Facade

'Nightmares should be the most terrifying in the dream world. However, there is something that scares you more than a nightmare, it's when you have a nightmare that doesn't terrify you one bit.'

All stories deserve to have a start, and this is mine. It may not be the best beginning you've ever heard, but at least it is a beginning at all. My name is Dara, but I am referred to as Rocky on Roblox. I only go on Roblox to check out the new games and play with my friends. One day, I attempted to log onto Roblox and I got a prompt that a security check was going on. I figured it was for the safety of younger users, and I didn't think much of it. I checked my email, clicked the link to verify my user, and got on Roblox. I figured Roblox admins would explain why later on their blog. I messaged my best friend El and a few others, then went offline.

Just as I figured, when I went on Roblox's blog today they explained why the security check occurred. They confirmed my thoughts. They wanted Roblox to be more secure for newer users, so they did the check to eliminate some spam users on Roblox. I went back to Roblox and saw that one of the friends I messaged replied. It was Minty.

Minty said, "Yeah, I got the security check as well. I hear rumors that Roblox covered up the real reason as to why they did it though. Strange, huh?"

I got to typing and asked Minty why Roblox might do something like that. Minty responded almost immediately. "Beats me, woman. All I know is that Roblox has to have one heck of a reason to cover something up." I flinched, but didn't take it seriously. I later joined my other friend at Stealth, Angel. We were running after guards and killing them with our level 50 daggers.

While running across rooftops, we discussed the security check a little bit, "Probably just another small event that went wrong." Roblox had a few events that backfired in enraged users spamming their corporate emails. Such as the egghunt during 2015, and the time period where Roblox got worse upon the death of the only amazing Roblox worker, Erik Cassel. I agreed, and we continued to play Stealth.

I got on Roblox today, and I was slightly confused. Two of my friends had messaged me at the exact same time, which doesn't usually happen. One told me that they thought they figured something out about Roblox's secret for the security check, and to follow them ingame as soon as possible. I went to follow them, but they were offline. I went back to my messages and checked the second message, it was from Minty. Minty had told me that Roblox was acting weird for her, and not to be surprised if she wasn't on for a while. I acknowledged it, and didn't reply. Minty and I knew we didn't need to reply to that kind of message from eachother. Minty was offline for a full week before she got on again, and right as she did I chatted her.

"Finally fixed Roblox, eh?" I joked, messing around with her.

Minty's response was a tad out of the ordinary, "ROBLOX needed to be better, that's all."

I didn't think much of it and started playing Stealth. I rushed to finish my tasks, slightly surprised that Minty didn't want to join me today.

'My nightmare still haunts me. It lingers, instead of disappearing like a dream, and it doesn't make me scared at all. But why does it continue to come back every night I dream?'

Upon logging in, Minty seemed completely back to normal. She was her bubbly, joyful self. I was confused, but didn't question it. I asked her what happened and she surprised me with the same answer from yesterday.

"Gee, I don't know why I said it that way to be honest, that's not my kind of response at all!" Minty was as surprised as me. I brushed it off.

I noticed that my best friend, El, had changed her status, "Roblox is acting extremely absurd. Why am I unable to do anything except remain on my homepage?" I was curious. El couldn't do anything apparently, yet for me it said she was in-game. I followed her.

"Hey, El!" I said, trying to figure out her problem in my head. El didn't acknowledge me until I used her full name. I asked her what was wrong.

"Roblox just needed some fixing, that's all." The answer was so similar to Minty's that it spooked me. I checked her status again to see the same thing. I was confused. Upon confronting her about it, she simply said that her status broke and it was going to be "repaired" soon. ''Repaired. ''The word shook me, even though it shouldn't have. I left her game and logged out, that was enough to spook me for a few days.

'It should be scaring me to the point where I stay up at night. But it makes me crave the nightmare, like I want it to come back. And when it doesn't, I get upset. But why does this terrify me so much?'

I logged onto Roblox after 5 days. Three of my friends had messaged me. I don't know what to do at this point, I don't know what's going on. Who's real and who's fake. They all messaged me the same exact thing.

"Roblox will be down for maintenance at 3:00 pm today." I immediately removed those three, though I was upset because one of them was El. Upon removing them, I got three more messages. I wanted to scream as I checked my messages, already knowing what to expect.

"Roblox will be down for maintenance at 3:00 pm today." this time it was Minty and two of my other best friends, so I gave up trying to remove them, for now, at least. It was now 2:55, 5 minutes until the time that I was messaged. I was logged off at the time mentioned, and this time I did scream. I got off of Roblox and shut down my computer.

'Your nightmares will never compare to this one. I want to erase everything, but I can't no matter how hard I try to. It continues to come back, haunting me.'

I didn't even want to go on, but my younger brother forced me to check on his account since it wasn't letting him log in. I was terrified, and I already knew. All of it was on purpose. I checked on my brother's account. Of course, he was logged on, in the same game as the other clowns. I went on and faced them. Almost every single friend on my list. The ones that annoyed me weren't on, how lucky they were. I talked to my brother.

"My 'brother'. What will it take me to get you to stop and get all my friends their accounts back?" I already knew the answer.

"Just your account and the torment of anyone that I didn't bother, that's all." he messaged back. This was a game to them. Hiding behind a facade pretending to be your friend simply to snatch your account whether you liked it or not. "No." I responded, knowing what fate awaited me.

"We'll simply take you by force, then."

My computer shut off and I didn't care. I already knew that my time on Roblox had come to a end, and those around me knew it by now as well.

'You can try stealing my nightmare, but it's my fear. Only I can face it. It's what gives me strength. I can't let them be slaughtered, because this nightmare is subliminal. I will go back for them, even if it costs me my worthless life.'

My name is not needed, but I do know what's going on. Roblox covered up all these Facades that have been going on. An unwanted impostor takes accounts and acts like your friends. You never know what's going on until they make it known. Anyone around you could be a part of the Facade. You wouldn't ever know, either, unless they target you. I'll be going, now. This isn't the last time you'll hear from me. It's strange how no one knows the reason for these Facades, and it's also strange as to why Roblox lets them happen. It's even stranger, though, that i'm the only one who knows.