Page 8 of White Noise

I refresh twice and get the same blank page.

“That’s weird.”

D4ddyKev: what

“Nothing. Keep being pretty and useless.”

I close the panel, but Silas doesn’t comment again.

That should make me feel better.

It doesn’t.

Instead, I catch myself watching the chat more closely than I was before, waiting for his name to show up again. Every time a new message appears, my eyes go to it first.

That pisses me off enough that I open moderation again and hit BAN USER.

His name disappears.

“There. Problem solved.”

graveyardVIP: execution

angelbite: rip creepy guy

MORNINGSTAR_X: finally

I reach for my vape.

Another message appears.

siIas: You really thought one little button was going to make me leave?

I stare at the username. The second letter is an uppercase I instead of a lowercase L.

“Seriously?”

I ban it.

A few seconds later another variation appears.

silas_: Go on. Press it again. I want to see how long it takes before you realize none of your little rules apply to me.

I remove that one too.

sllas: That button makes you feel safer, doesn’t it? Keep fucking pressing it. I like watching you pretend it still means something.

The chat starts treating it like entertainment, but I’m past finding any of this funny. There’s something about how certain he sounds that gets under my skin more than the actual messages.

“Do you have anything better to do?”

His original username appears again like I never banned it.

silas: Not anymore.

The room reacts like he’s flirting.

I don’t.