Trial starts

Hastin clicked on option ten. Definitely he must decide what to write, even if the ideas are from the app, the story truly belongs to him.

The app went blank for a moment and then a snake almost popped out of the screen while hissing. The phone slipped down from the Hastin's hand but before it could touch the ground, he caught it.

"Cool. Awesome Effects!!" Hastin shouted out loud ignoring the shock he received when the snake popped out.

The app displayed, 'Thank you… I hope you enjoyed it. Since you like it we will make sure to give you many more surprises in the future'

"Did the app just reply to me?" Hastin once again spoke out his mind.

'Yes! We have Slaughter as your virtual assistant. He will help you with any queries you have and will also be your emotional support throughout this journey'

Hastin decided to check how slaughter works.

"Hello, Slaughter! I am Hastin"

'Hello Quietus'

"No, it's Hastin! Hasss-Tinn"

'Ok! Quiii-etuss'

"Oh! Forget it! All these user interfaces are useless. They can't even repeat the words properly! So dumb" he complained.

'Slaughter is hurt! Slaughter is angry'

Suddenly a dark figure with an ax appeared on the screen. Its hand almost came out but the app stopped him.

[Not yet! We will still have use for him]

The dark figure disappeared. The app displayed a warning message,

'Warning: Error: Punishment: Free trial gets deducted by a whole month and views offered reduced to half.'

'Current offer: Five months of free trial and five hundred thousand views'

"What the…" he couldn't believe what just happened.

"Really! How could you?" Hastin demanded.

The app displayed a warning message,

'Please adhere to the rules and regulations properly. The punishment will be severe next time if the author continues to not follow the rules'

He tried to go back to the rules and regulations page but the app did not allow him. Instead, it displayed,

'Error: page does not exist'

He sighed and asked slaughter for help, "Slaughter, take me to rules and regulations page"

'Sorry, currently the page is still under construction. Please continue the game for now. Slaughter would pop up a message once the page is available for Quietus to see'

He rolled his eyes. This app is definitely weird. Fine! Let us just play along for now. If it does not give him any proper ideas, then he thought to uninstall the app later.

He completely forgot that he cannot uninstall the app for the next six months as per the agreement. Hastin waited for the app to display the next option.

A red color spider now crawled on the screen while pulling the next page.

'Quietus, please select the location where your story will be taking place'

"Did you guys really change my name? Forget it..." Hastin by now accepted that it is way past to correct them anymore.

The app displayed the options on the screen,

Abandoned warehouse

Haunted mansion

Dark forest

Deserted Motel

Tumbledown Penitentiary

Neglected Asylum

Ramshackle cottage

Forsaken fort

Stranded road

victims home

"Oh! All the options look too good. I am so confused now to choose just one option" he said anxiously.

"Slaughter, why don't you help me choose?" He then asked for help from slaughter.

'No, Quietus has to select this one. Slaughter will help you to slaughter all the victims for you'

He had some unsettling feeling whenever Slaughter spoke with its creepy voice. Since slaughter would not help, he chose option one.

The app spider took him to the next page. Now it showed all the abandoned warehouse locations with pictures for him to select.

As usual, the options displayed were ten in number. All of them had their own threatening and spine-chilling descry.

Hastin selected the spookiest of them all and clicked enter. The app now asked him to enter the number of people he decides to put inside the warehouse.

He typed five and clicked enter. The app spider then took him to the next page which asked for more specific details of the victim. Victims name: Address: Age: Phone number: Email address: Gender: Country:

All the way down, he scrolled the page and in the end, it asked,

'If you are unsure of the details, do you want the app to randomly select the victims?'

'Click OK, if not tap the spider to scroll to the top'

He uncertainly clicked Ok.

The app then displayed a message which said,

'Please wait until the victims are chosen and sent to the warehouse. This may take a while. We advise you to form the outline of the story until then.'

The app closed automatically and disappeared from the screen.

He rummaged the phone for the app but it looked like it never existed on his mobile. The app just vanished into thin air. He couldn't find the app and thought that he was fooled by some junk app. The sky had become darker outside. The old antique clock showed its almost seven o'clock.

He couldn't believe that he wasted the whole afternoon on that rubbish app. He thought of preparing dinner and moved towards the kitchen. The phone blinked once again…

'Warning: Please prepare the outline for the story"

"Oh! You are back. I thought you did not exist for a minute there. Where did you disappear to…"

'Warning: Prepare the outline for the story'

"Ok fine! I will but once I finish my dinner. I need to have the energy to write. Don't I?"

The snake once again appeared without any warning. It hissed at him and disappeared. So the app was real and it's not a dream. Fine! Good! Let's create a novel that will get a million views tomorrow!!!

He felt happy for the first time in his life after his father's death. Even when he wrote books and got his first hundred views, all Hastin felt was zeal but no joy. But now he definitely sensed great pleasure and triumph.

Even though he did not receive a million views yet, he could feel that the day was not away anymore. That made him jump up in gratification.

Meanwhile, the app sent lucky draw links to a few random people across the world. When they clicked on the link, they were all asked to answer some random questions which also included questions about their personal details.

Few people ignored the link altogether. Some looked at the details they were asked to enter. They backed off at the last minute after looking at the questions they were asked to answer.

But among them, there were thirty-five people who were in desperate need of money, and the prize amount definitely tempted them. Twenty people filled random junk as an answer while remaining gave the exact answer to each of the questions asked.

Once all the details were filled they were allowed to spin the wheel for the lucky draw. Among the thirty-five, exactly five got 'Quietus' displayed on their screen.

Within no time, they were all pulled inside their mobile. And no one ever heard about them again. For others, they were asked to try once again next month as this lucky draw will keep happening every month until noticed otherwise. Hastin's mobile blinked once.

All of them who were pulled in were dumped into the warehouse. They all laid in one corner almost looking like they were in deep sleep except for one guy. He stood up and searched the warehouse for the exit.

But before he could reach the exit, a giant creature caught him and lifted him in the air. It suddenly vanished along with the guy.

Hastin's mobile on the nightstand blinked once with a message.

"It's ready. Let us launch the horror..."

He, who still doesn't know what actually happened, slept peacefully in his lonely mansion. Also, Hastin completely forgot to create an outline for the story which the app specifically insisted several times for him to do.

As he was having a spooky dream, a giant vulture landed on his front yard with a half-dead guy. It slowly started to peck on the food in front of it with bright blood-colored eyes.

Let us wait and watch the punishment he would get for missing his target set by the app this time.

Stay tuned...