In normal circumstances I would love nothing more than to game all night with my friends. Consoles? PC? Absolutely.
My reality, unfortunately, doesn’t give me that opportunity often. Accepting a job with incredibly early hours, coupled with my apartment constantly being occupied by my brother’s friends or his girlfriend, doesn’t always give me the TRUE privacy to game all night. I have plenty of friends who are either unemployed, work much later in the day, or otherwise have more free time.
So when the rare chance that my brother decided he wouldn’t bring anybody over and that he would spend his Friday night at his girlfriend’s place, I knew what needed to be done.
I turned on the PS5, got a couple of friends to do the same, and had myself a cozy but entertaining gaming session.
I swear, the minute I turned 27, the whole “night life” scene was shrinking in the rear-view mirror. Nearly gone are the days of overspending on drinks in a sardine can of sweaty, drunk, and rowdy 20 year olds that you can barely hear over the bumping of music you can listen to at home. Get me a couple drinks from the mini-fridge, slip into some comfy clothes, and escape into whatever game we end up playing with people I actually know and enjoy.
But I’m not barricaded in my bathroom, writing to a bunch of strangers about how “gaming is the best and nightclubs are for bozos.”
No, I’m in here because of what happened in the past several hours, and any information that I can get my save my damn life.
I had checked the time after we had lost my third match in a row: 12:19AM.
“I dunno, man,” I groaned. “It’s getting a bit late for me.”
“Don’t you dare!” I heard Bill’s voice blare through my headset. “You already know what I’m about to say.”
I opened up another drink, staring at my TV, my PS5 whirring in anticipation the quote Bill always would in these trying times:
“We can’t end on a loss” we said in unison. That didn’t stop Stephen from bailing earlier, but I figured one more game couldn’t hurt.
We plowed through one more bounty hunt in Hunt:Showdown, and quite honestly, I had a blast, It felt good to be so comfortable, so rare.
After successfully ending on a win, I decided that was a wrap and said my goodnight to Bill. I laid on the couch for almost an hour after saying goodbye to Bill and turning off the PS5, simply relaxing. My troubles were gone for the day, and even though it was only a few steps away, thinking about curling up in my bed made it feel that much more exciting. I savoured the moment for a little longer.
I began my bedtime ceremony. Something grabbed my attention while I was brushing my teeth.
“Hello?” I heard come from the living room. It sounded familiar. Did I leave the ps5 on by accident? Was it Bill, or maybe Stephen?
I crept into the living room to investigate. My console wasn’t on, so I could rule out my initial theory.
My TV, however, was on. It had that weird sort of black screen that makes you do a double take as to whether or not its actually online, but the little blue light on the bottom of the screen was indeed on.
“Must’ve double tapped the power button…” I grumbled to myself, reaching for the remote in the dark.
“Please…no…” I heard whimpering from the TV. Confused and unnerved, I shut the TV off and sighed.
Then it turned back on. I turned it off, again.
Once again, it turned back on.
“The hell?” I asked myself in the dark. The TV began showing something on the screen.
Slowly fading in, it looked like the shape of a face.
“Hello. I am here.”
Whatever was on screen spoke. Spoke to me.
“I want you. I want to play with you.” The voice started warping and sounding more uncanny. I tried shutting it off again.
“I will.” It said. Then, it seemed like it had shut off for good this time. I was still a little frozen and uncomfortable from the whole thing.
“You’re still here?” It spoke in a familiar voice that left me feeling more fearful than relieved.
It began speaking in my voice.
“I knew you would…”
The TV flashed, displaying my face but…wrong. My eyes were the wrong colour, and my mouth wasn’t that wide.
“The game will start in thirty seconds,” it said to me. Its eyes, or “my” eyes followed me as I paced around frantically.
“Screw this!” I eventually snapped out of my daze and yanked the TV’s power from the wall. It seemed to shut down for good.
I heard my own voice laughing, it sounded like it was in the walls itself.
I booked it to the bathroom and locked myself inside.
What the hell was it doing? How did it have my voice?
I did my best not to doze off, but eventually I did, momentarily.
I heard a thud from outside. I heard footsteps. Scratches against the walls, lights being turned off and on in other parts of my apartment.
“Where are you?” the thing asked, in my voice.
“Where are you hiding?” it asked shortly after, its voice sounding like it was overlapping. There was only one of them out there, I would’ve hoped.
It’s been like this for three hours. I don’t want to engage with whatever is out there. It may have my voice, but it sure as shit ain’t me.
I’m hoping it’ll be gone by morning. I don’t want to fall asleep in case it finds me. I don’t know what’ll happen to the apartment, or my brother if he returns in the morning.
Has this happened to anybody else before?