Insomnia Horror Collection

Cam Girl

                                                                          By Sarah Stoll

The detective straddled his chair and slid a water bottle to the kid that sat opposite him. The 20-something college student was tired, disheveled, and visibly shaken, but the detective had seen some damn good actors in his day.

He cleared his throat. "Well, Mr., um..."

"Greene. Evan Greene," the kid supplied, his voice barely more than a murmur.

A quick glance at the file on the table and a confused cock of his eyebrow, the detective amended, "Right, Mr. Greene. Our records show that Miss Atwell filed three separate reports this year claiming an unknown man was stalking her. She said he...," the detective once again glanced down at the open folder in front of him, "...hacked into her smart home device."

The student looked at the detective with something akin to impatience. "Yes, I've already told you guys this!"

"Just relax," the detective said, raising his hand in a passive gesture. "Why don't you start from the beginning? How did you know Miss Atwell?"

Evan's eyes glazed over as he thought back to the first time he saw Holly in KIN 100 and began verbally conveying it to the detective.

She wasn't the prettiest girl at KCU or even the prettiest girl in the class, to be honest. She was average height, a little on the curvy side, reddish hair, and an unremarkable face. He didn't know why he was drawn to her, but he was. It may have been her demeanor; very friendly and approachable. Regardless of her appearance, she would never notice or talk to Evan. It was his own fault, he realized, as he was the type to intentionally blend in with the background, but it stung, nonetheless.

He wanted to get close to her—know more about her—but he didn't know how. That was, until he saw a YouTube video that gave him the idea. If you had someone's IP address and a decent grasp of coding, you could access any device that was connected to their wifi. This meant cameras, microphones, TVs, printers, all of it. He could have his own private window into her life. He could finally know everything about her; all her likes, dislikes, hobbies favorite songs, movies, foods...he would know her better than anyone.

Being a gamer, he was already pretty adept at computers, so it only took him a handful of tries to bring his plan to fruition. He still remembered the first time his computer screen filled with the image of her living room camera. Holly wasn't there, so he got a chance to take in every detail of her home. She was staying in a little two-bedroom townhouse a few miles from campus in the seedier part of town, but her place was nice inside. Cozy and tasteful, yet fun. The way college girls liked to decorate.

After that little tease, he quickly began hacking into every device he could. He wanted to see every square inch of her life. He'd gained access to her security cameras, her webcam, and her echo dot when he saw her front door open through the living room camera. His breath caught in his throat when her distinct copper hair came into view. It was her.

His eyes locked on her every movement as she went through the mundane motions of getting home from work. She threw her purse and keys on the counter, hung up her coat, and kicked her shoes off before heading to her bedroom.

Evan anxiously switched to the webcam on her laptop to continue the show. Holly reached under her shirt and, after fidgeting for a moment, produced her bra and threw it on her bed with a sigh of relief. Evan felt the blood rush to his cheeks and was suddenly conflicted. Was this wrong? He wanted to know more about her, which seemed innocent enough, but...was this crossing a line? He resolved the dilemma by promising himself he'd look away when necessary. He wanted to leave some surprises to be uncovered in person, he told himself.