Vhs: Succubus

Elena forced herself upright. She didn’t look away, but she didn’t lean in either. Instead of fighting the succubus’s pull with panic, she met it with calm attention. “I see you,” Elena whispered. “But I don’t need you.”

The woman on screen froze. For a moment, her beautiful face flickered—showing something older, hungrier, and profoundly sad. Then the tape whirred, screeched, and ejected itself. The room warmed back to normal. succubus vhs

That night, alone in her apartment, she slid the tape in. The movie began normally enough: grainy establishing shots of a city at night, a woman in red crossing a street, then disappearing into fog. But soon, Elena noticed something strange. The woman on screen glanced at the camera. Smiled. A moment later, Elena’s reading lamp flickered. The air turned cool. Elena forced herself upright

Elena never destroyed the tape. She kept it, labeled it properly, and used it as a reminder: Loneliness isn’t a trap. Surrender is. Whether it’s an old curse, a bad relationship, or just the lie that you’re better off hollow than hurting—don’t hand anyone the remote to your own mind. “I see you,” Elena whispered

That was the key.