Chapter 14 - Stories Untold, Parts 1 and 2

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"Stories Untold is a really cool little game!" Chase said, punctuating his excitement with a wave of his finger. "A game all about short stories - interactive, video game short stories which I think are supposed to be kinda spooky, kinda sci-fi-ish..."

Chase didn't show it, but he was in a bit of a time crunch. His upload schedule had dissolved yesterday in a haze of whiskey and shattered glass, and if this video didn't get finished before posting time, it was just going to have to be late.

Chase couldn't remember much of the previous night. He knew for sure that he'd drank quite a lot - the shattered whiskey bottle was testament to that, as was the dull, hungover ache inside Chase's skull. It seemed that his skin remembered the events better than his brain could; Chase's poor feet ached and the cut inside his hand stung when he closed or opened his palm. Still, he had awoken with a strange sense of purpose... or maybe dread.

Either way, Stories Untold seemed to suit the mood. A sci-fi horror game with multiple parts for some good old-fashioned Jacksepticeye fun. Chase leaned into the theatrics, tapping the energy of his old Bro Average videos.

He played the part of a mysterious, unnamed protagonist, trapped in a strange, meta-loop of a text-based horror game. All of it was centered around an abandoned house. Chase felt a sense of relief, even as the game sent shivers down his spine; it was always refreshing to play a really solid, polished horror game. And he knew the fans would appreciate it, too.

"Well, that was really good!" Chase crowed, with the game completed and the screen resting on the main menu. "I really, really enjoyed that. That legitimately spooked me at times. Oooh! I'm all tingly now." Chase shivered with delight and gave a little laugh. Then, the words of his outro began to spill off his tongue: "But anyway- thank you guys so much for watching this episode; if you liked it-"

Thud.

A noise outside his room. Chase stopped dead in his tracks.

"What was that?" he muttered. He wasn't frightened, necessarily, just startled. He pulled his headphones askew to listen closer. Thud. Thud. "Did you hear that?"

Realization began to dawn on Chase. Realization, and memory from the night before.

"Sounded like somebody..."

The handle in Chase's door clicked unmistakably. He spun in his chair to look just as the door swung open.

"Hey!" he shouted, springing up. His headphones caught on their cord and fell to the desk with a clatter. "Who's there?!"

The ache in Chase's head was worse now, and coupled with a pounding sensation.

Chase stepped forward fearfully, peering out towards the hallway. "Fucking hell," he muttered. His brain was working overtime, already attributing the noises to wind and creaky furniture when Chase stepped out onto the landing to look around.

Predictably, nobody was there. Still, Chase walked the length of the hallway on injured feet, peered over the banister towards the foyer below, and took a peek into his empty bedroom. He was so distracted that, when he came back to his office, he opened the wrong door first, finding himself in the closet. Chase hastily backed up and opened the door on the right instead.

He sat back down in his gaming chair, mulling over the strange noise. Chase glanced at his recording program, and frowned. The recording had stopped.

"Oh no, you better not have glitched out on me," he muttered. He quickly pulled himself towards the desk and picked his way through the software, looking for when the recording had stopped. Chase sighed with relief. Somehow the recording had stopped itself just as the door opened. He'd have to re-record the outro, but none of the gameplay was missing.

It was then that Chase's eyes landed on another window open on his computer... YouTube.

Chase's heart sank. He'd have called it impossible if he hadn't seen it happen before. The Stories Untold video had already been edited and posted.

He swallowed, hard, and fought back a mounting sense of panic. How could this have happened... again? Anti hadn't shown up for months, and now this? What was this? Was Anti just toying with him?

Something in the back of Chase's mind urged him forward. He couldn't tell if it was a foreign influence, a bit of that strange determination he had woken up with, or something else entirely, but it was strong.

Keep going, Chase. Keep going...

Chase turned his attention back to Stories Untold with a sigh. He was still behind schedule... there was still more recording to do. That seemed like a fine place to start.

Chase started up another recording, gave the intro, and introduced the viewers back to the game. He played his way through the second Stories Untold piece, a clever little thriller about aliens taking over the body of a lab volunteer. Chase had long since adopted Jack's love of all things science-fiction, and met the game with a veteran vlogger's enthusiasm. 

At the end of the game, he delivered his critical opinion; the game was a treat, to be sure, and made good use of its limited mechanics. Chase shut the camera off and leaned back in his chair.

For a moment, he was very still. He felt apprehensive, like he was waiting for something, but he didn't know what.

Then, he caught it.

His screen flickered - just once - but it was perceptible. Once again, the video edited itself, and was now sitting in the upload schedule queue on YouTube.

Chase shook his head slowly, unable to believe what he was seeing. He quickly scrubbed through the new edited episode, looking for suspicious influence, but he didn't find anything. Chase ran his hands over his face and took a deep breath. His chest shook. There were two more Stories Untold games left.

Chase ground his teeth. It was strange; he felt attached to the game and wanted to play more. He felt apprehensive, too, though perhaps not as apprehensive as he should've been. 

Anti was the only one Chase knew of who could pull something off like this. But this didn't have Anti's fingerprint, his glitchiness, his terrifying je ne sais quoi. There was something else going on. There had to be.

In the meantime, though, Chase really wanted to know what was going to happen next.

So he sighed... and clicked into the next chapter.

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