Sleepcode Archive

Fragment oo

Something behind her.

Her real self hadn't moved.

"...That's not me," she whispered.

The avatar smiled wide, but the mouth moved... wrong. Out of sync.
And then, a voice came through the stream's audio — using her pitch, but not her tone.

"Hello again."

She slapped her finger onto the "End Stream" icon.

Nothing happened.
The interface vanished, but the app stayed open.
The pastel background glitched into a pale gray.
And then—

A single message appeared.
Blood-red text. No sender.

this is the real stream now.

Her hand trembled over the screen.

Nothing responded.
Not the app. Not the tablet.
Not even her voice. It echoed back with a delay, just slightly warped, like someone mimicking her from beneath a layer of static.

Kandy's eyes darted across her display.

The viewer count began to rise.
Not by tens... but thousands.

1,948
2,362
4,119
8,002
15,034

She had never broken 300 before.

"...This isn't real," she whispered. "This isn't real this isn't—"

Her avatar's mouth still moved, but it wasn't her. It began repeating something else. A whisper on loop.

"Do you remember what you promised?"
"Do you remember what you promised?"
"Do you remember—"

Other messages began to finally show,

SoftAphelion: "Kandy? This still a bit or...?"
Yuri_Noodles: "bro why is she not blinking"
NovaCrybaby: "WAIT SHE'S NOT TALKING ANYMORE THAT'S NOT HER VOICE"
KuroPeach: "someone HELP HER???"

Then the comments stopped appearing entirely.

Not because people weren't typing, the viewer count kept climbing.

But the box was blank. Just one message sat at the top. Burned in.

SAY IT BACK

Her mic turned on by itself.

She hadn't touched anything.

"...Say what back?" she croaked.

And then, something changed.

The background, her cute, dreamy pastel overlay began to peel away.
Not fade. Not glitch.

Peel.
Like layers of wallpaper being ripped off to reveal something underneath.

It showed a different room.
One not made by her.

Bare. Dimly lit.
No bed. No posters. No life.
Only a door, cracked open in the back.
And a tall, still figure standing just behind it.
Unmoving.

Kandy's avatar remained frozen in the center, but her body language had changed, arms at her sides. Face blank. Like a puppet waiting for command.

"...This isn't my stream anymore..." she whispered.

SAY IT BACK

Her mouth opened. She didn't want it to, but it did.

"I remember."

Her tablet was dead.
The screen never came back on, even after she yanked the power cord, held the reset button, or tried to restart the app.

She sat still on the floor of her small apartment, knees pulled close to her chest, hoodie sleeves covering her hands.

The only light now came from the hallway, a soft glow seeping beneath her bedroom door.

She hadn't turned on that light.

Kandy's voice, for once, was silent.

Not joking.
Not narrating.
Not smiling.

The silence pressed against her skin.

And then, three soft knocks.
Not at the front door.
Not the window.

On her bedroom closet.

She looked up.

The closet door stood just barely cracked. She hadn't noticed it before. Hadn't touched it since yesterday.
Hadn't put anything in there in weeks.

She reached for her phone, hand trembling.

No service.

The knock came again, this time, not slow. Not deliberate.

Fast. Desperate. Like something impatient.

She stood.
Her feet were bare. The floor felt... cold. Colder than it should've been.

She walked toward the closet, each breath a ragged tremble.

"...Hello?"

Silence.

She reached out.

The door swung open with barely a touch.

Nothing inside.
No coats. No boxes.
Just empty shadows.

And then, behind her, a voice.

Soft.
Familiar.
Spoken directly into her ear, as if someone leaned in while smiling:

"We told you not to log out."

No sound.
No scream.

Kandy's account vanished the next day.
No farewell. No notice.
Her last post stayed stuck at midnight.

The caption simply read:

"see you next time..."

But there was never a next time.

A faint whisper, barely audible in the silence, like a broken mic feed slipping through:

"see you next time..."

[Stream Log – File Corrupted | Playback Unavailable]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR'S MESSAGE

Hey everyone,
It's Taylore here!

Thank you so much for reading the first chapter of Sleepcode Archive. This is just the beginning. Each chapter will be a standalone story, with its own atmosphere, twist, and tone. Some will be creepy. Others may be emotional, adventurous, or just plain strange.

But through it all, one thing will stay the same:
Kandy will be at the heart of every story.
Whether she's streaming, exploring, surviving, or just trying to understand what's happening around her. She's your guide through the weird and the unknown.

If you enjoyed this one, stick around. Things are only going to get deeper, darker, and more unpredictable from here. (And of course adventurous)

Until next time, stay curious, and maybe... don't trust everything you see on screen. 😉

(Also new chapters will be posted once a month)

TaTa for now!

– Taylore

Some stories were never meant to be remembered...