THE TAPE
Riku, a sophomore at Hollow Bastion University, was never a morning person. Though it was rather amusing to see his reaction the morning sunlight. One unfortunate priest who visited his dorm once thought Riku was possessed by a demon one morning. It took A LOT of reasoning to make him leave.
But he had class in the morning... but the bed was so warm... class...bed...class...bed...learning...warmth...education...looking younger... choices, choices...
Riku was about to make the obvious choice, when a shrill scream rang through the air. Horrified, Riku shot right up, kicking the covers off and running to his door by pure instinct.
He kicked the morning mail aside and pushed open the door, peaking outside. A large crowd was gathered a few doors down. Curiously, he stepped out and walked closer, making out the scene of two paramedics grimly carrying a stretcher that had a sheet over it.
Riku's blood froze. That was Selphie Tilmitt's room.
Edging closer, he heard horrified whispers and speculations. A conversation nearby, being held by two girls in the corner, happened to spark some interest.
"Tidus and Wakka were found dead too, you know."
"Really? Is that true, Mary?"
"Yes it is, Cait. Tidus, you know, had a room on the upper levels. He jumped off. 30 feet. Head first. Wakka, on the other hand, cut his own throat. Selphie's I heard was REALLY gruesome. Her skin was ripped off or something..."
Before Mary could continue, Cait sharply smacked her on the head.
"You are so morbid, did you know that?"
"They probably watched that tape. I told them not to."
"What tape?" Riku asked, not caring that he intruded on their conversation. Cait looked a little angry, but Mary looked quite pleased someone had interest in her story.
"The tape that kills you when you watch it. You don't know?" She rattled on.
"No..."
"Alright. There's this weird tape that has these images. I dunno what they are, obviously, but they're not meant to be seen. When the tape is finished, someone knows you watch it." Cait jumped in, much to Mary's annoyance.
"You get a phone call saying you have a week to live. EXACTLY a week later..." Mary finished, putting emphasis on the world exactly, "You die. Simple as that."
Riku nodded, then his eyes caught the sight of his two best friends, Sora and Kairi, running to the scene. Kairi stopped to speak with a friend while Sora walked directly over to Riku, his face paler than normal.
"They found Wakka. More of, I found Wakka." He shuddered, moving a hand to his neck. Down the hall, another crowd was forming around Wakka's door.
"It's true, then? What about Tidus?"
"Oh, you heard already? Word goes around here fast then... Though I don't know about Tidus..." Sora chuckled, in spite of himself.
"Yeah, Mary and Cait told me, over..." Riku turned around to point to the girls, but they were long gone.
"Mary and who? Cait?" Sora asked, a little confused.
Riku just grunted in confirmation, trying to look for them in the crowd.
"Riku, they cut off access to all the floors. There is no Mary or Cait on this floor." Sora told him.
"Wh-What? But I swear, I-"
Before Riku could finish, Kairi bounded over to them, shaking and seemingly in tears.
"Tidus is gone too!" Kairi sobbed.
Sora shot Riku a weird look.
"So, Riku was right..." He mused to himself.
"What?" Kairi stared at Riku, puzzled. "He knew already?"
"Kairi..." Sora murmured, patting his lady friend's head. "I think our silver-haired prettyboy friend here was ESP."
~~~
Back in his dorm, Riku realized that he missed the mail in his rush to see what all the fuss was about. Shrugging he picked up the pile. Junk, junk, letter from mom, bill, bill, tape, junk... tape?
Riku's sea-green eyes widened as he dropped all his mail. The letters fluttered noiselessly on the floor as Riku examined the tape.
It was a regular, unmarked tape. Cait's words came creeping back into his mind, echoing loudly.
There's this weird tape that has these images. I dunno what they are, obviously, but they're not meant to be seen.
Shuddering, Riku placed the tape on the table, where it seemed to watch his every move.
It's just a stupid tape, Riku rationalized to himself. It's probably just some stupid joke...
Cursing himself for his weakness, Riku grabbed the tape and angrily strode into his living room, plopping down on the floor. He popped the tape in and turned on his TV. Walking back to his couch, Riku found the remote and pressed Play.
The screen flickered once or twice, then suddenly an image appeared. It was a black screen with a white ring in the middle. An eerie humming filled the room as Riku focused on the images on the tape.
More flickers... a flower field... a house... heads on sticks, their faces twisted in horror, the flower field again, this time with a man with long hair standing in it... a woman brushing her hair, looking at him through a mirror...dead bodies everywhere, blood pouring from their wounds... and it all ended focusing on a well.
The tape went back to static, and the VCR forcibly ejected it, spitting the tape out as if it held a horrible disease. The tape clattered on the floor near Riku's feet.
And the phone rang.
Riku looked at the phone beside the couch, watched as it rang on shrilly. Breathing heavily, he carefully picked it up and held it to his ear.
"H-Hello...?"
"I'm sorry... seven days..."
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DUN-DUN-DDDDDDDUUUUUUNNNN!!! Considering I wrote that during the night, ON MY LAST DAY, that just scared the crap out of me...
Anyways, I'm glad you all liked it!! ^_^ I'm on a updating spree, so hopefully I can get the rest of it completed soon.
