She had to carry out tasks. Like levels in a video game, the voice had explained. She had to complete a level, then she would move on to the next. She couldn’t skip past, she had to keep going until she reached the end.

Once it was completed, this would all be over. That was the promise. She could go back to her normal life, with no further contact. Everything would be erased and she could forget about it all.

If she didn’t play, then she would be exposed. It was as simple as that.

She had felt a lump grow at the back of her throat as she’d begged.

She hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone. This was the wake-up call she’d needed. Now, she could do as she was told and not look back.

She was on Level Five. Level One had been easy. Level Three had been difficult, but Level Five seemed easy enough. Just weird. Remembering a specific pattern of numbers, movements.

She was standing outside the lift, her back against the wall that bordered the small room where she had lived for over a year now. Waiting. Excitement building as she thought about the finality of it.

The final level.

‘You play to the end and it’s all over. They’ll never know what you’ve done,’ the voice had said, then the line was dead. Joanna looked at her phone now, for the last time, then chucked it through the open door onto her bed, and closed the door.

She entered the lift. A grimace played across her lips, as she imagined someone watching this all back. Up in the corner of the lift, a familiar black globe looked down on her, recording her every moment. The bottle of cheap white wine she’d drunk to quieten her nerves swished and swirled around her stomach. She leaned over and whispered numbers to herself, pressing buttons on the control pad. As the lift ascended, her tummy lurched, as if she were in a car going over a hill at speed. She blinked and steadied herself with one hand once the lift stopped, then spoke the numbers louder. The second time, her body was ready and the nausea wasn’t as bad.

Ten minutes later, she was walking down the corridor. Her head was still spinning a little from the ride up and down the building, the sound of her shoes on the hard floor echoing around her.

So close to finishing now.

No second thoughts.

There was no other way. They knew everything.

She had to play and that was it.

As the lift ascended and descended, as she stepped in and out, struggling to remember each step properly, she didn’t yet sense the shift of weight around her.

Didn’t sense anyone watching.

As she stepped out for the final time, she didn’t notice anything other than…

A noise made her pause.