"Where is my family?!"

Her hands trembled. Her breath shook. Rei was holding back tears as she tried to process everything that was happening so suddenly.

That is - her family vanished and is now at the mercy of an unknown individual.

"Who the fuck are you?! What did you do to them?!"

Staring intently at her phone, Rei waited as she saw the bubbles move in her chatroom, indicating a response is coming.

I would tell you, but that's the name of the game. You have to play with me if you want to know.

Don't worry. Your family is safe and sound for now, but their lives are in your hands.

Especially your mental little sister.

Rei jumped off her bed, running to her door and frantically twisting at the doorknob to open it.

"What the fudge?", Rei muttered. She tugged at her door violently, but it did not budge open. "HEY! WHO LOCKED MY DOOR?!"

Turning around, she then saw a peculiar creature standing before her. Sporting a pointy yellow hat, a grey flannel shirt and jumper, it was just the size of a mere infant, yet it stood upright, its bulging orb-like eyes fixated at Rei while its thick grey mustache wiggled side to side underneath its large beak-like nose.

"W... Who are you?", Rei asked the creature. It just tilted its head in response, and Rei looked back to her phone to find new messages from the perpetrator.

Your door isn't locked. It's just chained on the outside so you wouldn't get out.

You can ask my trusty assistant Duwende to let you out if you want.

If you do leave your room, you will never see your family again.

Rei gasped as she looked at the creature named Duwende, whom the perpetrator tasked to watch over her.

"You've... got to be kidding me!", Rei seethed.

Duwende offered no response aside from clasping its hands together and bowing to Rei. A respectful gesture to many, but to Rei, this meant serious business. She then swiped to her contact menu and dialed emergency services, but the call was immediately cut off.

"Hey!", Rei frowned. She tried dialing again, but she was forcefully ejected from her contacts menu which soon became locked along with any functionality to dial any phone number. A bubble then popped into her cellphone's interface.

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT CALLING THE COPS, BITCH.

DO THAT AGAIN, YOU FORFEIT THE GAME.

This is impossible.

How did they know?

This has to be a dream, Rei thought.

Why did it have to be her family?

Why? Play the game, then I'll tell you why.

Rei felt a prick on her leg, looking down at Duwende who held a pencil to catch her attention. Duwende pointed to her bed, prompting Rei to look back at the phone.

Get the fuck back to your bed so we can start playing before you piss me off.

"What will you do if I don't?", Rei yelled back at her phone. The perpetrator then replied:

Duwende.

Duwende took off its hat and put its hand inside. Rei looked on intently, wondering what Duwende was up to. Her intrigue turned into horror shortly as Duwende pulled out a severed head from his hat.

"KYAA!", Rei screamed. She fell to her knees as she tried to touch the face of the head that was now lying on the ground in a pool of blood. "SHAWN!"

The grey-clad Duwende then patted Rei's shoulder and pointed to her phone. With no other choice, Rei picked it up and found another message.

I forgot to tell you that it's not just your family who's involved in this.

Your friends are, too.

Now you know what I meant when I told you their lives are in your hands.

Play the game, they live.

Don't play the game, they will end up like your friend Shawn over there.

Rei just stared at her phone, still defiant despite being shaken. Sitting on her bed, she decided to play along the perpetrator's schemes.

"That's just a fake head.", she thought to herself.

There's no way it was her friend Shawn.

This old hag is just bluffing.

This is just a prank.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

They should just stop typing

because their existence is annoying.

Looks like you don't believe me.

Fine then.

I'll make you believe.

A stream then took over Rei's phone, showing a girl hung upside down by her feet. Screaming Rei's name, she helplessly flailed around as her surroundings lit up.

Do you recognize her?

Rei's eyes widened. It was one of her Japanese cousins whom she often met up with back when she was living in Davao.

"You son of a bitch, let Kana go!", Rei yelled into her phone.

Game number 1 - Tell your friends and family a truth about your beloved cousin Kana-chan! You have 60 seconds to enter everything you know about your sweet, little cousin!

Rei could not believe it. The old hag is going for it.

Yet she still believes this is just a prank, just as a timer showed up on the chatroom and quickly began counting down.

Remember - one minute, Rei.

Rei gritted her teeth. She then began tapping onto her phone:

"Kana-chan is so cute, she's lucky to have a boyfriend

any boy would be lucky to have her

except for that old hag who's trying to date my sister

haha

his existence is annoying

Thank you mama for introducing me to Kana-chan

She's my best friend

I was one of the first to know when she had her first period

Of course it's scary

But we went through it together and survived

Wow, kegwapa yarnnn

Kana-chan kegwapa kawaii"

Time's up.

Rei's phone began shaking as the timer reached zero. Her breath shaking, she calmly spoke into her phone:

"I did what you asked, now keep your promise."

Oh... okay.

The hung Kana was shown again. She was still screaming for Rei as more creatures similar to Duwende arrived inside the room. Two of these creatures held Kana's wrists to keep her from squirming around, while a third brought a ladder which it used to climb up to Kana.

"Wait, what are you doing?! I did what I told you! I played the game!", Rei sobbed. The duwende tickled Kana's sides, making her scream as she battled between laughing and crying, until it began prodding into her belly button. "Let her go! I did it!"

You did.

But were you telling the truth about Kana?

A laughing emoji flooded Rei's chatroom.

"REI, JUST TELL THE TRUTH!", Kana sobbed as the duwende kept poking her button.

ONE MORE CHANCE.

THIS TIME, TELL THE FUCKING TRUTH ABOUT KANA.

Rei gulped as she leaned forward, resting her head on her knees.

"Why...?", Rei whispered. There was no other way. Rei began typing into her phone once more.

"Kana-chan told me about her boyfriend and how he's such a wimp

baka baka baka, why did you date him in the first place if you knew he was a wimp

wawawawaw you keep asking for him before and now you complain about him

maybe his penis was not as big as you hoped

welp the japanese don't have big dicks anyway

but maybe you're the problem?

lol"

Rei could hear Kana's screams once more, but she was so focused on typing on her phone that she paid no mind to her cousin.

"kana-chan's a slut, she already has a boyfriend but she still keeps looking at other boys

boys that hit her of course because she loves that

she loves boys who beat her up

haha

domestic abuse-loving bitch

then she has an alcohol problem

but she be drinking since she was 13

ugh

they should normalize minor drinking

bring it down to 9 years old lol--"

"HEY!", Rei gasped. Her message box then locked, leading her back to the chatroom. She could not believe what she saw afterwards.

The duwende on the ladder was pulling Kana's intestines as her beloved cousin screamed in agony. It already had at least a foot long out.

"YAMERO!", Rei cried out. "YOU CHEATER, I TOLD YOU THE TRUTH!"

You did.

However, because you didn't believe my threats....

The chatroom went back to Kana's room, with the duwendes inside playing jump rope with Kana's guts. Kana herself just hung lifelessly from her feet, her torso and face painted in a crimson color.

"KANA~!", Rei sobbed. Her beloved cousin had been tortured to death by the duwendes. The perpetrator had no intention to let her live so it could serve as a lesson for Rei.

Still think this is a prank?

Oh yeah, your last entry took more than a minute because you typed like a sloth.

Use your computer, you fucking dumbass.

"My computer?", Rei wondered. She looked over to her desktop nearby, which she had not used for a while.

You have a lot to tell everyone if you want to take me down, so use your goddamn pc.

Make this fun for me.

Old hag.

Rei looked at Duwende, who pointed to the computer. Weary, she went over to her computer chair before messaging the perpetrator once more.

"Why did you make me use my phone if you're just gonna let me use my computer eventually?"

Because I'm the old hag who wants to fuck with you and show how serious I am when I say your friends and family will die.

Now, one of your family died because you didn't believe.

"Kana....", Rei thought.

Her beloved cousin just died because of her.

What's worse - the duwendes defiled her body and even played jump rope with her guts.

She could not even mourn Kana properly, as the Old Hag immediately plunged her into the next game.

So... your pc up yet?

I bet it is.

Now... it's time for the world to see the beautiful Rei Cañabe once again in her gorgeous IRL streams but at the comfort of her home!

Rei's computer began activating programs by itself, soon her social media profile opened and activated her stream for everyone to see.

Hello, miss Rei Cañabe!

Another duwende showed up on the stream, this time a virtual duwende in a black suit ran around the screen acting as a host of sorts in Rei's behalf.

This is your host, the Old Hag, coming to you live on stream for the lovely Rei Cañabe who is here with us tonight in the most important stream of her life!

The stream drew heart reactions from Rei's audience, who did not expect her to stream again for the day.

Aww, looks like our little Rei is a bit sad. Why so sad, baby girl? Is your mama okay?

Everyone, say hi to Rei to cheer her up.

"Hi Rei"

"kegwapa yarn"

"Rei ganda gyud"

"so pretty"

"kimochi"

"Rei kawaii"

"Rei don b sad"

Rei gasped for air as the stream continued - she could not believe that her own stream is being used by the Old Hag to entertain everyone at her expense.

Now, miss Rei, game 1 has concluded a little while ago, but you didn't do so well. For game 2, I'm pretty sure you'll do better this time!

Because your task now is to tell everyone what you really think if someone lies about being friends with someone! I prepared an entire audio clip that only you can hear, but if you want to get back to the parts you missed, you have to start over! You only have five chances to rewind from the start, or you will lose this round!

Ready?

The audience then sent amazed reactions as the Old Hag disappeared from the stream. Rei stared at the camera in horror, her face just trying to signal for help from any good samaritan who could realize what situation she's in.

"H...Help me...!", she thought. She felt her table shake, finding her phone lighting up.

The Old Hag had sent her the audio clip she needed to transcribe. Duwende then stood beside her computer, holding up a fist with its gaze fixated upon Rei.

Remember.

Only five rewinds.

Rei shakily placed her hands over her keyboard. She could not believe this was actually happening.

She did not believe the Old Hag because of Shawn, and the life of her cousin Kana was cut short as a result.

Welcome to the Typing of the Old Hag - the game where the truth shall be revealed!

GAME... START.