No Spoilers

We all know that one person who gets upset when someone mentions the ending of a movie they haven’t seen or maybe even a game they haven’t played. Fred was this way. I remember one time when someone spoiled the ending of Sixth Sense for him. He flipped out and started cursing, claiming that he had only seen half of that movie and since it was spoiled there was no point in watching the rest of it. He could also be extremely petty when it came to spoilers. He would try to spoil the shows of those who spoiled things for him.

Unfortunately for him, his interests and theirs would often intersect so this would usually backfire and make him end up spoiling himself. The last time I saw him was at our annual office holiday get-together on the 24th. He didn’t show up to work on the 26th. I found out the reason for this was that he got into a head-on collision that he did not survive. The empty beer bottles found in his car made it clear what he had been doing while driving.

The other driver was lucky he didn’t perish in the wreck as well. Though, their survival could be attributed to the fact that they were using their seatbelt at the time, unlike Fred. While I can’t say we were inseparable his passing did sadden me greatly. I attended his funeral on the 2nd. During it, everyone was speculating why he would do something so foolish.

It wasn’t like him to be that irresponsible. We figured that something must have made him distraught enough to do such a thing. What exactly caused that we didn’t know at the time. I got the answer to this question sometime later during the warmer months. I had gotten home having finished a long work week.

I was looking forward to spending the weekend catching up on movies and shows I had to put off watching for a while. I hadn’t been getting much sleep which meant that I was only able to watch a little over an hour’s worth of my favorite show before I realized that I needed to go to bed. My deep slumber was interrupted by me feeling a deeply cold Breezer run across my body. I was going to dismiss this when I remembered that the AC was supposed to be broken. Seeing as how it was June during that time, a draft as the cause for cold air didn’t appear plausible.

Out of curiosity, I checked the vent in my room only to find that no air was blowing out of it. Going downstairs caused me to be met with an even greater chill than before. I’ve been in walk-in freezers before and what I felt then made them seem warm by comparison. Checking the AC showed me that it was indeed still broken. I was puzzling over what could be causing the phenomenon when I heard speaking coming from behind me.

“Hank.”

The voice immediately sent chills down my spine. I could almost recognize it but not quite.

“Who’s there?” I replied, quickly turning around.

I didn’t see anyone at first. Something or rather someone began materializing in front of me. Had the wall not been behind me I no doubt would’ve fallen back in shock. On the other side of the living room was a man who looked incredibly disfigured. Even from where I was I could tell that he must have suffered a horrific accident of some kind. His forehead was partially split open. I could see cuts all over his body.

Some of his bones were even sticking out in different places. He shouldn’t have even been alive with those injuries let alone able to move. What unnerved me the most about him, though was the fact he apparently knew me. The answer as to how he did was something I could live without. I dashed to the front door and unlocked it.

I was only able to open it a couple inches before it slammed close as if someone on the other side had yanked it shut. I looked back to see the man with his arm outstretched and pointing. Try as I might, reopening the door wasn’t happening. The man kept repeating my name. Each time he did his tone conveyed that he was getting progressively angrier.

When he was up close I could see that his eyes were full of rage. Not only that they looked familiar to me amidst all his disfigurement. Before I could even scream he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me. His grip was so powerful my breath wouldn’t go out. Mercifully he freed me of this pain by releasing me via throwing me across the living room.

I groggily climbed to my feet, using my couch for support. The man pointed to my couch and waved his hand to the left, causing it to move in that direction and stopping when it slammed it against the wall. Not only was I worried about the fact the man had telekinetic powers I was also worried about the damage done to the house since I was renting it. The next thing I knew he had brought some old cabinet and fridge handles from the kitchen that I hadn’t gotten around to throwing away. He used this along with some nails I had to pin my arms and legs to the wall.

“My deposit,” I thought, getting a sinking feeling in my stomach when I heard the wall splitting from the force of the nails.

I focused my attention back on the man who I think was smiling at me. It was hard to tell through his injuries.

“Hank, at last, I can pay you back for what you did to me.”

His face was right in front of mine. I could smell equal parts iron and rotting flesh on his breath. Fighting back the urge to puke was difficult. I managed to get out a question without vomiting.

“Who are you?”

“You don’t remember me, Hank? You were at my funeral.”

“Wait...Fred?”

I stared in disbelief.

“How are you here? How is this possible?”

“You’d be surprised what rage can do to someone after death.”

“Rage over what?”

“Over what you did.”

“Me? What the hell could I have done to make you end up like this?”

“You don’t recall what you said?”

The anger in his voice frightened me even more than it had previously. It wasn’t louder. In fact, it sounded very leveled as if he was fighting back the urge to rip my head off.

“The last we talked was awhile ago. What could I have possibly said that makes me responsible for how you are now?”

“You spoiled the ending of Borderlands 2 for me.”

My mind flashed back to the get-together, me mentioning what happens at the end of the game, and Fred flipping out upon hearing it and storming out before I could talk to him.

“Oh my god,” I said, letting out an exasperated sigh. “That’s seriously what this is all about? Of everything you could’ve returned from the dead over it’s a fucking video game.”

“You have no idea how important it was to me. All the years I wanted to finish it only for something else to get in the way.”

“The game is over 7 years old now. You weren’t able to finish it in that amount of time?”

“I was busy with the other games. Not to mention movies and shows. I was going to finish it and see the ending for myself until you spoiled it for me. You took my dream away.”

His voice was quivering. It was like he was choking back tears.

“Now you’re going to pay, Hank.”

“Fred, how was I supposed to know you hadn’t seen the ending? I asked you if you had played the Borderlands Games. You said yes.”

“I did. I never said I finished them did I?”

“No…”

“Exactly, now I want to exact my revenge against the bastard who did this to me. In other words, you.”

“Look if you’re going to kill me at least make it quick.”

“You really think I’d let you off that easily after what you did?”

“I’m afraid to ask but what do you plan on doing to me then?”

He made my remote come to his hand. With it, he turned my TV on.

“I’m not sure I know what you’re trying to do.”

“Well, Hank, before I died I heard you were into a little show called Breaking Bad. Judging by how your expression has changed I’m guessing you haven’t finished it and that you know what comes next.”

“You don’t have to do this, Fred.”

“I do and I want to. Besides, I’ve been meaning to finish getting around to watching the final episode so this seems like a good time to do that.”

He saw that my computer was hooked up to my TV and powered it on. The login screen popped up on my TV.

“What’s your password?”

“I’m not telling you.”

He turned around, glaring at me. If looks could kill I no doubt would’ve died in that instant.

“You will tell me or I’ll put you through hell.”

Even though I was scared I still refused. I was on the last season. I couldn’t risk having it ruined for me.

“Fine, if that’s the way you want it.”

With his powers, he pulled my books off their shelves. They came flying in my direction, hitting me in the stomach.

“Tell me your password,” Fred growled.

“Never,” I managed to say through pained groans. “No matter what you do to me, you’ll never get it.”

“That sounds like a challenge. Very well I’d be happy to oblige.”

He put his hand up, placing it on my forehead. I was about to ask what he was doing when a flash of light washed over us. When it faded I was surprised to find myself driving a car.

“What the hell? What’s going on? How did I get here?”

I tried looking around only to quickly realize I had no control. However, I still had my sense. Fred began laughing. When the smell of beer hit me, I knew where I was.

“Scared, Hank?” I heard Fred ask from inside my mind.

I wasn’t able to move my mouth yet somehow I could answer him.

“Fred, don’t do this,” I pleaded.

“I’d be more than happy to after you give me what I want.”

I weighed my options and mentally prepared myself for what was to come. Another car’s headlights flashed in front of me. Fred’s car smashed into, sending his body through the windshield. I felt all of it. I could feel the force of his car slamming into the other one. I could feel every cut and gash as his body was going through the windshield.

It was like everything was in slow motion. The last thing I felt was the pain brought on by his face smashing onto the other car’s hood and his neck .breaking. There was another flash of light and I was back in my living room. Fred had taken his hand off my forehead. He looked incredibly frustrated.

“Was all that real?” I asked, exhausted from what I had just experienced.

“It was for me. You only experienced the sensation of it. What I don’t understand is why that wasn’t enough to break you.”

He hissed that last part.

“I told you no matter what you do to me I’m not going to tell you anything…”

His glare deepened. This time he made the hammer in my kitchen come to him.

“What are you going to do with that? If you injure me too badly you’ll never get what you want out of me.”

“Not to worry I know an important part of your body I can do significant damage to without having you die as a result.”

I was confused as to what he meant. Then he began moving the hammer down past my waist.

“No, wait,” I cried out.

“Ready to talk?”

“Okay fine, you bastard, I’ll tell you the password,” I said, hanging my head in defeat.

He smiled triumphantly.

“At last, my revenge will be complete.”

After giving him the password, he logged into my laptop and brought up Netflix. He forced me to watch the final episode of Breaking Bad, thus spoiling the last season for me. When it ended he started laughing maniacally.

“Damn it, Fred you got your revenge. Now leave me alone already,” I shouted.

“Not yet. I still have a little time before I need to go back.”

“To where?”

“That I can’t say. You’ll find out soon enough when I take you there.”

“What? I thought spoiling the ending of Breaking Bad for me was your revenge?”

“No, Hank, that was only part of it. Your spoiler caused my death so I’m going to return the favor. Now let’s see what we have to watch. Ooh, I’ve been meaning to finish these series.”

I had to think of some way to get out of my predicament. I noticed something before. Whenever he got angry it almost seemed like it was hurting him. He had brought up the movie Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince.

“This is my favorite series of movies you know.”

“Really? Have you read the books?”

“No, why?”

“If you did, you’d know that Snape kills…”

When I finished speaking his eyes filled with shock.

“No, you spoiled it for me,” He said, screaming loud enough to shake my house.

Everything in my living room was levitating towards him. The only reason I didn’t was due to my restraints. I could see pale yellow light shining from his ears, eyes, mouth, and nostrils. His raged yelling grew louder. Soon it got to be too much for him. He exploded into another flash of blinding light which damaged my TV screen and wall but also luckily damaged my restraints enough for me to free myself.

Upon the light clearing, I noticed that Fred was gone. What scared me almost as much as what I had gone through was how I was going to explain the damages to my landlord. Somehow I found it doubtful that listing a ghost as the cause would be a suitable excuse. All this because I accidentally spoiled the ending of Borderlands 2 for Fred. I was thankfully able to have the damages repaired without him knowing.

I had a lot of favors around the office. A co-worker of mine I covered some shifts for knew a guy who helped me. Although the damages were repaired to my things and the house it was a different story for my psyche. I had recurring nightmares about seeing Fred. In them, I would always experience Fred’s car wreck again.

I was so relieved when they finally stopped. I know most people hate spoilers. God damn, though I didn’t think anyone could hate them that much. Now I’ll have to be more careful when talking about certain media or else some other petty asshole might haunt me.