It's Haunted

[warning: supernatural themes and silliness. After writing the yandere chapter I wanted to balance it out with something lighter.]

At first it's hard to make out anything in the picture. Indistinct shadows pass by the camera. Then light bursts in and the screen flashes white. Gradually the image returns to normal. It's outside what looks like an old house in the country. The footage is extremely low quality. This was a DVD you were playing, but whatever recorded the original footage was a VHS camcorder or worse. The camera walks briefly towards the house, then abruptly turns and walks towards a small stone structure. It's something like a low circular platform.

You wonder if it's some kind of bench or foundation. A low grinding sound starts up, and the top of the platform gives way. It's the sealed opening to an underground well! The camera slowly pans down to reveal a deep, black shaft. You try to see what's at the bottom but the footage is too grainy. Something dark? But the whole shaft is shrouded in darkness...

After a while you realise the camera seems to have stopped moving. There doesn't seem to be anything happening on screen. You check the video player on your computer but it confirms that the file is still being played. Was the original footage frozen? Or is the camera so steady, and the well so dark, that it simply looks like time has stopped? Either way, you can't understand why that strange Asian girl at the park would be so insistent on giving this to you.

Out of the corner of your eye something moves on screen. You look but can't see anything. You shift your gaze slightly away from the monitor, and then you see it. On your peripheral vision, deep in the pit of the well, a dark circle. It's getting bigger. Is this a prank video? Something horrible? You don't like it. You hate these things. You move your mouse to close the media player but the cursor doesn't respond. The circle, a kind of dark blob, is getting lighter, pulling away from the shadows and coming into focus. It's rising out of the well.

Fuck this, you think. You hold the power button to your computer. It doesn't shut down. The same low grinding from when the pit was unearthed emanates from your speakers. You unplug the entire computer from the wall.

The computer does not turn off and you see what the thing is. It's a head.

A dark head, matted with black tangled cords of hair. It's supported by a ragged body, clawing its way up the grimy stone walls of the well. Its jaw is moving. The sound you heard - it's not stone on stone. This thing's teeth are grinding together and you can hear them. And they're getting louder.

You fall back out of your chair. You scramble to the door but it won't open. Your bedroom door doesn't even have a lock. It doesn't make sense. None of this makes any sense. You hear something high-pitched in the background. Your back is to the door and you stare in horror at the screen. The strange figure has reached the top of the well, but it doesn't stop. Its jagged hands reach out and glow with an eerie light.

It pierces the veil of your computer screen and claws its way into your world.

You know what that high-pitched noise is. You've been screaming. You didn't even realise. You hear the low grinding of the spirit's mouth as it clambers up onto its hind legs. You can't run, and you know you can't fight this thing. You pray that there's a heaven to save you from the hell this thing crawled out of. It stretches back and opens its mouth.