When I was in 8th grade I was huge into video games, so was my buddy, Caleb. it was 2012 at the time so my favorite thing to play was easily Far Cry 2. Me and Caleb would crank out hours on that game at sleepovers, we were fanatics. when we heard the 3rd game was coming out we were ecstatic. The only problem was that my parents never really wanted to spend extra money to get a video game around release date, so I’d have to wait until Christmas time to get it. I was disappointed upon hearing this, because as a 13-year old, I didn’t want to wait that long to get a video game. At school I asked Caleb if he wanted to help me scrape up enough money to get the game as soon as possible, he told me that he’d try his best so we could play the game together, I could just imagine how awesome it would be.
2 Months later, Far Cry 3 finally released. The following week at school Caleb rushed up to me in the hallway. “I can get us the video game” Caleb exclaimed, “what? Far Cry 3?” I asked. “My neighbor a few houses down said he’d sell a bunch of DVD’s and Discs, including Far Cry 3, for a really cheap price, Dude, its a no-brainer!” I could feel butterflies in my stomach after hearing Caleb say this, I got loose cash from home and walked to Caleb’s house, I gave it to him. “I’ll have the game by tomorrow” he told me. I was really hoping this wasn’t just a scheme for him to take my money, but I took his word for it and ran back home. As I walked past my living room I saw my Dad watching TV, “Missing Family of 4 found dead, Authorities baffled” The reporter went on saying that their bodies were found gutted open by a creek, and that the perpetrator was still at large. at the time I didn’t think much of it, but now that memory makes me queasy. Later that night I lied in bed, I could hardly contain my excitement for tomorrow.
At school the next day Caleb walked up to me, he unzipped his backpack, it was filled with CD’s and DVD’s he pulled out one of the discs, the art on the disc read “FAR CRY 3” my jaw dropped. After school we ran to my place as fast as we could, Caleb spilled the CD’s on the ground, we found the right one and popped it into my Playstation. the game was everything we imagined, we played for hours until Caleb had to go home, I nicely stacked the other Disc’s and DVDS and put them in a cabinet, I carefully took out Far Cry 3 and placed it on top of all the others, I slept well that night. Over the next few years, We went too High school, me and Caleb would share the disc, play together, try out cheat codes, we even beat the game 2 different times, but me and Caleb were growing distant As we approached the end of High School. I started focusing on other things besides video games. Even a Far Cry 4 came out, but I really just didn’t care much for games that much any more.
Before I knew it I was off to College, I completely forgot about Far Cry, I guess It just completely slipped out of my mind. When I was a Senior in College Thanksgiving was rolling around, my parents invited me over for Thanksgiving, I agreed. I drove over and as I stepped back in to my childhood home a wave of nostalgia hit me. all my fond memories started coming back to me, and of course, I started remembering my obsession with video games, I asked my Dad about them and he told me that he put all my discs and old DVD ‘s in grocery bags in the garage, I grabbed all of them and hauled them down to the basement, where my old Playstation and DVD player was. I felt like a kid again, booting up the engine and plopping Far Cry 3 in. I replayed all of the starting missions, I reminisced how good of a friend Caleb was, and of course, how fun the game was, relatives started arriving and I had to put the game down, as I was walking towards the stairs I tripped on one of the grocery bags, about 10 DVD’s spilled across the concrete floor. I thought that it might be cool to see what other content was on those discs, so I though I’d watch them after dinner.
After dinner I rushed downstairs, I looked at the DVD’s on the floor and realized I never actually found out what was in them as a kid, so I pushed in one of the DVDs into my old DVD player, it was just black for a few seconds until a grainy looking image of a table in a light yellow room popped up, a man walked up and started placing objects onto the table, it looked like a few different knives. I was confused, The man’s face wasn’t visible. suddenly the Recording ended, I put in a second DVD hoping for more context, This time it looked like it was the same yellowish room, except it was a chair instead of a table, but then I noticed something mildly disturbing, there were bonds attached to the arms of the chair. The recording ended. I was curious enough to push in a 3rd DVD, This time it was a recording of someone walking in an alleyway, the camera panned to an image of a gutted dog lying on the concrete, all the color in my face drained. Whoever was holding the camera started laughing. the recording stopped. I was so sickened and shocked, but I had to see what was on the other DVD’s, I pushed in a fourth one, This one started with a woman screaming, she was in the Yellowish room, the person holding the camera was brandishing a knife and slowly walking towards her. I felt sick to my stomach. I closed my eyes as I heard the sickening sound of the woman being slashed at, I slowly opened my eyes. The picture was black but it then quickly cut to an image of a family of 4 lying gutted in some sort of swamp, I threw up everything I had eaten. I immediately ripped out the disc, I had no idea what to do next.
I decided to call the cops, as they arrived I stammered out all the information about the DVD’s, how I got them during my childhood, how I never watched them before. The police took the DVD’s, I explained to my parents what was going on, The cops left but they told me to stay at my parent’s house. my parents comforted me as I spent the night. The following day the Police brought me in for questioning, they told me that the DVD’s used to belong to a serial killer active in 2012, they even tracked down Caleb to confirm some of their suspicions. To my relief, the cops told me they had caught the killer in 2013, it turns out Caleb’s neighbor from a few houses down was the killer. I then remembered…The news report, how unimportant it was to me at the time, I felt so sickened.
I still don’t know why that sick freak gave Caleb DVD’s with his own murder’s recorded in them.
Me and Caleb still haven’t spoken again.
I still wonder what was on the other 6 DVD’S.
I Obviously was never the same again, I had nightmares for weeks, my therapist told me it helps to write out your feelings, so here I am.