Free Bird

I've never bothered with creepy pasta and the like, the few that I know of I've dismiseed as fake and made up. Tales of hacked game cartridges or haunted EXE files, strange figures in the dark and all that seems a bit too far fetched, meant as something entertaining rather than a tale of the truth.

At the risk of sounding completely cliche, after seeing something like this for myself, I find a few of the stories a little more beleiveable. Lots are still nonsense though.

Anyway, on with my story.

Since I was little, I've always gone to carboots (weekend markets or yard sales) and bought various objects that caught my eye, in particular, games and musical instruments. So you can guess that I'm quite fond of 'guitar hero' and the like.

I've never really played one though, favouring real instruments. I was at the carboot one day when I spotted an interesting stall selling all kinds of things. A lovely wooden box in the shape of a heart, vases with intricate patterns, near mint rock CDs and games for the Playstation 2.

I was about to walk away, when I saw a Guitar Hero box set, with the game and guitar controller, I asked how much and then I jumped at the chance to buy it before anyone else came along! After talking to them while fumbling with my money, I found out that they were hired to clear out buildings of objects by families that don't want to bother with all of the 'junk', they then sell the objects on the carboot.

They didn't give me any details on the house but they seemed very eager to get rid of the stuff they had, claiming they had no room for it. Meh, didn't bother me too much. A lot of people at the carboot were selling things as they had no room. Anyway, now, I had Guitar Hero for the Playstation 2! Woo!

I took the game home, booted it up and had a great time rocking out to the awesome songs on it. It got late quickly and I went to bed, intent on dreaming about rocking those songs on a real stage.

Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap. Huh? Wazzat? I thought, half asleep. I had a quick look around the room in the dark, didn't really know what I was expecting to see. Just went back to sleep!

The next day came and I didn't have to go out today, so I stayed home and intended to play a little more Guitar Hero. There was something strange though. The controller had moved a little. I did leave it propped against a wall...so perhaps it slid, but there was something else...the last song I played had a higher score than the one I got the last time I played it. The song was called 'Life Wasted' by Pearl Jam. Hrm. Interesting.

I didn't pay it too much attention and I played again for most of the day, beating the new score and playing quite a few more songs.

I left the controller on a table, left at a slight angle and went to bed. I was curious.

Tap tap tap tap. Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap tap.

The next day, I woke up. Sure enough, the controller had moved and the new songs I completed had a better score. 'Last Child' by Aerosmith and 'Laid to Rest' by Lamb of God.

I'd already gone over various situations in my head and I was already certain that something was amiss. Someone was getting higher scores than me on only a few songs out of the ones I had played.

'Life Wasted' 'Last Child' 'Laid to Rest'

It seemed like a message. I continued to play Guitar Hero, beating the scores on the songs whenever they appeared. Eventually, I was left with a message consisting of the names from the songs.

Life Wasted, Last Child, Laid to Rest, Salvation, Heart Shaped Box, Message in a Bottle and Carry Me Home!

I remembered seeing a heart shaped box on the table at the carboot when I bought my Guitar Hero game. I went back to the carboot at the next chance I had, and sure enough, I found the couple and they still had the heart shaped box. I was suprised. It was the most eye catching piece on the table.

I bought it from them and I looked inside.

There was a small, folded letter inside the box with an adress on the front. A lady's name. The letter wasn't sealed, so I took it out of the envelope and read it. The writer apologized for causing the loss of their child and begged the lady for forgiveness.

I took the letter to the person it was adressed to. I just told them I bought the box at the carboot as I liked it, then found what was inside. The lady read the message and teared up, thanking me.

I came back home, I noticed that the controller moved once more. I opened Guitar Hero and noticed a new score on one more song.

'Free Bird' by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

After that, the controller stopped moving, my scores stopped being beaten and everything seemed to be normal again.