Who knew what would happen in five short minutes.

Curiosity is a dangerous trait. More deadly and powerful than you think. It sucks you in a tunnel that you could never escape from. You discover many great things in this tunnel, but you soon realize your discoveries are more poisonous as you take a step closer. The tunnel stops when you reached the peak; death is the end of this snaking tunnel. It was a shame that I am one of the few that fell through that pitch-black hole in the tunnel. And yet this tunnel is very long, and anyone could hope for a fork that leads to a brighter exit…

I wasn't a desperate prisoner then. I had a life. Nineteen years of it, and I was attending the best college in the country, and I had engaged to my long-time girlfriend. Oh well. What others didn't know is that it takes those wonderful entities of life so quickly, tearing you apart until you are nothing but an old, broken soul with contorted flesh.

I was surfing the internet on my laptop when I realized the little AVG security text bubble on the lower-right hand corner.

One threat detected.

I clicked the bubble. The AVG interface window popped up, asking me whether or not to delete the file.

File: Minecraft

I never had Minecraft on my computer. I didn't even know what Minecraft was. This computer was used, and I didn't pay extra to delete the files that had already existed.

I know security programs like AVG were a bit paranoid, but I was a little anxious. I could have shaken this off, but the name stuck to be like bubble gum on the bottom of my shoe.

I took the computer to the shop I bought it from. I rung the bell for the boss.

"Hello?"

A grunt man about six feet tall trudged out of the back the shop, his beard soaked with beer.

"What the hell do you want?"

I wasn't ruffled at all. "I bought this computer like a year ago and I discovered a file on it. It's called Minecraft."

The man shifted his weight on one foot. "That computer wasn't on sale."

I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, it was. It was on your catalog."

"Let me tell you something, boy. If I were you, I'd delete that file forever and forget the name. It's not something to be toyed with. Minecraft is a game, but I expect you wouldn't open it to play it. It would destroy you."

"Yes, sir."

But I was too ignorant to listen. This is when I was halfway down the hole.

I went home late at night and opened Minecraft. According to the computer, it was corrupted. Obviously, I didn't know the dangers it posed.

Minecraft itself was missing some files. I could tell the previous owner of the computer didn't have time to delete all of them. So all I saw was a console where I could control the game.

"Guest6 has joined the game."

I played around with the commands. There wasn't much to do since I didn't actually have the game, but my curiosity went farther down the tunnel when the screen popped up, telling me that the game has crashed, and it couldn't find the error. I was fine with that. What bothered me was about the man at the shop.

"Let me tell you something, boy. If I were you, I'd delete that file forever and forget the name. It's not something to be toyed with. Minecraft is a game, but I expect you wouldn't open it to play it. It would destroy you."

Too late. Even after I've gone to the computer to put the file in the trash, it said that I had already signed up. At that point Minecraft opened again, this time with an alert message from "Guest5".

"Open Vid_13."

I was too scared to disobey. Hands shaking, I searched in the Start Menu for "Vid_13". I clicked it, and it opened up in Windows Movie Player.

In the video was a teenager, about 19. He was biting his lip nervously as he stared into the camera, his brown hair matted with sweat. I didn't know where he was, but I could see he was using a computer to record this.

My computer.

"Hi. Whoever you are-"he looked fearfully behind him, "Nevermind. You don't understand what's happening right now. I'm telling you right now, don't open the file called Minecraft. I swear, they will get you- JUST DON'T OPEN THE DARN FILE." He took a deep breath. "Tomorrow I'm selling the computer, but I don't know if it would help. If you get this computer, which I know you did because you're listening to this video right now, just delete Minecraft forever."

"Some-something went wrong with development. I don't know, it became corrupted. It has capabilities far beyond normal files. Like a-a human. But don't worry. As long as you don't open it, you should be safe. It's a very poisonous file, but I just put up a barrier that won't poison your entire computer as long as you don't open it." He looked around. "Got to go. I have barely enough time."

Just like that, the video turned black.

Well, lucky me. I opened Minecraft first then watched the video. At least I'll come to some very painful end, according to the teenager.

I swerved back to the Minecraft file. I had questions about Guest5. Through the text box, I typed in "ToGuest5: Who are you?"

I waited a few seconds until a new message popped up:

"GET AWAY FROM HERE NOW."

That's it. I shut my laptop and packed a few clothes and some snacks. I grabbed my wallet and the car keys and drove to my girlfriend's house.

It was quiet ride. I didn't know if I was hallucinating or not, but I heard moans. And hisses.

What is wrong with me?

I parked in her driveway and locked the door as soon as I got out. I might have looked pretty messy, because when she opened the door, she seemed surprised.

"Victor?"

She helped me inside and told me to sit on the couch while she got some bread and coffee. I was tense on the couch, reacting to every strange sound I heard. I turned around a saw a glimpse of green of a four-legged creature. As soon as I took it in, it disappeared in a flash.

"Did you see that?"

"See what?"

"That four-legged green thing."

"Victor, stop it. Your just dreaming."
I hope she was right. But I couldn't loosen up as I saw those flashes of green, sometimes white, and some black.

"Carolyn, I need to stay here for a while. Maybe two days?"

She signed as she brought me the bread and coffee on a silver tray. "Sure, Victor. But what's wrong? You are all shaken up, your hair's a mess, and you're telling me about a four-legged green creature."

She was a concerned girlfriend. "I don't know. It's just-"

Carolyn put her hand on my shoulder. "Don't waste your breath. It's okay. Bread?"

I took one reluctantly. She told me the guest room was upstairs, and everything would be taken care of. I was a little comforted by that.

After dragging my bag up the stairs, I flicked on the lights. It was a low ceiling bedroom, more compatible as a getaway than a primary home. I dropped the bags on the desk to see something that made them drop on the floor.

The laptop.

Oh my god. I flung the door open, only to see the green things again, followed by spider-looking creatures and white humanoids with bows. The green things were opened-mouthed and emotionless, walking towards me. All of them began to surround me.

"Starting countdown for transaction."

What transaction? The laptop began to shake. But I couldn't think as I felt more nauseous every second as they began to close on to me.

"5…"

I stepped on a green thing's foot.

"4…"

I was losing a wrestle match with two spiders.

"3…"

I couldn't win. I would be swallowed.

"2…"

I was letting death consume me.

"1…"

Darkness was all I saw. But what I felt was more intense and fearful than I have ever imagined.

Darkness? How could you describe the blackness? It was more than that, as if it had a little light illuminating in the almost-black world.

The pain, though, could not be explained in a few measly words. It was as though I was on fire, morphing and forever changing my body. I could have screamed, except that the pain was so horrible that I couldn't scream. I was focusing too much on the pain.

And then it was black.