Chapter 1

The camera hummed, its spotlight shining on a woman's naked body.

The darkness around her was like a cage, holding her in place.

Her face twisted with pain.

Her body wouldn't stop shaking.

Unable to hold back any longer, I had to go to the bathroom, but my buddy Ben Grey's eyes were glued to the screen.

I remembered he'd once said he was terrified of horror movies.

He was tougher than I thought.

By the time I got back, the movie was already more than halfway through.

Ben's breathing had gone noticeably shallow.

I snickered at him. "Bet you won't dare watch something like that again, right?"

I figured he was scared.

Ben was too absorbed even to answer me, as the scene had reached its climax.

On screen, the woman was getting swarmed by shadowy forces. When her face came into full view, I froze.

But it wasn't for something else.

It was because the woman in the video looked exactly like my wife.

*****

She was already rolling her eyes back, but those demons kept devouring her, like starving animals that could never get enough.

I didn't even know what I was thinking. I didn't ask him to pause it or freak out.

I kept watching, unable to look away.

"Hey, what did you say?" Ben finally came back to reality, as he'd just snapped out of his inner struggle.

I didn't say a word. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen, off her, to be exact.

Her acting was excellent. Every reaction she gave felt so real.

Ben said, "She's incredible in this. Doesn't even look like she's acting."

Ben didn't realize the woman in the video was actually my wife, Emily Carter. I let out a quiet breath of relief.

"Man, you're something else. Blasting this in your living room? You're not scared the neighbors will call the cops?"

Ben laughed it off. "My place is soundproof. What's there to be scared of?"

If anyone walked in right now, they'd probably get scared out of their wits.

The film was more than ten years old, saved on a USB drive, and no longer commercially available.

He picked up on my distraction and wrongly assumed I wanted it.

He passed me the USB drive generously. "Don't let your wife find it."

Yeah, no kidding. Women were the jumpy ones.

But I wondered if Ben was really clueless or playing dumb.

"Doesn't the lead actress look a little familiar to you?" I asked.

Ben blinked at me, slow on the uptake. Then it clicked. "I was too busy looking at her legs. Didn't even catch her face."

I took the USB. It felt hot in my palm.

I remembered I'd never had him over to my place, so it made sense he didn't recognize Emily.

"Remember to give it back when you're done. This is a really rare gem," Ben reminded me.

I offered a half-hearted response and made my way home.

I lived on the 12th floor. By the time I got into the elevator, my heart was still pounding like crazy.

An older lady in the car saw my flushed face and asked if I needed help.

I hurriedly ducked into the corner of the elevator, trying to avoid her gaze and calm myself down.

With a ding, the elevator arrived at my floor.

I scrambled out and bolted for the door. Emily was entertaining a visitor.

"You're back so early today?" Emily asked, sounding surprised.

Every Friday, I'd usually hang out at Ben's place. She was used to me coming home late.