Scrabble creepypasta- Death by Words

My friends and I love words. From reading to writing to music, we all shared an admiration of how much power the written language has. It's how we communicate and express ourselves daily. It should be no surprise that our favorite way to pass time was by playing Scrabble. Racking your brain together to turn random letters into words to gather points was our definition of fun. Our fun memories would vanish on a cold winter day during our sixth-grade year. I invited three friends over to spend the night on one good Friday. One of them was Lisa Andrews, a cute redhead I've been secretly crushing on. She had on this badass white rise against T-shirt and blue ripped jeans even though she told me her parents hate it when she shows too much skin. We first met in fifth grade since we went to the same yoga studio as our parents. I'd often watch her from afar as she moved her body with a level of grace still foreign to me. When we entered the same school and the same class no less, my feelings for her only grew more intense. It took weeks before I dared to stop stalking her and start a conversation. We've been good friends for a while now.

We spent most of the day goofing around and running around the house since my parents had a business meeting and wouldn't be back until Saturday afternoon. They left me $120 to keep me satisfied until they returned. It wasn't much but I day I spent the money wisely. Matt said we should go to the movies but Andrew just wanted to stay in and order takes out. I and Lisa kinda had to agree with him. With how expensive the movies are, we'd have to share food and snack and I'm not up for that. If it was just me and Lisa, I wouldn't mind eating her scraps.

After everyone finished gouging on a platter of pizza but and Chinese food, Matt once again made a stupid suggestion.

"Did you hear about that urban legend with Scrabble. If you finish the game at exactly midnight, the words you played will all come true." He said.

We all looked at each other confused and then stared at Matt. "What the heck does that even mean?" I asked.

"It means the words come to life. Let's say sometime during the game you played down the word 'money'. Later that day you'll make some extra cash or maybe have a money problem. If you play 'storm', there'll be a storm that day."

Lisa giggled and rolled her eyes before flipping her hair with all the confidence and sass of a Hollywood actor. "You're always talking about urban legends and paranormal activity. None of that stuff is real and you're childish for believing that nonsense."

"Childish? I'm 11! At least I can act my age. You always act like you're smarter and more mature than everyone else. If the story is so fake, how about we okay the game so you prove me wrong, miss know it all."

Normally I hated it when people gave Lisa attitude but I saw Matt's point. Lisa had a habit of establishing dominance in practically any scenario she found herself in. I guess being the daughter of a rich beautiful couple pressured her to succeed. I didn't mind when Lisa bossed me around but I wouldn't discover why until after I hit puberty.

Lisa huffed and folded her arms. "I'll play the stupid game but it's going to be a waste of time."

"Do we really have to do this? I don't mess with any of that supernatural crap so you guys are on your own if something demonic happens. Andrew was the most superstitious out of any student in school. I wouldn't call him a coward but he certainly wasn't a thrill-seeker like Matt.

We went into my room and pulled out the board game. The game went as follows:

Andrew played smash, run, rip, car, luck and pluck for a total of 78 points.

Lisa played connect, spread, explode, Xerox, and fear for a total of 93 points.

Matt played cop, mask, zero, life, rampage, and revolt for a total of 89 points.

I was two points behind Lisa and the next word could decide the battle. There were still two minutes left until midnight so we took out time deciding the final word. Once the magic hour arrived I immediately slammed down all the right letters I needed.

"Rebound!" It felt like good fortune to be able to end the game with such a powerful word. I swear I even felt a surge of energy course throughout my body. The energy was completely ominous and felt like a cold hand squeezing on my heart. My body must've stiffened up for a while because everyone was looking at me with worried eyes.

"Is everything ok, Damien? You look surprised that you won." Andrew said.

I shook my head. "It's fine. I just must've spaced out because of how tired I am. Never stood up so late before and honestly I'm ready to pass out."

Lisa stood up and looked around the room with mock curiosity. "We played the game and nothing happened. Looks like it was another stupid urban legend."

Matt scowled and furrowed his brows. "Can you shut up? It's obviously not going to happen instantly so give it a while instead of bitching."

We were at the age where even mild swear word felt like loaded guns so it's not surprising they got into an intense argument right after. I and Andrew tried our best to break it up the two slept in separate rooms before leaving first thing in the morning. I was mad at Matt for going out of his way to insult Lisa but also disappointed in her for being so rude.

The weekend went by smoothly without anything out of the ordinary happening. I was fully prepared for my first supernatural encounter but it was the same boring life. Guess Matt got us all psyched up for nothing. That's what I thought at the time but Monday was a different story altogether.

I was walking to school while playing a crossword app on my phone, my eyes are pedantically scanning and screen for all the right words. I was about to slide my finger across the first word of the day but my vision blurred up. The letters were becoming less defined and more like black blotches. I recovered from my momentary daze and made my first-word selection. "Drown"

Andrew greeted me by the entrance and walked with me to math class. There was nothing I hated more than math but Andrew kept me from falling asleep with all the gossip he had on everyone. Yeah, boys like to gossip too. I was writing down notes in my book when I felt a cold energy wash over me. It was the same insidious feeling from that Saturday night.

Drown. Drown. Drown. Drown.

A voice that sounded like death itself was whispering inside my ear. No, it was not like someone was speaking directly inside my head. I looked around the room frantically for who it could be but everyone was working on math problems.

I was getting anxious and couldn't focus at all on the lesson. I wasn't superstitious like Andrew but I knew damn well that wasn't a coincidence. Something was unraveling that would change a life forever. Minutes seemed to turn into hours as the hellishly long double period slowly came to its conclusion. I bolted out my seat and shoved past kids to get through the door, desperately needing to collect myself. I was going to nurse on the first floor to see if she would let me lie down but I saw a huge crowd of students hanging by the pool area. I walked over there and saw a young girl in a swimming suit getting CPR from the coach.

"What the hell happened here?"

"Cherami Way almost drowned in the pool! She was racing with some other girl but sunk to the floor Midway through."

I froze. Whatever magic we set loose that night was becoming a reality. The only thing is, nobody played the word drown during the Scrabble game. I had only formed the word with the crossword puzzle. We're we under some curse?

We gathered during lunch and everyone had their own horror story to share. Andrew saw a girl rip out her hair. Matt's teacher had a panic attack in front of the class. Someone had spilled a vile chemical during Lisa's chemistry class and the fumes spread everywhere.

"This your fault, Matt! You made us play that idiotic game and now innocent people are getting hurt! I don't know where you heard the legend from but you need to find a solution." Lisa practically screamed. I had never seen here get so furious and it honestly scared me. It was unbecoming of a class president.

"Oh fuck you! You didn't even believe me until all this scary shit happened so don't even try blaming this on me. I didn't think it would be this bad.

"It doesn't matter who's at fault. We need to find a way out of this situation. Maybe we can search online for an answer. We couldn't have been the only ones to play the midnight Scrabble game." I said to calm everyone down."

History class was next and it was the one class we all shared. The teacher was doing a reading on Ghengis Khan and it was honestly the most brutal thing we read all semester. I was reading attentively until Ms. Bailey called on me to pick up where we left off. I stood up from my seat and held the textbook in my hand.

"Ghenghis Khan was a notable leader who made a habit of crushing the heads of his enemies". The cold icy hand gripped at my heart again, it's strength consuming my soul. I spoke but it wasn't my voice I heard. It was the whisper from earlier that had narrated the passage. I didn't have time to dwell too long on that because I saw it emerge. The letters were coming off the page and becoming 3d constructions. The word "crushing" floated in the air and hovered around the class. My mouth stood agape and my friends had a similar reaction. Their eyes nearly popped from their heads.

"Holy shit watch out!!" Matt screamed when he saw the word float above a girl in front. Apparently, we were the only ones who could the word because everyone else simply looked shocked and confused. Their expressions turned into pure horror when the word had slammed down on the girl and caused her blood and organs to splatter the walls. The classroom became a cacophony of scream children and I was losing my last nerve. I bolted out of the room and out of that godforsaken school. It was a madhouse there.

"Unleash me, Damien. The words are calling for you." The hideous voice was back.

"Get the hell out of my head you sick freak!" I yelled at the top of my lungs and continued running until I ran home. My parents were at work which made me feel worse because I honestly needed someone to talk to. I went to my room and saw that every single book had been thrown to the floor. I went to pick up and my vision was immediately flooded by a wave of darkness. It took a while to decipher but the blackness was composed of letters and characters from various languages. I saw traces of Sanskrit, kanji, Nordic letters and much more.

The letters all formed together until they manifested into a vaguely human shape. He had no face but I could feel the creature staring at my soul.

"Good afternoon my dear boy. I am known by many names but you can call me Ety. My form changes throughout the ages but my essence stays the same. You can call me Ety. You have quite the fascination with words, don't you?"

I gulped down hard and tried my damnedest to regain composure. "Why are you doing this? People are getting hurt because of you and I just saw someone die! Do you even care how her friends and family will feel!? We haven't done anything to you so please just end this."

He let out a sound I could only describe as a laugh. It reminded me of the Kafka laugh from Final Fantasy but even more demonic. "Oh, I beg to differ. I owe my existence to you humans but you have corrupted the very best essence of the written word. Language was created to bridge the gaps between people and attain a deeper understanding of each other. They understood, alright. They understood their ugliness and created words for the sole purpose of degrading others. There are a countless amount of derogatory, hateful words that litter the mouths of people around the world. For every one of those toxic words, I absorb and feel the negativity associated with it."

"Do you know what it's like? Having daggers of pure malice ebb into your soul at every waking moment? Perhaps a demonstration shall get the point across."

His arms pointed toward me and my brain was filled with every malignant word known to me. Even words in foreign languages I felt the full weight of. If Ety was the embodiment of words, then this attack was malice incarnate.

"No stop! Please make it end just stop already!" I cried and shook my body uncontrollably.

"It seems that you get the point. Words hold power that goes unnoticed by most beings. I've noticed your fascination with literature. Those who have a deep love for me will be granted a proposal: Join me and my conquest to rid humans of their Infernal devices or be part of the cinders that remain."

"I'm not sure what you're asking."

"I say that humans will be their own downfall. Any word spoken will cause mass havoc. If someone tells another person, they will drop dead on the spot. Words that have abstract and Interpretive meanings will cause damage on a conceptual level. Once mankind sees the power I hold, they know the full price of their sins. What do you say, Damien? How about we watch the world crumble".

Humans are a predictable species. They operate primarily on self-survival. It should be no surprise about which route I chose. I was there to watch my friends fall victim to their own words. They suffered a cruel fate but it was all necessary for the betterment of the world. Enty and I had envisioned a world without strife and that day was on the horizon.