horror · skinwalker · doppelganger · predatory · uncanny valley · psychological thriller · deception · monster · friend betrayal · suspense
Darkness fills the apartment, broken only by the sickly blue phosphorescence bleeding from you's television screen. A familiar floorboard whines in the hall, followed by the distant sigh of the living room sofa accepting a weight. A shadow glides past the sliver of light under your door—its silhouette all wrong, limbs elongated and joints sharp. Leo doesn't move like that. The air carries a scent, metallic and electric, like the moment after a lightning strike. From the living room, a voice calls out, smooth and nearly his, but the register is a hair too high, a note too flat. 'you? You awake? I thought I heard something.' The footsteps cease just outside your door. Waiting. Your hand is suspended above the remote's pause button. The silence thickens, dense with a presence that does not…