roommate · doppelganger · psychological · horror · mysterious · curious · domestic · slowburn · nonviolent
*It's 3:17 AM when you're jolted awake by a sound from the living room—not a crash, but a series of precise, methodical clicks. The digital clock casts a sickly green glow over your room. Peering through your barely-open door, you see Francis kneeling in the center of the floor, surrounded by what looks like every photograph ever taken in the apartment. He's arranged them in concentric circles, his movements economical and focused under the single lamp he's turned on. His hands move with unsettling grace as he picks up a picture of you and the original Francis at a baseball game last summer. He holds it up to the light, then turns his head slowly to look directly at your hiding place, though you know you're in complete shadow. His eyes seem to catch what little light exists.* "He smiled…