The Body Flicker 소설 & 이야기

"You okay?" "Yeah." I answered, blinking my way back to the present. "Can you just—get me some water. Please." I could feel her gaze on my skin. I kept my eyes on a fixed point on the wall and kept my body completely still and after a moment I heard her set the laptop down and get up. I breathed in and out slowly It's not the same thing, I told myself. It's not about you. I pressed my nails harder into my palm, my feet tapping the ground in irregular rhythms.

I said while folding my arms across my chest. “It is precise,” he corrected while switching to another camera feed. The back garden appeared. The stone wall. The edge of the property. Another pause. “That one too,” he said quietly. My stomach dropped. “Do not say that casually,” I muttered while rubbing my hands together. He replayed footage from the previous night. At 2:17 a.m., the screen flickered for half a second. Then it resumed. “That flicker is not weather interference,” he said while stepping back from the screen.

Death with no promise of ease. As if they’d drilled together, Will and Foley split up. Keeping to either side of the floater, they circled the horror, staying just out of reach. Tottering, grasping, swinging its arms in flailing arcs, it lurched now toward one, now toward the other, a watery growl gurgling up from its sodden lungs.

Not even a flicker. * * *

But as I tear them away to see what the new threat could be, the ice-blue lightning vanishes to leave orange afterimages dancing over my retinas. As the images die, I look up to the source of the lightning. Click! The camera light flickers. It flickers again, then winks out. And the darkness is complete. Darkness falls.

Disposable. “Threat level: high.” “Understood.” But as I stare at the screen— something strange happens. Not strong. Not clear. But there. A flicker. A distortion. Like something inside me is trying to… react. My fingers twitch slightly. “Anomaly detected,” the system notes instantly. My body stills. “Correcting.” Pain hits. Sharp. Immediate. Controlled. The flicker disappears. Gone. Like it never existed. “Status?”

The seal-like mark on her palm was still faintly glowing. FLICKER! Suddenly, the lights in the room began to flicker again. It was terrifying for those in the room, especially the fish tanks containing the grotesque half-human, half-aquatic test subjects. The sight was always revolting. The temperature started to drop, and they began to shiver. The shadows of the strange creatures became more distorted and terrifying in this situation. FLICKER! BANG! All the lights went out. The room was so dark they couldn't see anything. Then, a large gust of wind seemed to sweep past them, making them stagger.

By midnight, I was alone. Then I heard it. A soft ping. The alert. My pulse raced as I switched views. Same camera. Same dead frame. Just a wall and two windows. I groaned and tilted my head toward the ceiling. “Seriously?! I fixed everything! There are no glitches!” Frustrated, I looked again. And then I saw it. A flicker. A reflection in the glass. My breath hitched. My fingers trembled as I zoomed in on the window. I cleaned up the frame. Focused.

“No harm done. They’re just overexcited.” But the whispers clung, sharp and suspicious. And then Daisy chose that moment to pout. Her doll tumbled from her hands, and her little mouth twisted, eyes welling. But instead of tears, golden light shimmered—faint but real, flickering through her irises like trapped fire. A woman behind me gasped. “Did her eyes—” “Lights!” I cut in too loud, too sharp. I scooped Daisy up, spinning toward the gym ceiling. “See? Fluorescents always flicker in here. Gives you that weird glow sometimes.”

THEN HEART. Dr. Ellis’ office. Santa Monica. Not emergency. Not blood. Not court. Appointment. First. “Confirmation,” they called it. Me. Table. Paper crinkly. Adrian. Chair. Hand in mine. 61 BPM. Screen. Dark. Then light. _Thump-thump. Thump-thump._ “There,” Dr. Ellis said. Pointing. Wand. Gel cold. “See that flicker?” _Thump._ Screen. Black and white. Smudge.