Hidden Game

The feeling of a lingering presence during solitary moments…

Everybody gets that feeling. I’m sure you have too. What you probably haven’t done is try to explain its occurrence.

See, here’s the thing: I had this feeling a few nights ago when I was in my room trying to go to sleep. I laid down, curled, facing the wall which my bed is positioned next to. I slowly, but surely, felt something stand behind me, as everybody does at some point in their lives. It felt like it was lording over me and staring at me to no end.

The funny thing about the human psychology is that it absolutely HATES unknown things, which would be why we try come up with an explanation for seemingly enigmatic events. So, being the creative wizard that it is, my brain tried to associate this figure with a face. Unfortunately I was somewhat terrified so my brain, as any brain would, decided to combine the figure and the sense of fear together to give the figure a face that would warrant such fear.

The brain can’t create faces so it copies and pastes any face you’ve see from anywhere. But given this context, it’d usually the most nightmare-inducing face you’ve ever seen. Also, given the context, this horrifying figure would be standing right behind you.

Usually at this point rational thought would take over. You try to reason with yourself as to why your worst nightmare isn’t standing right behind you. It’d usually work, and at times where it didn’t you’d usually muster whatever courage you have and turn around to look behind you.

Well, at least it’s what I did and, as expected by both you and I, nothing was there.
This is usually followed up by reinforcing yourself with proofs as to why there couldn’t be anything behind you.

“I’ve never heard the door open” and “I never heard footsteps” are usually the common ones in this scenario. You’d laugh at yourself for being stupid and go to sleep.

This is the common thought pattern associated with the eerie feeling of being watched.
There’s probably a branch in psychology dedicated to this feeling, seeing as it’s ridiculously widespread. One thing that I can be certain about is that this feeling would always end due to what is known as ‘lex parsimoniae.’ This is better known as ‘Occam’s Razor’. It states that the simplest explanations are usually the best. And in situations such as my own we can usually create explanations that are wonderfully wrapped in a package of rationality and reason.

And that’s exactly what’ll get you killed.

Have you ever thought about why you get these feelings? Not many people do. The downside of Occam’s razor is that it blinds people from seeing another side to an event. To an average human being, for something to truly exist it would usually need to conform to the laws of nature. If someone right next to us decided to fly around we would almost definitely doubt our own sanity before we believe that this person is actually flying.

But what if the watcher conforms to no laws?

What if the reason I didn’t hear the figure was because it could fly or, at least, hover at will?
What if the reason I didn’t hear the door open was because the figure can move through objects at will?
What if the reason why I didn’t see the figure was because it can turn render itself imperceptible at will?

At this point you’d be asking yourself where the evidence for this figure’s existence is. But why would such a being – one that can defy ever law of nature at will – leave evidence? I mean, if it is trying to frighten me in some way, I see no reason for it to leave traces of itself so that we can conclude that it exists. Perhaps it was only there that night to acquire the description of the face that I fear most. And that what we normally recognize as ‘the feeling of being watched’ is simply a tool used by this figure to extract a facial design that we are terrified of. And what would it do with this?

Make it a reality.

By now you should’ve realized that there is absolutely no reason to deny this being’s existence. The only reason we would deny it is due the figure posing as a complex explanation to the feeling that someone is watching rather than a simple one.

I don’t know who you are or where you are. But I hope you understand that the next time you suddenly get the thought that someone, or something, is watching you just remember that you’re playing the Hidden Game. And there’s nothing you can ever do about it.