Hey there. My name's Osiria, but I go by Ria.

When I was nine years old, my parents bought me my own Nintendo 3Ds. I've played a few games like Kirby, Pokémon, Mario, you get the idea. But one game I've always wanted to play was Animal Crossing.

My parents say it's a waste of money because you basically do nothing but spend hours doing mindless tasks to earn in-game money, but I still wanted to try it out. I'm a big fan of old Nintendo games, and Animal Crossing was a classic. Specifically Wild World.

Finally, my favorite aunt bought me the game I wanted for my birthday, much to my parents' disapproval. But I didn't care if mom and dad didn't think it was a good game. I was so excited to finally play Animal Crossing.

After everyone left, I locked myself in my room and put the cartridge in my 3DS. I sat on my bed with my legs crossed and tapped the Animal Crossing icon. My heart did a jump when I entered the game.

I soon realized that this was a pre-owned copy. I almost pressed Rebuild Town to start a new file, but curiosity took over me, and I continued the already existing game. One quick look wouldn't hurt, right?

There wasn't much, to tell you the truth. Whoever used to own this game obviously hadn't played it very much. I sighed, but right before I pressed HOME on my 3DS, I heard a low chuckle.

My stomach dropped as I looked around my room. There was nobody here but me. Did I just imagine that? I tried to shake it off as nothing, but my heart was still beating uncomfortably. I couldn't help but feel like there was someone watching me. I was probably just being delusional.

I went back to the home screen and restarted the Animal Crossing file. I entered my name as Ria, and the town as Sauga, short for Mississauga, which is where I live.

For a while, the game went on as usual. I collected seashells, met the other islanders, and worked for Tom Nook to pay off debt. Everything went how it normally would.

Except... there was no music. The sound effects were there, but no soothing music. It was eerily quiet, almost like a horror game.

Probably a glitched version. I thought, disappointed. Background music was always a big aspect in Nintendo games, and it was kind of unsettling without it. But it was fine. I could listen to the soundtrack on YouTube or something.

It wasn't until I completed all of Tom Nook's jobs when things really got weird. I kept seeing some sort of dark figure in the corner of my screen, and when I moved my character closer, it would run away. Maybe this cartridge was hacked for some reason? Or was this a part of the game that I didn't know about? I decided that I didn't care. I'd finally managed to get my hands on this game, and none of this creepiness could ruin it.

I went to the bulletin board next to the town hall. I wanted to post something out of boredom. I liked how you could write whatever you wanted. It was a pretty cool feature, for a game that was made 11 years ago.

I blanched when I checked the board. My heart started beating uncontrollably when I saw what was on there. There was something already posted, and it wasn't written by me. I stared at the message in disbelief.

2/14/2016

Written by A̵̛͇͔̻͓̠̻̘̘̪͗͋̀͒̈̏͋̑͂̐́̋̌͂͒̾́̈̚͘͘͜͝͝l̷̢͖͚̟̗̝͎̣̤͎̣̼͑͗̚͜ȧ̸̡̨̨̡̳̱̣̣̹͚̯̰̫͉̟̲̱̲̒̓̚͝n̴̢̤͈̫̈́̄̽̽͆̏̀̐͆̈̇͌͌̓̌̀͒̎̀̏̕̚͝͠
You cant run from me.