Silent Screams

There's a place in Animal Jam, where you can still hear the screams. I'm not sure if you can still access it, but I do know that it still exists. Buried somewhere in the codes of Animal Jam, there is a place called Silence.

Is it really called that? No. Silence was just what the jammers named it.

When the game just got out of beta testing, there were a few glitches. Avatars would move without being directed, and walk through walls. About that time, a new room was released, it was named 'Silent Town'. No chat bubbles were allowed, and the only way of communication was between sounds. The player could select sounds from a list, much like bubble chat. But you could also record sounds. If you clicked the microphone button near the den icon, you could made a sound. A popup would appear, saying-

"Are you sure you want to make this sound?" Then, assuming you said yes, the sound would be heard in the game. The point was, no words were let through. When Silence first came out, it was insanely popular. Everybody rushed to the town, but in reality, it wasn't a town, it was more like a mix between Jamaa Township, and Canyon Pathway.

However, as it was being created, a staff member by the name of Maria wanted to change the layout of the town. She wanted the area to be an actual town, with tall, looming buildings, and dim streetlamps. She also wanted the ability to record your own sounds. The later request was granted, while the former was not. During this time, something happened that caused her mental health to decline rapidly. When the rest of the staff heard of this, thy decided to fire her.

Maria did not go quietly. In fact, her last words before she left were-

"You'll be sorry! Without me, you'll still hear the screams!" No one understood what it meant at that time, and blamed it on her mental health.

A month later, the murders started.

At first, a ten year old girl was found dead in her bedroom, scratched and ragged from the neck down. Her throat and face were unharmed. Her mouth was open in horror, and her vocal cords were contracted in a scream. A computer was next to her, playing Animal Jam in the Silent town with the popup "Are you sure you want to make this sound?" When it was played, a horrified scream echoed through the town.

Next, it was an eight year old boy was killed in the same way, only in his living room, at the computer. The computer was loaded on Animal Jam in the Silent town, and when the popup was clicked, it yielded the scream of an eight-year old boy.

The final corpse discovered was a teenage boy, and the murder scene was the exact same. The results were no different, but when the computer was searched, it showed a video. The boy had been recording as he played Animal Jam. The video was viewed, and the killer, arrested.

If you walk to the edge of Silence, there is a small chance you will be teleported to a town, with tall, looming buildings and dim streetlamps. A sound will lead you around the area, until someone reaches from behind you, and clicks the record button.

When jammers heard, they were terrified. The Silent town was evacuated, and the staff deleted it from players access, but some do find it. It's said you can still hear the screams. Animal Jam Headquarters covered up the incidents quite well. You could even say the screams  were silenced.

How do I know this? Well, for starters, I created it.

My name is Maria,

I killed the children.

I escaped prison.

I can hear the Silent Screams.