I chuckled to myself as I read the name of the website in my head. I had just gotten home from work and was now sitting in my bed, looking for something lame to get my mind off of the rough day I had just had. Bingo. This was it. A strange name to a sketchy seeming website. What could possibly go wrong? I clicked on the the enter button on my computer. Loading..loading… finally. The website booted, and prompted me with a strange welcome message.
PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING TO THIS WEBSITE.
I stopped. I should read this, most likely rules or something. I scrolled down slightly to read the list before me.
Welcome to thisfaceisnotreal.com.
Our software creates AI generated faces every three minutes and keeps it in a database that you can now view in the form of a photo book. Please continue scrolling to read our rules before continuing to our website.
This was all very strange to me. An AI that creates faces? A part of me wanted to shut off my computer and call it a night. The other part of me wanted to see how freaky this website really was. That part of me won the fight. I continued scrolling.
At this point I checked the small clock in the corner of my room. The red numbers read 11:30pm. So what? Maybe the website won’t boot or something. I continued reading.
My heart raced in my chest. What is that supposed to mean? I looked away from my computer screen for a moment. This has to be some sort of cheap gag, right? This is stupid. I continued reading.
I rolled my eyes. Really? Trying to get me with the same garbage you just pulled a second ago? I kept scrolling ignoring the last “rule” I just read.
What kind of rule book was this? Is this some kind of sick joke? Whatever. I’m too far in to stop reading it now.
-management team.
Right after I read the last word on my screen, a bright, cheery looking button popped up on my screen.
CONTINUE TO WEBSITE.
After reading all of those rather disturbing rules, I thought to myself for a moment. Do I really want to continue to this website? It’ll most likely give me a virus or something. To hell with it, I’m still going to go through with it. I clicked the button on my screen. Loading…..there we go.
I was prompted to a white screen with a small grey loading bar. I waited for three minutes. Nothing. six minutes. Still nothing. I was about to close the tab when the screen said PREPARING AI. THANK YOU FOR WAITING. I sighed. This must be some sort of work in progress. After waiting for around two more minutes I was sent to a different screen.
Please enter name before continuing.
Why would this website need my name? I clicked on the small text box below this message. I entered my common online username below it. I thought I was being clever before it asked
Are you sure this is your name? Goats and Honeycomb? Incorrect names could result in a permanent ban.
Oh well. I thought to myself, it’s not like I’m ever going to use this website again. I clicked continue. The website finally booted. An image appeared on my screen, along with two arrow buttons, a help menu and a report menu. The first face was a blond woman with dark eyes, pink cheeks and rose colored lips.
Holy crap, this seemed so real! Not like those other strange blooby creatures AI typically creates. I clicked the arrow key on the right of the screen. The first woman vanished, the page buffered and then a new image appeared. This one was of a man with sooty black hair, bright blue eyes and strong features. Impressive, I thought to myself as I continued to click through the images. I soon very quickly lost track of time looking at all the faces. Some seemed so real, it was terrifying. I soon looked up at my clock. It was 1:32am. I have work in the morning, I should hit the hay. I shut my laptop closed and let it rest on the desk besides me. I soon feel asleep.
Soon however, I hears a small “ping” come for my computer. I looked at the clock, it was 3:30am. I groaned as I rolled over to my laptop expecting to see an email from my boss telling me to come into work early, but what I saw was so much worse. I didn’t close the tab to the website from earlier. I was greeted with an image of myself, with missing eyes blood pooling in the empty sockets with small text below it.
“Seem familiar, Misty?”
My heart began to race. How did this website know my name? Know my face? I quickly clicked the refresh faces button at the top of the page. What did the rules say to do next? Was it three or five minutes? It didn’t matter anymore if I slept I thought to myself as I clicked through the faces, I just needed to make it out of this. The clocked ticked in the corner of my room. One minute passed, then two, three,four,five minutes. I closed the tab and panted. It was probably the longest night of my life. I tried to sleep, but it never found me.
Soon it was the next morning. I woke up and went to work sharply at 6:34am. I was there for less than an hour when my boss walked up to my desk. “You alright? You terrible.” I glared at him. “I’m fine. I just had a rough night.” He looked at me clearly not pleased by my cold reply. “Fine, whatever. A letter was sent to you this morning I’m just here to give it to you.” He threw a small letter down on my desk and walked away. I watched him as he left, then looked down at the letter. It has no mailing address on it, just my name written in dark bold letters. I slowly opened the letter. My face turned ghostly pale when I read the words scrawled on the page.
“You didn’t follow the rules, did you?”