Virtual Pets

You know how when you join a site and you know you’re way too old for it but continue playing anyway? Well, I found this site called FooPets.
I got hooked instantly. The puppies and kittens were so cute and I just had to have more and more. Then came the change where you could only stay on if you paid a membership.
I didn’t even think twice about paying up. I was told I was a fool. Paying £4.99 a month, for pixels? I honestly couldn’t have cared less. I adored the site (even though the Admins were tyrants).
I played through a few months, kept adding and selling pets... getting more and more addicted. Then I stumbled across a pet that had a very unusual ‘foto’. It was taken in the ‘Foo FotoStudio’ but instead of just seeing the pets, I could see the entire studio, and everything was eerily blacked out.
I thought it was fake but it was in this pet's fotos, not on the profile it has legitimately been taken. I giggled with excitement, paid them the foodollars they wanted and brought him home. Though it didn’t seem right. He would frown at me instead of panting happily wagging his tail. Sometimes his screen as tinted red, sometimes it was black and white. This was a real glitcher!
It didn’t weird me out at all until I looked at the picture again the next morning. That’s when it set in... Why would Rivet make a pet like this? A pet that glitches like this, surely they would fix him? I sent it through to support, and they said he looked fine to them. Maybe it was just my PC, sticking a frame from just after they bark by accident? And the colours could be my Adobe needing to be updated.
I updated Adobe and refreshed the page on him. He stayed frowning... but patches of the screen were... the only way to describe it is that it looked like the details had been etched onto black card, the scarring leaving red marks... It terrified me. I didn’t sell him though. I kept him. I didn’t want to get rid of such a rare glitch...
I logged on the next day, and my top pet’s name had changed to ‘deceased’... but in the ‘breeding’ section, the name stayed exactly the same.
The next day, the same thing happened, except, now it said "Keeping me was stupid. Wasn’t it?"
As you can tell I was confused and scared. My screenshots were dismissed as ‘Fake’ by the admins and ambassadors. I tried to cancel my ClubFoo but it wouldn’t let me. I tried deleting my account. It wouldn’t let me. I went back to my profile page, and looked down my ‘deceased’ pets. I tried to play with them but they just didn’t show in their scenes... They were just empty. Even the photos I took were just empty. Except his.
That goddamn dog was still in his scene. The redness had spread over his entire body now. Since he was now my only pet, I changed his scene a bit, and tried to pretend he was a normal dog. Tried and failed. He seemed to glow a little in places too. Occasionally, patches of him would flash normal.
I kept seeing him out of the corner of my eye for the next week. When I looked at him, he leaped out of full sight, just wagging his tail and panting... But with that weird red effect on his fur. He wasn’t doing any harm so I ignored him.
The next week he was closer. Instead of being across the other side of the room he stood just few feet away when I could see him. He took longer to leap out of my vision when I looked directly at him.
And closer again. He was practically touching me, and didn’t leap out of my line of vision. He would just look up at me as if expecting me to pet him.
I walked around my sleepy old town and people would compliment me on my new dog. My Australian shepherd called Bayard. They saw his coat as being perfectly normal for an Aussie shep, of course. I named him Bayard because I knew his name was Bayard. His name was Bayard when he was just a foopet.
He isn’t exactly a friendly puppy though. I can see it in his eyes that the photo in the studio was something dark and disturbing for him. I sat down, and opened up Foopets on my browser. He had his paws up on my knees, grinning. His scene was empty, and all my pets were still called ‘Deceased’ and blacked out. Bayard yipped excitedly. I petted his head and kept scrolling down.
Nothing else had changed so I shrugged, unsure about his excitement. Then he whimpered as I went to close the browser. I stopped for a moment, then decided to browse the forums. I clicked the forums tab. Nothing. I frowned and clicked it again. Nothing.
I clicked for a third time and instantly regretted it. Bayard barked insanely, as if trying to talk to the red dog that was against my screen. He was grinning. My red husky... Was grinning maniacally. I let out a strangled cry, tearing up trying to back away from my PC. He let out a loud, blood curdling cry before the entire street blacked out. Bayard’s body glowed. At least I knew where he was.
This is the only memory I have of my entire life. I’ve forgotten my mother, my father... all of my family. Obviously I met them again. But they just feel alien. Of course, I still have Bayard. His red has changed to a cool blue now, though. I kind of miss the red. But at least it’s not as eerie now.
I know he said he isn’t friendly, and he probably sounds like a lifelong companion right? He really is a lifelong companion, he’s a tough sticker and he won't budge. What’s so bad about that? You have no idea what this bundle of fluff eats. He goes through at least twelve people a week. It’s hard keeping up with his demands, but he can hunt for himself sometimes. Though other times he likes corpses. Cut a certain way y'know?
Anyway I have to go. Chances are you’ve read this and you now know Bayard’s secret. I’ll be there shortly, or Bayard will be, you’re like a big, squealing, screeching noise to us now, we could find you anytime.
You make our ears bleed. It hurts. Bayard will enjoy eating you, you're the loudest yet... The louder you scream, the more fun it is.
Category:Historical Archive
Category:Computers and Internet
Category:Animals
Category:Beings