by RP Halliway
“Now??” Red exclaimed loudly, laughing. “Okay fine. I’ll do some more searching.”
Red looked at the username and clicked on a link to get past comments and posts. Very little in the way of direct interaction, some helpful comments, some jokes, nothing that seemed to point to a violent person, or even an asshole troll.
“He seems like a pretty decent guy,” Red told Evie as she walked back to the couch. “Nothing in his post or comment history that stands out. Not even a sarcastic troll comment history.”
That information made Evie a little less apprehensive. “Maybe he’s genuine then?”
“No way to know except to send this message!” Red moved the cursor back and forth over the ‘Send’ button.
“Fine. Send it.”
Red immediately clicked the ‘Send’ button. “Done!”
There was no taking it back now. Now all Evie could do was wait.
“Yuck,” Evie muttered to herself, “so weird.”
“I know. This whole thing is just odd. Your dream, and his dream, and your picture,” Red said, growing serious to give some relief for Evie. “Maybe it won’t amount to anything other than an elaborate trolling.”
“Why me? If anybody randomly created a picture, why would it look like me?”
“You’re kinda cute?” Red said, adding a small laugh to break the tension. “You should know that there are doppelgangers around, and any AI generated face would end up looking like at least one person. You just won the facial lottery.”
Evie’s face warmed and she shot Red a very angry look.
“Phrasing!” Red laughed even louder at what she said. “I just mean that the face is yours.”
“Logically, that makes sense, but it still is weird when it is me,” Evie replied,. “It’s like winning the worst lottery ever.”
“Maybe, but maybe not,” Red said, putting a positive spin on the situation. “Maybe he will be cute!”
“Fuck you,” Evie said giving her friend a gentle push. “He is probably 55, fat and bald.” Red laughed and from the kitchen table Evie’s dad added a little chuckle.
“Wouldn’t be much worse than your actual dating pool,” Red said, with a joking smile.
Chapter 4
The next morning Evie checked the account for any replies to Red’s post and Evie’s anxiety started to ease as the inbox indicated zero messages. The whole thing was probably just some AI trying to see how close it could get.
Red arrived to pick her up, and Evie ran out to the car.
“Nothing?” Red asked immediately, leaning toward Evie with wide eyes.
Evie shook her head, a pressing her lips together to hide her smile. “No replies,”
“Ah well. That’s too bad. It would have been a great experiment.” She shook her head slowly.
“There are better ways to run experiments.”
Around lunchtime Red walked to Evie’s desk looking around and crouching down, making Evie a little bit curious as to her motives.
“Wha-” Evie started to ask, but Red shushed her by raising her hand to Evie’s face.
Red looked all around the office once more, to see if anyone was watching them, then leaned in close. “I couldn’t help it, and had to log in. There is a reply!”
Evie felt a chill shoot down her spine and her face the blood drain from her face. “NO!”
“Yes!” Red poked at her several times.
“What does it say?”
“I don’t know. I’m waiting for you to open it. I may be a snoop, but I am not going to do that.” She laughed quietly for a few seconds.
Evie sat in stunned silence for a long several seconds. “Should we open it after work?”
“Yikes!” Red said in a hushed tone. “Can’t you see this is killing me? I have to knooowwww now!”
“It’s like Christmas morning. And you’ll just have to wait,” Evie said, trying to hide her apprehension with a slight smile.
The rest of the afternoon passed slowly for Red, and especially for Evie, as predicted, like a child would experience the anticipation of Christmas Eve. In the car on the drive from work, Red could hardly contain her excitement. She bounced in the her seat at every stop, and the car jolted forward when starting again. Evie only felt dread growing inside her. She almost secretly hoped for a cop to pull them over to delay what was coming, but there was no putting it off.
“Get the laptop!” Red threw her jacket on the hook in the entryway. “Hello Mr. Besser!” Red added loudly, echoing her excitement through the entire house.
Evie got the computer and gently opened it on the kitchen table. She scooted over in small steps, finally allowing room to let Red sit down to log in. Her dad appeared behind them watching over their shoulders.
“The moment of truth,” Red said, seeing the login screen briefly process. She clicked on the blue ‘P’ at the top of the screen to open the waiting personal message. Three sets of eyes scanned the retrieved message.
“Hi. I don’t know what to say. I actually wasn’t expecting this.
I made the mistake on the drawing and didn’t change the eye color from brown to greenish, but that is the color I saw in my dream. I honestly don’t know what this means.”
Evie felt a chill throughout her body and shivered. The eye color matched hers too. She felt a mixture of relief and dread; while the dread was still winning, the relief was a welcome addition.
“Holy shit,” Red said, after reading the message. Waiting just long enough to glance at the other two to make sure they seemed done reading she started to type.
“If this is real, then send a pic with your face and a handwritten sign saying RED892 and the date!”
Before anyone could object, Red hit the send button and sat back, a slight smile on her face.
“What did you do that for?” Evie asked, jerking the laptop towards her.
“I want to know who this is,” Red said. “Fair is fair. He knows what you look like. We get to know what he looks like. Besides, if he tries to fake it we can block him, and be done with this, but if the pic is real, then we’ll be able to tell if he’s a stalker.”
“I don’t know if I like that idea.” Evie looked up at her dad and he nodded his head in agreement.
“We’re still protected and anonymous,” Red said. “We aren’t giving up any more than what he already knows. He knows what you look like and that’s it.”
Evie slowly digested what Red said. Red was right. “This is just so weird and scary.”
“True,” Red said. She took the laptop and started clicking and typing commands. “But who knows if he’s even online right now.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“I’m screenshotting everything and sending it to my email. That way there’s a record of all this, and if needed we can send it to the police.”
As Red collected files a blue ‘P’ popped up in the corner of the screen.
“Another reply!” Red finished one more command and slid the laptop back to Evie.
Evie gingerly clicked on the message with shaking fingers.
“Hi. I should have thought of that before. Here is my picture, and a sign with RED892 and the date on it.”
All three looked at the picture.
“Holy shit!” Red said loudly, seeing the tall rugged man holding her sign. “If you don’t want him, I’ll take him.”
“He looks like a hard worker,” Evie’s dad said, adding no emotion to his comment.
Evie reserved her words, but the internal turmoil seemed to sink, and the knots in her stomach started to untie slightly. “Could still be a serial killer.”
“True,” her dad said.
Red grabbed the laptop again. “I’ll look for any pictures of him.” She brought up several other websites and pasted the image into the squares. “No matches. Maybe if
the sign part is cropped out, then the image search could get enough data points to compare.” She started up an image editing program.
“I thought those searches compare digital fingerprints for previously published photos,” Evie said. “Even with the sign cut out I doubt the search would find a match if this is a new photo. Or even a cropped old picture.”
“Maybe we should just chat with the guy,” Red said, stopping the mouse and killing the editing program.
“What?” Evie wasn’t ready for chatting with him. “Why would we want to do that?”
“To find out if he is a serial killer. All we have is a picture. We need to find out more. I know just the site.” Red typed in a quick message and then brought up a different site and started a chat room.
A few minutes later the laptop emitted a ding that Evie would have swore echoed throughout the house.
“He’s on!” Red rubbered her palms together as she prepared to type.
“Yay.” Evie muttered quietly, dripping with sarcasm.
PS51399: HI. his side of the chat displayed.
RED892: “Hi back. Who is this?” Red wrote.
PS51399: ‘My name is Silas. and you?’
RED892: “You can call me Red.”
PS51399: ‘Hi Red. Nice to meet you.’
RED892: “I’ll decide how nice it is.”
PS51399: ‘hahaha fair enough.’
Red typed the quick messages. Evie gave Red a little jab in the ribs causing Red to wince as she laughed.
RED892: “How old are you?”
PS51399: ‘I’m 29.’
RED892: “ok, what do you do?”
PS51399: ‘i work construction. houses mostly.’
RED892: “ok. Married?”
“What the hell, Red?” Evie grabbed the laptop from Red, lifting it completely into the air before finally settling it down in front of her.
“Hey! It’s important for my edification. And yours too.”
Evie knew Red was right, but the direct questioning became annoying. Still, Red being around for this felt comforting. Evie smiled slightly, imagining how awkward she would feel with just her dad around.
PS51399: ‘no. you?’ was the reply on the screen after Evie took control of the laptop.
RED892: “nope.”
PS51399: ‘good.’
PS51399: ‘i mean, that’s ok.’
PS51399: ‘no. i don’t know what I mean, lmao’
RED892: “It’s ok.” Evie typed, laughing with Red while imagining the other end of the conversation.
PS51399: ‘I never meant to embarrass you, I hope you believe that.’ came the reply after a lengthy pause.
RED892: “honestly, it was a shock to see my face on the news”
PS51399: ‘i had no control over that. i didn’t expect the post to explode or the news to take it viral either’
RED892: “did you use AI to create the face?” Evie asked, very curious as to the process used.
PS51399: ‘no, I went to a local computer artist and used police sketch software.’
RED892: “all by memory?”
PS51399: ‘yes. I saw the face in a very real feeling dream and had to draw it.
RED892: “why my face?”
PS51399: ‘that’s the face I saw. Everything as much as I remember, except the eyes were the wrong color.’
RED892: “yeah, that was the only big mistake to me.”
PS51399: ‘when you corrected the eye color, it freaked me out.’
RED892: “What was so special about your dream?”
Evie wondered if his dream was anything like hers, though she found it impossible to believe two people shared the same dream.
PS51399: ‘I can’t say for sure—other than it just stuck out so much, and your face. i also felt your hand, if you could believe that.’
PS51399: ‘and I don’t know if this means anything but i also got some crazy weird messages from the post. someone asked “did you hear the voices?” or something like that.’
RED892: “In response to the post with my picture?”
PS51399: ‘yeah, private messages talking about hearing voices or something. but i deleted them because I thought they were bullshit’
RED892: “Too bad”
PS51399: ‘oh, and then after you sent me your eye color someone sent me a message saying something like “now that you have met”’
RED892: “WTF!”
Evie and Red exchanged a look, both finding it hard to imagine someone knowing that information.
PS51399: ‘yeah, it’s like somebody was reading the messages, but that isn’t possible, i don’t think.’
RED892: “i think only the admin would have that level of access.”
PS51399: ‘exactly what i was thinking, and i didn’t recognize the username as admin.’
RED892: “weird”
PS51399: ‘AF for sure’
Now was Evie’s chance to ask more about the dream. To see if it was anything like hers.
Red made a move as if to take the laptop, but ended up miming typing. “You need to tell him your dream.”
Evie gave an uncomfortable knowing nod. Thinking she wanted to share information gradually, she took a moment and tried several phrases.
RED892: “did you hear anything in your dream?” Evie finally asked.
There was a pause before Silas’ answer appeared on the screen.
PS51399: ‘yeah. But i don’t remember much of the words, mostly just the images—the big hole, and your face’
PS51399: ‘maybe ancient or something like that’
Evie felt a chill run down her spine and shivered visibly. Even Red lost the color in her face. “Did you two actually share the same dream?” Red asked Evie. “That would be so crazy—and impossible.”
“I don’t know,” Evie replied. Her face tingled. Hearing confirmation that her dream might be the same spooked her.
PS51399: ‘hello?’ Silas’ response appeared, after a long pause with no typing from Evie.
RED892: “I’m still here”
PS51399: ‘good’
PS51399: ‘anything wrong?’
RED892: “just freaked out” Evie typed quickly.
PS51399: ‘why’
This was the moment. She had to tell him. There was something more going on here, and Evie needed to know what it was.
RED892: “I had a dream too. And I heard that in my dream also. Standing over a big hole”
Now it was Silas’ turn to take a long pause from responding. Evie continued sharing her dream.
RED892: “Or why there are three of them” she typed.
PS51399: ‘that’s it! i heard that too!’
More chills went down Evie’s spine, but there was no turning back now.
RED892: “this is so weird”
PS51399: ‘yes it is.’
RED892: “What do we do now?”
PS51399: ‘i have no idea. it was like being struck by lightning just to find a match to the face from my dream, and we had the same dream!? I have no clue what this means.’
RED892: “and what about those messages you got?”
PS51399: ‘i don’t know. they just add to the mystery.’
RED892: “some elaborate hoax?”
PS51399: ‘how would anyone know about the voices in the dreams? No one could set that up.’
PS51399: ‘and how can two people have the same dream?’
RED892: “I don’t know that either”
PS51399: ‘have you had any other dreams like that?’
RED892: “no. you?”
PS51399: ‘nope. just the dream with your face.’
RED892: “where do you live?”
A long pause and Evie felt she overstepped.
RED892
: “sorry, I don’t need to know”
PS51399: ‘i’m in Ohio. i was just thinking. it’s a valid question.’
Red gave Evie a small nod and encouraged her to keep asking.
RED892: “Right now? Are you in Ohio right now?”
PS51399: ‘yes. i am in my apartment, not out stalking anyone :)’
RED892: “ok, lol. Just checking.” She paused, then typed. ‘I’m in California.’
PS51399: ‘ah. nice to meet you California.:)’
RED892: “And you, Silas from Ohio”
PS51399: ‘so what do we do now?’
The question brought another exchange of looks between Red and Evie, as well as Evie’s dad. “What do people do when they both have the same dream?” Evie asked aloud, not expecting an answer.
RED892: “What do you think?”
PS51399: ‘i don’t have a clue. i actually only imagined talking if there was a match for the face. now with the dream, i am completely stumped.’
RED892: “did you recognize the voice?”
PS51399: ‘nope, i honestly don’t remember much about the voice, just your face, and the artifacts being raised.’
RED892: “artifacts?” Evie wanted to dig deeper into his side of the dream.
PS51399: ‘yeah, that’s what was being dug, i think. some workers were in the hole bringing things up.
PS51399: ‘it looked like a very sandy dirt.’
RED892: “you remember what kind of dirt it was?”
PS51399: ‘yes. i work in construction. i’ve seen lots of different dirts. this one was like a dirt and sand mix. i was gonna do some research to see where you might find dirt like that
PS51399: ‘but i got distracted by posting your face. i am sorry for that by the way.’
RED892: “It’s ok. Damage is done.”
PS51399: ‘yeah :(’
Evie’s phone started to ring, and she glanced at the caller ID , her face brightening.
“That’s my cue to leave,” Red said, knowing what lie ahead. She gave Evie a quick smile and wave. “It’s been fun.”
“I’m going to leave you to it as well,” Evie’s dad said, walking toward the den.
Evie glared at both of them as she picked up the phone. “Just a sec” she told the caller. She typed a quick message to finish the chat with Silas.