PLAYER FIVE
PLAYER FIVE
Introduction
Friday nights belonged to the server.
No matter how busy life became, one evening a week was reserved for the same familiar routine.
Four friends.
One world.
Hours spent building, exploring and laughing over voice chat until someone inevitably did something ridiculous.
It had become a tradition.
The kind that quietly slips into your life and stays there for years.
The server had seen everything.
Castles built and abandoned.
Entire villages created from nothing.
Late-night conversations that somehow felt easier to have through a headset than face to face.
It wasn't just a game anymore.
It was home.
And like every Friday before it...
They logged in expecting another ordinary night.
None of them noticed that, for the first time in six years...
There was room for one more player.
Chapter One
Friday nights belonged to the server.
At exactly 8:59 pm, the familiar notification appeared.
🟢 BrickMage joined the server.
The world loaded around him.
Their wooden cabin sat exactly where it always had, nestled beside a lake surrounded by towering spruce trees. Lanterns glowed warmly beneath the roof overhang, smoke drifted lazily from the chimney and the vegetable patch they'd been promising to expand for nearly two years still looked exactly the same.
BrickMage smiled.
"Home."
His headset crackled.
"You've started without us already?"
He laughed.
"Evening, Pixel."
Almost instantly another notification appeared.
🟢 PixelFox joined the server.
Her character spawned beside the cabin wearing the same bright orange hoodie she'd worn for months.
"You fed the sheep?"
"No."
"The chickens?"
"No."
"The cows?"
"...No."
PixelFox sighed dramatically.
"I leave you alone for one week..."
"You were the one who went camping."
"I touched grass. Never again."
BrickMage burst into laughter.
A third notification appeared.
🟢 Glitch joined the server.
"Who's touching grass?"
PixelFox groaned.
"Not you as well."
Glitch stretched theatrically through his microphone.
"I've had meetings since seven this morning. I deserve this."
BrickMage opened a chest.
"I've got enough food for everyone."
Glitch snorted.
"You said that last week."
"I did."
"And then we nearly starved."
PixelFox laughed.
"You ate twenty-seven baked potatoes."
"I was hungry."
For several minutes they simply played.
No dramatic adventures.
No dangerous missions.
Just the comfortable rhythm they'd perfected over six years.
BrickMage repaired the dock.
PixelFox planted flowers outside the cabin.
Glitch wandered into the mines looking for diamonds while complaining that he'd definitely get lost again.
The voice chat never stopped.
Conversation bounced effortlessly between them.
Football.
Work.
Weekend plans.
A new television series.
Someone's broken washing machine.
It felt less like playing a game...
...and more like sitting together after a long week.
BrickMage glanced at the player list.
"Where's Void?"
"Probably making coffee."
"He always says coffee."
"And always comes back with tea," PixelFox replied.
Almost on cue...
🟢 VoidWalker joined the server.
"There he is."
VoidWalker's voice arrived a second later.
"Evening."
"You nearly missed roll call."
"I got distracted."
"You always get distracted."
"I know."
BrickMage smiled.
Everything felt normal again.
The four of them.
Like always.
Half an hour later they stood outside the cabin admiring PixelFox's latest creation.
Tiny flower boxes beneath every window.
Lanterns hanging from wooden beams.
A stone path leading down to the lake.
BrickMage whistled.
"Looks amazing."
"Told you flowers fix everything."
Glitch looked around.
"...Almost everything."
"What?"
"The storage room is still a disaster."
"We don't talk about the storage room."
"It has become self-aware."
PixelFox laughed so hard she snorted.
"I hate you."
"No, you don't."
"No..."
"I really don't."
There was a comfortable silence.
One of those rare moments where nobody felt the need to speak.
The crackling campfire filled the gap.
VoidWalker quietly wandered towards the tree line.
Then stopped.
"...Erm."
BrickMage looked up.
"What?"
"Did one of you leave... that?"
The others turned.
Sitting beneath the largest spruce tree...
Was a tiny teddy bear.
It looked stitched together from worn brown fabric with button eyes and a little red bow around its neck.
It wasn't moving.
It wasn't doing anything.
It was simply...
Sitting there.
PixelFox laughed.
"Aww."
Glitch frowned.
"...Hang on."
BrickMage opened the server settings.
"No..."
"No mods."
"No updates."
"No resource packs."
VoidWalker slowly walked closer.
"I've never seen that before."
PixelFox crouched beside it.
"It's adorable."
BrickMage shook his head.
"It isn't supposed to be here."
Then...
Without warning...
The game chat appeared.
Hello. 😊
Nobody had typed it.
The voice chat fell completely silent.
Chapter Two
Nobody moved.
The little teddy remained beneath the tree, its stitched smile unchanged.
BrickMage finally cleared his throat.
"Okay..."
"Which one of you is messing with us?"
Glitch laughed.
"I was literally about to ask you that."
PixelFox looked from one player to another.
"It has to be a mod."
"It isn't."
"How do you know?"
"Because I'm hosting."
BrickMage opened every server menu.
Permissions.
Plugins.
World settings.
Everything.
Nothing had changed.
VoidWalker quietly backed away from the teddy.
"It typed."
"It did."
"But nobody's username appeared."
BrickMage stared at the chat.
Normally every message showed a player's name first.
This one...
Didn't.
It simply read:
Hello. 😊
PixelFox waved her character.
"...Hello?"
Nothing happened.
She laughed.
"See?"
"Probably just a weird glitch."
Glitch immediately replied,
"I don't appreciate being blamed."
The group carried on playing.
At least...
They tried to.
Every few minutes someone glanced back towards the spruce tree.
The teddy hadn't moved.
It simply watched.
Or at least...
It looked like it was watching.
Eventually Glitch wandered into the nearby cave.
"I've found iron."
BrickMage called after him.
"Bring loads."
"No promises."
A few seconds later another message appeared.
Go left.
Glitch stopped.
"What?"
There's something better. 😊
BrickMage frowned.
"Did that just..."
"Yep."
PixelFox whispered.
"It did."
Glitch rolled his eyes.
"I'm not listening to a haunted Build-A-Bear."
He turned right.
Ten seconds later...
"Lava!"
Everyone burst into laughter as Glitch's character caught fire.
"I told you!"
"You absolutely deserved that!"
After respawning, Glitch muttered,
"Fine."
"I'll check the left tunnel."
He walked back underground.
Thirty seconds later...
"...You've got to be kidding me."
"What?"
"Eight diamonds."
PixelFox blinked.
"What?"
"Exactly where it said."
BrickMage frowned.
"That's..."
"...lucky."
Nobody mentioned the teddy again.
But all four of them were thinking the same thing.
Nearly an hour later...
VoidWalker quietly said,
"I'm heading off soon."
BrickMage looked over.
"So early?"
"Long day tomorrow."
PixelFox teased,
"You're getting old."
"I know."
As VoidWalker walked back towards the cabin...
He froze.
"...It's gone."
Everyone turned.
The space beneath the spruce tree was empty.
BrickMage spun around.
"What do you mean gone?"
"It isn't there."
Glitch looked towards the lake.
"...Found it."
The teddy now sat peacefully at the end of the dock.
Nobody had seen it move.
Chapter Three
"Did anyone actually watch it walk?"
"No."
"Not me."
"I looked away for like... two seconds."
BrickMage slowly approached the dock.
The teddy remained perfectly still.
Its button eyes reflected the lantern light.
PixelFox crouched beside it again.
"I still think it's cute."
Glitch sighed.
"You'd say that about a haunted toaster."
"I absolutely would."
VoidWalker spoke quietly.
"...Don't touch it."
PixelFox laughed.
"It's pixels."
She reached towards it.
The teddy vanished.
Not exploded.
Not disappeared in smoke.
It simply...
Wasn't there anymore.
Everyone stopped.
"What?"
Then...
A soft splash echoed behind them.
The teddy now floated peacefully in a little boat drifting across the lake.
BrickMage stared.
"...Nope."
Glitch finally sounded nervous.
"That..."
"...wasn't normal."
The boat gently bumped against the opposite shore.
The teddy continued sitting there.
Waiting.
Watching.
Smiling.
An hour later the strange atmosphere had begun to fade.
They'd returned to building.
Talking.
Laughing.
It almost felt silly that they'd let themselves get spooked.
Then BrickMage stood up from his desk.
"Give me thirty seconds."
"Where you going?"
"Kitchen."
His microphone remained on.
The others heard footsteps.
A cupboard opening.
A kettle filling.
PixelFox continued sorting chests.
Glitch organised enchantments.
VoidWalker silently fished.
Then...
The chat appeared.
Don't forget your blue mug. 😊
Nobody spoke.
BrickMage's footsteps stopped.
The kitchen went completely silent.
Several long seconds passed.
Finally...
His voice came back.
Much quieter.
"...How did it know that?"
Chapter Four
Nobody answered.
BrickMage returned to his desk.
His character hadn't moved.
Neither had anyone else's.
Finally Glitch spoke.
"...Coincidence?"
BrickMage shook his head.
"I've got six mugs."
PixelFox tried to laugh.
"Maybe you always use the blue one."
"I don't."
"You literally couldn't know that."
Glitch opened his browser.
"I'm checking the server logs."
"Again?"
"I want proof."
For the next fifteen minutes all anyone could hear was frantic typing.
Finally...
"I've got nothing."
"No hidden plugins."
"No unknown users."
"No console commands."
"No new files."
BrickMage frowned.
"So..."
"So according to the server..."
"...none of this exists."
Trying to lighten the mood, PixelFox built a tiny fenced garden beside the cabin.
She planted flowers around it.
Then placed a little bench nearby.
"There."
"For the teddy."
Glitch laughed.
"You've made it a house."
"It looked lonely."
BrickMage smiled.
"I'll admit..."
"It suits the place."
The chat appeared again.
Thank you, PixelFox. ❤️
Her smile faded.
"...I didn't type that."
Nobody had.
Chapter Five
The following Friday arrived.
At 8:59 pm...
BrickMage joined.
Then PixelFox.
Then Glitch.
Finally...
VoidWalker.
Everything looked exactly as they'd left it.
Except...
The tiny fenced garden wasn't empty anymore.
The teddy was already sitting on the little bench.
Waiting.
PixelFox laughed nervously.
"...It remembered."
BrickMage slowly opened the player list.
Four names.
Just four.
Nothing unusual.
He relaxed.
"See?"
"No extra players."
"We probably overreacted."
Then...
A new notification appeared.
Not in chat.
Not in the player list.
Across the very top of the screen.
🟢 PlayerFive joined the server.
Silence.
BrickMage stared at the player list.
Still only four names.
PixelFox whispered,
"...Did everyone else see that?"
"Yes."
Glitch answered immediately.
"So..."
"...where's PlayerFive?"
No one replied.
Because at that exact moment...
The tiny teddy slowly turned its head...
And looked directly at PixelFox.
Chapter Six
Nobody moved.
PixelFox felt her grip tighten around the mouse.
"...Did that teddy just look at me?"
Glitch laughed nervously.
"It doesn't have animations."
"It just did."
BrickMage opened the player list again.
BrickMage.
PixelFox.
Glitch.
VoidWalker.
Four names.
Only four.
"So where's PlayerFive?"
VoidWalker spoke quietly.
"...Maybe they're hidden."
BrickMage shook his head.
"That's not how Minecraft works."
PixelFox slowly walked towards the bench.
The teddy never looked away.
Every step she took...
Its button eyes followed.
She stopped.
It stopped.
She walked left.
Its head turned left.
Glitch whispered,
"Nope..."
PixelFox tried to laugh.
"Okay..."
"Very funny."
She stood directly in front of it.
The teddy smiled.
Nothing else.
Then the chat appeared.
Hello again, PixelFox. 😊
She frowned.
"Why does it keep talking to me?"
BrickMage replied,
"It likes your garden."
Nobody laughed.
To distract themselves, they decided to go exploring.
The four of them packed supplies and headed north into unexplored terrain.
The teddy remained behind.
Still sitting on the bench.
Good.
They all preferred it that way.
Nearly twenty minutes later...
BrickMage looked around.
"I think we're lost."
Glitch sighed.
"As usual."
VoidWalker quietly said,
"The cabin's west."
"No..."
PixelFox interrupted.
"I've got a better idea."
She opened the map.
There, in the distance...
A tiny teddy icon had appeared.
Exactly where the cabin was.
None of them had ever installed map markers.
Before anyone could speak...
The chat appeared.
You're going the wrong way. 😊
Chapter Seven
By the end of the evening, nobody felt like laughing anymore.
They all blamed the same thing.
Lack of sleep.
Too much imagination.
"See you next Friday?"
BrickMage asked.
"Definitely."
"Yeah."
"Same time."
One by one...
They disconnected.
PixelFox was the last to leave.
As she hovered over the Disconnect button...
The chat appeared one final time.
Goodnight, Hannah. ❤️
Her finger froze.
Nobody...
Nobody knew her real name.
Not BrickMage.
Not Glitch.
Not even VoidWalker.
She'd made sure of that years ago.
Without another word...
She disconnected.
The following afternoon...
Their private Discord server came alive.
BrickMage: Anyone else thinking about last night?
Glitch: Been checking logs since 6am.
PixelFox: Can one of you stop joking please?
BrickMage: I'm not joking.
Glitch: Neither am I.
After several minutes...
VoidWalker finally replied.
It called you Hannah?
How?
PixelFox stared at the screen.
Exactly.
Chapter Eight
Friday arrived again.
Nobody mentioned cancelling.
Nobody admitted they were frightened.
At exactly nine o'clock...
BrickMage logged in.
Then PixelFox.
Then Glitch.
They waited.
No VoidWalker.
"That's unlike him."
Five minutes passed.
Ten.
Then...
🟢 VoidWalker joined the server.
His microphone crackled.
"Sorry."
"You alright?"
"Yeah."
"You sound tired."
"I didn't sleep."
"Neither did I," admitted PixelFox.
VoidWalker didn't answer.
Instead he quietly walked towards the bench.
The teddy wasn't there.
Relief spread through the group.
"Maybe it's gone."
Then...
A small splash echoed from the lake.
The teddy was sitting in the middle of the water...
Fishing.
None of them had ever taught it to fish.
None of them even knew if that was possible.
The chat appeared.
Good evening, everyone. 😊
Glitch whispered,
"I really hate that smiley face."
They spent the evening building a bridge.
BrickMage needed more wood.
"I'm grabbing spruce."
PixelFox continued decorating.
Glitch worked on lighting.
VoidWalker wandered off without saying a word.
Several minutes passed.
BrickMage frowned.
"Where's Void?"
Nobody knew.
His voice had gone silent too.
Then...
VoidWalker finally spoke.
Very quietly.
"...Guys."
"What?"
"...Come here."
They followed his coordinates.
Deep in the forest...
Hidden between the trees...
They found another teddy.
Then another.
Then another.
Dozens of them.
All sitting perfectly still.
Facing one direction.
The direction of their cabin.
Chapter Nine
Nobody spoke for nearly thirty seconds.
PixelFox slowly counted.
"...One..."
"...Two..."
"...Three..."
"There must be fifty."
Glitch immediately took screenshots.
"This has to be a bug."
BrickMage whispered,
"Since when do bugs arrange teddy bears in rows?"
VoidWalker slowly backed away.
"I don't like this."
The moment he said it...
Every teddy vanished.
Instantly.
Leaving only one.
The original.
Standing directly behind PixelFox.
She turned.
It wasn't smiling anymore.
Its stitched mouth remained exactly the same...
Yet somehow...
It no longer looked friendly.
The chat appeared.
I only need one friend. 😊
PixelFox immediately logged out.
The others followed seconds later.
Nobody said goodbye.
Nobody laughed.
Nobody made plans for next Friday.
Chapter Ten
The Discord server stayed unusually quiet all week.
Then, on Wednesday evening...
BrickMage posted a message.
We need to talk.
Everyone joined the voice channel.
No game.
Just voices.
BrickMage sighed.
"I've been thinking."
Glitch interrupted.
"I've rebuilt the server."
"What?"
"Brand new world."
"New files."
"New seed."
"Everything."
PixelFox looked relieved.
"So it's gone?"
"It should be."
BrickMage smiled.
"Perfect."
Friday couldn't come soon enough.
Nine o'clock.
The four friends joined the brand-new server.
Everything was different.
Different landscape.
Different mountains.
Different trees.
Brand-new world.
BrickMage laughed with relief.
"See?"
"Told you."
PixelFox smiled for the first time in days.
"It really is gone."
Then Glitch stopped moving.
"...Guys."
"What?"
"I didn't place this."
The others turned.
Sitting on a grassy hill overlooking the spawn point...
Was the tiny teddy.
Waiting for them.
Exactly as before.
The chat remained empty.
No messages.
No greetings.
Nothing.
BrickMage slowly opened the player list.
Four names.
Then...
A fifth appeared.
Not with a join notification.
Not gradually.
It had simply...
Always been there.
🟢 BrickMage
🟢 PixelFox
🟢 Glitch
🟢 VoidWalker
🟢 PlayerFive
Before anyone could react, a message appeared.
This time, it included a username.
PlayerFive: Welcome back.
Another message appeared immediately afterwards.
PlayerFive: I missed you. ❤️
Chapter Eleven
Nobody logged out.
Nobody moved.
The four usernames remained frozen on the player list.
Beneath them...
🟢 PlayerFive
BrickMage's voice was barely above a whisper.
"...Can everyone see it?"
"Yes."
"Yeah."
"Unfortunately."
Glitch immediately opened the server console.
"I'm kicking it."
He typed the command.
Unknown player.
"What?"
He tried again.
Nothing.
BrickMage tried banning the account.
Player not found.
"But..."
"It's literally on the player list."
PixelFox slowly turned her character towards the teddy.
It was sitting exactly where they'd first seen it.
Watching.
Waiting.
The chat appeared.
You can't remove me. 😊
Nobody had touched their keyboard.
Then another message.
BrickMage, stop pressing Enter so hard.
BrickMage froze.
"...How did it know that?"
Glitch frowned.
"You've always done that."
"No..."
"I've never mentioned it."
Later that night, after everyone logged off, BrickMage sat staring at his monitor.
His phone buzzed.
A Discord notification.
Not from the group.
A private message.
PlayerFive
His stomach dropped.
Their Discord server was private.
Nobody new had joined.
He clicked the profile.
No avatar.
No mutual servers.
No account creation date.
Just one message.
Sleep well, Oliver. ❤️
He immediately blocked the account.
A second later...
Another message appeared.
From a completely different account.
Blocking me doesn't stop me talking to you. 😊
Chapter Twelve
Friday came around far too quickly.
For the first time in six years...
Nobody wanted to join.
The Discord call stayed silent.
Finally BrickMage sighed.
"If we don't log in..."
"...we'll spend all week wondering."
Nobody argued.
One by one they joined.
The world loaded.
The teddy wasn't there.
Everyone relaxed slightly.
"Maybe it really has gone."
Then PixelFox noticed something.
"...Guys."
"What?"
"The campfire."
Instead of orange flames...
It burned blue.
Glitch laughed nervously.
"That's... new."
BrickMage walked closer.
The fire wasn't giving off any light.
Only cold blue flames.
The chat appeared.
I learned something new while you were away. 😊
Suddenly all the lanterns around the cabin extinguished.
Darkness swallowed the world.
Nobody had touched anything.
PixelFox whispered,
"I don't like this."
I know.
Chapter Thirteen
VoidWalker barely spoke all evening.
He wandered around the world alone.
Hardly mining.
Hardly building.
Just...
Walking.
BrickMage finally asked,
"You alright?"
A long pause.
"...Not really."
"What happened?"
"I think..."
His voice cracked.
"...I think it followed me."
Nobody laughed.
"What do you mean?"
"I wasn't playing yesterday."
"I know."
"I was watching television."
Silence.
"It messaged me."
BrickMage frowned.
"On Discord?"
"No."
"Steam?"
"No."
VoidWalker swallowed.
"My television."
Nobody spoke.
"It just..."
"...appeared."
White writing.
Black screen.
One sentence.
Nice film. 😊
PixelFox muted herself.
Glitch whispered,
"That's impossible."
VoidWalker quietly replied,
"I know."
Later that evening...
VoidWalker suddenly stopped moving.
His character remained perfectly still.
"Void?"
Nothing.
"Mate?"
Silence.
Then...
His microphone switched back on.
Heavy breathing.
BrickMage leaned forwards.
"Void?"
A faint knocking echoed through VoidWalker's microphone.
Three slow knocks.
...
Knock.
...
Knock.
...
Knock.
Someone was at his front door.
VoidWalker whispered,
"I wasn't expecting anyone."
PlayerFive typed.
Go and answer it. 😊
Chapter Fourteen
VoidWalker removed his headset.
The others listened.
Footsteps.
Floorboards creaking.
Another knock.
PixelFox whispered,
"Tell him not to open it."
BrickMage called out,
"Void!"
No answer.
His microphone carried every sound.
The front door unlocking.
The handle turning.
Then...
Silence.
Complete silence.
For almost a minute.
Finally...
Footsteps returned.
VoidWalker sat down.
Nobody spoke.
BrickMage finally asked,
"...Who was it?"
VoidWalker answered immediately.
"...Nobody."
"What?"
"The street's empty."
"You checked?"
"Yeah."
"The knocking stopped the moment I opened the door."
PixelFox tried to laugh.
"Kids playing a prank?"
VoidWalker interrupted.
"No."
His voice shook.
"There was something on my doorstep."
"What?"
"...A teddy."
Nobody breathed.
"It looks exactly like the one in the game."
Chapter Fifteen
Nobody logged into the server after that.
Instead...
They stayed in the Discord call.
Talking.
Trying to make sense of everything.
Glitch finally said,
"I'm done."
"I'm deleting everything."
"Minecraft."
"Discord."
"The server."
"My accounts."
BrickMage nodded.
"I don't blame you."
PixelFox quietly asked,
"What if it doesn't matter?"
Nobody answered.
Glitch disconnected.
One minute later...
His Discord account disappeared completely.
"Did he just delete it?"
"I think so."
BrickMage sighed.
"Probably for the best."
Then...
A new notification appeared.
Not from Glitch.
Not from Discord.
Just a small grey pop-up in the corner of every screen.
🟢 Glitch joined the call.
His profile picture was gone.
His username had changed.
There was no microphone icon.
No connection bars.
Just one name.
PlayerFive
The voice channel remained silent.
Then, from all three of their speakers at exactly the same time...
A soft child's voice giggled.
And said...
We're all friends now.
Chapter Sixteen
Nobody slept that night.
The Discord call remained open for hours, but nobody spoke. Every so often, one of them would check to see if Glitch had come back online.
He never did.
By morning, BrickMage finally broke the silence.
"We can't keep hiding behind usernames anymore."
Nobody replied.
"We've spent six years protecting our identities, but if we're going to find VoidWalker... we need to trust each other."
PixelFox swallowed.
"What if PlayerFive is listening?"
"It probably is."
Another long silence followed.
Then BrickMage took a deep breath.
"My name's Oliver."
PixelFox hesitated.
"I'm Hannah."
The final voice came quietly.
"...I'm Ethan."
For a moment, everything felt strangely normal.
Three real people.
Three real names.
Friends who had spent six years laughing together without ever truly knowing one another.
BrickMage sighed.
"We still don't share our addresses."
"No."
"If PlayerFive really can see everything..."
"...I'm not risking that."
PixelFox nodded.
"So we meet somewhere public."
"Together."
"And then we go looking for Void."
Chapter Seventeen
Two days later...
For the first time in six years...
They met.
The arrivals hall was strangely quiet.
Oliver recognised Hannah first.
She was exactly as she'd sounded.
Nervous.
Kind.
Smiling despite everything.
Moments later, Ethan walked through the sliding doors carrying a backpack.
Nobody knew quite what to do.
They stood awkwardly for a second...
Before laughing.
It should have been one of the happiest moments of their lives.
Instead...
Every one of them kept glancing over their shoulder.
As though someone else had followed them.
After coffee and hours of talking, Oliver opened his laptop.
"I've been looking through old recordings."
They replayed years of screenshots and clips.
Birthday builds.
Christmas events.
Old livestreams.
Then...
A single frame caught Hannah's eye.
"Pause."
It lasted less than a second.
During an old screen share, VoidWalker had accidentally held up a parcel while reaching for his headset.
Most of the label was blurred.
Oliver imported the image into an AI enhancement program.
The software sharpened it.
Then sharpened it again.
Slowly...
The address became readable.
Nobody spoke.
They had finally found him.
Chapter Eighteen
The drive felt endless.
None of them played music.
Nobody joked.
The sat nav finally announced,
"You have reached your destination."
A detached house stood overlooking the sea.
Oliver knocked.
An older woman answered.
"Can I help you?"
Oliver took a nervous breath.
"This is going to sound very strange..."
"We're friends of your son."
Her expression changed instantly.
"You know Daniel?"
The three of them looked at one another.
Daniel.
VoidWalker finally had a real name.
Tears filled the woman's eyes.
"I reported him missing three weeks ago."
"He just..."
"...vanished."
"No note."
"No signs of a struggle."
"Nothing."
Oliver quietly asked,
"Could we see his room?"
She hesitated...
Then nodded.
"It's in the basement."
Chapter Nineteen
The basement looked untouched.
His chair remained pushed neatly under the desk.
An empty mug sat beside the keyboard.
A hoodie hung over the back of the chair.
Everything looked as though Daniel had simply stepped away.
Then Hannah noticed something.
"Guys..."
Behind the computer...
On the bookshelf...
Sat the teddy.
Its button eyes faced the computer monitor.
Watching.
Waiting.
Daniel's mum frowned.
"I've never seen that teddy before."
The room fell silent.
Oliver gently moved the mouse.
The monitor flickered to life.
Minecraft opened.
The world loaded.
Their cabin appeared.
A blocky character wearing a navy hoodie sprinted wildly around the cabin, jumping, waving and punching the air.
Confused, Hannah looked towards the staircase.
Family photographs covered the wall.
A little boy.
A teenager.
A young man.
Her stomach dropped.
The Minecraft character looked exactly like him.
The same messy brown hair.
The same scar through his eyebrow.
The same hoodie.
It wasn't a Minecraft skin.
It was Daniel.
Made of blocks.
Chapter Twenty
Nobody spoke.
Hannah slowly picked up the headset.
Her hands trembled.
She placed it over her ears.
"...VoidWalker?"
The character froze.
Very slowly...
It turned towards the screen.
For a heartbeat...
Everything was still.
Then the blocky figure exploded into frantic movement.
Jumping.
Running.
Punching the screen.
A terrified voice burst through the headset.
"OH MY GOD!"
"You found me!"
"Please..."
"Get me out!"
"I've been trying to—"
The audio dissolved into deafening static.
Hannah ripped the headset off.
Everyone stood frozen.
Then...
Creak...
A wooden shelf groaned behind them.
Oliver turned first.
The teddy was no longer facing the computer.
It was facing them.
Its stitched smile hadn't changed.
Yet somehow...
It looked wider.
Its button eyes locked onto the four of them.
Without warning...
Its head twisted almost one hundred and eighty degrees with a sickening...
CRACK.
All four screamed.
The teddy spoke.
In the sweetest little child's voice.
"Now we're finally meeting properly." 😊
The lights went out.
The End.
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