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The study would have been in complete darkness were it not for the computer screen which lightened the room. Ryan bought his girlfriend Kendra into the room so he could play one of his most successful pranks on her. The cliché horror movie to get close to Kendra was obvious and by using this, he could have plenty of free time after the prank was over before his parents got home. "I found this website online and it's the freakiest thing I have ever seen." He sat down at the chair and she stood behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Don't show me ghost pictures or something; I want to be able to sleep tonight."
Ryan turned his head to look at her, "Don't worry its nothing like that," he said in a reassuring tone. He had to turn around though, to hide the smirk that had come up on his face. He knew she was going to get scared from this. This whole website was set up by him. The whole thing was a prank, but quite an elaborate and well invented trick.
When the page loaded, Kendra laughed as she read the screen, "The online future telling site, not for the faint hearted. Ryan you expect me to believe this?" Ryan had done this on all his friends and they had said the same thing, but by the end of his joke they were terrified, some to the point of tears. Because the correct answers came up every time, the person never realised the trick to it.
Ryan had already got the mood going for his trick, he knew how to pull off a good prank and he had adjusted his behaviour to suit. "We'll see what you say by after I ask a few questions. I like to start with something simple."
Ryan looked down at the keyboard and typed the question, 'a r e y o u t h e r e ?' he pressed enter for his prearranged answer to come up, 'y e s'.
Kendra put on a sarcastic voice, "Oh I am so scared". Ryan kept his attention on the screen which also drew Kendra's to the screen as well and not on what he was doing to make these answers come up. He typed, 'w h o i s w i t h m e n o w ?' Kendra was surprised to see the answer 'g i r l f r i e n d' appear on the screen. Her grip tightened slightly on Ryan's shoulders, he had gotten her attention and now he was upping the ante. Kendra went past surprised when she saw her name on the screen. Ryan had asked what his girlfriend's name was and already programmed it to say 'K e n d r a', leaving her quiet. "How does it know that?"
"It just does." Ryan turned back to the computer screen and could hear her breathing heavier on the back of his neck. "Can somebody see us through there?"
"I don't think so." Kendra walked over to the wall and switched the light on. Ryan wanted to lift the tempo up now so that he had as much time with her as possible.
He typed in a question into the computer, 'h o w w i l l K e n d r a d i e ?' Kendra gave a short shriek at this question and lunged for the mouse so that he couldn't click for the answer. "DON'T RYAN THAT'S NOT FUNNY!"
"I know I wasn't really going to press it I don't want it to answer that." He had definitely done what he set out to do, all he needed to do was console her for a bit and she would be all over him.
unable to. Ryan looked past her to the computer screen and his heart skipped a beat at what he saw. 'E n j o y t h e p i z z a' was on the screen. He hadn't made it say that and he looked at Kendra who had tears coming down her face. She must have known the whole time. "Ok Kendra you got me, very funny." Kendra turned to him and looked him in the eye; it showed fear and terror but not the slightest hint of a prankster. He sat down at the computer and looked at it. "I will ask you again, did you type this message?" Ryan asked with a growing tension in his voice.
"Typed what?" Kendra replied back showing her frustration and fear. "I saw you go to the door and I turn around to see this there." Ryan thought for a second and punched in a question, 'w h o a r e y o u t a l k i n g t o ?'. He had programmed it to answer back 'Darth Vader' but that wasn't what came back. 'R y a n m y c r e a t o r'. Kendra buried her face into her hands and Ryan's heart was beating so fast it hurt. Consoling his girlfriend didn't matter now.
He bought the mouse back up to the corner of the screen and tried to get rid of it, but it wouldn't move, the screen refreshed and another sentence came onto the screen, 'y o u c a n n o t g e t r i d o f m e.' He pressed the off button on the computer and nothing happened. Even when he held the button as if the computer had froze, nothing happened. It would not turn off. 'I c o n t r o l t h i s c o m p u t e r n o w' was written in bold letters on the screen. Ryan was so scared he felt sick and was now shaking uncontrollably. He reached down and switched off the power point.
'I c o n t r o l e v e r y t h i n g'. Ryan stepped away now, choosing not to be near it. Ryan grabbed Kendra by her hand and took her out to the middle of the largest room so they could see everything around them. As they were deciding what to do, all the lights in the house began flickering. They would grow dim and then grow light again, before all he lights in the house switched off. From where they were, Ryan could see the glow of the computer screen lighting up the study on the other side of the house, as if mocking him to come back to the screen.
He wiped a tear from his eye and when the phone rang it seemed like a miracle. He could get this person off the phone and ring his parents and tell them to come home as soon as possible. He picked up the phone and said, "Excuse me I need to use this phone call me back later." Before he could hang up though, he heard a voice on the other end, it wasn't human, and it sounded like a robot. "I control everything," the voice said. He slammed the phone down and immediately tried to redial to ring his parents, as he was calling, the phone went dead like the lights and he was unable to get it working.
In the dark, he could still make out the study was glowing from the computer screen. It wasn't going to stop until he went in there and gave it what it wanted. Kendra came with him as she didn't want to be alone. Ryan sat down at the computer to see a welcome message already there, 'g l a d y o u c o u l d m a k e i t'. Ryan didn't even bother to type anymore; he spoke as if he was talking to a person. "Ring the phone so we can talk." As he said this, the phone came back on and rang. Ryan took a deep breath and answered it, "What do you want from me?"
"To talk to my creator."
"You don't even know what you want. You are just messing with me for your own pleasure."
The voice replied back, "Like you did with her?"
Ryan looked to the floor, it was right. He realised what he had created something evil.
The robotic voice interrupted the silence, "Do you want to know how you die?"
"How can you know that?"
"Does it matter?" Ryan held back more tears and looked at Kendra. Her eyes were glued to the screen. Ryan looked at the screen which then became fuzzy and changed as if they were watching a movie. The voice on the phone spoke again, "This is how it will look." Ryan instinctively closed his eyes and covered his ears, he had no right to see or hear how he was going to die and Kendra as well didn't allow herself to see it. Ryan got up and yelled into the phone, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"
The screen jumbled and fuzzed again until one of Ryan's stored photos came on screen. Was Ryan's favourite photo of him and Kendra together. Ryan hung up the phone but wasn't expecting the computer to still be able to talk with him, especially like this. His still image in the picture began speaking, in his own voice. "I don't need anything else you have helped me enough." The talking picture of himself said. "You have created me and given me a chance to grow."
"How have I helped you grow?" The picture didn't say anything, but it smiled. A smile that made Ryan feel so anxious he almost threw up. Ryan asked Kendra to go outside as she had seen enough. She left without saying a word or making a noise. When she left the house, the photo spoke again. This time it was Kendra who spoke, using her voice. "You don't even understand how much I can control yet do you?" The computer switched itself off, and all the lights came back on. Ryan collected himself and walked out the front to where Kendra was waiting for him.
They walked to the edge of the driveway where they stood under the glare of a streetlight. He hugged her and could tell she really wasn't right. They began walking together in the direction of her house and she quickly stopped. She was in front of him and didn't turn to talk, "What are you doing?"
"I'm walking you home, aren't you too scared to walk home by yourself?"
Kendra turned to him with a face that showed no expression. "I have no need to be scared." She pointed at the streetlight they stood under and it blacked out, leaving Ryan's immediate area in pitch darkness. When it came back on, Kendra was right behind him. She was so close yet he felt no breath on his neck. "And its all thanks to you."