2 Chapter 2 - Press Start harder

His apartment was a mess, like a cat and a dog without any food were living in it alone for a month. Everything was ruined. His dear PC that he built with the latest specs was torn apart, and his 4k 180HZ monitor had a keyboard struck through it.

Kyle dropped to his knees and raised his hands while crying. "What the hell! I was going to pay back for this PC from gold farming and boosting others. How am I gonna payback for it now! I am screwed!" His hands held up high, had a mouse in one hand and a headset in the other.

—

It was March the 1st now, and the whole month went to finding extra work and begging to extend his loans. The police investigation also didn't reveal anything.

Of course, everything went to shi$, his normal and relaxing life was ruined. No more gaming, no more 9-5. Kyle had to work part-time during the night every day, even on weekends.

What he hated the most now, was his trips where he was left alone with his thoughts. He tried to distract himself with music or some videos somehow, but nothing helped. The worst thing was that he didn't know how to get back on track.

His has broke ties with his family when he went to work alone in the big city, and now they didn't answer his phone. His friends have all either were completely useless pieces of shi# or didn't want to do anything with him.

The company that he bought the PC from didn't want to hear anything. They made a full blowout complaint to the police about a customer that didn't want to pay for the computer he bought. He had a court hearing in 2 weeks. He was going to lose it 100% as he had no money for a lawyer. Most likely, he would be forced to take an unfair lawn that would make him a slave forever.

Everything that he was aspiring for, everything that he looked forward to, everything was going against him.

Even his apartment was ruined. His bed was cut into 4 parts, and he had to put the same boxes that he delivered that faithful night just to hold the bed together.

He was riding the bus to his second job, and it felt like he didn't want to live anymore. He had no money to live off. Everything was going to paying the landlord to repair the apartment, as his deposit had no way to cover that. The last scraps that were left went paying for the PC.

The bus smelled awful, and he wanted to puke every time he rode one.

He had no idea what happened on February 1st, but he was determined that he had to find out. The police officers that came due to screams said that they saw similar scenes all over the town. Destroyed apartments and sometimes even explosions. He was the only one that survived inside while this phenomenon happened. Everybody else went missing.

Kyle hated this situation, 'If only someone in the house saw me talking to miss Anya. Police are so useless… Even the video that I showed them did nothing. They said that I faked it just to get the blame onto a poor girl that also went missing.' Kyle had the only thought in his head nowadays. What the hell happened that day.

'Maybe I can ask around again. Hopefully, Miss Anya can come back from her trip soon. She must have heard something just before she went away.' Kyle kept on pondering.

This was the moment when it hit him. Miss Anya. The boxes. Don't open before you come back into the apartment. The alarm on Anya's phone. The sudden music from the hall.

'No, no way. It was some kind of grenade or something. If it was in the box, then I shouldn't have survived. No, no way, no.' Kyle's eyes became twice as large.

This was too unbelievable to even think about. He simply couldn't believe that it was possible. 'I was supposed to die, wasn't I? Did Miss Anya got paid to assassinate me?'

'If this is true, I can't go back to work. I need to go home right now. I need to check. I have to get to the bottom of this.' Kyle started panicky pressing the stop button on the bus to stop, and ran to the doors. The stop was far away from his home, but he had to get as fast as possible. The only way was to run straight home.

—

Kyle stormed into his apartment, frantically throwing away the part of the bed to get to one of the boxes. He opened one, and it had some normal things that he would expect for safekeeping. He had to be extra careful if there were any more explosives in the boxes.

A photo camera, a video camera, a bunch of electronics that seemed brand new. A watches box and some large jewellery boxes. 'What the hell Miss Anya was doing in this dumpster here if she was this rich. She could have sold this and bought a luxury and new apartment.'

Kyle put the first box at the side and started opening the second box. It was a bit lighter. When he opened the box, he couldn't believe his eyes. It was full of dollar banknotes, all 100$ and neatly stacked into packs. It seemed that they have been out of the bank just recently. The note was on top, saying -

"Kyle, I know that you think you don't know me that well, but by taking this box, you have helped me more than you can imagine. This is my gift for you as I will never need this anymore. this world doesn't matter to me, and if, after opening the blue box, you decide to stay here, I hope that this can help you with having an easy and relaxing life." The letter was very neatly written by pen, and there seemed to be some teardrops at the bottom.

The first thought on Kyle's mind was that finally, he would be able to pay back and actually go back to his enjoyable life of playing games and being happy with all that money. He wouldn't even need to go to a 9-5 job anymore!

'I still don't get it. Why would she give me so much money? I was a no-one to her. What the hell is in that third box.'

Kyle reached to get the third, blue box. It was heavy. Too heavy for its size and appearance. He wanted to open it just like he did with others. He got the kitchen knife that he always used to open deliveries, but as soon as he reached to slice the box open, as the knife touched the box. The same music started playing. The same music that he heard on February the 1st, at 00:00. His heart seemingly stopped. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't do anything.

The only though that was on his mind - 'Please, please kill me this time, don't ruin the paint on the walls, I have worked for 3 weeks to pay for that.'

With that thought, his mind went black again.