Tidbits

The Shrine

Author's note: Combining the 12 Shots of Summer (on fanfiction dot net) challenge prompt "link" with a Coursera assignment to write a story in about 600 words. This is my second-ever attempt at a creepypasta. 

Warning: This isn't graphic, but it is more adult-themed than anything else in this collection and may be disturbing.

I'm not squeamish. I grew up on the internet. I've done my time on 4chan. When my girlfriend and I tried to watch The Human Centipede together on Halloween, she ended up leaving the room and I finished the movie by myself while shoveling Tootsie Rolls into my mouth. I've scrolled through absentmindedly through Encyclopedia Dramatica's "offended" page. I'm not even going to mention the things I've fapped to. It's not like I'm some greasy weirdo who obsesses over this stuff. Maybe I had an edgy phase in high school, but who didn't? I'm now a well-adjusted college student. I'm just curious, and not easily grossed out.

So, I'm not afraid to click on random shit. And I was a little curious when I was scrolling through tumblr (which has been shit for a long time, but my girlfriend still posts there so I still go on it too) and one of the blogs I follow that used to post porn, posted a link instead. They had commented, "I cannot continue to post on tumblr. There is more content here." So I checked it out.

It was like a website from the 90s. A plain red background. A blue, plain text link reading "Dig deep to find your most intense desires!" The URL appeared to be a long string of random characters.

I clicked. It was a guro site. Of course, I was unbothered, so I just scrolled on. Anime girls with missing limbs, cam girls Photoshopped to look mutilated. Further down the page were more sinister things. Real dead animals. Real dead people. Nothing I hadn't seen before. I scrolled on.

Then, among all those mutilated bodies, I saw my girlfriend. I mean, it couldn't have been, but it looked just like her. Then there were more photos of her. Dozens. The more I looked at, the more convinced I was: it was her, and she was dead.

I called her. She answered. She was alive. I was relieved, but also, horrified. Someone had created these images of her without her consent! I thought about telling her, but it would scare her. I felt like I had to protect her innocence.

I copied and pasted the insanely long URL into a word document and examined it. Most of the characters in the URL seemed completely random. Then I saw the beginning. It began as shrineofjezallah.com. Then one backslash, and then my first and last name.

It felt as though my heart had been thrown into ice water. Who had done this? They knew who I was, they knew who my girlfriend was, and they tormented me with these pictures of her? Of course, the first thing I did was call the police. They didn't seem like they cared though; the dispatcher just said the police would call me back. I couldn't wait; I had to find out who had done this! I started by messaging the person who had posted the link on tumblr.

The conversation went like this:

Me: Who the hell are you?? How do you know my name?

Jezallahs_maiden: I don't.

Me: Don't play dumb! That creepy website you posted had my first and last name.

Jezallahs_maiden: Of course. It has many names. But I do not. I am but Her servant. I do not know what She knows.

Me: WTF?

Jezallahs_ maiden: Don't be afraid. She does not harm. She only shows you what could be. The choice remains yours, to act on what you've seen.

Jezallahs_maiden: I advise against telling me or anyone else what you saw in the link. It is the most personal secret you could keep. The website is enchanted. It will show you what you lust after more than anything else in the world.