Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-28058290-20160528075843

I don't normally play open world games because I prefer to have set quests and missions when I play so that I know exaclty what I do and don't wander around aimlessly looking for something to do. But after my sister Sally died and my parents decided to give me her computer I noticed a game on the homescreen called "RealmTours." My sister and I used to always bond over playing videogames and simply talking about them but she never mentioned having this so I clicked on it. Rather than going into some kind of menu or displaying the titles of the companies that created the game it just went straight to a playable character, giving me the impression that this may have been a homemade game.

Oddly enough the screen didn't have anything on it other than a small box for chatting with anyone else playing at the bottom. There were no side maps, health indicators or anything that you would immediately find on an open world game except for the discussion bar which seemed pointless because there were no other characters in sight. The only buttons that seemed to do anything were the arrow keys that enabled the character to move. The character was perculiar too because it was just a plain looking boy (or girl..I really couldn't tell) in a blue jumpsuit.

I don't know why but I kept "playing" this game. Maybe it was like having another conversation with my sister about our love for videogames. All I could do was walk around this map that seemed to regenerate the medicore graphics over and over with nothing different appearing. It was just a continuos area that seemed to look like a desert with hills that went on. I don't know what interested Sally in this game. It was boring and beyond repetitive. After about nine minutes I stopped to turn the TV on and likely would've exited the game if not for a drum-like sound that came from the computer. I looked at the screen and saw a line of dialogue appear in the discussion bar from someone named "User_003" saying, "Have you found my castle yet?" I was intrigued that someone else was actually playing and curious that there may be more in the map so I repsonded with "No. I didn't know there were any." I noticed that my player appeared as "User_002" These are the words we exchanged after that.

User_003: I found it, it's really cool. Me: Where is it? I literally just started playing this for the first time 10 mins ago. User_003: I've been playing this for the longest time. It's my favorite. Is it your favorite? Me: It's ok so far. I didn't know there were castles in this game all I've seen is hills. User_003: There's a lot more here than you can see :) Me: That's good. User_003: I like you. Wanna exchange pics??

This was when I knew it had to be a bot. They always randomly message you and act friendly until thy bring up links to click that instantly fuck up your profile or computer. I usually like to play along to make a fool out of them so I continued.

Me: Yeah bro! Give me your address and I'll send you a telegram of a coke bottle! User_003: No I want something else.. Me: Oh I get it..you want a pepsi photo instead? User_003: I don't like how your attitude is.. I want to send pics like this...

A picture of a child holding a red balloon while smiling appeared. Usually when people send pics over these games they appear as links you have to open so this was rather interesting unlike the picture itself. It was totally normal, for all I knew he took it from Google images. However the boy looked like the smile was somewhat forced.

Me: Sorry but I don't really have pics like that... User_003: You mean you don't have any brothers or sisters? Me: That's your brother? User_003: He's someone's brother, yeah. Me: Who's? User_003: Can't remember..been a while. So you do have borthers or sisters? Me: My sister died a month ago. User_003: Oh. How so? Me: A car crash. Her and some friends. User_003: Oh.

I didn't know if this guy was a bot or not but he actually started to creep me out a little bit. I looked around the screen to find his avatar but realized there wasn't any in sight. Another picture appeared in the box. This time it was of an older girl who looked around 16. She looked very beautiful, dressed in some kind of prom gown and wearing expensive looking makeup. She wasn't in a beautiful setting, though. It looked like some abandoned industrial room. Unlike the last picture, this person was smiling legitimately and it looked like she was having fun doing wahtever.

Me: Who is that? User_003: She's gorgeous, isn't she? She was drunk. Really, really drunk.. Me: But who is she? User_003: Stop trying to figure out who your next fuckbuddy can be I'm trying to show you something.

What the fuck? I honestly was curious about this guy but att he same time I was creeped out enough to leave. I scrolled my mouse over the top of my screen but saw no "X" in the right corner appear. Out of the corner of my eye I saw another picture flash on the discussion board but didn't look at it. I was ready to go. I pressed ALT + F4 but it didn't do anything. Frsuterated, I grunted and looked at the picture for the hell of it and saw something pretty unpleaseant. It was the same prom girl from the last picture except she was laying on her stomach with a number of fresh bleeding scratches on her shoulders and neck and as well as having a large portion of the back of her dress ripped. She definitely wasn't smiling, etiher. She looked like she was crying but her mascera wasn't running down her face so she had to have just been attacked within seconds. I didn't know what the hell to do I should've just turned the computer off but something blocked that idea out. I thought all I could do was talk some more..

Me: ....wtf leave me alone Im getting off. User_003: You don't wanna see more pretty pictures? Me: No I fucking don't!

He kept messaging me wih shot sentences but I didn't even glance at them I was so bent on getting out of this goddamn game. As  I ran the mouse across the screen to find any indicator of an exit I noticed that the map was ten times darker than earlier and my avatar was no longer in some desert but in some kind of dirty classroom with only desks and no whiteboard or even a door. I didn't care whether or not I could still move. A giant bold text appeared and I felt compelled to read it.

User_003: YOU CAN'T LEAVE! STAY OR YOU'LL REGRET IT! Me: Please just leave me alone. User_003: I'm just trying to show you pictures. I love pictures, don't you? Me: What happened to her? User_003: I don't have any pictures of that but I wish I did...it was SPECTACULAR! :) Me: Were you there?? User_003: Don't you wish you were there, buddy ;) Me: Bye User_003: Fine, ok! Just one more picture, ok?

I didn't know what to say. This guy was obviously some disutbred basterd trying to play some sick game on me. I knew this picture would be the worst yet but I wanted him to leave me alone so bad. Before I could answer I saw the indicator that he was typing. I closed my eyes and heard the drum sound signaling the picture had been sent. I opened my eyes and saw it....

After a few seconds of gasping I slammed my hands on the keyboard to type something but a little message popped up saying "User_003 has gone offline."

My hands were shaking and my breathing was shallow. I looked everywhere but the screen so I coldn't see the picture. I shook my head in denial and looked down at the keyboard to hide my face from it. That's when I saw the power button and practiclly smashed it and kept it pressed until the screen finally went to black.

I closed the laptop and sat there for a few minutes trying to collect myself if I could. I mustered the courage to tell my parents what had happened. They thought I had made it up and was trying to make some cruel joke. They told me to show them.

We all went into my room and I opened my laptop and turnd it on. I waited anxiously as a dot cirlced around and around to signify that the screen was loading. It finally stopped and went straight to my homescreen but the wallpaper was not the friendly bunny picture it was earlier. It was the last picture the guy showed me.

My dad put his hand over his mouth while my mom started crying in his shoulder. I couldn't look away this time.

There Sally was, her head was pricked with glass and hanging out of the broken car window, barely hanging from her torso. Blood was coming out of so many places in her face that I could barely see her lips are nose. All I could make out were how her eyes were. They looked like they still had a soul in them, like she wasn't quite dead yet. Through the blood and scars I could see she was looking at us, at whoever took the pcicture. She had nothing but dread in her eyes. 