The Annoying Sleepwalker novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: The Footage

We watched it in the third-floor lounge, on the big TV, at three in the morning.

Casper plugged his phone in himself.

He did not ask anyone's permission, and nobody stopped him.

Kelsey sat on the couch in a blanket, with Colson's arm around her and her eyes red.

"This is cruel," she said in a small voice. "You're making me watch myself."

"You can look away," I said.

She did not look away.

The first clip was from the night before, from the doorway.

Every person on the floor saw Kelsey sit up with her eyes open.

They saw her turn her head and look at the line of phones.

They saw her stare straight into Casper's lens for a full second before she moved.

"Pause it," the RA said, very quietly.

Casper paused it.

Kelsey's face filled the screen, wide awake.

"That's a coincidence," Colson said. "She was just facing that way."

"Keep going," the girl from 3C said.

The second clip was from the cereal box.

It was green and grainy, and it was perfectly clear.

Kelsey walked to the desk at 2:47 without a single wrong step.

She looked at the guitar.

She looked at the tablet.

Then she picked up the watch first, because it was the most expensive.

Somebody in the lounge made a low noise.

On the screen, she hit the watch with the lamp base exactly five times.

She snapped the guitar neck against the edge of the desk.

Then she took the Coke can from her own nightstand, opened it with a small click, and poured it over the tablet.

"Wait," one of the basketball guys said. "I know that can."

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