This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/Relative-Obscurity on 2024-10-18 17:30:16+00:00.

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Fourteen weeks had passed since an old cracked cell phone was left on our doorstep and my daughter had fallen under its curse.

I thought I had destroyed it, back at the abandoned train station that her friend Bobby and I had rescued her from. But by the time we got home, the device’s now even more cracked display had somehow turned back on and, sure enough, Rebecca was scrolling away at it again, her face illuminated by the light of its screen.

Not knowing what else to do, and fearing Rebecca might be discovered, my wife and I fired up our camper and brought her deep into the woods upstate, where we holed up and waited. Waited for what we hoped would be a cure to her obsession. But week after week, she kept scrolling…

…And scrolling…

…And scrolling…

…While I wrestled between prying the cursed phone from her hand, and risking another violent attack, or leaving her alone.

Ultimately, I chose the latter, and let her be, as she simply sat there, day by day, at the campfire, scrolling away on her phone in silence.

And then one day, just as my wife and I were adapting to our new life in the forest, my daughter suddenly…

…Stopped scrolling, as she looked up from the phone, placed it in the grass beside her, stood up, and stretched.

“What’s for dinner, dad?”

“Um, what’s that, dear?” I replied, shocked to hear her voice.

“I’m hungry.”

“Oh, um, don’t worry, Becca. Dinner’s almost ready.” I said, as my wife stepped out of the camper, a look of both shock and happiness in her eyes.

An hour later, as we all sat around the fire, eating some charred burgers that I had cooked too long, having been distracted by the recent development, we tried to catch up with her.

“So, honey, are you okay now?” My wife asked our daughter.

“Yeah, mom. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You know, ‘cause of the whole scrolling thing. You relapsed, Becca. For fourteen weeks, we’ve been waiting for you to… get better.” I said.

“I’m better now, don’t worry, dad.”

“But, what happened?” My wife continued to pry, trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. “How did you get better?”

“I got to the end.” My daughter said.

“The end of what?” I asked.

“The scroll.” She replied in a matter of fact fashion, as she chomped away at her dinner.

“And what’s at the end?” My wife asked.

“Nothing. That’s why I stopped.”

“And what were you scrolling through?” I continued.

But my daughter didn’t answer. She simply took her last bite, stood up, and walked off to the tent she had built not far from the camper.

“I’m tired.” Rebecca said, as disappeared into the tent.

I looked at my wife, who gave me the same look she always did, when I asked that question.

“Come on, eventually someone has to tell me what’s on that phone. Or should I scroll myself?” I threatened, picking up the old cracked phone from the grass.

“Honey, please. Just stop.” My wife pleaded.

“Just tell me.” I insisted.

“We’re lucky she stopped. Let’s just be thankful for that and move past it.”

“Stopped for how long? Erica, it’s time I know.”

“You really want to know?”

I looked down at the old cracked phone. “Yes.”

“Bodies.” My wife said.

“Bodies?”

“Dead bodies. Just photo after photo of dead bodies.”

I stopped for a moment to process what she was telling me.

“You’re telling me that she’s been scrolling through photos of dead bodies for months now?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“But why? It happened to you too. What about them is so addictive?” I asked.

“I honestly don’t know. But then again, what about social media is so addictive?” She joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“You have a point.” I said, looking back to the phone. “Well, I guess I’d better go destroy it either way.”

I stood up, but before I could take a step, my wife interrupted.

“No. Let me do it.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, all you’ve been doing is complaining about how tired you are. And having been under its spell before, I’d like to destroy it myself. In fact, there are some rocks by the river that would work perfectly for that very purpose.”

“Alright.” I agreed, not thinking much of it, trusting my wife of many years.

And like that, Erica set off into the woods, as I returned to the camper, where I went I passed out in the bed in the back of the vehicle, where my wife and I slept.

Later that night, I was suddenly awoken by the sound of the camper door opening.

Assuming it was my wife having returned from destroying the phone, I didn’t think much of it.

“Honey, close the door, the mosquitoes will get in.” I mumbled into the darkness, as I tried to fall back asleep.

But she neither complied, nor replied.

“Erica?” I asked, once again met with silence.

That’s when I felt a sharp metal object plunge into my shoulder.

“AAARGHHHH!” I screamed out in pain, as my attacker swung at me again but missed.

Not knowing what else to do, and unable to see in the dark, I made a dash for the door of the camper, and ran outside, where the light of the moon was bright enough to illuminate my assailant.

“Becca?” I asked, as I saw my daughter lashing at me with a steak knife that she must have found at the grill.

“Dad, you’ve gotta die.” She said with a blank stare, her eyes rolled back in her head, as she walked slowly towards me."

“Rebecca, stop!” I cried out, as I backed away, attempting to snap her out of her trance.

“Dad, just let me.” She said.

“But why dear? Why are you doing this?”

“I told you. The scroll. It ended. We need more bodies.”

I continued to back away, but must have tripped over the smoldering fire pit, and fell to the ground nearby.

That’s when she seized the opportunity, and lashed out at me again, this time plunging her blade into my leg.

“AAARGHHHH!” I screamed out again.

As my daughter tried to remove the knife, surely intent on attacking me again, we locked eyes, and I saw up close and personal, the inside of her hollow eyes, as they rolled back in her head.

Wounded and unsure of what to do, I suddenly remembered that Erica had gone off to the river, and realized that she was probably still out there.

Seeking my wife’s help, I pushed my daughter away and painfully hobbled to my feet, before limping off into the woods.

“Daaadddy, why are you running?” My daughter called out eerily into the forest, as she casually walked through the woods behind me.

I didn’t reply. I simply stared in the direction of the river, as I could hear its waters streaming away close by.

“Daddy, I want to scroll. And I can’t scroll without more photos.” Rebecca called out again, as she began to close in on me.

But I continued to keep quiet and hobbled on, as I could feel the blood draining from my body, knowing that if I could just get to my wife, she might be able to help overtake Rebecca and mend my wounds.

But when I arrived at the riverbed, I found Erica sitting on a rock by the river, scrolling away on the old cracked phone with a hypnotized look on her face, her desire to scroll having clearly overcome her mission to destroy it.

I limped over to my wife and tried to pry it out of her hand.

“Honey, get off the phone! Rebecca, she’s trying to kill me! Help!” I exclaimed.

But my wife simply growled at me, lashing at my skin with her nails, before snatching the phone back.

My skin burning from the scratches, I leapt back, landing on my wounded leg, only to hear my daughter closing in from behind me.

I turned to look at Rebecca, as she approached, then back at my wife, who had returned to scrolling.

Unsure of which direction to go, I walked back to my wife and ripped the phone from her hand as hard as I could, causing her to cry out in horror and swing at me, knocking me into the shallow river, where my body was half-submerged into water.

My wife stood up, hopped into the river, and began attacking me, desperately trying to get the phone back, as my daughter joined in and began shoving my head underwater, attempting to drown me.

“Just die already, dad.” Rebecca said, in a hauntingly matter of fact tone.

Lying there in the river, my head submerged under water as I held my breath, I did the only thing I could think of, taking the old cracked phone that I was still holding in my hand, and plunging it into the river behind me, holding it there for as long as possible.

A good minute or two must have gone by, as I struggled to hold my breath while they continued to attack me, until I eventually couldn’t hold it anymore, and resigned to die there in the river, a victim of the old cracked phone’s curse.

Until suddenly, just as my eyes were glazing over and I couldn’t hold my breath any longer, my wife and daughter stopped what they were doing, and backed away, out of the water and onto the dry land of the river bed.

“What happened?” My wife asked, awaking from her trance, as I sat up in the river, coughing frantically. She turned her gaze from my scratched body to her bloody fingernails, and her eyes opened wide in horror.

“Where are we?” My daughter added, as she too, turned her stare from my wounded, bleeding body to her own, which was completely soaked in my blood, and had the same reaction.

As I continued to clear the river’s water from my lungs, I looked down to find my hand still clenching the old cracked phone cell phone.

I looked back at my wife and daugh…

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