My name is Gaven Morrison II. I live in [REDACTED]. The following you’re about to read will have you doubt the reality of the nature I am about to experience. There’s no hope left for me, as this thing will take me away with it for as long as it wants.
It all started on January 4th, 2014. I’ve just turned 12 years old and my lovely parents bought me a brand new GameCube in celebration of my birthday. I was a smart mouthed, grumpy kid; I’ve barely had any semblance of a social life, let alone friends. Despite this tragic reality, I’ve learned to adapt and make do with what I’ve got.
Upon receiving the system, I was completely astounded; I was a lower middle class kid at the time, so the idea of being gifted a gaming console was a complete turn of tables for the position I was in. I relished the beautifully well-polished console’s smoothness with just the tip of my index fingers.
“Well, Jr., don’t break it. You know I won’t be able to replace it anytime soon. That thing didn’t just cost me a finger.” My old man said in his thick New York accent. My old man and I have lived together ever since the wife (my mother) passed away. I’ve never really enjoyed her presence since she was quite often abusive towards us.
I’ve noticed that the console had no games that came with it. My dad shrugged and told me that the procurement of the games would be my burden to bear, and so it was, unfortunately. I’ve asked my dad if I could tag along with him at his plumbing job just to make a quick buck for the games. He stared at me in slight disbelief and surprisingly granted my request. Of course, he’d be doing most of the lifting considering the fact that I have no experience in his line of work.
The next morning or so, we drove to one of his customers’ apartments to get started on work. Upon ringing the doorbell, the customer, whose name is irrelevant, answered the door. “Are you guys the plumbers?” She asked.
“Oh, you mean us with the plungers and equipment? No, no, of course not.” My dad remarked. I snickered at the sudden remark, despite the customer’s negative reaction. Anyway, we made our way into her house. As my dad worked his magic, I noticed a box of assorted CDs for a variety of games. One game that caught my attention was Pokémon Channel for the GameCube.
“How much would you be willing to get for this?” I asked the customer. She sighed heavily. “Feel free to take it.”
I looked at her puzzled. I raised a brow at the sudden comment. “So you’re letting me take this game free of charge? No terms and conditions apply? No catches I should be made aware of?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “No, no, of course not. That game belonged to my daughter who mysteriously disappeared. But if you want it that bad, it’s all yours.”
“Was this her?” I politely asked the customer, revealing a small picture I found inside the Pokemon Channel case. She began tearing up and hugged me suddenly. I obviously felt like shit for reminding her about her missing daughter.
Despite my grumpy personality, the tone in her voice with her choice of words attacked me emotionally. I had no idea what to say other than thank you for the free game. My dad coincidentally finished fixing up the customer’s leaking pipes and we went home.
I honestly couldn’t have been more excited. You remember that one Spongebob episode where Plankton thought Mr. Krabs willingly gave him the formula to the Krabby Patty? Yeah, it felt like that.
Anyway, even though it was just one game, I wasn’t going to complain. Back then, it was a pain in the ass to obtain games when the concept of video gaming was still in its infancy. Besides, this one was free of charge and looked promising! I was sure I’d have a blast with it.
The game started up and prompted me to a saved file. “Continue with BRVR?” “Huh.” I said to myself. The game was obviously used, but that name for the Pikachu looked odd. I was debating whether to make a new file or continue the previously used one. Out of plain curiosity, I opted to continue the previously saved file just to see what the game entailed and what the previous owner’s progress was.
“BRVR is happy to see you!” the game said. I used the joysticks to comfort the little Pikachu, and for some inexplicable reason, I felt a sense of affection towards the Pokemon despite him just being a virtually fictional character. Afterwards, the game shifted to BRVR doing tricks and him being all-out goofy. It was hilarious, actually. I had him fetch a shelf item and his attempt to climb the shelf had him idiotically fall down to the floor. I busted out laughing and comforted the creature.
Eventually, as I figured out more of the game’s mechanics and features, BRVR and I would go out for walks, eat together, sleep together, heck, I’d even listen to his beautifully ecstatic humming sounds. This was the absolute dream game for somebody my age and in my position. As socially sad as this may sound, I felt emotionally complete, knowing that I had a friend I could be with. At the time, it felt as if BRVR and I were inseparable.
It’s been weeks already since I’ve played Pokemon Channel. As you know, I had no social life whatsoever, so the game significantly compensated for my lack of friendships with others. Of course, as time goes on, people begin to outgrow numerous things. Fortunately, I wasn’t the exception to this rule. As time went on, I slowly began drifting away from the world of video games. My old man was making more money in the plumbing industry, and had gifted me my very first phone.
As I had my phone, I spent most of my personal time on it. The realm of social media and music was a complete change of events for me. I began listening to Drake, Future, and Juice WRLD. Along with my newly found hobby, I had also taken a heavy interest in PC gaming. It wasn’t long before I completely forgot about my youthful world I had with Pokemon Channel.
Like I said, I was growing up. I began socializing a lot more in school and met my closest homeboy Jerome. Shit, Jerome and I would often play basketball after school, go to parties with his group of friends and whatnot. I still miss that man to this very day. He made the true meaning of friendship all the more prominent for me.
One day, however, that very fateful day happened. Jerome and I had a dime of weed in our possession. I thought to myself that a lil weed with ya boy wouldn’t hurt, but my foolish self had thought my old man was still at work. My foolishness would spell the last day I’d ever see Jerome. My dad went to the backyard where we lit the small joint, and upon his sight of us, he dropped his tools and scolded the two of us without hesitation.
“Weed? Weed?! Are you fuckin’ kidding me? I ain’t raised you like this, man. He better not be here tomorrow, or the next day! I don’t want his ass anywhere near us or my property. Ya got that? If he shows up here again, I’ll call the cops on the both of you.” My dad exclaimed angrily. He went back to the house without saying a word.
I sighed heavily as I went back to my room. I wasn’t much in the mood to listen to music or hop on my PC; I was too emotionally struck from my dad’s sudden yet justified reaction. I felt completely hopeless. Then he called me, Jerome called me. He had to coincidentally transfer schools because he and his family were moving out of the state. We said our goodbyes to each other. I don’t feel like writing an emotionally dramatic novel over our departures.
I was planning on leaving my old man’s home once I found a decent job that’ll get me started on my adult life. I was cleaning out my closet until I noticed something that completely hit me with infinite waves of nostalgia: my GameCube!
I smiled to myself and grabbed the console. It was heavily dusty and still had Pokemon Channel in it, surprisingly. “Huh.” I said to myself. It was late at night and I had nothing better to do, so I had the console set up and grabbed some coffee. This blast to the past would surely ease my mind from what happened that day with Jerome.
The game started up as expected, but right away, it cut me to BRVR just sitting there with his back facing me. The casual music wasn’t playing at all; in fact, it was quite dead silent in our room. I just brushed it off as me stupidly tampering with the settings when I younger.
However, things have gotten quite peculiar.
BRVR finally turned to face me and shot me a grim look of disapproval instead of his typical optimistic face. A couple of seconds later, his expression turned to one completely devoid of any emotion. He shook his head at me. I raised an eyebrow wondering what might’ve been going on.
“You’re all the same.” BRVR said on the screen. I chuckled aloud. Did somebody somehow hack my game or something? If so, this night was going to be an absolute blast. I know for a fact that such dialogue BRVR stated was not added in the game. That statement was too dramatic for a kid’s game.
Tears were beginning to drop from BRVR’s eyes. “Is it funny watching your friend suffer?” the game said, as BRVR stared directly at me. I began feeling gusts of chills hitting my neck. I got up from my chair just to see what’d happen, and BRVR’s eyes were literally following me.
“What the fuck?” I exclaimed loudly. “I must be on drugs or something, because I know for a fact that this game is not talking to me.” I wasn’t scared, but completely perplexed that my GameCube is literally communicating with me.
“Can you hear me?” I asked quietly, having thought that I was making a complete fool out of myself for trying to speak to a virtual Pokemon character. My eyes widened with utter confusion when BRVR nodded his head at me. I did not know what to say. I didn’t know what to do at all. Once again, I bit my knuckle bewildered at the very idea that this game was interacting with me, a human being. An actual organism.
“What do you mean we’re all the same?” I quietly asked BRVR. He closed his eyes and quietly sobbed as he looked away from me. He returned his gaze at me, but this time, his eyes were pitch black and had red pupils. BRVR then gave off a menacing smirk, baring his fangs at me.
I dropped the controller in absolute confusion. I burst out laughing at my TV screen. “Oh, my god, this game is absolutely hilarious!” Without a second, my screen flickered with countless notifications.
“You’ve unlocked a Pikachu Doll Z! The Pikachu Doll Z has been displayed!” Announced the game approximately 25 times. Those Pikachu dolls were graphic in nature; they looked almost completely torn with dried blood stains all over their torsos and their fangs looked excruciatingly painful. It was almost too comical for me at this point. What the fuck was happening?
“Was that supposed to scare me?” I asked quietly to myself. BRVR stared at me menacingly again. “Oh, you’ll see. Just you wait.” He said in the game’s textbox. I was thinking of what to say. I had many, many questions. If this was actually happening, I wanted to suppress every burning question I had in mind.
“What do you mean we’re all the same, though? You still haven’t answered me yet.” I asked BRVR again.
“BRVR originally had an owner who cared for him just like you did. However, she too abandoned BRVR and left BRVR to rot on his own.” The game read to me. Honestly speaking, I didn’t really feel bad at all. I mean, yeah, I had memories with this game as a child, but it was just that – a game.
Suddenly, the screen flickered with a slideshow of a dead girl. Upon closer inspection of the gruesome aftermath, I automatically realized it was the customer’s daughter. My eyes widened with utter fear and confusion. The girl’s mutilated body looked like it had been haphazardly scratched at and eaten.
“What the fuck?!” I exclaimed loudly again, this time, disregarding the fact that my father’s upstairs sleeping. When was this system capable of producing such images? How was it even able to display them? How was “BRVR” even able to talk to me? Was this just all one fucked up dream? No. It definitely wasn’t.
BRVR still wouldn’t answer my questions of the mysterious capabilities he had with these images or his way of communicating with me. In fact, he wouldn’t even acknowledge me when I did ask him about them. I didn’t know what to do. I had to step out of my room to quickly recollect my thoughts. I felt like I had to regain my consciousness. What in the hell was happening?
“BRVR wants you to sit closer to the screen.” The screen read. Without much thought, I tried to turn off the game, but of course, it wouldn’t budge. “Piece of shit! I’m not gonna be on the hook for the electricity bill.” I said to myself.
I disconnected the TV and GameCube cables, yet the damned creature was still there, waiting for me. I looked back at him, rolling my eyes. We were directly staring at each other.
BRVR emerged victorious in our little staring contest, but I got up to yell at him. “I was a kid. What, you expected me to devote my entire life to you? Why haven’t you made it known that you are mysteriously capable of communicating with me? Do you realize how much fun I would’ve had knowing just that?”
He still wouldn’t answer me. He still held that same fixed expression of grimace. “BRVR wants to know if you left him to rot for a new friend.” The game read to me, giving me two options: O-yes X-no. I selected neither, got up and confronted him.
“You are being ridiculous. Did you somehow kill this girl? For ‘abandoning you?’ I’m leaving.” I commanded.
“No, no, no. You’ll be staying here with me.” BRVR said, in a creepy, high-pitched voice. I looked at him angrily. “No.” I replied firmly, as I went for my room door.
I attempted to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. I sighed and grunted angrily. I placed my hands on my waist and stared down at the ground. I grunted angrily again and made my way back to the seat.
“What do you want?” I asked BRVR, aggressively, staring into his demonic eyes. He creepily smiled, but much of his “horror tactics” weren’t working on me. It’s like that one Spongebob episode where the Flying Dutchman was trying to spook Spongebob, but Sponbebob wasn’t spooked at all.
I sighed heavily again and stared at BRVR. “Dude, you don’t scare me at all. In fact, like I’ve already told you, if I knew you were able to talk to me, I would’ve been playing with you the entire time.” I complained again, crossing my arms.
BRVR just stood there still, staring at me as he always does. He gave off this shit-eating grin as if he had a menacing plan in mind. My screen flickered again. This time, he was displaying a slideshow of my dad and me. Then the slideshow suddenly cut to pictures of my dad’s corpse. My dad’s literal corpse. His throat was literally eaten out, along with his arms desperately clinging onto it for one last breath before his utter demise. I gasped.
I yelled for my dad many, many times. No response. The door somehow finally opened on its own and I immediately went rushing for him. No trace of my old man was to be found. It’s as if every trace of his existence just suddenly vanished into thin air. Vamanos. I went back to my room.
BRVR flexed my dad’s severed head. The game literally displayed his head in the game’s graphics. I was at a complete loss for words at this point.
“BRVR wants to know if you like what he’s done to your loved one.” I was shaking uncontrollably; rage filling my every vein with a lust for murdering this abomination. I got up with my eyes fixed onto BRVR’s.
“BRVR WANTS YOU TO SUFFER THE SAME WAY HE DID.” The game read to me yet again, in all caps. I began sobbing to myself. My dad is dead. I wanted to destroy this damn thing.
“I dare you to come for me. When you do, I’m not going to just kill you, I’m going to ruthlessly beat the living shit out of you! I will have my foot on your head forcing you to eat the very dirt from the hell you came from, you murdering abomination! I will not display any fuckin’ ounce of mercy!” I spat venomously at BRVR; adrenaline was overwhelming each of my limbs, as I was expecting BRVR to retaliate.
Much to my surprise, he did not. In fact, he sat down and dropped my dad’s head. He began to cry tears of blood from his corrupted eyes. I did not back down, however. I wanted to make him suffer for mercilessly murdering my own damned father!
“3 DAY COUNTDOWN.” The game displayed.
“BRVR will give you 3 days to say goodbye to your loved ones.”
“What other loved ones?” I yelled aggressively.
“I’m not going to kill you. You deserve a fate much, much worse than death. You’ll be joining me in my \world here.” BRVR said.
“Oh, yes. You’ll stay here with me. Forever. You’ll be immortalized, at least here in my world. I’m going to make sure you feel every bit of my fangs and claws when I’m on top of you, torturing every piece of your body.” BRVR stated firmly, licking his death from his hunger for torture.
“Make your last moments in your world count, Gaven Morrison.” He said emotionlessly, before the TV screen suddenly cut off. I sat there aghast, my eyes refusing to blink even once.
It’s been almost 3 days since I moved out of my dad’s house. Missing posters about his sudden disappearance were littered throughout my town. However, the news for his search began dying down as soon as the third day was coming to an end. I silently wept in my arms as I knew what my fate had in store for me. At this point, I didn’t question the explanation for such supernatural phenomena happening to me.
I lit a cigarette and sat in my newly-rented apartment’s living room watching TV. The TV suddenly turned to a red static. BRVR was crawling out of the TV, staring at me. With all my might, I lunged at him with my fist and attempted to punch him in the mouth.
My hand began glitching, literally, and BRVR seemed unprovoked. My hand began to boil as my skin slowly melted away. I yelled desperately, feeling the most agonizing moments in my life, as BRVR dragged me away into the TV.
We were now in his world and my hand somehow and miraculously healed itself. I picked up some dead Pokemon’s arm and lunged it at BRVR. “You want it? You like it? EAT IT, THEN! EAT IT, YOU SICK, TWISTED FUCK!” I yelled at BRVR, shoving the arm into his mouth. He giggled and teleported me to some rusty-looking cage. This is where I am to stay until I somehow perish.