What are You?

Jenny found Chloe’s latest video and grinned. There it is, and no sign of… She shook her head and hit play. The eyes watched, but Jenny didn’t react. She had a video to obsess over. Chloe’s cheerful banter filled the room and the corners of Jenny’s mind. It didn’t matter that she was trapped in a hospital with no idea when she’d be free.

She had the internet and Chloe. Nothing else mattered or could matter except when Jenny reached the part of the stream that showed the old well and the eyes staring at her. “Jenny?”

Jenny’s finger hovered over the volume control threateningly. Either the face didn’t see it or didn’t care. It, he called out again. “I need you to listen to me, Jenny.”

“I want to watch my stream.”

“You watched it yesterday.”

“I want to watch it again.”

“Why?” Jenny shook her head and raised the volume to the highest setting, hoping someone would come in and ask her to turn it down. But no one did, and Jenny could still hear the face sigh. “There’s no point in rewatching this, Jenny. I’m already here.”

“I thought you said you’re my imaginary friend?”

“I am,” the face insisted as he fully formed on the screen.

“Then why can’t I make you be quiet with the pills? If you’re imaginary, then you’re just in my head. I should see you everywhere, not just on my computer screen.”

The face chuckled nervously as he looked away. “Um… about that… Promise not to freak out?”

“No. I’m trying to get Miss Yumi and the staff to notice me. Why wouldn’t I freak out?”

“Because they’re not here to help you, Jenny!” The face glared through the screen, losing his childish qualities and looking more like a Halloween challenge gone wrong. Jenny leaned against the headboard, unable to look away as he continued. “You need to listen to me. These people aren’t helping you. They’re using you. You have to get out of this place before they finish your treatment.”

“I can’t leave the bed,” Jenny mumbled as she rubbed her right leg. “I lost the ability to walk in my first session.”

“And you didn’t think that was odd?”

“Miss Yumi said the side effects would be taken care of once the treatment is over.”

The face rolled his eyes. “And you believe her? Come on, Jenny. You’re smarter than this. Think. Who is Miss Yumi? Why are you here? Where’s your family? Have you ever seen or heard anyone besides Miss Yumi and the staff?”

Jenny shook her head. “Miss Yumi is my guardian. She’ll let me go home when my treatment is over.”

“What are you being treated for?”

Jenny frowned, rubbing her leg hard enough to make it throb as she stared the face down. “Who are you?”

The face smiled, but it didn’t make Jenny happy. He wasn’t happy. Why isn’t anyone coming to help me?

“You want to know my name?”

“Yes.” It was strangely the only thing her mind kept drifting to ever since he admitted that he wasn’t a figment of her imagination. I hope this is a prank. I don’t know who would do something like this, but I hope this turns into a joke soon.

“My name is… Actually, that doesn’t matter. Can I give you handle instead? I know it’s not really fair, but you’re the one who put your name in your handle, so that’s on you.”

She shrugged, releasing her leg to place her hand in her lap. “I came up with my handle when I was in middle school. We didn’t have to worry about perverts and cyber crimes back then.”

The face chuckled darkly and filled the entire screen. Jenny frowned, moving her finger over the mousepad, but it didn’t appear. “How are you doing this? You even made the power button disappear.”

“I can do a lot more than that, Jenny. But I’m holding back because I don’t want to overwhelm you.”

She raised an eyebrow, staring at him as if he were a bug until he burst out laughing.

“Okay. Okay. I get it. I’ll get to the point. You can call me Mugetsu. It’s based on one of my favorite fighting games. Sorry for lying earlier. You looked like you were about to pass out, and I could tell the security system was about to kick me out… Speaking of which, hang on a second.”

The screen flickered for a moment, and Jenny watched as her volume was lowered, and Mugetsu’s eyes glowed bright blue as the door creaked open. “There you go. Now you can leave!”

Jenny stared at the door, waiting for someone to come inside. But the door didn’t budge, and Mugetsu was still grinning when she looked back at him. “Did you unlock the door?”

“Yeah. Are you impressed?”

“I… thought it was the type that uses a keyhole.”

Mugetsu chuckled. “You’re about to see a lot of things you thought were different. Are you going to leave? I’ll make sure no one stops you through the cameras, so don’t worry.”

“Mugetsu…”

“Yeah?”

“I can’t walk.” Did he forget that, or was he not paying attention? “I also have no reason to trust you. I’ll admit it’s weird that Miss Yumi hasn’t checked up on me yet. But it’s not like my life is in danger. Everyone goes through the treatments. It’s the law.”

Mugetsu stared at her in shock. “Are you serious? You’re going to let the government do things to you just because it’s the law?”

“That is how laws work. You don’t have any where you’re from?”

“We do, but…” Mugetsu’s eyes glowed yellow, and he sighed. “You really believe everything they say, don’t you, Jenny? How are you going to survive?”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “By taking things one day at a time. If you want me to trust you, stop messing around with the electronics and let me watch Chloe’s stream.”

“I already told you there’s no point in watching it again. I’m here, willing to help you. But you need to listen before it’s too late.”

“And what does watching Chloe’s stream have to do with you?”

Mugetsu groaned and shook his head. “Nothing. The stream wasn’t important… Wait a minute. Chloe. Is Chloe in the hospital, too?”

“Of course not. She already had her treatment.” I hated not seeing new videos from her, but she sent texts on the message boards every day until she got out… “Why do you want to know? You just said her stream didn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t. The video of the well is the trigger. We sent that out to see if your people were ready to take back your lives. You’d like to meet Chloe, wouldn’t you? If you trust me. I can guide you to her.”

Jenny’s cheeks turned bright red as she shook her head. “You’re not making any sense! I can’t tell if you’re some kind of stalker or insane. I can’t leave until my treatment is over. I can’t even walk. How am I supposed to get out of this place? Crawl?”

“You would if you wanted to meet Chloe.”

“YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!”

Mugetsu winced but waited for Jenny to calm down a bit before whispering. “That’s not true. I know that you’re a smart girl who hates the position she’s in. You hate not having control of your life”-

“Everyone is like that”-

“And you’re not afraid of the unknown.”

Jenny snorted. “Because I watched a stream focusing on haunted videos? Again, lots of people do that. I’m not some deluded moron who believes in ghosts. I just watched it because that’s what Chloe decided to make her stream about.”

I don’t watch them for the content. I watch them for Chloe. Mugetsu snickered. “And yet, you failed to ask the most important question!”

“Which is?” When am I getting my screen back?

Mugetsu’s eyes flashed red and said. “What am I?”

Jenny shrugged. “Someone with too much time on their hands? Are you having your treatment, too?”

“No, Jenny. I’m not having a treatment. Because my world doesn’t have treatments.”

“Your world?” Definitely has too much time on his hands. Does he really think I’m going to believe this?

Mugetsu nodded. “I can see you don’t believe me, Jenny. And I don’t blame you. But I do have a way to prove it!”

“Let me guess. You want me to go outside?”

“Yup. But I’ll settle with you reaching the hall first.”

“So you can make fun of me for crawling around like a bug? I don’t think so. I don’t know what your problem is, but I have enough worries without some jerk trying to trick me. Goodbye.”

“Jen”- She closed the laptop and screamed until she had to breathe. Jenny didn’t know how long it took, but the sound of footsteps rushing to her room reached her ears. She didn’t explain why the door was unlocked.