This story began in those times when people used videotape recorder. Soon VCRs – with record function – became necessary household items. People recorded interesting TV shows, pure mule, movies that they have no time to watch on TV-set on the cassettes. You may watch amateur videos on these tapes.
Somebody entertained themselves by recording porno in style “do you know what me and my girlfriend done this summer in the bed”. It does not matter at all. All this was recorded and rerecorded until the cassette began failing. Once I find such cassette. I hoped it was porno on it, but it contained records of TV-shows, pure mule, and movies. The tape was in awful condition. The image was constantly jerking, and was interrupted by noises in shape of snow and colored stripes. I watched this mix up to the end, rewinding it. I was lucky that the tape was only 1,5 hours long. I had nearly fallen asleep as I watched it. Finally, I didn’t see any porno on it. However, I saw an interesting episode that attracted my attention. It seemed that it was cut from a TV show. Among the whole mixture the image was stable. It showed a regular room with sofa, carpet and old furniture on the background. Nothing strange was there expect for someone sitting on the sofa. It was unusual creature – with white skin, without gender or clothes. The mouth of the creature was widely opened as if it was shouting something. The screen had showed the image for a couple of seconds, than other pictures of familiar movie obscured it. I tried to rewind the moment back to see it closer but I couldn’t catch the picture even in frames. When I pressed the pause button the screen showed movie’s episode or just black screen. It was nothing between frames.
I was exhausted with curiosity and I called up my friend. I told him that I failed to find any porno on the tape but found something strange. I asked him to visit me ASAP. But together we failed again. When my classmate came at my place we were still trying to catch the picture but in vain.
We decided not to tell her about our unsuccessful viewing of morsel. So, my friend honestly told her that we were trying to catch a picture with awful creature on in. At first, the girl frightened and was going to leave, but curiosity won. So now, three persons were trying to catch an alien. We had fun. Suddenly I managed to catch the stable picture with this creature. All of us stared at it.
It was almost white with grey shadows. The creature stared at us from the screen. It was alive for sure: it breathed and blinked occasionally. Her toothless mouth was opened. The long fingers grabbed a plaid on a sofa convulsively. The image shook, flickered, so it seemed that the creature was moving and trying to tell us something.
May be it is some kind of sex doll – my friend suggested unconfidently.
- Would you entertain yourself with it? – I objected.
The friend gave a theatrical shrug and we leaned to the screen again, trying to understand what was this, damn it. The most terrible thing was that the unusual creature sat on a sofa with a plaid in absolutely regular apartment with carpets. The creature contrasted with the general furnishing so strongly that this contrast forced us to become more nervous.
- Oh, my God! – classmate shouted. – It looks at us!
The creature really stared at us with its dark muddy eyes. Its mouth was curved as if it tried to tell us something but it couldn’t for it had no tongue and teeth. It had only dark hole instead of mouth, which looked like entrance to hell.
- Stop it! – shouted classmate again, started and run away from the flat leaving us alone with this creature that shout silently.
With shaking hands I reached out to the remote and switched off the tape.
- Who gave it to you? – I had nearly beaten my friend. – Morsel, god damn it! It is freako!
He shrugged.
- It was long ago. I got it from the shop. I took the last series of the “Alien” and got this cassette in bag accidentally. It had a sticker – «amateur video». I decided that it was porno and wanted to watch it. Than I was short of time and forgot to turn it back. Than I gave it to you. Listen, I was assured that it was morsel! Oh, threw it away!
We broke the cassette and even tore the VT. We threw it away in the garbage and forgot the event for some time.
Than DVD-players changed the tape recorders. We didn’t need massive cassettes anymore – we could record much more video on the disk. Disk can be viewed on the computer without TV set.
The time changes, so we do. My friend became a drug addict and died of overdose. My former classmate inherited a big fortune all of a sudden from her uncle whom she never knew or listened about before. She didn’t care about the dead, she took the money and left the country. My life became a boring routine after graduating from the University – home, work and vice versa. I was lack of true friends, wife, love, big money or great inventions. In general, many people live like me, so I didn’t regret. I lived as I lived.
Soon compact disks passed away. I decided to get rid of the accumulated collection. I began reviewing disks not knowing why. I find an interesting one – Verbatim, it was subscribed with black pen – “amateur video”. I didn’t remember it. I inserted disk into disk drive and played it. I was shocked. At first, I saw episodes from old TV shows, old pure mules, and than a pale creature with open mouth peered at me from the screen. It sat on a plaid in the flat with carpets. The image shook and was interrupted by noises if I watched it in an old videotape.
I put the disk out in panic and threw it away from the balcony.
I watched as the disk surface shone in sun laying on the grass. Everything seemed to be quiet and peaceful. The sun shone, birds sang, children laugh, the creature was walled up on the disk. It was 30 degrees above zero but I was cold. My hands were shaking, I was covered by cold sweat. I had to have a cup of hot coffee. I thought at that moment that I was wrong. I should have broken the disk and threw it away in a deserted place. I didn’t want somebody to take the disk home… But frankly speaking, I was not brave enough to do it. We had destroyed the cassette that time, but the record turned to be unharmed.
A week later, I received a message via MySpace. You know that you may sometimes get spam from your friends’ accounts in these social networks. Very often, this spam turns to be a chain letter. Distinct virtual friends want to share happiness with you in this way. They write that they care about you, so you must read it and send it your friends further. They say that Angelina Jolie read it and got married to Brad Pitt. I couldn’t remember the friend for I added everybody to my friends in MySpace.
The message contained one word: “Thanks” and a link was shown below. I don’t know why I clicked it. Maybe I was curious who thanked me and for what? I had never sent such letters to anybody. Nevertheless, I followed the link and saw a website with video. There was written above the video:
“Warning. Attention, please! We consider we are obliged to warn you. Before you look through the record, you must remember that after watching it your life will change much. The changes will be gradual, but you will feel them. Maybe you will meet an incredible luck. And maybe your life will turn into hell. None of the video viewers is dead now, missed, deprived oneself of eyesight, but the life of ninety-nine people out of a hundred has changed in worse direction. And only one of the viewers had a big luck. No one knows which group you belong. You may be one of those ninety-nine unhappy or you may be this very lucky.”
I never considered myself a lucky man, but that time my hand stretched unwillingly to the big button “Play” on the screen. I saw familiar episodes from old TV-shows, pure mule and than I saw a white-skinned shouting creature on the sofa with plaid. The video stopped and the subscription popped up: “Continue? Yes/No.”
I pulled my hand away in fear. I remembered my friend who had died of an overdose, and happy rich classmate. I did not know which group I belonged. I did not risk my dull life. And would you risk?
