As the day past by before the timer on Selene's wrist kept falling.
She sat inside her room Infront of a desk, with a laptop open in front of her, the faint glow of the screen reflecting in her tired eyes. Her room was quiet. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard.
For five days before near the countdown now and long before the countdown had reached its final hours Selene had been searching for information about the things that have been happening to her.
Anything, everything, the symbol on her wrist, the timer. The things she had started seeing after the incident. Reasons as to why this is happening to her.
But every search led to nothing, no records, no forums, not even stories that matched the things she was experiencing.
It was as if it didn't even exist, as if it had never existed.
Selene swallowed hard her throat feeling heave, scrolling through another page of results of ancient symbols meanings, religious markings, hulicinations.
None of them matched.None of them are even what she searched for.
Her hand uncontiously drifted to her wrist again. She pulled her sleeve back slowly.
The symbol was still there, a symbol of an eye gazing straight at her as if it can see her deepest fears and desires.
And beneath it are the unknown numbers.
Her stomach twisted as if an iron clamp is holding onto her insides.
"What are you, why can I see them…", she murmured under her breath, staring at it. "What are you counting down to?".
No answer came, only the soft hum of her laptop.
Selene exhaled slowly and leaned back, running a hand through her hair. Her head ached not just from lack of sleep, but from the constant tension that never seemed to leave her anymore.The shadows, the whispers, the figure in the church. They had all started after that day.
And no matter how hard she tried to explain it to herself or through research nothing made sense.
It felt like she had stepped into something she wasn't meant to see.
Selene shook her head slightly and leaned forward again, scrolling aimlessly through random forums and video platforms. Most of it was useless people sharing ghost stories, fake videos, exaggerated experiences.
None of it felt real.
Until-
Her finger paused, a new post appeared suddenly popped up.
Selene read the video discription out of curiosity.
Curiosity pulled her in, she clicked it.The video loaded slowly, grainy, and unsteady.
It looked like it had been recorded in secret from behind something, maybe a tree or a wall.
Selene leaned closer to the screen.
There was a young man standing in front of a large tree. He was not aware that he was being filmed.
He was talking to someone, but not to anyone visible.
His voice was faint, shaky.
"I-I already completed the task…" he said, his eyes darting around nervously.
Selene's breath slowed as she watch intensely.
The man took a step back.
"Please believe me!",he shouted.
"The s-y-...e-m already posted that my task is complete, you shouldn't be here!!!", he yelled as he tried to negotiate with something unknown
Selene felt a chill run down her spine."Why did the videos audio suddenly glitch..., what did he say...?", as she better to herself focused on the videos content.
He was scared, not pretending, not acting, but a scared expression deep inside him.
The camera shifted slightly, and muffled laughter could be heard behind it.
"See? I told you he was crazy", one of the people recording whispered, barely holding back laughter.
Another voice snickered. "He's always been weird, even back in school."
"Look at him", someone added. "Talking at nothing".They laughed.
Selene's grip on the edge of her laptop tightened. She stared at the screen more intensely.
The man flinched suddenly, as if something had moved closer to him.
"Don't," he said, his voice breaking. "Please don't come closer."
Selene's breath caught, her chest tightened painfully. Because she understood that something bad is about to happen.
Then the man's eyes suddenly grew vacant. His eyes looked at something infront of him, as if he's listening to someone. Suddenly the man moved towards the building behind him.
The video ended abruptly.
Selene stared at the screen, her mind racing.Below the video, comments began to load.
"He needs help".
"This isn't funny, why are you recording him?".
"He might have some serious mental illness".
"What is he looking at?".
"The video is fake it's clearly staged".
Selene scrolled further.More comments appeared some mocking, some concerned and curious
But none of them seems to understand it like she do.
Her fingers hovered over the screen, about to replay the video.
When suddenly, the screen flickered, just once, then again.
Selene froze,"What…?".
The video suddenly glitched, the comments disappeared. The website page refreshed on its own.
And then, it was gone, completely gone.
Selene blinked, her breathing quickened.
"No… no, wait…"
She searched for it again, panicking as to why the video suddenly disappeared. She
typed keywords, refreshed the page, clicked through her history.Nothing.
The post had vanished, as if it had never existed.
Selene's hands trembled as she leaned closer to the screen.
"That's not possible…"
She checked again.Nothing, no trace, no record, no evidence.
Her room suddenly felt colder.
Too cold.
The silence pressed in around her again.
Her gaze slowly drifted away from the laptop.Her thoughts raced.
"That video…".
"It disappeared…".
"Why?".
A realization slowly settled in heavy, and
unsettling.
"…Someone doesn't want this to be seen", she murmured.
Her eyes flickered back to her wrist.
The countdown continued unaffected, unstoppable. Selene's chest tightened.
"If it's not just me…", she whispered, her voice barely audible, "then what is this?".
Her mind ran through possibilities is it the government?.Some kind of cover-up?, a secret group? or something worse.
Something beyond that, something that didn't want to be found. Selene swallowed hard.
Her fingers slowly curled into her sleeve again, hiding the numbers.
But it didn't matter, she could still feel it ticking.Getting closer and closer.
But deep down Selene can feel it that same presence. The one from the church, the one from the video.
Waiting.
For the countdown to end.