Just a Screen

This is a prompt I was given and I thought would share what I wrote, and maybe even let people make their own stories in the comments!!!

Content Warning: This story contains themes of stalking, cyberbullying, severe paranoia, psychosis/hallucinations, and mentions of eating disorders/starvation.

Lila woke up to the sharp, blue glow of her computer screen cutting through her pitch-black bedroom. On the monitor, a text document was typing itself out in real time, the cursor blinking rapidly as letters filled the blank page: I can see you hiding under the blanket, Lila. Look at the closet. Heart hammering, she slowly lowered the covers from her eyes, but she didn’t look at the closet. Instead, she stared at the webcam attached to her monitor. The tiny green recording light was glowing bright, and the lens was slowly tilting downward to face her bed.

She didn’t know what to think. She just wanted to wrap her blanket around her and pretend that made the monsters go away, just like when she was a kid. She started sweating, making the blanket become more of an uncomfortable hinderance than something that helped her stress. She ran. She ran right past the closet, out the front door, and into the woods. She hated this. They followed her everywhere. They bullied her at school, at home, online, but it had gone way too far this time. She screamed, tears streaming down her face. She didn’t even know what was real anymore. Everyone told her she was lying, it couldn’t be that bad, just deal with it, stop being dramatic. Maybe they were right. Why couldn’t she do anything right, why did she always fail, why wasn’t she good enough. Maybe she deserved it. Everyday of torture, starving herself to be skinny enough to fit into their standards then being bullied for that too. It didn’t matter anymore. They were coming for her. This wasn’t a place for failures and-. Her thoughts cut off as she saw the forest flash red and blue. Apparently someone had heard her scream and called the police. They arrested the people behind the camera, and told Lila she was safe, but she didn’t feel safe. What if they were in the shadows? There was always someone new. They hated her, everyone hated her. Except for her therapist. Except for the white padded walls around her. Nothing is wrong they said. There was no camera they said. No arrest, just someone calling her ugly again. Just a screen. Just her own mind slowly turning against her. She rocked herself to comfort on the floor.