Ren messaged his temples as he watched what was before him, thinking about everything that had occurred. He has been here for some days, but he couldn't tell the length of time that had passed. He had used his gun for the first time; usually, he would speak, attack his parents with an injection dosage of sleeping medicine that he had as a routine precaution from his time in prison.
This whole thing could be traced to a certain point. One night, he quit his job as a mental health clinician for Heaven's Kingdom Prison. He had no feelings for that prison; he met many practical cases he wouldn't get by reading books. It was comforting to be in the midst of people doing worse than him. He would lie if he said he didn't have a good time there.
On that night of quitting, he decided to become a game developer. To make people feel what he sometimes felt in prison. The possibility of being stabbed, the fear that the released inmate you helped would find you to kill you, and the thought of being chased by a crazy killer who is just interested in you. How would you escape? What are the clues? How fast is your heart beating? These are what he believed a horror game should achieve; he wanted to make people feel it deep in them, but also to highlight the beauty of life. You only appreciate the light if you've been engulfed in darkness for long.
So that's what he did on a bus he took late at night. There, he designed a small family game: WONDERFUL LIFE. It was just a family game that focused on tasks in caring for a family; you could choose any one and have objectives.
Deep down, he just wanted something to make people have their fantasy family life. He got the idea from a prisoner who lost his family (killed them with his bare hands) and wanted a way to imagine he didn't. To obviously support himself, he put ADs in a firm of dream sequence or energy refill, with the subject being the cake store of his landlord.
As he was plugged into his headphones, he didn't notice the number of passengers reducing as time passed, until the bus halted in a tunnel. Everyone was gone, even the bus driver.
He rushed out of the bus with his bag, trying to figure something out. His memory after that was fuzzy; he didn't remember how he finally escaped to his house, only that he saw something not right that made his brain form that memory space.
He just woke up in the house, not knowing what to do. At that moment, he locked himself inside. It took hours before his door was knocked upon, and it turned out that it was his parents with their Salary Day stuff.
It was when he welcomed them in that his phone rang; it was his dad who told him that they might be late. He felt his heart pounding louder in that moment. Who were the people behind him? That's how it clicked.
His family game, but this time it was tweaked further.
He obviously tried to escape, but outside was pitch-suffocating darkness. He had to try to clear his game forcefully.
He shoved the latest two parents inside the bedroom; every mom and dad inside hissed. He hissed back, and they went quiet.
He locked the door and went to the cake to check on the candles. He had a sure thing about the candles he had noticed ever since the cycle of moms and dads came.
He counted the candles present: Eighteen. His memory of the game started creeping out for him to realize the game concept. Despite celebrating 'Salary Day', the mom and dad would do it like a birthday and add the candles matching the age. Each cycle of his parents presented the exact cake, but the number of candles would increase with each new cycle. Turning eighteen was the peak of dreams for many people. He could now clear the game as the eighteenth candle had shown, even if he was twenty-eight already; the fact was that it was his game logic being followed.
He locked the door, and the atmosphere became more vivid. Things were already becoming clearer after unknown days stuck here; he could finally leave. He was proud of himself for staying so strong.
To give himself even more joy, he ran to the front door to peep through the peephole, just as he guessed. The hallway was no longer darker, having sparkling blue-green lights blinking. They were wonderful to look at, unlike that time at the tunnel, which was obviously the cause of his game coming through.
A knock rang from the door. Ren's eyes widened, and his breathing became shallower. He felt that he had clearly cleared the game. What is going on, it couldn't be more of his parents?
The door keyhole shook; it was then sucked out of the door. Ren took a step back. What is this?
The door opened, and a figure wearing a torn, soaked raincoat entered; he matched the description of the suspect carrying a massive chainsaw blade plus sword design weapon that still had blood stains despite being beaten by rain.
Oh no! It's Mr. Piggisim. What a dumb name for a serious situation. Who gave this monster that name?
He feinted a limp, using style to take more steps back. Mr. Piggisim had a bulky pig-shaped face that, no matter how hard Ren focused, he couldn't unsee the similarity to one. An idea came through; his parents were in the bedroom. Plus, he had a gun, but he was more interested in the first plan. What would happen?
"Please, don't harm me and my parents." Ren had tears pouring out of his eyes. Mr. Piggisim closed the door while still staring at him.
"I like your house, I shall stay the night here. Sorry about the door. I will fix it, but I must advise you to come here so I can be swift with beheading. I don't want to have to chase you as you are injured, that won't give me divinity of any kind to my dear soul. I am not sure if I can make your beheading painless if I do it when you try to turn in your run." Mr. Piggism said in a deep, echoing yet gentle tone, a hint of exhaustion also came from the tone.
Ren smiled. What would happen to Mr. Pigissim if he accidentally opened the bedroom door?