1 An Unknown Message

The sounds of a keyboard clicking echo throughout the silent 1 bedroom apartment. The surrounding area was surprisingly clean for a shut-in who only plays games for a living. There surprisingly weren't any clothes on the floor, or any random trash throughout the apartment like you would normally expect of someone who wasted their time on games all day.

"One more… so close… and Ace," I say anticlimactic as I adjust the blanket surrounding me.

"Haha, dumbass. No matter how good you are or how hard you try can't beat someone who has skill and an aimbot. I don't even need to hide it since if I get banned I can just make a new account. That's one of the downsides of a free game, they're destined to be plagued by cheaters like myself." I say as I continue to cheat while playing games.

1 Game. 2 Games. 4 Games. 8 Games. 16 Games. No matter how many times I won I never felt truly satisfied. While others would feel some sort of joy or a sense of accomplishment at winning I never get a true sense of satisfaction. I can only get satisfaction through cheating. As long as I could remember I've had this kind of feeling. As if I wasn't destined for this world, and was instead a spectator at everything that had happened throughout the years. Cheating in games brought me a sense of satisfaction that I've never felt in the real world.

After a while, my alarm went off as I took out my phone from under the covers and check the time.

"9:45 am, I should get ready for the tournament in 'Swords and Magic'." I say as I get up and make my way to the Soul Dive machine.

With technology advancing at a rapid pace the entire world entered a new era. Video Games weren't limited to consoles now, there was a full dive Virtual Reality system that made it so you can experience the game almost as if it was another world. With up to 99% immersion into the chosen game that you load into these headsets and Capsules, people started making games imitating the worlds from famous novels.

As I remember to check the internet before entering the Game Capsule I turned around to turn off the console and powered on my laptop. After browsing the web for a couple of minutes searching the 'Swords and Magic' forums I see some threads discussing the tournament. There are some crazy threads named "Swords and Magic's First Major Tournament will the Devs stop the Cheater?" and "Unpopular Opinion but I don't care if he cheats" where people discuss my rampant cheating the game. Honestly, these people can't keep my name out of their mouths. Of course, I'm coming how can I miss something so big.

Its funny but the only reason I can cheat is that something tells me what to do, during tests I get a feeling of what answer is correct, and when I'm playing games there are times that I get a sudden inspiration of a different way to cheat. Whether that be modifying the coding of the game or abusing unknown bugs to gain an advantage. Just the other day I found a bug in 'Swords and Magic' where I could walk in the air, I wen to abuse this bug by leveling incredibly fast since I was too high the monsters couldn't hit me. The thing is that the devs couldn't replicate what I did, even after watching the footage they couldn't find a problem. As if the cheat was "Just for me". and so they banned me and went on their way.

As I close the current tab and turn around I see my front door's knob starts to turn and the door opens as a middle-aged woman walks in and looks at me staring at her like a deer in headlights.

"What is wrong with you, you promised me that you would go to school today." My neighbor yells at me as I run from the Game Capsule to the safety of my covers. She continues to yell at me saying I was wasting my life and throwing my future away by ignoring my education.

This middle-aged woman has been taking care of me for as long as I could remember, she told me that my parents were killed in a car accident and that I wouldn't have to worry about anything since they left everything to me. I have no memories of my family and this middle-aged woman is the only person who had cared for me as I was growing up.

It's been like this for months now. I can't find the will to turn up at school. I'm fine talking with anyone but I like to keep my space and sometimes I just don't want to be bothered with all the drama. After finding out about my ability there were many people who wanted to be my "friend" in the hopes that I would help them. I can't find the will to go to school because they all look and treat me differently. Like I'm an exotic animal from a zoo or something. I haven't been able to resist those stares and ever since then, I've decided that it would be better to just not go.

"I can't go today, I have something to do." I try to explain while hiding under the covers. No matter what I try to do I just feel like this world just isn't for me, I feel like I wasn't meant to exist here.

After yelling at me to get dressed she eventually gives up and leaves. I appreciate that she looks after me since my parents passed away but I don't think I can ever go back. I just feel like I don't belong there anymore. I find it hard to look at the people I once called friends after knowing what their hidden motives were.

As I lay in the protection of the blanket I check the time and see that it was and get up since the tournament was about to start. As I get out from under the blanket and walk to the Game Capsule my laptop makes a loud noise so I turn to look at it all I see is a black screen so I walk over to inspect it as I try to turn it on. Finally, it turns on to another black screen but this one has some writing. Reading the screen I can't help but laugh.

[Do you feel like you don't belong in this world?]

[Yes/No]

'Is this a virus, or maybe a prank?'

Upon going to click no I get the same feeling as I have been whenever I've got a new idea to cheat and my hand moves by itself as if I were possessed and moves to click 'Yes'. After clicking yes a new screen shows up.

[Would you like to "Die"?]

[Yes/No]

With the room filled with silence, I laugh to myself at this prank and turn around to hop in the Game Capsule. As I turn around something new pops up on the screen and a voice echoes in my mind.

[Thank you for choosing yes. Please wait as you are transferred to your "Death".]