Page 7 of White Noise

pinksinclub: girl???

A real jolt of fear hits me then, fast enough that I feel it in my stomach before I can talk myself out of it.

Silas comments.

silas: Mm. Fear looks good on you.

I look from the message to the speaker.

“Okay, psycho. You hacked my phone.”

His reply appears almost immediately.

silas: If that helps you sleep tonight.

My fingers tighten around the phone.

Another message follows.

silas: You keep telling them you’re in control. You decide what they see, what they hear, what they’re allowed to have.

For a second, I forget about everyone else watching.

Another message appears.

silas: And still, I haven’t paid you a fucking thing.

My grip tightens around the phone.

silas: Look at you, little echo. Giving me your attention for free while pretending that bothers you more than it turns you on.

The song cuts off.

My original playlist starts again at the exact point it stopped.

I stare at the speaker, then down at my phone.

Bluetooth is still off.

For maybe half a second, I seriously consider ending the stream. Instead, I force out a laugh and shake my head like this is annoying rather than unsettling.

“Alright. Very fucking dramatic.”

The chat starts moving faster, everyone asking if I staged it, if my account got hacked, if I’m okay. I take a drag from my vape and look directly into the camera.

“If somebody wants to waste this much time fucking with my Spotify, let him.”

Silas answers before I can look away.

silas: You can keep smiling for them if you want. Let them believe you’re still in control. I know what fear does to you, little echo. I can smell it on you from here, and fuck, I want more.

I hold his message on screen longer than I should, then roll my eyes and turn my attention back to Graveyard.

“Anyway. Where were we?”

Because whatever the fuck this is, I’m not letting him watch me panic.

I make it through another few minutes before curiosity wins and I open the moderation panel. I click Silas’s name, expecting a burner account or something obviously fake, but nothing loads. There’s no subscriber status, profile picture, account age, payment history, or any of the information I should be able to see from my side.