Shi Ga Matte Iru

Rumors spread of the release of a new game named "Shi Ga Matte Iru", and once it came out, everybody awaiting it's release was excited! It was a new Japanese game about a demon killer. For a long time, nobody knew what the name meant, and to be honest, nobody cared. It was a new game! That was the mistake people made. Some people were so scared of this game, they smashed the disk, or even threw out the console for it, and they were the lucky ones.

A boy, about eighteen or nineteen, bought this game. "'Shi Ga Matte Iru' is no match for me," he said. He had bought the game from a nearby game shop. He would frequently visit the store often to buy new games, and he particularly enjoyed the horror genre.

He and his mother had previously lived alone together, as his abusive father had died of unknown causes, but now he finally had freedom. He had recently moved out from his mother's house and went to live on his own.

So, the boy, who we'll call "Zack" for now, went to his new house and read the instructions for Shi Ga Matte Iru for a while. It looked awesome, but it was all in Japanese except for some words, like “demon”, and “death”, but Zack was pretty sure he got the general idea. He had stuck the game in the console, and he pressed the button. There was no introduction. No "Nintendo " or "SEGA" logos popped up. Nothing of the sort happened. The intro had just appeared, and needless to say, it was strange. Every letter “I” in the title was dotted with an ominous, glowing red eye.

He clicked what he thought was the “start game” option. It did, so he probably knew what he was doing... As he started the game, the character appeared to be sleeping in some run-down shack. He was poorly modeled, and the meshes were sometimes dead, but he didn't mind that. Zack was just determined to complete the game. The character woke up and he said something in Japanese that Zack couldn't understand. He then walked out of the doors and it appeared like he was in some sort of blood-red portal. It was unnerving, but Zack continued to play.

Zack came to a halt, as he realized there were no demons. He was a little confused. Then, he heard something...

"WHY HAVE YOU STOPPED?" Zack was a bit scared. He thought it was programming, and although he tried to move, it didn't work.

"MOVE, ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS PUSH FORWARD." He went to push forward and stopped, he realized this voice was English, the game was supposed to be Japanese, right? This creeped him out.

Zack wanted to push power, but the voice then said "YOU ARE A WASTE, YOU CANNOT PLAY SHI GA MATTE IRU." Zack didn't like this, he kept on playing. He didn't know what a bad idea that was. He still couldn't move... The voice laughed, a red-eyed shadow then walked over to the character. It tore through him and no "game over" screen appeared. It then walked over to the screen, giving Zack a demonic smile. Zack's heartbeat picked up. He was terrified. Zack backed up to the door, only to find it was locked.

Zack said "I don't want to play this game! Please! Go away!"

The voice actually replied, "NO. YOU WILL LOSE."

Zack was pulling at the doorknob, but it wouldn't open. The hand of the demon reached out the screen. It pulled itself out of the television. It's feet could be heard hitting the floor as the towering shadow glared at the boy with it's soulless, red eyes. It then came closer to Zack. He screamed as the demon gave a sadistic laugh. His crimson livelihood seeped out from under the door. Zack was dead.

Police came to the crime scene. Though they investigated for a long time, hardly anything unusual was found. There was no sign of the demon, and as the game had no credit, the only thing visible was the bloody writing on the screen, "GAME OVER".

Zack's body was never found, though a pool of his blood was present. This was left an open case, as no suspect could be found and there were no witnesses. After this incident, all copies of Shi Ga Matte Iru were taken off the shelves.

What so many didn't know was that "Shi Ga Matte Iru" means "Death Awaits", just as it did for Zack...