The Murderer

"What's your problem?! You guys are too scared to even look, but you still force me to play!"

"Do you know how terrified I am right now?!"

As she heard the viewers panicking in chat, Natalie started shouting back, half crying, half complaining.

"Forget it, forget it! I don't care if the bathroom door is open or not. I'm not going in! Even if you paid me, I'm staying right here in the hallway!"

"This game's developer is sick in the head! I'm not playing by his rules anymore!"

"I'm not going in there. Let's see what he's gonna do about it!"

Natalie was clearly at her limit. She stood frozen, shouting. Spit flew as she ranted.

But before she could say more, the lights in the entire hallway turned off.

Darkness swallowed everything.

In the blink of an eye, Natalie was left standing completely alone in the pitch black.

She couldn't see anything, not even her own hands.

"WHAT?! Again?! Now the whole hallway's dark?!"

"God damn it!!!"

Her scream echoed through the corridor, bouncing off the walls with an echo.

"How am I supposed to play like this?! I can't see a thing! This isn't even fun anymore!!"

Panicking, she dropped to a squat and hugged her knees, nearly crying.

"No, no, no, I'm done. I'm really done this time. I'm terrified of the dark, I can't do this!"

At that moment, she didn't care about streaming, about getting more viewers, or even about the gifts flooding in.

None of it mattered.

Her life felt more important than anything else.

This game could go to hell and so could her brother.

"Wait, Natalie look! There's light in the bathroom!"

"Yeah! Look carefully, it's the only light in the whole hallway!"

"Come on, that's your only option!"

"You've got this! It's just a game!"

"Don't be scared! We're all here with you!"

"We're sending gifts! You can do it!"

More and more encouraging messages poured in. Viewers spammed the chat with support and gift alerts.

Natalie took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

She looked again, and sure enough, there was a faint light shining from the open bathroom door.

Everything else was pitch black. Only the bathroom glowed faintly.

"Seriously? This developer is messing with me! He turned off every other light just to force me into the bathroom!"

Tears welled up in her eyes. She stamped her foot in frustration.

Her brother wasn't just cruel, he was playing games with her mind.

He knew players wouldn't want to enter the bathroom. So he made it the only option.

Now she had two choices.

First, she could stumble through the pitch black hallway, where she might run straight into that tall ghost.

The risk was huge. What if the ghost was still nearby, hidden in the dark?

Just thinking about it made her stomach twist.

The second, head into the bathroom, where there was at least some light.

But that meant possibly seeing that ghost girl with the smashed face again.

Both choices were terrifying.

But if she had to choose.

She took another shaky breath. She'd taken so many by now, she felt dizzy.

"I'll go to the bathroom," she said weakly. "But I swear, if something jumps out at me again, I'm quitting for real…"

With all the encouragement from the chat, Natalie forced herself to make a decision.

Light felt safer than darkness. And between a creepy little girl and a full grown ghost… well, maybe the little girl was less scary.

She stood up straight and walked toward the bathroom.

She moved slowly, sticking close to the wall across from the door. Inch by inch, she crept closer.

When she finally reached the door, she didn't go in.

Instead, she peeked her head in carefully, heart pounding.

She was bracing for the ghost girl to rush out.

But… nothing happened.

No ghost. No jumpscare.

Just a flashlight lying on the dirty bathroom floor.

It was turned on, that's where the light had been coming from.

"A flashlight! Looks like an item!"

"Pick it up!"

"Yeah, go grab it!"

The chat cheered her on.

Still cautious, Natalie scanned the room from outside.

After confirming there was nothing hiding in the corners, she finally stepped inside.

She stayed tense the whole time, nerves on edge.

Quickly, she grabbed the flashlight off the floor.

And with it in her hands, she felt just a tiny bit safer.

But in that pitch black darkness, that little flashlight wasn't nearly enough to calm her down.

"Hah… Let's take a look around…"

Natalie panted heavily and slowly looked around the bathroom with her flashlight.

The first thing she noticed was the floor. It was filthy, stained thick with blood. Maybe it was from the little girl that had died here?

Even though it had dried, it still felt greasy under her shoes.

The realism of this game was insane…

At some point, it was hard to tell if it was fantasy or real life anymore.

Did her brother really need to make it this detailed?

Fighting back a wave of nausea, Natalie forced herself to keep looking around.

The bathroom was small, maybe six or seven square meters. There was only a sink, a toilet, and a bathtub.

But just as her flashlight swept past the sink.

A figure appeared in front of her!

"Aaaaah! A ghost! A ghost!!"

She screamed and dropped the flashlight in terror.

"I didn't see anything! What was that?!"

"It's not a ghost, it's just a mirror!"

"Yeah! It's a mirror! You scared me too!"

"Natalie's scream almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Seriously, I thought something actually happened!"

The chat exploded. Viewers had jumped at her scream, but quickly realized the truth.

"A mirror?" she muttered, heart pounding.

Trying to calm down, Natalie bent over, picked up the flashlight, and took another look.

Sure enough, it was just a mirror.

The figure was her own reflection.

Still, the tension in the air made it hard to relax. The place was disgusting, and everything looked distorted and grimy.

But then, she noticed something strange.

Her reflection didn't show a woman.

It was a man, wearing a jacket and jeans.

And his face, it was familiar.

She'd seen it before.

On the family photo in the hallway!

The livestream chat exploded again.

"Wait… Natalie is playing as the husband from the family photo?!"

"No wonder the ghost keeps chasing you!"

"WHAT?! So the killer is us?!"

"Plot twist!!"

"This is insane!"

"Wait, so I'm the killer?! What kind of messed up twist is this?!" Natalie shouted too, shocked.

"How do I even play now? It feels like no matter what I do, I'm doomed. The game won't let a murderer escape!"

She stared into the mirror, confused and disturbed.

Her reflection, the man, reached up and touched his face at the same time as she did.

The game's graphics were so realistic, it felt like she had become that man.

She was still speaking with her own voice, but looking at someone else in the mirror.

"This is messed up… way too real."

"I never thought I'd be turned into a man in a horror game." 

She quickly looked away from the mirror. 

"Nope, that's enough. The more I look, the creepier it feels."

Her heart was pounding again. The whole mirror scene was just too weird.

And honestly, who would feel comfortable looking in a mirror with just a flashlight, at night, in a creepy bathroom?

Even in a normal home, that would feel scary.

But in this place? It was terrifying.

Trying to distract herself, she lowered the flashlight to look at the sink below the mirror.

And that's when she saw it.

Something black.

Something moving.

"OH GOD!" she shrieked again and stumbled back two steps.

"What the hell was that?! Something's in the sink!"

She pressed her back to the wall, keeping her distance, then slowly aimed the flashlight at the sink again.

And saw it.

A baby.

Or something that looked like a baby.

It was horribly deformed. Its skin was dark red, and though it had arms and legs, they were just bare stumps

Even worse its face…

There were no eyes. No nose. No ears.

Just a single mouth.

The baby squirmed in the sink, its body wriggling like a maggot in filth.

1397 Words.