1 Stupidity, Rage and Frustration (1.1)

"Initiate Retreat!"

A panicked voice echoed throughout a dimly lit room, its only source of light is from a small screen. Despite the darkness of the room, a lone figure sat in the middle of it, his face almost plastered to it. His fingers curled around the small device preventing it from falling as the person maneuvered his character.

"Initiate Retreat!"

The person called out again to the other players, his teammates. Either from overconfidence or a stroke of bad luck, the barrage of attacks annihilated his teammates leaving him alone to defend their tower.

"An Ally has been slain!"

He gripped his phone even harder. Sweat dripped down his forehead but he paid no attention.

"Enemy Double Kill!"

"Enemy Triple Kill!"

"Enemy Maniac!"

Each announcement ringed like his alarm clock early in the morning, very annoying. One by one, his teammates were slain. Their avatars displayed on his screen in honor. The person gritted his teeth in frustration. 'Why didn't they go back?! They were outnumbered!' He thought to himself. Much to his horror, the enemy heroes easily took care of his allies by countering their ambush.

The enemy team is one tower away from attacking their base and with him the only one alive to defend it. He had no choice but to buy time for his teammates to respawn and push the enemy back. But he was severely outnumbered. He continued to curse his teammates' stupidity under his breath. He was alone but alive, at least for now. Gathering whatever courage remains and shaking off any anxiety, he prepared himself to stand his ground or die trying.

Someone knocked on his door but as he was fully engrossed in his game, did not notice it. His character killed off the enemy team's minions to prevent them from pushing his tower. But his avatar could only do so much while facing such skilled players.

"Hatch! Go to sleep! it's getting late!"

The call fell on deaf ears as he continued to fight off his opponents. His allies could only stare on the countdown before they could, once more move around or spectate every action the only remaining character does, and every movement he does is quietly criticized by his teammates, despite their earlier failure.

Out of nowhere, an Iron Hook shackled Hatch's character, dragging his avatar towards the enemy team. No matter what he did, Hatch knew that it was the end for him. The enemy team bombarded his character with attacks and abilities, and the health bar quickly diminished to nothing. It was frustrating to see your character helpless, but it was more so to be destroyed in a matter of milliseconds.

" Wipeout!"

Frustration overtook him as he clenched his phone. There was no coming back, he couldn't hold long enough, his allies couldn't make it in time and the final tower was destroyed. It was late-game and it only took a moment for his team's last tower was destroyed. Hatch continued to spam the 'Gather' command but, of course, no one came.

Rearing his head backward, he closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. Hatch imagined things other than this round. For a moment he had calmed down, that his anger has subsided. Though as soon as a voice of disappointment reminded him of his loss, his rage returned.

"Defeat!"

The charts displayed his performance and were respectively ranked MVP in his efforts, while the best his teammates got were silver medals, but Hatch did not see, instead, his clenched fist turned red in pure rage. His Sixth lost this day! He was overwhelmed by his temper, Hatch was unable to quench his anger and hit the wall the hardest he can.

"Damn it all!" He shouted. It was the last straw, for both Hatch and those living with him.

"Keep it down! Some people are trying to sleep!" Like before Hatch ignored it out of frustration.

Hatch tried to concentrate on every detail of his room to distract himself. His bed unkept, piles of clothes scattered on the floor and the phone, which laid on his bed tried its best to illuminate the dark room, only showing a portion of it.

"Stupid game." Instead of seeing his own mistakes to not fall for it again, he insulted the game as a whole for not being in his favor.

Out of impulse, Hatch sent the phone flying towards the wall. And with a noticeable thump, it hit the wall and floor. Feeling exhausted after his long session of losing, Hatch retired on his bed and scuffled underneath his blanket. I'll just invite some of my friends over to rank up. He thought of tomorrow's plan.

The impact should have severely damaged his phone, but it continued to light up the room. Its interface showed a glitched version of the game's homepage. Appearing for only a moment, a figure appeared in from the screen. It seemingly scanned the room and it's eyes falling onto Hatch's sleeping body then smiled. And the screen returned to normal.