off her PC, and went downstairs for dinner.
Dinner was a quiet affair, and as usual, Lily ate a little too much. The combination of a full stomach and the comfort of home made her drowsy, and by the time she returned to her room, she was too sleepy to even think about the strange glitch. She flopped onto her bed and quickly fell asleep.
Sometime in the middle of the night, a loud noise jolted her awake. Her heart pounded in her chest as she sat up, disoriented and confused. The room was dark, but a soft, eerie glow illuminated her desk. She blinked, rubbing her eyes, trying to shake off the remnants of sleep.
Her PC was on.
The monitor displayed the game’s main menu, the familiar haunting music playing softly in the background. Lily frowned in confusion. “Did I forget to turn it off?” she wondered aloud. It wouldn’t have been the first time she’d left a game running overnight, but she was sure she had turned off her PC before going to dinner.
She considered getting up to shut it down properly, but the comfort of her bed was too tempting. “I’ll just turn it off in the morning,” she mumbled, sinking back into her pillows. Sleep began to claim her once more, her eyelids growing heavy.
But then, she felt it—something cold and solid wrapping around her waist from behind. It was as if an icy hand had latched onto her, pulling her close. Panic surged through her, and she tried to scream, to move, but her body wouldn’t respond. She was paralyzed, frozen in place by some unseen force.
Her mind raced, and she struggled to comprehend what was happening. Was this sleep paralysis? She had read about it before, the phenomenon where the mind wakes up but the body remains locked in a dreamlike state. But this felt too real—too vivid.
She was suddenly flipped onto her back, and she found herself staring into a pair of dark, familiar eyes. Dorian’s eyes.
He was there, towering over her, his cold, intense gaze piercing into her very soul. But this wasn’t the Dorian from the game—this was something far more sinister. His expression was a mix of anger and possessiveness, and Lily’s heart raced in terror.
“You’ve been a bad girl, Lily,” Dorian’s voice was a low, menacing whisper, his grip on her waist tightening painfully. Tears welled up in Lily’s eyes, her mind screaming in panic, but her body refused to obey her desperate commands to move, to flee.
“You chose another character over me,” Dorian continued, his voice filled with a quiet fury. “And you chose another man to be your online friend.”
Lily’s tears spilled over, streaming down her cheeks as she tried to plead, to explain, but no sound escaped her lips. Her breath hitched as Dorian’s grip tightened even further, his face inches from hers.
“Remember, the moment you didn’t kill me was the moment you were mine,” Dorian whispered, his cold breath ghosting over her skin. His lips curled into a twisted smile as he leaned down, pressing his mouth to hers in a forceful, possessive kiss.
Lily’s world shattered in that moment, her mind overwhelmed with terror and disbelief. She was trapped, helpless, in a nightmare she couldn’t escape—a nightmare that had bled from the screen into her reality, leaving her at the mercy of the very character she had once adored.
And as the darkness closed in around her, Lily realized with dawning horror that there would be no waking up from this. She was his, now and forever.
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Show me love on Instagram, baby girl *wink wink*
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