Claire always answered FaceTime calls.
Especially from Mia.
They had been best friends since college, and for the past few months Mia had become the only person Claire still trusted after moving alone to Chicago following a difficult breakup.
That night, Claire couldn’t sleep.
Rain tapped softly against her apartment windows while an old sitcom played quietly in the background. Around 2:07 AM, Mia called.
At first, the conversation was normal.
Mia was driving home from a late shift at work, holding her phone near the dashboard while complaining about traffic and exhaustion.
But after a few minutes, Claire noticed something strange.
Mia kept checking her rearview mirror.
“Why do you keep looking behind you?” Claire asked.
Mia laughed awkwardly.
“Because there’s a car following me,” she said. “Since your apartment.”
Claire sat upright immediately.
“…I never told you where I live.”
The silence afterward felt wrong.
Not confused.
Terrified.
Mia’s smile disappeared slowly.
“What?”
Claire’s breathing became shallow.
She had moved into that apartment only three weeks earlier after intentionally hiding her address from almost everyone — including Mia.
Only her employer and landlord knew the location.
Then a voice suddenly spoke from somewhere inside Claire’s apartment.
“Hang up the phone.”
A man’s voice.
Close.
Very close.
Claire froze completely.
On FaceTime, Mia screamed.
The phone slipped from Claire’s hand onto the couch cushions as she turned slowly toward the dark hallway leading deeper into the apartment.
Nothing moved.
But someone had clearly spoken.
Claire grabbed a kitchen knife and whispered, “Who’s there?”
No answer.
Then another sound.
A floorboard creaked inside her bedroom.
Claire backed away slowly while Mia yelled through the phone speaker for her to leave immediately.
But before Claire reached the front door, she noticed something horrifying.
The chain lock was still attached from the inside.
Nobody could have entered.
At least… that’s what she thought.
Police arrived nine minutes later.
They searched the apartment thoroughly.
Nothing stolen.
No signs of forced entry.
No person found.
But one officer discovered something unusual inside Claire’s bedroom closet.
A second cellphone taped behind the wall panel.
Still recording.
The device contained dozens of videos filmed secretly inside the apartment over several weeks.
Claire sleeping.
Claire cooking.
Claire talking on the phone.
Someone had been inside her apartment long before she moved in.
Then police found the final video.
Recorded only minutes earlier.
The footage showed Claire sitting on the couch during the FaceTime call.
And standing silently behind her in the darkness…
…was Mia.
Same clothes.
Same face.
Same expression.
Except Mia was supposedly still driving home during the call.
Police immediately tried calling Mia back.
No answer.
Her car was discovered abandoned hours later near the highway with the engine still running and her phone left on the driver seat during an active FaceTime connection.
Mia herself was never found.
Neither was the person living secretly inside Claire’s apartment.
Claire moved out the next morning.
But according to neighbors, the apartment lights still turn on by themselves some nights.
And occasionally, people walking past the building claim they hear a man’s voice from inside whispering:
“Hang up the phone.”
