The summer of 1992 was one of those summers that you never forget.
Y’know, the ones where everything was so real and new. I was 19 years old and had just gotten a summer job at my local Blockbuster right when I came back from my freshman year of college. The change of pace was something I’d never experienced before. Going from the always on the go and workaholic attitude of classes, clubs and organizations, to the simple, slow and rural life of my hometown was jarring to say the least.
After about 2 weeks of laying around the house watching TV, VHS movies or trying to teach myself guitar, I was officially bored. We didn’t have any smart phones back then and the internet was brand spankin’ new so nobody really knew how to use it anyways, let alone a restless 19 year old kid who didn’t even had a computer in his house.
So right then I decided that since I loved TV, movies, and anything video related, I’d go down to the local blockbuster and get myself a job. Hell, it was something to do plus some extra money in my pocket, what’s not to like? They basically hired me on the spot and I started the next Monday as a cashier.
Working there was fantastic. All my coworkers were around my age and we got along like we’d been friends our whole lives. Mama and dad were happy I was finally out of the house for a change and I basically spent all my time with my new found friends. Late night drives, day trips to the lake, going camping or just sitting around a campfire, we were all basically inseparable.
Maddie was the other cashier who either worked right next to me or came in to take my spot once I clocked out. Jackson worked stocking the shelves, cleaning and helping with whatever they did in the back (as well as buying us all weed for whenever we stayed out back after our shifts). Blake was the manager and generally just sat back in the office and watched whatever new movies or shows we’d gotten in stock as well as tell Jackson or me to go and do something he didn’t wanna do. He was also the only one who was actually 21 so he would buy us beer and get us into bars too. Finally there was Sean and Justice, who worked as general customer assistants and would help unload the trucks that came in with new shit. They basically knew how to do everything there.
For around two-thirds of the summer, nothing extraordinary or weird had EVER happened at work. It was smooth sailing almost the whole way through the summer minus slow days and days where the customers just didn’t stop pouring in. Until one day, when I stepped outside for a smoke break with Jackson.
We were out back of the store so no customers could see the employees smoking, when Jackson noticed something right next to the foot of the door.
“What the hell is that?” He said.
“What’re you talking about?” I said as I looked where he was staring.
There sat a tiny cardboard box with a tag that just said “New VHS”. I picked it up, and looked at it with a bit of confusion.
“Didn’t Sean say he and Justice got the whole truck load of movies inside for you?” I asked with some annoyance in my voice.
“Yeah, they were out here only like 15 minutes ago, they must’ve just missed one I guess.” He shrugged.
It looked almost identical to some of the boxes we got, but it was smaller and the tag seemed to be handwritten but it was hard to tell. I shrugged, put out my cigarette and walked back inside to give the box to Blake. I knocked on his door and, as usual, he was lost in whatever shitty B-Horror movie he watched.
“Hey, we found this outside by the door, Sean must’ve left it out there on accident. Here ya go.”
I plopped the box on his desk and went back to work/ flirting with Maddie at the front desk. About 45 minutes passed until a loud, “WHAT THE FUCK?!?!” came from the office. Maddie and I looked at each other, both startled, and since there were no customers in at that time, we both went back to see what was going on. We opened the door and saw Blake sitting in his chair, pale white as he just stared at the VHS tape he just ejected from the player.
“What, what’s wrong?” Maddie said as we stood there, trying to figure out what could’ve made Blake of all people freaked out.
“I dunno what kind of fucked up tape that is, but I’m never touching that fucking thing again!” Blake nearly screamed as he pointed to the tape like it was gonna jump out and hurt him.
It had no typical graphic that any mass produced tape usually had, just a small white piece of paper found on VHS tapes you could buy from a store yourself. The title, written in black sharpie, simply read, “Video 92”.
“Well what was on it? Is it a new Friday the 13th movie that’s too scary for you or something?” Maddie laughed, but quickly stopped once she realized Blake was genuinely freaked out.
“I don’t even know what was on it, just some creepy fucking video, but that’s not from corporate I’ll tell you that much.”
I looked around the room and saw the box that the video came in, opened up and sitting in the sorbet of the office. There were no other tapes I. The box, just Video 92. Usually boxes came with at least 15-20 tapes that we needed to review then put on the shelf for customers to buy.
“What’s going on is everything alright, bro?” Jackson said from behind me and Maddie. He had heard the conversation and so did Sean and Justice who came up behind Jackson too.
“Everything’s fine, but we gotta get rid of this fucking tape.” Bale said.
“Okay it can’t be that bad,is it just like a horror movie or something?” Then said as I walked further into the office and picked up the tape.
Blake flinched and in a somewhat defensive stance in his chair, said, “You can watch that thing if you want, but I’m not gonna be here when you do.”
He got up, pushed past everyone and walked out front, lighting a cigarette on his way out.
We all collectively stared at the tape in my hand, as I slowly put the tape into the VHS player, hit rewind until the very beginning and hit play.
The video opened with a person in what appeared to be a public bathroom of some sort, sitting inside a stall and breathing heavily. The walls were all white and it had an uncannily clean feeling to it. The camera was facing away from whoever was taking the video, and very, very slowly panned to the left of the stall, so slow that if you weren’t paying attention, you probably wouldn’t even notice it moving. The camera stopped at a hand that was grabbing the underside of the stall. It never moved or even twitched the whole time it was in frame. There were also no legs of feet that you could see to indicate someone was standing next to the stall or crouched down. Just a hand grabbing it from the other side.
“What the fuck…” Justice whispered under her breathe as the breathing in the video started to get louder.
Ever so slowly, someone’s head came into view. Right next to the hand, was a person, we couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, who was staring wide eyed at the camera. The head was upside down, as if that thing peaking under the stall was hanging from the ceiling by their feet. The mouth and rest of the face was not shown, just the black, greasy hair, the nose and it’s eyes. It’s eyes never blinked and it stared at the camera for another 30 minutes as the breathing from the camera got louder and more unhinged.
The video cut to black suddenly and after about 5 seconds of darkness it read in all caps “I SEE YOU”.
Chills shot up all of our spines as everyone was glued to the TV, almost scared to take our eyes off of it for fear of something jumping out of the screen and getting us. The tape finished and ejected from the player, and everyone nearly shit their pants with the sound it made.
We all quietly walked out of the office, finished up our shifts, and went home without a word. I could barely sleep that night, and apparently it was hard for everyone else to sleep that night too. It was just so… uncanny. It wasn’t a horror movie like when the evil killer slashes everyone up, it was terrifying in another way.
The next day it was almost like it was back to normal, but Blake just seemed… off. He wasn’t joking like he usually does, he wasn’t watching any of the movies or shows we needed to review he was just kind of out of it. I walked over to his door after a while and tried to talk to him about it.
“Hey man, uh, are you doing alright? Like I know that tape was pretty creepy and whatnot but…”
“Yeah no shit man. I just can’t stop thinking about it, I don’t really know what to do. I don’t wanna call the cops ‘cause what if it’s just some stupid prank but also, I don’t wanna keep in in the store.” He said as he was clearly weighing the options of what to do with the tape in his head.
“Yeah that thing definitely can’t stay in the store. I doubt anyone would want Mr. “I CAN SEE YOU” on their TV for a 45 minutes” I tried to joke as Blake looked up at me with confusion in his eyes.
“I can see you?” He asked, “what’re you talking about?”
“Y’know, the creepy little message at the end of the tape? The one right before it cuts off?” I asked, genuinely confused.
“Holy fucking shit” Blake said as the color drained from his face, “That… that didn’t pop up when I watched it..”
My heart dropped into my stomach as I paused for a minute then asked, not knowing if I wanted to know the answer, “W-what did you see?”
Blake looked at me with fear in his eyes, then simply said, “After that creepy fucking face was up there for like 20 minutes, it just cut to a still photo of me sitting in the office watching the face on the TV.”
I got goosebumps over my entire body, and after a moment of sitting in complete silence, I picked up Video 92, walked out back, and threw it hard against the inside of the dumpster. It shattered into pieces as the tape flew everywhere. Blake stood behind me, gave me a slight head nod, then we walked back in and worked until our shifts were over.
Everyone kind of forgot about it after a while, and once the summer came to an end and we all went back to college, it just slipped our minds and the next couple of summers as people quit, or moved away, the tales of the creepy tape that changed every viewing were lost to time.
Good riddance I say.
But I would’ve never thought about it again had it not been for last night. I like to stay up late now and scroll the internet, a luxury we didn’t have 31 years ago. Wikipedia, YouTube, and all these other apps are like candy to me. I realized I forgot to grab my phone out of my car last night, so I threw on a coat and walked outside to the cool spring air. As I walked out the garage door, I nearly tripped on something and had to catch myself before I busted my ass.
I turned around and saw a box sitting in my driveway, that I figured was a package my wife or kids forgot to come pick up after the UPS driver came today. I picked up the box, got my phone from my car, and walked back inside. I put the box on the counter, and after grabbing a knife from the drawer, cut the tape and opened it.
Inside there sat a single black VHS tape, labeled “Video 93.”