GRINDER.jpg
- See also: GRINDER: Prologue
Hi. My name is Craig. The events in which you are about to read are real. The Grinder... it exists.
The story starts about a month ago. I wanted to build a gaming PC. I had been salvaging parts from fr iends' computers over the past couple days and almost ready to put them all together. On my way to Radio Shack
to pick up a new mouse and keyboard, it happened. I saw a PC on the side of a road alongside a bunch of bags of trash. It looked like it was in good condition. I pulled up to the curve and got a closer look at it. There was a paper taped to the PC; the words "DO NOT TAKE" written in very sloppy handwriting. I looked into the driveway and did not see a car so
I disregarded the note and threw the PC into my car... a move I would regret for the rest of my life.
I rushed back home; this was exactly what I needed. I hooked up my newly salvaged PC and turned it on. A bright green light came from the power button as the computer came to life. I smiled. Windows 7? Another good sign. This was just too perfect. After showing the Windows logo and taking about four minutes to load, I was greeted with a completely blank desktop. I was puzzled as to why someone would throw away such a good computer, but in my excitement, I didn't care. It was mine now. I opened up the My Computer folder so I could check the memory on the Hard Drive when my phone rang. It was my friend, Mike. I told him about my luck with the computer, and being himself, he didn't care. He just wanted to hang out for a bit. I told him I would and hung up. I turned off the computer monitor and headed out. When I got to the door, I realized that I forgot my keys. I went up to my room and noticed that the monitor was still on.
"Weird," I said to myself. "I coulda sworn I turned you off."
I grabbed my keys and headed out. I got back home at about 10:30 p.m. I quickly headed back to my room. Fixing up the new PC was the only thing on my mind when I was out. There was a light coming out of my room. I walked in slowly and to my surprise, the monitor was on... again.
"Okay. That is really weird. I know for a fact that I turned you off." I shrugged off my confusion and sat down. "Whatever. Lets see what you have."
The computer seemed pretty blank. No folders or files in sight. I opened up the My Computer folder again and right clicked the Hard Drive to see how much memory was used.
"What the..." I whispered. "500Gb out of 500Gb? There must be a hidden folder."
I decided to perform a search. First off, video files.
"I bet there's some huge hidden porn stash," I laughed to myself.
The search was a fail. No video files at all. Now for pictures. After I hit the search button, one file came up. I thought nothing of it, its impossible for one picture to take up 500Gb. After a couple more failed searches, I decided to go back to that picture. It was called "GRINDER.jpg". I was about to click it when I got a text. I looked down and grabbed my phone. I don't know if it was just my imagination, but as I turned away from the monitor, it... it grew brighter. It was like it was telling me not turn away. I quickly responded to the text and just looked
at the file. I clicked on it once to get a preview.
"Haha, perfect. File Preview not available," I sighed. "This is gonna be gross. I just know it."
I just sat there. I was really scared at this point. I couldn't bring myself to open it. I stared at where the file preview would be, hoping that it would show. My curiosity was at its max. I wanted... no, I needed to open the file. I right clicked on it and put my mouse over the only available option, Open. Just then, my phone rang. I jumped, it scared the living hell out of me. An unknown number showed on my phone's screen. I ignored the call and then shut off my phone.
"No more distractions."
I waited a few more seconds staring at the Open option. I took a deep breath and clicked once. It took a bit to load; I was still holding my breath. Finally, it opened.
"What... the... hell?" I got the urge in my throat to puke and my stomach instantly ached. I pushed myself away from the monitor instantly. I've never been more disturbed in my life. The picture was of a grotesque face. Skin was torn, even missing in parts. Black, dried blood was everywhere. The face's jaw was hanging limply from the disgusting face; teeth were black and most were missing. These were all really gross... but nothing compared to the eyes of the... thing. The eyes... they were literally out of the socket. They were so real. They still haunt my dreams to this day. I reached over and pressed the power button on the monitor. It turned off and I let out a sigh of relief. That relief lasted a mere 10 seconds before the screen turned on by itself. As the monitor focused, I noticed that the picture was bigger, as if it was zoomed into.
"This was a mistake. This was a horrible mistake," I kept mumbling to myself.
I mustered up enough courage to move up to the computer again. I had to close out of the picture. I looked for a red X, but there was none. I tried every keyboard shortcut to close it; Alt+F4, Ctrl+Alt+Del, but all of them resulted in a "Ding". I could not get rid of it. I grabbed the mouse and began moving it to the Start button. I jumped again. The eyes were following the movement of the mouse.
"Whoever made this is sick!" I yelled in disgust and horror.
I tried to avoid staring at the eyes as I clicked the Start button. Every option in the Start me
nu was replaced with the word "GRIND". The only difference was in the Shutdown button. Instead, it was replaced with the word "DIE". Not knowing what to do, I put the mouse on DIE. I noticed the picture move. The jaw shifted into a sick smile. Again, I had to hold back vomiting. Fear did not let me click it. I moved the mouse away from the DIE option and held down the power button on the PC. A force shutdown always works. After holding the button for three seconds, all I got was a "Ding" sound again. I looked at the screen and saw an error message.
It read, "NO ESCAPE". There was only one available option, "DIE".
Again, I put my mouse over DIE and the face smiled. I was not going to click it.
"Alright, that's it!" I stood up and went to the power circuit and grabbed the power cord of the PC. I made a slight smile of victory as a pulled at the power cord. This smiled turned into fear when I finally pulled out the plug. It caused a short-circuit in the whole house. I was surrounded by darkness. Darkness and total fear. I quickly reached for my phone, remembering I had a flashlight app. I pushed the power button and was ready to unlock my phone when I remembered that I turned it off and it takes about five minutes to turn back on.
"Damn it!" I yelled in frustration.
I stared at the startup screen animating on my phone when I heard a click sound somewhere close to me. Then I noticed a green light. It was the power light of the computer monitor.
"No... please no," I whispered as I was paralyzed with fear.
The screen focused. The face was there again, but this time it was zoomed in enough that only the eyes were showing. They were looking in my direction. I got up and moved away from its gaze. That didn't help. The eyes were following me.
Just then, my phone vibrated. I let out a scream; I thought something touched me. I quickly looked back at my phone and seen that I had a 10 missed calls, all from that unknown number. I ignored the notification and turned on my flashlight. I got up and started to run out of my room. My phone started ringing, this shut off the flashlight app. It was the unknown number again.
"Leave me alone!" I yelled as I pushed the ignore button and brought up the flashlight again. I ran outside, my heart was beating at a million miles a second. I was scared for my life. Being outside was almost as scary as the inside. There are no street lights on the road I live on so I was still surrounded by darkness. My phone rang again, Unknown. I answered this time and put the phone to my ear.
"H- Hello?"
No response other than white noise. I held the phone up to my ear for about 10 seconds before I heard something. The sound started out small but grew in intensity. A couple seconds later, a blood-curdling scream came from the other line. It was so loud that it pierced my eardrums. I dropped my phone and clenched my ear. My phone landed screen first into the dirt. I bent down and picked up. I turned it over and wiped off the dirt. I let out another scream as I saw a picture of a single eye... an eye of the GRINDER.jpg picture. My phone's "End Call" button was replaced with the word "DIE". I was out of options; there was nothing left to do. I closed my eyes as I pushed the button. Waiting for my death, I held my eyes shut. Would it be slow or fast? I hoped for the latter but nothing happened. I slowly opened my eyes. My phone was back to normal. The lights in my house were all on. I slowly walked back inside and to my room. The monitor was off, along with the PC. I rushed to it and disconnected everything. I grabbed the PC and took it outside and tossed it next to my trash. Good thing the garbage trucks would be coming the next morning.
I sat down on my bed and tried to relax. That was impossible. The images of the eyes were engraved in my brain. "GRINDER.jpg," what was it? Who would spend the time to make something so sick and cynical?
I got no sleep that night. Who could blame me? I was so scared that nightmares haunted me even though I was awake. Eventually, I dozed off. My alarm clock woke me up 8:30 a.m. I swear, I probably jumped high enough to touch the ceiling from the blaring siren. After I caught my breath and turned off the clock, I just stared at the ceiling for a while, trying to force myself to believe that last night was all a dream. Then I remembered that the garbage trucks would be here at 9:00. I looked out of the window towards the side of the road. My heart sank. The computer was gone. I ran outside, hoping that the garbage trucks came early... they didn't.
I am writing this to warn you. I know this is too late for the poor soul who thought they were lucky to find a new PC, but still. If you find a computer with a file named GRINDER.jpg, do not open it. Destroy the source. I am now on medication to stop my nightmares and keep me calm. These do not always stop the memories though. Those eyes... those horrible eyes...
Credited to Lovejoy117
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