A/N: Clyde's mother is alive for this story.
Enjoy!
Clyde Donovan found himself sitting in his room at his computer desk doing some late night surfing on the net. He'd thought about spending the late hours playing a game or watching some show that he had on his list of 'to watch' but instead found himself trying to see if he could chat with girls online, as for him, it was something far more interesting.
He made sure to keep the door to his room shut whenever he would do these types of 'endeavors' making sure that he was angled in a way so that his screen was facing away from the door and he was ready to get the decoy tab opened if need be.
But that was beside the point for now. Right now he wanted to see what lovely ladies he could get to chat with him about whatever his currently mildly perverse 17-year-old brain could get away with talking about.
He tries some various adult-themed websites and gets a couple lines going with a few of them before they would pester him for cash and he'd get too annoyed and move on to the next. He strikes out a few times and the cycle of cash being brought up repeats itself and he's about ready to call it quits for the night, before he gets a message unprompted on its own.
He gives a curious look to the small chat window as he reads the username 'Shy-Cutie', with a short greeting under it.
Shy-Cutie: Hi handsome.
Clyde figures it may be just a site auto-message and goes to close the chat.
Shy-Cutie: Aw, you don't want to talk with me?
This catches his attention, as it almost seemed like they knew he was about to close the window.
Shy-Cutie: Come on now, don't be shy. I won't bite unless you want me too ;)
He pauses again, something about it was a bit odd, but Clyde figures why not and shrugs, deciding to play along. Beggars can't be choosers after all.
Me: Hey there
Shy-Cutie: You must be looking for a good time? Right cutie?
Me: Aren't you the cutie?
Clyde smiles to himself, thinking it to be a clever response.
Shy-Cutie: Haha, cute and funny. Why don't we get to know each other a bit more? ;)
It's the first real lead-in to a conversation that's much more and Clyde decides to roll with it. He talks with the mysterious, what he presumes is a woman, for a couple hours. Some topics about life, and others about much more 'mature' matters. The conversation eventually has to come to end though, as he starts to get tired and needs to be up for school in time. The woman tells him to wait a moment before he goes and sends him a link.
Shy-Cutie: For you cutie. Feel free to share if you'd like. ;)
He looks at the link for a few seconds and goes to type out a question asking what it is, but the woman seems to go offline just as he does so. He's unsure of what to do with it, part of him thinking that it could just be some spam or possible spyware stuff, but another part saying that she didn't seem like she would send that after the pretty nice conversation they had. In the end, he decides to just copy and paste the link into a group app chat he's in with his friends.
Clyde: Hey guys, gonna drop this off here for now. Got it from some chick online, dunno what it is, but I'm leaving it on hold here for now
He types out before closing it, then shuts off the computer and heads for bed.
When he gets up, it's to the sound of his clock alarm. He turns it off with a groan and proceeds to get up and get ready for the day. He goes about his morning motions before he gets his school bag and heads downstairs. His parents are already up by then and watching T.V, he gives a quick "Morning," to them both as he heads into the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast.
He sets his bag down on the table and grabs a bowl of cereal and milk. As he gets to work on eating it, he decides to check his phone. There's one new message in the group chat from last night.
Craig: Clyde, what the FUCK is this?!
It was sent shortly after he passed out, and he wonders if Craig clicked the link and just what he saw. He's about to tap on it himself when his father calls out to him.
"You almost done with breakfast son?"
"Yeah!" Clyde replies.
He quickly pockets his phone and shoves another spoonful into his mouth. He walks to the living room with the bowel and leans in the kitchen doorway as he watches the morning news with his parents.
— in other news. The missing cases reports slowly continue to rise across the country as the 25th unexplained disappearance of a young 16-year-old boy named Connor Wesley joins those numbers, having gone missing over 2 weeks ago. He was last seen at night in his home by his parents, but said to have been gone by the morning when his mother went to check on him. They claim it seemed like he had vanished without any trace, as everything was the way it was left before he went to bed that night. His parents ask that if anyone has seen or heard from him, to please let them know.
"Hope they find him," Clyde says between chews.
"Me too," his mother replies, then looks back at him, "are you almost done?"
"Yeah," Clyde replies as he quickly scarfs down the last couple bites.
"Oh good, I'll drive you then," she says and gets up.
"You don't have to mom, I can get to school just fine on my own," Clyde says as he places the bowel in the sink and grabs his bag.
"I know but," she pauses and looks to the T.V.
"Fine," Clyde sighs, "but drop me off like a block away okay?"
"Oh yes, don't worry," she smiles, "now go put your coat and boots on!" she ushers him.
After a bit of back-and-forth and some motherly fussing over Clyde not being dressed warm enough, they eventually leave the household with a quick goodbye to the father.
Clyde of course, is not dropped off a block away from the school and is instead dropped off in front of it. He lets out a groan as his mother gives him a kiss on the cheek and tells him to have a good day and that she loves him. To which he mutters back a quick—but quiet, "I love you too," before he gets out of the car and rushes into the school building, ignoring any possible onlooking stares from his peers.
He gets to his locker and slams it shut after tossing his bag inside it and collecting his books. He lets out a sigh as he rests his forehead against it.
"Rough morning?"
He looks to his side to find his friend Token standing next to him now.
"Yeah, you could say that," he sighs again looking away.
"That's too bad, I thought it was very loving from what I saw," he replies and Clyde immediately looks at him again.
"Listen, you didn't see anything, okay! Nothing!" he says, standing up straight and pointing a finger at him.
"You going to tell that to the other 20 to 30 people who were all witnesses too?" Token grins.
"Can we just, not talk about it?" Clyde groans, running a hand down his face, " I barely got into the building without dying from embarrassment you know," to which Token chuckles at.
The two make their way to their morning class and meet another one of their friends there, Tweek.
"Hey Tweek, what's up?" Clyde greets.
"Nothing really," he replies, "Craig isn't with you guys?"
"No, thought he probably was already here," Clyde replies.
"Guess he's running late or something," Token says.
The three of them fall into some small talk before eventually heading into class for the morning. They figure that Craig will join them later on, but he doesn't show. In fact as the day continues to progress on, he doesn't show at all to any of their classes.
"What do you guys think happened to Craig?" Clyde asks as the three start their walk home.
"Maybe he got sick?" Token suggests.
"Yeah," Tweek agrees.
"Hmm, maybe," Clyde says in thought, "I never got a reply from him when I sent out a text earlier in class today, asking where he was," he adds and takes out his phone.
"Neither did I," Token says.
"Same," Tweek says.
"The last I heard from him was…" Clyde trails off as he looks through his phone. He comes to a stop when he opens the group chat and reads over the last message from it. "Oh right, he sent this weird message in the group chat last night, but I was asleep."
"Oh, I saw that when I woke up," Token says, "forgot about it though, cause I had to get ready."
"Yeah same," Tweek says, "and that weird link you sent as well, but I didn't want to open it."
"Yeah man, what was up with that link?" Token asks.
"Did you open it?" Clyde asks.
"No, because you said you got it from some random chick online, and because Craig's reaction to it makes me think it's not worth it too," Token explains.
"Maybe," Clyde chuckles, "I don't know, the girl I got it from seemed cool, so I just was like, 'whatever' and shared it," he shrugs, "thought it may be some 'good stuff' or something, if you know what I mean," he winks.
"You have a problem man, you know that?" Token says, unamused.
"I am a healthy curious teenage boy, okay?" Clyde says crossing his arms, "I don't have a problem with wanting to know the inner workings of the opposite sex and how it functions."
"Riiight," Token says, with a roll of the eyes.
They talk for a little more before they part ways and all head off home. Clyde gets to his room and tosses his bag onto his bed, before changing into some more comfortable clothing and getting to work on his homework for the night.
A short while later his home phone rings and one of his parents picks it up. A couple minutes later his mother knocks on his door and opens it, the phone in her hand.
"Clyde," she says, and covers the bottom of the phone with her other hand, "you haven't heard anything from your friend Craig, have you?" she asks.
"No," he replies.
"You didn't see him at school or anything?"
"No," he replies again.
There's a couple seconds of pause before she uncovers the phone again.
"Sorry Laura, he says he hasn't seen or heard anything from him," she says as she leaves.
Clyde stares at the door after it closes again for a few seconds, wondering what that was about before going back to what he was working on. Only a few minutes pass by though, before his attention is drawn away again to his phone with a new message notification. One from his group chat with his friends.
Token: Hey so, did anyone else get a call from Craig's mom asking where he is?
The message somewhat surprises Clyde.
Clyde: Yeah, his mom called my house too a short while ago
Tweek: Same
Clyde: Wait so we all got a call then?
Token: Looks like it. I wonder what's up.
Tweek: Yeah...
There's a slight worry Clyde feels at that. Something seemed a bit off to him about this all, and it nagged at the back of his mind. Still though, he tells himself that it's nothing and gets back to finishing up his homework.
Once he does finish, he decides to spend some time on the computer. Most of which is spent either watching random videos or playing a free browser game. Time seems to fly into the late hours as he does so and his thoughts are drawn to the previous night's activities.
For some reason, the conversation he had shared with 'Shy-Cutie' comes to mind and thinks to search for her again. But when his attempts to do so on the site from before seem futile, he gives up and goes back to gaming.
As he tires more and closes the game window, his thoughts wander back to Craig again and he opens the group chat app on his computer and scrolls up to his last message from him. Something about it piques his interest about what exactly was it he saw on the link.
So he clicks on it.
A window opens to a player for a video. The time of it, 3 minutes and 50 seconds in length. Before he can even do anything, the video starts to auto-play just as it finishes loading. The screen is black for a few seconds before white text starts to appear on it.
WARING: THE VIDEO YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE WILL CONTAIN GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING CONTENT. SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO LOOK AWAY, CLOSE OR STOP THE VIDEO AT ANY POINT DUE TO THE IMAGES OR SOUNDS YOU MAY EXPERIENCE…
THEN IT WILL TAKE YOU.
SHOULD YOU LAST UNTIL THE VIDEO IS COMPLETED.
IT WILL NOT TAKE YOU.
THE VIDEO WILL NOW COMMENCE.
The text sends a strong unnerving ease through Clyde and he goes to close the window, but new text appears across the screen just as he does.
YOU CAN'T STOP IT NOW.
IT'S ALREADY HERE.
CLYDE.
"What?" Clyde says confused.
Why was his name there? Was this some kind of prank or something? Did that woman or whatever set it up? But he freezes when he realizes that he never told her his name.
A sudden array of images flash across the video. He isn't quite sure what they are. It was almost as if they were all molding and melting together. In a strange way, it felt as if they were trying to reach through the very screen and grab him. But not in a physical sense, no, it was as if they were trying to pierce into his very being.
Color is void and all that's left are the grim grays of monochromatic and some kind of light and pull surrounding his center. Time is warped and extends and compresses, even though not much has gone by.
The light opens more, almost as if tearing through the very fabric of the physical world. Then it's there, something with such malice creeping its way behind Clyde. He wants to look, to turn his head and see what it is, but he's too afraid to, and something in his gut is screaming at him not to do it.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Three. He counts in his mind before it comes to a stop directly behind him. There's a faint sound of some sort, like something writhing with the coaxed in sounds of strained wheezing lightly over it. It stands in place, unmoving, said for those faint sounds he can just barely pick up with hearing. His body tense, unsure of what to do. It stays that way for a good 40 more seconds until the video passes into the 2 minute mark.
Soon as it does, a new sound starts up. Clicking. The pattern is inconsistent and every so often a second faint one, like a crunch, is mixed in with them. Clyde tries to tell himself that he's just hearing things in order to help calm himself down, as time ticks its way into the 3 minute mark.
There was only 50 seconds left to go, he tries to tell himself. Thinking that he was nearing the end of this living nightmare. But between the clicking and the crunching and his brain feeling like it was turning to mush, or about to explode, he almost forgets to read the text that appears in the video. Its words seeming foreign to him despite only mere minutes passing.
DON'T LOOK.
DON'T LOOK.
DON'T…
"
...Look."
At first, Clyde thinks that he read the last word out loud. But his mouth is still clenched shut. It slowly dawns on him that the voice was in fact, not his own. But a voice, a whisper, that came from next to his ear.
"Don't look," it repeats.
A faint breath brushes against his ear and everything tenses. A bead of sweat runs down the side of his face. His heart strains to pump blood so hard, it hurts. His insides twist and churn with nauseating unease as another breath brushes his ear. It was as if something, some force, compelled him not to listen to those words. As if he were being gripped by the head and something invisible was wrapping itself around him, forcing him to give into this being's false words, overlaying its true desire.
Despite his gut screaming at him to keep his focus on the screen for the remaining 10 seconds. Despite every fiber in his being telling him to do so and his mind knowing that he shouldn't and it is a bad idea. Despite all the signs of logic and reasoning. And despite this being itself even saying so. Despite it all. Despite everything.
He looks.
END