So, yeah, I have loved Grand Theft Auto for a long time. I dont mean to bore you with the details for too long, but when I was pretty young, I am not quite sure when, but I wanna say around when I was 10, my brother got Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for our family PS2. He was about 14, and I would just love watching him sit around and play it. He let me play it one day, and I feel in absolute LOVE with the game. I had completed every quest and side quest, and so after that I bought Vice City and 3. I didnt like either of them as much as San Andreas really. When 2008 came around, my brother, who had just left for college, had bought me GTA 4 for my birthday. My family was going through some financial problems at that point. My brother graduated with a 4.0 and a 35 on the ACT, he could have gotten into an Ivy League school with no difficulty, but due to our financial situation, he had to settle with University of Michigan. Plus, he was a broke college student at the time, so that was really awesome of him. Anyways, I got GTA 4, and yeah, it was awesome. By the time GTA 5 was announced, I had pretty much done everything to be done. I was stoked to say the least. So yeah, flash forward 10 years.
I am 19 years old, and going into my 2nd year of college at Northern Michigan University. I was (and still am today), a broke college student. When I wasnt at class, I worked a job as a Chinese food delivery guy. I drove all over Marquette day and night. I had managed to scrounge up enough money to buy GTA 5. I remember I had told my boss I was sick so I could wait in line to get the game. After I got the game, I carefully tucked it into my backseat and drove home. Sadly, I didnt have that much time to play it, because of classes and everything, so I only played it for a few hours every week. When winter break came, I was stoked, as I was going back to my home, White Lake, and I could play the game all I wanted to. Also, in Northern Michigan, the winters are literal hell.
So, flash forward about half a week later. It started when I was driving around in Paleto Bay, a location that really reminds me of where I live today. I had hit some guy walking across the street. Occasionally, I will zoom in on people after I kill them, so kind of see what they look like, but I got more than I expected. I now realize how creepy it is when I say that, but hey, whatever. The NPC that I hit looked really realistic, and had a ton of detail to him. GTA 5 is a really beautiful game, but this guy looked flat-out like a normal guy. He honestly looked a lot like my dad, and there was even a scar on his left cheek from when he saved me from a wild dog when I was 5. Apparently, he wasn't dead, he limped off down the street and then faded off. I didnt feel like killing him, because it just, sort of felt wrong. So, that night, we waited for my dad to come home from work. He usually just walked home, as his work was about 1/4 of a mile away. He works at a vet clinic.
We waited for about an hour before we got worried. We got a phone call from the hospital, and they told us what happened. Apparently, while he was walking home, and car spun out of control and hit him. He had broken his leg from the accident, so we went to visit him. He told us what happened after he got out. He said that someone looking suprisingly like me hit him when he was crossing the street. Its no suprise really, and he told us that they probably just hit a patch of ice. Thats a pretty reasonable explanation, we are in Michigan anyways, and that years winter was just brutal.
When I went to bed that night, I couldnt help but think about what happened in the game, and how much that NPC looked like my dad. But I brushed it off and blamed it on this cold weather. So, the next day, I was playing again, and there was another really in depth NPC that looked a lot like my old brother. My brother is currently at Tulane University in New Orleans getting his Masters in Education. I punched the NPC down and laughed a little, and said it was payback for all those years of tormenting me when I was a kid. I felt really bad, at let the NPC get up and he ran off. I stopped playing after that. I had a feeling like I did something wrong. I kept expecting my brother to call me or something, and he did.
He called our house phone, and he told us today that he had been mugged by a guy wearing a NMU hoodie, and he tried to take his wallet, but my brother got away. After that, I ran up to my room and locked myself in it for awhile. I couldnt help but feel responsable for this. I know he lives in New Orleans, and New Orleans can get pretty crazy at times, but, I mean, the guy was wearing a NMU hoodie, and I go to NMU. I know I didn't do anything, but I felt like I really messed something up. I went right to bed after that.
I stopped playing the game for a day or two, but I couldnt keep myself away. I put the game back into my Xbox and I started playing again. After this, I felt like I needed to vent out my anger, so I went into Paleto Bay, took out my Carbine Rifle, and open fired on a group of NPC's. After the cops got on me, I ran into Mount Chilliad and hung out for awhile. It was about 11:00 pm, and I was pretty tired so I went to bed. At about 4:30, the door knocked. My mom got it, as she was awake for some reason. It was a cop at the door. I felt nervousness hit me like a brick, even though I knew I did nothing. I was thinking about all the wrong things I did in the last week. Sure, I snuck off to get high like twice last week, but I know any cops didnt see me, and if they did, they wouldnt give a shit. I heard him say:
"Ma'am, is this the house of Justin Riversoul?"
"Yes, thats my son. What happened? Did he do something wrong?"
"Ma'am, we have reason to believe that your son is responsible for a case on open firing at a crowd of 5 people downtown."
I approached the cop, very rudely might I say.
"What do you mean? I was here last night."
"Back off son, you're coming with me."
He cuffed me and took me into his car. After staying a couple nights in the station, they let me go. They said that there was a man who looked exactly like me that open fired at 5 senior citizens walking around town, and 2 of them had passed away. I told my parents all about what happened, and they helped prove that I was innocent. Although, at this point, I was certain something was going on with the game. When I got home, winter break had about a day left, and I had packed up all my stuff, except for my Xbox. I decided to play it one last time before I sold the game. When I first started playing, something very odd happened. I was in a new location. The map where I was didn't pull up, and when it did, it was just blank with my cursor in the center of it. The location was snowy, and it felt similar to North Yankton. I tried walking backwards, but I got invisible-walled. The location seemed to be an urban neighborhood, looking very similar, if not identical, to my neighborhood. The was a sign that said, "Applewood Street." That is when I knew something was up, because that is the street that I was on, and where my parent's house is, and the house I grew up in. I walked down the street, and there was a my house.
All of the lights were off, except for a glow in the top right room, which is oddly enough, the room that I was in. The door opened when I pushed it, and everything was identical to my house. The stain on the carpet from when I spilled grape juice, the old weathered couch, it was all there. Then, I lost control of Franklin. He slowly walked up the stairs, and I shit you not, I heard footsteps for every step if the way. I sat there, frozen in fear, of what was going on. Franklin slowly opened the door at the end of the hall. And, sitting there, was a man watching a TV screen in the middle of the room. I slowly turned around to see myself with glowing white eyes staring at myself. He, or I, was crying, and in a low voice, he said "Please, stop playing." In pure horror, everything twisted and warped, and I passed out. Right before I fell into unconciousness, I swear I heard him say, "Thank You."