The master fader began to crawl upward. +6 dB. +12. Her speakers screamed with white noise. She yanked the volume knob—but the noise kept climbing. It wasn’t coming from the speakers anymore. It was in her headphones. In her skull.

Dom messaged her an hour later: “yo, did the repack work?”

FL Studio 12.5.x bloomed across her screen, but it wasn't her project. It was a single piano roll. No grid. Just one note repeating: C5. And beneath it, typed into the step sequencer like lyrics: “YOU DIDN’T PAY FOR ME.”