Crosshatch

The piercing hot sun began to set outside my bedroom window. I had completed all of my daily errands, and around 8:00 each night, I would take the time to work on some of my drawings. I found that this routine was best for me, as drawing on my computer could be quite time consuming.

My parents had left our house for a week or so, because my grandmother was becoming quite ill, and they thought it would be best to assist her, therefore I was home by myself. I sat myself down at my everyday workspace. I had my monitor faced straight towards me, to the right of that was my computer, and to the left was my illustrations tablet. Everything was all set, and I began to draw.

After a few minutes of sketching out some drafts, It came across my mind that I hadn't checked my email in ages. I always loved getting kind replies on my artwork from others, It helped keep my motivation strong. I then saved my drawing onto my desktop and logged into my email account. As I already had assumed my inbox was flooded with all sorts of mail: the top right corner of the page stated that I had over two hundred messages, which was not really all that surprising. I couldn't even remember the last time I check my messages. So, without further hesitation, I began to scroll through them. There was really nothing out of the ordinary. Most of the messages were just useless online newsletters or spam. To my disappointment, I only found a few compliments on my work, and that was pretty much it.

After what felt like a good five minutes of scrolling, I was coming near the end of my messages. Trash this, trash that, until I came across the fourth last message. Although it just looked like another spam letter, looking at it more thoroughly, I noticed it was quite different from the other emails I had received. Normally, with my email account, it would always state where or who the message had been sent from. As for this one in particular, it did not state whom came from at all. The title of the message simply read,
“ crosshatch “.
Many wise people would often tell me never to open messages like these, and it was always best to just delete them and move on. Without hesitation, I scrolled my mouse over top of the message.
Although I hadn't clicked on it, the message opened up on its own. From just a glance, the message appeared to be completely empty, no writing or files, just an empty letter. Although that was what it appeared to be, I looked over to the right side of my screen, and the scroll bar was far smaller than it was before, stating that I was able to scroll down farther down into the message.
As one would expect, there was writing at the very bottom of it.
“ x_x “

The letters 'x' underscore 'x'. It almost looked like a face of some sort.

A file was right underneath of it, it was named 'crosshatch'. I laughed lightly to myself. this was obviously some kind of strange scam or some email sent to the wrong address. I simply logged out of my account and closed the window, planning to resume my drawing. I did not want to click on the file, just in case it was a virus of some sort. I would ask my father to help get rid of it for me when he got back. He was good with navigating around things like that.

Without further ado, I went back to my illustrations, which lasted a good seven minutes or so.
I then began to notice afterwards that my computer was being much more 'laggy' than usual. Of course, it wasn't too out of the ordinary for me. I wouldn't expect any perfect performance from my computer anyways. I had the same one for over 6 years. A lagging mouse is probably the least of my concerns.

But it was really lagging up; almost to the point where the cursor would not move at all. I just shook it off and restarted my computer. Windows restarted normally, playing it's signature tune before my desktop would appear. To my relief, my drawing files were still there. However, right before I was about to click on my file to resume my drawing, I noticed another file was below it, that I was certain was not there before. It was a jpeg. file, named crosshatch. Good god, how did it even get on my computer if I hadn't downloaded it? Annoyed, I checked my download history to see if I saved the file by mistake. Nothing was related to crosshatch at all.

I did not want to dig myself deeper into the situation, for I wasn't quite sure what the file was. It could be a virus, and having experiences with viruses before, I knew that some could be down-right horrible and difficult to rid of. Therefore, I tend to keep my distances with downloading files that I don't know are safe. But the most unsettling part of the situation, was that I hadn't saved the file in the first place, it found its way into my computer on its own.

I couldn't help but feel curious about the situation though, I had no idea what compelled me to do it,but I clicked on the file. I thought that perhaps a jpeg. could do not harm, and maybe it was all just a misunderstanding, or a glitch of some sorts.

As I had expected, a picture popped up onto my screen. I was a little relieved to see that it was nothing super weird. But, it was still a little unsettling. It was a picture of a girl with white skin and hair, wearing what seemed to be an oversized black sweater. What alarmed me a little bit, were her eyes. They were pure black, with small bright-blue dots in the center of each.
I rarely ever find pictures to be distressing at all, but the way she was just staring. It felt like she was staring straight at me with an intimidating smirk plastered across her pale face.

I shook my head. At least I knew that it was nothing too weird, nothing more than some stupid jpeg. File. I sighed in slight discomfort and clicked delete.

Which is what I regret, because the moment I clicked delete, I could have SWORN that her facial expression changed, even though it was a jpeg. file. A text box popped up.

“ It hurts. “

My stomach began to turn. What kind of creep would make a virus like this..?
I clicked delete again, hoping for the best. The screen flickered a few times as the girls expression became more upset. The same text box would pop up every time I clicked delete. Growing more frustrated, I clicked delete one final time.

The screen glitched out, as the text box began to shake violently.

“ IT HURTS SO MUCH!!! “

My computer screen froze for a few seconds. Panicked, I shook my mouse over and over again, but it would not budge. Soon after, a short, choppy high-pitch sound came from my speakers, and the computer had restarted itself. I simply sat there in shock, questioning myself of what just happened.
I could easily just pull my computers cord out of the outlet and save my computer from anymore corruption. But I felt drawn into the situation, god knows why. I just desperately wanted to know what on earth was happening.

Windows opened normally again. Everything was normal, except that damned file was still there. I checked the rest of my files, they were all there too. I placed my hand on my forehead in slight relief. All my art was safe, which was all I cared about at the moment.
Then again, it was stupid of me to think that the virus had left the system. All of my files were renamed to “ x_x “.

I didn't do that. Another one of those damned text files popped up.

“ Why did you try to delete me? Did I do something wrong? x_x “
My throat became dry and I began to sweat. It's just a virus, I kept trying to convince myself. It cant hurts you. Breathe.

But no matter how many times I told myself that, my stomach refused to untie its knots.

Another text box, followed by a faint static sound.

“ ANSWER ME!! “

Out of fear, I choked out the only words I could say.

” What are you..?? “

“ I am a human, like you. What else could I be? Haha. x_x “

I couldn't place a finger on what emotion I was feeling. I felt anxious and burning mad all at the same time. Why on earth was this happening to me??

Angrily, I managed to spew out a response.

“ What the fuck do you want?!! Just leave me alone.. I don't care about you!!”

My computer screen chopped out once again.

“ I never did anything wrong to you, I was just lonely.

"You're just like the others. How pitiful."

Enough of this. I opened up my virus scan, and without hesitation I clicked, “Start Scan.'
As I would have expected, my computer restarted itself without me doing so, No weird sounds or anything, but when it started back up again, it was taking much slower than usual.

No, I was way off.

Right at the screen that showed the classic windows flag, the screen flickered and glitched out, followed by a short, unpleasant laugh. At the screen where it would state, “ Windows is preparing your desktop, “
it was simply a black screen. The melody played, but it was glitchy beyond belief, notes being repeated constantly, and bits and pieces of the song being in places they shouldn't have been. And on top of that, what freaked me out the most, was that instead of saying 'Windows is preparing your desktop,' it simply stated the following words.

“ I'm only the monster you made me. x_x “

My stomach began to tighten up with intense paranoia, as that sentence repeated itself inside my head. What did that even mean?! I hadn't done anything wrong!

After what felt like forever, my desktop finally appeared, I sat there quivering in fear.

Everything on my desktop was upside down and distorted, pixels chopping out and flickering strange colors. My hands were shaking as I tried to move my mouse. Of course, it didn't budge. The results for the virus scan I had launched earlier popped up on screen, stating the results of the scan.
It said that only one virus was found, a fatal one; but all of the info of the virus was glitched out, making reading it near impossible. The window then closed by itself, leaving my spazzing desktop in full view.
I was beyond frustrated, as I dug my fingernails deep into the palm of my hand. All of my hard work was most likely gone or corrupted, and there was probably nothing I could do about it.

Suddenly then, an ounce of common sense came into place. Without any second guessing, I grabbed the cord out of the outlet and pulled it out, creating a flurry of vibrant sparks.
I did not want to deal with the situation any more, so I then took a deep breath and decided to get ready for bed.
11:23 PM. The time went by far faster than I thought It would. I went to my bathroom and splashed cold water on my face to help calm down. I took a few deep breaths, then headed off to bed. I dimmed the lights, leaving my room dark as can be, and tucked myself into my bed, hoping that the situation would soon be just a memory.

While laying down, I was facing one of my bedroom walls, as for my computer desk was set up on the opposite side of the room. I just really wanted to forget about it all, but I let the situation get the better of me. The fact that the virus could hear what I was saying was enough to make me traumatized with fear. I didn't even know what to make of it.

Although falling asleep was difficult, I managed to get a few hours of sleep. Half asleep, I woke up to a muffled noise coming from the other side of my bedroom. It was 2:45AM exact, as the faint glowing red numbers had read on my alarms clock.

I rubbed my eyes, for everything was still quite blurry. I wish I hadn't.

I looked at the wall I was facing, and my eyes shot open with fear. There was a faint glow reflected off of my wall.

Preparing myself for the worst, I hesitantly turned around, and gasped with pure fear. My computer was on, and that girl.. that girl was hanging upside down on the computer screen, staring straight at me. This time, though, her eyes looked as if they were 'x'd out and dripping a black substance, and a hollow black smile was in her mouth's place. Her horrific laughter was mixing with a sharp static noise, it was almost too much to bare.
I sat up quick, shaking violently. My computer was NOT plugged in.
I couldn't hear my own thoughts. To many things were racing through my head at once. The sounds coming from the computer were getting more and more intense.

The air in my room was cold and dry, making it difficult to even breathe. I couldn't scream, no matter how hard I tried. I could only cry and choke on my own breath. I had no idea what to do. I could have easily just ran out of the bedroom, but my entire body felt paralyzed with fear.. I just ended up falling back onto my bed crying and silently pleading for the girl to leave me alone.

After what felt like 2 minutes of this, my screen instantly blacked out and the sound had stopped. I slowly released my grip on the quilts and looked up, my face still hot and wet from the tears. My room was dark and quiet once more. Although I still felt physically weak, I managed to get up again and turn on my bedroom lights. Never again.

I left my room, walking quickly towards my hardware drawer and gripped the hammer that was placed inside of it. I threw my computer onto my floor, and swung the hammer as hard as I could into the computer. Cold bits and pieces of metal flew every which way as I swung the hammer repeatedly. I felt as if my mind had gone completely numb. I didn't care about the art anymore, I wanted my computer gone.

I grabbed as many pieces of the computer as possible and discarded them, wishing to never see of them again. I wiped my arm against my forehead, wiping away the cold sweat as a breathed heavily.
My heart was still racing from the adrenaline, but I managed to calm down a little bit, knowing that my computer was gone. SHE was gone.

2:57 AM. I tried to the best of my ability to fall asleep once more.

Surprisingly enough, even so with a few nightmares, I managed to sleep throughout the night. I woke up at around 7:50AM and took another long breath, exhaling out all of the panic that was stored within my lungs. I felt a bit better. I got up out of bed, and tried my best to continue the day as if nothing ever happened.

A few days passed after that. I still felt somewhat paranoid, but at the same time, felt relieved. I had hope that things would get better, and more importantly, I would get better.

At least, that is what I had thought.

It was around 1:30AM in the morning. I was sleeping perfectly fine, until I heard my door slam.

I felt my heart throw itself against my chest with shock. It was pitch black in my room, so I could barely see a thing.

Who the hell was is my room. My parents were still at my grandmot-

I then stopped and thought about what came across my mind. My parents were still at my grandmothers house.

The air in my room had become still and dry. There was no sound, except for the sound of footsteps creaking against my hardwood floor. There was somebody in my room.

I clenched my eyes shut as tight as they could go. A bunch of excuses began flooding through my mind, trying to point out the best case scenario for what was happening.

“ You're over tired, it's just your imagination playing tricks on you.”
“ It's just a dream. “
“ It's just mom, she got home early and is tucking you in to bed “
But it was no good. I couldn't move. I didn't want to open my eyes. There was someone there.

It was silent for a few moments. Every second felt like forever. I was absolutely horrified.

As the person breathed down my neck, I held my own. Damn it.. run.. just run!!

But it was no good. I couldn't move.

I could only manage to say one word.

“Mom?”

And the words I hoped to never hear were the response.

“ A fatal error was found. Shut down system? “


(~Courtesy of Creepypasta Wiki~)