Dere .exe

''I know I should not be writing this. I think I’m safe at the moment. I’m sitting in the bathtub, and the phone has been taken care of. But I fear that others might commit the sins I have if I do not speak up.''

When my sister sent me the link to some obscure mobile game, I wasn’t sure what to think. She did this all the time, sending me creepy things that would make me jump out of my skin. Horror, blood, predictable scares that still managed to be somewhat scary… I had seen it all. At first, I decided to just ignore her: we both knew this would end. She would sneak into my room as I played and scare me.

But she couldn’t do that now, could she? She’s gone.

Gone… My sister is dead. The realization made my blood freeze in my veins, eyes widening as I looked at her message. As I stared on, a couple words appeared on the screen, prompting me to read them.

play it.

Download Dere .exe?

I thought it was someone fooling around with me: I was sure of that. There were many that believed I had been the one to take her life. I was a mere murderer in their lives and they would do anything to make me suffer and yet…

My fingers twitched as I pressed the ‘download’ button. It looked like your average ‘don’t play me’ horror game with jumpscares and maybe some weird images that would make it hard to sleep. It was the middle of the night and I have been up for days now: every time I closed my eyes, I saw her face.

I shuddered, my lips curling downwards as the game finally loaded. It was simple, the art pixelated and the character barely resembling a human. Something in the back of my mind was telling me to quit playing, for someone had broken into my sister’s phone and it easily could have been a prank, but…

Once I started playing, there was no escape.

My eyes were glued to the tiny screen, hands shaking as if I was an addict off my drug, trying to beat every single level. I kept failing at first, and the guilt that blossomed in my mind was nearly agonizing.

I could hear my sister humming from inside the phone: it was almost as if she was talking to me. The air in the room was buzzing with her presence and yet, I knew better.

My sister is gone.

I let out a near-crazed shriek as the character died again. The game was getting glitchier with each level that passed, making me wonder if it would end up as messy as some others I have played. I was almost ready for my sister to pop up behind me, screaming but…

I think her absence was what terrified me the most. She had always been there when I played games like that. Even if she was lurking in the shadows, she was there, reassuring me in a way. But now, she was nowhere to be seen. I was alone and I knew that it was my fault…

It was the morning by the time I finished the fourth level, the sun shining brightly through the thin curtains. My room swam in the sun’s sweet light and I groaned slightly: it was too early for this. Or was it too late? I had not slept a blink. I was completely enthralled, obsessed even, trying to find out the rest of the story. I wanted to know who the ‘yandere’ hiding in the game could be…

My sister would have laughed it off and told me to rest.

But she was not there. I was scared, but too enthusiastic to wrap my tired mind around how much I was shaking. Not even once did I dare to look away, my thumbs hitting the keys in rhythm with my character jumping. I knew I must have been getting close to the end: I could feel it in my bones.

A cold wind pushed the window to my room open fully, chilling enough to wake me up completely.

What was I even doing?

I wanted so badly to just finish the game and then delete it, but I kept dying at the same spot. I kept yelling in my head, glad that my throat was sore: that way, I could not scream out loud.

And then I won. Finally. After hours and hours of work, I finished Dere .exe.

I was ready to text the bastard that had stolen my sister’s phone, but I was finally lucky enough to tear my gaze away from my phone for a moment. In the corner of my room on my desk, sat the only phone my sister ever had. She had texted me from her own number, meaning that it truly had been her.

“Heh.” the breathless chuckle that escaped me was more incredulous than scared as I grabbed the small device, seeing it light up with the very same game. “DO.NOT.DELETE”. It said.

This had been the last thing my sister had seen.

The very last thing her eyes were capable of taking in.

I should have remembered.

I did, I guess, but it was hard for me to let those thoughts back into my mind.

''I had known it all along, for it had been my stupid friend that had sent it to her: that doctor that liked her way too much. I admit, I was jealous that she was playing a game someone had recommended so…''

“You hurt me.” I heard her voice. She was in the room – she was there, lying on my bed peacefully. Almost as if she was sleeping. But her skin was too pale and blood had dried onto her neck in a new, shiny necklace. “You killed me.”