Memory Tower

Written by FliqpyCreep

I was addicted to my iPhone. I had heaps of apps that were sorted into little folders like games, utilities etc. One of my favourite apps for the iPhone, however, was Tiny Tower. It's a pixelated game where you have a tower, obviously, and you earn money to construct more floors for the tower, re-stock shops and make several apartments for the staff of your shops.

After creating my 16th floor, I decided to try and scroll down under the tower to try and find hidden easter eggs. Under the tower was a canine skeleton, a couple bones and a soda can, nothing special, but I was determined to try and find something hidden, so I scrolled further beneath the tower in hopes to find something interesting. After trying a couple times, the game closed itself and I was taken back to the iPhone home screen against my will.

When I launched the game again, things were changed. Instead of viewing the tower, I was looking at a pixelated cave that was obviously under the tower. I threw my fist into the triumphantly, as I though I had unlocked a secret easter egg. When I tried to take a screenshot, I was greeted with the words "Don't" in a white, pixelated font. It was a shame that I couldn't take screenshots but never the less, I started scrolling down, so that I could see more of this easter egg.

When I touched the screen though, I heard an extremely loud distortion of an 8 bit track. The loud noise startled me quite a bit, since I was wearing headphones. I decided to unplug my headphones, mute the phone volume and continue with my exploration of this easter egg. However, when I scrolled down a bit, an 8bit track started to play. I was quite confused, since I swore that I just muted the volume and sure enough, I was right, but since the tune was catchy, I ignored it. It almost seems that the tune was the first 30 seconds of "Night On Bald Mountain" in an 8bit tune repeating itself.

Anyways, when I scrolled down, the screen became darker and darker, to the point where I thought I accidentally locked my phone. Then, a bright white light came to life on my phone and I closed my eyes, as it was extremely painful (it doesn't help that I was playing in the dark). After the white light, the screen transitioned to a cabin in the woods.

Like everything else in the game, it was pixelated, and there was a family of 3 inside it. The mother and father were engaged in a conversation while their son was playing with a board game near the fire. I tapped the mother and I was surprised with what I saw. The screen showed a large portrait of the pixelated person, their current status and their name and age. Her name was Melinda Ryan, aged 30, and her status was "Contemplating suicide."

This made me speechless, fearful and it caused me to remember painful memories. My mothers name was Melinda Ryan and she committed suicide when I was 10 by burning our house down while my dad and I were still inside. I started to bawl my eyes out when I started reliving the horrible memories of my mother and fathers death. I decided I didn't want to play anymore, but I guess my curiosity got the better of me, so I continued scrolling. When doing so, however, the phone flashed a series of different colours while screeching another distorted, 8bit tone and there was that god damn pixelated text back on the screen. "Don't."

While it was going, I took a screenshot so I could bring evidence for a court case and to my surprise the phone actually took a screenshot. When it stopped, the screen showed the same cabin, but the mother and father were outside this time. They both had pale faces, red eyes and grey hair. The kid looked quite older and was now looking around with tears constantly falling from his eyes. I didn't want to continue this "game" but I needed to see what was next, so I tapped the person who I assumed was me and pressed onward.

Turns out I was wrong, the name of the character was Charles Grey, aged 37. I knew the name of this person, he was the forensics specialist that came to our house and constantly questioned me about what happened. The thing that startled me the most was that the status said "It's your fault" then I heard a voice whispering to me the phrase "Don't play with matches son..."

The app closed but I wasn't taken to the home screen, I was taken to a photo folder name "Don't". Inside the folder was a single photo. I was hoping this was the screenshot I had taken for evidence so I tapped it and started freaking out even more than before. The photo turned into a video and it just started playing, even though I didn't press the play button.

The video was of a woman that was happily talking to her family. Then, she grabbed a bottle of what I presume was lighter fluid, poured the substance all over herself and her husband while the son grabbed a match and struck it against the side of the box. Before the boy threw the matchstick onto their parents, the parents screamed the word...

"Don't"

It's been two months since that incident, I've been to several court cases with the developers of the application but It turns out that they never made that extension to the game and all my evidence got wiped from my phone, so I just ended up making myself look like a fool.

I require constant therapy sessions and my therapist is starting to think that I might be going insane. She's suggested that I go get more "professional" help but I know that she really means I should go to the Asylum. She started making the phone call to the main office to get me scheduled for an appointment at that god forsaken asylum, so I grabbed her arm and said in a hush, desperate voice "please, don't"