I ran.I don’t remember deciding to. My legs moved before the thought formed. I burst out of my apartment and into the hallway, heart pounding, every light flickering as I passed beneath it. The world felt wrong—too flat, like a poorly rendered map.
The elevator refused to come. The stairwell stretched impossibly downward, steps repeating in looping patterns. I realised with sick clarity that I was still inside a system that didn’t know how to simulate escape.
Back in my apartment, the TV displayed a new screen.
A diagnostic menu.
RUNNING FINAL CHECKS
MEMORY SYNC: 94%
PERSONALITY MATCH: ACCEPTABLE
RESISTANCE: ABOVE AVERAGE
A progress bar crawled forward, stuttering whenever I tried to look away. Each blink felt longer than the last. When I opened my eyes, the room had subtly changed—furniture rearranged, photos on the wall depicting moments I didn’t remember experiencing.
One photo showed me sitting on the couch, eyes vacant, controller in hand.
From behind.
The mirror across the room reflected someone else standing where I should have been. They wore my face, but their movements were smooth, confident, unafraid.
They raised a hand and tapped the glass.
The TV chimed.
INTEGRITY: 99%
The figure in the mirror mouthed a word I felt rather than heard.
“Thanks.”
Source: Some or all of the content was generated using an AI language model
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