All my life, I had been the most curious one in my family. Everything I saw I needed to know everything about it. My curious tendencies got me in a fair amount of trouble, but it also did wonders for me. For instance, I never had to worry about grades, for I mastered every topic in school with little difficulty. I became pretty good at sports, because I studied them and practiced them non stop once I grew akin to it, which eventually landed me a spot on the varsity soccer team. You could say I’ve had a pretty illustrious life, and you’d be right. It was great. My greatest talent also became my greatest enemy one night.
It was a cold and windy Friday night, I believe around 9:45. My parents weren’t home, so I had very little to do at home. I was aimlessly perusing the internet, searching for anything that could occupy my attention at the moment. Scrolling and scrolling, I found absolutely nothing that was of any interest to me, which was a rarity, given my extreme level of curiosity for things. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head: “What’s the scariest video on the web?” I grinned when I realized what I had just thought of. I assumed that there had to be a video was so unequivocally scary, that any other video was miles behind of it. So, I decided to hop onto google, and type: “The scariest video on the internet”. Here’s what I found:
Upon my request, a plethora of websites popped up on the list. The top ones being mainly clickbait-y videos, that claimed to be wielding the scariest video you can see on the internet, but you could just tell from the thumbnail it was fake. However, once I got to the bottom of the first page, I saw one that caught my eye: “The scariest video on the internet - watch now”. For whatever reason, this one just peaked my interest, so I clicked on the link.
Immediately, I was greeted to a blank screen. I was about to clock out, when a green text started to type itself across my screen:
“what would you like to see today?”
Dumbfounded, I typed in what I was looking for:
“The scariest video on the internet.”
A loading screen popped up after I hit enter. It stayed like that for maybe 2 minutes. Then, a black screen popped up. I could hear breathing coming through the speakers. I furrowed my eyebrows. It was just a black screen with breathing. So what? Disappointedly, I clicked out of the tab, and just sat there, thinking about what to do now. Suddenly, the screen popped back up again. That same damn black screen with the breathing.
At this point I was really irritated. How did this thing manage to pop up again? I already clicked out of the tab. A sigh of frustration escapes my mouth as I exited out of the window entirely, to no avail. It was still there. I decided to give into it, and stared at the screen. 1 minute. 2 minutes. 3 minutes. Nothing was happening. This time, I let out more of an annoyed groan. But then, I heard something come through the speakers.
A groan.
“What the hell?” I thought to myself. It sounded exactly like the one I had just made not even 5 seconds ago. Could it possibly be…? No. It couldn’t. There’s no way that was me. So to be safe, I banged on my desk, and waited for an echo through the speakers. For a split second I thought my theory was proven right, but that hope was shattered when I heard the exact same thud come through the speakers. Now I was thoroughly shaken. Was it…recording me? The breathing continued. I got up from my chair, and walked around the room, the creaks of my floorboards matches the ones coming from the speaker. Then, I realized it.
The closet.
I froze, and strained my ears. I heard it. As faint as could be, I heard the slightest sound of someone breathing. My eyes widened, bigger than I thought was possible. Someone was inside my closet. A million different thoughts were shooting through my head. Who was this? How is this possible? How did they know I searched this up? Then, I did something I now regret. I creeped toward the closet door, and put my hand on the knob. I took a deep breath, and flung open the doors.