ENdoor

A Dystopian Horror Short

“We’re here with Niev Piter, creator of the controversial ENdoor app. Welcome, Niev.”

“Hah, thanks. Thanks for having me, Sarah.”

“So, for listeners who maybe have not heard of ENdoor, could you explain what this app is?”

“Sure. Uh, ENdoor is a motivational health app that uses livestreaming to foster motivation for completing tasks, similar to how streamers receive money while playing video games or that sort of thing. These feeds — we call them doors — hah, uh, they can be started in two ways: someone wanting to be motivated, or someone wanting to motivate somebody else.”

“What does that look like, the motivation?”

“Well, it is through financial support — uh, donations. If you were to create a door as someone wanting to be motivated, you could create one that says, uh, something like, you know, $1 per push-up, or maybe $10 for every mile run, you know, that sort of thing.”

“Right. That was the intent.”

“Uh, right, and if you created a task wanting to motivate someone, you would just be offering financial incentive to whoever livestreams the task being completed — some tasks allowing for multiple users to accomplish it and be paid. Uh, each door has its own pricing system and completion limit, you know, set by the creator. Any user can create a door, and any user can open any door.”

“Tell us about these doors, and why ENdoor has become such a divisive topic.”

“Well, uh, each door is set up by a user to be a task, an endurance task — hence the name of the app. The person setting up the door chooses the task and how much they will pay a user for accomplishing it, or how much they want to be paid to do the task, as I mentioned. The user opening the door can either be a viewer if someone else is completing the task, or they can accomplish the task via a livestream. To be a viewer, you must pay a fee which is split between the ENdoor app and the creator of the door.”

“What percentage does ENdoor receive of this fee?”

“Uh, well I’m not sure on the, um, specifics of that, and—”

“Let’s move into the current controversy your application is facing, tell us, what has led to this moment — to the current scrutiny?”

“Uh, I would say that our application has become a subject of debate and, uh, public scrutiny because of a recent door that was opened and completed, which has led to a flood of similar activity—”

“And what was the task that led to all of this?”

“Hah, well, I think I would just want to start by saying not all of the tasks began this way and it was not my intention to take the app in this direction but uh, hah, well, you know, it has become quite successful. You know, the saying ‘if ain't broke, don’t fix it’, ha-hah.”

“Right.”

“Right, well, a user created a door with the reward of $10,000 for completing the task of… removing a finger.”

“Cutting off your own finger for $10,000?”

“Uh, put simply, yes.”

“And this task was accomplished and live-streamed?”

“Not at first, but yes, eventually it was, and the stream has been viewed over 30 million times since then.”

“And the users viewing this stream have to pay, correct?”

“Uh, yes. That is correct.”

“Is a task removed after it has been completed?”

“No, not removed, but it does get uh, filtered into the ENdoored section, allowing users to pay to watch, or to be accomplished by another user. If the creator set the door this way, then they will pay for each fulfillment of the task.”

“Now you said that this task led to a flood of similar tasks, talk a bit more about that. What does that mean, what does that look like?”

“Ha-hah, yeah. Since that door was completed we have seen a um, spike, I guess you could say, in violent tasks. The reward incentive is high enough that users are completing the tasks.”

“What kind of tasks are available and being fulfilled now?”

“I really couldn’t say, I’m not sure. I don’t look at the homepage that often, so…”

“We actually have it pulled up here, and I’m just going to read off the first five most recently opened tasks: $10,000 for removal of a toe; $5,000 for removal of all finger nails; $100 to paper cut between your fingers; $100,000 for removal of an eye; $500,000 for the removal of a leg.”

“Uh, I don’t—”

“—and if I click on these doors, there are stipulations here for how these tasks are to be accomplished, some calling for zero painkillers or anesthetics, others require a specific tool to be used, this one I just clicked on — the eye removal — requires the use of your own fingers.”

“Um, that’s really not—”

“Do you feel you are contributing a valuable service to society? Aren’t you worried that this will provoke competitor applications, that things will escalate if it is allowed to continue?”

“Listen, it was bound to happen, you know? If I don’t do it, somebody else will, so I might as well profit from it, the way I see it. And like, is it really all that different from say, UFC fights? There’s no non-consenting parties here, there’s nothing illegal happening. It’s these people's choice to make, they—”

“Are you sure about that? How many of these tasks are being completed by family providers struggling to make ends meet? Or individuals desperate enough to do something crazy? How many of these tasks are being funded by sadistic wealthy men, or demented teenagers?”

“I think this interview is over, I’m—”

“Wait, wait, wait — your app just updated. Look at this, Mister Piter. Look. This is what you are encouraging. See this — $1,000,000 for a suicide. This person, whoever fulfills this task, their death is on you — their blood is on your hands. Don’t walk away, do you hear me! This is on you! You’re complicit!”