Scariest Prank Flash

I'm sure you're all aware of 'screamers' - Flash animations or YouTube videos that seem to be of something innocuous but then will suddenly pop-out a scary picture at the end with a loud scream (having, of course, been sure to tell you you should 'turn up your volume' before the scream is heard). The intention is nothing more sinister than to make you jump and freak you out a little bit.

At least; usually it is.

I was browsing the web one day and I typed 'scariest prank flash' into Google. Most of what came up was stuff I already knew about - Subliminal Music and Images, Scary Maze Game, etc - but there was one link that had no description, and the title was a mash of random characters.

I clicked the link. This was, in hindsight, perhaps not the greatest idea I ever had.

The site was simply a black screen with a link in the middle. Clicking the link opened the flash file. The title of the page was '666'. I figured this was just an amusing joke on account of it being a 'scary' flash. The file started to play and it started the way these things usually do; there was a picture of a field with yellow flowers in bright sunlight. Every now and again it seemed like the image shifted slightly to something else, but I couldn't make out what it was. They were definitely words, however. Then with crushing inevitability, the screamer face showed up. It wasn't that scary; a Photoshopped picture of a man's face with crudely drawn red 'blood' dripping from his eyes. It certainly wasn't hyperrealistic. In fact, if anything, it was hyperunrealistic. The scream wasn't even all that loud. Of course, that wasn't the end. A few seconds later, another image popped up, screaming a little louder; the image was the same Fatal Frame screenshot used in 'Kikia', one of the first screamers on the web. Several more images appeared, each at five second intervals, the scream getting louder every time. I can't recall all of them now, but I know there were a few horror movie monsters in there; including the girl from The Exorcist, Freddy Kruger, Pinhead and a zombie from The Evil Dead. More images showed up, and they changed from being fictional characters from video games and movies to images of real people who had died in horrible ways. The last few images that showed up were from famous shock sites - Goatse, Tubgirl and 2girls1cup. Then more horrific images of deaths and murder; including one of a small child whose head had been chopped off and was apparantley being eaten by an unidentifiable person in the background.

Two thoughts occurred to me at this point; the first was to vomit in complete loathing and disgust; the second was 'why the fuck would people take photos of that and then put it up online?'. Any train of thought I was having was broken by the final image: a huge picture of what looked like a demon filled the screen and screamed so loud that I actually had buzzing in my ears for hours aftewards. It stayed there for about two minutes, and finally the video faded to black, and a line of text said 'We own you now'. I was shaken and disturbed by all the horrific images, but I decided it would be best just to shake it off.

Of course, it wasn't as simple as that. The next day, after a particularly restless night haunted by nightmares involving the images I'd seen and the screams I'd heard, I was using my computer; working on documents and playing games. To my shock and annoyance, every now and again one of the images from the flash file would pop up; although they didn't scream this time. I thought 'oh, fucking perfect, that stupid flash file gave me a virus'. I thought it was a screamer flash version of Last Measure; the site that takes over your computer with graphic images of sex that most people wouldn't do. To my surprise; although perhaps I wasn't as surprised as I could have been by this point; some of those kinds of images started to pop up on my screen at random. Then the voice came in and started yelling 'HEY EVERYONE! I'M LOOKING AT GAY PORNO!!!!', the way it does in Last Measure. I figured maybe the virus writer wasn't that original after all and was just doing a scarier version of that. The voice yelled a few times but it became more and more distorted sounding. It started to sound like another voice was coming in over it; and the pictures were being replaced by more images of dead bodies. The voice became clearer and I could make out that it was saying 'David?' (that isn't my real name but I don't feel like using that one here) 'David?'. The voice was a deep bass, distorted, weird sounding. It said 'I told you; we own you now'. I sat there frozen in fear. The huge demonic face that was the last image in the flash file had filled the screen again. Only there was no screaming now; just the voice repeating the words 'You belong to us' over and over.

I screamed almost as loud as the video had and ran out of my house, got in my car and started driving. I didn't know where I was going; I didn't care; just anywhere that my computer wasn't. Eventually I pulled into a parking lot and decided to get some fast food. When I went to pay at the register; it stopped showing a list of the food I was buying and instead showed the demonic face again. There was text below it - 'You can't get away'. I checked my iPhone - the wallpaper was the image of the dead child with the missing head. I clearly couldn't eat anything, so I just left. My phone rang at this point; I hoped it would be a familiar, friendly voice, talking about regular things; things that aren't having to do with demons inside your computer. It was a familiar number, so I answered it, and sure enough my friend started saying 'Hey', but his voice became increasingly muffled. I kept asking if he was there and then I finally said 'I'll call you back'. The static on the phone increased in volume until it was replaced by the exact same scream I had head at the end of the video. I threw my phone down (yes, I wasted a $400 phone but that's hardly the point of this story) and started to run.

Everything looked weird and distorted; even the most ordinary buildings took on an eerie, haunted look. Peoples faces looked blank and ghostly. Every now and again, someone would look directly at me and smile the same way the demon in the picture was. I kept walking and walking. Suddenly, a man started following me. He was just one of the people in a crowd of people. I tried to run but he easily kept pace with me since I'm not the world's fastest runner or anything. Sooner rather than later he caught up with me. He was dressed in a black trenchcoat and hat; looking similar to the 'men in black' that pop up in UFO conspiracy theories. When he spoke, it was in the same voice that had spoken to me through the computer. I asked him who he was, but he refused to give me his name. He merely told me that he created the video and the virus that accompanied it. I was somewhat relieved; I finally felt like this was nothing more than a very clever hack; he had obviously been able to hack into my computer and learn my name; and 'we own you' was just the usual hacker brag. I chalked everything else up to my overactive imagination.

Sure enough, the buildings and people started to look normal again. The only thing that still disturbed me was that I couldn't see the man's face. I said 'Well, thank you for telling me. Is there any way I can get the virus off my computer?'. He simply said 'No. I'm sorry'. I figured I was going to have to buy a new computer, which sucked since I didn't really have any money, but it was my own fault for following a link that didn't have a title and wasn't on a site I knew. 'It's okay', I said. 'Thanks'. Then he said 'No, I mean; I'm sorry. I told you you can't escape. You belong to me'. He then lifted his head up and faced me, and I was faced with the same demonic face that I had seen several times now. 'Oh my fucking God' I yelled. 'God has nothing to do with it' the man said. He then opened his mouth to reveal this horrible, gaping, toothless hole, and then disappeared.

The exact second he disappeared, I found myself back in my own home. My computer was still fucked up from the virus, so I couldn't use it, but everything else seemed normal and it seemed like it had just been a particularly vivid nightmare. I went about my life as usual but I started to notice things about me that weren't usual. I'd always had something of a short temper but now I was yelling at people for no reason and feeling a rush of pleasure whenever I did. I was doing it just to scare people; and I enjoyed it. My behavior became more and more erratic and I had recurring nightmares of the demon and the other images from the 'prank flash'. Eventually, I went to see a priest and told him everything; the demon, the images, everything. He told me that I had probably been possessed and would require an exorcism.

So they did that and then I got better. I'll write more to this later.

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