Our university had already announced the issue, and after that was a widespread yet subtle panic.
Cellphones were banned in every class, the internet blocked from getting connected to any device, the computers in our laboratories are rigged to never, ever connect to any networks. It was like an internet martial law. Every electronic device that incorporates communication and/or information are highly forbidden to use within the school premises.
Seven students had already taken their lives, this university's trying their best to never witness another student inside his or her dorm or house lifeless. Believe it or not, the source of all of this is a video.
Nobody knows what kind of video it was. I had no idea of what it is, as well. I strongly believe that no one would dare to ever view that video for it could be a matter of life and death for them. It was that lethal that this school forbade all social media access.
What's weird about these incidents is that the causes of its victims suiciding or how they did it had no traces, had no leads, and/or had no clues. They checked if these students had any suicidal tendencies or mental health issues, wven their looked at each of their family histories. The only thing once people see them inside their dark, shaded room is them lying on their bed, skin so pale, as cold as the winds of North, their cleared, white eyes wide open, and their laptops or computers left opened, lighting their dead bodies.
Authorities are tracing the source or sources of the video. Some of my colleagues, friends, and classmates are also taking their parts to investigate the matter, but unlike what authorized people would do they're doing it for different reasons.
My friend, Dany, said last Monday, when we were under the shade of a tall tree beside the university canteen, that he bought a copy of the video from an underground black market. Me, Henry, and Philo protested against him watching it at his own cost. He shrugged and excitedly ran to his house, just a few blocks outside the university. He was absent for week.
Then, the news came. It shocked all of us, even our professors because the university is trying their best to prevent more casualties. Dany was found lifeless inside his room. The other people in the block reported a foul, nauseating odor coming from his house, and when authorities investigated they found him lifeless for a rough six days. They said that he was just like the other ones who died, but his body's already decomposed.
That took a huge toll for me. He was our good friend. The toll lead from deep curiousity to hatred and anger. I wanted to search the answers. I wanted to know what was going on and what that video really is. And I wanted to find out who made them.
On a Tuesday midnight, I snuck out of my dorm and quitely ran outside. I hid in the corridors and avoided roaming university guards. I went to the back alley and climbed out off one of the lowest fences and ran out to the dark.
I arrived an hour later at Dany's house. Police lines were stretched in all perimeters. Luckily, Dany gave us all a spare key just in case of having night outs of parties — it never occured that day that this is what I would be using it for since he's gone now.
The lock of the door clicked. I opened it quitely and the creak echoed inside the house. I slid inside like getter a paper in a stack and slowly closed the door. I searched for the switch and turned the lights on. His living room was untouched, his clothes and crumpled school papers scattered everywhere. I walked inside his room, it smelled like a thousand piled up biodegrable garbage. His laptop was still at his bed, with a mouse and headphone still connected to it. I looked around and closed the door and all the windows before placing myself in front of the dark screen.
I pressed the on button and waited for a few seconds. Then I saw a flashdrive also connected to his laptop. The video must be inside it. I clicked the folders to open them up and saw the video file named in random letters and numbers. I stopped for a moment, I thought of going to the authorities first to surrender the video, or to anyone capable of retracing thia kind of stuff.
But I was at my limit. My curiosity grew deep enough to put a grave.
I hesitantly opened it. It was in full screen, and loaded for a few seconds before finally starting to play.
The video started very dark. And then it got lighter and lighter. And then it just stayed that way. I thought that I had paused it but the play bar was moving. After a few checks I've realized that the video had no time limit. The play bar was continously moving in a loopless, endless line. I looked at the screen again and it got even more light.
And then it showed me sitting in front of it. I must have had illusions, even asked myself if I clicked something else. No, the front camera wasn't on. I looked at it closely, what I do is also what the video is showing, like a mirror inside the laptop. Within a few minutes, a figure just beside me slowly showed up. It was a huge, towering figure and seemed like it was bending its back, looking at the screen like me. Like it was just sitting right next to me, watching with me. I looked at my side but saw nothing. I couldn't feel or sense anything, either.
I was petrified.
It began to be a very black figure, until it also got lighter. And then it stopped from adjusting to brightness.
A wide, vague, spine-chilling grin showed up. I had to stare at it in terror for a few seconds — I think that those were the only time I have left.