The Afterlife of a Gamer

Chapter 2

Now it's been a month. Lewis still has no idea how he died. More of his friends are coming into Yogtowers. As he watches them record, he notices how distant they seem at first. They're not as happy or into the games hey play. But then they settle in, forget their worries, and play the game as they normally would. Then the recording would end, and they would be thrown back into the grief they were in before.

Lewis waits to see when they do a real life video again. He can't do much when his friends only record their screens, but he has figured out what he can do.

Lewis was watching Duncan do a recording with Kim, making sure he was standing far enough away to not cause any static to the recording. He tried that already, and it only made Duncan get confused, and eventually, frustrated. It didn't help Lewis' situation at all, so he gave up on it.

He watched Duncan crack a joke with Kim, and Lewis scoffed and laughed, even though no one could hear him. And as that thought came into his head, he smiled and turned to Duncan.

"You guys are such bloody idiots, you know that?" Lewis joked. He didn't get a response, and while that made him a little sad, he didn't stop smiling.

Later he went to go spy on the editors. He was walking down in between the tables, occasionally making a pen roll or a paper shuffle, but that didn't catch anyone's attention.

Then one of the editors suddenly had a confused look on his face. He took his headphones off and called Tom over. Lewis walked over also, looking over the editors' shoulders.

"Listen to this," The editor said. He unplugged his headphones and started the audio he was listening to over. As it replayed, Lewis recognized Duncan's and Kim's voice, Duncan saying the joke Lewis heard earlier. His eyes widened as he heard something else, behind the laughing of the two YouTubers earlier named. Someone else was laughing with them. And Lewis recognized his own voice on the recording. Then there was his voice saying something, his comment he made earlier on them, but it was distorted on the audio.

"Did Duncan have anyone in the room in the room with him?" The editor said. His breath came out in a fog. "And we really need to fix that heating system."

"I don't think he did," Tom replied. "Must've been someone from outside the door. Try to edit it out."

Lewis thought for a moment. If he could show up on audio too, then there's a much easier way if telling everyone that he's here!

As he's exiting the editors room, he freezes. He sees the shadow, standing just at the end of the hall. This time it's more detailed. The claws are connected to large hands and made up of black scales. A black mist covered the rest of it.

Lewis stands still, waiting for the monster to disappear again. But it doesn't this time. It stays still and watches him.

After a few moments, Lewis starts to back away. Even though he can't see them, he feels the thing's eyes on him.

Then Tom exits the editor room, making him jump a foot and a half backwards, and the shadow was gone the moment Tom had walked away.

Lewis was left frozen in the spot, sure that if he was still alive that his heart would be pounding out of his chest. After a moment, he went back to wandering about Yogtowers.

***

When everyone leaves at night, Lewis tries to practice picking up objects and manipulate them. He had managed to flick the light switch on in his office, but couldn't get it to turn off. He managed to wipe a pile of papers off his desk onto the floor, but couldn't pick them back up. He had turned on his computer, but couldn't turn it off.

By sunrise, his office was a mess, and he couldn't clean it up. So when Simon had come into the office first that day, he stopped in front of Lewis' office with both surprise and fear.

"What the....?" He began. Then his expression changed, once he realized whose office it was. It was horror at first, then anger, which scared Lewis. He had never seen Simon angry, not this angry.

"Who the hell did this?!" Simon asked the empty air. He pulled out his phone and began to unlock it.

"Simon!" Lewis called, but knew it was futile. Simon couldn't hear him. But maybe....

Lewis walked up to Simon and raised his hand. He smacked the phone as hard as he could, concentrating on being solid, alive, and able to touch objects. He heard a satisfying thud! and looked up.

Simon was staring wide eyes at him. No, not at Lewis; he was staring into empty space, Lewis just happened to be there. The ginger's phone was on the floor behind him.

Simon blinked and looked at his raised hand, where the phone once laid. He turned to look at his phone, which was still working, but has a small crack in the side.

"Wha...What?" Simon said in disbelief. He looked over to Lewis' office again. Then he shook his head. He pocketed his phone, and walked briskly down to his office. But not before shutting Lewis' door with a slam.

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Yeah, sorry these are short and kinda strange chapters, but I'm trying to get out as many as I can! Hang in there!

Enjoy!