Like Tik Tok: Auto

Jaylen dropped his phone. It didn’t bounce. It just kept buzzing there on the carpet, screen alive with an infinite row of red hearts, each one flickering like a tiny, tireless second heartbeat—somewhere deep in the machine, a loop that had found its favorite song and refused to let it end.

Within thirty seconds, a new one appeared: @auto_like_tok_2 . auto like tik tok

@user7291045 liked your video. @gamerboy_99 liked your video. @sweet tooth_22 liked your video. … and 47 others. Jaylen dropped his phone

He sat up. Every refresh, the likes jumped by hundreds. Not just on the new video—on everything . His skate fail from two weeks ago. A goofy cooking POV from last month. Even the cringey lip-sync he’d archived last year was suddenly crawling back from the dead, each like a tiny digital defibrillator shock. Within thirty seconds, a new one appeared: @auto_like_tok_2

At first, it felt amazing. Then weird. Then wrong.

From @auto_like_tok_999 .

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.