The Dark Web

A Story by Josalynn Marie

The dangers of the dark web have been unmasked.

During college final year, a friend of mine (Rakesh) suggested to check out Dark Web, and a French website where we can earn by betting. I know what you’re thinking, and I thought that too:

A French gambling website? Sounds trustworthy.

However, Rakesh swore to me that the site was legit and it only used PayPal as the payment method, so my mind was somewhat put at ease.

So on a Sunday, I was bored and decided to finally give it a shot. I was put off by bad English used on the welcome page but oh well. Registration was painless and it took only a few minutes before I was in the roulette lobby. I had around $100 in my Paypal account which I had earned online, so I bought $100 worth of virtual chips.

The site offered three rooms where I could play, but they were all full. I kept refreshing the page but spaces weren’t opening. I was losing patience. I decided I’d refresh one more time and if it was still full, I’d peace out. Crap, if they don’t want my money, someone else would gladly take it. I hit the refresh button and something changed. The whole layout of the page was suddenly completely different. The original, unappealing brown-ish page was now all black, but more notably, there was only one link on it. A link to a virtual room named “Erreur.”

I found this really strange. I thought that I might have clicked on one of those annoying banner adds (that got pass AdBlock somehow) so I clicked the “back” button, but nothing changed. Whatever man, I already said goodbye to that $100, so let’s try this crap. I clicked on the lobby and after the page asking me if I was sure I wanted to enter (which I found strange, almost as if they didn’t want my money), I got inside the stupid thing finally.

I am not sure if you guys ever played online roulette, but this is how it works (at least the ones I played in). You are connected through a live webcam to some craphole casino. You choose your numbers and place your bets and then watch the dealer spin the wheel in real time and see what you won (or lost most likely). It’s almost like being there. So the webcam loads and the first thing I notice is this girl, I swear she couldn’t have been older than 15-16. She was short, skinny, and blonde. I immediately noticed that she looked tired. They’re probably overworking her like a mule I thought to myself. It seemed like her table was on some sort of a platform because I could see the rest of the room behind her. There were approximately 5 card tables, all full. The place seemed awfully quiet. Then, my desire to lose money kicked in and I decided to place my first bet.

$5 on odd numbers.

All bets are in!

The girl said quietly as she spun the wheel. Usually, dealers yell out that line as a part of the show. I guess these guys were all business.

16.

Crap. $95 left. I wrote down the number in my notebook because that was part of my system. Writing all the numbers down so I can predict the future. Brilliant, right? (not really)

$10 on odd numbers.

All bets are in!

The little butthead ball stopped at 12. God dang it. Oh well, still got $85 left.

$20 on odd numbers.

As she spun the wheel I started noticing something strange in the room. It almost seemed like nobody…

Heck yeah. Won $40. Up to $125. Maybe this place isn’t so bad. $10 on odd again. Yeah, I know, my system is strange.

All bets are in!

she said again. As the ball was slowing down, I looked more over the background of the room. I was right a minute ago when I felt something strange. Nobody in the freaking room was moving. At all.

While I was excited about my account balance going up, I couldn’t help but feel weird about this situation. I mean, nobody was doing even so much as moving a finger. 5 tables, 6 people plus a dealer at each of them. Even the waitress in the back, holding a tray with drinks on it. And they all stood and sat still. I tried rationalizing it by assuming that the website had added a still picture background behind the dealer for the effect of a real casino, but man, this place seemed way too realistic to only be a picture. My timer started beeping and I had to make another bet.

$20 on odd.

As the girl spun the thing, I kept studying her background. I became intrigued by the strange situation that was going on behind her. I mean, there was no way this was a photoshopped picture. They just weren’t moving.

19.

Yes sir, won another $40. Hey, if I can keep winning, these dudes don’t ever have to move as far as I’m concerned.

$20 on odd.

I decided to start paying attention to the girl a little bit more. What else was there to do? It’s not like anyone else was moving. As I said, she was young. She seemed tired and perhaps a little worried. At times, it seemed like she was looking directly at me, but I was sure I was just imagining things.

Won another $40.

I won't give you play by play now, but I placed 4 more bets, winning two of them. I was sitting at nearly $200 at that point. But then, the curiosity started kicking in. These stupid people still weren’t moving. And it wasn’t a stupid added photoshopped image, either. Something wasn’t right. I decided to keep playing just so I can watch these strange individuals.

$40 on odd.

I noticed a chat feature to the left of the webcam feed. I decided to type a quick “Hi" to see if I'd get a response. As I started typing, a saw a man walk through the room. Told you it wasn't a picture. He was dressed in a black coat with the collar popped up so I couldn't make much out of him. He was moving very slowly between the tables. He stopped by one of them. Then he bent down and started looking at one of the men who sat there. Like right in front of his face, an inch from it. Just stared at him, and the seated dude didn't even so much as flinch. Weird crap man.

13.

My balance was now nearly $230 but I didn’t care. I wanted to know what was going on here. I zoomed in on the man. The webcam feed wasn’t HD so I couldn't make details of the man's face, but I could tell one thing that disturbed me. The man was all in black and white. His skin color was visibly different than the still people around him, I could tell that even though the few pixels French camera offered. What the heck?, I thought. The timer started beeping again.

Screw it, $20 on odd.

I zoomed in again. The black and white man stood up from staring at the motionless card player and walked over to the wall of the room. He started licking the freaking wall, I crap you not. He stood in front of a wall and just started licking it. His tongue seemed unnaturally long even over the low res camera. Not sure if it was his colorlessness, but the stupid tongue appeared black. The wall had bright red wallpaper, which just enhanced this man’s unnatural lack of color. Just as I was about to let out an audible What in the heck is going on here?, the dealer girl interrupted me, almost as if she knew that I was about to break the silent atmosphere of the French casino from the Twilight Zone.

Five! She yelled.

I got startled a little and zoomed back out. I won again, but I didn’t care. I was more focused on a man who appeared to be in black and white and licking a freaking casino wall.

Now, take a second and imagine being in this weird situation. You’re sitting alone in your dark room, it’s 2am, and you’re casually gambling when you notice that nobody besides your dealer is moving in the casino. Then, a man who appears to be colorless starts walking through the place, staring at people and licking walls.

I had to keep placing bets to stay in the lobby.

$100 on odd.

The man had stopped licking the wall and started moving again. He walked over to one of the dealers at the other table. He placed his arm on the dealer's shoulder. Then I heard him say something. It sounded like "Say Tua” if that makes any sense. As he said that, the dealer turned around. That was the first time someone had moved other than my dealer girl and the colorless person.

One! yelled the girl. I swear it seemed like she knew I wasn't paying attention to her and she wanted me to. I won again, but at that point, I didn't care.

The other dealer stared at the man with the utter horror on his face. He didn’t say anything, just stared at him.

$200 on odd.

The staring lasted for about 30 seconds. I started typing a message in the chat box to the right. I wrote, "Hey, what’s happening over there?” The dealer girl didn’t seem to react when I pressed “send”. Perhaps the chat option was there just for aesthetics, I don’t know.

Eleven!

Somehow, I kept winning. But money was secondary at that point. I needed to know what was going on.

$200 on Even.

The dealer next to the man started shaking uncontrollably. Then he muttered something like “Non” to the man and collapsed. Like just fell in front of him. The man didn’t move, just looked down at the motionless body of the dealer. Nobody else in the room moved, not even my girl. I yelled “What the heck!” at the computer and that’s when it all changed. Every man and woman in the room turned and looked at me. I swear to you, every single person looked straight at me. They didn’t move, just looked towards me. The dealer girl seemed terrified beyond belief. She quickly pressed a button next to her table. The man without color slowly turned in my direction. He started walking towards my table. I got the message in the chat box.

Run.

I had shivers go down my spine a few times before, but never like this. I mean, I knew they couldn’t get to me through the screen, but the overall creepiness of the situation got the best of me.

The man walked up to the webcam and started staring at me. There was no doubt: he was in black and white. Now, I don’t know how to rationalize that crap. A glitch? Poor camera? Video editing? I don't know, but I do know that he was the only one colorless on the screen. The rest of the people were still looking towards me as well.

The man's eyes were open as wide as humanly possible. He seemed to be studying me. I was scared man, but I was mesmerized, unable to quit the game. He got closer to the camera and all I could see now were his eyes, looking into me. Could he see me? I don't think so. I hope not. But those eyes, man, those eyes. They seemed cruel and terrifyingly cold. They were also black and white, like the rest of the man. When he moved back, I nearly fell out of my chair. All the people from the casino were now standing behind the man. 30+ still people were staring at me, with their eyes open way too wide. They weren’t moving. I have no idea how they got there so fast; the man took up the screen for only a few seconds.

The only one who didn’t seem like she belonged there was the dealer girl. She seemed absolutely petrified. The man turned towards her, then looked back at me. It was almost as if he noticed that she was out of place in that twilight room. He walked over and stopped behind her. She was shivering. “O..o…one” she muttered, obviously terrified by the man behind her. He started putting his arms around her shoulders. I yelled. I screamed at the screen.

“What the heck are you people doing!” I yelled.

The man started smiling. I can’t begin to explain to you how strange and surreal this experience was. A colorless man was looking at me, smiling, while wrapping his arm around the girl.

She looked at me. I could tell she knew I was still watching. She seemed at peace. Like she knew this was it.

She finally said, with little energy in her voice:

“Thank… thank you for playing with us today… And don’t forget your numbers!”

As she said that, the man’s arms went up to her neck with unnatural and inhuman speed. At that moment, the lobby closed.

I was back at the original, brown roulette page. My account balance was $520.

I sat there, stunned. I was sure I hallucinated, dreamt, something along those lines. This couldn’t have been real. I mean, come on, man. Colorless dude walking through the motionless casino, doing weird crap, and finally looking at me through the camera? Come on. Still, I like to believe that I am a sane person, and I know I wasn’t imagining. That crap did happen. I went to bed and although I had troubles forgetting this impossible incident, I fell asleep. When I woke up yesterday morning, the casino was the first thing on my mind. My initial thought was to try and get back into that lobby.

Heck, that. I decided that it was some sort of a prank. I went on with my day. But, you know what, that stupid thing stuck with me the whole time. What the heck was it? I kept analyzing. I tried talking to Rakesh about it, but he just laughed at me. I told him the whole story. At the end of me trying to convince him that I wasn’t lying, I remembered the girl’s last words.

“And don’t forget your numbers!”

That wasn’t something dealers say to you at the end of the game. I went back to my notebook and looked at the numbers I got that night. At least I’ve written down most of the numbers from the night before.

16 12 5 1 19 5 8 5 12 16 13 5

And the last three numbers I didn’t write down because I was too focused on the stupid horror on my screen. I spent a good few hours analyzing, trying to figure out a pattern. I had no luck. Once again, I decided that someone was just freaking with me. I let the whole thing go. No, I didn’t. I went back on the website and withdrew all the money back to my PayPal account, just in case. Then I went on with my day.

By this morning, I have all but forgotten about the freaky night at the French online casino. I had two classes today. In the second class, Lecturer was talking about some game where you must decipher a puzzle. He gave it to the class to solve it. I’ll be honest, I didn’t do crap. So, finally, he called for someone to come out in front of the class and demonstrate how they solved it. A guy came out and started explaining all these principles he used. Again, I wasn't paying much attention, but one thing he said did catch my ear. He mentioned numbers. Numbers corresponding to letters.

I knew that this was the solution. I went back home after college and opened my notebook.

16 is P.

12 is L.

5 is E.

1 is A.

19 is S.

5 is E.

Please.

8 is H.

5 is E.

12 is L.

16 is P.

Help.

13 is M.

5 is E.

Me.

Please help me. That young girl, trapped inside the horror casino was begging for help and I was too stupid to pay attention. Was this a prank? I don’t know. A coincidence? Hardly.

I didn’t know what to do. I tried logging into the website again, but it was completely normal. There was no “Hata" lobby. I was, and still, am, helpless.

I spent hours leading up to me writing this thinking, thinking and overanalyzing what could have happened. I googled every phrase I could think of but to no luck.

And then, just as I started writing this, I remembered the last 3 numbers.

1, 11, and 1.

A, K, and A.

The first three letters of my name. Would’ve probably gotten the other two letters/numbers if the situation didn’t escalate. I felt sick. My knees suddenly became weak.

This wasn’t a coincidence.

What was worse, they know my name.