It's Friday night.
The heat sticks to my skin like a plastic tablecloth after a long meal.
The air is thick. A sweaty lid.
Every breath feels like a sticky slap in the throat.
I'm slouched on my futon, a bowl of fried noodles balanced on my stomach.
I stare at the screen.
Jackie Chan flips across YouTube.
Slow motion.
Dodge.
Fluid combo.
Jackie flies.
Me? I sink deeper into the mattress.
Like Blakkayo would say: Mo Solo.
No Wife, No Kids, No Problem.
— Honestly? IRL, I'm more John Coffey from The Green Mile than Dark Iluzion in the middle of a fight.
I used to want to be him. Back then, everything seemed possible.
Now, I watch without really seeing.
The fan spins at full speed.
Squeaks. Tired. Uneven.
A mosquito lands on my arm.
Can't be bothered.
It stings. I watch it swell.
Whatever.
DJ Benoit is mixing live in my ears.
Mauritian sega pulses in the background, blending with the neighborhood noise.
A blaring TV from the neighbor's place.
Laughter too loud in the distance.
A P-50 with no muffler shreds the silence.
Another night that feels like yesterday.
Nothing moves.
I'm on pause.
Except for my thumb.
Scrolling. Mechanically.
And then…
A pop-up ad explodes on my screen.
Sudden. Aggressive.
SEVEN WORLD – EXCLUSIVE MMORPG – INSTALLATION AVAILABLE
The text pulses.
A chill creeps up my spine.
Is it unease… or the Black Ivory I smoked?
S E V E N
W O R L D
A blink.
The letters vibrate.
Glitch?
Hallucination?
S 0 1 E N
0 1 0 1 D
Short-circuit in my brain.
Did it really move?
W O R L D
W O R D. L
L O R D. W
A static shock jolts through my skull.
My fingers tense.
This isn't normal.
— My old username?!
Dramatic pause.
A nonexistent flashback to a glorious digital moment.
I already see myself as a max-level Farmer!
Legendary gear!
I can almost hear NPCs chanting my name in unison…
And then…
E N D.
Oh, really?
Straight to the end, no trailer?
Those three letters linger too long.
My breath catches.
— Bro… is this normal?!
A blink.
The image snaps back to normal.
Silence.
This is the moment I should've uninstalled.
But who does that?
No one.
Even in horror movies, they hear "Leave this house" and still go down to the basement.
The neighborhood hums, but I hear nothing.
Just my heart pounding.
A dry, nervous laugh escapes me.
— Did I just imagine that?
My finger trembles slightly in anticipation.
— Alright, whatever. I'm ready. I've got everything locked down. New phone, VPN, antivirus… no hacks getting through.
I hit install.
…
And that's exactly when Gamm Micheline shows up.
Like a final boss.
No checkpoint.
No restart.
Game over, bro.