Sonic.EXE Redux

## Sonic.EXE Redux by Doros70

(Sonic.EXE was created by J. C. The Hyena)

Believe it or not, I'm a total nerd when it comes to old video games. I even have a collection of every old game console that I owned over the years. I've collected every old classic game I could get my hands on, from the first Super Mario Brothers to the Legend of Zelda.

You can call me a sucker all you want, but I'm not here to talk about my weird hobby. I'm here to tell you about an awful experience that I had. I'm certain it happened before to others, and I have a feeling that it will happen again.

Everything happened a few hours ago by the time I'm writing this. I was washing the dishes after I did my homework. When I finished, I decided to check the mailbox. I dried my hands before I went out. The only thing I found in there was a small box. I took it inside and opened it, hoping to get a motherboard that I purchased online three days ago.

When I opened it, I was surprised. All I found was a disc case and a note. I looked at the note first and realized that it was from my friend Kyle, whom I hadn't heard from in almost two weeks. I knew that because I recognized his handwriting, though I was weirded out by how it looked: it was barely readable, as if Kyle was in a hurry when he wrote it.

This is what he wrote:

"*Tom,*

*Listen carefully. I can't take it anymore! I don't know what the hell is wrong with this thing, but it ruined my life, and worst of all, I can't get rid of it!*

*Every time I'm confident that I'm free of this thing, it just comes back. I was hoping that you'd have better luck, but if you don't destroy the disc immediately, he'll come for you too...*

*Please Tom, destroy this godforsaken disc before he comes after you too, it's too late for me!*

*Destroy the disc, and you'll stop him but do it quick, otherwise he'll catch you! Don't even play the game, it's what he wants, just destroy it.*

*Please...*"

I scoffed after I read that. Even though Kyle was my best friend and I haven't seen him in weeks, I didn't do what he asked me.

Ever since I knew Kyle, he was a notorious prankster and his little gags were most of the time a bit too elaborate.

He'd greet me with traps full of wet and dirty socks whenever he knew I'd visit him. One time when we were kids and slept at my house, he woke me up with a fire extinguisher and yelled that my house was on fire. Sometimes I'd get upset and other times we'd both laugh at the end of the day.

But sending me a disc and a handwritten letter? It was really out of character.

I wondered why he'd try to use reverse psychology in that context. Was he trying to make me destroy someone else's work?

But the best question I could think of was: who was this 'he' that Kyle kept yammering about?

I was a bit skeptical at first. I took my phone and tried to call him, but the annoying voice told me that I had reached the voice mail.

Anyway, I looked at the disc and it looked like a blank CD-R disc, except it said "SONIC.EXE" in marker, and it was much unlike Kyle's handwriting, meaning that he must've asked someone else to write it.

When I saw "SONIC" on the writing of the CD, I smiled. For a moment, I thought about Sonic the Hedgehog. I really enjoy the classic games because they always had a special place in my heart. I always found them fun, spontaneous and interesting; and I think it's a shame that the modern ones suck so much, but that's neither here nor there.

I went up to my room, turned on my computer, put the disc in, and installed the game. When the title screen popped up, I noticed that it was the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, released in 1991 for the Sega Genesis.

I was a bit disappointed at first because I already had a copy of the original game, but I shrugged, since I thought it wouldn't be so bad having another. I thought it was some version of the game that I never heard about.

The game wasn't very different from the other version. The music would change its pitch at random intervals. Sometimes the pitch was too high, sometimes it was too low, and a few sound effects were out of place, but other than that, the game was very smooth. Much smoother than any classic Sonic game I owned. I was actually really impressed by the fluidity of the characters' movements.

The changes kind of bothered me, but the fun I had made me think that Kyle failed to prank me this time. I continued to play the game until I got to the Labyrinth Zone Act 3 and collected four Chaos Emeralds.

I knew I had to be ready since the Labyrinth Zone was the most difficult and frustrating of all stages. All fans know that Sonic is terrible at swimming, and he can't hold his breath for long. The air bubbles are the only things that prevent him from drowning.

I played the game before and I knew where to go, but I noticed that the air bubbles were completely scarce. I wasn't panicking at first, since I already completed the game in the original copy, but I could've sworn that at that moment, I had an unexplainable feeling of mild foreboding which grew as the suspenseful jingle progressed.

Sonic drowned, and received quite the shock: it already said "Game Over", and the music was unnerving. It sounded backwards, with a few laughs of mockery. The laughter made the hair on the back of my neck rise.

The more I thought about the situation, the more confused I became. It was very unusual because you only get a game over screen when you run out of lives, but I had more than one to spare, so I should've been brought back to the beginning of the level. But no, I was brought back to the title screen.

The next thing I noticed that was out of place was when I pressed start. It was for just a second, but I know for certain that the title image turned into something much different.

I didn't remember what the image looked like when I first saw it, but once the game was over, I noticed a file on my desktop that wasn't there before. It was called "ISeeYou.png".

I feel it's necessary to point out that the eeriest change here is Sonic himself. Those glowing red pupils of his black eyes always give me the impression that he is staring right at me, and his smile is a bit wider.

I was mildly unsettled by what I saw, but it wasn't unnerving enough to make me crap my pants. After it cut to black, it stayed like that for about ten seconds or so before I could play the game.

When the game started again, I was confused. It showed the typical level title image, except the simplistic shape was light red, and the text showed only "HILL, ACT 1". When the screen faded in, I saw that I was in Green Hill zone, but instead of Sonic, I was playing as Tails. Even the music was different. It sounded like a peaceful melody in reverse.

I was completely bewildered by that point. Tails didn't appear in the first Sonic game at all, and I never heard the music in my entire life. At that point, I realized that it wasn't an unreleased version of the original game, it was a hack.

I tried to call Kyle again, but I got the same result as before.

Without any other options, I made Tails run. Then I noticed that Tails was running at his basic speed and he couldn't go any faster than that. There was nothing but flat ground and a few trees for at least half a minute. The peaceful music started to slow down, and its pitch lowered as I kept going.

The music itself gave me a feeling of depression, but I wasn't sure why. I don't think it's uncommon for a person's feelings to be manipulated by music. In my case, I wonder if it was a natural reaction, or something else. I also had the feeling that something or someone could look from behind the trees and watch my every move.

I suddenly saw something, and I stopped to see what it was. A fraction of the ground was corrupted, and the pixels were for the most part red. (That was when the music started to slow down). I was confused by what I saw.

But that was not all. As I kept moving, I saw more corrupted areas, and the music lowered even more. I wasn't shocked, I was perplexed. Even the flowers in the background looked off. They looked withered and dead. I thought that whoever made the game must've had no idea how to make a level look natural.

I began to question whether it was a prank, because I knew for sure that coding was like a foreign language to Kyle, and I doubt he'd ever ask someone to make a game for a single person.

After a few more seconds, the corruptions disappeared and the music completely stopped, Tails continued to run for a few more seconds, and then he stopped. I immediately noticed why: Sonic was on the other side of the screen, with his back turned against Tails and his eyes were closed.

Tails looked happy to see Sonic but then his smile faltered, obviously noticing that Sonic wasn't responding to him. Tails walked slowly towards Sonic, and I noticed that I wasn't even pressing any keys on the keyboard to make him move, so I realized that it was a cutscene.

Suddenly, I began to have a growing feeling of dread as Tails walked closer to Sonic to get his attention. I wasn't worried because Tails was in danger, I was nervous because I felt like I was personally in danger. I heard faint static growing louder as Tails was but inches away from Sonic, he then stopped and stuck his hand out to touch him.

That foreboding feeling in my gut grew stronger and I felt the urge to turn off the game, but I just couldn't. I couldn't muster the strength to do so.

Suddenly, in a split second, I saw Sonic's eyes open, and they looked just like in that title image: Black eyes and red pupils, though there wasn't a smile. The second Sonic opened his eyes, the screen turned black and the static stopped.

It stayed like that for about seven seconds and then a white text appeared forming a message.

**"Hello. Do you want to play with me?"**

At that point, I was curious about what the game had in store for me. I was taken to a different level with the level title saying, "Hide and Seek".

This time, I was in the Angel Island level from Sonic 3, and it looked like everything was on fire. Tails looked as though he was scared out of his wits this time. He actually looked at me and made different frantic gestures, mostly pointing to the right, as if he wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.

I remember that some Sonic characters usually look at the screen when you complete a level, or if you don't press any keys for a while, but that wasn't the case. I mean, Tails was actually trying to tell me to get him out of there.

So I pressed the arrow key and made him run as fast as he could, still at the basic speed.

Another calm melody was playing in the background. It was different from the last one, but it didn't make me feel sad or anything, it was actually soothing. I would've actually felt relaxed if I didn't have to make Tails run through a desolate forest, trying to help him escape from whatever he was scared of.

Suddenly, I heard a creepy laugh. It sounded familiar to me, but I'm not sure where it was from. I heard it right after 10 seconds have passed as I helped Tails run through the forest. I started seeing flashes of the demonic version of Sonic popping everywhere on the screen.

The music changed to that of the suspenseful drowning jingle as I saw Sonic behind Tails, flying. Sonic wasn't running, he was actually flying!

With each second, Sonic was slowing gaining up on him as the music grew intense. I wanted to get away from Sonic, but Tails couldn't go any faster!

Suddenly, Sonic managed to reach Tails, the music stopped, and Sonic vanished. Tails stood there and started crying for fifteen seconds. The scene was quiet, and I couldn't tell why that happened. But then, Sonic appeared right in front of Tails, looking down at him. I saw how a demented grin slowly grew from his face while staring down at the horrified fox. Tails couldn't do anything. He couldn't move.

For a split second, Sonic lunged at Tails right before the screen went black, there was a loud shriek that only lasted five seconds. The text returned, but with a different message.

**"You're too slow, want to try again?"**

And then that godawful laugh came with it.

I was confused by what had happened... did Tails just die? I had questions like why that happened, and what was the point of playing as Tails if I was going to die sooner or later. But more importantly, I asked myself what was going on.

The screen went black again and stayed there for another ten seconds, this time the level was named, "You Can't Run".

I couldn't tell if this was a prank, a hack, or some kind of sick twisted joke... or anything really. But despite being unsure of what was about to happen, I braced myself.

The next level looked much different. It had the ground of the Scrap Brain zone, but the background looked like a dark reddish cloudy sky. But it was the music that creeped me out the most: It was an ambience-like music, which sounded unnatural, as if it was taken out of a nightmare. By that, I mean imagine a constant sound that would make you feel like something is watching your every move, and you slowly slip into madness.

I also noticed that instead of Tails or Sonic, I was playing as Knuckles the Echidna, who wasn't a playable character until Sonic & Knuckles.

I wasn't sure about going on, so I decided to do something different. I pressed the left key and moved in the other direction. It felt like I was tricking the game. A part of me expected to reach an invisible wall, but to my surprise, the game continued like normal.

I made Knuckles move until he reached the edge of a seemingly endless pit. Out of curiosity, I made Knuckles jump down the ledge, and something unexpected happened: The game froze, and the sound made it look like it was glitching out.

The colors changed from red to green, and I could see some sprites that weren't supposed to be there. The game froze for five seconds, and the screen went black again. Another white text appeared.

**"Don't Like Playing by the Rules?"**

I tried to reject the idea that the game was trying to talk to me, but the words themselves felt menacing. I didn't have any control over these feelings in any way, but I don't think my reaction was natural.

I was taken to a level whose title was comprised of six 'F's and nothing else. The music was stranger than the ones before, but it somehow mixed perfectly with the aesthetic of the level. It made me feel intimidated, somehow.

The level itself was... very weird. It's difficult to describe what it was like, but it was very hard to see the level, since it was covered by some sort of... "trippy" static, and the only things I could make out of this mess was the ground and the barely noticeable silhouette of Knuckles.

I hesitated for a moment, but I made Knuckles move forward, and I saw a message in white text. I could see it clearly, after I read that, I immediately regretted going in the opposite direction.

**"You're fun to play with, Tom."**

My eyes went wide when I read that. How in the world could it get my name?! Of course, that doesn't mean anything in particular, since the game could've just read my username. But I knew it wasn't the case because my username is actually "Scramble-T-M".

I just wanted to know if the game was made for me, or if it was something else entirely. I made Knuckles advance the level, and I received more messages as I walked.

**"But this is my world..."**

**"Won't be long now..."**

**"Soon, Tom will be joining us..."**

**"Tom, are you listening?"**

When I finally reached the end, I was greeted by one more text. It was different from the others. It was big and red, and more difficult to see than the others, but I managed to read it.

**"YOU'RE NEXT"**

The static filled the screen instantly and everything went black again. I was then brought back to the "You Can't Run" level, and this time, I decided to go the right way.

Knuckles ran down the straight pathway, and as he did, the screen started to flicker red static a couple times and then that maddening laugh came again.

Then, after a few seconds of running, I felt a growing sense of fear once more, thinking something horrible was going to happen again. I felt mildly nauseated as Knuckles walked down the road, but I still kept him going.

Suddenly, as Knuckles ran, Sonic appeared right in front of him, making him recoil, and then red static filled the screen again. The static disappeared, showing nothing but a text saying, "**Found You!**"

The static returned for a second and I was back to the level. Knuckles was in the same place and Sonic was right in front of him, covered in what appeared to be pixelated black smoke. I could hear a high-pitched squealing and some drums in the background which triggered some sort of anxiety in me.

I made Knuckles attack Sonic, but the latter vanished in black pixelated smoke before I could even land a hit. The squealing continued. Then Sonic appeared behind Knuckles again, and then I made him turn around to land another hit but Sonic kept warping in the other direction. I repeated the process so many times that I felt like I was going crazy, and the repetition was absolutely maddening. Sonic was playing a mind game with me.

It continued like that for a while until another cutscene played. Knuckles fell to his knees and clutched his head, sobbing. I felt like Sonic had actually pushed him over the edge.

In a split second, Sonic lunged at Knuckles and the screen went black with another distorted screeching noise.

Another message appeared.

**"So many souls to play with - so little time... would you agree?"**

What the hell? Just what is going on? I started to think Sonic was actually trying to talk to me through the game... But I thought that I must be stupid to believe that. Nothing like that should be possible, even if it was just some sophisticated AI.

Before the game could do anything, I shut off the computer and decided to do something else. But as soon as I got off the chair, I had an unexplainable migraine, which intensified with every second. My head hurt so much I felt like my skull was about to explode. I collapsed on my bed and fell asleep. I wish hadn't though, because I had the strangest dream.

Have you ever had a dream that felt so real it made you think that it was really happening, and you remember everything vividly? It felt just like that.

I was under the light given off by a lamp that hung high above my head. Everything else was just pitch darkness. I could hear the cries of different people nearby. I didn't recognize the voices, but they sounded like they were in despair.

They were saying things like, "Help us..." "Why did you give us to him?" "Run away, before he gets you too..."

Their cries died out as I heard something else. His laugh... it was the same distorted laughter I heard in the game.

"**You're a lot of fun to play with, kid, just like your friend Kyle! Too bad you were too stupid to even listen to him..."**

There was the voice of a young man, but it was somehow distorted and seemed to come from every direction. I tried to look around for the source of the voice, or a way to hide or escape, but the darkness was so dense, I could barely see.

**"Won't be long until you join him and all my other friends..."**

I saw a figure moving towards me, flickering in and out in several directions. Internally, I was screaming at my legs to get me the hell out of there, but externally, I felt like my knees were too weak to even support my weight.

**"You can't run, kid. You're stuck with me now..."**

As I looked around, I felt something grab me by the shirt and I was forced to look into something terrible. Red glowing pupils was the only thing I saw before waking up.

A couple hours went by, and I tried several times to call Kyle. The last time I tried, it worked and it didn't work. When I called, he actually answered, but all I could hear was silence in the background.

"Kyle, are you there, man? What the hell did you send me?" I asked, but I didn't get a response. "Kyle, I know you're there. Cut the crap and tell me what's going on!"

He hung up without saying anything.

Eventually, I mustered the courage to continue playing the game. I had to know. I had to figure out why this was happening. So I turned on the computer, turned on the game, and prepared for the next level.

The level title appeared again and this time it said "...".

I was in some kind of hallway. It didn't look like it was from any of the classic Sonic games, though it used the same art style. The floor was shiny and checkered, the walls were a dark grayish purple with animated torches and dark, red stains painted haphazardly on the walls. The music was oddly pleasant: a piano playing a rather sad yet peaceful song.

I was surprised when I saw the character I played as at the moment: Dr. Robotnik. I was perplexed. I thought it was weird that Robotnik would be a playable character in a classic Sonic game. Robotnik had a suspicious look on his face as if he was just a bit paranoid, as if he had no idea where he was or what was going on.

I decided not to make Robotnik go backwards this time. I didn't want to see what was waiting for me there. I made him move forward, and he did his usual running animation (You know, when you beat him at the end of a classic Sonic game, and you chase him).

After a few seconds, he stopped at a long flight of stairs leading downward, now I was nervous, even Robotnik seemed unsure of himself, though I pressed onward.

As I led Robotnik down the stairs, I noticed that the walls have gotten darker and turned red; the torches were now light blue.

Then he got to another hallway, this one was longer than the last one (or at least it felt like it) and then he headed down another flight of stairs, this one was much longer, which must've taken at least a full minute to get to the bottom.

When Robotnik got to the third hallway, I heard that horrid laugh again and then the music stopped abruptly. As it did, the walls got darker than before, and the torches were put out.

The silence was nerve-wracking, and I waited in anticipation for the end of this.

Suddenly, Sonic appeared right in front of Robotnik the same way he did with Knuckles, and then the red static filled the screen once more. The screen stayed like that for a few seconds, enough to hurt my eyes, and then it showed something very unpleasant...

I was shown a photorealistic close-up image of Sonic standing in the darkness. And when I say photorealistic, I mean he looked so real, I could actually see the lines in his blue fur, as if I could actually feel it if I touched the screen.

His face was what bothered me the most. His eyes were wide and demonic, and looked as if the two little red pupils were staring right into my soul. His grin was unnaturally wide and unsettling, it literally stretched to the sides of his face and had very sharp fangs. They were vicious-looking, somewhat yellowish and from the look of it, he had stains of blood and small bits of flesh on his lips and teeth as if he ate an animal.

I stared at that gruesome image for half a minute, unable to take my eyes off it. Believe me, I tried. It felt like he was actually looking at me, smiling at me...that face, it just took a few moments for it to etch itself into my brain for good.

Then the screen flickered with static again, when the image turned back to normal, I heard that mocking laughter, except this time, it sounded more distorted and demonic than ever.

It went back to the image again, except this time, there was text. It read:

**"I AM GOD"**

Suddenly, and without any warning, I screamed as the static returned, this time it was louder than ever before. It was so loud that it hurt my ears. It felt like I had to endure it for ages, but in reality, it lasted only seconds. Then it stopped and the screen went black. I stared at the screen for so long, I almost thought that the computer broke, but when I was about to check my computer for any damage, one more text came up.

**"Ready for Round 2, Tom?"**

This time, I could hear a voice repeating the message, as if someone was right behind me. The voice sounded like the one in my dream, but it was quiet and soft-spoken. I looked at that text in shock and confusion, not wanting to turn around.

Then, the computer shut itself off for real. For the first few minutes, I couldn't turn it back on.

I sat there for a few moments, thinking about what just happened. I was unsure if it was just a prank. No one in their right mind would waste their time on making a hacked Sonic game for just one person. Maybe there are more games like this that people have played and haven't spoken up about them until now.

I can't get the disc out of my computer. I think it's stuck in there, but at least I managed to turn it back on now. That's how I was able to write this story.

Not too long ago, I heard my phone going off, as if I had a text message. I checked it, and my blood froze. It was from an unfamiliar number.

"Try to keep this interesting for me, Tom."

A second after I read the message, I received a picture. The moment I saw it, my heart sank. It was a picture of Kyle's face. His mouth was torn open, and his jaw was missing. He had an expression of terror cemented on his face. His eyes were blank, and his tongue was gone.

Before I could muster a sound, I got another picture. It was a picture of a house. My house! And I got an image of a map of my street... and the location of my house was marked!

The game must've given away my location to some psychopath, and he must've gotten his hands on my personal information! I'm scared out of my mind right now, because I know there's nothing I can do to protect myself.

As if it wasn't bad enough for me, as I was writing the story, I heard something coming from the kitchen downstairs a few minutes ago. I checked to see what it was, and... I won't even try to describe what I saw, because I know I don't have much time left, even though I locked my door.

I don't really care if you believe me or not, but I want to at least let you know that if the same thing happens to you, you're not alone. Whoever entered my house... I want to let him know that I won't die without a fight. But if I don't make it, well... I'm sorry Kyle... I should've listened to you.

EDIT:

**You had a chance to comply. Now you've come too far.**

**Can you hear them? They're trying to tell you something.**

**Oh, playing with them was such fun... almost as fun as you, Tom.**

**There was Gary... and Jake... and Alice... and Kyle... and so many, many more.**

**It's time your soul joined theirs, Tom.**