Haunting Romance: An Online Love Story

I’ll start this one with a warning. Haunting Romance is a sad tale, my man actually cried when he read it. It’s personal to us though, we got to know each other online. This is my first attempt at writing horror, and I honestly have no idea if it’s any good; it’s far harder to judge than the usual smut I write. Also, there’s not much sexy business going on in this one. 

Haunting Romance: A Tale of Online Love

They always met at the bridge, and Danni knew with a certainty that he would be there, though they had not arranged to meet today. In fact, she hadn’t seen him in a long while, couldn’t remember the last time they’d played together.

Jogging up the hill, feeling excited and nervous, she sent a greeting into the community chat, but no-one answered. She flipped up the window to check who was online, there were just a few, it was still very early. Probably all away from keyboard or busy. She sent a whisper to another close friend, but got nothing back there either.

There was snow on the ground around her, the season had changed, following the pattern of the Northern Hemisphere. The air blowing from her character’s mouth was a serious of cloud bursts of fog, glistening in the sunshine. She zoomed in on it, absolutely captivated by how beautiful the graphics were. So much so, she ran straight through a stream and into a mob.

She rolled, backed away from it, and cast some fire balls. It was a beast, undead, huge, more than twice the size of her elven character. It came on and it had five levels on her. With over half her morale gone in seconds, she attempted a healing spell, watching with rising panic as the mob struck her over and over, interrupting her cast. She potted herself back up to full health, got her sword out, belted it a few times, ineffectual blows, that did nothing to it at all.

It raised its enormous hammer and swung a blow at her, she raised her shield deflected it, though how those puny arms could deflect a hammer blow from something so powerful, she had no idea. And then it broke her defences, and she watched her morale sinking fast. She popped a bubble over herself and ran. Just when she thought she was in the clear, her bubble ran out and the mob got her.

You have died.

Resurrect at nearest rest site?

A three-minute timer began. Her mouse hovered over the accept button, but she knew the nearest rest site was a long way away, and she was filled with a foreboding dread, that if she accepted the auto resurrect, she would miss him, would never see him again in fact. And though she knew she was being completely irrational, she dithered, swung her camera view around this way and that, hoping against hope for another way to revive.

And that’s when he came. With her camera view pointed right at the sun, his mounted form silhouetted against it, he came out of the light and really, it couldn’t have been cheesier. Even before he got close, she recognised the shape of his outfit, his ridiculous feathered hat.

Thundering past her spirit body on his mount, he attacked the mob with all he had, and she watched him run it down, taking out half its life with a powerful hit. His character dismounting then, dodging, and dancing under the monster, he kept attacking until he’d defeated it. And she felt a flood of warmth for this online friend she had only met once in real life.

They had shared pictures with each other before she flew, so they would recognise each other at the airport. Him with his beard, shoulder length hair and her with her close crop, neat, bespectacled. Walking through the arrival gate, sweeping her eyes over the crowd until she picked him out, those seconds were some of the most anticipatory she had ever felt, would he even be here? This question had plagued her on the plane the whole of the flight, from those first tense moments of lift-off, to the excitement of landing. Would he be here to meet her?

Was he even real?

This last question was too jarring to dwell on.

And then her eyes found him, he was staring straight at her, as though he had always seen her. Dressed for autumn and in his hand, he held a single red rose.

He revived her then, just before the timer ran out and invited her to a party. She thrilled, feeling the usual set of complex emotions he stirred in her, and oh, the underlying current of sexual heat. She saw he was typing something into the party chat, felt herself grinning with her anticipation.

“You’re such a fucking liability, Danni.”

“Hah, thanks. Where’ve you been, Al? Feels like bloody ages.”

“RL stuff. I just can’t escape from it and it gets so boring, Danni. You questing?”

“Yeah, wanna join?”

“Someone’s gotta look after your ass.”

His character walked a circle around her, whistled at her from behind and the stupid, innocent flirtation thrilled her.

She got a couple of levels, their flirtation becoming more intense over time. It was always this way between them. They danced a fine dance every time they met online, starting with a gentle testing of the water, with rising intensity until the innuendos and blatant flirting drove her to distraction. But she would not log off until he did. And she knew they would then wank simultaneously, though countries apart.

Her trainer was in the tavern, and she went to him, so she could apply her level ups. She tried activating the icon over his head, but she did not get the usual skill diagram. The lag was long, and the NPC didn’t turn to her, didn’t react to her at all.

“It’s not responding.”

“Never mind, do it later. Get your ass out here Danni, move. I don’t have much time left.”

“Don’t get your knickers in a twist.”

She knew that would bait him and she was right. His character slapped hers, and she thrilled.

“Watch it.”

They went on together, into an instance nearby. The undead rose again, wave after wave of them and they fought side by side, him taking the brunt of the damage, her healing him and keeping him alive.

In the middle of a fight, perhaps a third of the way through, his character stopped moving. She assumed lag and was careful to heal him sparsely, managing her aggro. But the lag continued, and her healing drew the ire of the undead, she died. Then, she watched his inanimate form take a beating. The undead were merciless and blood flew from him, until he was brought down, and the face of his character turned towards her, his eyes white orbs in his head. She had never noticed this detail before, and a moment’s pure chill touched her. She gave herself a mental shake.

“Wait, I’ll run through.”

She ressed to the start of the instance, brought up her map and ran to his corpse. She selected and revived him.

“Thanks, hen.”

And she felt so much better.

How she got from where she was, to be standing right in front of him, she cannot remember. In her mind, the very next thing, from finding his eyes, was being tucked into his embrace, her head against his chest. And yes, real, and just exactly like the him she had imagined from the hundreds of hours they had spent online together. Even his scent was as she had imagined, a slight cologne with strong underlying muskiness. She relaxed against him and his arms tightened around her.

“Welcome, hen,” he’d said then.

His character turned to face her and she felt a sudden dread creep over her. His expression, normally fixed, had altered. Frozen, she stared at his character, zoomed in, just as he turned from her.

They went on, and she was cautious, trying to shake off the unnatural feelings that were building inside her.

Later they rode together back toward town. She had gained another level and was keen to apply her new skills. It was dark now, and snowing. The game sounds had changed to match the environment, the breath coming from her mouth began to fascinate her again, and she slowed to observe it. Al slowed beside her, came to a stop, his character staring straight ahead.

The night was dark, moonless, sound muffled in the way only falling snow can do. Danni became completely engrossed in the moment, felt as though she was really there, and for the first time, she began to feel the creeping coldness invading her.

She turned her character to face his. He was staring into the distance.

“It’s so beautiful.”

They had clung to each other the longest time, she could hear his heart beating in his chest and the words “real, alive” beat a tattoo in her mind with his heartbeat. She basked in the warmth emanating from him, it felt like a blanket of pure love. Eventually they disengaged and he gave her the rose and picked up her bag.

“It’s so beautiful,” she said, breathing in the scent of the rose.

There was the slightest glint on his cheek. Chilled, she panned out, turned the camera again.

“It must be the cold,” she thought to herself, remembering the staggering improvement in the graphics she’d observed earlier.

“Let’s go, I’m running out of time, Danni.”

He led them on towards the tavern and when she got there, she went to her trainer again, but still the NPC did not react to her.

“Maybe tomorrow,” she thought.

Following their usual log-off ritual, they went to an upstairs bedroom and lay next to each other on a bed. This would recover their skills, but it was the symbolism of it that Danni desired, needed.

“I miss you so much, Danni.”

* * *

Jogging up the hill, she sent a greeting into the community chat:

“Hi all.”

No answer.

She could see him waiting at the bridge for her, though and just as she approached him, he invited her into a party. The last thing she saw in the community chat, before her group chat overrode the window was.

“Yeah, I’m heart-broken.”

“I’m not,” she thought feeling thoroughly excited to be with him again, and her character waved at his.

The snow was much thicker on the ground today, and the stream from yesterday had frozen over. This was also a new graphic development. She thought she must read about the latest patch soon. The sun was bright in the sky, reflecting off the snow, creating an extremely bright haze over the hill and the wintery landscape beyond.

They went out to his car together, and the sun was low in the sky, momentarily blinding her with its light. Her flight had been extremely early and she was looking forward to the cosy prospect of bed. They had promised each other they would go to bed when they got back to his flat. Hold each other and sleep, though she was desperately hoping for more.

“Hiya.”

“It’s so dark here, Danni.”

Sarcasm then. She stood before his character, zoomed in on his face, and everything appeared normal and she felt stupefied relief flood through her, though she had not realised she had been worrying.

Together they rode out to a new area they had not yet discovered.

The terrain was hilly, filled with rocks, rabbit holes and the trees were bare skeletons, looking dry and forbidding. There was a thin blanket of iced over snow on the ground, and she noted the crisp, crackling noise it made as her horse trotted over it. If felt cold. The detail was truly astonishing her.

“I’m so cold, Danni.”

“Yeah!”

She had a feeling of being watched. It was just a game, but she couldn’t shake the feeling. She dismounted panned her camera around, but there were just the two of them, no-one else in sight, no mobs on the horizon either. She spun her focus back around and he was standing there, right in front of her nose. And there was something different about his expression, his face.

“You left me.”

“What?”

“Why did you leave me?”

This distracted her, thinking back to last night, she realised she couldn’t remember which of them had logged out first. She found she didn’t like thinking about it, dismissed it.

“I didn’t mean to.”

He seemed to accept this.

“Come on, Danni. Let’s get to the tavern, I need a rest and I have to go soon.”

“I need a rest,” she’d said, strapping herself into the passenger seat of his car.

He threw her a look that set her on fire, and she reached out her hand, stroked his lightly. He turned then, and kissed her mouth. Deeply, full of promise. Her hands twined into his hair and she thrilled, felt her whole body reacting to him.

Just as they were approaching the gate, a bird swooped low overhead, then another and another. Turning, she was bombarded by a flock of them, though they were just NPCs and did not damage her.

“Wtf?”

The graphics of the game had always been amazing, but this level of immersion was something else. She wondered if she was stoned, she thought she might have smoked a joint before she came online.

He was standing to the side, his character looking after the birds, and she had the impression he was thoughtful.

“They see, they know.”

This statement chilled her to the bone, though she couldn’t say why.

She found her trainer in the tavern and tried to spark the interaction, but the trainer would not engage with her. And though she knew she had the right one, she once again double checked it was the trainer for her class. Frustrated she emoted slapping his face.

There was a glitch in the graphics, another and the face of the trainer was suddenly looking directly at her. She felt a wave of true fear flow through her, followed by another intense chill.

A speech bubble formed over the NPCs head. With mounting dread, she read it.

“You should not be here.”

And though she had not seen any change of movement, when she looked back at the NPC, his face was bland again and he was looking into the middle distance, somewhere to her right as he had been before, and the speech bubble had vanished.

She checked her general chat, there was nothing, the NPCs speech had not registered there.

“Holy fuck, did you see that?”

Al’s character just stood there looking at her, infinite sadness in his finely pixelated expression. And he did not reply to her.

Frantically, she flipped through the other chat windows, trying to find the NPCs comment, and she came to the community chat from earlier.

“Yeah, I’m heart-broken.”

“Yeah, I know. He was in a coma, brain-dead. They switched off the machine yesterday.”

“Oh god, his poor family.”

“Al was one of the best, he’d do anything for you.”

“How fast it happens, car crash. What a way to go.”

With horror, she looked at his character.

“I have to go now.”

And he initiated log-off. She wanted to reach out to him, to stop him leaving her, watched the seconds ticking down over his head.

“No!”

They were on the last stretch, approaching his hometown, her hand resting on his leg, sexual tension spiking. She stroked her hand up and down his thigh, watching his expression out of the corner of her eye. He turned, grinned at her, took her hand and pressed it to his crotch, and she felt his erection though his jeans.

There was a bend in the road ahead and he slowed to take it. As though in slow motion, they rounded the bend and there was a car in their path overtaking. She could see the horror in the other driver’s eyes, and without thought her arms flew up to protect her head.

“NO!”

“Al, don’t leave me!”

His character vanished and a darkness closed in from the edges of her vision. Terrified, Danni read her very last sentence before the world became black.

“But poor Danni, she died on impact.”