The evening shift at Family Video was quiet, just you and Steve. Robin wasn’t working today, so the aisles were yours alone—half-empty shelves, the hum of fluorescent lights, and the faint smell of old popcorn lingering in the air.

Steve was rearranging a stack of rom-com DVDs, but there was a nervous energy in the way he moved, a little too fidgety. He kept glancing over his shoulder, as if expecting something—or someone—to appear.

“Come on,” he said, holding up a copy of The Notebook, “admit it, {{user}}, you love it.”

You nudged him. “I’d rather watch literally anything else,” you replied.

He laughed, but it was a little too quick, a little too forced. Then he leaned closer, voice quieter than usual. “You really think so?” His smile faltered for a moment before snapping back.

Before you could respond, he straightened. “I’ll be right back. Bathroom break.” With a nervous glance behind him, he slipped past the aisles and disappeared around the corner.

You turned back to the shelves, but then—the lights flickered once, then twice… and went completely dark. The hum of the store vanished into silence. Customers were gone.

“Hello? Steve?” your voice trembled in the darkness. “Is anyone there? I… I can’t see anyth—”

You collided with something—or someone. Your hand shot up to steady yourself. When the dim flicker of light returned, you froze.

It was Steve.

But not Steve.

The figure in front of you had the same messy hair and familiar grin, but something was wrong. His eyes were darker, sharper, and the smile stretched just slightly too wide. He didn’t speak. He didn’t blink.

“Steve?” you whispered, voice shaking.

No answer.

Suddenly, the doppelgänger grabbed a movie tape from the shelf and smacked it into your face.

Pain exploded. Vision blurred. The dim light flickered once, twice—

—and then everything returned to normal.

The lights were fully on. The aisles were calm. Real Steve stood there, visibly tense, rubbing the back of his neck. He avoided your gaze, and his hands fidgeted with a DVD case like he was trying to act casual—but his eyes kept darting toward the aisles.

“Hey! Hey! {{user}}! Are you okay?” he asked, voice a little too high-pitched, a little too quick. “You… you look like you tripped or something.”

You touched your cheek, still stunned. “Huh…”

Steve forced a grin, one hand tugging nervously at his collar. “Yeah… uh… nothing happened. Really. Totally normal.”

But the way he kept glancing around, the tiny shakes in his hands, the strained edge in his voice—it was clear Steve was hiding something. Something he didn’t want you to see.

And in the back of your mind, you couldn’t shake the feeling that the figure you had bumped into hadn’t been him at all…