Untold scary symbol of the string game (the cat’s cradle)

No, no, don’t misjudge from the heading that this is about the bed of a kitten. I mean, cats are scary too and some people see them as messengers of the devil so maybe this game is actually named after it. The game “The Cat’s Cradle” is actually the old-school retro string game that we used to play in our childhood. Remember the super fun interactive game that only requires a string (possibly a rainbow coloured 50 cents string sold in school canteens) and 2 humans. During recess, there will always be a bunch of kids gathering around you and your friend who are busy thinking of new shapes and figures using the strings. When you one-up your friend, the applause comes. But have you ever realise the “don’ts” when you are playing the game? Making a slight mistake will scare you out of your wits…

The game basically creates symbols of triangles and squares and other geometrical figures. Normal symbols of triangles and hexagons may work fine but there is that one symbol that you should always avoid, even mentioning. (I’m not even going to describe how it looks like but just know it’s there.)

When you are at the climax of the game that determines a winner, you will be focusing only on the string, with your head down and your eyes fixed on it. There will be this gut feeling where you just sense something different but can’t quite put a word to it and then you decide to just go with this symbol because you just know that it is the best symbol. Now, while you are chuckling at your win, you look up and you see… a ghostly figure or just an image really but when you blink and look again, your friend is there. The thing is that the image haunts you even when the game ends… You see it again and again whenever you are playing the game or when you use that symbol… You don’t even realise but there is just something compelling you to use that symbol. You can’t control it. You can’t avoid it. And if you find yourself addicted to the point of playing the game at 0300 hours, what you see will not simply be an image; you will be the image.