“CHECK-OUT TIME IS PERMANENT.”

The laptop screen went black one final time. But the reflection was wrong. Behind Leo’s terrified face, hovering just over his shoulder, a pair of small, intelligent, and utterly malevolent eyes glowed in the dark.

The video showed his living room. Balloons. A cake with a tiger on it. And there, in the corner, half-hidden behind the sofa, was a stuffed orangutan toy he’d forgotten he owned. In the video, the toy’s head turned. Slowly. It looked directly at the camera. Then it winked.

A new notification pinged.

He hadn't searched for this. He hadn't even thought about Dunston Checks In in decades. It was the movie about a thieving orangutan in a five-star hotel, starring a pre-teen Eric Lloyd and a pre- Frasier Frasier, Kelsey Grammer. A childhood staple he'd watched on a grainy VHS until the tape warped.

Then his speakers crackled. A sound like a heavy breath, then a low, guttural hum that resolved into a single, digitized word:

Leo’s front door slammed downstairs. No one else had a key. He heard a soft, wet padding sound on the stairs. Not footsteps. Knuckles. Fingertips. Four of them, hitting the wood in rhythm.