Skip This Creepypasta

I don’t have much time to explain. You have to hear me out urgently, it’s very important that you do so. I have, for the past couple of weeks, heard of something being passed around on the internet. A simple message that you will stumble upon when you least expect it. According to the people that have been passing around the rumours, when you receive this message you will die soon after reading. Frozen with an intense look of horror upon your face, staring with clouded eyes at whatever attacked you. As any sane person would I believed all this to be nonsense, as you do.

According to rumours the message is similar to a virus. Unlike its more devious counterparts the message spreads one thing, death. Apparently it’s quite structured and concise, seemingly innocent. Some have even hypothesised that the message has a consciousness, as odd as that sounds. That it is an entity roaming about the internet looking for human prey. It can take many forms, a post on a social forum, perhaps being read out in a video. It may even be posing as an innocent story intended to entertain or scare readers.

What’s so brilliant about this message is the fact that you rarely realise when you’ve stumbled upon it. It lures you in like prey, tricking you by conveying a feeling of trust. Creating this immediate partnership with the narrator, that they are looking out for you. This is not the case. You may be a quarter of the way through the message already and not even realise it. And even when you do finally catch on to what’s happening you won’t leave. You can’t leave, because there is some fundamental belief in humans that these things can’t be real. That these ‘demonic entities’ only exist in the imagination, in movies and horror films. Even those more switched on than the rest, those who catch on quickly will still remain regardless, despite the warning signs.

The ‘entity’ has adapted itself to the human world you see. It has listened, watched and taken in everything around it. Regarding the behaviour of its prey, what do they fear? What do they seek? What are their weaknesses? An attempt to form the greatest means of killing humans it can muster. And it succeeded. The internet. What better place? Millions of people tune in everyday, on their phones, computers, laptops. And humans are stupid as well. Stupid because they won’t believe in such things, they have be raised in such a way to regard anything paranormal as make believe. Like fools they will pass around the demonic message to each other, showing their friends how ‘weird’ or ‘cool’ it is. After all, why should you fear something if you do not believe in it?

It would blend in perfectly as well. Think of it, a message that has comments like all the rest, perhaps even a rating. A post that has likes from humans expressing their enthusiasm for it. A video that perhaps seems like any other, with a narrator that is unwittingly dooming listeners and themselves. The prey will idiotically create the perfect disguise in this way, aiding the demonic entity in its efforts.

The message itself even uses language devices to attract the prey. Similar to how a carnivorous plant may draw a fly to its death. Devices such as reverse psychology are used in the title. The fact that the narrator feigns fear or panic in the first opening sentences to intrigue. As the message continues the humans will realise that the narrator is in fact the malicious entity they had heard about.

You must have realised by now that this is the message. Will you leave the page? No, you won’t. That’s what’s so fiendishly brilliant about it. A little bit more to go and you’re all powerless to leave, powerless to stop your eyes passing from word to word. You see there’s no way humans can resist the urge to find out how this message will conclude. Even afterwards you may still refuse to believe, will still cast away any fearful thoughts. This can’t be real. These things are never real. It’s just designed to frighten me…

You’ve been occupied now for approximately three minutes. During that time you have licked your lips subconsciously once. Wiped your brow, even scratched an itch on the back of your neck. You didn’t notice you had done all this. But I did. How? Because I have left out one big gap in the story. What is it that kills you? The message itself? Oh no. The message is a distraction. You don’t notice things when you are so captivated by something. Your scratches and itches are one thing, but did you not see your door open briefly? Did you not hear that rustle as something slid into your room? It has already moved into position, just out of sight, and has been watching your movements for a while. You have until you turn off your computer, then it will attack.

Oh, and feel free to warn others about this. Not that they’ll listen. Seeing a warning that reads ‘leave the page now!’ will just spark further curiosity.