It was early October. I was lying down on my sofa, channel-surfing out of boredom. I was beginning to doze off while watching Pawn Stars when my little brother walked into the room with my Kindle Fire. He looked frustrated as he walked from the hallway into to the living room, but guilt swept over his face as he saw me. I asked him why he was using my Kindle without permission, but the look on his face just got worse. I got up and swiped it from his hands.
When I looked at the screen, I grew furious. I saw a ton of downloads, error messages I'd never even seen before, and it was very slow. I could barely slide through the history to see what he'd done on it. I yelled at him, his only response being "I'm sorry…" in a very unconvincing tone. He turned and went into his room.
I sat down on the couch and I continued to try to remove the downloads and history, but errors message kept coming up saying "Corrupted File" or "Invalid Item". My guess was that he'd probably been browsing the internet and got a virus without knowing. I went to my computer and checked the internet, looking for someway on how to fix it. I couldn't find anything that would work, and it wouldn't turn off. I decided to leave it on overnight and let the battery die out, hoping that it would at least speed up.
The next morning, I plugged it in and turned it on. To my disappointment, the slowness and errors continued. I decided I'd have to get it fixed professionally. I didn't want my parents to find out about it, so I searched for someone or someplace who would be able to restore it.
I found one tech store that could be able to fix it, though it would cost $75. I was nearly broke, with only $20 to my name. I kept looking and I found this unofficial-looking website. A man by the name Alastor Maddox stated on this website that he was a former programmer for a major company and has had much experience repairing and restoring broken or infected computers and phones.
I checked, and I the site said that he'd restore virus infected computers, phones, and tablets. Beginning to feel hopeful, I checked his rates. He would restore a tablet for $15.88. I noticed at the bottom of his page was a warning. It stated "Warning- There may be side effects to my methods. Use at own risk."
I thought that was a very ominous warning, considering it's just a tablet. What harm could come of the 'side effects'? I thought nothing of it, considering that I had no other choices. I checked the address and I realized that the place was just outside of town. I clicked to enlarge a picture of the place. It looked like it was an old card store, yet at the sign said "The Tech Guru". The name made me giggle to myself, but I knew I would go there.
The next day, I had just got home from school. My parents had just left to go to the Gym. They invited me to go, but I refused, saying I was too tired from the last time I went. They rolled their eyes and left. My brother didn't get home for another 3 hours. When I knew I was alone, I grabbed my tablet, got on my bike, and rode to the address.
When I finally reached the place, I gasped. The parking lot was almost barren, aside from 2 cars.
I went up to the entrance and leaned my bike against the outside wall. I went inside. To my surprise, It was very clean and neat. The walls were painted a pale yellow, the desk was shiny and clean, but one thing seemed to bug me. It was too nice. It just seemed too innocent. I'm a very paranoid person, so I thought I'd see something suspicious, but nothing.
I went up to the front desk and rang a service bell. Nothing. I rang it again, and there was still no reply. I was about to say something to see if I'd get a response, but suddenly, a very tall man in tattered cloths rose up from behind the desk. Was he asleep there? He smiled grimly. He was very creepy, with a pale face, scruff along his chin, and an unsettling bloodstain on his tattered white shirt.
I froze with fear, unable to move. He then spoke in a voice as smooth as silk, welcoming me and asking what he may do for me. I was quaking as I pulled out my Kindle. I stuttered, telling him what was wrong with it. He looked at the screen, and started to laugh. I was confused, and even more frightened. He spoke to me again, saying he knew how to fix it very quickly and easily.
I began to stop quaking. This man acted so innocent, yet still had an ominous and threatening air to him. He said for me to take a seat and wait as he went into his back room. I waited for about 30 minutes, every few minutes I'd hear the man laughing to himself. He finally came out with my Kindle. I turned it on, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. All the files my brother had downloaded were gone, the error messages didn't pop up, and it allowed me to turn it on and off again. I thanked him and gave him my money. He nodded with a very pleased, yet somewhat maniacal grin on his face.
I rode home, went inside, and locked the door behind me. No one was home yet. I sighed with relief and decided to use my finally fixed Kindle Fire. I touched the power button, unlocked it, and smiled. I was sliding through the apps and I noticed something very peculiar. My Angry Birds was gone, and in its place was a very strange icon. Instead of there being the usual red bird, all that was on it was the text "Angry Birds Revenge" and a photo of a darker green pig with a small pupils and a toothy grin. I just thought it was an update to the game, so I tapped on the peculiar icon, and to my surprise, an error box popped up saying "Corrupted File".
I grew angry and I kept trying to open the app. On about the tenth try, the screen finally went white. I waited about 2 minutes, and started to think the app had crashed. I tried to turn it off, but nothing happened. Finally, the Angry Birds menu came up. I was shocked with what I was looking at. Instead of the birds flying across the screen over green grass, I was horrified to see many tattered birds on the ground beneath the 'Play' button. They didn't look angry. Instead, they looked terrified and sad. A red bird that was on the ground looked like it was mouthing the word 'Help us'.
I gulped to myself. I am squeamish, and the sight of the torn, near-dead birds made me cringe and gag, even if just a game. My curiosity got the best of me, however. I tapped play. Instead of showing the level select, it went straight to level one. The sky was gray and there was no sun. Scarlet blood covered the grass and there appeared to be cracked and broken eggs all over.
I looked over at the structure a pig was sitting on. It looked like the standard wooden planks, although the pig's eyes were dark and lifeless and its skin was almost dark brown in color. The birds were cowering by the slingshot. They were all red birds. The first bird leapt onto the slingshot. I aimed, and then fired the bird. It was crying, as if all it wanted was to hide away from the area. It hit the wood structure, the planks broke, and the pig fell. It screeched loudly, unlike anything I'd heard. Instead of the bird just getting hurt and disappearing, it was static on the ground and bleeding. A text box came up and all it said was "Keep going…".
I trembled, yet kept playing for curiosity's sake. Each level, the birds seemed more and more unnerved. Soon enough, I reached a level I began to struggle on. Once I used up the last bird, instead of the text box coming up, the pigs laughed horribly. They jumped down from their perches and proceeded to eat the bleeding birds. I nearly vomited, seeing the pigs tear into the birds as they bled more. It wouldn't let me retry the level; instead, I was sent to the next one.
I had finally reached the last level. Strangely, it was a boss level. King Pig was controlling a giant mace-like wrecking ball. Blood covered the spiked ball. I was nearly in tears at this point. This time, the birds didn't even attempt to climb on the sling shot. They were screaming, their bloody tattered bodies quaking with fear. The mace lifted up and swung the ball on the ground, crushing all but one of my birds. King Pig lifted the mace once more and moved it over the pitiful bird. One lone tear fell from its face as it got crushed. King Pig then laughed with a terrible, choking voice. I thought it was over, but King Pig turned toward the screen, his beady eyes looked as if they were staring right at me. Suddenly, he spoke in the same, silky smooth voice as the man from the store, "You're next.".
The screen then went dark as I trembled with fear, in tears. I then hear a knock on my door. I ran screaming from the living room, leaving my Kindle behind. My parents walked in and heard my shrieks. They asked me what was wrong frantically. I was panting and I just told them I thought I saw something through my window. They rolled their eyes at me and told me it was just my imagination.
I've been scarred ever since that day. I checked my Kindle the next day, and the game returned to normal. I uninstalled it and never played Angry Birds again. A couple weeks later, my parents drove by the store of the man that 'fixed' my Kindle. It was scheduled for demolition. Every once in a while, I'd have a nightmare where I was in the place of that last red bird. I've been pretty okay recently, but I can never forget those two scarring words, "You're next".
{{by|Little-Painter|link=little-painter.deviantart.com}}