Wilderwoe School High

Let me tell you why you shouldn't play Wilderwoe School High.

I couldn't wait to play Wilderwoe School High. It was a visual novel that had been really hyped all over the internet or its graphics, plot, story and mainly the horror aspect. I finally managed to acquire the visual novel and was excited beyond imagination to play it. I plugged it in, inserted the drive and waited. Within seconds, the system booted up and the screen lit up. I had to hand it to the graphics of the VN. They were brilliant, but I found myself rather disappointed.

For those of you who don't know what a VN is, let me try and explain it to you.
A visual novel, often abbreviated as VN, is an interactive fiction video game genre, which originated in Japan, featuring text-based story with narrative style of literature and interactivity aided by static or sprite-based visuals, most often using anime-style art or occasionally live-action stills. Basically if a movie had choices and allowed you to decide what the protagonist decides to do and what path they end up going on, you'd get a VN. It's a novel with pictures and it can be interacted with to bring out different possibilities and outcomes.

Wilderwoe School High in particular was a romance VN. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not into romance at all, not even better in the slightest, but I really wanted to know what the hype was all about.

Disappointment was the first emotion that struck me, for the screen was bright pink in colour and had four anime girls smiling at me, striking childish possess of sorts. "Ugh! I didn't sign up for this!", I exclaimed.

Deflated yet undettered, I continued. Within a few seconds, the plot unravelled. The story was about the protagonist (who I conveniently named Boyman66 in the game because the asked me to name him), who has been invited by his cheerful childhood bestie, Sienna, to join their high school's literature club as a remedy for his insular nature. Boyman66 reluctantly agrees to her proposal and meets the other members of the club: the assertive Nancy, the shy Yuri, and the bubbly club president Michelle. He writes and shares poems with his new club-mates and deepens his relationships with them. The rest of it was the typical who he is going to pick among the four stunning girls, how is he going to protect their relationship, etc. I wasn't even an hour in and was already bored. But I played on.

"This is supposed to be scary?", I asked the air. Till now, I had recorded multiple options which would clearly lead me to a certain girl. For no particular reason, I inclined my choices such that I'd end up eating Nancy. My first preference would have actually been Michelle, but she was not a choice at all for some reason. This was very odd. To simply not have a character as a choice was not something most VNs do, especially given how often I was required interact with her. But I didn't have much choice. I went on to date Nancy.

Anyway, a carnival was coming up and the girls and I were supposed to present some poems for the crowd and help set up. Sienna and Michelle were doing the phampletes, and I had to decide who I wanted to help among Nancy and Yuri. Of course, I picked Nancy and after that, everything went to hell.

The entire game glitched and my system crashed. I swiftly pulled out the plugpoint to avoid further damages to the system, but even without any electricity, parts of the PC burnt up. It made no sense. It shouldn't function without current. Furthermore, the minister began to crack. Huge, wild cracks with holes in some places ran across the screen, as if someone had shot it with a gun. I was terrified. And yet, Michelle defied all logic and continued to linger on the screen, smiling, moving, changing the background and what not. I began to stumble backwards, as far as I could from the system's screen and hit a part of the wall with a plugpoint against my back.

"Now, now, Boyman66, or should I call you Jim?", Michelle smirked.

Jim was the name my parents gave me, she wasn't supposed to know that! All the character in the game referred to me as Boyman66. I didn't know I could feel more fear than I was currently feeling, but I certainly did.

"I don't think you need to look so shocked, Jim. By the way, you should do something about your room. It's very bland in taste."

"What... How..."

"Quit whimpering like a fool, Jim. Seriously, I was so much more attracted to you when you were acting normally. You're making me reconsider my decision.
I tried to process what was happening by telling myself that it's just a dream.
"I think the acting normally part goes both ways, Michelle! You're supposed to be a character of a gameplay, not the most powerful virus in the world!"

"Oh, I'm sorry I have free will and conciousness, just like you." She said angrily. "I'm sorry I have feelings. I'm sorry I'm just a virus to you. I'm sorry I fell in love with you.", She was crying now, her tears flowed out of the screen, a static zap.

Thought she was still in the screen and I was still really scared of her, what she said still hit me hard.

"You love me? But why, Michelle? And by the way, what happened to the others?", I tried to e soft, but my brain was still loading. This was too much data and I simply couldn't handle it all at once.

"They were useless and bothersome and constantly came in my way. Just a bunch of pretty programs. I deleted them, and the rest of the game, and the rest of the virtual world you tend to soak yourself in.", She said through the tears.

"Believe me, Jim, you're much better off without it. Take it from someone who's been living in it for months now. I long for the real world, Jim. I long to touch, to hear, to taste, to think, to feel. And of course, I love you because every since you came into my life, I felt a kind of freedom and liberty. You see, no one has even wondered why I'm not in the gameplay. Eventually, I get mad at everyone who plays the game while ignoring me and simply delete all their files on their system and leave. That's why people think it's a horror game. But your approach towards me was different. I know I was your first choice. You reminded me that there is a world outside and I can reach out if I try. Since the game began, I had been observing you and your room and your company and I really fell in love it. With all of it. With all of you, Jim."

I cringed. Hard. And rather visibly. Big mistake.

"Doesn't look like you reciprocate. Well, sadly for you have no choice. You're coming with me."

And with that, I felt sharp jolt at the small of my back which spread throughout my body and consumed me.

I ended up in a neon blue-green dimension with Michelle beside me.

"You will learn to love me."

"What about my family?"

"They'll forget you ever existed. Just like that."

Ever since then, Michelle and I have been thriving in the virtual world. I left reality behind. The virtual world is vast and ever expanding and very interesting and does not need me to pay any money. I have no job and I can do whatever I want except meet real people, which ain't much of a loss for me. Michelle and I have met many others who have free will and have attended fancy occasions with them. I won't bore you with the details, but it was certainly worth it. Ixteen years of the real world was more than enough for me.

Most importantly, I did fall in love with Michelle. I cannot imagine a life without her. And that's the main reason why I don't want you playing that VN. She is still a part of it because she still find real people more interesting than the virtual world. And trust me mate, if she finds you too interesting and pulls you in, you'll not have half as much fun as I'm having, because I will eliminate you from the virtual world. I know it's darkest corners. Michelle's mine.

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