Through the Looking Screen (UNDER CONSTRUCTION!)

Chapter One: Alone? (REVISED!)

My walk home from class was as lonely and as cold as always. I stared up at the trees, admiring their abstract beauty. The way the branches and leaves seemed to cut across the sky was always fascinating to me. How could something so normal and bland this time of year be so pretty at the same time?

 I lived on this dead end street in the middle of basically nowhere. The walk was always long and dreadful. It took almost an hour and approximately 9,230 steps to arrive at my front door. I count them to pass the time, since I have nothing better to do. I always walked alone because my "friends" thought that I was this awkward nineteen year old that was too obsessed with the way the world worked to have friends. They were somewhat right, however, and I hated that. I was used to it by now though. The only things that kept me going were the hopes of working at the job of my dreams, a scientist at the CDC, and an Irish YouTuber by the name of Jacksepticeye.

 I would watch him almost every day and imagine what it would be like to meet him. Once, I got close to it, but...things got in the way. He saved my life twice, and I wanted to thank him for that. But, with what's happening with him right now, I don't think I or anyone else will be seeing him out in public for a while. 

About three weeks ago, Jack made a video about how he got attacked by a "crazed fan". He looked terrible. There were cuts and bruises all over his face and a faint scratch around his throat. His brown hair was matted with sweat and...dried blood? After that, Jack went silent. He stopped posting on Twitter and Instagram, and he hasn't uploaded since the supposed incident. His fans are starting to get pretty worried. Some are even speculating that it wasn't a crazed fan at all. I just really missed him. He seemed like the only person to ever truly make me happy.

When I reached the front door, I almost tripped over the steps because I was so lost in my thoughts. My house looked older than time itself. The shingles that were left on the roof were a tan-ish color with bits of mold and mildew scattered around them. The front door was made of dark oak wood, and the white paint was beginning to chip off. The windows were fogged and had begun to crack in some places.

When I stepped inside, the smell of slightly musty air filled my senses. The inside looked a little better than the outside, but not by much. It had an 80's style wallpaper and a dark brown, shaggy rug that ran throughout most of the house. The kitchen was severely outdated, but it was functional.

 Since I went to a boarding school, my parents let me stay in their old vacation home because they didn't want me in the dorm rooms. I guess they had some bad experiences in them, and didn't want me to relive the same. The only downside to this arrangement was the fact that the house was not in optimal condition. 

That night, I decided I was too exhausted to cook dinner, so I went into my bedroom to get ready for bed. I got undressed and slid on my top and shorts. As I crawled into bed, I decided to take one last look at Jack's channel to see if there was anything new. I wanted to be sure that he was okay. I opened my laptop and typed 'youtube' in the Google search bar. I pulled up his channel and.......nothing. No new videos had been put up since the incident. The same situation as it was the last time I checked, which was two hours before I got home. I refreshed the page a few more times to see if anything would change. Again.....nothing.

I was just about to give up when I saw something different on the home page. There was new video from him. It was titled, 'Hello'. At the time, it was very unusual for Jack to upload any videos with one word titles. Unless.... 

Despite my instincts telling me to not watch it, I clicked it anyway. All it was was about 15 seconds of garbled noise. But, as if by instinct, my well trained theorist brain kicked in. I guess all those hours of doing the Game Theory ARG paid off. Within the next minute, I already had a spectrogram, audio adjuster, and a few other applications up. I had dealt with audio files like these before. This is going to be easy, I thought.

 After about thirty minutes of reworking the audio over and over and over again and moving it from application to application, I started to hear actual words. I was surprised I had actually done it that fast. It was a new record for me. I cranked up the volume and put my headphones on. When I replayed the audio clip, I heard an Irish man with a distorted voice talking through my headphones.

"Hello there, Annabelle," the man spoke, "I knew you would find this eventually. You're a smart little one you know."

The voice sent a wave of chills down my spine. How did he know my name? I thought to myself. I continued to listen as he kept speaking.

"Now I know you're thinkin', 'Who am I' and, 'How do I know yer name'. All of dat will be answered soon....darling. See you then."

With that final note, the audio clip ended. I stared at my empty screen for what felt like forever. After countless attempts to break my trance, I finally managed to close my laptop and turn out the lights. Who was that creep? I thought to myself as my mind slowly drifted into the dreamworld. As I faded away, I swear that I could still hear the man's voice ringing within my room. I was silently wondering if I would ever hear that voice again.

 As I let the darkness of sleep consume me, I felt tiny prickles down my back, like someone was tapping the small of my back. The darkness around suddenly began to move and I heard voices coming at me from all directions. They started to become too much and I covered my ears to try and keep their whispers out. That didn't work.

Suddenly, I heard that same Irish voice from the video coo in my ear. "Ő̴̜͝h̴͔̟̐ ̵̺͐̑d̴͍̑ơ̶̢̟n̵̡̝̎'̸͓͌̑t̸͍̝̔ ̷̡̛̻w̵̱̎͆o̶̺̾r̴͖̀ṙ̴̻̤̔y̷͙͂̔,̴̣̩́ ̶̘̋̏ḑ̷̏a̷̖͐ŕ̸̢͐ļ̵̭̅̈́i̶̡͔͑ǹ̸̨̗.̶͉͑ ̴̹̑Ỳ̶͔̺̕o̶͔̔u̷͉̜̇͂'̵͕́͝r̷̰̬̾͘e̸̖̦̽͝ ̵̲̒̈́ǧ̷̫̝o̸̖̖͗n̶̝͊n̷͈̺͊ḁ̸̘̽͋ ̵̭͓͐b̶̩͑e̶̛̪̞̋ ̶͙́s̸̲͆͜e̴̖̿e̵̝͍͋̿i̷̦̮̒͠ṅ̷̛̺ģ̶͕̔ ̸͔̑t̴͇̦̍h̸̘̳̽͝ĩ̵̝̀s̴̻̽ ̴̰͘͠p̷̬͠l̶͉̭̾͝a̶̫̞̓͠ċ̸̣̫ĕ̶͕ ̸͔͆m̷͇̓͛o̷̘̅͘r̵̢̬̃è̷̡̐ ̷̥̪̓̀o̷̩̲͂f̴̳̄t̸̝̽e̴̯̣̊̈́n̸̩̖͘͠ ̵͓̿ṗ̴̢͔r̶̬͌ͅȩ̷͙͋ţ̷̡̿t̵̘̖̽ȳ̸̰̻ ̸̩̏̈s̷͔̆ö̵̼́ó̸̝̙̀n̸̛͙̼͐."

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( New A/n): SUP GAMERS! I really hope you enjoy this remake/rewrite of Chapter One! I will keep editing all the chapters until I finish them all. THEN I promise I will continue writing in this. If you have any advice or feedback on this, I would love to know! Thanks again! SEE YA!