I'm back with an update on this… I apologize for the delay. Between work, home, and getting wisdom teeth pulled (painful, by the way,) I've been busy. But the game is always on my mind, and catches me at the oddest of times.
In fact, soon after Haldis and I left the game at the pawn shop, he seemed to totally forget about it. It's like he expects me to do the same! How can I? It's almost like I've been, for lack of a better word, chosen, for this. Am I supposed to be the person to stop this entity?
So, of course, I've been curious. And my curiosity leads to worrying, and worrying lead to fretting. I've lost a lot of weight. I'm not eating properly, or sleeping sometimes. When I don't sleep, I lie awake and think of the guy from that pawn shop, then the girl. Why would two people take the time and effort to look so much like game characters or objects? Why was the girl afraid of the guy's lover? Something about this… it left a bad taste in my mouth.
About three weeks ago now, I decided to do one thing: return to the pawn shop. If I could see it, confront my fears, maybe I'd stop being so freaking paranoid. I returned to the shop to find that it had been shut down. But, being my curious self, I grabbed a credit card and picked the lock of the store, going inside. I know, I'm admitting to breaking and entering. Sue me.
As I went inside, most of the merchandise was gone. The smell of dust filled the air, as did the feeling of being watched come over me. I didn't like it, but continued on. I walked to the back of the store, to the employee's lounge. Once again, I used the credit card. As I did, I heard a door open from within the lounge. I spooked and jumped to the nearest hiding spot, which happened to be behind a toolbox (I love being short sometimes!)
As I stayed hidden, I watched as a woman with dark brown hair, bright green eyes, and a slim build emerged with the damned creeper that used to work in the now-closed shop.
"Is someone in here?" the guy asked. I covered my own mouth with my hand, desperately trying to keep myself quiet and hidden (sneaky isn't my strong suit.)
"I'll look to the right side, you take the left." The woman said. Her voice was deep, almost an unsettling deep tone.
I stayed shrunk and hidden. Oh God, oh God, oh God they were going to find me. I was so screwed. I'd never done something like that before. I would be arrested. I would be thrown in prison. Haldis… oh Haldis…
"Why hello there, Terra."
I froze and looked up. It was the guy. Oh God. My stomach flipped several times in rapid succession. I felt ill as he grabbed my arm. Oh no, oh shit, what the hell were they going to do?!
"Ah, so this is the trespasser." The woman said.
"I caught her by the toolbox, sweetie." The guy said as he drug me into the open. I fought against his grasp with a snarl, but it was no use. He had an iron grip on me. If I moved wrong, he could snap my arm in two if he wanted to. I fought back with my other arm, but he grabbed it. Terror swept through me as with one swift move, I was suddenly facing the woman and not the guy.
"Wha-What are you g-going to do?" I stammered. I felt a panic attack rising in my chest.
"Just giving you what rightfully is yours." The woman got closer to me, and I felt something going into my back pocket. I rightfully jumped at the motion.
"A jumpy little one, you are." The guy said.
"Jumpy, but fiery. She'll serve well for this." The woman said.
I closed my eyes and dropped my head, my hair falling around my face, a dark blond curtain to shield my ashamed face from the world. I felt two very cold fingers catch my chin and force me to look up.
"We chose you for a reason, girl. Now, be a good puppet and play that game." The woman smiled. I snarled and used all my body weight against the man, causing him to fall against the tools and lose his grip on me. The woman reached out to slap me, but I dodged the blow and ran for the door, quickly going to the car. The woman followed me, but I was in the driver's seat and locked the doors by the time she had gotten to me. She pounded on the window as I started the engine.
The tires of my car squealed on the pavement as I drove like a bat out of hell from that place. I didn't even put on my seatbelt as I drove. Honestly in those moments, I kinda wished I had gotten in an accident, maybe then I could slip into a coma and escape this living hell.
Damn my curiosity.
I kept going until I got home. I didn't even stop much on the way there, despite the stop signs, oh well if I got a ticket, big deal. Add it to breaking and entering and assault.
I luckily got home before Haldis returned. I reached around to my back pocket and got the cartridge the woman gave me. Sure enough, it was the damned game. I almost screamed and threw it across the room, but then I eyed it carefully.
I then also remembered my two friends, for safety's sake I'll call them Inferna and Neko, were hackers, well Neko more so than Inferna, but Inferna was still good at hacking into game cartridges. Neko would be able to diagnose if the game was really haunted, and if not, Inferna could fix the game to what it was supposed to be.
So, I called Neko. She was home, and after I explained the situation, she said she was on her way with Inferna, well, after she was done bitching me out for not telling her about this and not getting help. Neko's always been an older sister to me, so it was understandable.
An hour passed and my doorbell rang. Sure enough, Neko and Inferna had arrived. I was relieved when I first saw Neko, her six-foot frame, dark hair, and hazel eyes. I leaned in and hugged her, just weakly. My arms still were sore from the confrontation at the shop.
After hugging Neko, Inferna instigated the next hug to me. Even though Inferna and Neko are sisters, they vary in height. Inferna's only five-foot-two, a mere six inches shorter than me, while Neko's six foot as I mentioned. But they both have dark hair, and the same hazel eyes that change colors with their emotions.
I was relieved when Neko took the game from me. She examined it and shook her head.
"Terra, sweetie, this game could easily just be hacked." She said.
"Yeah, Terra, you could be freaking yourself out for nothing." Inferna agreed.
But then I explained what had just happened at the pawn shop. Neko's hazel eyes turned into a shade of brownish red. She was pissed I was hurt. I looked to Inferna, and her eyes were turning darker, meaning she was going to hurt who hurt me.
After I calmed them a little, I plugged in the game. I almost cried when I saw the "Haldis" file still there. They hadn't even tried to sell it again!
So, after doing a proper fourth day glitch, everything changed again. It became similar to the Jadusable stuff, but only I wasn't in Clock Town. I was in Snowhead, and it was odd… the snow was constantly falling, but there was none on the ground. It confused me as I went for the Snowhead temple.
"Wait, Terra, stop for a second. Unequip the lens of truth." Neko said. I nodded and did as I was told. When I got rid of the lens of truth, something happened. Something that caused all of us girls to jump.
The game stopped. Just stopped. I couldn't move my avatar, and then suddenly the Song of Unhealing played. The song continued for a few minutes, as Neko, Inferna, and myself all held completely still and watched intently, all of us shivering a little like a chill just crossed over the room.
After the song, an image of the happy mask salesman appeared. He was smiling. Next to him was the Skull Kid. I noticed as Inferna lost all color in her cheeks. It takes a lot to scare Inferna, and I could tell, she was scared. I heard a giggle from the Skull Kid.
"Go to the lair of the temple's boss? Yes/No"
I picked up the controller, and dropped the option to no, but the arrow went back up to yes every time I tried to change it. I got frustrated and picked "Yes" after a bit, leading to my avatar going up into the air and bursting into flames, and the death scene came through.
The Skull Kid's laugh came through as the screen turned to black and went to the title screen. Inferna and Neko both encouraged me to press start to get to the files. I did that, and I felt my stomach turn.
One game file read "JADUSABLE." The "Haldis" game file was gone.
A shiver crawled up my spine.
"Jadusable?" Neko asked.
"No freaking way." Inferna whispered.
I took a deep breath and opened the game file. I was once again in Snowhead, but my avatar was the Goron dude. Epona was here. My heart sank, this was showing parallels to Jadusable's game now. She was pointed towards the temple, which oddly, there was no snow blowing around it. The scene almost had me sad. Something just didn't seem right.
I walked my avatar towards the temple. As I did, the snowstorm started again. Instead of my avatar being pushed off the path, he instead froze. All three of us were in shock at what had occurred.
"He… he froze." Neko said.
Then the Elegy of Emptiness statue appeared next to my frozen avatar. I heard Skull Kid's screech before we were back at the title screen. I went into the game files and right there, in the game files, explained what happened to Jadusable.
"JADUSABLE FROZE"
An overwhelming sadness fell over me. I let my tears flow freely. Why was I mourning someone I had never met? I grieved as if I knew Jadusable, as if we had been good friends, when I never met the man!
"BEN froze Jadusable…" Inferna breathed.
"Terra, what's he going to do to you?" Neko asked.