Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
Brian
So far, Brian was underwhelmed. He had power, but power to do what?
He’d gone down the dark path and through a gaping mouth and all he got was an interface that looked exactly the same.
The woman who was sleeping, having her breasts photographed by a man in a morph mask.
This time it was just a photo. Wait. There was a big red button to click with the word tavern written across it in black capitals.
The robotic voice came through his speakers again.
‘Come on, Brian, open me smiler. Click to open.’
He clicked the button.
The sound of what he could only guess was something like an air raid siren blared out, filling his bedroom.
‘Brian, what’s that racket?’ Aunt Claudia knocked on his door.
He had no idea she was home. The last thing he needed was her walking in and giving him a lecture on internet safety. He turned the volume down and reduced his screen before opening the door. ‘Sorry.’
‘What on earth are you doing?’
‘It’s just a game. I’ve turned it off. I was just going to start looking for jobs.’
She sniffed. No, he hadn’t had a shower or even a wash for two days now and she could tell. OpenMeSmiler had swallowed up all his waking hours. ‘I hope you didn’t smell like that when you went to work today.’
‘I smell because of work. I’ll shower in a minute.’ Go away, he wanted to say to her but arousing her suspicion was something to avoid.
‘Do. I’m going to be working for the next couple of hours, then I’m going to pack.
That training I told you about, I’ll be leaving tonight for a couple of days so I need to know I can depend on you and Tabitha to look after yourselves, and it starts with cleaning yourself up.
’ She looked at him and smiled. ‘Love you loads, favourite nephew.’
‘Love you, too, Aunt Claudia.’
Something was different about his aunt. She’d been to have her hair and nails done, and she smelled of flowers.
It was only now he wondered if she was meeting up with a man for a couple of days and work had been an excuse to get away.
He listened as she hurried downstairs before heading back to his computer.
He opened everything up again and turned the volume up only slightly this time.
He looked at his earphones. No, if he put those on and his dipshit sister came back, he needed to hear her.
A message in a speech bubble coming from the mouth of the armoured face popped up.
Answer questions to enter the tavern. Click okay to continue.
He clicked okay. Another speech bubble appeared.
Do you agree to preserve the secrets of the tavern for only yourself and share them with no other?
He swallowed nervously before clicking yes. This is something he’d never share with Curtis. He regretted even telling Curtis because he’d betrayed Cody.
To ensure you do, I have to show you something. Sit back, grab your popcorn and enjoy.
Popcorn flew out of an on-screen candy-striped box and the robotic voice replaced the speech bubbles.
Click play, when you’re ready.
He had no idea whether he was communicating with an AI or a real person.
The clapperboard came down and a countdown flashed up.
Three, two, one and… the video started. It was him on his bed, touching himself, looking all hot, sweaty and disgusting.
He stared at his webcam, mouth open as his hands started to tremble.
How? He grabbed some old Plasticine from inside his desk drawer and stuck it over the lens.
He couldn’t breathe. He gasped and gasped before grabbing his bin and throwing his energy drink up in it.
‘I… I… don’t want to do this. Delete it now.
’ He threw his phone at his keyboard. He stood, pacing, wondering if the crazy bastard at the other end could even hear him.
‘Chill… chill, Brian. It’s insurance. That’s all.
All you have to do is not tell anyone else.
Only special people get to enter and everyone in here has gone through what you have.
It’s called trust and I don’t know you. Play by the rules and I’ll delete the video but trust takes time to build up.
Click the button, Brian. Enter the tavern and your life will never be the same again. ’
‘What if I don’t want to click?’
Demonic laughter came quietly through his speakers sending shivers across his neck. ‘Then, I’ll do it for you. You’re one of us, Brian. You took the path. The tavern button is nothing more than a bit of fun.’
‘Who are you?’
‘Your new best friend.’
Brian watched as the tavern button depressed without his input and once again, he was plunged through darkness on the screen.
He’d come in through the thread under the woman’s photo, so this must all be to do with her.
The screen was like his first-person point-of-view avatar, he was falling and falling into a deep well until he heard the gentle thud, thud, thud of music and the clinking of glasses followed by laughter coming from behind the black door with the tavern sign nailed to the front.
He was being carried forward, no choice to go back and no option to quit.
As he floated through the door a spotlight came on a screen in the screen. Underneath were a succession of comments. Above the screen was an address and a name. Mindy Carson. He thought he’d just been watching, that no harm had come to anyone, but then he read the comments.
You should see her tits for real. She doesn’t close the curtains at the back of the house when she changes. You can see over her back fence.
I managed to get into her house, saw her lying in a bath with a towel over her eyes. In case you wondered, the back window is easy to jemmy. I got so close I could almost lick her face.
Get her. Come on, just do it already, cowboy.
She deserves it. She deserves all of it. I hate those f****** Stacy’s.
Sickened by what he was reading, Brian sat back, not knowing what to do next, outwardly panicking.
He knew his eyes were red raw from fighting the tears and he knew he was pasty and that his room stank of vomit.
He knew that incels were obsessed with Stacy’s.
She was really sexy and they all hated that she probably wouldn’t look twice at them.
Then the messages changed, the same one repeated over and over again by different users.
Let me in.
Each one of them, the same request.
Brian didn’t even have to click or ask to be let in, he was given no choice as the large fortress gates on the screen creaked open revealing a dungeon surrounded by ancient looking brick and barred up windows with no glass.
The whole screen shifted like there was a glitch and for a second, he saw a more normal-looking room.
It wasn’t a real castle, fortress or dungeon.
The woman sitting in the middle of the room chained to a metal chair that had been screwed to the floor – she wasn’t real either.
He looked again. She was real. It was Mindy.
She coughed and opened one of her eyes, just a smidgen.
She was real, alright. The ball gag prevented her from speaking and he was sure she’d been drugged.
It was like she had no muscle at all, the way she was slumped.
The screen went black and a message filled the screen.
Come back at 1am GMT for the big show.
He knew that meant Greenwich Mean Time. The armoured face appeared again and the speech bubble came up.
I expect you there Brian. Remember what we said about trust, I meant every word. Show me I can trust you because we know what will happen if my trust is breached.
He stared at the screen and Mindy’s eyes stared right back at him. Wide, stark, eyes full of fear, followed by a blood-curdling scream from behind the ball gag.