Apologies for it being so long, but this has to be told.
Today, I booted up FeralHeart to RP with some friends. As I clicked on the icon at the bottom of my computer (I have the pawprint pinned to my taskbar), I noticed that it inverted quickly. "Huh," I thought out loud, "I don't remember telling it to do that. Maybe that was a result of one of my half-asleep escapades." I took a note to fix it later.
As the Kovuworks screen faded into view, I picked up that the outlines of the lion which are usually a light color, were a dark red- not quite blood colored, but more of a cranberry-ish. I shook my head, before scrolling to my textures folder, realizing that I had never recolored the lineart. 'Okay, well, this is new,' I thought, starting to get a bit creeped out. As I waiting for the game to load, two words flashed across the FeralHeart window:
HELP.HIMI blinked a few times, hoping that my mind had just been playing tricks on me. After a few seconds, there was a bit of static, and the loadup screen returned to normal, with the light colored outline. I clicked to the next screen, then finally the login screen. This seemed fairly normal, except for the music being different. Rather than the normal music, it was playing Miserable at Best by Mayday Parade. I had never changed the music settings.
'Okay, seriously, what's going on?' I frantically logged in, having to retype my password a few times because I was shaking so much. After a minute or so, the words flashed again, albeit in smaller font.
HELP.HIM"Help who?!" I yelled at my computer, beginning to get frustrated. I logged onto one of my favorite characters, Ruzha. She happened to be stationed in a map that I had previously had for an RP, which was now dead. The owner had made sure the map was protected and had assigned a password to it, which he changed multiple times during the week. It was highly unlikely that anyone, outside of the RP, had been able to have free access to the map. I made a point to check the forums, and saw that I was the only one in the map.
I returned to the game window, grumbling as Ruzha darted forward. As I f3ed around her, I realized she had a look of horror on her face- one that wasn't possible in game. Her pupils were dilated, almost to the point that there were none, and her ears were pinned back extremely far. Her mouth was parted slightly,just enough for her tongue to poke though her teeth. Another thing I noticed was that her eyebrows (or where they are on a wolf model) were drawn toward the middle, adding to her mortified look. As I ran around the map, I started messing with the emote keys. After a good five minutes, I was able to change the look to a smile. I still wasn't able to completely shake the horrified look, though. Her face turned into a mixture of happiness and worry.
"srojtas has arrived."I was shocked. That was the username that my best friend, Sascha, used to log in to so many things. My shock turned to happiness after a few seconds. Had I finally convinced him to join in on the game? He had always said he didn't want to join, because the game had messed with my laptop before. I had convinced him otherwise, so it seemed. Something that struck me odd, though; how did he have the map? He was never a part of the RP I was in, unless he had an alternate account, which was quite possible. After all, this kid knows all there is to know about computers.
I turned to local, and typed in a greeting. The following chat is from that night. Pink is me, blue is him.
<Zarorah>: Hey bro! Nice to see you online finally!<srojtas>: Uh, who are you?<Zarorah>: Dude, it's Katie. Aka your idiot friend.<srojtas>: Oh my God, hey! I didn't think I'd get a chance to run into you! 
<Zarorah>: Haha, I didn't think I'd run into you either! What are you doing in this map, anyway? It's a private map, you know.<srojtas>: It is? Oh... I don't know how I ended up with it. :s<Zarorah>: I don't think the map owner will mind, seeing as this RP has been dead for quite a while. Want to come derp around with me?<srojtas>: Heh, sure. I don't have anything better to do, really.Seemed pretty innocent, right? It was. We chatted for a bit, then I agreed to take him through the rest of the game. He sent me a friend request, and we met up near the portal back to Cape. I was a little shocked when I saw his character. It was the same markings as mine, except the colors had been reversed. My base color was a dark grey, with red markings, whereas his markings were dark grey, and, you guessed it, his base was dark red. We commented on how much we looked alike, and about how we had both chosen wolf models. We leapt through the portal, spawning back in Cape.
When we arrived in Cape, it was mostly abandoned, as I sort of expected it to be. I remember him asking me if it was usually like this, and I replied that it was at this time. (It was probably around 11:30 am, when most people are at school or work. We had happened to have an off day, thanks to an inservice meeting at our school.) Then, the chat box suddenly began to become flooded with videos from a user with the name Warning!. I thought of it merely as another troll, and halfheartedly clicked on one of the videos. The character was a bit predictable- all black lion with the fluffy mane, red eyes, and dark blue markings. "So original," I muttered out loud, before reading the message.
"HURRY. THE DARKNESS IS WINNING."
I let out a slight growl in my room, before letting my fingers fly across the keyboard. "Did you see that idiot's movie?" I asked in local, to which he replied, "What are you talking about?" I felt my body go cold for a second as I realized that he hadn't seen those movies. I ran towards the portal to Fluorite, Sascha's wolf following me into Plains, which we both accessed fairly easily. However, those two words popped up again as the screen loaded.
HELP.HIMAs we entered Plains, I began to feel more uneasy. I turned, waiting for his character to join me, which it did after a few moments. Quickly, I went and checked how many people were in Fluorite. 119. Not bad for this time of day. After he came though, we took off toward the Stone Bridge. I met up with a friend there, who had been advertising for her wolf pack RP. I introduced them, then hopped onto the character that I had in that pack. As I spawned in Ficho, I took notice that every single character in there was frozen in whatever position they had been in. Some cats were mid-stride, birds (or what I assumed were birds because of the names) sat in mid-air, wings frozen mid-flap. I thought the game might be glitching, which it appeared to be doing, because a few seconds later, the characters returned to normal, bobbing up and down, or running. What I did notice, however, was that the names were glitched, like a random jumble of letters.
I returned to Fluorite to experience the same temporary freeze. However, this time, as I ran towards the bridge, I noticed that every character's name was HELP HIM. I was getting angry now. Who is this HIM? I made my way back to the bridge, seeing that Sascha and my friend were still there. Sascha's character's name, Alerion, was the only one what was still normal. His character had, however, changed. There were markings, almost like cracks, that ran over the regular markings, contrasting the grey with a blood red color. I also noticed that his eyes had become a darker shade of brown. I asked him what was going on, and he replied strangely.
<srojtas>: What do you mean, what is going on? Is it not obvious yet, Katie?I freaked out; he would never use my real name while on a game. Never. He'd always use a variation. I began to breathe a bit heavier, becoming more and more anxious. The words flashed on the screen again, this time in a chain.
HELP.HIM.HELP.HIM.HELP.HIM.HELP.HIM.HELP.HIM.HELP.HIM.HELP.HIMQuickly, it became apparent to me- I had to help Sascha. I began to frantically type things out, but stopped when a sinister laugh erupted from my speakers. My chat was suddenly flooded with
"______ has disconnected." messages. I quickly turned to the forums to find that the server number had dropped from whatever number it had been to two- Sascha's account, and my account. Another laugh crackled though my speakers, before I heard a voice.
"Tick tock tick tock. Better hurry up!" The voice had a singsong tone to it, but it was definitely Sascha's. With a burst of static, my game crashed. As soon as it did though, my phone lit up next to me. Every text said the same thing, and they were all from a restricted number.
"HELP.HIM"
In a flash, I was up, grabbing the keys to my dad's truck. He asked where I going, to which I replied, "to hang out with some friends." He nodded, before turning back to the TV. I literally hurtled myself into the truck, thankful that I had gotten my license. I pulled out, then gassed it all the way to Sascha's house. With a squeal, I stopped, almost rear-ending my other friend's car. Sascha's parents weren't home, which I guess was a good thing. The door inside sat open, and I ran though it, taking the stairs four at a time.
I burst into the room, to see my best friend on his bed, writhing in pain. The white of his eyes had turned dark red, while his irises had become black. Red lines traced down his hand. wrapping around his arms. He moaned, his hands locking into clawlike shapes. I stepped back, prepared to leave, but I saw my other friend, Sarah, on the ground, motionless. She was on her side, with what looked like tears dripping from her eyes. With a growl, I barged into the room, hurtling myself onto his bed. I grabbed his wrists hard; so hard, in fact, that my knuckles began to cramp. I leaned down close to him, glaring into his eyes.
"W-what happened to you?" I asked, in a smaller voice than I would have liked. He growled, glaring back at me, before smirking. In a second, I was on my back, feet bent uncomfortably behind me. Sascha knelt over me, pinning my arms down.
"What happened to me?" He asked, laughing. "You should have never introduced me to FeralHeart." He sneered the name, never losing the smirk. "That game can give you some crazy viruses." His eyes turned staticy, if that's even possible, and his hands loosened. I took that opportunity to regain the upper hand, flipping him off the bed and onto the floor. I ended up on top, pinning his hands underneath my knees. Or so I thought, because his right hand shot out, grabbed my shirt, and pulled me close, forcing me to stare into those soulless eyes. I wanted to cry. How could I have let something like this happen to him? A tear slipped from my eye, landing on him.
"I-I'm sorry!" I whimpered like a puppy. "I didn't mean for this to happen! Honestly!" He stared at me, like he was trying to break out of this shell he was trapped in, and his grasp loosened. I stood up quickly; maybe a little too quickly, because I promptly fell, whacking my head pretty good on the floor. The impact knocked me out.
About an hour later, I came to, on Sascha's bed. My head was killing me, but otherwise, I was pretty comfortable. I heard movement on the other side of the room and breathed in sharply, turning slowly. The sound I had heard was typing at a keyboard, and the shape I saw was Sarah. She turned, smiling.
"Hey, sleepyhead! 'Bout time you woke up!" She laughed, fingers still in place over the keyboard. I forced a smile, before wincing again. "I'm gonna go down and make something really quick. Be right back!"
"W-Where's Sascha?" I muttered. Sarah stood, walked out the door, then downstairs, almost like she hadn't heard my question. Groaning, I settled myself back on the pillow, dozing off again.
The next time I woke up, it was late at night, and someone was running their hand through my hair. I half opened an eye, startled to see Sascha sitting there. I don't think he realized I was awake, because he was talking pretty quietly.
"I'm really sorry about that. It was my fault. I should have never taken that map. I didn't heed the warning in the text file. And I nearly killed both you and Sarah. I'm so sorry..." He broke off, sounding like he was crying. I reached up, gently grabbing his hand. He looked down, surprised. "I- Thank God you're awake. I didn't want to have to live knowing I'd killed you."
"No, it's okay. Don't worry," I replied, smiling faintly. "Just... Let me sleep a bit. I'm still really sleepy." I dozed back off, barely noticing when he curled up next to me, taking me in his arms. I was freezing, so this came as a very pleasant surprise. It was obvious that he was still upset. "Seriously, don't worry about it. I'm just dealing with some sleep deprivation. Give me a bit and I'll be fine."
I woke up a few hours later, grabbing my phone. I was still warm, but there wasn't anyone next to me. Instead, I had just been wrapped in a few more blankets. There weren't any calls from my dad, which I found odd. There was a text though, from Sascha.
"Hey, when you see this, I'll probably be gone. I got a text from Amanda. Her computer's acting up. I'll be back soon, promise."
I sighed, looking at the pastel ceiling. He'd sent that text about an hour ago, so he'd probably be a while. I got myself out of bed, tenderly touching the lump that had formed from where I'd hit the floor. The previous day was pristine, permanently implanted in my mind. However, out of curiosity, I logged onto his FeralHeart account, which still sat open. One of his characters was stuck in a map called "NO.MORE." and the character was called Grudge, based off a dark red palette. Focusing solely on the chatbox, I closed the window out, making sure to not look at the screen. Quickly I logged into his forum account and sent his character back home. A few minutes later, I got a text.
"Thank you. So much."
I was confused. What had I done? Before I could text back, I received another text.
"You freed her. Saved her from that map. I had used her once, gotten creeped out, and abandoned her. I think the virus was her way of making her imprint last. When you brought her home, I felt... different. Like I had been forgiven. Go on, log back in. Everything is okay now."
Hesitantly, I logged back in to his account. I scrolled through his characters until I came to the one who had been trapped.
It's name was Forgiveness, and it was now a light color, with sparkling blue eyes. As I prepared to text him back, he called.
"Did you see her? I never meant for her to turn into a monster. I meant for her to represent beauty, like you do." I almost dropped the phone. "She had started out beautiful, but when you began to turn... darker, I'll say, so did she. When you were at your lowest, and hated everyone, she then turned into Grudge, and took on a mind of her own. I got creeped out, so I stopped using her. When you got better, she didn't. I guess it was, well, abandonment."
"Like what I feel sometimes..." I replied quietly, tears springing into my eyes. "W-we had a connection."
"Yes, and you were the only one who was able to bring her out. Every time I went to bring her back, it would always say 'You are not the one.'" I could tell he was smiling now. "You... you saved me. I will never be able to repay you for that. I'll see you in a bit, you superhero, you." I ended the call, drew my knees up to my chest, and smiled. I heard the car pull up, heard the door open, and was quickly grabbed up in a hug. And that was the night that a horrible turn of events brought two people, who had been though Hell and back, together.
And I wouldn't have had it any other way.
This is the first time I've ever tried to blend cuteness, creepiness, and a bit of paranormal antics into one story, and I don't think it's very good. Ah well, there's a first time for everything. Comments are appreciated c:
