I took one more glance at the cartridge before shoving it disdainfully in my pocket. I could almost feel my heart cracking.

No. This is what I have to do.

Browsing all the possibilities in my brain and scanning the cafeteria, I searched for someone who could be interested in something like this.
Taking a shaky breath, I approached Meghan's table where she was sitting. Alone.

I did feel bad, coming to her with this. The horrible part was I knew she would accept my offer, strings attached or not. But I had to do it.

She looked at me quizzically through mouthfuls of cup noodle as I took a seat across from her.

"Avery? Wearing a hoodie, in spring?" was her first question. I nodded. "I just felt kind of cold today."

"Really? Cause you were always kind of the, 'is it hot in here, or just me?' kind of guy."

Damn right I was.

"Well, I think I learned to chill out—"

"Ha."

"—a bit over the last couple of months. I don't really have time to explain." Sighing to myself, I covertly pulled out the cartridge and placed it on the table, like some sort of contract.

"You like L.O.Z., right?"

Meghan slowly nodded, almost like she was doubting herself now.

"And horror?"

Narrowing her eyes, she wordlessly pulled up her backpack and pointed to a Last of Us pin on the front pocket.

"Boom."

"Great. Then you might get a kick out of this." I slid the cartridge to her side of the table, and she snatched it up to inspect the damage.

The moment she realized the label was missing, she raised an eyebrow and let out a small chuckle.

"This feels like a creepypasta."

Funny that you say that...

"Wait..." she examined the shape and size of the cartridge carefully, and her eyes widened.

"Okay. Is this a prank? Because I know we all used to be obsessed with this when we were kids, but—"

"I-it's not a joke! Just...I played it, and I couldn't sleep for days. I thought that you might like it. Trust me, people would kill to have this copy."

She didn't glance at me once, but instead narrowed her eyes at the game, like deciding whether to trust it or not. Technically, I wasn't lying. Ever since I'd tried "playing" it that first time months ago, I really hadn't been able to sleep soundly for a long time.

"...okay. Fine. I'll give it a go." She smirked at me after a moment, dropping the cartridge in her backpack. "But if something weird happens, and my computer starts acting up, that's on you."

I raised my eyebrows. "Meg, you're honestly so nice to everyone, I'm pretty sure 'he' wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

—

Not only did my pockets feel lighter, I felt my conscience clear after the exchange. Ben was in the hands of someone who could actually help him. He could just forget about me, and how much of an asshole I had been whether he realized it or not. I was really just kind of stalling on actually doing anything to help; Meghan would probably figure out a way to set him free in ten minutes.

He's not going to hurt her. It's fine.

As I opened the front door, I noticed that it felt quiet. Way too quiet. An eerie, something terrible just happened kind of quiet.

"The buzzing," I said to myself without even noticing.

The buzzing that carried throughout the house while Ben was here was gone. My home looked...normal. Not-haunted. My life was normal.

I somehow forgot how much I missed normal.

A couple hours passed, and since I had nothing to do, I rummaged through the fridge and found some leftover pizza. My mom hadn't come home yet, so I just microwaved it for an early dinner.
I can go back to a life without some stupid ghost thing getting in my business.

Something started to fuel me, and I rushed to my room, opened my laptop, and booted up Cleverbot.

Time for a test run.

Because I was the one who had to start the conversation, I just entered, Hello.

Hello. How are you?

I felt a smile growing on my face. He wasn't here.

I'm doing good. How are you?

...

While the bot was "thinking," I laid back in my bed and spread my arms out. So this is what it's like to not have a dead electronic boyfriend.

The next line of text popped up.

Did I do something wrong.

I paused.

What? No, it's not him. It's just a weird automated response. It'll do that sometimes.

I decided to brush it off instead of playing along with the bot's shenanigans like I usually did.

I don't know what you're talking about. What's your favorite color?

What happened Ave. What did I do.

...

No.

I frantically made to shut the computer, and it wrenched itself back open.

Why did you give me away. I thought everything was going well. Did...did I hurt you?

Glaring at the screen, I tried to explain myself in a way that wouldn't make me look like a selfish idiot.

You didn't do anything. Remember how I said I'd help you? This is how. You're with someone that can help you out better than I can. Meghan knows what she's doing.

Thinking...

Liar. Getting rid of your problems won't help you, dear.

Funny that you mention Meghan, though.

I glared wide-eyed at the line of distorted text.

What's happening to him?

"What did you do to her."

I heard chilling giggles surrounding me. I could almost see him—the other him, the one I knew from pictures and the Reddit thread—with blood coating his face, and his eyes now completely empty.

"Well, why don't you go check on her? As far as I know, she's taking a nice little nap."

"I...I don't know where she lives."

"Done."

My phone buzzed, and when I checked it, it was open to a Maps app, with what I assumed to be Meghan's address punched in.

I don't even have Maps.

"Now go."

At a loss for what else to do, I took a shaky breath and stormed out the door, phone in hand.

It turns out, she lived a lot closer to me than I thought. Maybe that's how he found me again.

Or he just never left.

"But be quiet about it."

"You wouldn't want to wake her up."

After about five minutes, without knocking I wrenched open her front door. Somehow, the app even gave me directions to her room.

Ben, you bastard.

I followed the directions, up the stairs into the first door on the right.

Except it was locked.

The knob wouldn't turn. There was no keyhole in sight, and the hinges themselves seemed to resist moving at all. I pulled with almost all the strength I had left. She's dead. He did something to her. And now I can't even—

"Oh, dear. I must have forgot; she locked her door so as not to be disturbed. How unfortunate for her..."

"You fucking liar. Open this door right now, Ben, or I swear to god—"

Click.

"All finished."

Without thinking about why in his right mind he would open it for me, I burst through the doorway to find Meghan dangling from the ceiling.

Strangled.

By cables and cords.

Ben laughed.

"You humans are so easy to break."