The Alligator Hard drive

Author’s note: This story is inspired by Thank You for Playing Rayman, NES Godzilla and Pendrive Azul. If there are any similarities to those stories, it was inspiration, or just a coincidence. With that being said, please enjoy.
I should just get this out of the way first: no I’m not traumatized by what I experienced. I also didn’t destroy my computer after being scared like a pussy. With that being said, hey my name is Arline, and I experienced something kinda odd. I was going to different thrift stores to see what hidden treasures I could find. I then ended up in a small town close to my hometown, when I spotted I thrift store I hadn’t been to before. It was called Tony’s Treasure Trove or something like that.
The thrift store wasn’t anything too crazy, then I headed to the back to see a box next to a shelf of VHS tapes. The box had a bunch of old computer parts, and a flash drive with 2012 written on it. The box of stuff was only about $10, which I thought was a steel considering how old the computer parts seemed to be. When I got home, I realized that I had stupidly left my computer on by accident. I didn’t care that much, as the worst that could happen was it shut off, and needed to cool off. I won’t bore you with the details of me figuring out how to get the files off of the hard drive.
When I did, the only thing there was, was a apk file titled WMW_.apk. I figured out that it stood for Where’s my Water, which I was actually a fan of. I fired up Bluestacks to see what this mysterious apk had in store for me. I noticed something odd off the bat, that being the app icon. It looked darker, and the app name was just Alligator instead of Water? which I found odd. I loaded the game, and it seemed to be the 1.7 version of the game. I noticed that the music sounded slightly off, like it was pitched down a note or two. After looking through the different menus, I came to the conclusion that it was a beta of some sorts, as there were place holder assets for artwork, and other miscellaneous things.
The game also felt kinda unstable, as ducks sometimes wouldn’t collect, or fluids would just clip through the level, to the bottom of the screen, causing me to fail. After about 2 hours of playing, I reached the final chapter of the base game “Out to Dry.” I was on level 17, when the game unexpectedly crashed. I loaded the game up again, and then I noticed something different. The main menu was slightly darker, like the light was beginning to dim. Swampy also look a little worried, as if he wasn’t to sure of himself. When I went on level 17, the name was for some reason renamed to “What game do you think you’re playing?” 
“Oh that’s cool, so the game changed, so the crash was intentional.” I said to myself, interesting as to what would happen next. I finished the final level, and instead of the normal end screen, it showed a black and white drawing of a dock with text at the top saying “Thank you for playing, but there’s still more for you here.” I figured that was referring to the purchasable level packs, featuring other characters. I tried Cranky’s story, and sure enough all the levels were there. I played through up until I got halfway through the second chapter called “Hunger pains” when the game crashed again.
”I wonder what will happen next.” I told myself, excited to see what turn the game would take next. The menu as you would expect was darker, and Swampy look more scared then before. The music was also pitched down another 3 notes this time, which definitely made me slightly uneasy. I reloaded Cranky’s story, and the level was renamed to “What lies below?” I didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, but I figured it was just to creep me out, as this was clearly a mod or homebrew. I beat the rest of Cranky’s story no issue, and the only thing left was The Mystery Duck pack. 
The cutscene that played was different to the real game. It showed a road in a town, which seemed to be desolate. A car was crashed, and was on fire, as the only sounds were of a storm in the distance. The cutscene only lasted about 30 seconds before the level loaded up. It was just the first level as the base game, so I beat it in like 3 seconds. When I did beat it, the game crashed yet again.
”Okay, now it’s starting to get a little repetitive.” I said to myself as I yet again loaded up the game. The menu was again darker, this time being just barely visible. Swampy was also absent, along with the music. The only sounds that could be heard were of water droplets in the distance. I clicked play, and was greeted by a new level pack simply titled “The End.” I clicked the play button, and it took me to a very basic level also titled “The End.” Swampy was still gone, and this time there was music. It sounded like a slow pitched, broken music box, which only made me feel a little more uneasy. I beat the level, and filled the empty tub, as everything surrounding the tub disappeared into nothing. 
After staying like that for about 10 seconds, a screen slowly faded in that read “There is nothing left for you here. Thanks for playing.” The game then crashed for one final time. However my computer also completely shut down, as it had over heated from me leaving it on while I was gone.
”No no noo! Ugh you’ve got to be kidding me!” I said, frustrated as that was the only working computer I had. Now you may be asking “Well what about the computer parts you found at the thrift store?” Well I had no idea how to put that ancient thing together, so I took both computers to my tech savvy friend Mark. He was the kind of guy to troll and never really took anything very seriously. I explained to him what happened, and the hard drive I had purchased.
”Aw shucks Arline, I don’t think I can fix this.” He said in a playful tone.
”Come on I need these computers fixed Mark.” I told him, annoyed.
”Okay okay don’t worry I gotcha.” He reassured me, as he began to work on the computers. To make a long story short, he managed to get both computers up and working. The bad news was that all of my files on my computer were completely purged from existence, meaning I had no evidence of me using this strange version of the game. I decided to go back to the thrift store to see if they had more information about the hard drive. They didn’t know where it came from, and they found it in a random haul they got years ago. I decided not to continue questioning them, as they clearly didn’t know anymore.
I tried asking on online places like Reddit or 4chan to see if anyone else knew about the strange homebrew. Everyone I asked had no clue about it, and I decided to quit searching for answers, as it seemed like I was the only one to come across it. Like I’ve said before, I’m not scared or anything, as again it was clearly just a mod or homebrew. However it did kinda unnerve me, as it seemed like a darker spin on the original mobile game. I could try to continue to look for someone who knows anything about it, but I think it’s best if something’s are best left undiscovered, even if they aren’t terrifying or cursed.
Category:Lost Media
Category:Where’s my Water
Category:Mystery