ChooseYourAdventure.exe
Day 1
My son Tyler is engrossed with computer games. Every single time I peek into his room, I see him at his desk playing whatever he has on his system. I've seen him play nearly everything: first-person shooters, puzzles, RPGs, you name it. While he's been a gamer for a while, it seemed to really ramp up a few days ago; he's been glued to his seat for nearly 10 hours a day playing his massive assortment of games. I guess he's getting it all out of his system before school starts up tomorrow, but there has to be a line drawn somewhere. "Jake, please talk to our son about his computer," my wife said at the dinner table, "he hasn't come out of his room all day!" "TYLER!" I yelled down the hall to his room. "Get in here! Your mother and I need to have a quick discussion." "Not now, this is really important!" he snapped back. What was so important with whatever he was playing, anyways? He needed a break, and he needed it now. I stormed into his room to see what he was fussing over this time. It looked a bit like Grand Theft Auto, but in a more suburban setting. "What are you playing that's more important than your mother and I?" I asked him. "I can't explain right now, it's vital that I keep playing!" he screamed. "Can't you just pause it? I only need to talk for a minute or two." "I can't stop playing, dad! There's no way to stop it!" Frustrated, I took control of the game and ran the beat-up truck my son was driving off the road. A grim-looking "GAME OVER" appeared on the screen, written in a blood red font. "There's one way to stop it," I said. "Now let's wind down a bit. School starts tomorrow, and we need to be mindful of how much you spend playing this." "WHAT DID YOU JUST DO TO ME?!" My son was visibly distraught, tears streaming down his face, hyperventilating. "Lighten up, Tyler. Your life does not revolve around a game. You have a big day tomorrow, so let's get to bed," I said calmly.
Day 2
I am at a total loss for words. My wife called me at work with some really disturbing news; a car had struck Tyler in a hit and run as he was walking to school. He's now laying in a coma at the hospital. Im-impossible. This was just some sick joke, I told myself, I can just wake up from this nightmare and it will all be okay. Needless to say, reality kicked in. The TV in the break room cut to a newscast of the accident.
"The victim has been identified as 14 year old Tyler Williams..." the anchorwoman said, as a picture of my mangled son flashed onto the screen.
"We are still looking for the perpetrator. A witness to the incident who wishes to remain anonymous snapped this picture of the car used in the incident as it sped off. If you know the whereabouts of this vehicle, please contact..."
The next picture they displayed was almost as shocking as when I had first received the news from my wife. The screen displayed a grainy image of a beat up truck, exactly how it had looked in the game my son was playing the day before.
Day 3
Curiosity got the better of me today. I decided to look through Tyler's computer at all the games he had. I swear he would pick a new genre to play every single day; every time I watched him, he was playing a different game. He must have gigabytes among gigabytes on that hard drive. To my surprise, I opened up his game folder to see only one file—a file named "ChooseYourAdventure.exe" The icon vaguely looked like my son. First the car from the GTA knockoff runs my son down, and now a sprite of my 14 year old comatose child is staring me in the face. Now this really IS starting to look like an elaborate setup. I decided to open the file, just to see what had gotten Tyler so hooked from the start.
The loading screen showed a picture of a the Grim Reaper in extremely gruesome detail. His bones were perfectly textured, and the sickle was covered in hyperrealistic blood. His eyes; they were just a deep black abyss as red lights began growing in his empty sockets, and a disturbing smirk began appearing on his bony face. A quote appeared at the bottom of the screen. I gave a little snicker at how lighthearted it was compared to the ghastly image on the screen:
'"Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny" -Bob Marley" was written in a blood red scribbled-looking font.
A short while later, the title screen appeared.
"CHOOSE YOUR ADVENTURE" was scrawled in the same god-awful font with two options: Begin and Flee. I got on the computer to understand what enveloped my son so much, so I clicked Begin.
A name selection screen popped up, and I began getting a bit anxious about what I had gotten into. The name field had automatically filled "Jacob Williams" in it. I was nerved at first, but cooled off after I figured it out. Tyler may have mentioned me somewhere at some point in time. I know a bit about how these programs work for finding names (Going into user files for names, etc), so I just shrugged it off and clicked "Accept Name".
The game opened with a cutscene inside an office. It looked similar to the office I worked at, but I shrugged it off; a lot of these office spaces are the same anyways. A 16-bit sprite that looked eerily like my boss entered the frame. I laughed at how spot on the avatar looked, down to that fake looking toupee on his head.
WILLIAMS! I need you in my office..." it said, as it walked off. Another avatar stood up and shivers shot down my spine; it looked exactly like me, in every conceivable matter. After that frightening moment, the game began. It was just like my tedious work day, but it was thrown together like that Wario Ware series. I would be given a prompts like "SHREAD!", "COPY!", and a bunch of other nonsensical work games.
After about five minutes of these little games, I got another cutscene inside my boss's office (it was definitely his office, no denial). He announced that he was impressed with my performance and offered me a promotion. Right after, the game cut back to the title screen. What an odd little program. I can sleep this nonsense off. It is just nonsense, right?
Day 4
Okay. Something is definitely afoot here, as this can't just be a string of coincidences. My boss called me into his office today and gave me a promotion for my work because he was "impressed with my performance". That game got everything spot on, and I wonder what this could possibly mean. I've never been superstitious before, so why am I scaring myself? This game couldn't possibly be telling me about my future.
Is this why Tyler was so invested in the game? Did my attempt to dissuade him from the game a few days ago almost kill him? Was I the one that put that car on a collision course for death?
I'm getting carried away. This isn't happening. It just cannot be happening. ChooseYourAdventure.exe isn't the one choosing my adventures. I am still in control. I will always stay in control of myself.
Day 5
I opened Tyler's browser, and found out he was still logged into a lot of gaming forums. Still curious about ChooseYourAdventure.exe, I decided to browse some threads Tyler had started:
TOPIC: ChooseYourAdventure.exe?
TyGuy128: I found a thumbdrive at my school. No one had claimed it, so I took it home to see what was on it. I just had a .zip file containing a program called "ChooseYourAdventure.exe". Anyone know anything about this game?
ThatSpyIsASpy: Delete it. Delete it NOW.
TyGuy128: Why, what is it?
Gaiden1033: My friend had that file. I saw him playing through some really weird water level. He failed, and started freaking out. We went to the beach a few days later and he got caught in a riptide and was swept out. They never found his body.
TyGuy128: O rly? Stop pulling my leg, that's just stupid.
ThatSpyIsASpy: Seriously, that's why you need to delete it. The game lures you in with visions of the future, and that's exactly what it wants. It lures you for a while, and then shows how you die within the next timeframe.
TyGuy128: Stop fooling around with me and tell me what it is. I'm tired of this lame trolling.
Gaiden1033: It's whatever it wants to be. It will be a turn based RPG one day and an FPS the next. Whatever it thinks will hook you. Once you're suckered in, the only way out is death.
TyGuy128: Let me guess: this girl who drowns in a well comes out of my screen and kills me in a week, right? Give me a break! I'm going to check it out...
ThatSpyIsASpy: Your feeble mind will not be missed.
Day 13
I've been playing around with ChooseYourAdventure.exe the last few days, and my perceptions of reality are constantly being shattered. I played a point-and-click game in a grocery store just before my wife asked me to pick the same items up from the store. The next time I played, it was a typing program, right before I had to give a workshop on typing skills at work. That gaming thread was right. I'm seeing everything! Everything that will be is now in my complete possession!
I'm really beginning to sound insane. I simply can't get enough of the program. I'm cutting this off early; I just have to see what happens tomorrow!
Day 13: EDIT
No no no no no! I am dead. If ChooseYourAdventure.exe is laying out my future, I might not be alive to update this tomorrow. I have never been so scared in my life. I guess I should tell what happened so you know that any download of ChooseYourAdventure.exe could be disastrous.
The title screen today was replaced with a really creepy message:
You see I have reaped your pitiful soul many bounties in these last precious days. Have you enjoyed them, Jacob? I'm sure you have, otherwise you would not be begging me for more. Be advised your future has a price. I await your toll.
The title screen faded out the moment I finished. A cutscene started with me at the computer when the lights flickered. Distorted laughter rang out in creepy binaural sound as my avatar grabbed a flashlight and a knife. After that, the new game loaded up; it was sort of like Luigi's Mansion (one of Tyler's favorite games before he turned to this forsaken program), but this version had much more detailed graphics, and took place (as expected) inside my house. It was just my avatar wandering around the halls as deformed shadows darted across the screen at random points. A chilling music box track began playing as that ominous laughter filled my ears again. Suddenly a screamer popped up of that damn Grim Reaper from the loading screen.
Suddenly, the game goes into a first person mode, and a boss-style health bar begins to fill at the top of the screen. The reaper manifests as an extremely grotesque demon and begins to fight with me. Actually no, it wasn't fighting me; fighting implies I was actually defending myself. No, I was getting MAULED. My life bar would be ¾ drained in just a matter of seconds. After I had lost all my health, the demon shape-shifted into a massive python (one of my silly phobias; I always hated snakes, and considering how this game operates, I'm not surprised it knows) and watched in horror as my avatar (and the camera) were both swallowed. And it showed every. Single. Detail. I was shuddering while watching the awful images of the creature's pulsating muscles as the screen faded out to two words, written in blood red:
"GAME OVER"
I vainly tried to enter the game after it cut back to the title screen, but it just gave me cryptic messages like "The foundation of the future has already been laid" and "Time is irreversible". I'm stuck here. I'm totally shaken, but at least I still have a day left before this happens. One final warning to all who are reading: ChooseYourAdventure.exe is evil! If you find it, leave it or delete it! Do not suffer what the others before me have!
—
My lights are going haywire. I'll just post this for now, but will get back with an update after I fix the lights. After all, that demon isn't coming for me until tomorrow...
Aftermath
More tragedy has fallen upon the Williams family. As you may remember in our recent coverage, young Tyler Williams had been struck by a car about two weeks ago and is still in a coma. His father, Jacob, has just been reported missing from his home. Police discovered some signs of struggle upon investigation, but there is no other evidence. If you have seen Williams, please contact the proper authorities.
Credited to Chaotic610
Originally uploaded on November 8, 2012
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