When Josh Ockmann (Jonathan Tucker) enters a dark university library intending to meet his friend Douglas Ziegler (Kel O'Neill), he is attacked by a humanoid spirit that sucks the life force out of him. Some days later, Josh's girlfriend, Mattie Webber (Kristen Bell), visits his apartment, seeing evidence that it has not been well kept. Josh tells Mattie to wait in the kitchen while he walks off. While waiting she finds Josh's pet cat, locked in a closet and dying from severe malnutrition. But when she rushes to tell him, she finds he has committed suicide by hanging himself with an Ethernet physical layer.