THE MIND BEHIND THE SCREEN

A Horror Mystery by Reid FitzHugh

By Reid FitzHugh
Case File FP-6
At an old abandoned house, there was a report of a missing person. This persons name was
Billy Jones. No trace of him was found except for a tattered diary and an audio tape.
5/1/47
Today there was an interesting article in the newspaper. You know how people have developed
semi-sentient voices for smartphones? Well, they have given TVs the same treatment. They
memorize your TV watching habits and can bring up channels by voice command. That seems
convenient, but it is too expensive, so I can live without it.
5/3/47
So there was a sale on the new TVs at the mall today. They only cost $500, which seemed
cheap for a supposedly advanced piece of hardware. Ill set it up tomorrow.
5/4/47
I set up the TV today, and it actually does live up to the advertising! The voice commands
actually work quite well and dont reject your speech randomly like other voice recognition
programs do. I remember one time a speech-to-text program misinterpreted me saying the word
fun as a certain swear. I could get used to this thing.
5/6/47
Okay, so something weird happened today. The TV suddenly changed to the news when I was
watching a cooking show. A bug in the programming, perhaps?
5/8/47
The TV seems to be switching channels more frequently now, with no clear pattern. If this keeps
up, Ill have to return the thing.
5/9/47
Something odd happened today. I got fed up with the TV and yelled Work correctly, you wreck!
at it. The unit took me completely by surprise and responded by saying Sorry. The TV had
never responded to voice commands before. Maybe it was programmed in by the manufacturer
to apologize in case it was a defective unit? Who knows.
5/10/47
The TV is working properly again. I have no idea why. Does it have a mind of its own, or what?
5/12/47

Oh, lord. Something very odd happened last night. I was woken up in bed by a noise from
downstairs, possibly something falling over. I went to investigate, but when I got downstairs, the
TV was on, playing static. Odd, because I was sure that I turned it off before going to bed. When
I went to turn it off, though, I swear I heard a voice saying DONT. I hurriedly turned the TV off
and ran back upstairs, but I couldnt sleep. Something is wrong here. Im going to return the TV
tomorrow, I dont feel safe around it anymore.
5/13/47
Just great. I tried going back to the store which sold me the TV, but they would not give me a
refund. Enraged, I stormed into the managers office, but he didnt believe a word I said. Then, I
called the manufacturer of the TV. I got a recording saying that the number was no longer in
use. That couldnt have been right, they were in the news reporting top profits a week ago. I
have no idea whats going on anymore.
5/14/47
I tried watching the TV again today and it was working fine. Either this thing has a mind of its
own and is toying with me, or Im going insane.
5/18/47
After a couple days of nothing happening, something horrifying happened. I was watching a
generic slapstick cartoon. Nothing special, right? Well, near the end, the violence got more
realistic, and the characters sounded like they were actually feeling pain. At the end, someone
got their head smashed in with a hammer, but the creepy thing is that it was quite realistic.
There was actually blood spurting and a loud crunch. The character holding the hammer then
looked right at me, with red eyes and an evil grin stretched across his face. I turned the TV off
immediately, but I couldnt get that image out of my head. There is something very wrong with
this TV, but I cant figure out what.
5/21/47
I was scared to turn the TV on today, but it is working fine again. I am quite unsettled by this.
5/22/47
I asked other people if they were having any issues with their TVs, and they all said they were
working fine. Nobody reported any kind of bug with the speech recognition or the image quality.
Something is seriously up. I am quite concerned about my mental health.
5/23/47
Oh. Lord. I am convinced that the TV is evil. It is aware of my existence. I know this because it
was playing static again in the middle of the night. The static turned red and the words IM
WATCHING YOU appeared on the static. To make matters worse, the power button appears to
have broken, as it took me a few tries to turn the thing off. I cant sleep, so Im writing this to
calm my nerves. Im sure everything will be fine in the morning.
5/26/47

Ive made a decision. Im going to destroy the TV. I cant take this paranoia anymore. It would be
nice to find out what exactly causes its oddities, but I need to be able to sleep again. I just need
to buy a sledgehammer
5/27/47
No. My world is crumbling around me. I went to destroy the TV with my new hammer, but it
suddenly turned on with static playing. That was surprising, but I just thought that since the
power button was broken, it just spontaneously turned on. However, suddenly, the face of a
skinless, eyeless man appeared on the screen and screamed DONT YOU DARE. I was so
shocked, I accidentally threw the hammer into the air. The hammer then crashed onto my legs.
As I screamed and writhed in pain, the face laughed then shut itself off. Im in the hospital now,
writing this. I cant take this anymore.
6/14/47
Well, I finally got out of the hospital. I thought my life would improve from here. But then I got
home, and the TV was still there. No such luck. I asked the doctor to destroy it, but he didnt
believe me. He must have been questioning my sanity. Im starting to question it as well.
6/23/47
This will be my last diary entry. My own demise is imminent. The TV gave me a new message
today. Written in blood, on the static. It read GOODBYE FOREVER. I then picked up the
hammer and smashed the TV, but I know its still alive. I cant take any chances. Its after me. To
anyone who ever knew me, goodbye.
The contents of the audiocassette are transcribed as follows:
Wh-what the?!
HELLO AGAIN, MORTAL.
I smashed you! How-?
I AM YOUR OWN INSANITY. AS LONG AS YOU BREATHE, I EXIST.
Thats impossible!
THIS IS YOUR OWN PERSONAL HELL.
What? NO!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
NOOOOOOOO!!
The tape then fades into static, while tortured screams are heard.
END OF FILE