"Stop running," a voice hisses just behind me.
"I would never."
Inner thought: I want to keep running. My legs are starting to go numb, totally burned.
This place is hotter than molten lead. My legs look cooked enough to eat, and my feet are turning into charcoal.
And that voice… what is that? I turn back — but I can't see anything. It just keeps calling out to me.
If I fall, I'm done for. I'll be burnt alive.
I've been running for a while. I don't remember why I started, or where I am. I keep losing pieces of memory. My body's half-cooked, my heart feels like it's roasting. I need to reach higher ground.
"HELP!!" I screamed.
I need to keep calling for help.
"HELP!" Tears swell in my eyes as the pain slams into me.
It hurts. It hurts real bad.
I have to keep running.
If I stay still, I'll get cooked. Gotta keep movin—
I stop.
"Wait… where am I? Why am I running?"
I look down at my body.
Burnt. But I don't feel a thing.
I scan the surroundings and spot people near a cave.
There are people here.
I take a deep breath and shout.
"Hey! Anyone know where I am? I'm los—"
And then…I felt cold. No pain. No fear. No emotions. Nothing at all.
And just like that — I died.
I jolted awake.It was all a dream.
"What a strange dream," I muttered.
It felt so real. I remember everything. I forgot a lot while inside it… but now—
Thud, thud.
"Wake up! It's time for school," my mom called out.
Scared the hell out of me.
"Coming, Mom!" I shouted back.
I headed downstairs. Everyone was sitting at the table, eating the usual — bread toast and an omelette.
"What are you staring at? Go brush your teeth, eat, and hurry up. You're gonna be late."
"Okay, Mom."
Looks like it's just another normal day. Let's see what school has for me.
I brushed my teeth, took a bath, ate breakfast, and got ready for school. My legs felt fine — a little scary, though.
I let out a big sigh.
"Why the long face?" Dad asked.
"It's nothing."
"Well, hurry up, you'll be late."
"Crap!" I bolted out the door.
School was normal. Teachers came, took their lessons, gave homework. The day flew by.
Less homework than usual. I can game longer tonight. Let's blast through this stuff and play till I drop.
I got home.
"I'm home!"
Time to knock out homework.
I tackled the hardest one first — Math.
"This one's tough… 6√(10 log₂8)"
After a while, I finished Math.
"Finally! Took me 23 minutes. Two subjects left… no comments, let's finish it."
The rest was easy theory work. Took me 17 minutes.
"YEAH!! GAME TIME, LET'S GOOOOO!!"
I powered up my console and started playing.Time flew by. Evening turned to night.
"Come eat first, then you can play," Mom called.
"Okay!" I replied.
I put the controller down, scarfed down dinner, and headed back up.
Good thing it's an offline game. I can pause anytime. Let's see how far I get tonight.
I started playing.
8 PM became 9 PM. 10 PM. 11 PM. Midnight. 1 AM. 2 AM.
I started feeling dizzy…
And the next thing I knew, I was out cold.
The game kept running. My character collapsed, dead. The screen faded to the Main Menu, its eerie hum filling the room.
I was passed out on the floor, the game still on.