A rather ordinary room.
The loud creaking of a chair on the bare hardwood floor.
A big coffee cup containing a suspicious-looking liquid.
A blue glow from a laptop screen illuminates a young boy's face.
Nervous clicking and outbursts of frustration.
"How much longer do I have to wait for this thing?!"
Text flashes across the screen, followed by a black screen. Once it, too, has played its part, the long-awaited moment finally arrives.
The boy's nervousness has given way to concentration; his eyes carefully follow the images, soaking in the scene down to the last detail.
Quiet, atmospheric sounds fill the room. The boy is now one with the tiny hero on the screen; he is living out his story, entering his mind. He struggles with difficulties he has never faced before and is confronted with mysterious puzzles—as intriguing to him as they are perilous for the defenseless hero.
The sparks of interest, however, quickly fade from his dark irises. The boy is not a patient one; he's cut from a different cloth. The nervous clicking resumes, accompanied by an impatient tapping of his foot. And, as is only to be expected, according to protocol, the black cloud—with all its lightning, thunder, and the like—is unleashed upon the unsuspecting game developers, who, in that single moment, will be scarred for life.
You might wonder why this boy gets involved with games that require patience, which he lacks. Don't. Unanswered questions—there are more of them than there are people in this world.
No, that's not entirely true. There's always an answer, but one must know where to look for it and be ready to accept it. Two conditions that rarely come together in one place, or in one person.
But let's get back to the ill-fated game, which in no way deserves its current fate. Despite his indignation, the boy doesn't take his eyes off the screen, doesn't let go of the mouse, doesn't end the losing battle—a battle within himself rather than with the game.
The stream of bitter words doesn't stop; the game, with its quiet, mysterious atmosphere, couldn't possibly drown out all the noise a boy is capable of producing in the solitude of a tiny, dark room. The insults outnumber the minutes spent playing.
The chair creaks again, suddenly pushed backward. It leaves ugly marks on the hardwood floor beneath it.
One… two… three seconds.
"Tsk, what a load of nonsense! I'm just wasting my time! And this is supposed to be a horror game! The monsters aren't even scary!"
The boy laughed mockingly at the 3D image on the screen. What he didn't notice at first would forever become his worst nightmare.
The creature's deformed face revealed its missing eyeballs and sharp, dirty-yellow teeth, curved into a sinister grin. Even the absence of eyes didn't prevent it from staring at the boy, who had frozen in place. On the contrary, it doubled the rising panic. As he retreated from the creature "watching" him, the boy tripped over one of the cables, and the screen went dark.
Ragged breathing.
Beads of sweat.
A racing heart.
Fear turned to anger.
"Utter—" he swallowed hard—"nonsense! I need to get some sleep... I'm seeing things."
The boy settles back into the wooden chair and reaches for the unplugged cable. He brings it close to one of the outlets on the power strip. At the slightest touch of the plug, sparks fly, and the room is plunged into darkness. His stomach knots so tight, as if his insides were being reshaped.
"A short circuit… yes, it can't be anything else," he convinces himself stubbornly, but clouds of doubt have already taken root inside him. Even the slightest movement would startle him. He sees shadows in every dark corner - their nature questionable in the absence of light. His forehead, back, and armpits - every crevice floods with sweat. He's lost his mind, surely. His eyes adjust to the darkness - a turn of events he regrets instantly. The creature looms over him like a deadly curse - with its hollow eye sockets and crooked smile. The boy scuttles back until his back hits the cold wall. There is nowhere to run in a tiny box of a room.
"Stay back!" His shout intimidates only him. The mass of loose skin and long boney limbs leaves a bloody trail and a rotten smell behind it. As if possessed, he can't help but stare at the empty crevices where the creature's eyes should have been. The monstrosity stops right in front of him and bends down, its disfigured face inches away from the boy's. The sight, the smell - they're too much. Outside of his control, the lad's hands fly to his own eyes, his fingers so close they're only a blurry image. He starts to claw at his eyes, and the creature grins.
"NO! STOP!" He shouts at the top of his lungs, but it's too late, as blood
trickles all over his face, neck, and clothes. His body thrashes for a while before the screams of agony and terror cease once and for all. The creature studies the dead body. It pokes at the bloody gapes where the boy's eyes used to be. It does that for a while, before returning to where it came from. The laptop's screen flickers and turns back on.
GAME OVER
YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE BAD ENDING.