Horror Short Story | The Remote

Chen Cheng bought a TV remote from a second-hand store. It looked exactly like his old one, but was much cheaper. His original remote's buttons were getting sticky, so he thought he'd replace it. He got home, put in batteries, and it worked. But he noticed an extra button at the bottom, unlabeled, and unresponsive when pressed. He didn't think much of it and continued using it. That night, he fell asleep watching TV. He woke up in the middle of the night to find the TV off and the remote on the floor. He picked it up and saw the extra button glowing faintly. He pressed it. The TV didn't turn on. But he heard a sound from the next apartment, like someone falling off a bed. He was puzzled; he was the only one living on this floor. The next day, he asked the landlord if anyone lived next door. The landlord said no, that unit was a storage room. That night, he pressed the button again. This time, he heard footsteps from the next apartment, slowly approaching the wall towards him. He pressed his ear against the wall. The footsteps stopped. Instead, there were three light taps on the wall. He didn't dare respond and threw the remote into a drawer. The next morning, he found the remote back on his desk, the extra button still glowing. He picked up the remote and saw a small line of text next to the button, as if carved with a knife: "Each time you press it, the person next door gets a little closer to you." He froze. Just as he was about to put it down, the button lit up on its own, as if someone had pressed something from the other side. This time, the sound he heard wasn't from next door. It was from the closet behind him. The closet door slowly creaked open, revealing darkness within. From the darkness, a hand reached out, holding