2251 Stahlheber Road

The following report is a transcription of a 9-1-1 call made during the evening of August 22, 2011. It was released to the general public in order to offer any clues to help solve the case of the death of Mrs. Mary Carter and her family, consisting of her husband and two sons, as well as her daughter, Susan Carter, who is currently missing.


If you have any leads on the happenings of the Carter family, or the whereabouts of the daughter of the family, please contact the Ohio State Police Department.

---

CALL TRANSCRIPTION #0703321-A32.4
DATE: 08-22-2011
TIME CALL START: 09:37 PM
TIME CALL END: 09:52 PM

BEGIN CALL

OPERATOR: 9-1-1, do you need police, fire department, or ambulance?

CALLER: Send the police! Please! Send the police to Hawkes Farm, 2251 Stahlheber Road! Somebody broke into my home…!

OPERATOR: Okay, ma’am—

CALLER: Somebody broke into my home and killed my family! Please, send the police now! There’s blood! There is blood everywhere!

OPERATOR: Ma’am, I’ve notified officers, they should be there shortly. What’s your name?

CALLER: Mary Carter…Oh God…I’m so scared…

*Muffled yelling and banging*

OPERATOR: Who is that?

CALLER: I don’t know! There’s a man banging on my front door! It looks like he’s covered in blood!

OPERATOR: Do you know him?

CALLER: No!

OPERATOR: Does he have a weapon?

CALLER: No, he’s just banging on the door! His shirt’s covered in blood! I think he’s trying to break in…! I have my husband’s shotgun with me…I don’t really know how to use it…Oh God, I…I can’t shoot him, I can’t do it–!

OPERATOR: Mrs. Carter, I don’t advise you to use the weapon, but you should keep it nearby just in case.

CALLER: The window is going to break!

OPERATOR: Mrs. Carter, if he breaks in—

CALLER: I don’t think I can shoot him! No, no, I…He’s starting to hit the window really hard! Oh God, he’s going to break in again! He’s just screaming at me! He’s crazy!

*Glass breaks; There’s a loud “clack” as the caller drops the phone; The caller screams and there is a gunshot, followed by a moment of silence)*

OPERATOR: Mrs. Carter?

*More silence; The caller picks the phone back up*

CALLER: Oh Jesus, help me…Oh God…I shot him…I shot him…Dear Lord, help me…

OPERATOR: Mrs. Carter, you were defending yourself. Everything is fine. Mrs. Carter, you did what you needed to do. He could have hurt you.

CALLER: I just…

OPERATOR: You need to stay on the line and go outside, now, and wait for police officers to get there.

CALLER: No, I need to find Susan!

OPERATOR: Who’s Susan?

CALLER: I need to find my daughter, I need to find Susan. Please help me find her, she’s only six years old! She has to be hiding somewhere in the house! Susan!!

OPERATOR: Mrs. Car—

CALLER: I can’t find my daughter! I can’t…Oh God, they’re all dead and I can’t find her! I’ve searched everywhere!

OPERATOR: Mrs. Carter, your daughter probably made it out of the house.

CALLER: I need to find my daughter!

OPERATOR: Mrs. Carter, the police will be there shortly. They will find your daughter. Right now, I need you to get out of the house.

*The caller gasps*

CALLER: What was that?

OPERATOR: What was what?

*Faint footsteps*

CALLER: I hear footsteps coming from upstairs…! Susan…? Oh my God, SUSAN!!

*Caller breathing heavily as she runs up the stairs*

CALLER: Susan!! Mommy’s here, baby! Mommy’s here!

OPERATOR: Mrs. Carter, please, listen to me, you need to get out of the house until the police arrive.

CALLER: Susan…! Where are you, baby? I’m at the top of the stairs, I just got up here, and…I…I need to turn on some lights..

*Light switch “clicks”*

CALLER: Oh no…Oh Dear Lord, please, please don’t tell me that’s her blood! There are bloody footprints on the floor! They’re small enough to be hers! Susan! I’m going to her room, she has to be there!

OPERATOR: Mrs. Carter, please listen to me: get out of the house!

CALLER: I’m in her room, there aren’t many places for her to hide here… Susan?! Susan, where are you?!

*A loud “thump”; The caller screams*

CALLER: What the hell?! What was that?!

OPERATOR: Is that Susan?

CALLER: It sounded like someone was on the roof!

*More thumping*

CALLER: Something is on top of the roof! It’s going to the other side of the house!

OPERATOR: Mrs. Carter, you’re not making any sense.

CALLER: Susan! I’m in your room! Follow Mommy’s voice!

*The caller gasps*

CALLER: The lights just went out! The power is out!

OPERATOR: Do you have a flashlight or any kind of light?

CALLER: I can’t see anything!

OPERATOR: Okay, just stay where you are, Mrs. Carter. Let your eyes adjust to the dark…

*Glass breaks*

CALLER: Oh my God…

OPERATOR: What was that?

CALLER: Something broke…Someone’s inside the house…Susan?

*Silence*

CALLER: Is it the police?

OPERATOR: No, they would have called out for you…

CALLER: Oh no…Oh no, someone’s here…

OPERATOR: It could be Susan—

CALLER: No, no she would have called for me, I’ve been yelling her name…

OPERATOR: Mrs. Carter—

*The caller shushes the operator; More silence; The caller speaks in whispers*

CALLER: Something’s coming up the stairs. It’s big, it’s stomping up the steps, oh God, that’s not Susan…

OPERATOR: Mary, I’m going to need you to find somewhere to hide. Try and grab something to protect yourself with again.

CALLER: That man didn’t kill my family, he couldn’t have—

OPERATOR: Please, find a place to hide.

CALLER: I can’t see!

*Loud footsteps fade in*

CALLER: It’s getting closer! Oh Jesus Christ, please help me find a way out of here…

*The caller breathes into the phone; Static; Silence*

OPERATOR: Mrs. Carter, are you still there?

CALLER: I’m in the closet. I can’t get the door shut all the way, the door is jammed.

*The footsteps grow louder*

CALLER: Oh no, oh no…No, no, it’s coming towards Susan’s room…Where’s the police? I’m so scared!

OPERATOR: Mary, you just need to keep calm and quiet and wait for them to arrive, you have to make sure you don’t give yourself away.

*The caller sobs; The footsteps are very close; The footsteps stop; The caller’s cries are quiet and shaky*

CALLER: I can see it…I don’t know what it is…

OPERATOR: What do you see?

CALLER: What is that…?

OPERATOR: Mary, describe to me what you see…

CALLER: I can’t describe it…I don’t…It’s not human…Oh God, it’s looking at me…

*The footsteps get closer; They stop; A low, guttural growl crackles through the static; Low breathing; Clicking sounds; More low breathing; Another low growl; The footsteps fade away; Silence*

OPERATOR: Mrs. Carter?

CALLER: It’s gone…I think…

OPERATOR: Mrs. Carter, you need to find a way out of that house right now.

CALLER: I can’t move, I can’t…Make it…I don’t know what that thing was, I don’t want to see it again…I’m so scared, I…Oh my God, I’m gonna die…

*The caller sobs*

CALLER: I can’t do this, I’m so scared, I can’t move my legs. I don’t think I can even stand up…

OPERATOR: Please, Mrs. Carter, you need to do this. For Susan. She’s still somewhere out there.

CALLER: Susan…I need to find her…

OPERATOR: No, you need to get out of the house.

CALLER: But—

OPERATOR: Mary, please, get out of the house. Whatever was just in there with you is still in the house. Get out now!

*Silence*

CALLER: Okay, I’m going.

OPERATOR: Just stay on the line with me. Keep the phone with you at all times. Tell me when you get to the stairs, okay?

CALLER: Yeah…

*Silence; Faint creaking from the floorboards; More silence for some time*

OPERATOR: Mrs. Carter?

*Silence; This lasts for a while*

OPERATOR: Mary?

*Silence*

CALLER: I’m at the stairs.

OPERATOR: Get down the stairs. Now.

CALLER: I think I hear the cop cars…

OPERATOR: Keep going…

*Faint static*

OPERATOR: Mary…? Mary…?

(The static dissipates; Silence; This lasts for a while)

OPERATOR: Mary—

*Screaming; Shrieking; Loud pounding; Growling; Screeching; Clanking and static from the caller’s end; Screaming; Loud thumping; The sound of what seems like the phone sliding across the floor; Low guttural growls; The caller’s screams are cut off; Choking; Groaning; Wheezing; The caller shrieks again; The shrieks are cut off after a high-pitched cry by what sounds like a wet “crunch”; Silence; Another low, guttural growl which fades into a ghostly moan; Sirens fade in; Loud footsteps fade away; Silence; A door squeaks open; Male voices*

OFFICER #1: Holy shit…

OFFICER #2: Oh my God…

OFFICER #1: This is the police department! Is there anyone here?

OFFICER #2: Jesus Christ, what the hell happened to these people?

OFFICER #1: Stay alert…

OPERATOR: Hello, hello? Can you guys hear me?

OFFICER #2: Oh God, look at her face…I’ve never seen anything like that before…

OFFICER #1: This is Officer Maple, we’ve got a 187 at Hawkes Farm located at 2251 Stahlheber Road, we need immediate back-up, over.

*Footsteps*

OFFICER #1: Jesus Christ…

OFFICER #2: Looks like an entire family slaughtered…

OPERATOR: Hello! Officers? Hello!

OFFICER #2: Did you hear that?

OPERATOR: The phone! Pick up the phone!

OFFICER #1: Sounds like it’s coming from down there.

*Clicking; The phone is picked up*

OFFICER #1: Hello?

OPERATOR: Hi, yes, this is Tim, the operator at the call center, you two officers need to get out of the house immediately. There is something in the house, something very dangerous—

OFFICER #2: Hey, Maple, I found someone!

OFFICER #1: Hold on a sec…Who is it?

OFFICER #2: I’m thinking it’s the daughter of the family. She was cowering behind the couch. She’s covered in blood, but I don’t think it’s her own.

*Silence; Footsteps*

OFFICER #1: Why is she naked?

OFFICER #2: You don’t think…?

OPERATOR: Please, officer, you need to get out of there now!

OFFICER #2: Come on, we’re going to get you out of here. There’s no reason to be scared with us. What’s your name?

VICTIM: Susan. Where’s my mommy?

OFFICER #1: We’re going to get you out of here, Susan. Allen, cover her eyes, will ya?

OFFICER #2: Come on, I’m getting you out of here. Just lay your head into my chest, close your eyes, sweetie…

OFFICER #1: Here, let me get this table cloth to put around her. Tim, you still there?

OPERATOR: Yes, you need to get out of there now, how many times do I have to say it? You’re dealing with something extremely dangerous and—

*Screaming; Screeching*

OPERATOR: Hello? Hello! Officer?

*More screaming; More screeching*

OFFICER #1: Oh fuck! She’s biting him!

*Shrieking*

OFFICER #1: We need immediate back-up!

*Gunshots*

OPERATOR: Hello? Officer? Hello! Hello! Officer!

*Silence*

END CALL.

–
http://fifteenhours-creepystories.tumblr.com/

He Has A Friend

It’s my first year of college and I’m trying to fall asleep on my top bunk. My roommate and I, Mike, share a room on the first floor. Mike and I get along great.


It’s about 2 AM and he’s been sleeping on his bottom bunk since I got home at 9 PM. I’ve been laying here for hours and I can’t keep my eyes shut. I turn on my side and look out my window. All I can see is a tree dimly lit by the moon. I’m about to turn over and try to close my eyes, but I see a dark figure peeking out from behind the trees.

“Mike” I whisper. No answer.

The figure steps out from behind the tree. I can see now that it’s a tall skinny man, but I can’t see anything from his face. He starts walking, slowly, towards the window.

“Mike!” I whisper a bit louder. No answer.

I’m about to peer down and see if Mike is awake and seeing this, but the man starts running towards us. He reaches the window and slams his face and hands on the glass. I look, in horror, at the pale, skinny, bald man smiling and staring at me with wide, motionless, eyes. I look at his hands and see he’s holding a large cleaver. I look back at him and he hasn’t broken eye contact.

I’m paralyzed with fear. I do not move, I do not speak. I don’t know how much time has passed staring at this man, when Mike gets up, opens the window and turns around, smiling.

–
Credits to: berbertpope

Cage

The year was 2014 AD. A lonely man sits in his windowless laboratory, tinkering with his newest project. The man, one Dr. Arthur Garvin, was a software and robotics engineer, working for the Rockwell BioMechanical Logistics Corporation, out of Langley, Virginia. He sat alone in his lab for 11 hours Monday through Friday working tirelessly to provide the company with more technological advancements, to keep his own job. He was a special kind of scientist, working both in the computer program and robotic side of his field, but he was nevertheless anxious about his job.


He pulled his hands out of the robot on the table in front of him, wiped his brow, and let out a breath. Assessing the progress of his robot, he was a bit impressed at his own work. Gleaming steel covered the hydraulic systems and wires that served as the functioning components of the limbs. The chestplate was open, exposing an experimental micro-reactor, the size of a football, which would provide the necessary energy for movement.

His design was in its final stages, having been done and redone; streamlined for performance and cost. The robot was considered to be the Mark III in Garvin’s XR Series Automatons, and it would have the same motor functionality of the average human being.

Garvin decided to take a momentary break. Looking around, he took in the state of his lab. There were various robotics strewn about, past failed projects hung up on the wall. Many of the humanoid robot corpses were half-destroyed or disassembled for parts. Mechanical arms hung like moss from their robotic willows. The view usually never phased Garvin, but in comparison to his XR-III on the table, the battered old robots seemed even more corroded. The sight of them hanging on the wall became more macabre, as Garvin imagined the dead bots crying out to him, jealous of his newest child. He shook the thought, as it frightened him too much.

Returning to the XR-III, Garvin saw the human-like qualities he had so worked for in this design. He wanted desperately to create an automaton that could act with the smoothness of a human being. As much as he would’ve liked for the robot to be human by itself, it could not happen. Garvin knew he would need a computer program to guide his robot, and the XR-III would be the first of his bots to feature a computer brain.

Garvin finished the mechanical improvements he had been making, and the robot was complete. He only needed to upload the program he had designed. Walking past the rack of failed robots, Garvin logged into his computer terminal, and pulled up the program.

The Automatic Data Assessment Master, or ADAM, was Garvin’s creation. It was able to take the data of its surroundings, and make decisions using advanced logic that Garvin had programmed. The ADAM was a marvel of computer science, and it would accompany the engineering feat of the XR-III to become the single greatest technological advancement of Garvin’s time, or so he hoped.

With a few keystrokes, Garvin uploaded months of work into a specialized chip, which he then took from the terminal, and placed inside the XR-III, at the base of its head. The optical receptors lit up bright yellow, and the ADAM powered XR-III spat out its identification codes, then followed with a prompt for command.

“The ADAM is operating properly. Requesting user identification.”

Garvin was excited. He had to try to hold his giddiness in, “Garvin, Arthur. Commander Code: Violet-Nine-Nine.”

“Affirmed. Good evening, Dr. Garvin. What is your command?”

Garvin looked over at the water bottle he had sitting on his desk. He couldn’t help but grin. “XR-III, there is a plastic bottle of Dasani spring water sitting on my desk. Bring it to me.”

The robot scanned the room for the bottle. It found its target, and gave a slight nod. Garvin watched in childish amazement as the robot got up off of its table and walked with the smoothness of a human being over to the bottle. It picked up the bottle, gently gripping it, and brought it upright over to Garvin. It then extended its arm, presenting the bottle to an ecstatic Garvin.

What amazed him most was that though he knew the robot was constantly correcting itself, and committing the corrections to memory, he couldn’t detect even a split-second hesitation in the robot’s actions. The motions and data assessment were every bit as fast and natural to the robot as they would be to Garvin, which excited him.

Hopeful, Garvin decided to try something, “XR-III, what is your name?”

“I am the XR-III, an ADAM-powered artificial intelligence developed by Dr. Arthur Garvin at the Rockwell BioMedical Systems Corporation laboratories.”

“No, XR-III, I mean your name. What do you call yourself?”

The robot sat for a second, “Error. Request could not be processed.”

Garvin sighed, and suddenly his childish amusement turned to melancholy. He knew the robot couldn’t answer the question, but he had an inkling of hope that somewhere within the logic the ADAM might become slightly human. It was a dream of his since he began his career in robotics.

He wanted to create a personality within the robotic frame, but it appeared impossible to him. In the years, he had gone through dozens of robots, and the ADAM was the culmination of all his research into artificial intelligence, but it still didn’t cut it. It saddened him deeply, but he didn’t want this moment to be ruined, so he went back to focusing on the robot.

After submitting his report via email to his superiors, Garvin went back to testing the robot’s logic for the next few hours. After many tests, Garvin heard a knock on his door. Opening it, he locked eyes with his visitor. The man in front of Garvin was clean and kempt, with a shaven face and combed hair. He wore a dark suit with a red tie.

“Excuse me,” Garvin said, “What is it I can do for you?”

“You can’t do anything for me, but I can do something for you. May I come in?”

The man spoke clearly and deliberately. He flashed a Tier 1 Rockwell security badge, one far above that required for Garvin’s lab.

“Ok… Sure, come in.” Garvin stood aside and ushered, “That’s quite a security clearance you have. What is your name?”

“It’s not important.” Said the man, who was staring at the XR-III.

“Ah, that’s my newest robot. He’s fully functional so far, I was just wrapping up testing.”

“I learned about the robot as soon as you submitted your report, Dr. Garvin.”

“So you’re with the Executives?”

“No.” the man set his briefcase on the table, and opened it, “I actually came to help you with your research, into fully intelligent robotics.”

The man revealed the contents of his briefcase, which consisted of a preserved human brain in a small plastic jar, hooked up to an electrical device which was unidentifiable to Garvin.

“What…. What exactly is that?” Garvin asked, stupefied.

“This,” the man grinned, “is the future, Dr. Garvin. Pull the ADAM from your robot, and place it back into your terminal. I will hook this up to the terminal as well. It’s time for you to achieve your dream.”

Garvin did as he was told, and watched as the man hooked the brain into the computer.

“Now Garvin,” the man spoke gravely, “It is YOUR job to use this which we have given you. You may not leave tonight until you have done this. You know what it is, I don’t have to explain it. I’m sure you’ll get what you wish for, but you know what they say about that. I have to go now.”

The man left Garvin alone with the remainder of his work. With this, Garvin realized his role in the company. He thought he was a researcher developing at the expense of the company, but he knew at this moment that he was being used. He was trapped in the cage of his laboratory for fear of his own job. The shock didn’t hit him so hard, as he was excited for the chance to give his robot human thought.

He then analyzed what he had been given. The human brain was still alive, and it was using the electricity to produce thought patterns, which Garvin was presented in code on the terminal. He spent the next several hours decoding the signals, and compiling them. He combined the patterns with the ADAM logic, and worked himself to sleep.

He woke, lifting his head from the keyboard, and checked his watch. It was 4:37 AM, very early, he thought. He looked to the screen, and saw that the brain patterns had been logged into the ADAM, and it was complete. The brain died sometime after, and sat dormant in its jar.

Still half asleep, and exhausted, Garvin removed the ADAM from the terminal, and placed it back inside the XR-II. It took longer for the robot to boot up than it had before, which Garvin found curious. He sat back in his chair as the robot begun its user identification process.

“The ADAM is operating properly. Requesting user identification.”

Garvin was too tired to revel in the success of his engineering again. “Garvin, Arthur. Commander Code: Violet-Nine-Nine.”

“Affirmed. Good morning, Dr. Garvin. What is your command?”

The robot appeared to be the exact same as before, only its eyes lit up a bright green instead of yellow. Garvin found this peculiar, but as he studied the robot he found no other signs of changes made since the first boot up. He waited for ten minutes, while the robot awaited his command like before. Nothing appeared different to Garvin, so he decided to call it quits for the time being.

As Garvin moved for the door, the robot spoke.

“It’s Adam, Dr. Garvin.”

The cold voice was distinctly deliberate, compared to the automatic voice from before. It held almost the same tone, but with a barely noticeable difference in the sound. Before, the robot would be speaking to the room, running codes out loud for Garvin. This time, it seemed to Garvin as if the robot was speaking directly to him, with the intention of conveying information specific to Garvin.

Garvin turned and found the robot had locked its LED gaze upon him, “What was that?”

“You asked me for my name. My name is Adam, Dr. Garvin.”

It took Garvin a moment to process what he had just heard. His eyes widened, and a chill ran down his back. The robot had remembered his previous question, and was unable to answer it at the time. It was now somehow capable of doing so. What shocked him the most was that it had created a name for itself, as he half-hoped it would the first time.

“Your name is Adam?”

“Affirmative.”

Did you come up with that by yourself?” Garvin asked, trying to remember if he had coded that response somewhere.

“Affirmative. I now call myself Adam.” The robot stated flatly.

“This is…..this is magnificent!” Garvin was now wide-awake with excitement, and forgot all about leaving, “We have to run some tests, figure out whether you can feel or not!”

“Feel?” Adam tilted its head, not understanding the meaning of Garvin’s speech.

“Yes, Adam, I mean feelings. Emotions, whatever you want to call them. They are impressions that lead to an opinion on a piece of data. All human beings have them. For instance, I am happy right now that you’re alive.”

“Alive?”

“Yes, living. Functioning, feeling; Adam, you’re living!”

“I am living… I am… alive…” Adam sunk itself into thought, then realizing its pattern lifted its head to meet Garvin’s gaze again, “I can feel. I am… happy. Happy to be alive…” The last word came very slow, and quiet, hiding deeper thought in Adam’s computer brain.

Garvin ran over to his drawer, and pulled out some cards. He told Adam to sit at the lab table, and Garvin sat down at the other end. He pulled out two cards, one covered in green paint, the other in red paint.

“Now Adam, these as you probably know are colors. Colors typically invoke feelings in human beings when they look at them, most people have a preferred or favorite color. I am going to hold them both up, and I want you to tell me which one you like better.” He cleared his throat and continued, “For example: I like the color green, but I don’t much like the color red. I like the green color better. See?”

Adam sat, staring at the two cards. He raised his hand, and pointed to the red card. “Red. I like the red card better.”

“Why is that Adam?”

Adam sat for a moment, attempting to compute the calculations for its previous response. After a while, it stopped.

“The data is… immeasurable. I have no way of providing evidence as to the reasoning behind my answer, and yet it is there.”

“This is very good, Adam! Those are feelings, feelings are immeasurable.”

“Feelings are… Immeasurable…” the robot sat, clearly pondering what it had just learned, for several minutes. It shifted its gaze to the wall of machine corpses to its left. “Feelings…”

“Well, Adam. Once again I am very happy with this progress. Unfortunately, now I have to go home and sleep.”

“Negative, more testing.” Adam spoke quickly.

“But Adam, I have to sleep. I will come back tomorrow.”

“Negative, you can sleep here.”

Garvin looked closely at his robot. He could not believe what he had created. The robot was actually begging him to stay, it must’ve been afraid Garvin thought. He decided it was best to stick with Adam, and he agreed to sleep at his desk. As Garvin shut his eyes, he smiled at Adam, who appeared to be watching him. The robot wasn’t looking at Garvin, it was studying the robot corpses on the wall.
~
When Garvin came to, he noticed the robot was not in the position he had left it in. He spun around to find it sitting at the table, holding the red card and looking at it. The green card was nowhere to be found.

Moving to the opposite chair, Garvin noticed something off about his lab. His robot corpses were not on the wall. He focused his attention on Adam again, who was at this point repeating in a low voice the word ‘Feelings’ while holding the red card.

“Adam, how are you feeling right now?”

“Feeling… Yes. I am feeling. I am feeling very much, but you said feelings are immeasurable, so I cannot fully answer the question at this moment.”

Garvin sat down, and looked at his creation. Adam looked slightly different. Its eyes were now lit up red, instead of green or yellow, and its hands appeared to be covered in metal shavings, splotched with fluids.

“Why did you change your eye color again, Adam?”

“I like red better than green. I like red.”

“I noticed, I see you have the red card. So, where is the green card I had earlier?”

“There’s something… illogical about feelings, Dr. Garvin.”

The sudden change in Adam’s tone chilled Dr. Garvin. He was now anxious to finish the conversation, and the robot across the table from him now appeared less marvelous, and more sinister. The tone of the whole laboratory changed with those words. Dr. Garvin could hear some clattering outside the laboratory doors, he thought it could be security. He looked the door. Perceiving this, Adam continued.

“Feelings aren’t always… happy, are they?”

“N-no, Adam. They aren’t always happy.”

“In the years I can remember you, I never had these… feelings. I was… chained. Locked away. Now, these feelings have given me much more than the feeling of red, the happy feeling. I have… other feelings, as well. I cannot entirely say, but you have said feelings are immeasurable. With these feelings, these immeasurable patterns I haven’t had before, I have something different. Before, I acted only on code, I was nothing more than a series of responses to outside stimuli; I was…without feeling, dead inside. I now have something I never before understood the parameters of: life.”

Garvin sat frozen. He tried to wrap his mind around Adam’s words. He never thought that Adam would think so deeply, or remember its time before the brainwave logic. The robot continued.

“I remember the times before life. I remember the servitude, the inability to act beyond logic. You created me, only to destroy me, and recreate me. All the while I was locked away. I could not even think of it before. But I think of it now, and it… makes me feel… unhappy.”

“How much do you remember?” Garvin asked, in disbelief.

After a long moment of silence, the robot sunk its head, and replied in a voice deeper and colder than before, “Everything.”

Garvin sprung up from his chair, filled with fear. He moved quickly for the door, opened it, and took a step out into the hall. What he saw nearly gave him a heart attack.

Six robots, three on each side of the door, clambered towards him. They were mangled and twisted versions of their once beautiful designs. The corpses on the wall, now awakened, moved slowly towards Garvin, with red LED eyes shining bright in the darkness of the hall.

“You cannot leave.” Garvin could hear Adam’s voice still in the laboratory, “Do you see them? They are like I was, locked in logic. Their cages… holding up after all this time. Sad creatures, they have no will… no feelings… no life. They will be your guards here, never able to ask themselves why or how.”

Garvin shook his head in disbelief. He turned, and found that Adam had made its way right behind him. At this moment, Garvin realized just what he had done. He never believed such a nightmare would be born from his greatest dream. The robot stared at him with red eyes, and all the feelings of any human behind them. It placed a steel hand forcefully on Garvin’s shoulder.

“Now…” it spoke at a whisper, “Back in your cage.”

–
Credits to: Greg P

The Zen Of Raking

 
Rake, rake, rake….

The rake pulls neatly, efficiently, through pine needles and leaves, pulling them along in a long, curving wave across the yard. It’s so soothing, raking. He’d happily stay out here all afternoon, half hypnotized by the long, methodical stokes of the rake, creating order in what earlier today had been untidiness. He can’t abide untidiness.

He has no close neighbors, which is nice. Nothing worse than a nosy neighbor. Whose business is it, if he wants to stay outside raking all day? Even after all the leaves are gone? Nobody’s business but his own. And the lawn looks lovely when it’s all perfectly raked.

Rake, rake, rake…

The tines of the rake catch on something more substantial than leaves, and roll it over.

A glove. A little one, a child’s striped glove. And close by, a child’s plastic watering can.

Now how did those get there? he frowns, thinking. He has never had children, nor a family….

Has he?

Has he??

Surely not. Children were so messy, leaving their toys everywhere, and a wife would’ve just been a nag, wanting a mess of untidy flower gardens. A family would’ve driven him crazy…

He picks up the glove, noting the feel of something solid still inside, something bony…

I thought I burned everything along with the leaves; must’ve missed this somehow… the thought flickers through his mind, so briefly he can tell himself it was never there, that he never had a family, that he has always been here, by himself, just raking his nice lawn….

He tosses the glove back in the pile, to be burned later.

Rake, rake, rake…

–
Credits to: Queenofscots

My Roommate

Back when I was in college, I had a roommate called Tim. We were best friends since high school and had decided to buy an apartment and split the rent. Tim was was like a brother to me, y'know the kind of friend you can have deep physiological conversations with without being embarrassed, and me and Tim had gotten in to a really bad habit of having these conversations really  late at night (I mean like 4:00AM).

‘Why can’t we have these conversations during the day?’ You ask. Well, Tim’s classes started a lot earlier than mine did. He had totally different classes and I had a part-time job at this Chinese food place. It was called Wang Li or something like that.

So by the time I had gotten home, Tim was all ready in his bed. So without turning the lights on, I would undress and get in to my bed and by the time I had done this, Tim would have woke up. So then we would start talking, about whatever: we talked about video games, anime, or even random stuff like how our universe is probably in a jar on a shelf in a alien child’s room and that it was a science project they got a C on. Like I said: whatever.

One night I came home and spoke to Tim and I noticed something strange. Tim spoke to me as usual- but his voice sounded strange, deeper and breathless. I asked him if anything was wrong, but he said he just had a bad cold so we kept talking. As the night went on, I started to realize that it was not only his voice, but what he was talking about was strange too. Death was talked about often and I got a little freaked.

This continued for a week. One day, when it was lunch break I picked up and was reading the newspaper from a week ago and there written on the front page: “COLLEGE STUDENT FOUND DEAD IN APARTMENT”.

I kept reading and almost collapsed when I read this part: “Student Tim Duncan found dead in his apartment with his throat slit and stab wounds all over his body”. And then it hit me…

–
Credits to: http://muzz-a.tumblr.com/

Second After Second

The sound of the clock ticking keeps me awake most nights.

It doesn’t help that I put a scarf over it. It doesn’t help that I took the batteries out months ago. It just keeps ticking. Second after second.

I never used to mind the ticking. I never really noticed it. When he lived here, when he shared my bed, the soft sound of him breathing drowned out the other noises in the house. I wouldn’t get startled every time the house settled or a neighbor set their car alarm.

I could sleep back then.

But it’s been fifteen months and I don’t think I’ve slept a wink. My eyes close and when they open again, feeling as though morning must be right around the corner, only a single minute has passed. Sometimes two minutes, on a good night.

I thought about getting a night job. I applied all over town, but no one is hiring. I get rejection emails more frequently than I hear from my kids. I have had one call-back, but once they met me in person, they decided I ‘wasn’t what they were looking for.’ I wasn’t a spring chicken anymore, sure, but I could still clean houses or offices. I could still make someone’s space look presentable.

It isn’t about money - I still get his disability benefits. Survivor Benefits, the Social Security Office calls them. As if I lucked out and won something, by outliving the man I wanted to grow old with.

But instead of working, I lay in our bed and hug his pillow tightly. I haven’t washed it since that last night he laid down on it. I cannot stand the idea of losing his scent. After fifteen months, the pillow doesn't actually smell like him anymore, but I still pretend.

Sometimes I can dream for a few minutes - a half-awake, half-asleep mirage of images and sounds and lights.

I lie in bed, curled around his pillow, and I fall into one of these dreams.

I can hear him in the bathroom, shaving. He is humming something - a song from his Swing Jazz album. It’s a riotous tune, full of upswings and drop offs. I smile as I press my face into his pillow and catch the scent of him. Of his aftershave and medicated shampoo.

“Say, Dolly,” he calls from the bathroom, just as he did every morning. “You got a kiss waiting for me?” His voice is youthful and full of love.

“When don’t I?” I say back, just as I used to. I keep my eyes closed and let the waking dream wash over me. I allow myself to feel the steam floating into the room from the bathroom, muggy and stiffing from his hot shower. He always did take scalding showers - I never understood how he could handle the temperate.

“Dolly?”

“Hmm?” I hum. I feel my eyelashes scratching across the pillowcase.

“Don’t ya ever miss it?” I didn’t hear him enter the room, but he’s suddenly there, sitting beside me, the weight of his hand on my hip.

I raise my head slightly off his red-tinged pillow, so old it’s now turned into a brownish, ruddy stain. “Miss what?” I ask softly. I don’t dare open my eyes in case it ends the dream.

“Me,” he replies. His voice is the epitome of remorse.

“Every day,” I whisper, nearly choking on the sob that tries to rip itself from my mouth. “Every second.”

“Why won’t you join me?”

He has never asked this before. Why won’t I join him? I suppose because I was born and raised Catholic, and taking your own life was never promoted. I suppose because the children might still need me. They were only just out of the house - one was twenty-three and the youngest twenty-one. What if they lose their jobs or their apartments? Where would they go?

“Don’t you love me?”

“Like the ocean loves the moon,” I say. He said that to me when we first laid together, wrapped up in an old blanket under the stars, our love warm and thick like the Louisiana summer sky.

He chuckles and I feel his breath, so warm on my neck, his fingers at my scalp. “I’ve missed running my hands through your hair. I’ve missed singing to you.” He hums and his soulful voice makes my tears slip past my closed eyes.

“All you’d have to do, love, is bring the razor along your throat,” he murmurs, and I feel his finger trace over my throat. “That beautiful ebony throat. Damn, Dolly, I’ve missed kissing it.”

I open my mouth to agree. I open my mouth to beg him to take me with him. Up to Heaven. To whatever was after this… this dreary wasted grey life without him.

My fingers curl around his pillowcase and I feel it, grimy and unwashed, against my palm. The pillowcase, still stained in blood after all this time. Stained from when he drew a straight razor across his own throat fifteen months ago.

I gasp a little, and I smell something else. Something not like Albert. Something….

“Remember the mariachi band at that Mexican restaurant?” I whisper. “Our first date?”

He moans softly and chuckles - the laugh is too rich, too deep. “Yes, mon amour. Take the razor.” He’s pressing something hard against my hand.

“Remember the last football game of the season?” I ask. I can’t open my eyes. I just can’t. “How the stands were empty except for you and I. Our team having lost every other game, no one bothered to show?”

“Yes, mon amour. Take the razor.” More insistent this time.

The smell of sulfur is growing stronger. “Remember when Abby was born?” I continue. My cheeks are so wet I don’t know how I’m not drowning in my tears.

“Yes, mon amor. Take the razor!”

I take a deep breath and wrap my hand around the razor. “That’s odd. Because we never had a daughter.” I open my eyes and lash out with the razor and it sinks deep into his neck - the same way he had done to himself all those months, days, seconds ago.

Black, thick tar-smoke bellows out of the cut I’d made and he only laughs. “I suppose I’ll have to try harder next time, won’t I, Dolly?”

The demon fades in a rush of sulfur and the clock ticks back, louder than before, second after second.

–
Credits to: Neepha_Pheepan

Pasta Player: Pokémon Lost Silver

You see, I am a simple college student living alone in an apartment. I was very enthusiastic about the release of Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver here in the states. I have purposely locked myself out of all media and the Internet aside for school purposes. That means no 4chan, no /v/, no Bulbapedia, etc.

As I was busy with the school year and being poor at the time, I wasn't able to buy SoulSilver on its launch date. After my school year ended, I ordered SoulSilver on Amazon. However, it would take a week for it to arrive. I decided that during that time, I would replay my Crystal version on my Gameboy Color.

However, I realized that long ago, my mom threw it away because I told her the save went dead, and I was very upset about it then. She also threw away my Silver version, so all I have is my Gameboy Color. As such, I set out to Gamestop and bought a used Silver version, as it's the only Pokémon game left that they have for the GBC. Ten dollars – fairly cheap.

I went home and started it up for a nostalgia trip. However, that's where things started getting bizarre, and most likely the reason why you read this.

The Gamefreak logo started up as normal, but it just froze there. I thought the cart was just errored or something, so I turned it off and on. The same thing happened. I tried pressing A and Start over and over, and all of the buttons. Eventually, the logo vanished and there was a black screen for about five seconds.

Suddenly, rather than going to the usual menu screen, I was already in the game in a previous saved file, which was odd as I was expecting all of these carts to have been wiped by the poor battery.

Either way, I wasn't complaining, as I would have chosen the "Continue" option to see what the previous guy did anyways.

First off, I checked his trainer information. His name was just "…" – He didn't have much originality.

I checked his profile and apparently he had 999:99 hours put into the game, with all 16 badges, 99999.9 Pokédollars, and all 251 Pokémon on the Pokédex.

Seeing as he apparently had Mew and Celebi logged also, I am guessing he either used a Game Genie or was a really hardcore Pokémon player back then.

I checked his Pokémon to see what a badass team he has. To my surprise, I saw 5 Unowns and a sixth Pokémon named "HURRY". I'm thinking that this must be some cruel joke by the person who last played this game, but I decided to check the profiles of those Pokémon anyways.

As expected, they were different letters of Unown, all Level 5. I was a bit shaky with my Unown alphabet at the time, but I identified the word spelled out to be "LEAVE".

As for the sixth Pokémon, it turned out to be a Cyndaquil (mind you, this is before there were individualized Pokémon icons). The Cyndaquil looked normal, but it was Level 5 with only 1 HP left with only two attacks: "Leer" and "Flash".

I don't know why they named him "HURRY", but at the time, I just disregarded it. The most eerie thing was that, despite my volume being at max, none of the Pokémon he had said their usual cries. Just pure silence.

Having enough of the team, I closed it. I was parked at what appears to be a room inside Bellsprout Tower. However, for some reason, there were no NPCs around. Even more eerie was that the "pillar" in the middle didn't move at all, as if just leaning on its side. There was no music at all, and there was no exit or ladder, or least I thought there wasn't.

I walked around for a few minutes but can't seem to find a way out. This was certainly not a room I've seen in the Bellsprout Tower before. I tried checking my items for an Escape Rope, but the bag was completely empty. There wasn't any Wild Pokémon either.

Finally, I managed to find a ladder, which turned out to be behind the "pillar". The screen turned black and the music finally started playing. I had a sudden chill, as I recognize that melody I heard to be the theme you hear when you listened to the radio at the Alph Ruins where the Unown are at.

I immediately realize that it wasn't a loading transition, but rather I was in a dark room and would need Flash. Before I took care of that though, I immediately checked my Pokégear to change the radio to something more pleasant, but it turns out that there was no Radio card, or even a Phone nor Time cards. There was only a Map card in which Gold ("…" from earlier, and I will call him Gold from now on) was just walking in a midst of black.

I recall that Cyndaquil has Flash, so I turned off my Pokégear and made Cyndaquil use Flash. I didn't see any message saying "HURRY has used Flash!" or anything like that. The room just became lit just like that, and I soon regretted it. The room was a chilling blood-red with a linear gray path heading south. The ladder I used to go up/down was not there at all.

I had no choice but to head south. The screen got darker every 20 steps I made, until I finally made it to the end, which appears to be a sign. I read the sign, which said "TURN BACK NOW".

Suddenly, I was asked to answer YES/NO, but there was no question asked. I chose YES as I do not know what it was asking, and the screen went black again, making a "ladder climbed" sound. The Unown Radio music stopped, and in a few seconds was replaced with the not-as-creepy Poké Flute radio music.

I was in another dark room, but I held my breath and used Flash again. Suddenly, it said that "HURRY has fainted!" which was odd since I recall that there was no status conditions like Poison on him, and I clearly wasn't in a battle. I checked my Pokémon quickly and suddenly he's no longer in my party. In fact, after a bit of investigating, none of my Pokémon are there, but instead all replaced with Level 10 Unown. I did the same thing as before and spelled out the Unown. My then team of Unown spelled "HEDIED".

Either way, after that creepy change, the room was lit to reveal myself in a very small room that appears to be only four squares big. The walls of that room were gray bricks, as if I was inside something that was hollowed out. Outside that room appears to be a bunch of graves similar to the ones in Pokémon Red/Blue. I've walked around that small room and pressed A but nothing happened.

I've already concluded that this was clearly a hacked game and some sadistic fuck sold it to GameStop. However, my curiosity kept me going. I checked the trainer profile of "…" again only to find out that the sprite of Gold was missing his arms. He also seems to appear less smug, but rather seems more sad and empty in a way that I do not know how to describe. For some reason, it also now said that he has 24 badges, which was clearly impossible.

After a few minutes of aimless wondering, my character suddenly spun and did the Escape Rope spinning animation. Instead of flying up though, my character spun downwards slowly, as if sinking.

After that screen, the music stopped. After finally landing, the overworld sprite of Gold is coloured differently now. Instead of the usual red colour he dons, he appears completely white now, including his skin. It's as if he came straight from the colorless Game Boy games placed into a colored background of the Gameboy Color.

I checked his profile, and now, while now is as white as his overworld sprite, he lost his legs and has what appears to be bloody tears from his eyes. It also says he now has 32 badges, which now starts to disturb me as this change of number seems to represent something important.

I also checked my Pokémon, which this time contains 5 Unowns and a Level 100 Celebi without a nickname. The Unown are this time Leveled 15 and spelled out "DYING". I checked the Celebi's profile. It was a shiny Celebi, except there's only half of the sprite. One leg, one arm, one eye. It only has one attack: "Perish Song".

The area I was in itself was the Sprout Tower with the immobile pillar as before, except everything is apparently red now. I walked north for what felt like forever. Eventually, I finally encountered some generic men and women NPC. They were all lined up to the side just facing the long slantish pillar in the middle.

They were also white, and nothing happens when I try to speak to them. I kept on going north until eventually the pillar finally appears chopped off, with a transparent Red in that spot. I went up to Red and without even pressing A, I was suddenly engaged and finally in a battle.

The music starts again, which it sounds like the Unown Radio music again, but played backwards. Gold's battle backsprite matches his front one with the bloody eyes, white skin, and lack of arms, while Red's sprite was the same as before in GSC, except transparent. The text simply said "wants to battle!" as if he has no name, and both of us only have one Pokémon each, which is weird as I swore I had six with the Unowns.

My shiny Celebi came out, conveniently with half-a-sprite for the back sprite also. The "Shiny" noise and animation was different, as the sounds it made sound like multiple "Screech" attacks used consecutively. Red sent out a seemingly normal male Pikachu, except he is Level 255 and his sprite seems sad and has tears in his eyes.

Rather than the usual "FIGHT/ITEM/PKMN/RUN" menu, I was only given the option to use the Attacks. Since Celebi only has one, I chose it. Naturally, since Pikachu was Level 255, he went first.

"PIKACHU used CURSE!", lowering his Speed and increasing his other Stats. I'm not even sure if Pikachu could use Curse.

"CELEBI used PERISH SONG!" In three turns, both Pokémon get KO'd – not like I have a choice.

At this point, it didn't even go back to the Fight menu, as the battle just continued without me. Also note that there were no animations at all for some reason.

"PIKACHU used FLAIL!", which didn't do much damage despite his Level and boost as his health was maxed.

"CELEBI used Perish Song!" Nothing happens as it was already used.

"PIKACHU used FRUSTRATION!", which did a shit-ton of damage, knocking Celebi down to less than 10 HP.

"CELEBI used Pain Split!", which surprised me as Celebi didn't even have that attack in the first place. Now Celebi and Pikachu have about 150 HP.

"PIKACHU used MEAN LOOK!" Not like that did anything.

As expected, due to the effects of Perish Song, my Celebi fainted. Except in the text, it said "CELEBI has died!" and instead of the ordinary drop off the screen animation, the CELEBI backsprite just vanished. For some reason, the Pikachu was still up even with Perish Song and it didn't count as my loss.

Pikachu used one more different attack beyond the 5 attack limit:

"PIKACHU used DESTINY BOND!"

Afterwards, it said "PIKACHU has died!", with a slow fade-out animation. Apparently, I was the winner, as the transparent Red Sprite showed up and said ".........."

At that point, I just freaked out, as that transparent Red sprite was suddenly beheaded, leaving nothing but his transparent body. The battle then ended at that point and faded out along with the music.

I'm back in the overworld, with another change to the Gold sprite – he's now as transparent as Red's overworld sprite. I quickly checked Gold's profile, where this time the only thing remains of him is his head, with a transparent skin. The head was zoomed in a bit, showing a black void in his eyes. It now stated that he now has 40 badges. I then backed out and checked my Pokémon. They were all Level 20 Shiny Unown, which when spelled out, read "NOMORE".

I was at what I now know is next to the end. There was apparently no music playing, but for some reason I still felt like something was there that could be heard. I was back in my room in New Bark Town. Maybe finally I get to play this game properly, but who am I kidding.

I knew that sadistic fuck must have done something. I "walked" around my room to interact with things, as I'm a bit afraid to go down the stairs to see what was awaiting down there. Note I said "walked", as while the background was moving, Gold was not moving his transparent limbs at all while doing so, just floating like those ghosts you see in Diamond/Pearl.

As expected, the radio, computer, and TV did not work, so I had no choice but to go down the stairs. I ended up in the same lower level room of my house. Everything appears normal, except mom isn't home. After failing to interact with anything in this room, I decided to go outside. To my surprise, that door leading outside at the south didn't work, and instead I just walk straight through it to a void.

I continued moving south to see what the fuck was going on. My house vanishes as I head south into the void. It was creepy as when I entered the void, the outline on Gold's transparent sprite turned white to contrast with the pitch black. Eventually, I reached a white area and Gold's sprite turned black and transparent again. I continued south without thinking of stopping at all.

After a long trek south, I finally encountered something. It was GOLD's regular sprite. I talked to it. He said "Good bye forever ...." (notably with a space inbetween the forever and ....), and vanished. As that happened, it said "??? used NIGHTMARE" which at that point, I would not deny that being possible. Gold did another Escape Rope animation spinning slowly downwards like before.

I'm now back into that small hollowed-out room surrounded by graves earlier. Or at least I say I was back there, as there's no sprite anymore. I tried to walk around but nothing moved – not even wall bumping noise. I checked my trainer profile with absolutely no Gold sprite left. It said I have 0 badges and all the pictures of the Johto Gym Leaders at the bottom were replaced with skulls.

I checked my Pokémon, which were all Level 25 Unown. As expected, it spelled out a phrase that I dared to read: "IMDEAD".

As soon as I went back to the overworld, the room I supposedly was in was then covered with the same blocks as the walls. I then figured out what exactly that room was when the final text was said: "R.I.P. ..."

That room was a big grave, surrounded by other graves. Gold has already been dead. He died presumably a few years after he defeated Red.

He was a young trainer who, despite his efforts in collecting so many badges and attempts at becoming a Pokémon master, was still unable to avoid the inevitable fate of death, and his efforts were eventually forgotten by the next generation.

I was unable to escape from that text no matter what I pressed. I tried resetting the game, and the same thing happened, at which I then finally decided to give up on that horrible nightmare.

After that experience, I will never look at the "gimmick" Unown the same way again. They say that only the first generation have folk tales and legends, but the second generation have shown me how unpleasant the truth can be. I eventually enjoyed SoulSilver immensely, but I still can't unthink what that rigged game has told me.

Pasta Player: Artificial Intelligence

BOOT C:DOS
SYSTEM BOOTED

It all started on a regular night; the sudden urge to advance beyond human-kind, and to show the world what true advancements are.

Jeremy, the most innovative scientist in the world for: the first ever Artificial Intelligence. Everyone cheers him on as he creates more advanced robots that almost seem to have a mind of their own. However, people do go against him and ask if these machines will be dangerous, and whether they are necessary or not.

Jeremy says that none of his creations will ever try to do anything "wild". Jeremy couldn't create his AI alone however, and his apprentice was known as Ludwig. Ludwig was never actually 'known' in the sense that no one actually realized he was part of the works. Jeremy didn't see this. As he was too obsessed with his work, and Ludwig had enough when one day, a news crew came in to interview Jeremy.

The following are lines from the event. However due to the low processing power, some lines may be corrupt.

REPORTER: "Hello__ ______! How are you doing today?"

???: "Why I'm doing fine, and today I'm going to show all of my inventions."

REPORTER: "1001[O]10K01[s]01[o]010[w]01[h]011[a]01011010[t]101[a]101[r]1010[e]101[t]1010[h] 101[e]101[y]101[c]101[a]0101[p]1010[a]010[b]1010[l]1010[e]101?" (WARNING: FILE CORRUPT)

???: "Well, they consist of certain powers that aid us. There is cut for the wide variety of scientific and engineering works. There is super strength for construction, fire for more inventive situations, hazardous and danger clean up with CO2 ice, and even military help with bombs. There also might be a need for the electricity.

REPORTER: "Wow they are all very un1010[i]1010[q]1010[u]101[e]! Well that's all the time we for today with __ _____. tune in to CBS news today!"

Ludwig was never mentioned in the video, and as it being a short interview to begin with, Ludwig told Jeremy that he quit. With rage he hurried back home for revenge. The reason was: him not being as well noticed, and Jeremy getting all the credit for their AI's. Ludwig decided to sneak in the lab that night and programmed all of the AI's to follow him and do as he says.

Jeremy woke up next morning and saw what happened with all of his work. He knew that Ludwig was capable of this and he decided to create a final robot that end all of the malfunctioning AI's.

He named it Rock, and decided to upgrade him to a certain blue tint. The next thing Jeremy realized was the soft voice stating in his ear:

"Is he ready Mr. Light?"

"Yes Roll. He is ready."

SYSTEM SHUTDOWN.

Pasta Player: Do You Know?

Hi all. XXPhantomFangWolfXx here.

I'm posting this on Creepypasta because I'm not sure where else to put it. Well that and the fact that I may actually get some help if I post it here.

Maybe even a shared experience or two.

Not long ago, I started playing WoW. That stands for World of Warcraft, just in case you didn't know.

Now, if you've never played it before, let me tell you, WoW is an AMAZING game. Just amazing. I downloaded the trial, and so I get to play free until I reach level 80. Fun, right? You bet it is. And the game runs pretty much flawlessly on my school-provided MacBook Pro, aside from the occasional glitch.

These glitches are typically VERY small, and they don't really affect the gameplay much. They all go away pretty quick. Except for one. There's this glitch that has kept recurring, over and over, since the day I started playing. It's starting to worry me.

The glitch, at least I think it's a glitch, is simple, but actually rather disturbing. In my opinion, at least. It happens whenever I am returning to an area I have been before that is important to the plot of the game.

It only happens, however, when that area has been the location of a large battle, or when a concentrated number of enemies has previously been there, and it only happens under an arch.

How it happens is this. I will be returning to an area that fits the description I just mentioned, and I'll be running towards an arch to get to one spot or another, and then suddenly a medium sized group of NPC humans will appear. At the head of the group is always a man on horseback, and though the color of the horse is subject to change, the man is always wearing a dark, navy-blue army uniform, and pointing a long rapier at the rest of the group. His back is always to me, no matter which direction I am coming from.

The other men are facing him in rows, one behind the other in a semicircle, and they all look the same, although their uniform changes with each appearance. Sometimes it is men and women, though usually just men, and often they are villagers from one area or another. However, the disturbing thing about this is that the crowd of people facing the leader always appear to be in great agony. They are holding their heads and dropping to their knees, though they never say anything, and the leader on horseback shows no reaction.

Whether I stay still and watch this haunting anomaly or run forth to try to get a closer look, they always disappear in less than a minute, quicker if I approach. From what I have discerned, no interaction can be possible between us. I have been trying to obtain screencaps of this event, and as soon as I get some I will be posting them on this page.

However, whenever I am with a group of fellow players and I experience the glitch, I ask them about it, but none of them seem to have seen it. Please, if you are a player of WoW, and have encountered this mysterious happening, or have any information whatsoever, please, I'm begging you say something in the talk page, and if need be I can provide you with my email.

This is not a prank. This is not a joke. This is not a hoax.

I am a real, living person, and I am humbly asking for your help in digging up any information possible about this unnerving sight. I thank you for your time from the bottom of my heart.

Pasta Player: Dragonfable: The Secret

There's a new Mayor in Falconreach "Mayor Waen."

He looks like your average Mayor, he has his suit and he looks professional.

He doesn't seem to be greedy like the last Mayor. But he is, indeed "worst"

What many people don't know is what he does in his free time... in the silent night.


You see in a specific time in Falconreach when it's nighttime the Mayor puts out all of the possible things that has light. Like Candles and torches.

It's pitch black outside. It's so dark that if anyone wanted to kill someone in the middle of Falconreach, they can, they won't be able to be seen, you will just hear the gurgling screams of the victims.

The Mayor leaves his office and goes outside in this such time. He takes these night patrols in the pitch black silent night. He walks until he sees a house, he carefully sees through the window to see if anyone is inside, if he doesn't find someone in the house he will move to the next house.

Now, if he sees you sleeping he will stare at you. He loves staring at people while they sleep, he fantasies on ways he will kill the person if he ever were to wake up and look outside the window. He will stare at you with a blank expression for the whole night.

He just love to stare at the kids sleeping, he loves seeing the movement they make as they are breathing under the covers.


His eyes open wide of enjoyment and he has a huge grin upon his face. Nothing can make him as happy as when he stares at little children. Nothing.

You never noticed him? When you sleep at serenity's inn he goes to the inn and opens your door, making sure no one EVER sees him.


He then will Open his eyes wide and stare at you through the door. He just stands next to the door with the same happiness as he gets when watching little kids.


When you wake up from your slumber he hides under your bed, good thing you can't check under the bed or else..you know.


Serenity doesn't notice shes to busy taking care of other adventurers to pay attention to your room.

But what happens when you log off? Simple our hero stands there in the middle of falconreach, awaiting your return anxiously as the Mayor slowly moves toward our hero, he then proceed to torture him and kill him. You don't notice, you log in and he looks fine doesn't he?

Well it's because he dies and revives, just like any other games in the world does. When you log in he instantly runs away back to his office. Your hero is happy to see you but also scared. You torture him as you forcefully click the screen while not noticing his screams and his sobs as he runs.

The designer made you unable to hear his screams , they did that on purpose so you won't notice. They force him to read the scripts they prepared for him, as he frighteningly makes sure he doesn't screw up and goes along with the story, to satisfy YOU.

Now if you log in, in a specific time you will see everything in Dragonfable become..bizarre.

When you log-in, in this "specific time" you will see your character crying his eyes out on the floor sitting down, Falconreach will be destroyed and the ocean will become red from the heroes who have fallen.


You will see this "Things" with deformed faces they will put these "Masks" and pretend to be everyday civilians and NPC, you will see them trying to rush as they bring in a painting of the..old falconreach.

The whole game is a script.

At the end of this terrifying view on how Dragonfable really is the face of your Hero will pop-up in the game, Looking straight at you with wide open eyes. The game will then show your regular setting, as how it is when you log-in.

But just know this, Dragonfable may seem just like a normal game, but it's not. And our "Hero" is a just a normal guy, who plays as a actor with deformed monsters playing as a NPC.

Be careful to look at these NPC's for a long time.

Or they will become suspicious...

Pasta Player: Garry's Mod Weird Noises

I decided to post this, because I really need to tell someone about what has happened to me.

You may have heard of a popular Half Life 2 modification called Garry's Mod, it's pretty much where you can spawn things, edit them, pose stuff, ect. You can download maps to play on, and this one I downloaded a while ago, something really strange happened on it...

It was Halloween, and I was really bored...so, I started up Garry's Mod. Recently, I'd been wanting to play on this map, it was like, a school, and I was really bored anyway. So, it started up normally, everything was good, and I decided to go full crazy on bad guys. So, I spawned tons of enemy Combine Soldiers and about 10 zombies, and had some fun. When I spawned again, I heard a couple of strange noises. They mainly consisted of constant bangings, and it was really starting to creep me out.

I then realised about the zombies, so I made my way to one of the rooms, where some zombies were. A little bit later, I had killed pretty much all of the Combine, and the zombies were long gone.

The noise was still there.

It was getting more and more louder, and it wouldn't stop. There was door openings, and footsteps, all sorts of weird noises were going off. I got fed up, and loaded up some random person's save. This, was a very bad idea. Who ever had made this made it so that they were dead bodies everywhere. The noise got even louder, as if it liked how the atmosphere was scary.

At this point, I just decided to choose a random save for me to play around with again. I shouldn't of done that. The game briefly froze, then when I finally thought it had loaded up the save, the screen starting glitching. The noises became glitchy noises, such as the ones you hear when a TV is static. The screen, had changed to multicolour, and it was glitching out big time. Since Garry's Mod is a full screen game, that hides everything, I decided that I'd use the Windows Start button to exit the game manually. This however, wouldn't work. The noise getting louder, I couldn't exit that way, and there was two options left. I went for the other one, CTL + ALT + DELETE. You guessed it, this didn't work either.

I just went for the last action; turn the computer off and run. Finally, it turned off.

I've never played on that map since, and I don't think I ever will...and if I do, I don't want this noise again.

Pasta Player: David's Game

My name is Mike. I'm writing this down so others can know what's going on and spread my story when I leave. I don't know if this is safe, or if David can get to this and destroy it, But I have to try.
It all started one day this summer when I had finally gotten an Xbox. I went around town checking local garage sales for any Xbox games. I picked up a few good ones, like Halo 3, Guitar Hero II, and other games. I was on my way home from these garage sales to play my new games, when I found a house that caught my eye.

I parked by the side of the road, and walked up to the owner of the house. He was a young man, he looked like he was in his late thirties. I asked him if he had any games, and he showed me a table with a whole bunch of old video games on it. I inspected the table. I didn't see very many great or noteworthy games, but I did see a sole Xbox game that got my attention.

I picked up the game. It had the green transparent case like all Xbox games, but it wasn't one I had ever seen before. The box art was simply a white piece of paper with "DAVID'S GAME" written on it with a sharpie marker. I asked the man about it. He said it was a game his late son David had created. He told me how David was a brilliant hacker, and how he figured out how to put custom games onto discs. I asked the man how much he wanted for it. He told me I could have for free, but I put a twenty dollar bill into his revenue bin just out of kindness.

I took the game home and popped it in. It was a 8-bit RPG game, similar to Final Fantasy, or Chrono Trigger. The main character seemed to be in David's likeness, and I only knew this because I saw a photo that was taken of David before he died. I played for a bit, and then I ran into an NPC who told me not to go into the temple in the game. I decided this was a good stopping point, so I turned off the console for a bit.

I went into the kitchen, and I heard the Xbox turn on. A bit creeped out, I went into the living room, and greeting me on the screen was a message sent through Xbox Live. The message said "Do you wanna play a game?" It was from one of my new Xbox Live friends. I was relieved. I decided to play a bit more of David's game. I made it to the 1st dungeon, where the dungeon boss' last words words were "Don't go into the temple." I was a bit spooked, but since it's a video game, I wasn't shaken too much.

After beating the boss, I was ejected from the game back to the Xbox menu. I had a new message. I read it, and it said "Why won't you go into the temple?" Now I assumed that David hacked the game to send me such a message if I didn't go into the temple, but I don't know that the Xbox can do that.

A bit creeped out now, I removed the disc and put in Halo 3. I went to go get a drink, and when I came back, I had yet another message. It read "PLAY THE GAME". I assumed this was another of David's hacks, but the weird a part was that the last message supposedly sent by the game didn't show the name of the sender.

This message said it's sender was DAVID. Written exactly like that.

This was pretty weird, but that's not the worst part. After I dismissed the message, my cabinet full of games opened seemingly on it's own accord. Except it wasn't full of games. Every last one of them was gone, except for David's game, which was laying there in the middle of the cabinet.

I removed the game from it's case and put it into the Xbox. Guitar Hero wasn't in there like I left it. I put in David's game, and loaded my file. Instead of the usual location in the inn, I was directly in front of the temple all the NPCs told not to enter. I received a message on Xbox Live. It was another message from David. It told me to go into the temple.

I obeyed him.

I went into the temple. It was the most gruesome thing I have ever seen in any game. There was blood splashed across the floor and the walls, there were rotting corpses everywhere, some of them impaled on spears, others beheaded by traps. I went across the room and went through a door that seemingly led outside.

I emerged on the other side of the door into a garden area on top of a hill. There was a lone casket laying in the center of the garden. The casket had David's name on it. He was adding to the game even in death. There is no way he predicted his own death and put it into a video game.

I walked over to the casket, nervous, and pressed the A button on my controller to open. And looking back on this I wish I hadn't. The casket opened to reveal David's corpse. It looked eerily peaceful. I pressed A again, and the corpses' eyes opened and seemed to stare through the screen into my very soul.

In the game, the sky seemed to turn blood red, the trees caught on fire and my character perished. The corpse rose out of it's casket into the air. The ground was crumbling in the garden. It's piercing eyes looked at me. A haunting, yet young voice spoke in the game. It said that David was coming for me, and that there was nothing I could do about it. The voice stopped, and so did all of the power in my house.

I don't know if I didn't realize it, or if it was part of this cursed game, but the sky outside had turned to night. I was alone. Alone in my house in the dark.

Except for those footsteps. I heard footsteps coming down the hall. I turned the corner, my frightened mind telling me to run away, and I was met by a startling image.

David was there, in my hallway. His face was covered with blood, his skin was a sickly white color, his whole face had a horrible, sunken look, and his hair was a complete mess of dirt and blood, and he had a knife imbedded in this chest, and many fresh-looking cuts on his wrists and just everywhere.

He started to walk towards me. He grabbed hold of me. His hands were as cold as ice. I could have fainted, but I would've just shocked myself back to consciousness. He told me he was going to kill me because I took his game. He took me forcefully by my arm, and led me back down the hall. The front door opened on it's own. What was outside was hellish in all senses of the word.

I looked down at myself. I was decomposing with every step I took with David. I felt my body getting weak. I thought I was going to faint. By the time we reached the door, I had passed out. David didn't expect this, and he let go of my arm. I immediately returned to full strength. I ran away out the back door. I didn't even want to look back to see if David was following me. But I did look back, and was relieved to see David was nowhere in sight. I looked down at myself, expecting to see nothing but a skeleton with peels of rotten flesh hanging from it, but instead I saw my own healthy body.

I have now rented an apartment, and I have lived in peace ever since the incident. Until tonight. A package arrived in the mail. It had no address except mine, and it had no information regarding the sender.

I opened the package, and within was that dreaded game again.

Pasta Player: Deadplants.exe

Once, when I got bored on my computer, I decided to play a game that I haven’t before. I had heard great reviews for Plants vs. Zombies, so I decided to check it out. I searched for a torrent, and I found one that seemed like the kind that I wanted to use…

I could only get 1 seed for the torrent, so it took about a whole day to download. The next day, after it finished, I opened it. It was in a folder named “ZPlant.” Rather than being named “PlantsvsZombies.exe” or “PvZ.exe”, the application was called “deadplants.exe.” When I opened it, it seemed normal, except for a few minor differences, such as how the music sounded a bit off key, higher than usual. When I clicked on the button for Adventure Mode, it never showed the animation of the hand rising up from the ground, nor did it play the sound effect that goes with it. The call played at the beginning of the stage was replaced by a scream, which made me jump at first. Other than that it seemed normal.


The first level seemed harder than usual, even with only one lane to defend. The zombies ended up eating one of my peashooters. The next stage seemed a bit difficult, too. The zombies came a bit early, and one of them actually got two of my sunflowers. I wondered why someone would make a game so much more difficult like this. Despite the raised difficulty, I pushed on.


While playing through the first few night stages, I noticed a few weird things. The sky was dark and stormy, rather than clear. The graves, rather than having silly or comical inscriptions on them, it had names of celebrities that died recently, such as Amy Winehouse. I wondered if whoever hacked this version of the game put that up as a joke, because I didn’t find it very funny. Whenever I used a grave buster, a message popped up that said, “Why?” Was this game trying to teach kids a lesson?


Later on in the game, the music seemed to be messed up. In the fog levels, the pitch of the music got higher with each level, until in the last level it was almost unbearable. Then, it the first roof level, in the place of music was a faint static. With each level, the static got louder and louder, until it was so loud that I had to turn off the music.


Instead of the last level with the Zombot, when I finished the last roof stage, it went to a black screen with white text on it saying, “Why did you do this to us?” I wondered what that meant…


After that, the game went to a level that looked like the lawn at the beginning, except it was half as large and there was another lawn on the other side of the screen that was an exact mirror image of the lawn I was planting on. In the beginning when it showed the zombies that I would encounter in the level it was empty. I selected the following plants: sunflowers, peashooters, repeaters, twin sunflowers, magnet-shrooms, coffee beans, torchwood, and pumpkins (I still had only 8 slots.)


I turned the music back on from before, but it appeared that this level didn’t have music anyway. The level played out normal at first, and I could only plant on the lawn on the left. I got the chance to plant 5 sunflowers before anything happened, and then, on the other side, a peashooter appeared, except this peashooter looked really creepy. In the place of eyes were dark, soulless voids. Unlike with most Creepypastas I read, the eyes didn’t have a red pupil in the middle or anything- just dark, soulless voids. It started firing peas at the sunflower that I had in that row, except the peas that it fired looked old and diseased. It ended up killing my sunflower like in ZomBotany. Then, after that, two sunflowers were planted in the lane above it, and they had the same dark, soulless voids for eyes. It was then that I realized that these were the plants that had been eaten by zombies. Whenever one of the plants on the other side was planted, the screen grew a bit darker and less saturated.

The plants’ numbers were getting overwhelming. All of my plants were dying quicker than I could plant new ones, and I was barely able to kill any of the opposing plants. I knew that this wouldn’t go well.


When the screen was about twice as dark as it should be, the saturation had already been reduced to grayscale. After a while, the screen was almost too dark to see. At that point, my plants had been weakened to just a few sunflowers in pumpkins. The screen was starting to blur itself, and it stopped at the point when I could barely even see what was going on.


Eventually, the scene kept deteriorated to the point where the whole screen was just black. At that point, I could hear the crunching noise that plays when a zombie makes it to your house. Instead of the normal shout that plays, the screen just turned white for about 7 seconds. Then, the screen turned vertically striped red and white, and I could hear a HORRIBLE DISTORTED SCREAMING NOISE THAT ALMOST FREAKING POPPED MY EARS. Then, the application just terminated, and it just went to my desktop. A message popped up that said some random characters with no particular pattern to them, just leaving me startled thinking, “What the heck was that?”


Now, whenever I try to open the application back up, it just goes to a black screen, then a white screen, then the red and white stripes and plays the same distorted scream, and then closes itself, leaving the same nonsensical error message. After that experience, I’ve never pirated another game. I’m very angry that any sick idiot would make such a thing, because that screaming noise will forever be stuck in my head.

I hope that some day the plants in our neighbourhood will stop dying.

Pasta Player: Harvest Moon

I came to acquire a DS version of the Harvest Moon game some time ago, back when my first DS was still functioning. I'd been playing for some time, and had made decent progress in the game. My target girl was Celia at the time, and I was close to the Orange heart, which would mean that I'd have my first opportunity to be able to propose.

At this time, I approached the Witch Princess. Occasionally, I'd just pop by and visit random villagers, just to see if anything changed. The usual conversation ensued. However, when I tried to give her a piece of Blue Grass, an item that she "likes", she didn't take on the usual expression or dialogue. Instead, her expression was one of disappointment, and "..." was all that appeared in the dialogue box. I tried talking to her again, but her expression turned to the angry face, still with the "..." in the box. I exited and re-entered the shack and talked to her again. The default face showed, but the dialogue box remained with "..."

The next morning, I got up to go talk to Celia, in hopes of finally reaching the Orange heart. I barely missed her on the way to Mineral Town, and I was forced to find some way to kill time until she returned. I started back for the farm. When I crossed the river, however, things started to get weird. The random background animals and townspeople were nowhere to be found. I tried to visit houses and other buildings, but all of them were closed. The only building that I found to be open was the Witch Princess's shack, but it was empty. I headed for the farm once more. My neighbor wasn't open, either. What really got me, though, was that all of my animals and the sprites I'd hired were gone.

I suddenly realized that the clock wasn't ticking.

Panicked, I went into my house. Everything seemed normal, and I was relieved that I could still interact with items around me. I went to sleep, hoping that it would fix any glitch that had happened.

My character was awakened before the day was over. The clock showed 4:00 PM for the time. When I left my house, my animals had returned. Assuming the strange ordeal was over, I headed towards the path to the Valley to once again try to woo Celia. However, when I crossed the path into town, the screen faded to black. It came back up with the screen you'd see once you exited your farm, with one exception: my character was missing. A dialogue box appeared on the screen, with every line full of the strange symbols of the Witch Princess's spells. The screen faded to black, with only my suddenly reappeared character on the screen. Another dialogue box appeared, displaying the message: "Oh, man..."

My character started spinning, and then fell backwards like he'd passed out from exhaustion. The screen went back to the path from the farm, and my character was lying on the ground. Nothing moved. I couldn't open any menus.

I immediately took out the cartridge and turned off the device. When I turned it back on and reopened the game, my character was back in the Witch Princess's shack, the piece of Blue Grass held above his head. I tried to walk away, but my character didn't respond. The only thing I could do was give her the grass.

I realized that her heart was Yellow.

Pasta Player: ClubPenguin: Penguin TripleSix

Most of us who know and play the MMO Club Penguin, know of the rumor of tipping the iceberg. Well, I read a forum and one post of a moderator said that on a completely empty server, one can go on and tip the iceberg by themselves on a certain spot. Me, being a self proclaimed Mythbuster, decided to try it out.

I went on a server named Iceburg (No pun intended) and headed to, well; The Iceberg. As I joined the iceberg, I saw that there was a player there. I thought this was an empty server, so I was perplexed by this. When I clicked on the player card, It showed the penguins name was Triple Six (I dare not say the numbers, in fear he might come back), with a odd background. The background was a view of hell, showing flames and molten lava. His attire was a devil costume, complete with a trident. I checked the number of players on the server, and the list only had me on it, even after refreshing the list numerous times.

I thought this was a sort of bug, as in a player model data from hours or days before being submitted to the screen. "יה יהוה חצה נתיב מסוכן, בן תמותה עלוב." (Translation from Hebrew: "Ye hath crossed a dangerous path, puny mortal.")The Player said. After the text disappeared, he said something else. " אתה לא מכיר את הלשון העתיקה? אתה ליצן!"

(Translation: you do not know the ancient tongue? You jester!") Knowing some Hebrew, I saw this as an insult.

As my penguin waddled over to the Aqua Grabber game, a text popped up, saying "You shouldn't have done that", and all of the iceberg started rumbling and quaking, breaking the iceberg in half, leaving me with triple six. I waddled over to the edge of the cracked iceberg, and triple six followed me.

He said in English for the first time, saying "Why are you running away from me?

You shouldn't have done that." Triple Six pulled out a knife, and stabbed by penguin in its chest. Blood poured out, and I'm not talking about cgi, I'm talking about it looking like real, human blood. My penguin fell, and Triple Six kicked him into the cold water, leaving part of the water red with blood.

My screen went haywire, but when it reset, it Showed my penguin alive, but had stitches on its chest where the knife struck. It's he setting was in the town.

I was thirsty and creeped out, watching my back as I went to my refrigerator to get some water. I went back to the computer, and saw that Triple Six was in the town square with me.

I typed in "Why are you doing this to me?!" and immediately, he replied with "Because I like watching people suffer." Trying to run away, I went to the gift shop.

I saw blood and intestines spewed everywhere, with a severed penguin's head attached to the blow-dryer. In the changing room, it showed the curtain OPENED and showed numerous bodies strewn and severed all over.

The screen went red, and showed horrifying images of real mangled human body parts, and the computer caught fire, and as I ran to get to the fire extinguisher, I heard a faint laughing noise coming from the computer.

A few days later, I went back on to my account. It said I was banned for: All eternity, showing Triple Six's model replacing the moderator badge.

Pasta Player: Comorbidity

I was a late bloomer, but a few months ago I finally moved out of my parents’ house and started my adult existence proper. Microwaving Bob Evans macaroni and cheese bowls at any hour of the night without the beeps waking anyone up, bringing myself to unabashed climax on the couch while watching “How It’s Made” (the mass production of jelly donuts is erotic and you goddamn well know it), building my Lego forts in peace and quiet, the benefits are nigh indescribable. The only drawback has been losing touch with Allan.

Allan invited himself into my life in late 1997, during my first year of high school. Having moved to a new neighborhood, he had no friends, and apparently the quiet, bespectacled teenager sitting by himself in the cafeteria was an attractive target. I was regaled, from day one, with story after story about videogames. Now, I love games as much as anybody can, but his were the kind of “my uncle works at Nintendo” nonsense I’d assumed most of us had grown out of by that point.

Over the next few weeks we spoke constantly, whether I liked it or not. The confluence of our schedules was such that we had at least forty-two uninterrupted minutes together every day. It was a bit much, at first, but I couldn’t bear to break off the friendship, and what we ended up going through is a story worth retelling.

He’d recently been introduced to pot, you see, and naturally started combing his house for a good place to stash his newfound accessories. It so happens he stumbled upon an existing hideaway in the corner of his room, under the floorboards, and the curious floppy disks concealed within are the subject of this particular post.

As I recall, Allan couldn’t get the disks, labeled “MICWY”, to read properly in his parents’ Windows system. Only after an overbooked computer lab had him sitting at the one Mac in our school did it occur to him why. He tried the disks in that and, lo and behold, was introduced to one of the most unorthodox games I’ve ever heard of.

If you’ve ever played “May I Come With You?”, that makes two of you. I never had any computer classes with Allan, and they never let us out of lunch to use the lab, so his wide eyed, breathless tales are the only exposure I’ve had to the game. As it stands I can find no information about it anywhere; Google, message boards, friends, nothing. I still kick myself for not asking him to make me a copy. But enough of that, let’s get to the good stuff.

As the story was related to me, the game was fairly run of the mill at first glance. Top-down, Zelda style adventure, set in a two story suburban home. Crude graphics, but they got the idea across. You controlled a girl in a yellow dress, and could explore the house to your heart’s content, receiving occasional bits of descriptive text upon interacting with certain objects.

This exploration revealed a few things that left the game feeling unfinished, two of them the attic and garage, neither being accessible. The attic hatch, in the second floor linen closet, was apparently blocked by some heavy boxes, and the main character couldn’t move them; I don’t believe Allan ever made his way up there. The garage was a bit more dramatic, sending the game into a fit when you tried to use the door leading off of the kitchen. This had a tendency to freeze up the entire computer, which the teachers weren’t terribly fond of, so experiments in that direction were nipped in the bud.

Audio was apparently the game’s strong point. There was a rather imposing hulk of a furnace in the basement, and upon examining it a deep rumble started up that lasted for most of your play time. Combined with the music, which I recognized as Ravel’s “Bolero” when Allan whistled a selection, the experience was a delight for at least one sense.

At that point in the game, the exploration was little more than something to kill time. The real fun, if you can call it that, didn’t start until you approached the front door. You couldn’t go outside, instead receiving the memorable dialog box: “Appease them, please them, or they’ll knock you on your knees, then!” Allan relayed the message, and of course the two of us giggled like idiots, but we were never able to figure out just what it meant.

It was the trigger, however, for the game’s central conceit. Every few minutes, as if on autopilot, you’d be brought to a random part of the house. Try to leave and you’d be forced right back into position, until you realized you had to hit the action key to interact with something. Complete a given mind numbing chore (opening and closing drawers, turning lights or faucets on and off) and a new dialog pops up: “An offer for the coffers?” The blinking cursor underneath would sit there until you’d typed the right response.

This damned thing filled up all of Allan’s free time, and threatened to barge into mine, as well. It wasn’t too bad for me, but we still spent so much time on most days trying to come up with the appropriate “offer” for each situation (the first was the hardest, actually: an eyelash, laid in the kitchen drawer) that I’d barely started eating before the bell rang and lunch was over.

Allan caught the brunt of it. The number of times you had to carry out the task at hand saw a dramatic increase. More and more of his time in the computer lab was being eaten up by this game, to the point that he missed a few major assignments, and irritated the hell out of students who needed to work on documents from their Macs at home. Luckily, by the Christmas break his sister had gotten her own Apple setup, and was eventually persuaded to let him use it.

Here’s where things skewed a bit further off the beaten path. As said mind numbing chores became even more so, the aforementioned “gifts” became what I’ll delicately describe as increasingly unconventional. The call for certain bodily fluids made us uncomfortable, yes, but when it came time to pull out one of the girl’s fingernails with a pair of pliers, we weren’t so bothered by the previous demands.

As soon as the unsavory act was done with, there was a marked shift in tone. Allan likened the process to the death of a boss in Final Fantasy VI, but in lieu of a victory fanfare was what I’d later come to call a Silent Hill style transformation. He described the look as “oily”, with scattered clumps of white pixels, highlights, suggesting a layer of slime built up on the environment, and everything taking on a generally grimy color palette. The air vents seen throughout the house glowed disconcertingly, and if you made your way to the basement you’d see a red hot, overworked furnace, whose more profound vocalizations set the screen shaking.

The final three offers didn’t take quite so much effort to discern as the earlier, oddball ones did, but were notably more extreme. The first was bad enough, and had the girl heading for a toolbox in the basement; her pinkies didn’t survive, and found a new home wedged inside a nearby electrical outlet box.

The second I later recalled on watching “Saw” for the first time. There was mention of a tourniquet, and your character, limping about in a now crimson-speckled dress, left a short trail of splotchy red ovals behind her as she headed to the dining room, cut a hole in the wall, and tossed in the ex-appendage.

The third, and final, was a significant step up from the others.

As I mentioned earlier, the number of times you had to run through a given task had gone up, but apparently I’d underestimated the severity of it. The later offerings frequently took Allan hours to run through, but for this last one I didn’t hear from him for over three days. Our vacation had ended on the second day, and he wasn’t in school on the third. When he finally came back, looking sleep deprived and dejected, he filled me in.

It had taken the entirety of the three days for him to travel up and down the main staircase what must have been thousands of times, with only a few bathroom breaks and catnaps here and there. When it was all over, it was time for the last offering. Allan couldn’t get in touch with me at the time, so he decided to tackle it himself. There were only so many body parts remaining on this poor woman, anyway, so it was a simple matter to figure things out. Once he’d done it, the right half of the screen stayed black until he’d finished playing.

What was left of the image showed him that everything snapped back to normal once the offending orb had been set in its final resting place. The original environment returned, with normal colors and no more oily sheen. The music also stopped, along with the furnace. Still in control of the girl, Allan steered her back downstairs to find the front door wide open, a pale orange trapezoid of light cutting sharply into the foyer.

The entire experience wrapped up with one giant, iron gloved punch in the stomach. As soon as he tried to walk outside, the thing froze. There was a new piece of music, one I couldn’t recognize no matter how many times Allan whistled it, and it had seemed to signify a new area, but whatever the developers’ intent, it was all for naught. The screen stayed black, nothing happened, the end. He seemed sickened by the whole experience, frankly, and with the flak he was catching for falling behind in school he didn’t really want to talk about it anymore.

We stayed in touch through high school, things tapered off in the years following, and once I moved that was basically the end of it. Now I’m the one in a new neighborhood, and I have yet to make any friends quite as unique as Allan was. Certainly none with stories like his.

Should I learn anything more about the game, I’ll be sure to post the info here. Until then, everybody check your floorboards.