chapter 6

Ping! Message from unknown. Ping 2 messages from unknown. Not a figure of speech really. This guy literally saved his name as ‘unknown’. I mean can this get any weirder? I picked the phone up to put it in silent mode when suddenly the message caught my eye. A lot of things have been catching my eye lately and it’s just not messages. It’s everything. The weather, people chatting, the wind whistling, my entire surroundings. And it’s been getting worse and worse minute by minute. But I can’t say it’s worse feeling just too much for me to understand.

‘You have been chosen. Click the link to join.’

Tch. Another spam. Should've known. I wondered how they got my number. I don’t recall giving my number to anyone.

I roll onto the bed and typed back.’ lose my number. Blocking you.’

The bed was unusually cold. It always has been cold but now it feels like I’m lying on a bed made of ice. I jumped out shivering and quickly raced through the corner to grab my hoodie. Like what the heck dude, it’s like 40 degrees outside.

Another ping. It’s the same guy again. But how? Didn't I press the block user button?

I silked through my knotted and unbrushed brown hair as I slid through my pale grey hoodie. Something I wear to school every day. It’s less likely to draw attention that way.

I groaned and went to block that guy again because I hate spam and scams to the extent, I can’t hate anyone anymore. I just hate people who trick others and taking them to their advantage to get something they want. That’s purely selfish. I’ve been a victim many times

But this time he didn’t ask. As soon as I typed my password and unlocked the phone the screen went pitch black. I tried to switch it off and on again but it completely froze out of my control. I groaned aloud and kicked the nearby chair. It swung off in another direction and stopped right at the corner.

Then a terrible sound rang out of nowhere almost giving me a heart attack.

The screen changed to white but nothing still changed. And then a website opened. I couldn’t escape or exit it. It looked like an illegal website and there wasn’t even a name or title. It just displayed one option: play.

I really didn’t have a choice and since I couldn’t sleep either I decided to go with the flow.

I pressed the button. It took a long time to connect to another website and finally it displayed something.

User identified. Data collected. Quest generating…

Data collected? Quest? I’m more likely to be scammed but I kept on playing.

The words disappear and it listed a bunch of rules.

· Your quest partner will be assigned to you. Further names and details will not be provided.

· You must not partake in any confessions of quest or your real identity.

· You will also be assigned a quest name.

· This quest will not end until the user finds their price item.

· A list of clues will be given every time you solve a clue.

· Your first clue lies with your quest partner

Mission: find partner

We wish you good luck.

Click anywhere to move on to the next module.

This was baffling and interesting at the same time. I’ve always loved puzzles. Nothing engaged my mind like them. This looked like a treasure hunt. And a strict one at those. I mean why would anyone want to write a whole introduction, make a fake website, and a big set of rules if they want to scam me? It could be done in the easiest of ways. Like asking for credit card details and catfishing. because pretty sure I'm the most gullible person here.well, too bad, their loss, because I'm going to keep playing anyway. And something like that. And my senses are tingling to trust them. My guts never lie, right?

And so I clicked at a random place and it faded up and a choice appeared.

You have a choice:

Please choose one of the following names:

1: Heva

2: Seiri

3: Arill

4: Cora

All of these names don’t make sense. But I still can’t just turn off my phone because I really want to check what my friends are doing. It’s the only thing I’ve been doing for days after she passed.

I randomly select one and the phone buzzed. Then a huge green screen flashed across the screen hurting my eyes. It then came out with another message.

Choice 4 chosen, Quester may now be known as Cora. The number disappeared again and I was expecting another river of questions and a bunch of nonsense. But that was it. My phone switched off and there was nothing but silence. I was just left there without any explanation or answer to my question. And now I’m probably scammed by a bunch of no-good numbskulls.

I charged my phone and went back to bed. Upstairs I could still hear my mom sobbing and my sister rambling about how wrong I was and how precious of an angel he is.

I sniffled and I felt like I could use a hug right now. But I’m alone and unsupervised. perhaps that's why in playing this game, for attention. I wish things were back the way they were.

My quirky but smart sister coming back from an unsuccessful hunt and playing little pranks on me. Fighting and bickering for being the center of attention and never-ending board game nights. The sister that helps me with homework. The sister who protects me from all the monsters in the closet and under the bed. The sister who was still noticed and cared for me.

Little did I know that no one could protect you from the savage monsters in your mind. Controlling and mocking for not being as good as the others.

The night lasted longer than I thought. the darkness clouding my senses is unaviodable.