It was another just another weekend for me, my assignments were done and there was no courses for next two days. I was staring at the screen of my television with a controller in my hand trying to lose myself in another world on the screen.
Yet my heart was just not in it that day, even the video games I used to distract myself with. I blew out a long sigh and tossed the controller to my side on the empty space of my couch. It was in that moment I had keenly felt the loneliness I was trying to escape from.
I sought out my phone for comfort, opening it up to the myriad of social media and dating I had been using. I swiped through pictures of my old friends who I no longer had any real connection with, tormenting myself with the urge to reach out, but the desire was fleeting and I could never go through with it.
This ache for companionship was far too familiar a sensation for me, but it had only grown worse once I had begun my studies in college. With my family was gone as well, I had become desperate, resorting to apps on my phone to find a connection, anything to fill this void in my chest.
Sure, there were forums and chat sites to be social but they could never sate a real physical connection I yearned for. Though every dating app that promised me such remained silent and I had long given up on swiping my way to a partner.
It vexed me deeply why I was being passed over and labored over my profile pics. Was I not doing enough with my short brown hair, maybe I kept it too tidy. Sure, my body was not amazing, I was no Adonis but I was still lean and tall. Could it have been the way I stared directly at the camera, could they see how desperate I was in my green eyes?
With a sigh, I gave up on the analysis of my body and had begun to browse for yet another app that might yield some results.
That was the when I had come across Mal0.
It was an app with early access testing, no reviews, no rating or even the number of downloads. What had caught my eye was the small description.
'Never settle for those awkward feelings of being alone ever again. MalO is an exciting and interactive experience that will keep you engaged and intrigued. The anxiety of social situations can be nerve-racking, but after just a few hours of MalO, you will soon forget all about those painful emotions of disappointment. Be part of the new craze that is quickly becoming the next social substitute. Remember, the more you participate, the more MalO will engage you. Your experience is completely up to you. Absolutely NO ADS. Enjoy!'
Like with the many chat programs I had downloaded before I was already skeptical about how a ten-megabyte program could possibly help me. Yet here I was, watching the installation bar filling up on my phone, curious to see if it could hold up to what it had promised.
Then when it finished, a tiny black icon flickered on my phone, then it was gone, the program vanished the moment it completed the install. A cursed hissed through clenched teeth when the realization had dawned on me, it must have been some kind of fucking virus.
Then it struck me how MalO could easily have meant malware, god damn it, it was right in the name! With a deep groan of exasperation, I slammed my palm into my forehead to punish my lack of foresight. I was forced to plug my phone into the laptop which was sitting idle on the coffee table in front of me.
I went through the tedium of scanning my phone for malicious software with a cold indifference, it was only a small inconvenience. Yet, one cleaning program after another found no viruses. This had me perplexed and in my curiosity, I went so far to manually browse through the files for something out of place. Still, I had come up completely empty, Mal0 had vanished as quickly as I had downloaded it.
It was really strange and it had me scratching my head over it. I even attempted to try and download it again, only to have it tell me I had already installed it.
My brows furrowed, with my phone in my lap, the screen providing the only illumination the room. There was something really strange happening here but I just couldn't seem to figure it out.
It was getting late and my patience had run dry. I had dismissed it as either harmful or maybe just a bugged program at best. Either way, I was not about to take any chances and performed a factory reset.
The last minutes of my night had been resigned to updating my phone to the most current version and reinstalling my most mandatory apps.
With my phone tucked into the waistband of my boxers, I pushed myself off the couch with a grunt then snatched up my laptop. It was then I had felt just how tired I was and shoves my fingers through the front of my short mousy brown hair.
I shuffled my way down the short hallway towards my room wearing just my boxers and a pair of slippers. One of the perks of living in a single person dorm was how I could walk around dressed as I pleased.
My room was pretty sparse, the bed was neatly made with a single nightstand, a laundry bin was tucked in a corner and the tall dresser faced me across the room. I moved to the nightstand and placed the scrubbed clean phone next to my alarm clock before tucking my laptop in the cubby under the top.
Just when I had gotten under the covers my phone vibrated with a loud rattle off the faux wood of my nightstand. It was not often I got any kind of notification and picked it up to see why it wanted my attention.
Oddly enough there was a text message, this was not a common occurrence for me. The number attached to it was usually long and looked too cryptic. Still, curiosity had gotten the better of me and I unlocked the device with a swipe of my finger.
Instead of a message, it was a photo that had been sent.
My brows furrowed at the picture of a dimly lit building in the middle of the night. Yet I couldn't shake the feeling that it felt strangely familiar but I was unable to make out the details.
I wanted to know more and made the attempt to text them wanting to know what this was all about. Every attempt was met with the same red texted response of 'message failed'.
The number was too weird and I cursed under my breath, thinking to myself that maybe MalO got enough information out of my phone before I had scrubbed it so I could get some strange spam.
At that point, I was too tired to care about some stupid picture being sent to me and went to sleep. The constant electric buzzing of my alarm roused me and with a groan, I rolled over and swatted at the device until it shut off. With a grogginess, I had fallen into the autonomous routine of getting ready for my morning classes, barely even alert of my surroundings.
I shambled into my cramped bathroom and flicked on the light. The sterile white walls flashed all the brighter making me wince as my eyes watered from the glaring shift.
It was all function and left very little room for anything else. There was a small oval sink with just enough room for my toothbrush and the cup I used to hold it. The toilet was tightly packed in the corner and right across from it was my standing shower with a sliding door and its heavily fogged glass for privacy.
It was after I had gotten out of the shower and walked back into the room I had noticed my phone was flashing a new notification. At first, I thought little of it and assumed it was something innocuous like an update.
When I picked up my phone to check the time, I noticed instead it was another message from the same number from last night. With an annoyed sigh I couldn't resist the urge to check and whoever it was had sent me another photo.
Except for this time, my mouth parted in surprise.
It was an image of the front of the computer store I had visited maybe a few days ago. The hairs suddenly stood tall on the nape of my neck, my heart suddenly spiked in pace in response. Deep down my instincts shouted to me that I was being hunted and I for a moment, I agreed.
