The Blue USB
A video game community can have many things, some bad and some good. Such good things can be drawings, music dedicated to fan-made games. These games usually have a lot of things that the creator wants to convey to the franchise they are based on. However, on many occasions, there are people who only seek to make fun or make practical jokes, even going so far as to hurt.
I had a friend at school, I won't say his name out of respect for him. We talked about what we liked the most, you know, television, food, video games. We were fans of the Sonic franchise, but I had a little problem: I couldn't afford to buy the latest generation consoles, let alone the new Sonic games. My friend could buy them, since his parents had money. The only thing I could make do with was my little computer with various emulators, where I could try the games that came out for the Sega Genesis. But thanks to my friend, I was able to try many games that my computer couldn't, both Sonic Heroes and Sonic Colors, among others. I really wanted to play them all day.
A few days later, my friend at school told me that there was a way to try new Sonic games. I asked him to explain in detail and he told me that there are talented people who spend their time creating free games. Since they were designed for not-so-powerful computers, I could easily play them. On most breaks, he would explain a lot of game names to me for me to look up on the internet. Once I got home, I wrote down all the names he gave me in a corner of the paper where I had my notes. When I got home, I went straight to my computer to start searching. For the next few days, we would talk all morning about how good those games were.
The end of classes was approaching, which meant exam time. My friend was able to skip classes as he was very dedicated to his studies, so he was able to free himself earlier. It didn't matter much, I was studying and in the meantime I was talking with him through social networks. He told me that he wanted to know a lot about the games created by people outside the official company. He told me that in one night he would focus on downloading as many games as he could, no matter where they came from. He was going to put them on a USB stick that he had recently purchased and that, once the classes were over, he would give me the stick so that I could have them on my computer without wasting time downloading them. I thanked him very much for spending his time on that.
It was a very intense two weeks due to difficult exams, but I was finally able to pass to the following year. One day, when I had returned from buying things to eat, there was a knock on my door. I quickly went to see who it was. He was my friend, but something strange was happening. His face was pale, with dark circles under his eyes. And his eyes... His eyes were completely dilated. He was trying to pronounce a few words, but the only thing I could understand was "please". In one hand he had his flash drive. He tried to raise his arm where he was holding it, but foam began to spit out of his mouth and he fell to the ground. I jumped a little to try and help him. I yelled at my mother to call an ambulance. What followed were minutes of despair and crying, yelling at my friend to hold on, whatever was happening to him. But the worst happened. At the hospital, both I and my friend's parents were informed that he had passed away. His cause of death appears to have been an epileptic fit leading to cardiac arrest.
I was in the hospital room crying. I don't know how many hours passed, but it was better to go home. Before crossing the door of my home, I stepped on something. Turns out it was my friend's USB stick. He had dropped it when it started foaming. It gave me a bitter feeling, but I put the memory in my pocket and went home to go to sleep. The next day, I began to prepare myself, since they were organizing my friend's funeral and there was no way I was going to miss it. It was very painful to be there. After the funeral was over, I went back to my room and threw myself on the bed just to cry. But after an indefinite time, I recalled the memory and what my friend had promised me. I grabbed my pants that I had been wearing the day that happened and pulled out the memory. I looked at it carefully. It gave off a very bright blue color and had a large capacity.
I felt empty, I wanted to honor my friend in some way and, from what happened the day he died, I think he just wanted to give it to me. I turned on my computer and connected the memory. A folder opened with many subcategories, both drawings and music. I went into the games section and, as expected, there were a lot of unofficial games of various genres. Throughout the day I was testing the games. I was in tears as it would have been so much more fun if my friend was here. When I was finishing up the Sonic games folder, I saw one with a strange name. The only thing I could understand from the name was the word SONIC, and then letters with lines above them. When I entered the folder, I saw an executable file with the name "sonic the hedhog." Hedhog?
It seems like part of the name was missing; perhaps it was just an error. I tried to run it, but I received an error message saying that the file didn't exist. I let out a sigh of disappointment and was about to close the folder when I remembered that the name was misspelled. I decided to give it a shot; there had been several occasions where I managed to fix files by simply changing the name. I added the missing part to the name, and... Bingo! The game opened. The first thing I noticed was the word "loading" along with several ellipses that appeared and disappeared at a certain frequency. When the loading bar finished, the Sonic 1 title screen appeared, the classic giant medallion with Sonic moving his hand. The only thing that seemed strange to me is that in a lower corner you could see the same extra letters that the folder contained.
I remembered that my friend had told me that he would download any type of game, no matter where it came from. Surely it was a game created by a person from another country where their language was difficult to understand. After coming to that conclusion, I hit "Start" and the game started. Green Hill Zone appeared. Apparently, the game was a recreation of the original game. I moved to both sides with the arrow keys and could jump with the space bar. It was all that was necessary. I started moving around the whole level. About halfway through, I miscalculated and landed right on top of an enemy, dealing damage. What had to happen was that Sonic was thrown backwards, throwing all his rings. But instead, Sonic threw a bunch of black squares. It was very weird.
Although when I think about it, mistakes like this often happen. A glitch in the graphics or something like that. It just made me uncomfortable, because when I had a lot of rings and they hit me, there would be a lot of black boxes all over the screen. But still, I kept going and managed to get over Green Hill Zone. I went to the next level, which should be Marble Zone, but when the banner with the name of the level appeared, it was misspelled or there was something obscuring the name. But the strangest thing was the whole structure itself. The sky was reddish, as if it were getting dark. The mountains in the background were light brown, and the floor had parts missing. And what seemed most unique to me is that, in some sections, some black figures appeared in the background, except for their eyes that did not look at anything else besides Sonic. I found it quite curious, but it was nothing more than aesthetic.
Going forward, it just looked like a recolor of the original level. But I made a mistake and it cost me a life. As Sonic finished falling below the screen, something happened that nearly blinded me. Instead of a black gradient, there was an overly powerful white flash. The lights in my room weren't on, so the flash hit me hardest in the sight. Completely stunned, I quickly covered my eyes. After rubbing them for a while to get my sight back, at one point I wanted to close the game and go wash my face, but there was another flash that left me paralyzed. My eyes itched and I wanted to cover them, but somehow, my body had become completely paralyzed, which made it impossible. Suddenly, different types of graphic distortions were displayed on the screen, accompanied by some very loud sounds that were hurting my ears. After a few moments of torture with loud sounds, it all ended with a black screen for a few seconds.
It was pure silence and I didn't trust it at all. I knew something bad was going to happen, but a huge number 10 appeared on the screen, along with the effect that appears when you grab a ring, but with a lower tone. I was trying so hard to move but Sonic came out from under the screen, he was just there with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes and stared at me for a while. Until he smiled. At the same time, the 10 on the screen morphed into a 9, then an 8, then a 7. That's enough, I knew that whatever was displayed at the end of the countdown could be the cause of my friend's death. The further down the countdown, Sonic's smile grew bigger and bigger. I didn't want to know any of that. With all the strength I could muster, I moved a few fingers, then managed to move an arm, and then my leg. The countdown was already at three when I jumped from the chair and ended up under the table. With what little strength I had left, I covered my ears. What happened next I can only guess...
The screen flashed rapidly, accompanied by a very loud sound, as if a console had frozen, along with many muffled screams. After a few excruciating moments, I grabbed the cable where it was connected to the computer and it turned off. It was over at last. I was very tired, about to fall asleep from wear and tear, but my mother, alarmed by the sound that must have been heard throughout the house, entered my room and immediately came to help me up. She laid me down on the bed and worriedly asked me what had happened. Already lying down, I was able to relax and I told him everything that had happened. She disconnected the memory from the computer and told me that she would take care of throwing it away, never to see it again. I ended up sleeping for a long time.
I woke up around dawn with many thoughts in my head. That game was what caused my friend's death. He died of fright. As soon as I got out of bed, I went to the computer again and searched the internet for Sonic's name, along with what I remember it saying on the title screen. I only found pure pages with a language that I couldn't understand and forums dedicated to sound that didn't lead anywhere. I decided to drop the subject. I have risked something very dangerous just out of curiosity. I think I should never do it again. I have gone to bed again with many thoughts. It may be that it was a game created by someone wanting to annoy, but the joke went too far. Or it could be something much more incomprehensible.
Anyway, I'm tired. The only thing I can conclude is that whatever was shown on the screen at the end of the countdown was the cause of death.
Credited to Seeth704
| Comments • 3 |
Loading comments...
|
