Scratch

I think I deleted all of the swears and bad stuff

During the first few days of the release of Pokemon Red and Green in Japan, back in February 27, 1996, a peak of deaths appeared in the age group of 10-15.

The children were usually found dead through suicide, usually by jumping from heights. However, some were more odd..

The few children who were saved before killing themselves showed sporadic behavior. When asked why they were going to hurt themselves they only answered in chaotic screams and scratched at their own eyes. When showed what seemed to be the connection to this attitude, the gameboy, they had no response, but when combined with either Pokemon Red or Green, the screams would continue, and they would do their best to leave the room it was located in.

This confirmed the authorities suspicion that the games, somehow, had a connection to these children and the deaths. It was a strange case, because many children who had the same games did not show this behavior, but only a few. The police had no choice but to pursue this, since they had no other leads.

Collecting all the cartridges these children had purchased, they kept them sealed away as strong evidence to look over later. They decided the first thing to do was to talk to the programmers themselves. The first person they met was the director of the original games, Satoshi Tajiri. When told about the deaths surrounding his games, he seemed slightly uneasy, but admitted nothing. He lead them to the main programmers of the game, the people responsible for the actual content.

The detectives met Takenori Oota, one of the main programmers of the game. Unlike Satoshi, he did not seem uneasy, but very kept. Explaining that it was impossible to use something like a game to cause such deaths, and also bringing up the point that not all the children were affected, he brushed it off as some kind of odd coincidence or mass hysteria. It seemed like he was hiding something, but he wasnt giving way. Finally, he did say something interesting.

Takenori had heard a rumor going around that the music for Lavender Town, one of the locations in the game, had caused some children to go ill. It was only a rumor, and had no real definite back up, but it was still something to look into.

He directed the detectives to Junichi Masuda, the music composer of the series. Masuda had also heard of these rumors, but again said they had no evidence that his music was the cause. Even to prove a point he played the exact song from the game completely through with no effects to anyone, the detectives nor Masuda himself, feeling anything different or odd. Although they still had their suspicions of Masuda and the music of Lavender town, it seemed they had reached another dead end.

Going back to the cartridges they had seized from the homes of the children, they decided to take a slightly more direct look at the games. They knew that it was these games that gave the children the ill effects, so they took extreme caution. Popping in the cartridge and turning the console on, the game screen booted. The title screen appeared, and the option to continue or create a new game appeared.

When they chose to continue the game, stats of that game appeared. They saw the names of the children who had played, usually Red or another simple name. However, the interesting thing was the time played and the number of Pokemon they owned. On every game, the time was very low, and all of them had only a single Pokemon in their inventory. They came to the stunning reality that it could not have been the music from Lavender town that had caused such ill effects in the children, since it was impossible to reach that part of the game in such small amount of time and with only one Pokemon in their inventory. This brought them to the conclusion that something early on in the game had to be the cause.

If it wasnt the music, nor the title screen, it had to be something within the first few minutes of the game itself. They had no choice but to turn off the game now and go back to the programmers. Asking for a list of all the programmers from Takenori, they found, surprisingly, that one of the programmers had committed suicide shortly after the game was released. His name was Chiro Miura, a very obscure programmer who had provided very little for the game. Even more interestingly, he had requested his name did not appear in the credits of the game, and so it was not.

Looking over the evidence found at Chiros apartment, they found many notes written in bold marker. Most of it was crumbled, or marked out, making it very difficult to read. They few words they could find in the mess was Do not enter, Watch out and COME FOLLOW ME in bold. The detectives were unsure what these meant, but knew they had to have a connection. Further searching, they discovered Chiro was good friends with one of the map designers, Kohji Nisino, and this was probably the only reason Chiro had given a part in making the game.

Kohji Nisino, since the release of the game, had locked himself in his apartment, barely leaving in the dark of night to fetch anything he might need. He told his friends and family he was mourning for his dear friend Chiro, but they didnt believe this, since Nisino had locked himself up the day the game was put in stores, a few days before Chiro had killed himself.

It was troubling, but the authorities finally persuaded Nisnino to sit down and speak with them. He looked as if he hadnt slept in days, dark rings under his eyes. He stunk, his nails had grown black and his hair was greasy, sticking to his forehead and neck. He spoke in stutters and murmurs, but at least he had something to say.

When asked if he knew anything about the children who had died after exposure of the game and if it had any connection to the game, he answered them seemingly carefully, choosing his words thoughtfully before answering. He told them that his friend Chiro had an interesting idea with the game, something he had wanted to try since he heard the project was starting. Nisino himself knew Takenori, the director and main programmer, for a long time, so he could easily get a mediocre programmer in on the project with a little persuasion. It seemed Chiro had convinced Nisino to get him in on the project, and it had worked.

The detectives knew they were on to something. This unknown obscure programmer, Chiro, had to have something to do with it, something... They asked what Chiros idea was, why he wanted so badly to have a part in making this childrens game. Nisino told them that Chiro never told him much about it, other than a few details every now and then. He wanted to insert a special Pokemon in the game, one completely different from all the others. It would serve as an extra, a kind of out of place thrill for the player. It wasnt, however, Missing No. It couldnt be. With the gameplay time recorded on the cartridges, it was impossible for the children to have time to meet that Pokemon.

Nisino, throughout the entire conversation, seemed to break down even more with every question. The detectives pushed him more and more, searching through his mind for any and every scrap of knowledge this man had no game and Chiro... and Chiros intentions...

It was when they asked about the notes found in Chiros home that he snapped. From under the couch Nisino was sitting on he whipped out a pistol, pointing it straight at the police while backing away a few steps. Then, just as quickly, he brought the pistol to his face.

Dont follow me... muttered Nisino as he stuck the pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger. It was too quick for the police to react. It was done. Nisino had killed himself, repeating slightly differently what was written on one of Chiros papers...

It seemed all leads had finally died. The team who had created this original game were splitting up, becoming harder to find. It was as if they were keeping a secret. When the police finally managed to talk with anyone who had parts in the game, even the obscure character designers or monster designers, it seemed they had nothing of interest to say. Most of them didnt even know Chiro, and the few who did only seen him once or twice working on the game itself. Throughout all of this the only confirmation they had was that Chiro was indeed the one who had worked on the very early parts of the game.

It had been a couple of months after the original children suicides and the death rate had dropped dramatically. It seemed that the game was no longer giving any ill effects to any children. The call back of the games that was planned was canceled, since it seemed the game was no longer harming any children. They had began to think that maybe Takenori was right and it was all just a very odd coincidence or mass hysteria... Until they received the letter.

It was given to one of the detectives himself, quite directly out on the street. It was a woman who gave him the note, a very frail, thin, sick looking thing. She gave him the letter quickly, telling him it was something he needed to see, and without waiting for a response or another word, she disappeared into the crowd. The detective brought it to his office, and calling the others in, he brought it out and read it aloud.

It was a letter written by Chiro himself, but it wasnt one found at his apartment. They had throughly searched and cleared out the place, so wherever this letter had come from, it wasnt kept at his home. It was signed to be given to Nisino. It started off quite formal, a hello, how are you, regards to the family, and such. After one or two of these normal paragraphs, they reached a section that requested Nisino to get him into the game team, to get him a programming position in Pokemon Red and Green.

As the letter continued, the handwriting seemed to grow more jittery. He talked about a glorious idea he had, a way to program something unseen in any game before. He said it would certainly revolutionize not only the gaming industry, but everyone. He went on to say that it was a very simple procedure to program this idea into the game. He did not even have to add any foreign programming, but could use what was already given in the game itself. This would, the detectives agreed, make it impossible to notice any obscurities in the programming itself. It was a perfect way to hide whatever this was.

The letter ended abruptly. There was no goodbye, no say hi to the family, no write back, or thank you. Nothing like that. It was just his name, written hard in the letter where the paper almost broke through. It was only his name. Chiro Miura.

This was the nail in the coffin for the detectives. They had no more suspicion about the cause. Chiro had programmed something into the early parts of the game, something maddening. To further increase this streak of success, they discovered that the programming team had worked in pairs, even Chiro himself. He had worked with another programmer, Sousuke Tamada.

If anyone knew what the secret in this game was, Sousuke Tamada would be the man. This was their final hope of unraveling this mystery once and for all.

They learned Sousuke had provided a lot of programming to the game, and seemed to be an average, good guy and worker. They were easily allowed into his home, a fair place, and they entered his living room where they sat. Sousuke did not sit, however. He stood by the window of the second story floor, looking out onto the busy street. He was smiling a little.

There is no direct witnesses to the events that followed. The only thing from this conversation that remained was found on a voice recorder sitting on the table in front of the two detectives assigned to talk to Sousuke.

Sousuke Tamada, what part did you have in the games Pokemon Red and Green? asked the first detective.

I was a programmer. His voice was light, friendly, almost too friendly. Thats all.

Am I right in knowing that the programmers working on the game worked in teams? asked the detective.

One could hear the voice of feet moving on the floor slightly. You would be right, said Sousuke after a moment of silence.

And your partner, his name was--The detective was quickly cut off by Sousuke eerie voice.

Chiro Miura... That was his name. Chiro Miura.

Another silence. It seemed the detectives were a little uneasy about this man. Could you tell us if Muira ever acted strange at all? Any particular behaviors you observed while working with him at all?

Sousuke answered them. I dont know him that well, really. We didnt meet up frequently, only every once in a while to trade data, or when the entire group was called up for a meeting... Thats the only times I really ever saw him. He acted normal, as far as I could tell. He was a short man, and I think this affected his consciousness.. He acted weaker than any other man I met. He was willing to do a lot of work to gain recognition, this I do know. I think...

Silence. Yes? asked the detective, pushing for him to continue. You think what?

I think he was a very weak man. I think he wanted to prove himself regardless of this point... I think he wanted to make himself known for something special, something that would make people forget about the way he looked and pay attention to the powerful mind that lay inside his skull.. Unfortunately for him, however.. heheh.. He didnt have much of a mind to back up that reasoning.

Why do you say that? asked the second detective.

Well its the simple truth, answered Sousuke quickly. His feet could be heard moving across the tiled floor. He was nothing special, even if he wanted to believe so. You cant become greatness, even if you believe it. Its impossible... Somehow, I think Chiro knew this himself, somewhere deep in there, he knew it.

The detectives were silent again, not sure how to steer the conversation. After a moment, they continued. Can you tell us what Chiros part of the game was? What did he work on exactly?

Sousuke answered more quickly than before. Nothing... I mean, nothing important. He worked on some obscure parts of the beginning of the game. A pause, then a little more information. It was Oaks part to be exact. He worked on some of Oaks parts... When hes seen first, you see..

What else? pushed the police. They could hear it in Sousukes voice. He knew something. We know you know about the children and the deaths. We know it was Chiro who did it. He programmed something in the game.

What are you implying? asked Sousuke. It sounded like he was trying to maintain his voice.

Were implying that since your his partner, if youre hiding something from us then you could just as much be responsible for those childrens deaths as Chiro is himself!

You cant prove anything! Sousuke shouted.

Tell us what Chiro did to the game! they shouted back.

WHAT I TOLD HIM TO.

Silence. Complete silence.

You want to know, huh? asked Sousuke finally, breaking the eerie silence, but replacing it with his voice. you want to know what is this all about? Chiro was an idiot. He'd do anything for a bit of attention, anything at all. He couldnt program worth a poop either. The one thing he could do, however, was be manipulated. You could tell him what to do, and hed do it. He wouldnt even question it, hed do it. Just to hear that thank you when you received the finish product, that was his reasons. Thats all he wanted.

Two clicks from the detectives guns could heard.

I could control him flawlessly. Hes a lot like Takenori... Of course none of you knew this, but I was the one who brought up the idea of the game, the idea of the entire operation. I just told the fellow what to do, and he followed me without doubt. He knows nothing, just like Chiro.

A sound of a window opening could be heard, follow by the detectives.

Dont move or well shoot!

Let me tell you about a mechanic in the game, continued Sousuke. His voice was more rushed, but it still held that slyness. Consider it a hint, alright? If you walk around in grassy areas enough a Pokemon will appear, and youll have the chance to go into battle with it. Its a necessary part of the game overall, you see?

Step away from the window! We wont warn you again!

At the start of the game you have to walk into the grassy area before Oak appears and you receive your first Pokemon, understand me? Under normal circumstances, it was programmed that even though youre in a grassy area, no Pokemon will spawn... I made it different. I manipulated that Chiro, told him what to put in the program, gave him all the instructions on how to do it, and he did it flawlessly. Its rare, but it can happen.. Stepping into that grass, one can spawn...

Sousuke, we dont want to shoot!

Shoot me? asked Souske, laughing at the same time. Shoot ME? Youre as dumb as Chiro was! Once he found out the truth, he had to end it! It was his fault after all! He shot himself because of it! If youre so determined to finish that case of yours, if you want to know, play the * game for yourself! Roll the wheel, and who knows? Maybe youll learn the secret for yourself!

A shot could be heard, loud enough to distort the audio. Sounds of screaming, murmuring could be heard. The table the recorder was on crashed. Ear shattering distortions. Silence. Then laughing. Sousuke was laughing, and then words. Come follow me... Come follow me... And then nothing.

The recorder continued to record until the tape ran out. There was nothing else on it. The police arrived on the scene quickly, and to their horror they discovered Sousuke and the two detectives dead. They had all been shot, but not after struggling. The detectives had been shot multiple times, at least ten each, before dying after being shot in between their eyes. Sousuke himself had clearly died of two hots to his chest, straight through the heart.

This game was causing a massacre. At least a hundred children were dead. Nisino, the unexpecting friend, dead. Chiro, the manipulated toy, dead. The two detectives, dead. And now, even the creator, the cause of this atrocity, Sousuke, dead. This game was stretching far over its original intentions. It was killing anyone and everyone who got involved.

The lead detective had decided to put this case away. He man who committed the crime was dead, so there was no longer any reason to continue the case. All evidence, all the cartridges, all the notes, all the letters, they were locked away, kept in the darkness where they belonged. There were talks about the entire thing, small conversations every now and then, but over the years even these began to fade away. Eventually, the case was only a memory in the minds of those who experienced it first hand.

Ten years passed. February 27, 2006 was the date. The lead detective, the man who locked away the original evidence ten years previous, was reminded of the awful event that occurred. Although he was no longer in the force, he still had access to files and was helped when he could. The reminder of the event caused him to look back, to open the sealed container that held all the evidence collected.

He read through the letters and the notes. He remembered the woman who had appeared to him on the street that one day and handed him that letter that lead to the change of the entire case. He wondered who she was, and where she had come from. Perhaps she was Chiros mother... or maybe Sousukes. It was far too late to pursue any of this. Far too late..

Sealing the container again, he saw a second one directly behind it. Pulling it out, he read the note on top of it. evidence #2012A He opened it up, and looked inside. Filling the container were exactly 104 Pokemon Red and Green cartridges, each one in perfect condition, untouched since the day they had last checked them ten years ago.

He reached in and pulled one out, Pokemon Red. He hadnt seen one in a long time. He didnt know what he thought next, but he reached in his desk and pulled out an old Gameboy. He received it a long time ago, but it still worked. It was his sons, but he had died a few years ago. His wife was gone too. That was then though. Popping in the cartridge in the back of the Gameboy he turned on the system.

The title screen. Then the option to continue or start a new game. Tanaka. That was the childs name, the one who played it first. He was probably dead, along with all the others. He pressed New Game, and started a new game. It was normal, average. He walked around, talked to his mother, went outside. He started walking towards the grass.

In his head, he could still hear Sousukes words. Even though he was not there, even though he had never seen the man in his life, he could still see him, hear him. Come follow me.

He was getting closer and closer, only a step or two away.

Roll the wheel, and who knows? Maybe youll learn the secret for yourself!

He entered the grass. The screen did nothing at first. Nothing at all. It just sat there, and so did the detective, completely frozen, as if time had stopped just for them. The screen went black. and then lit up again, the iconic green background with black text appearing.

The lead detectives weary eyes grew wide. He couldnt help but read out what was there in front of him.

Come follow me, come follow me, come follow me. I miss you dad, I miss you my husband, I miss you so much.

Tears formed in his eyes, falling down his cheeks. Screens and screens of text appeared and he rapidly clicked the A button to continue it. It was his wife and his child. They were speaking to him, calling to him, crying with him. They wanted to see him, they loved him, he loved them.

I love you too, muttered the man in a hoarse, scratching voice.

Come follow me, become new again. We want to see you and hold you, and be with you forever and ever and ever and ever.

AND EVER AND EVER...

Dont stay away. You can see us too.. We miss you.. Come follow me. We love yo--

A black screen. The detectives eyes grew wide, his jaw dropping. The screen lit back up, and Oak was leading him out of the grass. Come follow me, said Oak.

NO! shouted the man, dropping the game onto the floor. He quickly fell forward, reaching for it, bringing the screen back to his face. Bring them back, bring them back to me! The game continued on as usual, not responding to the detective at all. My wife, my child, listen to me! Bring them back to me, I said!

Voices... He heard voices, hundreds of voices. He turned around from his seat, looking behind him, and standing in his small room were children, many children.They were screaming, reaching towards him.

Bring back my mommy, bring back my daddy, bring back my pet! they all screamed out, reaching for the game. I dont want them to go away, bring them back to me, bring them back to me!

No! shouted the detective. Its mine! My family is here, dont touch it! Horror was across his face.

Come follow me... said a voice. The lead detective looked over, and in the corner of his room, next to an old desk, was Sousuke. He stood in the corner, tall, handsome, clean. A smile was on his face, stretching across his face. Come follow me...

The lead detective jumped up, stepping back, trying to force away the children crawling towards him, reaching out for the game held tightly within his hands. Wh-whats going on here!? Whats going on!? Where is my family!?


Sousuke smiled generously. Ill show you. Ill help you get away from them, you see? Just follow me. Sousuke reached down, and opened a drawer on the old desk. The lead detective, pushing through the crowd of children, trying to get away, looked inside.

Siting there, covered with dust, was his old gun from when he was on the force. He had not used that gun in many years and had put it away, not wanting to remember the things he had to do with it. But right now he didnt see it as something that caused pain or that killed. It was shining, it was light. It was something that could set him free.

Just follow me, said Sousuke, picking up the gun and putting it in the lead detectives hand. He formed his hand to hold the gun, then brought it up to his temple. Just pull the trigger. Thats all.

The lead detective turned around. The children were crawling at him, grabbing his legs and pulling at him. They reached for the game. He turned back towards Sousuke, and smiled.

My family... Ill follow you. He pulled the trigger. BANG

It was a few days before the body was discovered. It lay on the floor. In one hand held an empty gun, and in the other was a classic Gameboy with Pokemon Red on the back. The battery had long died, and only an empty, black screen was left.

This was the final murder that the remaining authorities would allow. The last detective who was ever a part of this case personally carried all 104 cartridges away, and burned them all, making sure not a single one survived. There would taunt no more.

However, this is not the end of the story. The code was said to have survived, and was even passed on to other language versions of the games. If you have an old Pokemon game, you can place the cartridge in the back of the classic Gameboy, turn on the system, and roll the wheel who knows? Maybe youll learn the secret for yourself.

Last edited by kimmy123 (2010-09-08 20:12:21)

kimmy123 wrote:

[big story]

Good story, except you did edit the part that says "this is the unedited conversation"...

kimmy123 wrote:

Kileymeister wrote:

kimmy123 wrote:

[big story]

Good story, except you did edit the part that says "this is the unedited conversation"...

wut

There is a section during the interview that says "this is the unedited conversation."  You did edit it.  You might want to change the "this is unedited" part.

RocksAndFire wrote:

Okay. Once a girl named tracie was like, texting on her like, new droid incredible. She like, typed 'LOL I think I just texted!'

The girl texting back, like, typed 'I AM HUNGRY'

'LOL' typed tracie 'I feel like eating something too!'

'IWEYSG' Typed the other girl

'What does that, like, stand for?

OMNOMNOMNOM!

Tracie was never seen again.

BTW IWEYSG stands for 'I will eat you stupid girl'

THE ENDS 

The massive use of 'like' in this story has been the scariest thing I've seen yet.

Scary stories are soooo 2006. lolwut?

Last edited by rufflebee (2010-09-08 20:21:34)

Kileymeister wrote:

kimmy123 wrote:

[big story]

Good story, except you did edit the part that says "this is the unedited conversation"...

Well of course, it wasn't real.

Sunrise-Moon wrote:

Tourist Trap
In rural Wisconsin, there is an old abandoned park. Built in the 1920s, it served as the town’s gathering place for everyone.

That is, until a newly developed Train and Tunnel for Tots™ ride was installed in 1932. It was an innocent looking childish train, with one main (mechanized) head car, with three small trolleys pulled behind it. It went around some loops before going into a small tunnel.

But this is where the story gets weird. There were numerous cases of child deaths that year, all of them happening after the child rode on that train system. Some kids went missing in that short tunnel (about ten feet), and others went comatose after leaving. One, upon exiting, was found to be dead. Her dress was covered in what looked like small bloody handprints. Some killed themselves by scratching at their throats until they bled out, and one of them even killed another child before hanging herself with razor wire at the family’s farm.

The park was closed, and the town’s popularity as a tourist town plummeted.

Recently, a team of scientists were sent out to the park. They taped a video camera to the train, and put a new intern in with it, before sending it on its way onto the tracks.

When the train left the tunnel, it was empty, except for the camera.

The last ten seconds were nothing but static, save for the sound of children laughing.

Whoa. That's scary. *shudders*

Flip Book
As a kid, I loved making flip books. They were all I did in art class, whenever I had it. I worked really hard on one particular flip book. It was around 50 pages long, I guess. It had a simple stick figure walking into the page, waving at me, and then walking off. I would look at it at least a dozen times the day that I made it. Then it got boring. You know how kids are, not entertained by one thing for very long. I tossed it under my bed and never gave it a second thought.

A few months later, I was cleaning up my room and swept the stack of paper out from under my bed. I couldn’t quite remember what it was. I flipped through it once and got a sweet taste of nostalgia. I flipped through it once more and noticed the pages hadn’t aged or gained dirty at all. I flipped through a third time. The little stick man walked onto the page, waved at me, but didn’t walk off.

Instead, a second stick man joined him. It waltzed up, having either an item in its hand or a severely disfigured arm; its not like anyone could tell the difference. The second stick man walked next to the first stick figure, stood there for a moment, then whacked the poor fellow upside the head. The stick figure fell, and the second stick man swung his stick at the other man. Again. And again. And again.

What I assume was its blood ran from the stick figure’s rather jagged body. It looked like nothing more than smeared pencil stains. The killer stick man proceeded to bend down, and tear apart the first stick man’s body, limb by thin limb. Once he was done, he bent each one into characters and letters. He set them upon the page to form a single word. He grabbed the base of his own round head and tore it off. Then he tore off his legs, and then one of his arms. His zig-zagged body parts formed themselves into a second word. What I read made me burn the flip book.

“You’re next.”

I know lots of scary stories (one about a clown, one about a blind boy and a dog, one about an evil doll), but they're actually really scary. So I don't think I should post them. 

Lost Emrald:
I decided to edit Lost Silver a little bit... ∑:<

This is not my story. And I know what your thinking "AH A wall of text AH!!!" but just read. and for all the mods, I censored the cursing so you don't have to bother ^_^


You see, I am a simple college student living alone in an apartment. I was very enthusiastic about the release of HeartGold/SoulSilver on the states. I have purposely locked myself out of all media and the internet aside for school purposes. That means no 4chan, no /v/, no Bulbapedia, etc.

As I was busy with the school year and being a poor*** at the time, I wasn't able to buy SoulSilver on launch date. After my school year ended, I ordered SoulSilver on Amazon (sorry, I rather be poor than a pirate). However, it would take a week for it to arrive. I decided that during that time, I replay my Emrald version on my GBA.

However, I realized that long ago, my mom threw it away because I told her the save went dead, and I was very upset about it then. She also threw away my Emrald version, so all I have is my GBA SP. As such, I set out to Gamestop and bought a used Emrald version, as it's the only Pokemon game left that they have for the GBA. Ten dollars - fairly cheap despite it being Gamestop (******* GAMESTOP!).

I went home and started it up for a Hoenn trip. However, that's where things started getting bizarre, and most likely the reason why you read this.

-----

The Gamefreak logo started up as normal, but it just froze there. I thought the cart was just errored or something, so I turned it off and on. The same thing happened. I tried pressing A, B, Start and Select over and over, and all of the buttons. Eventually, the logo vanished and there was a black screen for about five seconds.  Suddenly, rather than going to the usual menu screen, I was already in the game in a previous saved file, which was odd as I was expecting all of these carts to have been wiped by the poor battery. Either way, I wasn't complaining, as I would have chosen the "Continue" option to see what the previous guy did anyways.

First off, I checked his trainer information. His name was just "..." - He didn't have much originality. I checked his profile and apparently he had 999:59 hours put into the game, with all 8 badges, 999999 Pokedollars and all 493 Pokemon on the Pokedex. Since he must had Mew and Celebi logged also, I am guessing he either used an Action Replay or is a really hardcore Pokemon player.

I checked his Pokemon to see what [removed by moderator] team he has. To my surprise, I saw 5 Unowns and a sixth Pokemon named "HURRY". I'm thinking that this must be some cruel joke by the person who last played this game, but I decided to check the profiles of those Pokemon anyways.  As expected, they were different letters of Unown, all Level 5. I was a bit shaky with my Unown alphabet at the time, but I identified the word spelled out to be "LEAVE".

As for the sixth Pokemon, it turned out to be a Torchic. The Torchic looked normal, but it was Level 5 with only 1 HP left with only two attacks: "Leer" and "Flash". I don't know why they named him "HURRY", but at the time, I just disregarded it. The most eerie thing was that, despite my volume being at max, none of the Pokemon he had said their usual cries. Just pure silence.

-----

Having enough of the team, I closed it.  I was parked at what appears to be a room inside Magma HQ. However, for some reason, there were no NPCs around. There was no music at all, and there was no exit or ladder, or least I thought there wasn't.


I walked around for a few minutes but can't seem to find a way out. This was certainly not a room I've seen in the HQ before. I've tried checking my items for an Escape Rope, but the bag was completely empty.

Finally, I've managed to find stairs. The screen turned black and the music finally started playing.   

I immediately realize that it wasn't a loading transition, but rather I was in a dark room and would need Flash. Brendan ("..." from earlier, and I will call him Brendan from now on) was just walking in a midst of black.

-----

I recall that Torchic has Flash, so I made Torchic use Flash.  I didn't see any message saying "HURRY has used Flash!" or anything like that. The room just became lit just like that, and I soon regretted it. The room was a chilling blood-red with a linear gray path heading south. The stairs I used to go up/down was not there at all.

I had no choice but to head south. The screen became darker every 20 steps I made, until I finally made it to the end, which appears to be a sign. I read the sign, which said "TURN BACK NOW".

Suddenly, I was asked to answer YES/NO, but there was no question asked. I chose YES as I do not know what it was asking, and the screen went black again, making a "ladder climbed" sound. The odd music stopped, and in a few seconds was replaced with the not-as-creepy Poke Flute radio music.

I was in another dark room, but I held my breath and used Flash again.  Suddenly, it said that "HURRY has fainted!" which was odd since I recall that there was no status conditions like Poison on Torchic, and I clearly wasn't in a battle. I checked my Pokemon quickly and suddenly he's no longer in my party. In fact, after a bit of investigating, none of my Pokemon before were there, but instead were all replaced with Level 10 Unown. I did the same thing as before and spelled out the Unown. My then team of Unown spelled "HEDIED".

-----

Either way, after that creepy change, the room was lit to reveal myself in a very small room that appears to be only four squares big. The walls of that room were gray bricks, as if I was inside something that was hollowed out.  Outside that room appears to be a bunch of graves similar to the ones in Pokemon Red/Blue's Lavendar Town. I've walked around that small room and pressed A but nothing happened.

I've already concluded at this point that this was clearly a hacked game and some ******** ****** sold it to Gamestop to troll whoever buys it. However, my curiosity kept me going. I checked the trainer profile of "..." again only to find out that the sprite of Brendan was missing his arms. He also seems to appear less happy, but rather seems more sad and empty in a way that I do not know how to describe.  For some reason, it also now said that he has 24 badges, which was clearly impossible given that there was only one region.

After a few minutes of aimless wondering, my character suddenly spun and did the Escape Rope spinning animation. Instead of flying up though, my character spun downwards slowly, as if sinking.

After that screen, the music stopped.  After finally landing, the overworld sprite of Brendan is coloured differently now.  Instead of the usual grey-red colour he dons, he appears completely white now, including his skin.  It's as if he came straight from the colorless Game Boy games placed into a colored background of the Gameboy Advance.  The only exception to this is that his eyes are red now, which reminded me of Mother 3's hidden boss, if you know about it. I checked his profile, and now, while now is as white as his overworld sprite, he lost his legs and has what appears to be bloody tears from his eyes.  It also says he now has 32 badges, which now starts to disturb me as this change of number seems to represent something important.

-----

I also checked my Pokemon, which this time contains 5 Unowns and a Level 100 Celebi without a nickname.  The Unown are this time Leveled 15 and spelled out "DYING".  I checked the Celebi's profile.  It was a shiny Celebi, except there's only half of the sprite.  One leg, one arm, one eye.  It only has one attack: "Perish Song".

The area I was in itself was the HQ, everything in the room is apparently shaded red now. I walked north for what felt like forever. Eventually, I finally encountered some generic men and women NPC.  They were all lined up to the side just facing the wall. They were also white, and nothing happens when I try to speak to them.  I kept on going north until eventually the wall, with a transparent Wallace in that spot.  I went up to Wallace and without even pressing A, I was suddenly engaged and finally in a battle.

The music starts again, which it sounds like the Unown Radio music again, but played in reverse. Brendan's battle backsprite matches his front one with the bloody eyes, white skin, and lack of arms, while Wallace's sprite was the same as before in RSE except transparent/colorless.  The text simply said "wants to battle!" as if he has no name, and both of us only have one Pokemon each, which is weird as I swear I had six with the Unowns.  My shiny Celebi came out, conveniently with half-a-sprite for the back sprite also.  The "Shiny" noise and animation was different, as the sounds it made sound like multiple "Screech" attacks used consecutively.  Wallace sent out a seemingly normal male Wailord, except he is at an extreme Level 255 and his sprite seems sad and has tears in his eyes.

-----

Rather than the usual "FIGHT/ITEM/PKMN/RUN" menu, I was only given the option to use the Attacks.  Since Celebi only has one (Perish Song), I chose it.  Naturally, since Wailord was Level 255 and is generally fast, he went first.

"WAILORD used CURSE!", lowering his Speed and increasing his other Stats.  I'm not even sure if Wailord could even use Curse.

"CELEBI used PERISH SONG!"  In three turns, both Pokemon get KO'd - not like I have a choice.

At this point, it didn't even go back to the Fight menu, as the battle just continued without me.  Also note that there was no animations at all for some reason.

"WAILORD used FLAIL!", which didn't do much damage despite his Level and boost as his health was maxed.

"CELEBI used PERISH SONG!"  Nothing happens as it was already used.

"WAILORD used FRUSTRATION!", which did a * of damage, knocking Celebi down to less than 10 HP.

"CELEBI used PAIN SPLIT!", which surprised me as Celebi didn't even have that attack in the first place.  Now Celebi and Wailord have about 150 HP.

"WAILORD used MEAN LOOK!"  Not like that did anything given I only have one Pokemon, but now I'm certain that Houndoom can't learn that.

"CELEBI used PERISH SONG!", yet another pointless Perish Song was used.

As expected, due to the effects of Perish Song, my Celebi fainted. Except in the text, it said "CELEBI has died!" and instead of the ordinary drop off the screen animation, the Celebi backsprite just vanished.  For some reason, the Wailord was still up even with Perish Song and it didn't count as my lost.  Wailord used one more different attack beyond the 5 attack limit:

"WAILORD used DESTINY BOND!"

Afterwards, it said "WAILORD has died!", with a slow fade-out animation.  Apparently, I was the winner, as the transparent Wallace sprite showed up and said ".........."

-----

At that point, I freaked out, as transparent Wallace's head suddenly vanished, leaving nothing but his transparent body.  The battle then ended at that point and faded out along with the music.

I'm back in the overworld, with another change to the Brendan sprite - he's now as transparent as Cyrus's overworld sprite.  I quickly checked Brendan's profile, where this time the only thing remains of him is his head, with a transparent skin.  The head was zoomed in a bit, showing a black void in his eyes.  It now stated that he now has 40 badges.  I then backed out and checked my Pokemon.  They were all Level 20 Unown, which when spelled out, read "NOMORE".

I was at what I now know is next to the end. There was apparently no music playing, but for some reason I still felt like something was there that could be heard. I was back in my room in Littleroot Town. Maybe finally I get to play this game properly, but who am I kidding. I knew that ****** ***** must have done something. I "walked" around my room to interact with things, as I'm a bit afraid to go down the stairs to see what was awaiting down there. Note I said "walked", as just like those ghosts you see in Diamond/Pearl, Brendan was not moving his transparent limbs at all as he walked.  Instead, he just floating around as the background moves with him.

-----

As expected, computer and TV did not work, so I had no choice but to go down the stairs. I ended up in the same lower level room of my house.  Everything appears normal, except mom isn't home. After failing to interact with anything in this room, I decided to go outside. To my surprised, that door leading outside at the south didn't work, and instead I just walk straight through it to a void. I continued moving south to see what the **** was going on. My house vanishes as I head south into the void. It was creepy as when I entered the void, the outline on Brendan's transparent sprite turned white to contrast with the pitch black. Eventually, I reached a white area and Brendan's sprite turned black and transparent again. I continued south without thinking of stopping at all.

After a long trek south, I finally encountered something. It was Brendans's regular sprite. I talked to it.  He said "Good bye forever ...." (notably with a space inbetween the forever and ....), and vanished. As that happened, it said "??? used NIGHTMARE" which at that point, I would not deny would be impossible to do. Brendan did another Escape Rope animation spinning slowly downwards like before.

I'm now back into that small hollowed-out room surrounded by graves earlier. Or at least I say I was back there, as there's no sprite anymore. I tried to walk around but nothing moved - not even wall bumping noise.  I checked my trainer profile with absolutely no Lucas sprite left.  It said I have 0 badges and all the faces of the Hoenn Gym Leaders on the next page of the profile were replaced with skulls.

I checked my Pokemon, which were all Level 25 Unown. As expected, it spelled out a phrase that I dared to read. "IMDEAD"

-----

As soon as I went back to the overworld, the room I supposedly was in was then covered with the same blocks as the walls.  I then figured out what exactly that room was when the final text was said: "R.I.P. ..."

That room was a big grave, surrounded by other grave. Brendan has already been dead. He died presumably a few years after he defeated Wallace.

He was a young trainer who, despite his efforts in collecting so many badges and attempts at becoming a Pokemon master, was still unable to avoid the inevitable fate of death, and his efforts were eventually forgotten by the next generation. His beloved Pokemon he worked so hard to raise has perished with him without a trace.  This fate happened to his predecessor Gold, and Brendan has joined him.

I was unable to escape from that text no matter what I pressed. I tried resetting the game, and the same thing happened, at which I then finally decided to give up on that horrible nightmare.

Last edited by cheddargirl (2010-09-08 21:49:49)

String Theory (better name would be "No Strings Attached", but oh well- not my story...)

Have you ever had an experience that suggested someone else was in your house, and just thought “I don’t wanna know” and left it? Sometimes, fear of the unknown just seems like the preferable option than facing a real, concrete danger. Normally it’s nothing, though. One time, the beeper function of my wireless housephone went off, when I was the only one home. It could only be called from the living room. Another time, I swear someone took some change from my desk. They’re all probably just slightly disconcerting tricks of the memory.

But what would you do when something truly suggestive happens? Would you run, or just ignore it, like I did?

Last Monday was a normal day. I got up, brushed my teeth, changed into school clothes… All little parts of my morning ritual. It seemed like it would be another totally un-noteworthy day, until I saw the strings.

There were three or four thick twine strings in my room. They criss-crossed between the walls around my bed, one attached to the door. No way would I have missed them before; I should have tripped over them. They were tied to pins in the walls, which had also not existed before ten seconds ago.

Nobody could have been in my room while I was in it, let alone set this up. It was early, and my brain wasn’t processing correctly. I simply discredited the sight, untied the strings and left for school, leaving them balled up on my desk.

It didn’t get any better later. Outside my house there were hundreds of them, tied between houses, around cars, across streets… This had to be some super elaborate prank. One of those hidden camera shows, or a comedy improv blog. They had gotten everyone else to play along too; passer-bys were tangled in them, tying them to objects they were walking towards and away from, as if they had been and were continuing to follow the course laid out for them.

I nervously continued my journey to school. On the bus, every except me was tied to the door. At school, groups of friends were tied to each other; teachers were tied to their desks and boards. Oddly enough, at this point all I could wonder was why I had been left out.

When my friend Lucy sat beside me in first period, she simply plonked her bag down on my lap and rested her chin in her hand, looking right past me to the window outside.

“Hey Lucy.”

No response.

“Come on, I didn’t expect you to be in on this too. “

She sighed and started taking books from her bag. All the books were tied to her hands. I grinned, and yanked one of the strings off a book. She didn’t seem to notice, instead simply disregarding the book completely, letting it drop to the floor without a moment’s hesitation.

“Um.” I leaned down, picking up her book and placing it back on her desk. She took no notice.

“Well, if that’s how we’re gonna play it.” I smiled, trying to look playful, but really just trying to hide my nervousness. I bundled all the strings attached to her together with one hand, then pulled them all free.
She blinked, turning to stare at me.

“Holy ****, Martin. You’re like a ninja or something.”

“I’ve been sitting here for maybe ten minutes.” I smiled again, relieved my friend had finally “noticed” me.

“Where did all these strings come from??” She gasped, seemingly noticing for the first time.
“I assumed you were with me…”

She stood up, backing into a corner. No one else in the class noticed.

“They weren’t here just a minute ago! Do you see them too??” Her tone made it clear she was genuinely scared.

“No. Didn’t you-. “ I was interrupted by my teacher slamming the door behind her. Everyone except me and Lucy murmured a good morning, and still, no one seemed to pay either of us any notice.
“People have been ignoring me all day.” I said to Lucy, before turning to our teacher. “Hey! Dumb ****! You can’t teach for ****!”

No reaction.

“I’m getting away from all this ****.” Lucy pulled a few strings aside and left the class. I followed, and surprise-surprise, no one else noticed.

We wandered the corridors, leaving and entering classes as we saw fit. Whenever we untied a chair or book from someone else, it was like it suddenly didn’t matter to them. It didn’t exist.


I showed her the street outside; there were more strings than when I came in this morning. Twice as many. We carefully picked our way through the tangle, making our way to a nearby coffee shop. Not particularly grand, I know. But what would you do in our situation? As I said, fear of the unknown sometimes seems like the safer option. On a few occasions, I suggested we untie a few more people. Lucy was opposed to it, remembering how terrified she’d been.

In the coffee shop, we grabbed a couple of sandwiches and drinks from the fridge. We found a table, untied all strings attached to the chairs, and sat down. We both ate in silence, both of us too scared, both of us distracting ourselves by watching the strangers in the shop, oblivious to the strings.
After twenty minutes, Lucy spoke up. “Now she’s gonna take that sandwich.” She said, pointing at a woman across the shop. Sure enough, she walked to the fridge and took the plastic wrapped sandwich she was tied to. “She pays for it and leaves.” She did so, according to the prophecies of the strings. “That guy doesn’t intend to pay.” I watched as a man took his coffee and ran out of the store, the two servers just looking too exasperated to go after him.

“This is horrible.” She whimpered. “Let’s go. Please.”

Outside wasn’t much better. Everyone just followed the strings’ instructions, going about their daily lives. Lucy announced she was going home to sleep this off, and I agreed to walk her home. She only lived ten minutes away.

Away from the busier part of town there were fewer strings. It was nicer; we could pretend it wasn’t happening.

When we turned onto Lucy’s street, she stopped, her mouth falling open.

“What now?” I broke the silence, my voice sounding surprisingly small.

”Look.” She pointed outside one of her neighbours houses.

I saw it clearly, and I’ll take my memory of that moment ‘til the day I die. A little dark imp, maybe three feet tall, walking along with its knuckles on the ground, almost like a monkey. It had two bulbous yellow eyes taking up about half its face, and no mouth or any other facial features. It was holding a hammer and a ball of twine, which it was letting out behind it.

It walked quickly and quietly from the front door of the house to the mailbox. It stopped, hammered a nail into the side of the box, and tied it’s string around it. It turned to face us, and stopped when it spotted us.

My bottom fell out even further than it had already been, but it just stared with a look of surprise and curiosity. You could almost say it was the more frightened one. Suddenly, it beckoned to us with its tiny hand.

I looked at Lucy, she hadn’t moved. I looked back at the imp, which stared at me.
I halved the distance between us, and then halved it again. This wasn’t fear of the unknown anymore; it was fear of this little guy. Didn’t seem like anything to be scared of. When I was a meter away from it, it extended its hand.

“Uh. Hi.” I shook it. It nodded in approval, blinking its massive yellow eyes up at me.

“So you’re the ones in charge of the strings?” It nodded eagerly. I called Lucy over, but she stayed where she was.

“There are more of you?” Another nod. I wanted to ask it so many questions, about what it was and where it came from, but it seemed for now I was stuck with only yes or no questions.

“Do we even have free will?”

It just looked at me, almost sadly. I immediately felt sick to my stomach, and couldn’t bear looking at the little monster anymore. I grabbed Lucy, who had been listening to our exchange, and now sat on the curb with her head in her hands.

“Come on.”

We entered her house, and I made her a cup of tea. When I found her in the living room, she had untied her dog and was curled up with it, crying. I set the tea down and sat beside her.

“I’m so scared.” She whispered after a good ten minutes of sobbing. I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.

“I’m going to sleep” She mumbled suddenly, and was under within the minute. Sleep was starting to sound pretty good all of a sudden, my eyelids suddenly felt like they were being weighed down.

I collapsed to the rug, and the last thing I heard before I fell asleep was the scurrying of several sets of little feet nearby.

I felt much better the next day, as if the whole affair had been a dream. I’d probably have believed that if I hadn’t been awoken by Lucy’s mother that morning, wondering what I was doing sleeping over without permission or something.

Over breakfast, Lucy asked me why I looked so pale and nervous. I turned to her and smiled, mumbling something to her about feeling sick.

But the truth was, I was scared because I couldn’t see any strings, and was wondering whether my actions were truly my own.

Edit: I think I removed all profanity. Mods, feel free to edit if I forgot something...

Last edited by Sunrise-Moon (2010-09-08 21:57:11)

Sunrise-Moon wrote:

String Theory (better name would be "No Strings Attached", but oh well- not my story...)

Have you ever had an experience that suggested someone else was in your house, and just thought “I don’t wanna know” and left it? Sometimes, fear of the unknown just seems like the preferable option than facing a real, concrete danger. Normally it’s nothing, though. One time, the beeper function of my wireless housephone went off, when I was the only one home. It could only be called from the living room. Another time, I swear someone took some change from my desk. They’re all probably just slightly disconcerting tricks of the memory.

But what would you do when something truly suggestive happens? Would you run, or just ignore it, like I did?

Last Monday was a normal day. I got up, brushed my teeth, changed into school clothes… All little parts of my morning ritual. It seemed like it would be another totally un-noteworthy day, until I saw the strings.

There were three or four thick twine strings in my room. They criss-crossed between the walls around my bed, one attached to the door. No way would I have missed them before; I should have tripped over them. They were tied to pins in the walls, which had also not existed before ten seconds ago.

Nobody could have been in my room while I was in it, let alone set this up. It was early, and my brain wasn’t processing correctly. I simply discredited the sight, untied the strings and left for school, leaving them balled up on my desk.

It didn’t get any better later. Outside my house there were hundreds of them, tied between houses, around cars, across streets… This had to be some super elaborate prank. One of those hidden camera shows, or a comedy improv blog. They had gotten everyone else to play along too; passer-bys were tangled in them, tying them to objects they were walking towards and away from, as if they had been and were continuing to follow the course laid out for them.

I nervously continued my journey to school. On the bus, every except me was tied to the door. At school, groups of friends were tied to each other; teachers were tied to their desks and boards. Oddly enough, at this point all I could wonder was why I had been left out.

When my friend Lucy sat beside me in first period, she simply plonked her bag down on my lap and rested her chin in her hand, looking right past me to the window outside.

“Hey Lucy.”

No response.

“Come on, I didn’t expect you to be in on this too. “

She sighed and started taking books from her bag. All the books were tied to her hands. I grinned, and yanked one of the strings off a book. She didn’t seem to notice, instead simply disregarding the book completely, letting it drop to the floor without a moment’s hesitation.

“Um.” I leaned down, picking up her book and placing it back on her desk. She took no notice.

“Well, if that’s how we’re gonna play it.” I smiled, trying to look playful, but really just trying to hide my nervousness. I bundled all the strings attached to her together with one hand, then pulled them all free.
She blinked, turning to stare at me.

“Holy ****, Martin. You’re like a ninja or something.”

“I’ve been sitting here for maybe ten minutes.” I smiled again, relieved my friend had finally “noticed” me.

“Where did all these strings come from??” She gasped, seemingly noticing for the first time.
“I assumed you were with me…”

She stood up, backing into a corner. No one else in the class noticed.

“They weren’t here just a minute ago! Do you see them too??” Her tone made it clear she was genuinely scared.

“No. Didn’t you-. “ I was interrupted by my teacher slamming the door behind her. Everyone except me and Lucy murmured a good morning, and still, no one seemed to pay either of us any notice.
“People have been ignoring me all day.” I said to Lucy, before turning to our teacher. “Hey! Dumb ****! You can’t teach for ****!”

No reaction.

“I’m getting away from all this ****.” Lucy pulled a few strings aside and left the class. I followed, and surprise-surprise, no one else noticed.

We wandered the corridors, leaving and entering classes as we saw fit. Whenever we untied a chair or book from someone else, it was like it suddenly didn’t matter to them. It didn’t exist.


I showed her the street outside; there were more strings than when I came in this morning. Twice as many. We carefully picked our way through the tangle, making our way to a nearby coffee shop. Not particularly grand, I know. But what would you do in our situation? As I said, fear of the unknown sometimes seems like the safer option. On a few occasions, I suggested we untie a few more people. Lucy was opposed to it, remembering how terrified she’d been.

In the coffee shop, we grabbed a couple of sandwiches and drinks from the fridge. We found a table, untied all strings attached to the chairs, and sat down. We both ate in silence, both of us too scared, both of us distracting ourselves by watching the strangers in the shop, oblivious to the strings.
After twenty minutes, Lucy spoke up. “Now she’s gonna take that sandwich.” She said, pointing at a woman across the shop. Sure enough, she walked to the fridge and took the plastic wrapped sandwich she was tied to. “She pays for it and leaves.” She did so, according to the prophecies of the strings. “That guy doesn’t intend to pay.” I watched as a man took his coffee and ran out of the store, the two servers just looking too exasperated to go after him.

“This is horrible.” She whimpered. “Let’s go. Please.”

Outside wasn’t much better. Everyone just followed the strings’ instructions, going about their daily lives. Lucy announced she was going home to sleep this off, and I agreed to walk her home. She only lived ten minutes away.

Away from the busier part of town there were fewer strings. It was nicer; we could pretend it wasn’t happening.

When we turned onto Lucy’s street, she stopped, her mouth falling open.

“What now?” I broke the silence, my voice sounding surprisingly small.

”Look.” She pointed outside one of her neighbours houses.

I saw it clearly, and I’ll take my memory of that moment ‘til the day I die. A little dark imp, maybe three feet tall, walking along with its knuckles on the ground, almost like a monkey. It had two bulbous yellow eyes taking up about half its face, and no mouth or any other facial features. It was holding a hammer and a ball of twine, which it was letting out behind it.

It walked quickly and quietly from the front door of the house to the mailbox. It stopped, hammered a nail into the side of the box, and tied it’s string around it. It turned to face us, and stopped when it spotted us.

My bottom fell out even further than it had already been, but it just stared with a look of surprise and curiosity. You could almost say it was the more frightened one. Suddenly, it beckoned to us with its tiny hand.

I looked at Lucy, she hadn’t moved. I looked back at the imp, which stared at me.
I halved the distance between us, and then halved it again. This wasn’t fear of the unknown anymore; it was fear of this little guy. Didn’t seem like anything to be scared of. When I was a meter away from it, it extended its hand.

“Uh. Hi.” I shook it. It nodded in approval, blinking its massive yellow eyes up at me.

“So you’re the ones in charge of the strings?” It nodded eagerly. I called Lucy over, but she stayed where she was.

“There are more of you?” Another nod. I wanted to ask it so many questions, about what it was and where it came from, but it seemed for now I was stuck with only yes or no questions.

“Do we even have free will?”

It just looked at me, almost sadly. I immediately felt sick to my stomach, and couldn’t bear looking at the little monster anymore. I grabbed Lucy, who had been listening to our exchange, and now sat on the curb with her head in her hands.

“Come on.”

We entered her house, and I made her a cup of tea. When I found her in the living room, she had untied her dog and was curled up with it, crying. I set the tea down and sat beside her.

“I’m so scared.” She whispered after a good ten minutes of sobbing. I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.

“I’m going to sleep” She mumbled suddenly, and was under within the minute. Sleep was starting to sound pretty good all of a sudden, my eyelids suddenly felt like they were being weighed down.

I collapsed to the rug, and the last thing I heard before I fell asleep was the scurrying of several sets of little feet nearby.

I felt much better the next day, as if the whole affair had been a dream. I’d probably have believed that if I hadn’t been awoken by Lucy’s mother that morning, wondering what I was doing sleeping over without permission or something.

Over breakfast, Lucy asked me why I looked so pale and nervous. I turned to her and smiled, mumbling something to her about feeling sick.

But the truth was, I was scared because I couldn’t see any strings, and was wondering whether my actions were truly my own.

Edit: I think I removed all profanity. Mods, feel free to edit if I forgot something...

That...was freaking awesome. Anyone get the moral?