Years ago, i received an used infrared camera from my cousin and decided to test it in the park near my home at night. The place was pitch black, and i had some fun recording a video. On the way back, i was surprised to find my best friend, Matthew, sitting on the kid’s slide, waving at me. I waved back and was about to get closer to show him the camera when I suddenly got a call on my phone from my mom. Apparently, she was panicking because my brother had crushed the glass table and was bleeding a lot. Anyway, as soon as i closed the call, i quickly told Matt i had to go and rushed back home. In the end, we came back from the hospital later that night, and my brother got a couple of stitches on his left arm. The next day, i decided to check the video i made the night before. Everything was normal until i came to the part where i met my friend near the kid’s slide. Then everything fell apart…

You see, the fact is, despite what I could have thought the night before—the familiarity, the certainty of recognizing him— I never had a friend called Matthew before. But the worst part wasn’t just the confusion from that memory. The worst part was looking at the thing captured in the camera waving at me with its inhuman hand.