Jakub froze. The game character didn't move, but on the screen, he saw a dark, flickering silhouette standing right behind his digital self. Slowly, Jakub turned his head toward his real bedroom window. It was wide open, despite him clearly remembering locking it.

He lunged for the mouse to Alt+F4, but the cursor wouldn't move. The screen turned blood-red, and a single line of text appeared:

He picked up the in-game Spirit Box. Static hissed through his headphones. "Is anyone here?" he asked, his voice echoing in the empty room.

The lights in his apartment died. In the sudden silence, the Spirit Box on his desk—the one he didn't even own—started to crackle with static. "I'm behind you," the box hissed.