Jaylen’s phone buzzed on the nightstand at 2:17 AM. Then again at 2:18. Then a cascade of vibrations that sounded like a trapped bee.
Within thirty seconds, a new one appeared: @auto_like_tok_2 . auto like tik tok
It read: “You wanted to be seen. Now I can’t look away. And I never will.” Jaylen’s phone buzzed on the nightstand at 2:17 AM
By 5:00 AM, his phone was a strobe light. Every video he’d ever made had 50k likes. Then 80k. Then 120k. The numbers stopped looking like real engagement and started looking like a fever dream. He tried to delete his account, but the TikTok server kept timing out—too many likes flooding the pipes, too many ghost hearts clogging the system. Within thirty seconds, a new one appeared: @auto_like_tok_2
He blocked that one too. Then @auto_like_tok_3 popped up. Then @auto_like_tok_4 . They were like hydra heads. Each time he swung the hammer, two more grew back.