Halloween Story: Horror Game

Halloween, 2014. Chris’s little brother broke the console that afternoon. Now he was taken out for trick or treat. Chris was alone in the dark, silent house with only dim light coming in from window decorations. Now that the console was gone, he said to himself: “No helping it, I’ll play a game on the laptop!” It would be cool: An empty house, some chips and soda, a solid horror game...He grinned as he grabbed his laptop and sat in the comfy chair in his room.

Soon he was wearing his head set and walking the dark corridors of a virtual haunted house to fight ghosts. As a cherry on top, “Armaine”, the girl he played with a few times before was online! “Thought you were the party type. Surprised that you’re home on Halloween!” he said to the girl in between fighting as he crunched a piece of chip in his mouth. He was imagining what she could be wearing and he smiled as the light from the screen lit his face. The girl answered but he couldn’t understand what she said because suddenly, the image was pixelated and there was a weird, static noise in his ears. “What did you say again?” he asked. He heard Armaine’s voice mixed into the noise: “Do...hea…that?!”. She was asking something but the noise was too loud and everything on the screen was getting delayed. It sounded as if someone was screaming now. No, more like an animal. It gave him goose bumps. “A technical problem, nothing to be scared of”, the logical part of his brain said. But his instincts were telling him to be alarmed. “Hello, Armaine?” he called out to the girl and this time, the answer was not from the girl at all. It was like someone was shouting unknown words. On his screen, something white and slim appeared, looking like an arm…He got up and threw the laptop at the chair, breathing heavily...He could still hear the sound! It was like a woman’s voice but it sounded as if it was edited to imitate a man’s…He took off the head set in panic, threw it to the floor. As the set smashed, he already felt stupid. It was expensive after all!

On the chair, the laptop’s screen made a small angle with its keyboard. As the images moved in crazy speed, the changing dark and bright hues reflected on the keys. It was something moving fast, though it wasn’t from the game. He could understand that because the game had a dark blue theme, this was in black and white…He wanted to take a peek but even as a seventeen year old guy who was 1.80 and well built, he was chickening. Was someone playing a trick on him?! He gathered his courage, sat in the chair, and slowly, he lifted the screen. As he did, he saw something hitting against the screen in full speed! His reflexes made him jump in his seat. He had to try hard to calm down and focus. Whatever he saw was, it was rubbing against the screen now. Was it a face?!! He could make out something like cheekbones but were those two holes supposed to be eyes?! He was frozen in horror. The voice was now a deep, weird murmur against the screen, sounding close and crystal clear. It was fed up and angry. Suddenly, something smashed against the screen again. Chris’s arm moved automatically to protect his face. Because this time it looked like a fist, but almost made out of only bones…It pulled away from the screen as Chris’s eyes got wide open. He knew he had to get away from the laptop because he felt that this thing could get out of the screen anytime! Though, his legs didn’t move and he kept on staring. He tilted his head to the side as he could now make out a room on the screen. The room had only white walls and large, very high windows. It didn’t look like a normal building and that thing was now moving with unhuman speed in the room. The dark stuff that bounced around could be very long, black hair, and he thought he could see two thin, long legs…Was this for real?! The thing hit the screen in full force again, and as it slipped down, Chris saw a broken tooth fall…He got the laptop with one hand, opened the window with the other, and threw the laptop down in full force. Soon some neighbors were staring out of their windows. He stood tall and still at the window, covered in sweat, looking down at the pieces of the laptop…The screen didn’t shine anymore.

Four years later

It was Halloween 2018, late at night. Chris and Jennie were sitting at a café, facing each other. The window decorations casted an orange hue on their faces. Jennie, or as Chris first got to know her, Armaine, looked pale as she drank the café’s Halloween special. It was their tradition: Meeting at this café which was open for 24 hours on every Halloween, sitting there till dawn came. They were trying to have fun but it was like a shadow casting on their shoulders: That night from 2014. Armaine saw it, too, that thing…And they both tried to tell friends and family but everyone thought it was a Halloween trick made by some hackers or game developers. Though they both new: It was no trick or hack. That non-human thing which was somehow stuck in a room and was trying escape, was real. Still, after four years, they found it hard to believe and felt some uncontrollable shame for believing in something supernatural. “Cheers” said Chris, smiling at Jennie, and took a sip from his drink. Jennie came and sat next to him, holding onto his arm. She was trying to put distance between her and the man with the laptop sitting at the next table. She shivered as she remembered “the thing”.