Destruction: The Hacker and the Spirit

3: What just happened?

The next morning I woke up very late, like 8:30am. Falling out of bed (literally), I pulled on some clothes and brushed my short black hair. Walking down the stairs, I said hi to my brother who was watching TV. Dad had already left for work and Mum was still sleeping. I ate a slice of toast and told my brother that if he needed me, I would be in my bedroom. He nodded, knowing that I didn't particularly like talking too much. On a side thought, it annoys me how people say big long sentences and don't actually say anything of significance. Like, why can't people just get to the point?

Back in my room, I opened up Minecraft to get ready for my day: Sitting in my room watching YouTube videos and playing Minecraft like the anti-social person I am. Seriously, that is my entire weekend, and that's really strange considering what I do. I don't mind punching someone for being mean and getting the attention of all the teachers in the school but I hate talking and being in a group.

I continued playing in my favourite world in Minecraft. It had a small but pretty house: it is one story and made out of jungle wood, with four rooms. It's in a natural clearing in the middle of a forest, with a ravine nearby and a few caves. I had been working on it for ages now, and it was my pride and joy. I didn't do much, just wandering around and gathering some wood before heading back into my house and sorting all my chests to pass the Minecraft night (because screw sleeping). I stopped playing for a minute while my mum called me.

"Riley, could you please put on the washing?"

"Sure Mum!"

Running downstairs (because why bother walking), I filled both of the washing machines with dirty clothes and put them on. I then went back upstairs, giving my brother a hand with undoing his pyjama shirt buttons (hey, he's only 3). Walking back to my room, I half-closed my door and sat at my desk, continuing to play. I went outside my Minecraft house and looked to the sky, admiring the sunrise. I like the Minecraft sunrise. There's something about it that draws me in. Turning back to my house, I started to walk back inside. And I stopped.

On the porch of my house stood another player. He had the default 'Steve' skin on, except it had white eyes.

"What the heck?" I muttered.

This skin was the skin of Herobrine, Minecraft's first creepy-pasta (fake horror story/person). He was supposedly a glitch, a mistake that is doomed to haunt Minecraft forever, killing players and making mysterious structures. I didn't believe one bit of it. After all, it was just a story people made up to prank their friends.

I checked the player list on my world, but only my Minecraft name showed up. This player didn't have a game tag anyway, which made me very suspicious and worried to an extent. I thought that my Minecraft might be playing up, so I tried to press Esc to log off and restart my Minecraft. But the button didn't work. Now I was starting to freak out. Maybe my computer had a virus or something on it. This had never happened before and I don't know why. And then, he started talking.

<Herobrine> I need your help

"What?" I whispered. I tried to close the game several other ways but it didn't work. Maybe my computer did have a bug? Maybe this was an early Halloween joke done by Mojang? I tried to press Esc again but the button still wasn't working.

<Herobrine> Minecraft is in danger

I started to really freak out as all of the controls stopped working. My mouse wasn't responding, none of the keys were working. I was stuck in place in Minecraft, staring at this figure who I had always thought was a myth but now... I was starting to doubt.

<Herobrine> I need you to come with me

What was he talking about? I was getting really worried now, for both Minecraft and my sanity. I wanted to turn off my computer and walk out of the room, but my own curiosity had pinned me to the seat. Damn you curiosity!

<Herobrine> I'll explain more when you come here

<Herobrine> Get ready

Ready for what? I was already freaked out, what more could happen? And then my screen started going glitchy and turned into weird colours. I felt non-existent wind on my face and smelt nature. Now I've dreamed up some pretty ridiculous things, many of them with this guy at the centre (Don't judge, I'm allowed to day-dream), but this was something different. This was real.

Time seemed to slow and my body became tingly and hot. The screen was getting bigger and bigger, or maybe I was getting smaller and smaller, I don't know. The colours became 3D and the world around me changed. I felt myself being sucked into the screen, something that I thought was impossible. My head spun and my breath came rapidly as I was pulled from my seat and tossed into whatever chaos I was getting myself into.

Then as quickly as it had begun, it stopped. The world steadied. My brain and my stomach caught up with my body and I found myself lying face-down on grass. I could feel the sun's heat on my back and hear my own rapid breathing. I could hear leaves rustling, a pig snorting and footsteps. I tried to stand up but couldn't until I was gently pulled up by a pair of hands. I raised my head to see who had helped me and saw two shining white eyes.

I jerked back from his grip and fell again, scrambling back on my hands and bum. My breath was shaky as I looked frantically around. A jungle wood house, lots of trees, a ravine in the distance and the sun rising. A man with a blue shirt, purple pants, brown hair and white eyes standing in front of me.

"Don't freak out too much, I can explain," Herobrine said, holding his hands out in a calming gesture.

Dude, I am already freaking out, it's too late for that. Something weird and super-natural has happened in the last minute or so and I don't know what it was! But I didn't move or speak. He took this as a sign to continue. Clearing his throat, he began to explain.

"Hi. My name is Herobrine. I'm a good guy, not a bad one. You may think I'm a lunatic, but you're in Minecraft."

He waited for my reaction but when none came, he continued.

"I brought you from your world to here because Minecraft is in big trouble, and I need your help to be able to put things back to normal. I would explain more, except that it's not really safe here. Also, sorry for being so abrupt but if I had waited for you like I did with the others then he would have got to you before I could."

My brain felt like it was going to explode. A million questions went around in my head, faster than I could catch hold of them, but they all carried the same message: WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE???

Herobrine edged closer to me. "Come with me. I'll take you to my place and I'll look after you." He then smacked his head. "That sounded so stalker-ish. Listen, I have a castle, just come with me, it's safe, there's others there who have come from your world that will be able to explain stuff to you. Just trust me. Please?"

I sat there eyeing him. Herobrine was notorious for luring players, trapping them and killing them. He definitely didn't zap them out of our world and ask for their help to save Minecraft. Herobrine looked around nervously and twisted his hands together.

"Look, I know that it's a bit much to take in, but you please hurry and make a decision? If he finds us here, there's no way we will survive."

That made up my mind. If Herobrine, the biggest and baddest person in all of Minecraft was scared of someone, then they were probably very bad indeed, and I did not want to mess with them.

I carefully stood up and nodded to Herobrine.