𝐃𝐄𝐉𝐀 𝐕𝐔

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟔

Just as I was about to step out - I heard quiet music beginning to play. It sounded oddly familiar yet alien at the same time. I could've sworn I'd heard it before. It sounded old yet not like a mainstream song. Almost cryptic. No, no, I remember it - this isn't the original. The original was in a video game - I think. I couldn't place my finger on what was different about this version, though.

I hesitantly turned around on the back of my heel - my eyes immediately locking onto the now turned on screen. My brows furrowed as I reluctantly began to walk over. The screen was still that dull blue - emitting a soft yet bold glow. But, what I noticed was this time there wasn't an error message. It was just blue.

As I got closer, the music got louder, more distinct. Almost as if it was dragging me in.  The way the instruments sounded (albeit eerie) made you feel like you were being sucked in, the way they were being played sounded almost vaccum like. Wait - the song, it was being played backwards. That's why it sounded familiar yet strange.

Slam.

At the sound, I twisted my head around to see the door had closed on itself - and the hole in it had disappeared. So, the mysterious box in front of me was my only light source.

"I fucking trashed that door-" I began, ready to blatantly blurt out the obvious, in hopes of it easing up whatever Slenderman was up to. Honesty was the best policy, apparently. However, my words had only caused the strange music to come to a halt - my stomach beginning to form an uncomfortable knot at the sudden silence.

Hesitantly I began to look back at the screen, noticing that new white text had appeared on the glitching sea of blue - in the centre.

ʏᴏᴜ ꜱʜᴏᴜʟᴅɴ'ᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴅᴏɴᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ

"Done what? I just wanted to watch TV!" I grumbled, crouching in front of the screen again - narrowing my eyes at it.

A laugh echoed throughout the room, though quickly became purely a noise from the Television. The voice seemed distorted and glicthed - almost muffled in a sense.

"Alright, you've lost electricity rights-" I began, beginning to stretch over the TV and reach out for the plugs - not caring which I pulled out, just grabbing a handful and yanking. However, to my unfortunate and uncomfortable surprise, water began gushing out of the newly made holes. "I don't think that's meant to happen with TVs."

I pulled away, going back to crouch in front of the TV again, watching the screen flicker and the text replace itself.

ʏᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ᴍᴇᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀ ᴛᴇʀʀɪʙʟᴇ ꜰᴀᴛᴇ, ʜᴀᴠᴇɴ'ᴛ ʏᴏᴜ

"Yeah, no shit-" I snapped, before the screen flickered off entirely - causing my eyes to widen as I clutched the box's sides. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I managed to make out something behind the screen. It seemed to swash from side to side as it built up. Great, more water.

I began to try and stand up, but felt something push me down - like I was tied to my position, and resisting it only made it push back harder. I hit the floor with a grunt, glaring at the TV - seeing that behind the screen was completely flooded, now. The feeling of something wrapping around my arms - tightly, making sure to hold me down. I looked to my side, seeing it was the cables from earlier - though when they tightened their grasp around me, they made the noise of chains. Heavy ones at that.

A more distinct sound of chains became clear - thick, heavy metal being dragged along the floorboards. My head snapped in the direction of the sound - the sight of another cable only making me try and wriggle out of the current ones more. Though, my thrashing around only resulted in the newer cable sliding around my torso, gripping me with force, pinning me to the ground.

I grimaced, trying to calm my panicked breathing.

However, that quickly became useless at the feeling of a liquid seeping around my body - soaking my clothes which only added to the feeling of being weighed down. I could feel it running passed my legs and dampening my hoodie, eventually trickling to my neck and hair. With dread, I looked to the screen, my heart falling (despite my rapidly rising chest) at the sight of the glass beginning to slowly crack at the pressure building up behind it.

A part of me hoped that the glass would smash sooner, to envelope me in the death it obviously planned for me, but another part dreaded the idea of the idea of drowning - the thought of consciously fighting off the natural urge to breathe despite death being immenet either way sounded like torture.

I harshly closed my mouth, sucking in my cheeks as I took a deep breath - the glass exploding seconds later causing me to close my eyes, not wanting the shards to blind me. But, I wasn't met with the feeling of tiny impalement, instead the feeling of gushing water hitting my stomach and swashing towards my face.

When the feeling of the impact ceased, I opened my eyes - the water blurring my vision. The TV hadn't stopped spewing out the liquid, and it seemed to be filling up the room unreasonably fast. What didn't help was that, despite my best efforts, the water still managed to get inside my mouth - slowly seeping in passed my muzzle and through the gash in my cheek. Plus, it couldn't block it from my nose.

Once again, I began to tug at the cables, which proved useless as I barely lifted up my arm.

The water filling my mouth was becoming unbarelable - it felt like I was going to choke by not allowing myself to swallow it. And I was right, forcing myself, especially whilst panicking and overwhelmed, to not breath was a living hell. It felt like a wight on my chest, like it was becoming stiff.

I gave in, letting out a choked cough - desperately trying to rid my mouth of the water, only to be greeted by more as I naturally inhaled. My eyes widened at the sinking feeling in my chest, like the weight had been moved to my back. I'd fucked up.

I squinted my eyes, frantically trying to free myself from the restraints, feeling the water's natural urge to help me float. Though, my efforts only made my vision blurry and my eyelids heavy - the last thing I could see were the oxygen bubbles escaping to the surface and a frail, corpse-like hand out-stretching from behind the screen - holding onto the frame as it began to pull itself out.