A low groan crawls up my throat as I slam my mouse down and narrow my eyes at the chat log. “I’m sorry, did I miss the part where this was a 1v1 tournament and not a battle royale?” I snap, leaning into my mic. “Did my teammates suddenly disappear, or was it just my ass getting dropped while everyone else mysteriously survived?”

My chat spams the skull emoji in response, and because my luck is absolute trash, I hear the telltale chime of a direct message popping up in my Discord.

NoOneGhost: Try harder next time, pretty girl.

Oh, this motherfu—

I mute myself for a second so my several hundred viewers don’t hear the string of profanity currently spewing from my mouth. Unmuting with the sweetest, most sarcastic voice I can manage I lean closer to my mic. “Hey, Ghost?” I purr. “Catch me in a 1v1, no backup, no cheap shots, and we’ll see who gets wrecked.”

NoOneGhost: Pass.

NoOneGhost: Watching you rage is way more fun pretty.

My head drops onto my desk. The audacity of this man. The absolute GALL. I should block him. I should report him for emotional damages. I should—

Wait. I sit up, rereading his last message, my irritation briefly taking a backseat to confusion. Watching? Does he mean watching the stream too? I didn’t even know he was in my chat. I tab over, scanning the list of viewers, but there’s no NoOneGhost. Weird. Maybe he’s just lurking under a different username. Not important, murder is more important.

I shake it off and straighten in my chair. “Alright, chat, enough distractions. I have a tournament to win, and if Ghost tries that shit again, I’m reporting him for crimes against my sanity.”

Two hours later and several near rage-quits in, the tournament finally ends with my pride in tatters and my kill/death ratio looking like a tragic comedy.

Carter, who never misses a stream, is sweet about it though. He sends me a $25 donation with a message that just says: “You’re still my MVP, babe.”

I roll my eyes, but I’m smiling. Carter’s easily one of my favorite people on the internet. He’s a little older than me at twenty-four, and stupidly nice in that soft, golden retriever kind of way. He lives in some tiny town not far from mine, and even though we exchanged numbers months ago, he’s never been pushy.

Unlike some people. I check my Discord messages again. Still nothing from NoOneGhost. Figures.

He dropped in, wrecked my night like a devil, and then ghosted. No apology. No explanation. Coward. I yawn, stretching in my gaming chair. “Alright, I’m logging off for the night. If anyone needs me, I’ll be on tomorrow, same time as usual.”

Chat spams the “goodnight queen” messages, and Carter sends one last donation followed by a text before I log off.

Carter: Sleep well, sweetheart