I'm hopelessly lost and my back is on fire.
Straps dig into my shoulders and the tips of my fingers are going numb.
"This sucks, chat. Where is the altar?"
"It should be here!" Says Kitty.
"This is the 4th time I've seen that sign, and wasn't that building over there?"
I look to an old sign by the side of the empty road that read "OT L", the remaining letters peeled off long ago.
Ever since VR got good no one goes outside anymore.
No more mom and pop shops, or parks, or events, everything is online now and I hate it.
A small Roomba looking bot passes me on the street, probably on the way to deliver food, the streets are filled with ‘em.
There are all sorts of weirdly shaped drones buzzing around the city.
I see a few of them working on a telephone pole and another one washing windows.
"I don't know how much longer I can be out here chat…"
The trolls see their chance.
"Weak!"
"I knew she was a fake!"
"I'm not faking it!" I snap.
Suddenly the ghost whizzes through me and stops at the end of the street.
My hair frizzes up and a chill runs down my spine.
"AHHHH, what the hell!" I blurt out.
The messages come in a giant wave.
"Woah!"
"Holy"
"Does it want you to follow it?"
(No way I'm following that thing.)
I turn around to go in the opposite direction and trip on a crack in the sidewalk.
I manage to turn my body at the last minute so my backpack takes the brunt of the damage.
My gear!
I get up and inspect my stuff and notice a giant dent in one of my batteries, it's totally shot.
That was my last battery. I'll be stranded here with no tech in about 3 hours.
"Chat I have to turn back, that was my last battery."
The chat erupts.
"Fake!"
"How convenient"
"We know where you are Di, we're coming for you"
I turn back towards the street that the ghost flew to, Crenshaw avenue…
Why does that sound familiar?
"The murder hobo! He was spotted on that street," Said Kitty.
"You can't go Di!"
My head is swirling from processing the chat messages and my recent fall, this is too much.
I don't want to quit and disappoint my viewers, but I definitely don't want to start following a ghost down a street where there's a murder hobo on the loose.
The battery icon on the top right corner of my glasses drops by another 2%.
"If I go missing… you know where to find me," I say, and start walking towards the spirit.
Its frame buzzes, like it's glad that I decided to follow it.
Can this thing feel?
What does it want?
And why did it choose me?
The questions swirl in my head as I head down Crenshaw avenue with my twitch chat in tow.
Hours into my adventure and I've only found questions, and no answers.
I spot a shadow in my periphery, what was that?
I swear I hear footsteps too.
There's a sense of dread growing in the pit of my stomach and I swear it feels like something is watching me.
This is so not chill.