Went Offline

The weekly check-in was routine. A dozen faces, cameras on, nodding along as Greg ran through quarterly goals. I wasn’t really listening. Nobody was.

Then Lisa spoke. “Sorry, can you repeat that? My audio cut out for a second.”

Greg sighed. “I said Q4 projections look — ”

A noise interrupted him. Muffled, low, just barely cutting through the feed. A shuffle, then something like a chair scraping against the floor. Lisa’s video stayed perfectly still — frozen mid-blink.

“Lisa?” Greg frowned. “I think you’re muted.”

She wasn’t. Her mic was on. But the only sound coming through was breathing. Slow, measured. Then a soft thump.

Todd chuckled. “Guess she walked away and forgot to mute.”

Another noise. Wet. Sharp. THUMP. 💥 Something sliding. Not a keyboard. Not footsteps.

Lisa’s video caught up for a second — just long enough for a flicker of movement behind her. Then her screen went black.

“Connection issues?” Greg asked.

“Probably,” someone murmured. A few people nodded. The meeting went on.

Lisa’s status stayed Active for another twenty minutes. Then she went Offline.

No one followed up.