The road ended up leading to an abandoned apartment complex.
They built dozens of them before they realized people don't want to pay thousands of dollars for rent just to spend all day on a computer.
The grass is overgrown and most of the windows are shattered.
It looks post-apocalyptic.
I hate it.
Ghosty (I had to come up with a name for him. And I gave him pronouns, it felt right.) was hovering closely in front of me, leading me to god-knows-where.
Chat is attentive, though my numbers have gone down a bit over the last few hours of searching.
"What do you think chat, are we making it out of this?"
Chat is all over the place.
The trolls are flaming me and my die hards are making sure they don't get out of control.
Ghosty stops abruptly in front of me, we're in the courtyard of the apartment building.
Next to a disgusting and empty swimming pool. There's some sort of stone in the center of the pool.
"It's a piece of the Altar!" types Kitty.
My numbers shoot up.
"She's found it!"
Can this really be it? Have I found a way to get rid of this ghost once and for all?
And why would it be helping me?
None of this makes sense.
It's like a poorly thought out and rushed story.
Luckily the ladder is still working and I'm able to get down with little trouble.
As I get closer to the stone in the center of the pool Ghosty's image begins to blur and fuzz.
It must be reacting to the altar!
"BEHIND YOU DI" chat warns me.
I turn around to see a large man in a black trenchcoat standing at the top of the pool.
He's got a broken bottle in his hand and a grating and awful sound erupts from his mouth as he howls at me.
"It's the murder hobo!!" Twitch chat explodes with activity.
Holy shit I can't deal with this, I'm a teenage girl! What do I know about fighting murder hobos?
"Get a weapon Di! Do something," Says Kitty and the rest of twitch chat.
"I don't know how to fight! And he's huge!"
The murder hobo doesn't need the ladder, he leaps into the pool with me and the force and weight of his body crack the cement floor.
Holy shit he's strong.
I see a little drone buzzing around him. And when I look more closely at him, I notice he's got a backpack on and the same batteries that I use to power my system.. was he streaming?
"Holy shit the murder hobo is live!"
I instantly lose half my viewers as they flood into the murder hobo's channel.
Traitors.
"Shit, sorry Di, my mom is calling me I need to go," says Kitty.
"Kitty! I need you! Don't leave!" I plead. But there's no response. Kittylover96 has left the chat.
"Muhahahahahaha" laughs the murder hobo.
"You thought you could be a streamer little girl? In this economy?!"
He picks me up with one hand by the strap of my backpack.
"Your dreams die here, kill your channel now and I might let you live"
Twitch chat is losing their minds.
"Give up Di! He's too powerful! He's huge! He's like 5 times your weight! And he's got a weapon!
But my channel.. I've worked so hard.
"I won't," I whisper.
I'm not sure where this confidence is coming from but I look deep into his eyes.
"I won't! I've worked too hard," I scream at him.
I'm flailing and kicking at him but it's pointless.
"Have it your way," He says, and lifts his broken bottle high above his head.
I close my eyes and wait for the pain, I can't believe my journey ends here.
But I don't feel anything.
Is this what death feels like?
No… I'm pretty sure I'm still alive.
I slowly open my eyes.
Ghosty!
He found a way to get solid!
And he was the only thing between me and a broken bottle to the face.