Late night gaming sessions always have a way of spiking your blood pressure. Our team’s Support player was absolutely feeding. After getting flamed relentlessly by the rest of us on voice chat, she just went AFK. A few minutes later, she reconnected. Her voice came through the mic, trembling and choked with heavy sobs. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” “I was just drawing a bath for my baby. I put him in the tub…” “And I… I forgot to turn off the immersion heater…” “The water is boiling. He’s not moving. What do I do?” 1 I sat there, completely stunned. I glanced at the Support’s in-game name. It was “GamerPrincess”. A total stereotype. Our Jungler started yelling into his mic. “Lady! Can you quit with the creepy act in the middle of the night?” The ADC chimed in. “If you want to troll, just disconnect. Playing a horror soundboard isn’t funny. Let’s just surrender.” He initiated a surrender vote. But our Mid laner, who hadn’t used his mic all game, instantly voted no. The match dragged on. Princess was still wailing through the headset. “It’s real… my baby… he’s gone…” “What do I do? Oh god, what do I do…” Her panic sounded incredibly raw and helpless. If this was an act, she deserved an Oscar. I couldn’t hold back anymore. “I have literally never heard of anyone boiling a kid in a bathtub. What planet are you living on?” Princess sobbed uncontrollably, her words breaking apart. “The water… it was fine… I just wanted to play one quick game… I thought it would get cold…” “And then you guys started flaming me in the chat. You kept calling me trash…” “I panicked. I just cranked the heater to the max and ran back to my keyboard… I didn’t think…” “But… oh god…” She suddenly stopped talking. For two or three seconds, there was dead silence. Then, her tone shifted entirely. It dropped into a vicious, venomous snarl. “It’s your fault for cursing at me! This is all your fault! All of you!” “I will never let you get away with this!” 2 We were all completely dumbfounded. Who the hell blames random internet strangers for something like that? Even the toxic Jungler softened his tone, trying to sound reasonable. “Hey, lady, calm down. Take the kid out of the water and dial 911. Maybe the paramedics can do CPR…” Princess just cried harder, her voice piercing. “It’s too late… he’s completely still. His skin is so red… the water is scorching…” “He’s not breathing. There’s no pulse…” “He’s dead… he’s really dead…” “You killed him. You all killed him…” The ADC couldn’t take it anymore. He typed furiously to our Mid laner in the team chat: Just vote yes! Something is seriously fucked up at the Support’s house! Turn on your headset and listen to her! The Mid laner finally typed back: Crazy bitch. Fine, I’ll vote. The surrender screen popped up, and we all clicked yes immediately. The post-game lobby closed, cutting off her endless, cursing sobs. I let out a massive sigh of relief. I took off my headset, having zero desire to queue up for another match. That whole ordeal completely ruined my night. But a few minutes later, things took a terrifying turn. A friend request popped up on my Discord. The attached message read: Jungler from the last game. It felt weird, but I accepted it. The second the chat opened, he sent a flurry of messages. Dude, we are screwed. What if that crazy woman actually killed her kid? What if she comes looking for us? I typed back, confused. How did you even find my Discord tag? He answered line by line. Are you blind? You can see linked accounts on the server tracker. But that’s not the point. That match we just played was on the local matchmaking server. That means that Support player lives right here in our area! She said she wasn’t going to let us get away with it. She might actually be able to track us down! Reading that last sentence, my fingers literally started to shake over the keyboard. 3 I forced myself to take a deep breath and typed back a reassuring message. Stop scaring yourself. Nobody can track down a specific apartment just from a local server ping. I was trying to comfort him, but I was really just trying to convince myself. The Jungler replied instantly. I added the ADC who flamed her too. He lives in the Grandview Apartment complex. Just like me. What about you? Holy shit, me too! I typed out, but quickly tried to rationalize it. Wait, this complex has over fifty thousand residents. It’s totally normal for a local server to match us up. He asked another question. The creepiest part is, the ADC and I both live in District 4. You? Same here. By the time I hit enter, a cold sweat was already gluing my shirt to my back. The Jungler kept firing off messages. I knew it. Hold on a sec. I just added the Mid laner. Let me see what his deal is. If the three of us living this close is a coincidence, there’s no way he lives here too. I stared at the screen. Alright. Go ask. I’ll wait. Waiting was pure torture. My imagination started running wild. I opened up the local subreddit for our city, figuring I might as well check if there was any breaking news about an ambulance at Grandview. I wish I hadn’t looked. What I found almost stopped my heart. Something did happen in District 4. The details matched exactly what that “Princess” had been crying about. A young mother, home alone. Left an infant in a portable tub with a faulty immersion heater. Got distracted playing video games. The water boiled. The baby died. It was a real, documented tragedy. But when I looked at the timestamp on the news article, I felt completely sick. The article was posted exactly seven days ago. If this just happened tonight, there would be no police report or detailed news coverage. Right then, the Jungler messaged me again. The Mid laner lives in Grandview too! Something is seriously wrong here. I’m making a group chat. A drop of cold sweat rolled down my forehead and hit the desk. 4 There were four of us in the group chat. Everyone except the dead baby’s mother. I didn’t even read what they were saying. I just copied the Reddit link and slammed it into the chat. Look at this first! Tell me this isn’t exactly what happened in our game tonight! It took them less than a minute to completely lose their minds. The Jungler, always paying attention to the details, pointed out the worst part. Did you guys read to the bottom? The husband came home from work and chopped his wife to death with a kitchen knife! I clicked the link again and scrolled down. He was right. The husband murdered her in a blind rage. She died seven days ago, the Jungler typed. Today is the seventh night. You guys know what that means, right? The ghost comes back for revenge. The chat exploded. Chris, the Mid laner, typed in all caps: I DIDN’T EVEN USE MY MIC! WHY THE HELL AM I DRAGGED INTO THIS GHOST SHIT?! Tyler, the ADC, was panicking. We need to call the cops. 911 right now. If we wait until something happens, we’re dead. The Jungler shot that down immediately. If it’s a dead woman looking for revenge, what exactly are the cops going to do? Shoot a ghost? We need a real plan. I knew we had to do something, but my brain was completely fried. The whole situation was beyond logic. Suddenly, a private DM popped up from Tyler. Did the Jungler ask for your exact address? Did you give it to him? I replied honestly. I just told him District 4. He didn’t ask for my building number. Tyler’s response was chilling. He asked for mine, but I didn’t give it to him. That’s why he didn’t dare ask you. I felt a knot form in my stomach. What are you trying to say? The Jungler is sketchy, Tyler typed. He tracked us all down. He acts like he already knows where we live. He made this group chat. Watch. I bet he’s going to suggest some crazy plan to get us all together. Literally one second after Tyler sent that DM, the Jungler typed in the main group chat: Guys, I have an idea. I don’t know if you’ll go for it, but hear me out. Tyler called it perfectly. This nightmare was getting way too complicated. 5 Before I could even type a response, Tyler was already playing along in the group chat. Let’s hear it. What’s the plan? The Jungler started laying it out. Look, if I could find all of you through game data, a vengeful ghost can definitely find our front doors. Sitting here waiting to die is a terrible idea. I say we take the initiative. We go to her apartment. We bring something to offer her. We apologize sincerely. If we show her we are genuinely sorry, maybe she’ll let us live. Reading that insane proposal, my first thought was: He wants us to just deliver ourselves to a haunted murder scene? Tyler’s private DM popped up again. See? I told you. He’s trying to lead us into a trap. I agreed completely. You’re right. But why? We don’t even know this guy. Why would he want us dead? Play along in the group, Tyler instructed. Let’s force him to show his hand. Maybe this Jungler is working with whatever is haunting that place. It made sense. I switched back to the main chat. To my absolute shock, Chris, the Mid laner who had been raging a minute ago, suddenly agreed with the Jungler. Chris typed: I’m fine with going. But do you even know which building and apartment this crazy woman lived in? The Jungler replied: The news article probably has clues. If not, I can ask around the complex. Everything was perfectly aligning with the Jungler’s script. He held all the cards. If he gave us a random address, we’d have no choice but to follow him blindly in the dark. But right then, Tyler finally dropped a massive bomb in the group chat. Don’t bother asking around. I know exactly which building and which apartment she lived in. The chat went dead. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. 6 I frantically messaged Tyler in private. Are you insane?! You actually know where the murder happened? How?! Tyler replied instantly, sounding incredibly smug. Are you an idiot? I’m going to give them my own apartment address. I want to see how the Jungler reacts. Let’s see if he really has the guts to show up at a random door. I exhaled loudly. It was a bluff. In the group chat, the Jungler was already pressing him. You know? How the hell do you know? Tyler kept weaving his lie. Because I’ve been following this case since day one. And unfortunately… I actually know her husband. He didn’t give the Jungler time to process that before pushing the issue. Enough talking. Are we doing this or not? If we are, I’m dropping the address right now. I thought this aggressive push would make the Jungler back off. Instead, the Jungler agreed immediately. Hell yes. Send the address. I froze. Tyler typed out a detailed building and apartment number without missing a beat. Then he added a provocative challenge. This is it. Well? Are we heading out? Meet at the front door? I was totally lost. Were we really about to have a midnight meetup at Tyler’s place to test this guy? I was just about to type out an excuse to stay home. But before I could, Chris broke his silence again. His tone was dead serious, completely devoid of his previous panic. Who exactly are you, Tyler? What kind of sick game are you playing? What did we ever do to you? I stared at the screen, thoroughly confused. Right below that message, Chris uploaded an image. It was a screenshot of his private DMs with Tyler. I looked at the image and my blood ran cold. The conversation was nearly identical to the one Tyler was having with me. Tyler had told Chris he was suspicious of the Jungler, and that he was going to post a fake address to test him. But the real gut punch was the message Chris sent right after the screenshot. The address he just posted isn’t his apartment! That is the actual address where the baby was killed! 7 My brain practically short-circuited. This Tyler guy was an absolute psychopath. He was privately playing the voice of reason, manipulating me and Chris to doubt the Jungler, while simultaneously baiting all of us to walk right into a literal slaughterhouse! But the biggest question remained. How did Tyler know the real address? And what did he want from us? With the lie exposed, Chris kept the pressure on in the group chat. You told us it was a fake address to test the Jungler. You lied. What are you actually trying to do? Cornered by the evidence, Tyler didn’t back down. He sounded completely justified. I don’t have a hidden agenda. You have to believe me. I lied because I had absolutely no other choice. I’ve spelled it out as clearly as I can. Do you guys seriously not understand? I lost my temper and typed furiously. Understand what?! What kind of sick bullshit are you pulling in the middle of the night?! Chris was on the exact same page. Drop the act. Who are you? Did you hack the game to force us all into the same lobby? Tyler responded with a heavy dose of frustration. I told you I was forced into this. Do you not get it? I am being threatened! I swear to God, I have no idea how we ended up in the same match. That wasn’t me. But look in the mirror for a second. Are you all really going to pretend you have absolutely zero connection to that dead woman? I was furious. Keep my name out of your mouth! I don’t know that woman! The Jungler, who had been quiet, chimed in with question marks. Don’t try to drag me down with you! Before Chris could defend himself, Tyler tagged him directly in the chat. Hold on, Chris. Care to explain how you knew the address I posted was the actual murder scene? A massive realization hit me. The Jungler and I had completely missed the most glaring flaw in the room! If Chris didn’t know the dark history behind that address, how did he make that judgment so fast?
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