Cherreads

Chapter 15 - Chapter 15 – The Other One

Smoke still hung heavy in the café, curling in broken shafts of light from shattered windows. Tables were overturned, glass crunched under my boots, and the neon sign outside fizzled with a dying hum.

The eyeless corpse twitched once, then fell still — a heap of pale flesh and too many teeth. My camera was still pointed at it, though the cracked lens made the image blur, turning horror into watercolor.

[Stream Chat ]

GhostSnack: IT'S DEAD RIGHT??

Xx_RektYou_xX: bruh its gonna get up i swear 😭

CelestiaLuvr: look behind the trench guy look behind look look look

lurker42: why trenchcoat man built like he belongs in a mafia movie 💀

ViolentWaffle: ayooo cameraman heavy breathing asmr 💦💦

But my lens wasn't on the corpse anymore. It was on him.

The man in the trench coat hadn't moved during the fight. Not once. He hadn't blinked, flinched, or even acknowledged the chaos. Now, standing with the smoke coiling around him like an old friend, he finally tipped his hat back enough for me to see his face.

And God help me — it was like staring into a mirror submerged in ink. Human features, yes. But blurred. As though the world refused to remember him.

"You finally noticed the other one," he said again, as if scolding a child who'd been late to class.

Seraphine stiffened. Her shadowed claws, still dripping, faltered mid-air. "…What did you say?"

"The other one," he repeated, almost lazily, turning his gaze toward the shattered doorway where the eyeless monster had burst in. "That? That wasn't alone. You fought its shell. A decoy. The real one…" His head tilted, and for the first time, his blurred eyes met mine through the lens. "…is already inside."

The café went silent.

No glass crackling.

No fire popping.

Even the chat froze, like the viewers could sense the weight of his words.

I swallowed hard. "Inside… where?"

That's when Nyx arched, her fur puffed twice her size, a sound between a hiss and a growl ripping from her throat. She wasn't staring at the trench coat man. She wasn't staring at the corpse.

She was staring at me.

---

"Don't move," Seraphine hissed. Her voice was low, sharp enough to cut the air.

"Wh—hey, hold on." My hands went up instinctively, though the camera stayed locked in my grip. "Don't give me that look. Whatever he's selling, I'm not buying."

Nyx hissed louder, backing away, tail thrashing like a whip. Her pupils were slits, wide with terror. She spat a word — one I didn't understand, but it wasn't human.

The trench coat man chuckled softly, the sound like boots crunching gravel. "Smart cat. Familiars always smell it first. Pity they never understand the scale."

[Stream Chat ]

PixelatedSoul: WTH IS HAPPENING BRO??

BunBun69: the CAT KNOWS. TRUST THE CAT.

TacticalOreo: cameraman sus ngl 👀

DarkClaw777: yo if mc turns into monster i want my refund 💀

SaltyMoth: nah keep filming, I LIKE WHERE THIS IS GOING 🤤

Seraphine's shadow arms curled around me protectively, claws clicking like knives. She kept her gaze fixed on him, but her words were for me. "Tell me, mortal… did you feel anything? Before we entered? A shiver? A dream? A gap in memory?"

My throat was dry. I wanted to laugh it off, but the truth was worse. "I… I mean… yeah. I had a blackout. Just a second. Thought it was adrenaline."

The trench coat man's blurred smile widened. "Adrenaline? No. That was the door opening. You've been carrying it since before you pressed record."

---

The café flickered.

Not the lights — the world.

For half a breath, the wreckage reset: tables unbroken, windows whole, coffee still steaming on the counter. A cheerful barista laughed somewhere. Then it snapped back to ruin, like a channel change on a broken TV.

And in that flicker, I saw myself sitting at the table again. Smiling.

---

"Get out of him," Seraphine snarled, stepping forward. Her shadows lashed toward the stranger, but the man didn't flinch. His blurred hand flicked, and the shadows splintered, dissolving like smoke.

"Do you even know what you're protecting?" His words were calm, but carried weight like an avalanche. "This mortal isn't chosen. He's convenient. Disposable. A lens. And what better vessel than one who already hides behind glass?"

My cracked lens fogged suddenly. The café blurred, the trench coat man's figure bending, stretching. For a moment, I wasn't sure if I was still filming or if the camera was filming me.

[Stream Chat ]

GhoulieGrrl: yo stream glitching or is this real??

FKN_Potato: im dizzy asf rn

Cens0r3d: br0 the lens is broke like his wallet 💸💸

mod_kun: keep chat chill guys, this might be possession sfx

SpicyRamyeon: NO JOKE MY PHONE JUST RESTARTED 😳

Nyx leapt onto my shoulder, claws digging deep, anchoring me. Her hiss rattled in my ear, grounding me against the pull.

Seraphine's eyes burned crimson. "You will not touch him."

The trench coat man's tone never changed. "I already have."

And with that, my vision fractured.

---

Flashback bleed.

Not memory. Not dream. Something else.

Gray filter. Static crackle. A voice, not mine, narrating over scenes I didn't remember living:

Me, walking down an empty street at night.

Me, filming shadows that moved without light.

Me, standing at the café before Seraphine arrived. Smiling. Waiting.

[Voiceover – warped, distorted like tape rewind]

> "You thought you stumbled into this, cameraman. But who was holding the camera before you picked it up?"

The café walls melted, colors bleeding like wet paint. The trench coat man was everywhere and nowhere, his blurred face pressed against the inside of my lens.

> "You film monsters, yes. But what happens when the monster films you back?"

---

"STOP!" Seraphine's voice thundered, snapping me half-awake.

The shadows in the café surged, her power ripping through the distortion, slamming the trench coat man backward. He slid across the broken tiles, boots grinding sparks. His hat fell — and beneath it, there was no head. Just a smear of moving static, like a censored face on live TV.

Still, his voice rang clear. "You can delay. But not erase. He is already marked."

He vanished in a blink. No smoke. No trick. Just gone.

---

Silence returned.

I realized my breath was ragged, my hands shaking. The camera dangled at my side, its cracked lens reflecting my face.

Only, in the reflection…

I was still smiling.

[Stream Chat ]

BunBun69: NAHHHHH BRO'S POSSESSED 😱

Lurker42: ok that reflection scene just made me crap myself

GhostSnack: trenchcoat dude straight up despawned 💀

CelestiaLuvr: ok but mc smile reflection kinda hot not gonna lie 👀

DarkClaw777: this is some found footage demon movie s*** omg

ViolentWaffle: cameraman boutta start OnlySpawns 😏

Seraphine placed a hand on my shoulder, grip firm but not unkind. "You must not look at your reflection again. Not until I'm certain it's only you looking back."

Nyx growled agreement, curling around my neck like a black scarf, eyes glowing in the ruin.

I tried to laugh it off, tried to act like just another night of livestream chaos, but deep down, something shifted. Like a door left ajar in my skull.

My cracked lens caught the flicker of that reflection one last time before I turned it away.

And I swear — it winked.

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