As usual, the video begins with a headshot of Noah, however there are some noticeable differences. Rather than the background being some decayed slum like usual, it's simply the welcoming interior of a suburban household, and the camera is perfectly fixated rather than being held in Noah's shaky wrists. His face is also tinted with blue, likely the glow of an offscreen computer monitor.
"Hey guys, Noah here! Uhm, so, I got some bad news. I'm grounded for the weekend! My parents haven't liked me sneaking off after curfew. It's bullcrap but, what are you gonna do? But I couldn't leave you guys hanging all week so instead, we'll be exploring...The Dark Web! Now if you don't know what the Dark Web is, it's like the seedy underbelly of the internet. I know, I know, a bunch of websites is lame compared to what I usually do, but I promise there's a lot of interesting and twisted stuff on here! Well, that's what I've heard, at least..."
The view of Noah sitting at his desk suddenly shrinks and nestles at the bottom corner of the screen, like in a Let's Play. The real focus is put on an HD display of his laptop's wallpaper, populated by a couple icons off to the side.
"That's why I also asked for a capture card for my birthday! Yep, my trusty camera has been demoted to facecam duty this episode. The card only has 30 minutes of film on it though, but that should be more than enough! So anyways, I did a lot of research for this video. There's tons of scary urban legends surrounding the Dark Web, like how everyone wants to hack you and infect your computer and kidnap you, but I took lots of precautions! Not only did I install anti-malware until my laptop ran out of space, but I'm decked out with all sorts of VPNs! Oh, and can't forget about ANN!"
The mouse cursor begins to explore the blank blue sea of the desktop, hovering over an Anonymous Network Node icon before double clicking. An empty, medium-sized window displays but it's soon filled by a site called "The Deep Wiki" when Noah selects the "Home" button. It's a bland white canvas with an endless-looking list of blue links.
"So this here is the Deep Wiki. It's the Dark Web's directory. Well, one of them. So I guess we just start browsing random sites..." Noah assumes as he starts scrolling up and down the bottomless catalog. "Uhhh...'The Doll Maker', let's try that! Sounds like a toy store!"
The link goes purple as Noah selects it and a couple seconds drag by whilst the webpage slowly loads. All that build-up for nothing it seems, as all the internet can scramble together is an error.
"Oh...that's disappointing. Yeah, I heard the Dark Web is full of dead links. I should probably edit this white noise stuff out..."
He didn't. Noah returns to the wiki.
"Ummm...'The Cotton Road', that sounds cool!"
Another grueling load-time and the webpage loudly, boldly presents itself with all sorts of flashy American logos decorating it from head to toe.
"THIS WEBSITE HAS BEEN SEIZED BY THE FBI AND THE DEA," it reads like a headline.
"Oh wow...this site was so serious the authorities shut it down? Wonder what it was...well, since the DEA was involved, I'm guessing drugs. Maybe an illegal narcotic market? Guess that's a dud too, le-"
Noah visibly jumps when his desk starts loudly rumbling from the vibrations of an off-screen phone.
"Whoa! Um... hang on a sec guys, sorry," he mutters, taken completely off guard as he looks at the number and doesn't seem to recognize it before answering anyways."Hello? Who is this?"
It's hard for you to tell since it's not on speaker, but it sounds like heavy, labored, almost threatening breathing huffing and huffing into Noah's left ear as he listens to the call.
"Okay then..." He hangs up. "Sorry about that guys, some stupid prank caller, I guess. Anyways," his hand returns to his mouse, "as I was saying, let's move on. Hmmm... The Organ Mart, Bathroom Cams, Scream Bi...B-Word...'Cleaning Services'! Must be Craigslist for maids or something..." he theorizes as the page loads.
When the time finally comes, the site reveals itself as an advertisement for a...cleaner...of corpses. A body disposal expert for hire. Graphic pictures of real dead people ornament the screen like a twisted mural. Some getting dirt dumped on them as they're crumpled up in a finely dug hole in the woods, others slump in a bathtub full of steamy, bubbling acid, and a few stuffed in soggy garbage bags stinking up the alleyways. The details of the corpses themselves are a whole other story. Throats crushed and permanently bruised, brains blown out through the back of heads, faces covered in bloody welts from getting beaten to death...
"Whoa...th-...this isn't real, right?" Noah is taken aback as his skin goes a pallid green. "This has gotta be s-s-some sort of...No, this isn't real, the FBI would've taken this down...if these were real corpses...and if this was a real...nevermind, let's just move on..." Noah shakes himself out of it.
Like a finger skimming through the contents of a filing cabinet, the cursor runs down the tower of blue and purple links, landing on a service called "HiddenChat". Upon loading, it turns out to be an anonymous chatroom with a gloomy color scheme.
"Um...should I say something?" Noah shyly asks in rhetoric. "Er...hello?," he sounds out his words as he types them down with his keyboard and punctuates them with 'Enter'.
"10:37 PM - You: hello?
10:37 PM - Anon1: Hey.
10:38 PM - Anon4: hi
10:38 PM - Anon1: You new here?"
"Oh man, they actually noticed me," Noah blushes before continuing the chat.
"10:38 PM - You: yeah
10:38 PM - Anon3: This is my first time on HiddenChat too.
10:38 PM - Anon2: ive been on here for years.
10:38 PM - You: i meant i'm new to the whole dark web
10:38 PM - Anon1: Oh
10:38 PM - Anon1: Well, how are you liking it?
10:38 PM - You: i dunno, it's been kinda boring
10:38 PM - Anon4: haha yeah that happens
10:38 PM - You: hey, have you guys been getting weird phone calls too?
10:38 PM - Anon1: Huh?
10:38 PM - You: like, heavy breathing
10:38 PM - Anon1: ...
10:38 PM - Anon1: You're joking, right?
10:38 PM - Anon2: lol rip
10:38 PM - You: no?
10:39 PM - Anon7: BREATHER
10:39 PM - Anon4: gg
10:39 PM - Anon3: He's just trolling, guys
10:39 PM - Anon6: you're gonna get raped by the breather bro lmao
10:39 PM - Anon8: f
10:39 PM - Anon5: do you idiots actually believe him"
Noah stares at the screen in a flustered confusion as the reflection of the many messages flooding in flash upon his face. "Alright, these guys are being jerks," he pouts as he backs out the chat. "It's probably best if I don't talk-"
Noah twitches as he hears the loud bang of a car door slamming from outside. He fearfully peeks through the blinds behind you before tearing the facecam from its tri-pod and showing you a window view of his neighborhood street, which minimizes video capture of the Dark Web and puts the video in a more typical format. There's a white van parked at the curb, right in front of the house.
"That's not my parents..."
YOU ARE READING
Creepy Explorations: Volume 1 (Lemon)
FanfictionNoah is an (un)lucky boy fascinated with horror, and has channeled his passion through his Creepy Exploration series. You get to follow him through his found footage as he's terrorized and perved on by all sorts of horror icons.
