**Topics:**
* Digital Haunting & Surveillance
* Isolation and Paranoia
* Home Invasion Through Technology
* Reality Distortion & Loops
* The Unknown Living in Code
**Format: Screenplay Adaptation**
---
**FADE IN:**
**INT. MARK'S BEDROOM - NIGHT**
Dimly lit. The glow of a digital clock reads: 2:47 AM.
BUZZ. Mark's phone vibrates on the nightstand.
MARK (30s), hollow-eyed, rolls over and picks it up.
INSERT - PHONE SCREEN
A message: "I’m in your house."
No name. No number.
MARK
(scoffs, nervous)
Alright... who's screwing with me?
He checks the app. Nothing there. He shrugs, locks the bedroom door.
BUZZ. Another message.
INSERT - PHONE SCREEN
"Why did you lock the door, Mark?"
A CREAK. He turns. The closet door slowly opens.
MARK
(freezes)
Nope. Not tonight.
The LAMP flickers. Power cuts. Total darkness.
---
**INT. MARK'S ROOM - CONTINUOUS**
Blackness. Mark breathes heavily.
A WHISPER near his ear.
WHISPER (O.S.)
I’ve been here the whole time.
He stumbles back. The closet yawns open. Empty darkness.
BUZZ. Phone lights his face.
INSERT - PHONE SCREEN
"Don’t run. I see better in the dark."
---
**INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY**
Mark scrolls through a conspiracy forum on his laptop. A thread titled "The Notification Curse."
INSERT - FORUM POST
**User: Elise23**
"Got the same message. Closet opened. Now it's quiet... too quiet."
He replies. Immediate ping on his phone.
INSERT - PHONE SCREEN
"She’s with me now."
---
**INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT**
Mark opens a video file.
ON SCREEN: Footage of him sleeping. Shot from the end of his bed.
MARK
What the hell?
Another file plays: Him in the shower. Shot from inside.
He rips out the phone battery.
BUZZ.
The phone vibrates again. Battery still on the table.
---
**INT. JULES' BASEMENT - NIGHT**
MARK
You said you'd seen something like this?
JULES (20s, tech wizard) connects the phone to his rig.
JULES
Not exactly. This... isn't an app. It's a rewrite protocol. Self-replicating.
The screen goes black. Jules begins to bleed from the nose.
JULES
(weakly)
It knows I'm looking.
His screen flashes red.
INSERT - TEXT
"Too close."
---
**INT. CLOSET HIDDEN ROOM - NIGHT**
Mark pulls up old boards. Discovers a sealed chamber.
Inside: Dusty Polaroids. Newspaper clippings of missing people.
He finds a photo of himself. Taken from across the street.
MARK
(panicked whisper)
I didn't take this...
---
**INT. HOUSE - NIGHT**
All lights flicker. Screens pulse in sync.
MORSE CODE flashes across: "YOU CAN'T LEAVE."
Mark runs to the front door. Opens it.
He's back in his bedroom.
Reflected in the mirror: Mark walks backwards.
He SMASHES the phone. It reforms on his nightstand.
---
**INT. MARK'S BEDROOM - LATER**
Mark sets up a camera.
MARK
(recording)
It’s not a hacker. It's not a ghost. It lives in the code. It watches through screens. Once you see the message... you're next.
BUZZ. Uploading...
He looks into the lens.
MARK (CONT'D)
If you're watching this, it's already too late.
---
**BLACK SCREEN**
TEXT:
"They found the footage. Not Mark."
BUZZ.
TEXT:
"You’re next."
**FADE OUT.**