I was walking home from school, excited because I had just finished my last day of Junior year; Only one more year of this bullshit I have to endure. I invited my friend Prince over so that we can play some super smash bros over at my house and chill, so we both walked home together, ready to have the best summer yet. Once we get to my house, I take off my backpack, turn on the T.V, and get ready to turn on the Nintendo switch.
Before I switched HDMI’s, an ad played on the television. “Are you almost done with school? Our company gives you the best opportunities for a great job with only a few steps!” I look at Prince and say, “Damn, that was very specific. They watching us or something?” We both laugh. He then responds, “Hey, that reminds me, doesn’t your phone have ad personalization?”
I looked down to my phone and said, “Oh yeah, it does have that. Know what, I’ll turn it on just to see what type of ads I get.”
He chuckled and had a face that told me that it was pointless to do that. But it’s whatever. I turn it on, sit on the couch, and we play the game for a while.
Two hours go by, he tells me he has to go home because his family are going out soon, and he has to be there already so that he can get dressed up in time. I’m like, “Cool”, dap him up, and he leaves to go home.
I go on YouTube, searching for a tutorial on how to set up the new home speaker I got for the living room T.V. As my eyes are locked to the screen, simultaneously setting up the speaker, an ad pops up. A lady in a white dress appears in the video. Annoyed, I wait for the skip button to pop up.
“Those Blue pants do not fit you, {Copyright} gives you the best deals on clothes that suits you perfectly” I quickly stopped doing what I was doing. “What the f…” I stop for a second. I get that nervous feeling in my stomach, butterflies all around, grasping what she just said. I then looked down at what I was wearing. A white shirt……and blue pants.
This was for sure just a coincidence. Right?
I then get over the strange feeling, brushing the ad aside and continuing on with what I was doing. A survey then appears on the screen. Confused as to how both advertisements popped up back-to-back, I read what it displayed.
“Are you home alone?”
I paused; That didn’t even feel as if it was an advertisement. “What the hell was that!?” I whispered to myself out-loud as I looked around the room. I thought it was some kind of joke YT was trying to play on me. Standing there confused, I start to feel funny.
My stomach filled with butterflies, I start to feel unsafe. Laughing it off, Trying to uphold myself, I click Yes. I continue with the speaker, thinking maybe it was just all in my head. The video was probably just a joke.
Finished with the setup, I walk inside my cozy all white kitchen, grab a delicious snack, and enter my room. I changed into some more comfortable clothes for the day. When I was changing pants, instead of going for another blue color, I went for red instead. You can probably tell I was getting paranoid.
Two more hours pass by. It’s getting dark outside, I’m home alone for the rest of the night, and I’m anxious. I don’t know, for somebody who barely gets anxious over little things, that survey didn’t sit right with me. I even considered filing a report on it just because it felt as if it was wrong for that ad to even exist. But, maybe I was just overreacting.
Finally getting over it, I take a nap on my bed.
I usually watch relaxing videos as I fall asleep, so YouTube was auto-playing in the background.
I woke up from my nap, which wasn’t long at all, to something that nearly made me jump out of bed.
I open my eyes. My phone is sitting up, in a position so that I can easily watch without having to hold it. I looked at the screen to see the same white dress lady, but she wasn’t the same. Pale Skin, Messy and patchy hair, wide grin, wide eyes. No, she did not look like Momo; Much smaller face actually looked like a human, and her teeth were showing.
In a panic I take my phone, throw it off the bed, and run out the room. I tried to turn on one of the lights out of fear, but they seemed to not work. I thought the power was completely out until-
“…50% off of your first ever purchase!”
I turn around. As I’m walking through the dark hallway, leading into the living room, the sound gets closer and closer. I thought I turned the T.V off. There it is, an advertisement for an online store. Considering this is the first normal ad I’ve seen today, I was more concerned about how the T.V got turned on.
*Click*
The T.V then turns black. I’m confused as to why this happened, until the television turned back on. A video then pops up with a black background and white letters. Nothing else. The words displayed as this.
Check your phone
Incredibly agitated, I listen anyway, and go to my room. I slowly picked up my phone off the ground, and saw that the lady was gone. A survey then pops up on my phone.
“Are you scared?”
I froze for a moment. Completely stressed out, out of anger, I click No. The screen switches to another survey.
“Do you think you’re alone?”
I click yes.
“You’re not”
I completely freak out and run out the room. I bring my phone with me, because even if these freaky ads are playing, I can still communicate with other people. I then look at the T.V, it shows different words than before. This time, it’s even worse.
“Look Behind You”
I didn’t even look to see what it was, I straight bolted out of my house. I called my parents and the cops. The cops were there in minutes, my parents needed a few hours. Once the police got there they investigated my place. Expecting them to find the ads on the T.V, power not working, and history on my phone, maybe they can tell me what actually happened, or if they can even know what happened.
I’m sitting on the porch, away from the house, with my phone in my hand. They come out and ask me for my name, parent’s name, and school. They followed these questions with, “Kid, we did not find anything on the television, and the lights are working completely fine.” Confused, I turn around.
Indeed, I can see the lights completely on from outside just by looking through the window. I go inside, look at the T.V, and it’s working just fine. No weird ads even when the commercial is on, channels are working, no static; What the hell is going on?
“But sir look through my ad history and my recent surveys they’ve been giving me. But again, no records found. Nothing. I start to feel paranoid. After investigating a little more, they drove me over to the police station, where I waited for a few hours for my parents to get there. They seemed worried about me, and when I told them what happened, they seemed to believe me. My parents are very understanding people and they trust me more than anybody.
But as I was talking to them I realized something. I went into my room, searched through my settings, and turned off my ad personalization. This was truly a curse. It didn’t only affect my phone, but it also affected my T.V. I didn’t believe in the supernatural before that, but now, I don’t know. It’s even scarier if it was a real person. Were they watching me?
A few days pass, and I’m talking to my friend Prince about what happened before he left. He was surprised and told me things would have gone differently if he was there. We both have a laugh, and I end the call, followed by going to use the bathroom. Once I came back my phone started to tweak out.
A survey then popped up
This time there wasn’t a question or statement, just yes or no. There was no option to skip, so I clicked No. This was followed by a picture; Of not only my house, but the side that has my room on it. Now every time I see a survey or an ad, I jump; Because deep down, I know, It’s not over.