It was a stormy June night, and I was approaching my local game store. Which was not a GameStop, it was just local, which makes it creepier.
The store's name was Game Senter. Spelled with an "S". I noticed how it was misspelled. And that disturbed me. I opened the door, and saw a very thin man behind the counter.
His name was Ian, and he was VERY thin. He welcomed me when I walked in the store by saying "WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! WELCOME TO GAME SENTER!"
I was disturbed by how I was welcomed. I looked up at Ian, the game clerk, and said "This is not Halloween?"
"Yes!", Ian said, "In fact, it's June, if I remember correctly. You look like you are in need of a special type of game."
My heart was racing a little fast. I looked up to Ian once more. "A special kind of game? What kind of game do you have in mind? Is it one for the Xbox 360?"
"Why, yes!", Ian said. "The Xbox 360 is the most demonic console ever spawned!"
"Impossible. I own a 360 already, Mr. Ian, sir. And, my 360 is not in the slightest demonic. So, tell me. What of this special game?", I said to Ian.
Ian laughed once more and produced a blank disc from his back pocket. And, handed it to me, saying "This is free of charge, after you pay me $60!"
I pulled out my wallet and gave Ian $60. Reluctantly, I looked at the disc, thinking I was getting ripped off. But, hey. I was a part of a story. A story told by a source, that I had not known of, and still don't know of. But, I'm somehow talking about it.
After paying the mystierous game store clerk, I walked home in the rain, without an umbrella. Because, who the fuck carries an umbrella, really?
In the distance, I spotted a dark alley covered in shadow. From it, emerged a dog. It stared at me with a very blank stare.
"Woof.", the dog said. "Woof woof! Woof. Bark, woof.", he continued. The dog bolted back down the alley, and I followed in close pursuit.
The dog had a family. Its little demonic puppies from the trash can, from which the puppies had emerged. They started to float. And started to float towards me. I was afraid. I raised my hands in defense, and decided to run from the puppies, with my disc in my back pocket.
"Woof! Woof!" The puppies cried. But in my mind, I heard voices saying "THE DISC! THE DIIIIIISC!", but my ears just kept hearing "Bark. Bark! Bark." Cause they were puppies.
All throughout my jog home the rain poured down on me, like bullets from a gun firing very fast, but on my head. Wet bullets. A lot of wet, wet bullets. I made it home with disc in my pocket, still hearing "THE DISC! THE DIIIIIISC!!" As frightened as I was, I wanted the voices to go away from my head. I approached the Xbox.
The voices still ringing in my head, I got a text from my neighbor, which read "Shut your dogs up!" Even though I only heard "THE DISC! THE DIIIIIISC!!", my neighbor was an asshole, so I ignored it, and then placed the disc inside the Xbox 360.
I turned on the Xbox 360, and suddenly, static. My TV was going frantic. I couldn't make out the visuals, until suddenly, I started seeing a spotted image of my neighbor, Jeremy, who just send me that text message, popping up. Saying "(static) Shut (static) your (static) dogs (static) up! (static)" It scared me.
"What a douchebag!" I thought aloud. And, turned off the Xbox. Because, fuck that guy! "THE DISC!", I heard once more. "THE DIIIIIISC!!!" It sounded like it was coming from the front door.
I was eager to escape the voices. I would do anything to make them stop. I sprinted toward the front door, as quick as I possibly could. Tripping over a chair along the way, I scraped my elbow, but it wasn't time for a Band-Aid. "No. Not yet.", I said to myself while looking at the scraped elbow. I stood up, and opened the door. There I saw an army of puppies, all barking. "Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!" But still in my head, "THE DISC! THE DIIIIIISC!!!"
The barking continued. In the distance, I heard a scream! "SHUT YOUR DOGS UP!", my neighbor yelled from inside of his living room. I ignored him once again. Lifting the disc up towards the puppies, I offered it to the puppies. "Bark, bark, bark, bark, bark!", the puppy nearest to me said. And in my head, I just kinda heard barking, because it was a just a regular dog. But the one behind it said "BARK! BAARK!! BAAARK!!! GIVE IT TO ME!", I heard. I trembled and extended my hand towards the second dog. And the first dog just kinda ran into my house, cause it was a regular dog, and, now I've got a dog.
I named my new puppy "Sparkles" because of how it sparkled when it came through the door. I would get a tag for it later, assuming that I would survive the demonic puppies. I really hoped I could live out my life with Sparkles, my new dog. But, now wasn't the time for that. Upon handing the disc I placed my hands up, and the disc slowly floated out of my palms, into the air. And, all of a sudden an image started to appear on the disc. It was fuzzy at first, but then it became clear to me what this game was intended to be.
Slowly, the blurry image began to focus. It was forming a face. A face that I recognized. It was Ian from GameSenter! He begins to emerge from the disc, climbing out, as all the puppies go "Bark, bark, bark. Bark! Bark, bark." Ian, now emerged from the disc says "You freed me from GameSenter! Now, I can continue to chase my dreams of being a dog groomer. These are my dogs." "Bark! Bark!", the dogs yipped in unison. "This is a very long sentence.", Ian concluded.
"Your reward for freeing me...", Ian continued, "...is this puppy that you have named "Sparkles". Take care of Sparkles, and don't ever let him leave your side. If he does run away, or die, or does leave your side, you will die along with him. But, you have played the contents of the disc on your television screen, and are now bound by a ridiculously strict contract that you did not realize you have signed."
In a flash, the mystierous GameSenter employee vanished, along with all of his puppies. I returned inside, not sure if I was really scared, or more just kinda annoyed with everything that had just happened. After taking two steps into my house, I heard a knock at the door. Slowly, I turned around, and opened it. Standing outside, was a police officer. And he said, "Yeah. We had a noise complaint about some dogs."
THE END
{{video|Yungtown - Ian and Friend}}
{{by|brutalmoose|link=https://m.youtube.com/user/brutalmoose}}