Ficorpio
Chapter 1
Late at night, after a long day at work, I turned on my computer and settled in to unwind.
“Ding.”
An email popped up in the upper-left corner of the screen.
WR Identification Program
I clicked it open. A black-and-white photograph appeared.
The woman in the picture wore a grotesque smile, the corners of her mouth stretched almost to her ears. Her eyes were completely lifeless.
A line of blood-red text appeared beneath the image.
If you think this photograph looks normal, exit the identification program immediately.
If the photograph makes you uncomfortable, continue with the test below.
“An WR identification program?”
My eyes lit up. The game looked pretty intense.
I set my can of cola on the desk.
Clack.
Then I clicked Download.
The program was tiny, barely twenty megabytes.
When I opened it, another black-and-white photograph filled the screen. This one showed a young girl.
“What the…?”
I flinched.
There was something deeply wrong with the girl’s face. Her eyes were set unnaturally far apart, and her mouth stretched into a grin that made her look like a monkey.
Another message appeared on the screen.
If you think this photograph looks normal, you should exit the test.
If you think the photograph looks abnormal, or if it makes you uncomfortable, you must continue with the test below.
Two options appeared beneath the message.
Continue
Exit
I stared at the eerie black-and-white photograph. A wave of discomfort crawled through me, and I clicked Continue without hesitation.
Two more photographs appeared.
The program displayed a prompt:
Click the photograph you believe shows an WR Impostor.
One image showed a smiling middle-aged man.
The other showed a smiling little boy. The boy’s expression was stiff and unnatural, as if his features had been assembled piece by piece.
Why does that kid look like a wooden puppet? I thought.
A normal person’s expression couldn’t possibly be that rigid.
“That kid is definitely the impostor.”
I clicked the boy without hesitation.
Two more photographs appeared.
One was a selfie of a long-faced man. The other was a selfie of a middle-aged man.
After studying them carefully, I selected the long-faced man.
“They all have the same traits,” I muttered. “Their eyes are completely empty, their gazes are dull, and their mouths don’t look natural either.”
“In short, they don’t look human.”
I compared them with the photographs from the previous rounds and reached my conclusion.
The program presented several more rounds of photographs. I identified every impostor correctly.
Until the final round.
“What the hell?”
The moment the images appeared, I cried out.
“Isn’t that Uncle Henry from next door?”
Chapter 2
Two photographs were displayed side by side.
One showed a woman with an ordinary expression.
The other showed my next-door neighbor, Uncle Henry.
In the photograph, “Uncle Henry’s” eyes were wide and vacant, while the corners of his mouth curled upward into a disturbing smile.
“This is going too far! That’s a violation of someone’s likeness rights!”
“I’m reporting this lousy game the first chance I get!”
Still complaining, I clicked Uncle Henry’s photograph.
After several rounds of practice, I had recognized him at a glance.
He wasn’t human.
Click.
The mouse made a crisp sound. The screen froze for a moment.
Then two options appeared.
Are you still alive?
Yes No
“What kind of stupid question is that? If I weren’t alive, who would be answering your questions?”
I clicked Yes, increasingly convinced that the whole thing was nothing more than a pointless prank program.
The screen froze again.
I began to wonder whether my computer had been infected with a virus.
Then several lines of blood-red text appeared.
Congratulations. You have passed the test.
We will come for you within one week. Until then, do not speak, do not open the door, and do not answer any phone calls!!!
Do not let them know that you have discovered what they are.
If you do not receive another email from us within one week,
you will have to fend for yourself.
Beep…
The computer screen began flashing wildly. A moment later, it turned completely blue.
“What the hell? I got a virus!”
“This stupid program really was infected!”
I shut down the computer and was about to restart it.
That was when I heard it.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knock sounded at the door.
I got to my feet, ready to ask who it was, but the words I’d just seen on my computer stopped me.
Barefoot, I crossed the apartment and looked through the door viewer.
“Uncle Henry?”
My neighbor from across the hall stood outside.
The longer I watched him, the more wrong he looked. His expression was nothing like usual. His eyes were vacant, and his mouth was stretched into a strange, unnatural smile.
Just like the photograph.
Fear locked my body in place. Cold shot up my spine, raising goosebumps across my skin.
The thing wearing Uncle Henry’s face seemed to sense me watching. It leaned closer until one wide eye filled the door viewer.
The knocking grew louder, turning into heavy blows against the door.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
A hoarse voice drifted through the wood, stiff and mechanical, like gears grinding together.
“Open… the door…”
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Each strike hit harder. The doorframe shuddered.
“Adrian… open the door…”
Should I call the police?
Chapter 3
It felt as though Uncle Henry would break in at any second. There wasn’t time. My eyes swept the apartment, searching for something I could use as a weapon.
“What are you doing? What are you doing?”
Aunt Rose’s voice rang out in the hallway.
“Henry, why are you banging on Adrian’s door in the middle of the night? You woke my grandson. He’s crying his eyes out.”
Through the viewer, Uncle Henry turned toward her voice. That twisted smile remained on his face as he looked at Aunt Rose approaching from down the hall.
“I need to talk to him.”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Aunt Rose stopped short when she saw his smile. “Why are you looking at me like that? You’re giving me the creeps.”
For a moment, she didn’t dare come any closer.
“Quit pounding on his door. Adrian’s probably asleep. Whatever it is, talk to him tomorrow. You’re disturbing the whole building.”
After tossing the words at him, Aunt Rose hurried away.
Through the door viewer, Uncle Henry watched her retreating back, almost thoughtfully.
Then his head snapped around.
He bent slightly and pressed his bulging eye against the viewer.
“Fuck.”
I stumbled back several steps.
When I forced myself to look again, Uncle Henry was gone.
“A WR Impostor…”
The tension drained from my body all at once, leaving my limbs weak.
I dragged the shoe cabinet from the entryway against the front door, then planned to check my computer again and see whether I’d missed any warnings.
A gust of wind suddenly rushed in through the balcony, sending the living-room curtains flying.
“That’s one hell of a wind.”
Already jumpy as a frightened animal, I flinched hard. My hand closed around my bedroom doorknob.
I paused.
“I should lock the balcony door too. It doesn’t feel safe.”
There were no security bars outside the balcony, only a glass railing to keep people from falling. I turned back, slid the glass door shut, and locked it from the inside.
Then I spotted the bells hanging in the living room.
“Better put these up.”
I hung them from the balcony door handle. If anything tried to turn it from outside, the bells would fall and make noise.
Back in my bedroom, I locked the door behind me.
After the restart, my computer’s home screen had returned to normal.
“Where’s the program?”
I scrolled through the desktop and searched everywhere, but the WR Identification Program had vanished as completely as if it had never existed.
My mouse clicked sharply beneath my fingers as my unease deepened.
“The WR Impostors have already noticed me.
“And worse, one of them lives across the hall…”
Bzzzt.
The phone on my desk vibrated.
An unfamiliar number flashed across the screen. I didn’t answer, but I didn’t reject the call either. I silenced it and let it buzz on its own.
After a while, whoever was on the other end seemed to realize I wouldn’t pick up. The call ended.
I let out a shaky breath.
Then my phone began vibrating again.
The same unknown number.
“Don’t answer it.”
Remembering the program’s warning, I shut the phone off and tossed it aside.