Sel was a normal kid with friends until someone brought up old OCs, and she remembered one she’d made years ago. The OC was also named Sel, an alter ego who was stronger, adored, wanted by everyone. The real Sel wasn’t ugly, just never pretty enough to be chosen. She loved people who depended on her, nerds, desperate types, and liked watching them cry or beg, but that control slowly erased her ability to feel anything real. Over time, Sel started seeing her OC. Hearing her. The OC told her she was improving, becoming closer to what she was meant to be. One day she said, “It must feel good to have someone care about you enough to disappear for you. Imagine if I were real.” Sel began to believe that acting like her OC, becoming crueler, colder, might summon her. She made a list. It started small, then escalated. Her friends began hanging themselves. Even her crush. Sel felt nothing. When the OC still didn’t appear, she wasn’t sad, just empty. So she found someone new. And this time, she disappeared with him.