The game of hide or death

I always knew I was ruled by Thanatos.

It’s almost like a curse thrown at our family.

Every child of my parents dies at their 18th birthday.

As someone who was raised with this awareness, I should’ve accepted my faith, right?

Except that I never did.

It’s not that I don’t want to give up life, I’m just scared of death.

Three months before my 18th birthday, I decided to lock myself at home.

They say before you die, you see Thanatos in your most desired form. 

He will lure you into despair

I withdraw myself completely from society to avoid facing Thanatos.

To defeat my faith.

A few days before my birthday, I was sitting in my gaming chair and noticed a new game called “hide and seek”.

It looked like an old horror game made of pixels.

It caught my attention, so I decided to give it a try.

First, I had to choose between a male or female character.

I picked the female one, which strangely looked similar to me.

Then again, I don’t look very extraordinary, so I didn’t think much of it.

I quickly became consumed by the game.

The main goal was to hide from the male NPC and do some side quests.

Each time I thought it was the end, a new level was unlocked.

The day of my birthday, my parents were working late but promised to buy my favorite cake on the way home.

As I did for the last couple of days, I was playing the new horror game.

I finally managed to get to the final stage.

The NPC appeared with a speech bubble above his head, “I dare you to hide, but it’s no use.”

I looked around but saw nothing but a house.

I let my character enter the house, and my eyes widened in horror.

The corridor looked exactly like mine in real life.

I stared at the screen, confused and shocked, before I recovered and tried to calm down.

“It’s probably a coincidence. Many corridors look similar. I’m sure the other rooms are different.”, I thought, trying to calm myself.

I led my character to another room, but my fear only increased when I saw it looked identical to my kitchen.

At that moment, I heard a sound, but it wasn’t the game.

I removed my headphones, thinking my parents had returned.

“Mom? Dad?”, I called, but no one answered.

I stood up and went around the house.

I noticed there are no shoes or coats left, so my parents haven't come back.

But then, what was that sound?

I walked into the kitchen and saw nothing suspicious until my eyes met the window.

I saw a male reflection.

It almost looked as if he was behind me.

I rapidly turned around, horrified, but no one was behind me.

I quickly ran to my room and locked the door.

I sat on my bed, hugging my knees in an attempt to calm down.

The only light source came from the computer monitor.

My headphones were still plugged in, the game on.

It almost lured me to continue.

I sat back down and led my character into her bedroom.

Once again, it looked identical to mine.

This made me even more paranoid.

My hands trembled on the keyboard as I locked the door in game.

As I was trying to calm down, taking deep breaths, trying to explain it all to myself, I saw him.

The NPC, standing right behind my character.

A speech bubble formed itself above him, “I told you, it’s no use to hide.”

I was breathing heavily, and to my unfortunate, I felt a presence behind my back.

The figure leaned forward and whispered into my ear, “You lost.”

When his breath hit my skin, I turned around in horror.

I stood up from my gaming chair and backed away.

My hands quickly grabbed the first object, which happened to be a table lamp.

I held it in front of myself as a weapon, still trembling with fear.

I noticed he looked just like the NPC, a black elegant suit, raven hair, fair skin, tall and skinny, handsome young man.

“Who are you? Why are you in my room?!”, I demanded answers.

In contrast to me, he was completely calm, smirking.

“Isn’t it obvious? I am Thanatos.”

My eyes widened. 

I couldn’t believe it. 

“How? Why? What...?”, my mind asked so many questions, but deep down, I already knew the answers.

“You can’t run away from me forever. You can’t hide from destiny.”

I wanted to disagree so badly, but I knew he was right, so I just listened.

“I know you're scared, but there really is no need to be. Besides, you don’t like life anyway. So why force it?”

I let down my hand, letting go of the lamp.

The glass broke as it hit the floor.

I looked at him as he stood on the frame of my open window.

The curtains swayed in a soft breeze that entered to say goodbye to me.

I took his hand and stood on the window apron, looking at the night sky, the crescent moon covered by some clouds, and a few stars.

I watched the moon disappear behind the clouds as I took a step, falling into my demise.