Façade

I recently got a brand new game on my computer, called *Façade*. *Façade* is an artificial-intelligence-based interactive story game. The storyline of *Façade*, judging by the wiki's description, is as follows:

*“*Façade *puts the player in the role of a close friend of Grace and Trip, a couple who recently invited the player to their home for cocktails. This pleasant gathering, however, is somewhat damaged by the clear domestic confrontation between Grace and Trip upon the player's entry. Making full use of the incorporated language processing software,* Façade *allows the player to type sentences to “speak” with the couple, either supporting them through their troubles, driving them farther apart, or being thrown out of the apartment.”*

I thought it interesting, so I decided to download it and give it a shot. However, I hadn't downloaded it from the site where you were able to; I had gotten an email from someone called “6R@C3$ D@D”, which said “plA dis gaim. U wil knott reegreht iht!!!1!!1!!” and gave me a download link to the game. In my eyes, this email had “spam” written all over it, but when I hovered my cursor over the download link, I saw that it wouldn't take me to some kind of porn site or anything. I knew that if it did end up giving my computer a virus of some sort, I could just run every computer scan I had to eliminate it. So I went ahead and clicked on the link.

I later wish I didn't.

When the game was downloaded, I opened it up and gave it a try. I found it surprising that it didn't allow me to make a name for my character, as *Façade* always did. But it started out just like how I saw it in Youtube playthroughs: leaving an elevator to the door to Trip's apartment. I walked up to the door and knocked on it, but I noticed something odd about it.

Normally, when you knock on the door, you just hear a few knocks and that's it, but this time, I saw a fist reach up and rap on the door, in rhythm with the knocks.

I found it strange, but didn't have much time to think about it when Trip answered the door.

“Hey! VICTIM! So nice to see you again!” said Trip.

I blinked. “VICTIM”? Why was my character named “VICTIM”? I started to feel a little uneasy.

“Why don't you come in?” Trip asked.

*Sure!* I typed. Trip stepped to the side and let me walk inside.

When I was inside, I noticed something off as well. The apartment looked as normal as ever, and when I looked outside, I saw the night sky with the black buildings' silhouettes, but there were no yellow squares of light on the silhouettes, meaning that there were no lights on in any of the apartments of those buildings. Almost as if all the power had left the city, except for Trip's apartment.

“So how are you doing, VICTIM?” Trip asked.

*I'm doing fine,* I replied, *but please don't call me VICTIM. It makes me feel nervous.*

Trip looked a little confused, but then smiled.

“Uh, well, just stay here while I go get Grace,” he said, briefly raising a finger as if to tell me to stay where I am. Then he turned and went down the hallway.

After a moment, I heard Trip and Grace talking to each other, in hushed voices. I walked closer to the hallway to listen better.

“Grace, I'm not kidding,” I heard Trip say. “He's here. You don't have to act so suspicious.”

“I'm just worried, that's all,” Grace replied. “If he just turns out to be another scapegoat, then I don't want to be responsible. My dad hasn't given us anyone who's really *worthy*, you know?”

“I know, I know,” said Trip. “Let's just play along, and see how it goes. If it doesn't go as planned, then we could always just kill him.”

Upon hearing that last sentence, I felt a hard chill go up my spine. My heart started going a mile a minute. What was going *on* in this game?! That was *definitely* not dialogue that Trip ever used! I was just about to shut the game off when I thought: *Oh, wait a minute... some mysterious guy sends me this email with a link to this game... I understand now. This is a* hacked *game. That guy was just trying to freak me out with this. Well, now that I know what's going on here-*

Then, Trip and Grace came in.

“Oh, hi, VICTIM!” said Grace. “Oh, god, I feel like it's been *forever* since I've seen you.”

*Yeah, it sure has,* I responded. *Why are you guys calling me “VICTIM”? Is this a joke?*

Grace started to look a bit nervous, but then smiled sweetly as if she wasn't even paying attention to me.

“Oh, hey!” said Trip. “You want to have some champagne? I just recently got this new brand!”

Grace sighed. “You and your wine...”

*ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME???* I yelled at them.

“It's the best, seriously, you've *got* to try it!” Trip walked over to Grace and I with three wine glasses. She handed one to Grace and one to me.

“Well, go on,” said Trip. “Drink up!”

I looked at the wine. It looked disgusting. It looked more like blood.

“Come on, VICTIM,” said Grace. “It's good. Drink it!”

*Says the girl who had just implied a moment ago that she thought Trip's wine was boring,* I replied.

Grace looked a little annoyed.

“Drink it,” said Trip more insistently.

I smiled. *Why should I?* I asked. I wasn't about to be ordered around by this piece of computer code.

Then, Trip looked angry, and not the kind of angry when he throws you out of the apartment. He actually looked *furious*. His eyebrows were creased into a big V, his eyes were squinted, and he was gritting his teeth.

“DRINK IT!!” he yelled. He sounded incredibly impatient.

“Now!” Grace shouted, and now they were both yelling at me.

“Hurry up!”

“Drink it!”

“You're taking too long!”

“Why won't you just *drink it*?!?”

“Drink it!”

“Drink it now!!!”

*SHUT UP'**!!!!!*** **I screamed at both of them.**

Then, Trip and Grace didn't look angry anymore.

They started to *deform*.

I saw the whites of their eyes transition to black, the irises gray, and the pupils burning red. I watched as their hair turned black, and their clothes became ripped and torn. Their skin turned pale, and their teeth turned yellow and cracked.

I saw the apartment started to change, too. The wallpaper started peeling, the furniture looking ragged and ravaged, and the pictures on the walls changed to become picture of people screaming. And the pictures looked horribly realistic, too, not following the graphics of the game.

Then, Trip and Grace both started drinking their wine.

And as they did, I saw blood started running from them. I saw it pouring out from their eyes like tears, and out of their mouths, too. It started showing up in their hair, matting it, and patches were forming on their clothes. They finished their wine, then dropped their glasses on the floor, causing them to shatter.

They looked at me.

“Well, VICTIM?” said Trip.

“Will you not drink?” Grace asked.

Their voices were horribly twisted and demonic.

*And become like one of* you*???* I yelled. *No thanks!* I then set the wine down and started running towards their phone. I figured that I could call someone and maybe they could help me; maybe there was that kind of data in this hacked, screwed-up game.

The phone answered, and I recognized it as Grace's dad. And what he jarred me down to my very nerves.

“Hello, Roman.”

*How do you know my name?!?* I yelled.

“I know many things about you,” said Grace's dad in an icy voice brimming with evil. “Things you don't even know about yourself yet. And it's a shame you'll never live to find them out.”

*What do you mean?* I asked. I briefly flicked a glance at Trip and Grace, who were just standing there, watching me and grinning.

“Do you know *why* Trip and Grace were referring to you as “VICTIM”, Roman?” Grace's dad asked me.

*I figured it was because this game is hacked,* I said.

“Oh, but it's *not* hacked,” Grace's dad replied. I could hear the smile in his voice. “It's real. It's all very, very real.”

*How?* I asked. *I just got this game from some guy called “6R@C3$ D@D”, and he told me to play this.*

“Well, let me inform you on something,” said Grace's dad. “I *am* 6R@C3$ D@D.”

*What???* I cried.

“That's right,” he said. “I was the one who sent you that email. I was the one who wanted you to play this game.”

*Why???* I wanted to know.

“It's simple,” said 6R@C3$ D@D. “Trip and Grace need a new voice in this game. They only have each other, but that's not enough for them. They are dissatisfied. They want *more*. Look around you, Roman. See all the pictures on the walls, the ones with the terrified people? Those people... something *bad* happened to them when they didn't want to stay in the game with Trip and Grace forever. They could choose to leave... as can you... but at a price that *I* name.”

*Well, name it,* I said. *You think I want to spend the rest of my life with these two demons? No way. I'm getting out of here!*

I turned and ran for the door. I knew a trick; there was a wall beside the door that the player could actually phase through, and then they would get a speed boost.

“Don't do it!” 6R@C3$ D@D yelled. “Stop!”

I found the wall and went through it, but once I did, I saw that the walls around me, bordering the map...

... were all *my* face, screaming in terror.

“I warned you,” said 6R@C3$ D@D evilly. “I told you not to exit the borders of the map. You can now leave the game, but at a price that I name.”

*Yeah?* I stammered, my heart in my throat. *What's the price?*

“Just what happened to Trip,” said 6R@C3$ D@D, “when he didn't kill Grace like I wanted him to.”

Then, the computer emitted a loud, ear-splitting screech, and the sound was so loud it knocked me unconcious.

When I came to, I sat up and rubbed my ears. There was a dull ringing in them from the screech from the computer. I looked at the computer screen and saw the desktop. I looked in my Gmail inbox, and the email with the link to the game was gone. But there was a new email from 6R@C3$ D@D, so I clicked on it, think it important.

“Chek daon ther,” said the email. “Ther iz yor prais.”

I didn't know what it meant. I deleted the email, turned off the computer, and headed to my room.

As I headed down the hallway, I felt a big pain between my legs. I quickly went into the bathroom and pulled my pants down.

When I did, I screamed and fainted.

But I understood what 6R@C3$ D@D meant.

When he said that I would suffer the same fate that Trip did.

What he meant by “down there”.

They were gone.