Xbox 3666

For most people, the 7th generation of video game systems was a blast, But for me, it's a painful memory that cannot be erased.

This all started in the summer of 2011. E3 had just past and it was the talk of the school, I'd hear students walking down the corridor debating about which games would be the best, not me though.

I was a quiet kid, I did not own a 7th generation game console. This shocked of all my peers, but I was happy with my PlayStation 2 and Dell laptop. I'd play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Minecraft, and Portal. I had a great time and have fond memories of it. But then I discovered Crysis 2.

I watched hours of gameplay on YouTube and this is what urged me to want to buy an Xbox 360. However, at the time, I didn't have much money, as my family was in a tough spot at the time. Due to my family's financial issues and having a reputation of being behind the times, I was made fun of in school.

My breaking point was when a kid named Daniel shouted across the class "Thomas and his family have no money!" the class then began to laugh at me. Straight after this incident, I ran home in tears to tell my Mother about what had just unfolded. Being the wonderful woman that she is, offered for me to come with her to a Car boot sale. For those of you who aren't from the UK let me explain, a car boot sale as when a community comes together in a parking lot to sell old unwanted items out of their boots, hence the name.

So, once we arrived at the parking lot where the sale was taking place, my Mother told me to have a look around and to meet her back by our car in an hour or so. I was enthusiastic, I had a small sum of money with me (roughly £40) it wasn't too eventful, I just looked around for 15 minutes or so, not seeing anything that interested me.

But then, I stumbled across an old man. Who had the holy grail, it was an Xbox 360. My eyes did not deceive me, it was the real deal. I asked him what he wanted for it, He then looked me straight in the eye and said in a raspy voice: Well sonny I've had been trying to sell this 'ere X game box for a couple of weeks now with no success, my original asking price was £80, but for you son I want to give you it for free. What! I exclaimed.

I was in a state of disbelief, this was unbelievable, an old man was about to give me an Xbox 360, for free!

Not wanting to take advantage of an old man with no knowledge of modern technology. I asked Him: Are you sure about this? you can make a good sum of money from this. The man then leaned close and said in a serious tone: Just promise me that you will never sell this device or destroy it, just keep, understand?

The man then leaned back waiting for a response. I then stupidly said: Um... Yes sir, but why do you want me to have it?

He then let out a big sigh and told me: It was my grandson's he loved playing it, but after the incident, it was left to me, his favorite relative. I loved him so much, but now, I want to pass it on to another child so it can make them just as happy as he was. And that child is you.

I looked back at him with a look of deep sadness on my face, I then tried to say sorry and comfort the man. But as I began speaking he quickly got into his car and drove off in a hurry and I was left behind with the Xbox 360. After the old man left I walked back to my car to meet with my mother, She seemed surprised: Oh Thomas You Got something, What is it?

I told her that it was an Xbox 360 and the story about the old man giving it to me, once I was Done telling her the story of how I acquired it. she told me to get in the car we then drove home. Once we arrived I ran upstairs, I had never run so fast in my life! I quickly hooked up the Xbox 360. I then grabbed the controller and I was ready to play. I then quickly switched on my new Xbox 360, holding the controller waiting eagerly to get my first taste of what the Xbox 360 had to offer. Things quickly toke a turn for the strange side as the first thing I noticed was the strange red Xbox 360 boot logo. However, I just shrugged it off, thinking that the previous owner, who was the grandson of the old man at the car boot sale, just modded the console to change boot screen.

When it finally booted to the home screen, there were three users on the console, but I noticed something odd. The background was moving, it was a mysterious black cave with what looked like lava pouring out of it. The user's avatars looked strange, they all had a permanent look of sadness on their face.

Except for the first user who was called "The Master". He woar a huge white grin, this put me off first, especially for the reason that his gamerscore was the number 666. But I still tried to shrug it off as extreme modding.

The two other users were called David And Newcomer. David looked sad, his clothes didn't even resemble real clothes, they looked like rags, on his face he had what looked like burn marks, he was slouched and looked extremely upset. He had a gamerscore of 200.

The final character "Newcomer" looked a bit more normal than the others. he had an Xbox shirt, cargo shorts and a small frown on his face. He had a gamerscore of 0, after two minutes of staring at the television. I decided on choosing the user "Newcomer". After waiting for a couple of seconds, the dashboard finally booted, then I saw something some words on a black background, I couldn't read this, however, as it was on the screen for only approximately a quarter of a second.

After having a quick drink of water I looked at the dashboard, it looked strange.

It had a 1 shade gray background with the windows on top, there were only 4 windows on the dashboard Disc, GamesStore, Messages, and A window with the name "Prisoner's"

This really started to creep me out, as I knew well that you couldn't mod an Xbox to remove functions. This is when my curiosity got the best of me, as I clicked on prisoners, which is a decision I still regret to this day. As soon as I clicked it, The screen went to static then cut to what looked like an abandoned prison.

The camera then cut to a cell, where what looked like an avatar crying in the corner. Then I realized it was David the avatar from the menu. He then turned around to reveal a huge whip mark on his face.

He then looked at me and then suddenly said: What? never seen a whip mark on an avatars' face before?

I was shocked, to say the least, so I muttered out the words: Why are you talking?!?

He then looked back at me and said: I have a life too you know!

I was shocked, how could David talk? And most importantly, how could he hear me trying to make friendly contact? I then said: Hello David, are you ok?

David looked a bit more relaxed and said: Yeah I'm fine, just this mark is a bit painful, that's all.

I was relieved knowing that he was ok, I still felt a little uneasy about the events that had just unfolded, However, I then asked him: How can you hear me?

David let out a big sigh and said: My soul uses the tv to communicate directly with the world outside of the Xbox.

I looked down in sadness, feeling sorry for David. I then looked up and David asked me: You know my name but don't know yours, what is your name Newcomer?

I then looked back at David and proudly said to him: My name is Thomas but call me Tom.

David looked up and replied with: Well Thomas, it's nice to meet you, it's great to talk to someone who isn't a resident.

I looked at David with a confused expression on my face and asked: A resident? what's that? AND WHY IS THIS XBOX SO MESSED UP?!

David Looked at the ground and then stared at me and said: Fine you want the truth, then here it is. The Xbox was mine, while I was still alive in human form, I was murdered, and so me and my murderer's soul ended up in the Xbox. The murder toke the form of the devil, and is now is addressed as the master. he corrupted the Xbox's files until it was made into something he was happy with. I take the form of my avatar after all this I was alone and imprisoned by the master he now rules the Xbox with an iron fist we now call the console Xbox 3666 as we now call it.

I looked down in great sadness thinking about the horrors David must have gone through: That's horrible, you don't deserve this!

I exclaimed, David then said: I know it is! Please help me!

The screen then faded away into static once more, and a message appeared on my screen it was the words: "There's no hope" on a black background. It stayed on the screen for 2 seconds before it cut to the 4 window dashboard but something was different, the window that said "Prisoners" was chain locked shut.

This Xbox was starting to freak me out. First an avatar, David. Starts talking to me.

Now this, a feature of the console chained locked shut.

I had enough of the console at that point, so I unplugged it and placed it up in the attic promising myself that I would never touch the console ever again.

Fast forward 3 years. It was the summer of 2014, I had just finished high school and was getting ready to go to college, as I had 10 weeks off that summer, I had decided to get back into my old hobby, which was gaming. I also really wanted to play Grand Theft Auto 5, which released in late 2013.

I was originally planning to buy a PlayStation 4, however, Grand Theft Auto 5 was not available on that platform. then I remembered my old Xbox 360. Which was stored up in the attic, however, at the time my memories of the events that occurred back in 2011 were practically none existent.

So I toke it to my room and plugged it into my television. To see if it still worked, and to my surprise it did.

However, The startup this time was distorted, with what sounded like a broken organ playing funeral music.

And the barely visible text on the screen, which said "Xbox 3666".

As soon as this came on screen, the strange smell of sulfur could be smelled from the Xbox system.

Then the screen went black, suddenly a deep voice said: It's you, Tom, I knew someday you'd return.

I was caught off guard by this, then suddenly all the memories of David and the messed up menu came flooding back.

All of a sudden, a graphic picture of what appeared to be a boy no older than 11 or 12. With a massive stab wound covered in blood and his intestines placed next to him. And the date of the 12th of June 2009. With the name of David Sanders, with a police case file code of 9473.

The Xbox then powered off.

In a moment of rage at what I just had to witness, I toke the Xbox outside and smashed it on the patio.

A few months went by, and everything was normal.

Until I started thinking about that image and all the codes, so I went onto the internet and searched the name, David Sanders, along with the police case file code.

And I found an article, it was about a murder which happened on the date of June 12th, 2009.

about a boy, who was murdered during a home invasion.

items taken from the house were: some jewelry and an Xbox 360.

The criminal was found later that week and was dead.

Next to him was the Xbox 360, the police later gave the Xbox to David's relative his grandfather, who looked like the man who gave me the Xbox years ago.

There was also a website set up in memory of David, on there were some home videos, in one we hear David Sanders talk, and sounded just like the David avatar inside the Xbox...