Hello, my name is Brian and I have to talk about this. About a month ago, I talked to my friends about my favorite game of all time Kingdom Hearts. specifically KH2. Well, I started getting real nostalgic and I haven’t owned the game in many years and I was … tight on funds. So, I went out to game shops in my town for anyone who may have it. After hours of calling around and looking no one had a copy. I got desperate… like really desperate. I decided to go yard sale shopping. At first, I dreaded it since everything smelled of dust and mildew. my allergies were kicking off into high gear as I rummaged through old boxes of Yugioh cards, movies, and old games. It wasn’t until the 2nd-yard sale did I manage to find what I wanted.
When I showed up at this house it looked well-kempt and the stuff they were selling either was just cleaned or they keep their house spotless 24/7 I didn’t have time to question it as I saw it. A PlayStation 2 with heartless stickers on it and they’re sitting next to it was a copy of the game. I instantly grabbed them and asked if the system still works. The elderly woman who was sitting in a chair in her yard said with a smile on her face.
“Of course, I had my son come to test the games and systems out before I had them bring them out, my son didn’t want this game leaving but I need the money and he never plays it.”
I, of course, was astatic when I heard she was selling them. I promptly asked for a price.
“Ma’am how much for the console and the game!?”
“Well. it means a lot to my son. So rethinking it, I only want to sell the system” She said sighing a little
“$50 for the game and $60 for the system,” I said casually pulling out my wallet.
“Well now. I was going to sell any game for $2 and the system for $20 but that’s an offer I can’t refuse” She said in a chipper tone.
I promptly and politely gave her the $110 for everything but it was well worth it as I get to play the game one more time. When I got home I checked all the cords, casings, disks, and controllers to make sure it’s all clean and ready to go it even came with a memory card so I decided to use that too. It was then I plugged the system in and the system started to read the disk and the PlayStation logo popped up seconds later… Disk read error… I tried 3 different times and every time there was a disk read error.
I was about to give up when I decided to do the toothpaste trick with a soft toothbrush not knowing if it would work or not. But when I plugged everything back in and inserted the memory card it started to work and I got to see the opening. Oddly enough when I select a new game it would always crash time and time again. The only option was the continue option and the game already was logged with 12 hours making the game most of the way finished and they were on Critical mode. Which I never tried before but I was willing to try something hard.
I loaded the game and it started in twilight town as Roxas on a brand new playthrough. It wasn’t until I had to fight Seifer it started to act up. As Roxas ran toward the bats instead of 3 different blue bats it was only one choice for some reason and it was the keyblade “Two become one” Which is odd as I didn’t have a Gameshark or anything attached but I assumed it was just a glitch in the game. I picked up the weapon and that is when the game got strange. Instead of fighting the other kids they… ran. I chased after them in a cutscene that I know wasn’t a part of the main game. It was then Roxas caught up to a very frightened Seifer back into a corner.
The sun was setting and I couldn’t control the game any further. Roxas started to a glitch in and out of the game. Turning into anti sora form and back into Roxas up until he got in front of the kid. It was then Roxas said one thing. “I don’t have a heart so I will collect hearts”. Roxas then plunged his blade into the kid’s abdomen cutting upwards. I can hear the sound of his bones crunching and Seifer choking on blood. I wanted to look away but couldn’t it was as if I was being forced to watch him get brutalized by Roxas. He…. shoved his hand into his chest after cutting it open. He then ripped the heart clean out and was eating it as the camera slowly zoomed in on his back.
The camera was about 3 feet from him when he slowly turned around with a grin and stared deep into the camera. His eyes were rolled into his head and he had blood covering his entire face. I could hear him laughing repeatedly with no end in sight. I looked in horror as he slowly started to claw at his face. His jagged nails dug deeper and deeper eventually showing their bones. I didn’t know what to do, so I pulled the plug.
I sat there, recoiled from what I just experienced. The imagery burning into my brain caused me to lie awake that night. I thought to myself “Did I just hallucinate all of this? Was this all just my imagination? Anyway, how can someone even hack into a game and change its core files when it’s imprinted on a disk.” I felt as if I was being irrational until last night.
After a few weeks I thought “maybe I was hallucinating.” and decided to pick the game back up and try again. I was hyping myself up again in hopes I can get over my fear. However, when I booted the system up I got the red screen of death. Luckily I had a couple of format disks which I bought knowing the old PlayStation 2’s tends to go kaput. I was about to insert the format disk and before I could, the PlayStation booted up like normal…which isn’t supposed to happen after a red screen error.
I kinda shrugged it off but looking back maybe I should’ve taken that as a hint. Anyways, I was looking forward to playing. When I loaded the game I saw the same save file as before but I saw the “New Game” option so not wanting to play the old save I just started a new save entirely. The game opened as normal and when I got to the Seifer tutorial fight everything went fine even though the memory of my “hallucination” caused me to sweat and shake a bit. I was sitting there with my eyes closed when I decided to man up and look at the tv… And there were the 3 bats like normal. We went on to fight and everything went like normal except for the second half. Halfway through I lost control of the character again and he started fighting Seifer in the second round. As the AI won and to my horror, Roxas tackled Seifer and grabbed his head. While all the other people watching were frozen in time.
Roxas was grabbing his head and bashing it into the ground slowly cracking his skull, with each slam slapping against the concrete making a louder and louder sound. Eventually, he broke his head entirely spilling Seifer’s brains all over the pavement leaving a pile of grey matter above him. Roxas kept attacking but this time he reached deep into his chest to pull out his heart. I tried to move but was frozen still as if time was stopped but I was able to experience what was going on. Roxas stood up and walked closer to where the camera was and looked straight into it.
“Maybe you forgot, but we’re broke.” He spoke softly with a grim grin on his face.
“What do you want from me?” I asked slowly and in pain.
“I’m dreaming… But which parts…were the dream? I want you to find out Brian… The true game starts where the last one left off.”
After that, the console flipped off and I passed out. It was hours later when I woke up and I had an intense pain coming from my back and it felt wet and crusty. I decided to grab a mirror and go to the stand-up mirror in my room so I can look at my back… It was the heartless symbol and it is carved into my back. I’m not sure what to do but I will get to the bottom of this if it’s the last thing I do. Tomorrow I’m going to find the old lady and see what she has to say about the game. I’ll keep in touch with you guys/gals and nonbinary pals so stay tuned.