Short Story : Bad Resolution
“Hey Pete, take a look at this.”
Pete put down his lunch, which consisted of a cheese and ham sandwich and a bag of salt and vinegar crisps, and took a look at the ipad screen that Steve had thrust under his nose. The screen showed an image of… something. Pete couldn’t quite make out what it was, the resolution was so poor.
“What is it?” he asked Steve, squinting at the screen. He noticed some of the pixels change almost subliminally, but he still couldn’t make out what it was.
“It’s a video,” Steve answered, “It arrived in my inbox this morning. I didn’t recognise the address, but it’s a bit weird.”
“You probably shouldn’t have opened it,” Pete warned, “it might have a virus embedded in it or anything. Maybe this has pixelated all of your videos - your ipad might be screwed!”
“No, everything else is fine,” Steve said, “it’s just this one video. I really want to find out what it is.”
Pete furrowed his brow, “But you can’t – the quality is too bad. You’ll never get a good view of what it’s supposed to be.”
Steve smiled, “I have my ways,” he said, “When I get home I’ll do a bit of tweaking on my system there. I’m sure I can figure it out.”
Pete shrugged, “Well, if you want to waste your time, you can. It’s no skin off my nose.”
“It won’t be a waste of time.” Steve said, “come around tonight at about eight. We can take a look at it together. I finish early today, so when you get off work just head on over.”
Later that evening, as Pete left work at around seven thirty, a message came through on his phone. He flicked the screen and looked at who it was from.
It was from Steve.
Opening the message, he saw that all it contained was a video attachment. Opening the attachment he saw it was the same video Steve had been showing him earlier. Pete furrowed his brow – what was the point in that? He was heading over to Steve’s now to see how he’d progressed with cleaning up the resolution on the video, so why send him the original grainy one?
Pete climbed into his car and started the engine, pulling out of his work carpark and heading onto the main road. As he drove, Pete thought to himself about how it seemed a bit weird that Steve had sent him the video. Glancing at the message on his phone again, he suddenly noticed that, rather than being sent just to him, the video had been forwarded to a large mailing list. In fact it looked like it had been forwarded to Steve’s entire address book. Pete tutted;
“It probably was a virus then,” he told himself, “forwarding itself onto the recipients entire address book.”
This had happened to another friend of his before, and really annoyingly it had looked as if the message had come from him, even the wording. This one was a little lazier, what with there being no message and just an attachment. Pete shook his head, realising what a waste of time this visit to Steve’s was going to be. At least, he hoped, he might get a couple of beers out of it.
Pete pulled in to Steve’s driveway, parking behind Steve’s truck and climbing out of the car. Walking up to the front door, he noticed how quiet it was. He stood on the porch, pressing the doorbell. It chimed eerily, but there was no reply. Trying again, Pete tried to peer through the window pane in the door, then noticed that the door wasn’t locked.
Cautiously, Pete eased the door open and stepped into the hallway. There were lights on, but he couldn’t hear anyone in the house.
“Hello?” Pete called out, waiting for a response, but there was none.
He walked into Steve’s living room, but there was no-one there. Confused, Pete wandered to Steve’s bedroom, but there was no-one there either.
Finally he found himself in Steve’s study room, where he saw Steve sat in front of a computer screen. The screen was flickering silently, and Steve wasn’t moving.
“Steve?” Pete half-asked, reaching out slowly to touch him on the shoulder. As he did so, Steve’s chair swivelled round and Pete staggered backwards in terror.
Steve’s dead face was a mask of horror, his eyes wide in fear and his mouth hanging open as if in mid scream. His hair had turned a strange shade of white and his nose was covered in dry blood, as if it had haemorrhaged recently.
Pete’s eyes moved from Steve’s dead body to the computer screen. The words ‘conversion complete’ were written on the right-hand screen, while Media Player was open on the left screen. Clearly it had recently played a video, and two words were written on the screen that sent a chill up Pete’s spine;
‘PLAY AGAIN?’
Originally Posted 31/12/2014
Result - Joint 3rd Place
Pete put down his lunch, which consisted of a cheese and ham sandwich and a bag of salt and vinegar crisps, and took a look at the ipad screen that Steve had thrust under his nose. The screen showed an image of… something. Pete couldn’t quite make out what it was, the resolution was so poor.
“What is it?” he asked Steve, squinting at the screen. He noticed some of the pixels change almost subliminally, but he still couldn’t make out what it was.
“It’s a video,” Steve answered, “It arrived in my inbox this morning. I didn’t recognise the address, but it’s a bit weird.”
“You probably shouldn’t have opened it,” Pete warned, “it might have a virus embedded in it or anything. Maybe this has pixelated all of your videos - your ipad might be screwed!”
“No, everything else is fine,” Steve said, “it’s just this one video. I really want to find out what it is.”
Pete furrowed his brow, “But you can’t – the quality is too bad. You’ll never get a good view of what it’s supposed to be.”
Steve smiled, “I have my ways,” he said, “When I get home I’ll do a bit of tweaking on my system there. I’m sure I can figure it out.”
Pete shrugged, “Well, if you want to waste your time, you can. It’s no skin off my nose.”
“It won’t be a waste of time.” Steve said, “come around tonight at about eight. We can take a look at it together. I finish early today, so when you get off work just head on over.”
Later that evening, as Pete left work at around seven thirty, a message came through on his phone. He flicked the screen and looked at who it was from.
It was from Steve.
Opening the message, he saw that all it contained was a video attachment. Opening the attachment he saw it was the same video Steve had been showing him earlier. Pete furrowed his brow – what was the point in that? He was heading over to Steve’s now to see how he’d progressed with cleaning up the resolution on the video, so why send him the original grainy one?
Pete climbed into his car and started the engine, pulling out of his work carpark and heading onto the main road. As he drove, Pete thought to himself about how it seemed a bit weird that Steve had sent him the video. Glancing at the message on his phone again, he suddenly noticed that, rather than being sent just to him, the video had been forwarded to a large mailing list. In fact it looked like it had been forwarded to Steve’s entire address book. Pete tutted;
“It probably was a virus then,” he told himself, “forwarding itself onto the recipients entire address book.”
This had happened to another friend of his before, and really annoyingly it had looked as if the message had come from him, even the wording. This one was a little lazier, what with there being no message and just an attachment. Pete shook his head, realising what a waste of time this visit to Steve’s was going to be. At least, he hoped, he might get a couple of beers out of it.
Pete pulled in to Steve’s driveway, parking behind Steve’s truck and climbing out of the car. Walking up to the front door, he noticed how quiet it was. He stood on the porch, pressing the doorbell. It chimed eerily, but there was no reply. Trying again, Pete tried to peer through the window pane in the door, then noticed that the door wasn’t locked.
Cautiously, Pete eased the door open and stepped into the hallway. There were lights on, but he couldn’t hear anyone in the house.
“Hello?” Pete called out, waiting for a response, but there was none.
He walked into Steve’s living room, but there was no-one there. Confused, Pete wandered to Steve’s bedroom, but there was no-one there either.
Finally he found himself in Steve’s study room, where he saw Steve sat in front of a computer screen. The screen was flickering silently, and Steve wasn’t moving.
“Steve?” Pete half-asked, reaching out slowly to touch him on the shoulder. As he did so, Steve’s chair swivelled round and Pete staggered backwards in terror.
Steve’s dead face was a mask of horror, his eyes wide in fear and his mouth hanging open as if in mid scream. His hair had turned a strange shade of white and his nose was covered in dry blood, as if it had haemorrhaged recently.
Pete’s eyes moved from Steve’s dead body to the computer screen. The words ‘conversion complete’ were written on the right-hand screen, while Media Player was open on the left screen. Clearly it had recently played a video, and two words were written on the screen that sent a chill up Pete’s spine;
‘PLAY AGAIN?’
Originally Posted 31/12/2014
Result - Joint 3rd Place
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