I saw my dead friend online on XBOX.
Where do I even start? I am scared, and for all I know, I am screwed. Typing this is my only way of coping with this situation. I can’t even leave the house until the police arrive, especially when HE is outside. The police are taking forever, and eventually, that front door won’t hold it anymore.
I should’ve never messaged my friend (Alex) back, especially since he is very much dead. “Alex” messaging me should’ve been the first red flag. Anything related to Alex still hurts to talk about. Part of me believes that his death was definitely not a suicide. We were close, and I knew him to be an enthusiastic, funny person. People say that being funny can be a mask for depression but I knew this wasn’t the case. We made all sorts of promises that we’d have eachothers back.
He suddenly vanished for weeks, and then they ‘found’ his body in a nearby river near his house. Apparently, nature took its toll on his body and we couldn’t even see him for the last time. My parents started to cry for him, and I can’t even start to imagine the pain of his parents. Alex’s parents couldn’t talk about his death, and most of us believed that it was because of grief.
After his funeral, after I said goodbye, my parents received a strange visit from a man in a black suit. My parents refused to talk about it, my mom seemed to ask other questions about anything else, my dad straight up got angry. I often wondered if we were in any sort of danger.
We moved just two weeks after the funeral. It was sudden. My dad came home with a worried look, and said to my mom that it was ‘time’. We left most of our belongings behind. There was no time to say goodbye to our friends/family. I packed my backpack with clothes and other valuable things.
I distinctly remember yanking my xbox at the last second, and jolting towards the door. Everything I had done with my friend was held within the xbox, and I couldn’t possibly leave it behind. “What took you so long?”, my mother asked. I didn’t respond, and we left the house and headed straight towards the car, while the dinner on the table was still warm. My father didn’t tell me where we were going.
We spent days on the road, driving and driving. Eventually we reached a home, a lone building near the coastline. The house was big and already furnished. It was beautiful
A year after Alex’s death, we lived in a new home, across the country in California. We originally lived in Pennsylvania. My parents still refused to talk about anything related to Alex. I was playing on my xbox, Rainbow Six Siege. A game me and Alex used to play all the time. Whenever I would scroll through my friend list, I would see his name on the top, listed as favorites. “GudTymez211”, was Offline forever. He would never come back. Or at least I thought.
My parents were always looking for something. They were always cautious
My parents left for a business trip. It was urgent, and apparently really important. So I had the house for myself, but before they left, they told me if I felt like I was in any danger, the shotgun was in the basement.
I was playing a casual game, when Alex messaged me. I froze. Confusion, and terror washed over me. Immediately I thought: “Alex can’t actually be messaging me”. I left the game, and opened the message.
“Hola” he messaged. The text in a bubble of green. Me: “Who are you?”
GudTymez211: “I’m Alex. Long time no see! You already forgot about me?”
Me: “You aren’t Alex, Alex has been dead for a year.”
GudTymez211: “Ah, yes, I am 100% dead, you are talking to a zombie :skull emoji:”
Me: “Whatever you are doing with my friend’s account, this isn’t a funny joke. You need to stop. “
GudTymez211: “lol”
I started to type ‘stop’ when he sent me an invitation to join the party (which is a group call you can do on xbox). It was very horrifying. I was nervous about what would happen if I actually opened the invitation, so I declined it. He sent another invitation. Then another.
Curiosity got the better of me, and I opened the invitation, expecting it to be some sick joke. Oh, I wish It had been. Just an ear-hurting symphony of painful noises. At first it was ‘silly’ sounding noises, noises that would be used in some-sort of cartoon. Then it became sounds of low-pitched screaming and distortion. All of the noises were as loud as my headset could produce. Within ten seconds after I joined the party, the noises stopped. It became noises of heavy-angry breathing.
I took off my headset and ran to my phone, which was charging in my bedroom. My parents needed to know. The phone was already on. On it were multiple notifications.
My dad texted: “YOU NEED TO LEAVE THE HOUSE IMMEDIATELY”. Following that message was: “HE FOUND YOU”.
Below the text messages were notifications from Ring, and a lot of them too. The first few were, “There is motion detected at your doorbell cam”, “There is motion detected at your Driveway” and “There is motion detected at your Backyard”.
I left my room and looked outside, and a man stood in the middle of the road. He looked like he was staring at me, and he was holding something. His appearance was dark as the orange streetlight illuminated the surroundings. He started to walk closer.
The light of the house slowly veiled his figure. A man with a huge, threatening grin. His eyes were wide, and void. He looked to be a middle-aged white man. He wore a black trench coat, and a brown fedora. His wide eyes looked up to me.
I was paralysed in fear. Who the hell is that? What is he holding? Is that a gun? His arms raised towards the window like he knew I was there, and shot a couple rounds, the ear piercing noises, unmistakable sounds of a bullet popping with each bullet. The glass shattered, and I sprinted towards my room and locked the door. I had no time to get the shotgun.
I called the police, but all I heard was the strange, loud noises. I tried calling my mom, my dad, anyone really. All of them kept transferring to that forbidden noise. The noises I heard on the Xbox.
Right now, I am inside my room, underneath the bed. The door kept pounding, but then a big banging noise blasted throughout the house. Then I got a notification from Ring informing me that the “Entry Delay is in process”. Another notification came from an unknown number.
“Found You :)”. My bedroom door was slammed open. Shit.