## Chapter 1: The Subathon and the Date

The sun had long since dipped below the horizon, casting a warm orange glow over the beach. JasonTheWeen, or Jason as he was affectionately known, sat on a blanket, surrounded by the tranquil sounds of the waves gently lapping at the shore. He was on a date stream with a girl, a setup he had meticulously planned to entertain his thousands of viewers on Twitch. The subathon, a month-long event that Faze, the popular YouTube and Twitch organization he was a part of, was in full swing. For 23 days straight, Jason had been streaming, night and day, with barely a break. His body was screaming for rest, but he pushed on, driven by the need to keep his audience engaged. The date stream was a familiar concept for Jason. He had done it dozens of times before, always with a different girl. Tonight was no different, except for the exhaustion that threatened to overwhelm him. He had set the mood with tea lights, pumpkins, snacks, paint, and canvases. The camera and light were positioned to capture every moment of their evening, which would later be shared with his viewers. As they painted cute pictures, conversing awkwardly, Jason couldn't help but feel like he was going through the motions. His mind wandered, thinking about how much he wanted this to be over. The girl, pleasant as she was, didn't hold his attention. His eyes, and his heart, belonged to others - Silky, Ron, and the rest of the Faze crew. Just as Jason was starting to relax, a figure emerged from the darkness. At first, he thought it was Silky, his friend and fellow streamer, who had a knack for stealing the spotlight - and sometimes, the girls. But as the man approached, Jason realized it wasn't Silky at all. This stranger was disheveled, with sunken eyes and a look of hostility. The man's voice was like a crack of thunder on a calm night, "STOP QUOTING MY THOUGHTS!" he screamed, his words sending a chill down Jason's spine. The girl's eyes widened in fear as the man's agitation grew. He took a step closer, his eyes fixed on Jason, and the chat, thousands of viewers watching from their homes, sensed something was terribly wrong. The situation escalated quickly. The man hurled a pumpkin at Jason's head, the stem hitting him with a sickening thud. Jason felt a searing pain, and his world went dark. When he came to, he was disoriented, his head throbbing, and his body aching all over. The girl was gone, and the stranger was still there, his face twisted in a snarl. Jason's vision began to blur, and he felt himself being pulled down into a dark abyss. He tried to scream, but his voice was hoarse and barely audible. The last thing he remembered was the sound of his own pleas for help, and then, nothing. The chat, however, was still there, listening in horror as Jason's stream went black. The sound of his screams and the stranger's taunts lingered, a haunting reminder of the terror that had unfolded on the beach. Little did Jason know, his friends were oblivious to his fate, enjoying a game of Mafia in a living room miles away, but that would soon change.