I play a lot of horror games, and watch violent movies. My friends tell me I’m never scared of movies or video games. I used to agree with them, but now I deny that. It’s for the exact same reason I’m typing this. A strange occurrence happened while I was playing Doom. Not the new Doom game, it was the first Doom game.
I was in school. It was almost lunch time. During lunch time, I tend to eat fast and spend the rest of my time in the computer room with the volume cranked up and my headphones plugged in. I carried a USB that had all the data of Doom on it. I played on a computer near the back of the library as to not disturb anyone else.
I began to play. My experience went normal for some time. Then Doom crashed. I turned to see the librarian. It was a substitute. Her face reminded me a little of McGonagall from Harry Potter. She said “You’re not allowed to play violent video games in school.” Then she walked away. I said “Can I at least have my USB back?” She said “I’ll give it to you at the end of the day.” When she walked away, she tripped on the cord to another computer and dropped the USB. It shattered on the ground.
I sighed. After the substitute got up, I said “Great! Now you destroyed the USB that carried HALF my games!” She said “I’m sorry. I hope it doesn't affect you too badly.” As I walked away from the library, I carried my broken USB with me. I sat on a nearby bench and definitely made a fool of myself crying. Shortly before the bell would ring, I felt a pat on my shoulder. I looked up to see a kid with blonde hair and a muscular build. He said “you alright?” I said “My USB broke.” I felt too depressed to go into detail of how it broke. He said “I might be able to fix it.” I said “Really?” He said “It looks like the inside is busted a bit, but I have a replacement.”
In 2 minutes, I had a perfectly working USB. I said “Thank you.” I didn't know what else to say. We talked for the next 2 minutes or so about each other. He said his name was Dean. I asked where he learned to fix USBs. He said he went to a technical summer camp a lot. The rest of the day dragged on. I was a little worried as I hoped the USB would work when I got home. When I got home, I did my homework in somewhat of a rush. Then I booted up the computer. It worked seemingly better and faster. And all the games were still on it.
I first wanted to play minecraft, but switched to doom. When I started I noticed that the contrast was darker, but still visible. I started a new game. That’s when the game got more sinister. The difficulty names were the same except that the hardest was replaced with the words “Dylan Klebold.” And the second hardest difficulty was called “Eric Harris.”
I was confused, but since I watched horror movies in the past, I was more curious than frightened. However, when I started the game, it was perfectly normal. All levels were the same and the contrast wasn't darker anymore after that. Over the course of 4 days, I forgot about the darker contrast and the change of difficulty names. But 5 days later, the game showed something much creepier.
When I started after dinner, I saw a new option in the menu. It said Columbine high school. I also noted that the option saying “play game” was grayed out and that there was yellow text that looked like urine pointing at the words Columbine high school saying “Very special.” I was confused, as the game was from 1992. But with nothing better to do, I played it. I wandered the “special level.” It looked like a school. I also found a door leading
to the outside of the “school” It looked around noon based on the sky color. I also saw a girl with the words “Rachel Scott” over her head. She looked timid and nervous.
I felt the urge to go talk to her, as though she were a real person, but why did I feel that way? I just blamed my sensation on her timid expression and continued watching. I then saw 2 boys looking around 17 come on screen. One had black hair, a long neck and ears that stuck straight out. The other had blonde-brown hair and like the first kid, a long neck. They were holding guns and looked excited. The black-haired boy had the name “Eric” above his head. The blonde-brown one had the name “Dylan.” Dylan said “Ready?” Eric said “Ready!” They both aimed their guns at Rachel and shot her dead.
As she died, I felt angry. Not grumpy, angry. No, angry was an understatement. I felt enraged! Why would someone kill someone else who did nothing wrong? I began to shoot at Eric and Dylan. They were unaffected. I got up and punched the screen. I didn't make a dent or even a sound. I collected myself and backed up. As I ran away (in the game), I heard a few more shots and a muffled scream. The ratio of shots to screams was 10:1. So I guess the kids shooting weren't good at aiming.
I went to the place in the level labeled by a sign saying “cafeteria.” There were several people in there and they all had names above their heads. They even had individual features. That seemed far-fetched for the technology of the time. I heard someone outside the room say “Go! Go!” The voice sounded excited. I ran in the source of the noise. As I ran toward the noise, I heard a 3 more shots. It lead me to a place labeled “west staircase.” At the bottom were 3 dead kids around the age of 15. They were labeled “Daniel,” “Sean,” and “Lance.” They all looked like they were shot. I was sure it was either Eric or Dylan. Daniel was shot in the leg and chest. Sean was shot in the foot, and it was hanging by a thread while Lance looked more unconscious than dead because he moved slightly and groaned here and there, but was shot in the leg and neck.
I couldn't stand seeing dead kids and went around in circles a bit before running into a section between the cafeteria and west staircase to a section labeled library. There were 2 rows of computers with a kid hiding behind each. Like earlier kids, they looked scared, except more in the"please don't kill me" category than the "shy" category. A shout that was sounded like a male teenager’s voice coming from a bad radio saying “Get down! Get down!” Another voice said, a few seconds later, “Get up jocks! Hands up where we can see them! No? Fine! Let’s start shooting already, Dylan.” Dylan and Eric walked into the room, guns out and ready. They fired at every single student, killing them all. I noticed I was in the line of fire and wasn't hurt one bit. But the noise was so overwhelming I turned off my computer.
The next day, I turned it on and decided to Skype Dean, since after doom showed that shooting, every time I tried to talk about that game, he would always change the subject as though I was talking about a very touchy topic. But before then, I got a call. And guess what it said: Eric Harris. It opened even though I didn't click it. It showed a kid with black hair and he was smiling, pleased to see me, even though I was terrified.
He said “Hello, my friend.” He sounded friendly, which made me even more scared. I said “Columbine…high….school…doom…” His smile became even brighter. He said “Why yes! That was fun. I enjoyed it too.” I said “Why would you do this?” He said “Its boring sitting in your favorite game all day, isn't it?” I said “What!?!” Eric said “I’m just trying to get your attention so you can free us.” I said “Free you?” I got angry. “Screw you! I’m not doing it.” Eric said quietly “I didn't even say what to do. Just get an axe and smash everything but the screen itself. Then I’ll complete my mission.” I said “What mission?” Eric said “Nothing much. Just complete our massacre on Columbine high school.” I said “Who the hell are you?” Eric said “I’m Eri…”
I closed the window. Then I looked up what he was talking about. There was a massacre that they did in 1999. It was just like what I saw in the game.Even, the injuries on Sean, Lance and Daniel were exactly the same as in the game. Dylan and Eric committed suicide afterward. I wondered what brought me here for a way out of this. The only thought was Dean. But I never found him. So I used a program to copy the games code for any strange software or bugs, but nothing was suspicious.
Nothing, but this little commentary in the code: # Code by Dylan and Eric.