I don't know why I signed up for it. I guess I was just bored and wanted some excitement. Having a weak immune system sucked even before COVID, but it became so much worse with the pandemic. I felt like I couldn't go anywhere or I could die. So for the last two and a half years, I've worked from home, gotten groceries delivered, and done all my shopping online. Also, I'm single and have no kids. My dating life was barely alive before, and since the pandemic started, it has been in a coma.

My only communication is through work, which is mostly just emails, as I'm a freelance writer. I've barely talked to anyone these past couple of years, so I think it was the loneliness and boredom that led me to click on the link.

It started as advertisements on websites after I searched for the best horror movies to watch. Those are my favorite kinds of films, and I'm always looking for low-budget indie ones or foreign ones that I haven't seen.

I didn't notice the ads at first since I tend to ignore them. But it eventually became the only ad I would see. The ads were pretty basic. They had "fear 4 life" written in white over a black bar. Then it had that fake glitch where the words would blur and move before fading to black. When the words were gone, I could see a faint skull hidden underneath all the black.

I had been noticing it for about a week and finally clicked on it after an extra slow stretch of work. It took me to a website called fear4life.com. There wasn't much to the website. On the bottom was a countdown until Halloween, along with a counter and map so you could see where the webpage visitors were from. I think I may have been the first visitor since it didn’t show any page views when I first went there. There was also text that stated, "Are you ready to fear 4 life?"

I figured being scared would be better than being bored out of my mind, so why not (although I didn't expect anything to happen anyway). I clicked on the link, and it just went to a blank page at first. I was waiting for something else to happen, like a signup page or more information to appear, but there was nothing.

After staring at the page for a while, I clicked in the middle, and then it went to another page that stated, "Congratulations! You have been approved to fear 4 the rest of your life. But don't worry, it will all end on October 31!"

I wasn't sure if it was trying to say that being afraid would be over at the end of October or if my life would be over. Of course, it was just some silly website, and I didn't even enter any personal information. I wondered how it was supposed to work. Maybe the website put cookies on my computer, or I accepted notifications without realizing it. I put my computer on standby and got ready for bed.

That night, I woke up at midnight and thought I heard a noise. I quietly climbed out of bed and walked over to my door. I stood still and listened. It sounded like someone was whispering something down the hall. I tried to hear what was being said, but it was just gibberish; I couldn't make out any words.

I reached under my bed and grabbed the baseball bat I kept there for emergencies. Then I returned to my doorway.

Looking down the hall, I saw a faint glow coming from the entrance to my office. The whispering continued and grew faster as I went down the hallway. When I came up to the door to the office, it suddenly got quiet. I leaned around the entrance to look in and didn't see anyone in the room. I noticed the green light above my monitor, signaling that the camera was running. The monitor was turned on, but the screen was blank.

I walked over to the camera and leaned in to cover the lens. Suddenly, an old man appeared on the monitor and began the loud whispering I had heard earlier. It startled me, and I stumbled backward, falling onto the ground.

The man's eyes darted toward me, and he screamed. There wasn't much lighting on him, but I could see the bone through the skin on his face, and his eyeballs looked like they were floating in the sockets. He had no eyelids or tissue around them. I got up and turned off the monitor, averting my eyes from the screen as best I could.

Now with my heart beating fast and that horrible image of the man stuck in my head, it was going to be tough to fall back to sleep. Tomorrow, I would deal with what I was sure was a virus on my computer from that stupid website.

I went back to my room and climbed into my bed. The clock showed 12:30am. I closed my eyes for a long time and didn't think I would fall back asleep. But when I looked at my clock again, it was 2:45am. I started to close my eyes again when I heard someone knocking. It sounded like it was coming from the front door.

I picked up my bat again and went to check it out. I had curtains covering the sidelights windows on each side of the door, so I couldn't see what was out there. However, I could tell something was moving outside from the shadows the porch light created.

I pulled back a tiny portion of the curtain and looked out. There was nothing in front of the door. The porch extended in front of my living room, so I went to look out those next.

I lifted the shade on one of the windows and peeked out but didn't see anything here either. There was another knock at the door when I dropped the shade.

I walked back over and didn't see movement through the curtain this time. Pulled it to the side, and the same man from the computer was staring back at me through the window. His bulging eyes and bony face were pressed up against the window. I shouted and let go of the curtain. The door handle started moving, and I quickly confirmed it was already locked.

"Go away!" I shouted through the door. "I'm going to call the police!"

He knocked on the door again, and then I heard him bump up against the window. I knew he'd be staring in again if I moved the curtain, so I waited for a few minutes. Finally, I heard him walk away.

Before returning to my room, I ensured all the doors and windows were locked. Then, I got back in bed, but I couldn't fall asleep. I kept thinking about the stupid website.

I didn't provide any information to that website, so I don't know how they got my address. Also, whoever did the makeup on the person at my door did a great job. It looked way too real, and I'm afraid I won't be able to get their face out of my mind anytime soon.

I'm lying in bed now, trying to find the motivation to get up and check on my computer. I'll add an update if anything else happens. But I would stay away from that website if I were you.

Part 2