Digital Nightmare

“Hello everybody and welcome to let’s play—” Mark’s voice sounded through my headphones as I copied the link.  It had been over a year since Markiplier made his last Creepyplier video, and since then his videos had been getting worse.  It had gotten so bad in fact, that YouTube is going to remove his videos and ban his account soon.  Naturally, I was backtracking and saving all of his good ones onto my computer and…  ‘Hello.  What is this?’  I thought as a new video message popped up.  I clicked on it and the video was labeled ‘Help!’  I sighed.  ‘A bit late for a cry of help, isn’t it, Mark?  Oh well.  May as well take a look.’ I thought.  The screen was completely black, but there was no mistaking Mark’s voice that came through the speakers in my headphones.
“Hello?  Is this thing working?  The webcam won’t turn on.  Whatever, I don’t care.  This is important.”  His voice was low and quiet, as if he was hiding from something.  “Do all of my viewers, or at least, whoever is left, remember my ‘Creepyplier’ videos?  Well, he somehow came to life for real last year, and he’s trapped me in my own computer.  I have reason to believe he is currently pretending to be me.  I haven’t been able to put this video up before, because he’s been monitoring the submissions, but for some reason he isn’t watching today; so here I am.”
I didn’t know why I kept listening to this.  Judging from the words alone it sounded like it was fake; but something in his tone of voice chilled me to my very core.  He sounded like he was constantly composing himself, and forcing himself to keep recording.  His voice, it wasn’t like usual when he’s joking about not wanting to play a game or being afraid of a monster, he sounded genuinely horrified; frightened for his life.
“I know you all probably don’t believe me, but please.  I need your help.  I can’t get out.  I don’t know where I am.  And I swear I hear all kinds of game monsters everywhere around me.  Please, send help.”  With that the video ended.  I was in shock for a few moments, until I realized that the account would be closed in less than a minute, the video would disappear.  Quickly, I copied the link and began saving the video on my computer.  The loading bar of the process seemed to drag along as time slowly ticked down to the last second.  I gulped, not blinking as I stared at both the clock and the loading bar.  Finally, with mere milliseconds to spare, the copying was finished.  The video was safe.  I sighed and leaned back in my chair, letting myself relax for a minute.

I sat back up and copied the video onto my phone and usb, along with his other videos; just to be sure.  I then ran to my sister Rose, preparing the video on my phone.
“Rose!”  I shouted.  “You have to see this, it’s important!”  She looked up from her book, her eyes filled with worry.
“What is it, what’s wrong?”  She asked.  She stood up and looked over my shoulder.
“Markiplier just sent out a—” I began.
“La-la, how many times do I have to tell you that Markiplier is a bad influence?”  She asked, sitting back down.
“But it’s not his fault!  He just explained that—” I tried.
“Look, back when I first showed him to you he was fine; yes.”  She interrupted, staring me down.  “But something happened to him, and he’s turned into a bad person.  It happens to the best of us, so just let it go.”
“But he’s not a—!”  I struggled to insist.  
“Now stop it, La-la.  I told you to stop watching his videos, they’re not appropriate.  Just don’t worry about it, alright?  Now go do something useful.”  Rose insisted. *Man, she really won’t let me speak, will she?* I sighed and turned away.
“Fine…”  I mumbled.  ‘Oh, I’ll do something useful alright.’   I thought.  ‘You bet your chicken nuggets.’

I paced back and forth in my room, considering my options.
“Ok, so there’s a large chance that Mark’s in danger.  But I can’t exactly pack up and leave.  Well I could but I would get in trouble later if it turns out I’m wrong.”  I told myself.  “I suppose I could just call and see if he’s alright, but Creepyplier might answer instead and just lie.  Um…  I could try Yamimash, but I’m not so sure he’s been in touch with Mark since Creepyplier took over.”  I sighed and rubbed my eyes, trying to think of ways I could escape the house and not get in trouble for it.  I looked down; I didn’t even know his official address.  Heck, I didn’t even know what his home looked like completely.  I pressed a few buttons on my phone and listened to the video again, trying to convince myself that he was just joking.  But no matter how many times I listened to it, he always sounded like he was really in danger.  Eventually I decided to take the risk.  I’d just say that I wanted to meet the real Mark and say how sorry I was that his channel was taken down.  The worst he could say is get out, right?  I tip-toed into my mom’s room, she was taking her usual afternoon nap; tired after working the night shift.  I gently nudged her, my breath coming out in slow, shallow puffs.
“Hey mom?”  I whispered.
“Mnn?”  She sounded.  ‘Ok, she’s half asleep.  That can be both good and bad.’ I thought.  I took a deep breath and came up with a story.
“Well, remember how my friend wanted me to come with her to horse camp?”  I asked.
“Mnn.”  She hummed.
“Well I decided I wanted to go.  Can i?”  I asked quickly.  “I may be gone for a few months, but I really want to.”  There was a small pause.
“Mnn-hmm.”  She eventually mumbled.  I sighed with relief.
“Thanks mom!”  I said, trying to remain quiet as I rushed out the door before she changed her mind.

I ordered plane tickets online, and printed them out, stuffing them in my backpack.  I packed extra clothing, I tied my hair back in a tight ponytail, and I tightly tied on my good tennis shoes.  I grabbed my laptop, my portable mouse, my usb, my phone charger, and my mp3 player; stuffing them into my bag.  I also grabbed my phone, stuffing it into my pocket.  I took a pocket knife, a few energy bars, and two water bottles.  I grabbed my headphones and wrapped them around the back of my neck, plugging it into my mp3 player.  I threw off my regular preppy shirt and replaced it with my Markiplier shirt, also putting on some cargo pants in case I needed more carrying space.  I then grabbed my good jacket and put it on, satisfied with how it fit.  I hadn’t worn it in a while; but it was my best and most durable one.  Finally, I slipped on my black fingerless gloves and looked at myself in the mirror.  Heck yeah; I was ready.  I opened the window and jumped out, closing it behind me.  I left a note saying I left for horse camp, and not to expect me back for a while.  I then grabbed my bike and rode off towards the nearest airport.  Thank goodness for Google maps.

I was met with only a few suspicious glances as I got on the plane alone.  Good thing too, last thing I needed was to be stopped now.  I looked out the window as the plane took off, a sudden feeling of guilt and fear overcoming me.  ‘What am I doing?’  I wondered, pangs of guilt throbbing in my gut.  ‘This is insane, there’s no way that any of this is real!  Why am I chasing a fantasy?’  The city below me grew distant, and I could barely make out streets and roads.  I sunk down a bit in my chair as I realized I could see my house from this height.  I took a few deep breaths and tried to focus on the task ahead.  I was glad there were only a few people on the plane, seeing as how I was muttering to myself about possible situations with Creepyplier, and ways to get close to Mark’s computer.

The plane landed safely, and I was the last to exit, my backpack having been taken on the flight with me.  As I stepped out into the blinding sunlight, I felt a sudden chill; as though someone was watching me.  Several people, actually.  I shook the feeling away and descended the steps.  But the moment I set foot on solid concrete, I felt something shove against my shoulder and I was knocked down.  Something flew out of my jacket, and I felt something cold pass over me.  But when I looked up, I couldn’t see a thing.  I pushed myself to a sitting position and looked around for whatever fell out of my jacket.  I soon spotted a small set of what seemed to be sunglasses, thankfully unbroken.  I picked them up and held them up to my eyes to check for scratches, but the second I looked though them I saw several monsters surrounding the area.  Shocked, I dropped the glasses in fright.  It was then that I recalled what the glasses were.  They were an experiment I had done a few years ago with an old monitor and a set of empty glasses.
Basically, there is a black screen that covers most monitors, without which leaves just a bright white screen.  The black part is what makes everything visible.  So I simply cut out eyeglass-shaped holes in the black screen and glued them into the glasses, and amazingly enough they worked.  I had stuffed them into the jacket to show my friend, and I guess they were never recovered.
I lifted the glasses to my eyes again, seeing all kinds of game monsters everywhere.  I put the glasses on and pushed them up the bridge of my nose, noting that I recognized almost every monster present.
“There’s the Gatherers from Amnesia, Clickers from the last of us…” I whispered, suddenly deciding to hide behind the stairs to the plane.  “Zombies, mannequins…”  I heaved a breath, turning away from the creatures.  ‘Good thing Rose isn’t here, she’s horrified of zombies…’  I thought, trying to remain calm.  I heard a child giggle next to me and my eyes went wide, glancing over to see a porcelain doll.  Its eyes slowly rotated to face me and I yelped, kicking it away. It landed with a bang on the other side of the plane, and it was then I realized what a bad decision I made.  I whipped my head back around to see the amnesia monsters and clickers chasing after me, the zombies and mannequins following close behind.
“OH no, you didn’t hear SPLIT!”  I cried, running to one side of the plane.  I was gonna pull a loopy-loop somehow.  They all chased after me, and I thought back to Mark’s videos for strategies on how to beat them.  ‘Start off simple, get rid of the immediate killers.’ I told myself, focusing on the Clickers.  I needed to stop making noise, and distract the clickers somehow; make them go somewhere else.   I jumped on top of some baggage that was being removed from the plane; no one else seemed to notice the monsters I was facing.  The guards shouted at me to get off the baggage, but I just opened a bag and reached down, grabbing the first two things that I touched.  One of them was a bottle of whiskey, the other was a lighter.  Thanking the stars, I tore a strip of material from a purse and put one end into the bottle, tying it around the lid, and lighting the other end.  I threw it towards the monsters and watched as most of them caught on fire.  The clickers followed the monsters shouts as they fled, but more of all other kinds were on their way.  The amnesia monsters were fast approaching, and I jumped off of the luggage to hide behind the bags.
“Hey, lady; what do you think you’re doing!?”  One of the guards shouted at me, grabbing me by my arms.  I struggled against him, but I didn’t really have to; seeing as he was eaten by a zombie a moment later along with the other guards.  I ran around the baggage, diving into the pile to hide.  My fingers found something large and wooden, and figuring it was a baseball bat, I gripped it tightly in preparation.  From the sounds, the amnesia monsters were leaving, but the zombies lingered, following my scent.  They started clawing at the bags, so I pressed myself out of the heap of luggage, holding high my ‘baseball bat’.  But I found it was heavier than usual.  I looked back to the weapon and found it to be a chair.  I suppressed a laugh as I held the item in front of me, grinning from ear to ear as I shouted:
“I HAVE A CHAIR!!!”

I began to fight off the zombies; the mannequins had disappeared to somewhere I couldn’t see.  I only hoped they wouldn’t follow me to Mark’s apartment later, he might not be too happy about that.  The chair broke with a few hits, but it left two planks of splintered wood in my arms, which I gladly used as clubs.  It crossed my mind a few times how incredibly foolish I must have looked, fighting off air and somehow acting like I was getting hurt.  Some people seemed to think it was all an act, and began clapping for me.  I huffed, although I wasn’t tired at all.  My adrenaline was rushing from excitement as well as fear.  I mean, a part of me was afraid for my life, to be sure; but the other half was simply glad that it wasn’t all a hoax.  Unless I was hallucinating, but I didn’t want to think about that at the moment.  Eventually I simply ran away from the zombies that just kept coming up.  I hid behind a corner and waited for them to go away, pulling out my phone to search on Google for Mark’s house.  But there was some static in the area, I couldn’t connect to anything.  I sighed and raised the phone a bit, walking forward to try and get a signal; but the static seemed to get worse.  I pulled the phone back down and stepped back.  The static was the same as it first was.  I furrowed my eyebrows, looking around a corner for zombies before coming out into the open.  It seemed that the closer I got to… something, the more static there was.  I gasped as it clicked, Slenderman made static, didn’t he?  So that means Slenderman must be nearby.  I shivered at this new concept, glancing around every corner I came across.  But he didn’t seem to change position as far as I could tell.  He seemed pretty stationary.
“Well of course he’s stationary, Einstein.”  I told myself.  “I’m not near enough for him to teleport to me yet.”  A thought came to me as I pondered this further.  “One of Mark’s worst enemies was Slenderman, so maybe Slenderman means Mark is nearby!”  I said aloud, growing excited.  I followed the static down several roads, through alleyways I had to double back around, and eventually to Mark’s door.  A large ‘keep out’ sign had been taped onto it, and I quietly pulled it down and let it flow to the ground.  I waited a few seconds and knocked on the door.

The door opened with a creak, and I slowly looked up, past the bleached-out Markiplier evolution logo on the shirt, all the way to the eyes of Creepyplier himself.  I knew it could be no other, as his eyes were much darker and his pupils were not visible.
“Hello~?”  He asked, even his voice sounding similar to that of Mark.  I gulped down the nervousness that infected my neck, and cleared my throat.
“I’d ask if this was the house of Markiplier, but it seems I have my answer.”  I said, trying to smile cutely to avoid suspicion.  “I um… I just wanted to meet the real Markiplier and say how sorry I am that your channel had to be taken down.”  I said.  “I really loved your videos.”  Creepyplier narrowed his eyes a bit, but opened the door further.
“Would you like to come in for a moment?  I could show you around if you like.”  He said.  I smiled cutely again, nodding and stepping carefully into the house.  To my surprise, he led me right to his bedroom, where the computer sat in a heap on top of a table in the corner.
“So this is it.”  I said, fighting the urge to run to it and activate the screen.  “This is the wonderful machine you use in your videos.”  I reached out a hand and gently slid a finger over the top of the monitor.  In spite of the danger I knew I was in, I couldn’t help geeking out over actually seeing Mark’s computer.  I could picture him sitting right there, recording a video of an indie game or a rage game.  I sighed and turned to Creepyplier.
“Yes, it is.  I haven’t used it so much recently, but I think I might take it up again.”  He said, stepping a bit closer to me and the computer.  I gulped a bit and leaned back, catching a glimpse of blood in his eyes.
“Oh… really?”  I said, my voice wavering slightly.  Creepyplier turned to me, smiling.
“Yes.”  He said, his voice growing low.  I reached for my pocket knife, but for some reason I couldn’t grab hold of it.  “In fact, I think I’ll start now.  Mark should prove to be more entertaining if he’s got a playmate.”  My eyes widened as Creepyplier suddenly changed into a larger and more menacing version of himself, blood flowing from his black and soulless eyes.  His hair slowly disappeared, and as he grew larger his grin expanded as well, his teeth sharpened, and his tongue became long and scaly.  It was then that he shoved me backwards, and I fell through the monitor into Markiplier’s computer.


End Chapter 1~!!!!! ^.^