A Normal Day

Mia was finding it hard to keep herself sane. It wasn't that she didn't try or anything. But with things going the way it was, it's not like anyone could blame her or anything.

Year 2035. June 12th.

It was supposed to be a normal day just like any other day. But for some reason, things didn't end up the way that Mia expected it to be.

It all started with the red alerts in their devices.

People didn't really care about these alerts because it was a usual occurrence.

The tectonic plates were closing in on each other. While it caused a panic of sorts in the general populace initially, the government came up and calmed them down when they declared that they had everything under control.

Well, at least most of it.

One of the things that they couldn't control was the mild earthquakes that popped up because of the tectonic clash.

So, people were really calm when it all happened.

A bit too calm.

But as time passed, the earthquake didn't.

Instead, it grew in strength. It turned more vigorous. And then people started to panic for real.

Mia was a really systemic person. She's someone who follows rules to the dot. There were people who mocked her for being a pain in the ass with all the rule abiding and all, but she didn't care a bit about all of that.

Sure, this meant that she had no real friends, but she didn't care. She would much rather have no friends than not follow her creed.

The red alert on Mia's phone meant that she went straight to her house and the underground bunker in it.

Well, she was heading home either way, but the alert sure did make her hurry over.

And in the bunker, she waited.

She waited for the red alert to be over. It was a bit longer than usual, but that just solidified her choice of staying in the bunker.

She wasn't that worried or anything because she was cautious with her every step.

And this meant that she had food supplies for at least a year or so.

Minutes passed; then hours; then days. But the red alert never turned off.

Even though that was the case, Mia could feel it.

She could sense that something was wrong in the air. There was no longer an earthquake.

But the red alert didn't went off. And as long as the red alert persisted, Mia wasn't going to take a step out.

But that didn't mean that she wasn't curious or anything. She tried looking for info, but nothing worked. The comms were all out. She was literally and figuratively in the dark.

Mia held it in.

She held in the urges to explore. It was so unlike her. Usually, she didn't care one bit about going outside.

But that day, she really felt the need to go out.

It was as if all the Gods in the world were listening to her urges. Because a small orange translucent screen popped in front of her.

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[MESSAGE RECEIVED]

(open) (minimize)

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At that point, everything she knew apparently ceased to exist.

Because in front of her was an unknown entity beckoning her. She felt the humane urge to open it, but that's literally opposite to how she works.

That's her going against her own creed.

But she couldn't help it. She needed information more than anything at that point and this orange screen looked like it could provide her with some information.

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[[ CONGRATULATIONS!! ]]

[You have been selected!]

(Press to know more)

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No matter how she looked at it, this message board looked like a scam.

She couldn't help but worry about the sort of mess that she had fallen into. She wanted to back out of it, but there was no exit button on the screen, which meant that the only way that she could move was forward.

However, she was reluctant to press the glowing button.

Afterall, who in their sane mind would press this random button that popped out of nowhere? In a world where one can't trust a fellow human being, how was she going to trust this random button?

So, she waited. She waited for the screen to fade away just like it popped up.

But it never did.

Instead, with each passing moment, the screen grew brighter and brighter.

But still, Mia resisted her urge.

And it was as if the screen was tempting her at that point. It was mocking her to an extend.

The orange screen turned all flashy. Then once it realized that Mia wasn't going to swing by, it added a Godly aura around it. It was almost as if the screen would turn her blind.

And thus, Mia gave in.

She couldn't endure any longer. She pressed the button.

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[Congratulations. You made the right choice.]

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At the point, she was certain about it.

She screwed up.

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