I’m awake now. I don’t know if this is the path to enlightenment, but this is horrific. I’m sure many of you have already heard about the Biblical Christian God and how He rested on the 7th day, introducing the “Sabbath”. I’m no theologian, nor am I religious, but I grew up in an environment that was kinda both.
Up until very recently I’ve lived my life, day-in, day-out like everyone else. I’d even ignore the elderly and large hyper religious families as they take up all my favorite eats parking spaces every Sunday morning after their weekly faux penance.
I distinctly remember falling asleep on a Sunday evening, rather early in preparation for a sad work week. As I was falling asleep, though I heard incessant ticking, like an old computer booting up. I brushed it off as rats in the walls in this shitty apartment and slowly faded into the abyss.
I awoke, but not to any sort of alarm, in fact it was still dark. I looked over at my alarm to see it read: 3:00 A.M..
I wanted to go back to sleep, but I felt way too rested. I grabbed my phone and the date still read: Sunday October 9.
Wait, that can’t be right. I thought to myself. I stole off outdoors to pure uninterrupted silence. No wind. No animals. No movement. I made my way to the nearest 24hr convenience store in hopes of seeing someone.
All the lights were on, but I was seeing no movement still. I made my way inside and it seemed no one was present. I felt a cold coming from the back.
“Hello?!” I called out. No response. I exited the back to see an employee standing there, back to. “E-excuse me?” I persisted. This is when I noticed something was off. His elbow was crutched into his flabby side revealing his hand up to shoulder level, holding a completely out cigarette butt.
I slowly walked around him to see a completely blank expression. His haggard face looked right through me. I waved my hand in his face. Nothing.
I began to hear whirring noises from the side of the building; kind of like a computer trying to cool itself off. I peered around the corner to see two faceless beings who were completely nude and sexless standing there, clicking at each other in some form of communication. They each had a handheld device with an extremely sharp point at the top.
I felt a warm hand wrap around my mouth and nose, before I could make any noise my head was yanked around to a man and woman with their fingers pushed to their lips and raw fear behind their eyes. They hurried me behind the dumpster across the way with a perfect vantage point to see the smoking employee.
“What the hell is going on here?” I whispered. Again, they pressed their fingers to their lips and pointed slowly at the smoking employee. The faceless creatures approached him, and without warning punctured the back of his neck at the base of his skull. My heart sunk and I placed my own hand over my mouth this time.
The beings’ clicking ensued and they continued on, business as usual. After we are sure they were gone, the male spoke,
“Like you we were asleep most of our lives and randomly awoke to this nightmare. We have yet to fully comprehend the magnitude of what’s going on, but on the 8th day God didn’t rest, he sent demons out for downloads and reboots. The simulation is real.”
Click click, beep. Complete. Came a woman’s voice booming from every direction. I looked panicked at the man.
“See you here again, in a week. Keep your head down, they’ve noticed you missing for this reboot. They’ll actively pursue you in the simulation. If they catch you, they’ll delete y-..”
I woke up in my bed, shoes on and reeking of trash.
I’ve since exited the simulation six times. I’m on the run. Our team is greater than 10 now. Every day I’m looking over my shoulder, pursued by the faceless. The truth is so much darker than you think, and it won’t set you free.
On the 8th day, don’t wake up. The simulation is there for a reason. Reality is horrifying. Energy is harvested. Stay asleep…