I am in deep trouble. My name is David, and I am 17 years old. And, I am in deep, deep trouble.
It all started on my Discord server, where I would hang out with some friends after school. You know, the usual stuff. In the past weeks, we had mainly been discussing creepy things on the internet and fooling around. We were constantly trying to one-up each other with the scariest creepypasta, ARG, or whatever we stumbled upon. As you probably know, there is horrific content out there, with layers upon layers of disturbing stuff for people to explore. I knew two of the guys from the Discord server in real life, and another guy joined us when we were looking for teammates to play some more competitive games. That’s how it all started. I think you get the picture.
This evening, after sharing some disgusting links to pages supposedly from the dark web (yes, I know they were fake), the others logged off earlier for various reasons. So, I was left alone, browsing through some sickening pictures of weird creatures in a forest and their alleged victims when a new unkown user entered.
At first, I was taken aback because we usually kept the Discord server private. But when I heard a girl’s voice, I quickly grew worried. She spoke quietly, and her words were constantly interrupted by static. Nevertheless, I could understand the gist of what she was saying.
“David? David, are you there? Can you hear me?”
I shuddered and felt confused. How did she know my name? I should have immediately disconnected, but there was something strange and fearful in her voice that made me hesitate. Maybe one of the others had put her up to this to scare me?
“Yes, I can hear you. Barely. Do I know you?” I asked back into the microphone.
There was silence and static for some time, and then she replied, almost crying.
“Thank God, I made it! I can’t do it alone! David, have you heard of a YouTube channel called SocietyofEB? Are you subscribed to it? This is very important!”
What? I had no idea what she was talking about. I quickly searched for the channel, but found no results.
“No, sorry, I don’t know that one. Who are you? What’s wrong? Who sent you?”
I was shaking. My brain screamed at me to disconnect immediately.
“David, you have to subscribe to that channel! You have to! I want to get out, I need your help! If I fail, it will get worse. It hurts. Please, you have to subscribe!”
What the hell was she talking about? I leaned back in my chair, feeling sick to my stomach.
“The channel doesn’t exist. I looked it up. It’s not there! Who are you? Tell me, or I will disconnect!” I told her firmly.
“NO! PLEASE, NO! “ she screamed. “You have to help me! This is not a game. I’m not trying to trick you. This is real! PLEASE!”
She was clearly distraught and seemed crazy, but there was genuine sorrow in her voice. I hesitated. Maybe I could calm her down? I had no clue how to do that exactly. Talking to girls wasn’t my strong suit, although they often tried to chat me up. Still, I mostly preferred to be alone. I didn’t enjoy socializing in general, as you probably guessed from how I spent my free time. Nevertheless, I wanted to help her.
Just as I was about to respond, she initiated a video call.
I stared at the symbol that had popped up. Should I answer? Was this a trick? Was she trolling me? I didn’t think so. But what would I be getting myself into? What would I see? Was she hurt? She had mentioned being in pain. I didn’t want to witness someone suffering. Sure, I had seen videos and pictures of mangled corpses—most likely fake—but I didn’t wish harm upon anyone in real life. I didn’t want to see someone bleeding out in front of me or in excruciating pain.
But she clearly needed help.
I answered the call.
Her webcam had poor quality, and I couldn’t make out much. The room behind her was dimly lit and dark. I saw one or two posters on the wall and a wardrobe, as well as the edge of a door, but not much else. Her face was illuminated by the light from her screen. She appeared to be a bit older than me, maybe around 20 or 21, though I was never good at guessing ages when it came to girls. Despite the stunning beauty she might be under normal circumstances, her appearance emitted a sense of dread.
She had a smooth face framed by long blonde hair and brightly colored red lips. It seemed like she had once cared a lot about her appearance, but now she looked as if she had been through hell. Her hair was unkempt, with strands resembling hay. Her eyes were green and radiant, but her eyeshadow had been washed away by tears, leaving dark stains all over her cheeks. However, the most horrifying thing was the dried blood that covered the left side of her face. Her features were contorted in pain, resembling a mask.
“What happened to you? What is going on?” I roared, confused by her appearance.
Should I disconnect the call? Should I call the police? I was home alone, but I could still use my phone.
“You… you can see me?” she asked in disbelief, while her image froze repeatedly, most likely due to a bad connection.
“Yes, I can see you. Please, calm down. I can see that you are in pain and afraid. But please, try to calm down. Where are you now? Are you in your room? Or are held captive? Who did this to you?”
The words poured out of me. I wanted to help her, but I didn’t know how. She started crying.
“Thank God, thank God, I think you’re real. If you’re real, you must help me!”
“Please, you have to calm down. Talk to me. Who are you? Where are you? Please, calm down and answer!” I said, trying to sound confident and reassuring.
“I… I’m Aubrey. I don’t know where I am. I just don’t know…”
She buried her face in her hands and started shaking.
“Okay, Aubrey. Calm down. I will help you. I promise. We will get you out of this situation. Just try to calm down. Take deep breaths…” I said, unsure if it would work, but I had to say something.
I had stopped considering disconnecting the call. I just wanted her to be safe.
“I… David… I don’t know where I am. This place… It’s horrible. It’s terrifying. There are things here… It has hurt me because I failed. I don’t want to fail again. I want to get out…”
She didn’t make much sense, but at least she was talking to me. Looking at the room she was in, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but she must have had a good reason to act the way she did.
“Can you open the door? I can see a door behind you. How is it locked? Can you try smashing it or using something as a lever to break it open?”
Her reply was accompanied by a desperate cry.
“The door… the door will open when I succeed. It gave me a task. I am supposed to contact you. You are supposed to subscribe to the channel. If you do, the door will open. Then I’ll have another chance to get out. Then maybe I can escape. So please, please, David, I don’t know who you are. I won’t try to manipulate you into this. I won’t tell you that you’re my hero or that I want to be with you to lure you in. But I’ll be stuck here if you don’t subscribe. You have to subscribe to the channel. Please. I don’t want to lie to you. I’ve lied a lot in my life, too much even, but this is not a lie: I want to get out of here. And you’re my only hope! Please, David. PLEASE!”
What the hell was she talking about? She sounded insane! That channel she was going on about didn’t even exist! I felt like she was somehow telling the truth, but man, what the hell? Why would the door to her room open if I subscribed? It made no sense! But I couldn’t abandon her. She was in pain. How could I live with myself if I left her?
“The channel you’re talking about doesn’t exist. I looked it up. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t help you!” I tried to explain.
She didn’t seem to hear me. She just buried her face in her hands and swayed back and forth.
Suddenly, I received a message on WhatsApp. It was a link. I could see it on the computer since I had connected my phone to the browser. The link contained weird symbols that might have been Cyrillic or Chinese characters and was quite long. Then, another message:
If you want to give HER a chance, click the link, LIKE the video and SUBSCRIBE. Otherwise, she will SUFFER. More than you can IMAGINE.
What the fuck was going on? What the fuck was this message?
The number it was sent from was hidden, but I tried to answer. However, I couldn’t input any text. The messenger wasn’t working properly, and after a few attempts, I realized that all I could do was click the link—the link to the channel.
“Aubrey… Aubrey, I think I received a link. I don’t know how; it popped up in my messenger… Aubrey, what the hell is going on?”
But she didn’t seem to hear me. She froze and suddenly leaned forward, her face covering almost the entire screen. I could see the terror in her eyes, but also a glimmer of hope.
“David, please, you have to click the link. It’s from my Friend, it has to be! You have to click it, please! I’m begging you!”
I still hesitated. I could just click it, or I could shut off the computer. She would be gone, disappeared into whatever hell she was experiencing right now. I could just leave her there. Maybe this was all just an act or a prank. But I would never know what happened to her, never know what became of her. Was someone holding her hostage? Was there some sicko who had locked her up and was playing mind games with her? Who or what had hurt her?
Still, I could just shut it all down…
But deep inside, I felt the urge to protect her. The urge to make things right and save her from suffering.
I clicked the link.
It led to a webpage, a YouTube channel with only 23 subscribers. It was called “SocietyofEB” and used a strange black dotted triangle as its symbol. There was no text, no content, just a small, insignificant channel.
Just a hoax?
“Aubrey, I see it, but it’s nothing. It’s just a pointless channel with no content!”
She didn’t seem to hear that. She started screaming.
“SUBSCRIBE! PLEASE, SUBSCRIBE! PLEASE!”
Her eyes pleaded with me. It felt as if she was peering into the depths of my mind through the camera.
My mouse hovered over the subscribe button.
“What will happen if I subscribe?” I asked her.
She hesitated, as if having a moment of clarity.
“I don’t know… You might get stuck too… But if you find me, we could try to escape together. I’ve encountered another person, once. Beyond the door. But it was… still, we might meet. We might be able to do it together…”
Okay, that was disturbing. It made no sense and warned me not to proceed.
“What happens if I don’t subscribe?”
She started crying again.
“I… it will hurt me again… My Friend will… It will…”
Her voice trailed off, drowned in sobs.
Should I subscribe? Should I help her? I could just leave her. I could shut everything down. But… what was supposed to happen anyway? I had read a lot of creepy stuff. I had watched scary videos, read horrifying stories. But all of that wasn’t real. There was nothing in the realm of supernatural entities or god-knows-what that could harm me or her. It had to be just some psycho, some asshole playing mind games.
I told myself that nothing would happen. That I might just be saving a girl. Do you think I should have acted differently? What would you have done?
I subscribed.
In an instant, she was gone. The call ended, and my screen turned black. Black as night, black as space.
I sat there, confused. Had I just infected my computer with a virus? Did she crash my PC? Dammit! When I looked up from my screen, I felt strange. My room appeared the same as always, yet different. I turned around. There was my bed, my wardrobe, my bookshelf. And a short distance away, my window.
But things had… changed. There were no clothes scattered on my bed. I had thrown some there when I returned from the swimming club at school. The blanket and pillows were gone too. The same went for the rest of the room. The furniture remained, but everything else was gone. No books on the shelves, no clothes on the floor. No pencils, pens, or papers on my desk. How had I not noticed this change? I stood up and went to the door.
It wouldn’t open anymore.
Not only that, but I couldn’t even press down the handle. It wouldn’t budge. Panic started to well up within me. I began to sweat. The air felt stale and old. It had never smelled like that in my room before, I swear!
The keyhole!
My keys were gone too, but at least I could peek through it. I knelt down and brought my face close to the keyhole. Darkness greeted me—just darkness. It was daytime, but I couldn’t see a thing. What the hell?
Daytime…
The window!
I spun around, feeling strangely trapped, but surely I could escape through the window! I could see the outside through the glass—a sunny day, with the fields behind my house brightly illuminated. I rushed over and tried to open the window.
It didn’t budge.
Not only that, but to my pure horror, I realized that I wasn’t looking at the outside of my house. All I saw was a glowing painting of what used to be outside my room, protected by unbreakable glass.
What the actual…!
That’s when panic truly set in. I had a bat in my wardrobe, but when I tried to retrieve it, I realized that the wardrobe wouldn’t open either. My carpet was immovable, as was my bed. It felt as if I was frozen in time, the only thing capable of action in the world.
When I looked back at my computer screen, I saw a message:
If you want to get OUT, you have to SPREAD the word.
What…? What the fuck was that supposed to mean? What the fuck?
I crouched down, attempting to shut the computer off. But I couldn’t move a thing—not the cables, not the power switch. Everything felt strangely static.
“How the fuck am I supposed to spread the word?” I roared, trying to pick up my chair and throw it at the screen, but of course, it didn’t move.
Strangely, I could still sit down on it and turn it, but each time I tried to pick it up, it froze.
Write this down. YOUR experience. Let others know. SPREAD the word.
I blinked at the new message. What the actual…?
This website opened—r/nosleep. It seemed like the only options available were to visit this subreddit or the weird channel I had subscribed to. Anything else simply didn’t work.
I don’t even know if you are real. I don’t know if I’m connected to the outside world through this website, through this post. I’ve written down everything that happened. I hope that’s what I’m supposed to do. Please, I beg you, please help. Spread it. I need support or… I don’t know what will happen.
I think back to the blood on Aubrey’s face. Was she real? Did something harm her? What was she talking about? Where am I? Oh god, I’m in so much trouble. Should I have just disconnected? Did I save Aubrey? Was she even real? Are you real?
Oh shit, I hope this post is really going on the internet. It might be my only way of reaching out, of contacting someone else. Just… It’s not too much to ask, is it?
Please, hurry. Please. I want to escape from here! I want to return to my real room! And… I also want to save Aubrey. What is happening? Help me. I’m in deep trouble…