Tonight, the moyai wakes.

#3: "🗿"

16/10/21, 10:39 PM

I really do be seeming to be in the writing mood today, I'm writing this one only 20 minutes after I wrote the previous one (plus there's nothing much to do down here in this musty basement). Also, I noticed something. I didn't introduce the statues since I was so dishevelled landing up in this dark room. The "moai" are a bunch of carved stones made by the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island. They're meant to represent their ancestors hence it's worshipped as well.

Another thing I forgot to tell you was just how dark this basement is. I luckily have my phone flashlight which illuminates this pit of despair. It's pretty empty down here, there's just a wooden stool and a light bulb which doesn't work. It has this metallic smell, which is pretty unnerving (and nauseating; I've puked four times already) to say the least.

Right, enough of my current misery and more of story time.

I woke up to my alarm clock going off. I casually picked it and threw it across the room, annoyed with how it ruined my sleep. I got up with bleary eyes and almost knocked my water bottle over while reaching for it. I dressed up for school, ate dinner downstairs and got on the school bus. While looking out of the window, I remembered that monstrosity from last night and shuddered in my seat, but quickly brushed it away.

I hung out with my pals for a while, recounting the experience I had about the weird moyai website I saw yesterday. They were confused and sure that it was just a bad prank by some edgy 16 year old who was trying to give people a good scare. They laughed it off, stating it was just some random creep. I was thankful for the reassurance and said bye. That's when they dropped a bombshell on me when they wished me "good luck", after which I said, "For what?". There was a math test today and it was pretty important too, so needless to say I was pretty screwed up. I rushed into the classroom only to see my teacher distributing the question papers. He gave me a cross look and then gestured me to sit down. I was sweating buckets because I had neither studied or paid attention in class to even know what the questions were asking. Sure enough, the teacher was in front of my desk and shoved the paper in my face with a grunt. I took it, and read the first question out of thirty mind boggling riddles. Nothing. I knew nothing. Thoughts of my parents yelling at me, calling me lazy and useless flooded my head which is likely what would happen if I flunked this test. Unless, there was another way...

My school doesn't allow phones in general, but I found to my pleasant surprise that my phone was in my bag. Desperate times call for desperate measures, yeah? I quickly and quietly slipped it out and pressed twice on the screen. It lit up. I mashed in the password and opened Google. I looked around for the teacher. Good, he was bothering some other poor chap in the corner. I typed in the first question, got the answer. Type, enter, mark answer, repeat. Occasionally, the teacher or one of the classmates (who were all snitches) would look in my direction and I would swiftly hide the phone by holding it under the desk. I was finishing the test lightning fast, until disaster struck.

I was on the 27th question, until there was a notification on my phone. "Hah," I chuckled to myself "not today, you're not going to ruin my day because I have the phone on Do Not Disturb." However, what I was expecting it was to be an annoying advert mail from some unheard of company. What it was however, was a text. In WhatsApp.

I wondered if I should open it. Since I was flying through the questions at a blistering rate, I was getting cocky. Thinking it was my old best friend, who went to another school close by, I opened it, as we were still good pals and chatted a lot. Boy, did I wish I hadn't opened that.

"🗿"

No, really, that's no shitpost. Just "🗿".
God, I wish I were doing a really crappy joke, but it was just really that. I was messaged this by some unknown number which was something like +56 000 0368. One I would've blocked immediately if I knew who was behind it. I responded, a bit annoyed.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"🗿"

Hm. Moyai emoji. What could that possible mean for me? Not like I saw a bloodcurdling image of this very ominous thing bathed in blood red.

"Not funny, who are you?"

What I saw next made me drop my pen in shock. It was an image of my school, you could actually see me in my hoodie through one of the windows. Was someone stalking me? Panic swelled up in me as I realised that a hacker could've snagged my number and was now stalking me. What were they trying to do? This was more than just a prank, if he or she was trying to tail me in real life.

"🗿"

That's it. I was about to block it when the prompt just...disappeared. What? How? What is happening? was my reaction. What it should've been on the contrary was me running for my life.

I tried to block the number again, and again, and again. No luck. It kept disappearing before I could click on it. Choosing to ignore it instead, I typed in the next question, determined to show it to my friends, who were tech nerds and could probably give me a plausible explanation for what happened. I marked the answer, put in the next one, marked the answer.

Last question. I was so ready to get done with this and solve the mystery behind this number who was either trying to make me laugh but miserably failing or someone who was legitimately trying to harm me or my family. That's when shit hit the fan.

My phone blew up. With notifications (gotcha). All of them from the previous number, all of them containing one message.

"🗿"

"🗿"

"🗿"

"🗿"

"🗿"

"🗿"

"🗿"

"🗿"

"🗿"

"🗿"

And on and on and on.

Somehow when it couldn't have gotten worse, my phone somehow went off Do Not Disturb.

My phone erupted in birds singing. Everyone looked around in a frenzy, confused by the auditory overload my phone was now giving everyone in the room. The volume somehow kept in increasing. "Well, Jonny, a phone can't get that loud now can it? With its small sized speakers and yada yada." I would, reader, if it wasn't for that moment. The sounds got impossibly loud, like someone just hooked up a loudspeaker to my phone.

And then as quickly as it started, it was gone.

Pitch silent.

Only the sound of the teacher breathing heavily.

He stammered once, trying to speak something like a swear but it came out in an incoherent squeak. Suddenly his eyes turned glassy, then he blinked. He moved in an almost robotic fashion.

"I request the person who brought their phone in this room to kindly stand up."

Pin drop silence. My heart raced. Should I stand up? Will I be excused for bringing a phone? Or will he put two and two together and assume that I'm cheating. He once again repeated his question and stood still in the front of the room. I decided I had to do something. I stuffed my phone into my pocket and stood up.

I felt his eyes sizing me up, looking up and down at my frail figure. I gulped nervously and stammered out, "I-I'm done, can I submit my answers?" He nodded, albeit in a slow and eerie way, as if he was about to lunge at my throat. I quickly slammed the paper down on his desk and made way for the door to find my phone ringing. The caller was none other than...