Elias heard a soft, rhythmic thump-thump-thump coming from inside his bedroom closet. It sounded exactly like the walking animation of a character moving through tall grass.
Elias typed back, his fingers trembling: “Yes. Who are you?”
Elias felt a chill that had nothing to do with his air conditioning. He tried to log out, but the 'Quit' button was grayed out. A system message popped up in the corner of his screen:
Suddenly, his avatar wasn't alone. A figure emerged from behind a "skin-tree." It wasn't a monster or an NPC. It was a wireframe model of a human, flickering between different player skins. It walked with a jerky, frame-skipped motion.
He opened it. It contained only one line: