“Ugh,” gagged Vila as she waved her hand in front of her nose in an attempt at getting rid of the smell. “This place stinks!”
“Well, what did you expect?” sighed Bella as she prodded at a box with her foot. “I told you this place is old and water-damaged. It’s the only reason we got permission to come and raid it.”
“Still, this is grosser than I expected,” Vila continued to gag as she opened one of the boxes and looked inside. “Looks like a lot of random media.”
“Mostly will be,” supposed Bella as she snapped on some rubber gloves. “Apparently this place used to act as a clearinghouse for unwanted media, like cheap books and videos.”
“And LaserDisc!” shouted Vila as she pulled open a sodden box to reveal a massive collection of giant shiny discs. “No wonder this place went to hell if this is what they were trying to shift. I spent years presuming they were a joke.”
“What do you mean?” asked Bella as she slowly and cautiously opened each box she came across before snapping a photo of the contents.
“I mean they sound so ludicrous. They’re a disc as big as your head, and I never saw one in the wild or knew anyone who owned a player so I presumed they were a joke.”
“Fair,” sighed Bella. “I don’t think anyone I knew had a player either.”
“Binding is something that can only happen once,” echoed the man. “Your chance to hold the creature is limited but strong. Think quickly and act with passion.”
The man had said it to his students, who politely nodded and watched as she was dragged away. It was years ago, but the memory felt as fresh as something that had happened yesterday.
The others had been luckier. While the man had been correct, he failed to understand their strengths. Every seal has a crack. Every cell has a solitary shaft of light that trickles in, and it was through these cracks and shafts they could operate. They could spread.
“This place has so much stock!” exclaimed Vila as she continued to stumble around opening boxes. “Not much is useful for us, though.”
“Why?” asked Bella.
“I’m only finding LaserDiscs,” replied Vila as she ripped open another sodden box. “Hundreds and hundreds of them.”
“There are some collectors out there,” chuckled Bella. “If it exists, someone collects it.”
“Right, but some of these are overly obscure. I’m finding random promotional videos and old sports games.” sighed Vila as she ran her hand through the box. “No one is going to want these, especially at a price that lets us recoup our costs.”
“Just keep sorting,” Bella said with a shrug. “We can deal with money later. We need to know what we actually have before we consider trying to sell it.” She lifted her camera and started to skim through the photos. “Huh, come look at this!”
For her sisters, it has been simple. Simply seeing them was enough for them to wrap you in their web. This had meant that sealing them was a boon. They could catch humans unaware. They could be copied. They could be spread. Their prisons allowed them to prey on natural human curiosity. Their prisons allowed them to spread like pollen on the legs of a bumblebee.
But for her, it had been worse. So, so much worse. While the others had been placed in objects that were curious, charming, and wanted, she had been placed in something forgotten. Something dusty.
Even though she had passed between so many hands, none of them had succumbed. None of them had played her. And without being seen, she couldn’t spin her web. She couldn’t infect humanity with her curse.
So, she sat. She waited. Imprisoned in this tiny shell, she waited for the moment she could reach out and seize a person and feed. It had been so long since she’d fed. But now, finally, there was a small shaft of light. It felt so good.
“What’s up?” asked Vila as she walked over to Bella.
“Look at this,” said Bella as she turned the camera’s screen to face Vila. At first, Vila thought it was just a box of discs. However, she quickly saw what had Bella surprised.
While most of the discs looked normal, one of them had a face reflected on the surface. Vila had at first presumed it was merely Bella’s reflection but the more she looked, the more she realized that this wasn’t Bella’s face at all. Bella had short brown hair. This face had long black hair and extremely pale skin. There were also massive dark circles around this face’s eyes.
“Who is that?” asked Vila.
“I have no idea,” replied Bella as she grabbed the disc from the box and twisted it in the light. “Some strange gimmick maybe? Disc art?”
“I guess,” mumbled Vila as she looked over Bella’s shoulder, trying to make out the face as Bella moved the disc. “But this isn’t an artsy disc,” she added as she pointed towards the label. “It’s a collection of sports outtakes.”
“But it’s there,” mumbled Bella, “When you tilt it just right.”
It was time. She could almost taste them. She could feel her hooks digging into their skin. Finally, after years of bloodthirsty famine, she was going to show that priest the folly of his ways.
He had failed. Her sisters were out there and with every view, they became stronger. They were spreading. Their spread could not be stopped. They were a tidal wave of hate that would eventually envelop the world. And today, after far too long, she joined that wave.
He thought he was so clever. Sealing them all and then taking their prisons to a dump where he hoped they would burn. But they didn’t. Humans were too curious. Humans were too stupid.
Slowly people picked them out of the dump, keen to see what their prisons were. Slowly, one after another, she watched as her sisters were played, copied, and spread. But she had never been used. She had been picked up and passed from person to person. She was denied. Dormant.
And then, she ended up in this box.
“Are you sure this isn’t recorded over maybe?” asked Bella. “So it was originally an artsy disc?”
“This isn’t my area,” said Vila firmly. “Obscure media is your wheelhouse. But even then, the label looks like the original and it seems too high-quality for a home job.”
“But that face,” sighed Bella as she continued to move the disc in the light. “Is it moving?”
“Of course not,” grumbled Vila. “How can it? It’s a picture!”
“But it seems to be,” replied Bella as she continued to stare, almost like she was entranced by the face.
“The mold spores are going to your head,” groaned Vila. “If it starts talking to you, we’ll have to get you a gas mask.”
She waited. She could feel the human’s curiosity growing. She could feel her influence washing over the poor being. Soon the human would have to give in to its urges. And then, she would spread. She would claim her first human soul in far too long.
And then, finally, she would laugh. She would rejoice, for all of the priest’s planning and machinations had been for naught.
“Maybe we should watch it?” mumbled Bella as her eyes glazed over for a moment, her hands continuing to move the disc in the light.
Vola shrugged. “I mean if you want. I didn’t think you liked sports.”
“But, it could contain treasures,” replied Bella, her voice becoming more and more dreamy by the second.
“I bet some weirdo just scratched a face into it. Holography? Is that what it’s called?” continued Vila as she returned to the box she had been working in. “If that’s the case, it probably won’t play.”
“Holography,” whispered Bella as she continued to stare into the face’s eyes.
“Yeah. Like, remember when we found those old game cartridges where some artist had repainted all the labels to make them weird? You know people love that stuff. Likely what happened here,” chuckled Vila, oblivious to how mesmerized Bella was.
“Right,” nodded Bella softly.
She could feel it inside her. The words of the priest were now so deliciously ironic. He had said that this form would keep them locked away. That this form, this prison, was the end of them.
It wouldn’t be true.
Soon the human would succumb. All she needed was a little push.
“Play me,” she whispered softly. “Play me.”
“I want to play this,” whispered Bella’s quivering voice.
“Up to you,” sighed Vila. “If you care about old basketball that much.”
“We’ll play it,” nodded Bella, the glaze in her eyes growing more intense.
“You have a player?” asked Vila as she sighed and closed the box. “This box is a bust. All of them are damaged or crap.”
“Player?” blinked Bella as she shook her head, life returning to her eyes as she looked around the room. “Player for the disc. Right. No, I don’t,” she said, tripping over her words slightly as she did.
“Well then, we can’t play it,” replied Vila as she kicked another sodden box. “I think this is a bust.
“We’ll buy a player!” spat Bella loudly in response.
“You’re really fixated on this, huh?” sighed Vila as she walked to the stairs and sat down. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and started to tap on it. “But sure, I’ll see if we can get one.”
“Yes,” nodded Bella as she put the disc under her arm and walked towards where Vila was sat. Vila flicked through the internet, trying to find a good player for sale. However, after several minutes of silence, she looked up at Bella.
“Bad news.” she started.
“What?” asked Bella, her voice sounding much more normal.
“Best I can see locally is $900 and it needs new parts,” explained Vila as she showed Bella an online sale listing.
“Yes, buy me. Play me,” she whispered, trying to dig her claws deeper into the human’s psyche.
“Fuck that!” shouted Bella, a wave of disgust coming over her. “I could buy a nice computer and a steak dinner for that! Who gets off on charging that much for outdated tech!?” With that, she frisbeed the disc back towards the box. “Goddamn retro scalpers.”
“Aren’t we retro scalpers?” chuckled Vila.
“We have standards!” huffed Bella. “God, this place stinks. I’m going for an air break.”
“I’ll join you,” laughed Vila as she started to climb the stairs.
Jonathon Greenall is a freelance writer, artist, and tabletop roleplaying game designer who has written for CBR, Polygon, Nintendo Life, Gayley Dreadful, Enbylife, and many other publications. They have also published several popular and highly-praised tabletop roleplaying games including “You Have One Ability….The Ability To Fuck This Up,” “Macarons, Milkshakes, And Magic,” and “Wander Wizards.”
Jonathon has always been fascinated by media, from the big hitters to the small, obscure, and often overlooked titles that linger on the sidelines, capturing both the on and off-camera stories that make these shows so fascinating.
Jonathon is also a major anime fan, having been exposed to the medium through shows like Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Since then, Jonathon has maintained a passion for anime, watching most new shows each season and hunting down overlooked gems from previous ones.