Error 404: YouTuber Not Found | BlankGameplays Fanfic

Chapter 23 - The Invitation

Police stormed the warehouse just moments after Jesse Grayson blacked out. They fanned out, finding a young woman crumpled against one wall, bleeding profusely from her stomach. The girl was rushed to the ER in critical condition as the police continued their search. Not a soul was found in the rest of the warehouse or surrounding neighborhood- they found only a gleaming metal bat, which was returned to its owner in the hospital.

Police interrogated the victim, who claimed to know nothing about her attacker. She offered no description, no helpful information- frustrated, the police had essentially abandoned the investigation by the end of the week.

CrankGameplays didn't upload a video the day after the attack. Or the next. Jesse waited and checked YouTube patiently, as she was cooped up in her hospital room with nothing to do and no visitors. She had decided against telling her family back in Cleveland about the incident, and she had no close enough friends in California who would have tried to find her in the hospital. In fact, there was only one person who would have come to see her, but he never did.

When Jesse was finally discharged from the hospital, she didn't know what to do. She took a cab back to her apartment in a stupor and lay immobile on her couch for hours. The gauze still stretched across her abdomen was thick and heavy. She was instructed not to remove it for a few days, which was fine by her. Better to cover it all up and forget.

Sometime around midnight, Jesse rose gingerly from the couch and meandered into the kitchen as if asleep. Her feet shuffled idly on the cold laminated floor. She gave the knives on her counter a distrustful glare, along with the burner phone that had been recovered from the warehouse.

She had held the phone behind her back as Blank began to threaten her, ending the call abruptly before he could say anything too bizarre. She knew some 911 call centers could trace cell phones, and decided it was worth the shot.

That call had saved her, narrowly.

But it hadn't been enough for Ethan.

His name leapt into her thoughts unbidden. Panic followed it- where was he now? What happened to Blank? Was Ethan still even... alive?

Stress overwhelmed Jesse, turning her nauseous as she reached for a box of cereal. She lurched forward, fighting the urge to puke. Then she closed the cabinet doors and left the cereal for another time.

"I can't do this," she breathed into the silent kitchen. She groaned, swaying on her feet.

The burner phone still rested on the kitchen counter. Jesse fumbled with it idly- it only had one contact. The only person who mattered to her in LA.

Jesse froze, fingers hovering over the cheap phone's buttons.

She hit call.

After a few dull ringing tones, Ethan's voicemail message played.

"Heyooo," he announced in a chipper voice. "This is Ethan! I can't talk now, but if you leave a message, I'll get back to you as soon as I can. If you really need to reach me, you can call Jesse Grayson at her number..."

Ethan rattled off Jesse's phone number, finished with a "thanks for calling!" and the line beeped.

Jesse was silent for a moment, chewing on her tongue. "Hey, Ethan," she said timidly into the microphone, before falling quiet again.

Was it even Ethan who would be hearing the message?

Ethan...

An idea started to form in Jesse's mind. A plan that grew like a tumor, taking shape as she began to put the puzzle pieces together.

She locked her jaw, deciding not to address Ethan. "Blank," she growled instead. "I know you're listening. It's Jesse. I'm alive, in case it slipped your attention." She paused. "I want to talk to you... meet me at the wharf where I watched the sunset with Ethan. Tomorrow night at 9."

Jesse paused once more, thinking.

"See you there," she finished- in her voice was all the finality of a death sentence. She hung up the phone with a click.