The V-tuber Who Became Obsessed With Me

Raina pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The smell of damp wood and old dust settled in her throat almost immediately. She switched on her phone’s flashlight and swept the beam across the room.

"Hello?"

Her voice disappeared into the darkness.

"Anna?"

There was no answer.

Dust covered the floor, weeds had pushed through cracks near the walls, and an old wooden desk leaned beneath a window with one of its legs broken. Somewhere deeper inside, water dripped at irregular intervals.

Raina moved farther into the building and noticed footprints in the dust near the wall. Most were old and faded, but one set looked recent.

She crouched and touched one of the marks.

Someone had been here not long ago.

She followed the footprints until they disappeared near a large cabinet. She checked behind it, then beneath the broken desk, but found nothing.

As she moved on, the floor creaked beneath her.

Raina stopped and looked down.

"Ethan?"

A scratching sound came from somewhere beside her.

She spun around just as a rat darted across the floor and disappeared beneath a broken cabinet.

Raina jumped back, one hand flying to her chest.

She stared at the cabinet before letting out a breath.

"Great."

She rubbed her chest and continued down the corridor.

At the end, she found a door.

The handle turned easily.

Raina paused.

An unlocked door in a place like this immediately made her suspicious. She glanced behind her, then pushed it open.

The lights came on.

She blinked against the sudden brightness.

The room was strangely clean compared with the rest of the building. There was almost nothing inside except a phone sitting on a small table in the center.

Raina stopped.

The phone rang.

She stared at it.

It rang again.

Her fingers tightened around the strap of her bag. She knew who was calling, and she knew Anna wouldn’t have left the phone there without a reason.

It rang a third time.

Raina picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Himari."

Raina recognized the voice immediately.

"Anna."

Anna laughed softly.

"I knew you’d find this place."

Raina said nothing.

"Since you found this place so easily, I’m guessing Zach helped you with this." Anna took a breath. "He really doesn’t know when to back off, does he? I guess I wasn’t threatening enough the last time."

She gave another quiet laugh.

"Oh well."

Raina looked around the room.

"Quit playing games, Anna. Where is Ethan?"

"So you still haven’t solved the riddle."

Raina’s grip tightened.

"Instead of wasting your time looking for me, why don’t you find Ethan? He doesn’t have much time left."

Raina’s expression hardened.

"What does that mean?"

"I’ve already said too much." Anna’s voice turned playful again. "Good luck, babe."

"No, wait. Anna!"

The call ended.

"Anna!"

Raina stared at the screen for a moment before frustration got the better of her. She threw the phone across the room.

"Aaargh!"

It struck the wall and fell to the floor.

Raina pressed her hands against her face, then lowered them slowly.

She had walked straight into Anna’s trap and still had no idea where Ethan was.

Then a tiny red light caught her attention near the ceiling.

A camera.

Raina stared at it.

Anna had been watching.

She looked directly into the lens, her expression hardening.

Then she turned and walked out.

Across the road, a blue cleaning-service van sat beneath the shade of several trees. A faded flyer on its side advertised residential and commercial cleaning, complete with a mop-and-bucket logo.

Inside the back of the van, Anna watched the monitor on a small desk placed inside the van .

Raina disappeared from the building..

A smile touched Anna’s lips.

"That’s my girl."

The young man operating the equipment glanced at her.

"What about the boy?"

Anna looked at the second monitor.

"Let’s see how he’s doing."

He switched the feed.

Ethan was crouched beside the container doors, the metal bar still in his hands. He worked it against the hinge, trying to force it into the narrow gap.

Nothing moved.

He stopped, breathing heavily, then adjusted his grip and tried again.

Anna watched.

"He’s still trying."

"Should I keep the camera on him?"

"Of course."

Ethan struck the hinge again.

Anna leaned back against the van wall.

"That’s the thing about hope. You give someone a little, just enough to make them believe there’s still a way out. They hold on to it and keep fighting, only to discover that the way out was never there."

The young man glanced at her.

"You put the bar in there for that?"

Anna smiled.

"Of course."

She kept her eyes on the screen.

"If I left him with nothing, he’d know he was trapped. That’s boring."

Ethan struck the hinge again.

"But give him something to fight with, and he’ll keep himself occupied."

The young man nodded.

Ethan lowered the bar and leaned against the door, trying to catch his breath.

Anna watched him quietly.

"Keep watching."

"Should we do anything?"

"No."

She smiled at the screen.

"Let him figure it out."

The monitor continued showing Ethan beside the sealed doors, still trying to find a way out.

Anna settled back in her seat.

Everything was going exactly the way she wanted.

BACK TO ETHAN.

Ethan lowered the metal bar and sat against the container wall, his chest rising and falling heavily.

For a while, he did nothing.

He closed his eyes and forced himself to slow his breathing. Every breath had become precious, and wasting energy by fighting the door without a plan would only make things worse.

He needed to think.

He rested his head against the steel and waited until his breathing steadied. The container remained completely silent except for the faint sound of his own breathing.

Then something caught his attention.

A tiny red light.

Ethan opened his eyes and looked toward the upper corner of the container.

At first, he thought it was a reflection.

Then he saw it blink.

A camera.

His expression changed.

"So that’s it."

He pushed himself to his feet and walked toward it. His legs felt weak, but he ignored the discomfort and stopped directly beneath the tiny lens.

For several seconds, he simply stared at it.

Whoever was on the other side had been watching him struggle.

Watching him waste his strength.

Watching him try to force open a door that probably had no intention of opening.

Ethan wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked straight into the camera.

"I know you’re watching, Anna."

He paused, breathing through the tightness in his chest.

"You wanted to see me panic. You wanted to watch me wear myself out trying to escape."

A faint smile touched his face.

"Well, you can keep watching."

He stepped closer to the camera.

"But you’re not getting what you want."

His voice was quieter now, but there was nothing uncertain about it.

"You think putting me in here gives you control over what happens next. It doesn’t."

Ethan held the camera’s gaze.

"This isn’t going to end the way you think it will, Anna."

He leaned closer.

"And when it does end, you’re going to regret ever putting me in here."

He stepped away from the camera and returned to the wall.

Ethan lowered himself onto the floor and picked up the metal bar again.

This time, he wasn’t going to waste his strength.

He would wait.

He would think.

And when the right opportunity came, he would be ready.opportunity came, he would be ready.