Chapter 40
My apartment had always been perfect.
Okay, well, not always. But I’d made some serious effort to make it like one big nest, and now that it was done? Chef’s kiss.
Since I'd been working from home for basically forever, I spent a lot of time here, so being comfortable was priority number one. Even with saving for the game studio and skimping wherever I could, the one thing I always splurged on was my place. A lot of time was spent choosing furniture that had the perfect plush and rugs that felt nice on my feet. On mood lighting that didn’t irritate the fuck out of me when I was in heat or leading up to it.
And on trinkets that brought me joy whenever I looked at them.
But now, after spending a few days with the pack, my perfect sanctuary felt a little… lonely.
Maybe I needed a pet or something.
Or maybe I needed to stop letting myself get so damn close. I had to remember I was there to do a job—fulfil a contract. And catching feelings would only lead to pain later. Pain I absolutely didn’t want to deal with.
And upon further inspection, it seemed… cleaner in here than I remembered it.
I wasn't a slob—or I really tried not to be.
But I was never this… spotless. Even my throw pillows were fluffed, and had that fold down the middle you saw when professionals had staged a place.
A closer inspection of my TV stand revealed that the whole thing had been dusted, all of my little figures rearranged by height.
In my bathroom, everything had been scrubbed top to bottom.
And in the bedroom, where I normally let my true disaster out, the real transformation happened.
There wasn't even a single sock on the floor.
My bed was made, and my closet was organised by color.
Even all of the drawers were fully closed, not a single piece of clothing bursting from them like normal.
Though I did notice I seemed to have a distinct lack of panties in there, like someone took a handful.
I also quickly noticed it was colder in here. Usually, this was the warmest room with the way my heating worked. Then I realised one of my windows was open, not a ton, but just a crack.
Had I left it open? I didn't think so, but maybe I cracked it at some point. It could get really hot in here, so I'd been known to.
Either way, I walked over and shut it the rest of the way, being sure I locked it before I was done. Then I went around and checked the rest of them, all locked.
I shook my head. There was only one psycho I knew to break into my apartment. But he decided to break in and… clean? Yesterday he went out to "do some errands" while I was with Joon. Were these his errands?
did you clean my apartment??
I realized I hadn't really looked at my phone at all over the past few days. There were a few emails I should probably get to sooner rather than later, a mess of tags across social media and a few mixed texts… nothing major.
Havoc was another story; I’d never seen the little red numbers at the top of the app icon show 99+ before. But what could I say? I’d been distracted.
So, so, happily distracted.
In the sea of messages, the ones from Jason caught my eye.
hey, you still down for gaming today?
just let me know, I'll be around.
I assume you got busy. no worries, just let me know.
Jason P
Shit. I forgot I told him we could hang out this weekend, with everything that happened.
sry, I had an emergency this weekend. Can I reschedule for this week, maybe?
It didn't take him long to answer.
sounds good. is everything okay?
Jason P.
yes, all good now. I'm going to stream, but I'll text you later to make plans.
I was already a bit behind on my pre-stream ritual, so I tossed my phone aside to start getting ready. Though I usually loved what I did, I wasn't really feeling it today, so I went for an oversized off-the-shoulder Screech poster T-shirt and some sweats—not like anyone would see those anyway.
Maybe my reluctance was knowing that if I didn’t have to go live tonight, I could’ve spent the evening smooshed between Cameo and Indi while we ignored a movie. Or maybe I was just tired of spending the last few nights doing exactly that.
And with Marcus.
And Joon.
I sat at my vanity, accentuating my lashline with a sharp wing and dabbing a bit of pink shimmer onto the centre of the lid. A bit of concealer, a big sweep of blush, and a lash so long I was fixing to take flight, I was ready.
"Clara, play my pre-stream playlist," I called to my home speaker system.
"Playing your pre-stream playlist," her robotic voice returned after a few moments.
Loud bass started to play, the beginning notes of one of my favorite songs starting making me feel a little bit more excited to get to work. In the kitchen, I grabbed a Cosmic Crush energy drink. It didn't matter what time I started stream, I always crushed one of these beforehand.
I started chugging and finally checked my phone again. Cameo had responded quickly.
your closet was a mess.
Stalker
The laugh that came out of me was so sudden that I ended up spitting some of my drink, leaving sticky flecks on my screen that I had to wipe away with my sleeve before replying.
and it was mine.
well, now you're mine. I fixed it. you’re welcome.
Stalker
My heart picked up at an alarming rate. Did he mean it? I couldn't be sure. I set my phone down, not sure what to actually say. An alpha who wanted me to have his baby, broke into my apartment to fuck me, and then did it again to clean my house, said I'm his? What even was there to say to that?
I chugged the rest of my drink, chucked the can into the recycling, and went to my desk to boot up my computer, where I did the final part of my ritual.
After going live and setting up the stream countdown, I did a few stretches.
This part of the ritual started because I'd been editing a video for hours and stood to do a round of stretches before I began my stream, and I ended up with my highest subscriber count to date.
So now, I did a simple stretch routine before every live.
Was I being superstitious? Probably. But it made me feel better, and that was enough of a reason to keep doing it.
On my last hip rotation, my perfectly timed playlist ended.
The last thirty seconds ticked off on the screen as I did my final check to make sure I had everything I needed.
Giant water cup, check. A packet of drink mix to go in it, check.
My blanket to keep me cozy, check. Lights on, check.
Mic live, check. Headphones? I grabbed them off the decorative stand, pressing a button to turn them on as I pulled them over my ears. Good to go!
With nothing left to do, I settled into my chair, pulling my blanket over my lap and turning on my camera. With a couple of clicks, the countdown melted away, bringing me and my desktop up for my viewers.
"Hey killers," I said to the chat with a little wave. "Wanna play?"
"To your left!" I shouted, catching my mic levels flare into the red out of the corner of my eye. “Sorry headphone users!”
The Carmine in front of me, of course, veered right, directly towards the killer, and it wasn't long before he was lifted and stuck onto a pike.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
"I tried to warn them," I said to my chat with a sigh, who were already commenting about losing the round.
Realistically, I probably should’ve wrapped this up a couple of rounds before. But I was having so much fun that I’d hardly noticed I was over an hour into my usual after-dark time.
It turned out that absence really did make the heart grow fonder, at least that was the case for me and streaming myself losing match after match thanks to my shitty teammates.
God, I wish Indi was on.
I’d texted them to see if they wanted to play, but I hadn’t heard anything back. It was no problem, obviously, they weren’t like… obligated to play with me or anything. But I missed them.
And their skills!
"Don't you have any faith in me?" I asked the little usernames flying by with encouragement and rage baiting in equal amounts.
Sure, two of my teammates were down for the count, but Britt had the speed to finish things up. There were only a few more pipes that needed to be fixed, and then all that was left to do was escape.
Easier said than done, but not impossible. Especially not for me.
I took a deep breath, rolling my shoulders to get me locked in, heading to the last water break we needed.
In my headphones, I could hear footsteps to my side and paused, crouching behind some boxes while I waited for the killer to pass.
With my character perks, I was not only faster, but also moved close to silently too.
Horrorkn!ght
you're so cooked
UwU_21
no way you make this
User8390
I'M A BELIEVER
The chat was going nuts. I glanced over every so often, trying to catch as many messages as I could to keep the conversation flowing, but pulling out this win would be too good to miss. The video I could make out of the clip of me basically PvE-ing would make me a ton.
With a bit of patience, I finally made it to the pipes, my character staying crouched as I waited for the action to complete.
Alphairy
so COOKED
BexxOx
nEVA WON ANYTHING LOLLLLLL
Lecksy
eva_aft4r the funeral……
"I'm not cooked," I laughed. "I'm sushi, man. Going to be totally fine."
The action completed with an alert across the screen, and the water leaking everywhere stopped abruptly. Now I just had to escape.
One of the killers started running towards me, but I managed to evade them easily as I raced for the front of the map—and my glory.
“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” I cheered, the adrenaline pumping with victory so close to my grasp.
Spidertongue23
damn I think she might make it.
CateQ
is someone behind you???
"I'm not falling for it," I laughed. “C’mon, I’m so fucking close!”
Chat was always trying to convince me that something or someone was behind me to break my concentration, mostly the people who wanted me to lose so that they would win the fake bet on my stream about whether I would flop.
Martinklier24
no there's really a man with a mask behind you
M3ggsyxx
2 actually???
Er_!n:
hElp EVA A MAN BEHIND U
CateQ
oh girl you are so dead…
No matter how many doubters prayed for my downfall, I wouldn’t be swayed. I was so fucking close, there wasn’t a chance in hell that I would lose now.
I was going to make it.
The gate was a hundred feet away! Ninety! Eighty! The killer was slower than I was; they didn’t have a chance in hell of catching up to me now.
I was right there!
A hand wrapped around my face, clamping down over my nose and mouth, muting the scream that started as soon as I was touched.
Out of the darkness, in the mirrored view of my camera, a familiar mask loomed out of the darkness. A second lingered in the doorway, the blade of a knife glinting in the lights.
"Hello, Doll,” Indi whispered, turning my chair to face them. “You invited us to come play, and we decided to answer.”