I was floating deep inside my mind. Abominations, a mockery of flesh—strides beneath my feet, the past and present intertwined. A presence. Watching. Waiting. Something pulled me away.

  ______________________________________

  I woke up from my sleep—feeling a wave of energy, something that could only be described as excitement.

  "And the weekend break is here."

  My mind will and would never forget about the teachers back at school, it was a refresher to finally be away. Even if it is only for two days.

  I sat straight up, stretching my arms from side to side.

  "This feels like an awesome day! Maybe one of the rare occasions where nothing bad really happens" I said to myself.

  I took a moment to absorb the surroundings of my room, the sun at its brightest.

  The light that penetrated the curtains painted my room in faint a hue of warm orange. I looked around, spotting my computer's desk neatly positioned in the corner of my room.

  The small mini bookshelf at my bedside that my father bought for me back in summer was collecting dust, I've rarely used it for its main purpose, which was storing books.

  I glanced at my phone on the nightstand. The screen glowed faintly—"87%".

  "I didn't forget to charge my phone this time? That's just awesome."

  As I sat upright on my bed, I smell the food my mother is making, she knows a recipe unlike any other.

  The aroma was enticing, I knew it was my favourite dish the moment it reached my nose.

  Usually at this time, the whole household will have a lingering smell, of a delicious omelette rice.

  I felt my vision becoming fuzzy. I closed my eyes—feeling the headache, a consequence of sitting up so suddenly.

  While I closed my eyes, I couldn't help but think of something.

  "It's really lonely here, I should invite my friends sometimes."

  A random thought my mind drifted off onto, after a moment of thought, I opened my eyes, relieved that the feeling was fading away.

  I have always been the quiet kid, I would love to have any social connection. But knowing myself, that would just be a dream.

  I don't mind really, in fact, I love the silence. Being alone has its benefits, I could be left alone, all the toys in the world for me. All I could think of was about school and an escape from it.

  Minecraft, I heard the name: Minecraft from one of my friends, it came out fairly recently. I was ecstatic to check it out, knowing that I have two days of free time, I knew instantly that today was going to be a great day.

  I slowly took the first step off my bed, the cold air of my room hits my skin as if I was wearing nothing. Chilly. I slowly stood up, and pulled open the curtains.

  The rays of sunlight that was already dying my room a faint hue of warm orange grew brighter.

  I took a moment to shield my eyes. As I stood infront of the window. After some time has passed, my eyes were adapting to the rapid change of the lighting. As my eyes gradually adapted

  I lowered my hand slowly, taking in the sight of the neighborhood outside. Everything felt alright. Calm. Serene.

  I opened the window, its wooden frame creaks as the hinges moved, letting the fresh air outside, inside. I took a deep breath and enjoyed the moment.

  After a while of spectating passing cars and hearing the birds chirp, I sat on my worn office chair, it creaked as my weight settled.

  Naturally, it was comfortable, but after years of use, the leather began to wear off. But even with that, it's still working as intended other than the loose elevator... whatever they called it. I had to re-adjust the height countless times.

  As I became comfortable sitting there, I looked at the picture of myself and my grandfather fishing together. An emotionally valuable item that would rekindle a memory inside of me.

  I grabbed the wecker clock near my monitor and set a timer for two hours.

  As I hold the clock with my hands, I can't stop but acknowledge how early I've woken up today—7:33 a.m.

  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's one of the rare times where my biological clock woke me up early. I was happy about that.

  Only two hours of playtime on my computer, my parents told me that the electricity bills were skyrocketing as inflation rose.

  My parents decided to limit my screen time, which—I couldn't blame, it's better than nothing.

  I reached under my desk for my computer's case, I tapped around blindly until I felt the familiar power button, I gently pressed it.

  As usual, the button pre-travels, and resets back to the state that it was usually on.

  I could hear the soft hum of my computer's fan. I sat relaxed and upright, watching the symbol of a circle rotating displayed on my monitor.

  As I waited patiently, I wonder how this new game would be like. I haven't had the time to read comics, let alone check out Minecraft.

  From what I've heard, the things my friends told me, it was a magical place. Where creativity flourishes, a place where anyone could build anything—anything... to put it mildly, I was excited about that.

  While I was lost in my own excitement, I failed to realize that my computer was already booted up. I chuckled at myself for that.

  As usual, the familiar homescreen appeared, I typed in my password, as I did so, I can't help but to notice a pixel that is just slightly off-Windows update these days. I clicked enter and logged in.

  My monitor displayed an abundance of apps that I've downloaded in the past. But I'm not interested in those, I clicked and opened Internet Explorer, as expected. I was met with a search prompt, I typed in,

  "Minecraft.net"

  I was taken to the download site, and for a bit, I paused looking at the price.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  €14,95 EUR.

  I gave a mental slap to myself, why didn't I expect that? But whatever's the case, I was determined to play that game. I reluctantly bought the game, and thankfully, it accepted PayPal.

  I sighed in relief, I've opened a PayPal account not too long ago as an effort to save up allowance money.

  I was only left with €5 EUR.

  But it would all be worth it! It will, it will.

  I clicked the download button, and waited-waited, and waited. After what felt like an eternity, the progress bar crept up to 99.9%.

  "What a wait."

  I said to myself. I set my frustration aside, thinking about the possibilities this new game holds. Strangely—I had an uneasy feeling, could it be the excitement messing with me?

  Well, that's... hopefully just my empty stomach.

  It would be nice to see a brand new game that's unique. I stared at the ceiling momentarily.

  If only—

  My thought was cut short after

  My mother opened my bedroom's door, carrying a tray of mac & cheese, and pancakes. Awesome...

  I thanked my mother with gratitude, I set the plates on my desk. The smell of it was delicious.

  I could even taste the food without ever taking a bite of it! This day just feels awesome, I might consider it as the best day of my life.

  I shifted my attention back to my monitor, I held my mouse and guided the cursor to the program.

  Minecraft.exe.

  Before I clicked it, I noticed a note on my desktop, strange.

  I thought to myself—does the purchase comes with a note thanking you after spending more than a week worth of allowance?

  It could be a virus for all I know.

  I pushed that note away from my mind and I moved the note into the recycling bin, I'll delete it later.

  I ran the program—another loading screen... how I despised those dearly. Another session of waiting ensues, and after a while, finally, the main menu was displayed.

  I was greeted with the background of a plain dirt biome, the Minecraft logo in bold letters, along with a yellow splash text that reads,

  "The cake is a lie."

  It was quirky, It's great. I clicked on a gray button that says "Singleplayer", I was then presented with a world list, which was empty, unless if I take into account the sample worlds.

  I was confused, it took me a while to grasp the basic concepts of it, how to create worlds and so on, I had never played a game similar to this before.

  Everything seems so unique, I can't help my self thinking that this is the best thing I've spent my allowance money on.

  I clicked the "Create world" Interface, and was given the choice to name my world.

  Masq

  I knew I wasn't the best when it came to creative names, but it was a start, and more importantly, it's better than nothing.

  My excitement rose, I couldn't wait any longer and joined into the world.

  I sat patiently, waiting for the world to be generated, thinking of what I should make or do here. It really is confusing, I've always wanted to build a lot of things, but sadly, I haven't found a game that has met my requirement, until now.

  I was lost in my own thoughts, wondering how I can invite my friends to play together. I noticed the world finished loading, I composed myself and gently brought the keyboard near, while my other hand grasped the mouse.

  I was flabbergasted, even though the game is all blocky, the... uniqueness is off the charts. I can't believe what I was seeing. A randomly generated world?

  I moved my character around using the WASD key input, I was in awe. The first thing I did was look up towards the sky.

  Maybe my friends were right all along, I was sceptical at first... the cost of this game, and how my friends love to exaggerate games, glorifying them more than they really are.

  Well, it doesn't matter now, all my thoughts of this game are currently, mostly positive, I can't wait to explore this map.

  One by one, I figured out all the keys, to open my inventory, how to craft, and what to do, I've never felt this excited in my life! Not after the BBQ party we had at our uncle's house.

  I moved my mouse, looking around the game's surroundings, I was watching my monitor in disbelief. The map-No, what I thought was a map, the world seems to stretch into infinity! I kept walking forward, and I just couldn't find the invisible border most game had.

  I kept holding the W key for God knows how long, until I realized I wouldn't find the edge of the world anytime soon, I settled on a land that's a vast, grassland? Of sort. It was beautiful, although, there was a fog obsecuring the horizon.

  "Hmm... clever way to disguise the render distance." I said.

  I realized my cheeks were getting tired, I was smilling from ear to ear, no wonder why. I've got something to build in mind, I continued exploring the area I picked to settle down in, and saw a woods to my north.

  I walked over there, stood infront of a tree and started punching it. I laughed by the absurdity of this. After a few seconds has passed, the log seems to... scale down, and was pick-able, I got a closer look towards the floating log on the ground.

  I opened my inventory and crafted wooden planks, and from there, I had figured out how to make tools.

  After some time, I managed to gather a fair amount of wooden planks, and I began to build my house. Nothing too fancy, just something to shelter myself from the monsters.

  I decided to build a 10 x 10 house, I start laying the foundation, made of cobblestone, I settled with the idea that the floor should be wood and the walls should be cobblestones. I replaced the cobblestone foundation with wooden planks, cozy.

  After I was satisfied with my work, I moved onto the walls, I began laying down the cobblestones. I couldn't help but to think that this changed my standards, when it comes to games.

  I realized, I was tired of playing first-person shooter games, this is a change of pace that I would like. And maybe, relaxing games aren't so bad, after all, everything doesn't have to be competitive.

  I placed the last cobblestone down, finishing my house. Took one look around the inside, and knew that it's too bland. I decided to break a couple cobblestone to create a window that oversees the plains outside.

  I lost track of time.

  I managed to gather coal, and crafted torches, I placed them around my house. Now those strange green things wouldn't dare to explode my house.

  "Now how would I sleep... right, a bed."

  "If I'm not wrong the recipe should be... three wooden planks, and three wools. Do I have any wools on me?"

  I opened my inventory and was surprised by the fact that I had some wool, possibly from neutralizing a few sheeps while I was searching for coal. Convenient. I crafted myself a bed.

  I struggle to decide where to put it, against the wall, perfectly in the middle, or at the corner of my house.

  I decided to choose the latter and placed my bed at the corner of my house.

  "Perfect!" I thought to myself.

  "Now it's a little bit more comfortable."

  "Now this feels homey and cozy, I can't wait to expand my home and build a castle!"

  ...

  Soon enough, that is, but for now? This will do.

  Something feels like it's missing something, though, I can't pin point on what it is...

  "RIGHT!"

  I moved my cursor to look around my house and saw that... it's just a big box, with no rooms whatsoever.

  I pressed i to check my inventory, and to my relief, I still had some building materials left, I start thinking on what rooms I should build, but one thing is for sure, a bedroom will be my highest priority.

  I spent my first night decorating my house, building walls to make a bedroom, which was made how I imagined it to be, perfect.

  I opened the door to my newly built bedroom...

  ...

  "Did I place that sign there...? "

  "That was, strange. I'm sure I didn't craft any signs, let alone placed one."

  My mind immediately thought that this was a glitch, or rather... a newcomer's starter pack.

  But if that was the case, where was the chest? Or the torches surrounding it. It's just one... singular... sign...

  "It's—probably nothing."

  But deep down, I was spooked.

  I broke the sign to keep for myself.

  Maybe I should put it up infront of my frontdoor to tell the monster who's house this is—

  "How much time has passed?"

  I paused the game, checked the wecker clock next to my monitor.

  "7:56 a.m? That's strange, I was sure that—"

  "It must've been my mind playing tricks on me."

  "Right, I should go ahead and help with the chores."

  I moved my mouse, hovered my cursor on the Exit button, and clicked it. For a split second, the game unpaused. I caught a glimpse of a figure outside my bedroom's window.

  Until.

  I was met with the same menu screen as before. Where I expected, the yellow splash text was there.

  "I stared at the menu screen for a solid one minute, before reading the splash text, "The cake s lie"... That isn't right, that's not right."

  I quickly reached down under my desk for my computer's case, I powered it off. I stared at myself, the monitor's screen reflecting my face.

  I shifted my attention to the food my mother brought me, that I forgot to eat. I was too focused playing the game.

  "Pancakes and Mac & Cheese...

  ..."

  "Pancakes? Mac & Cheese? Didn't I smell omelette earlier- I... I must've smelled the wrong thing. Did I even smell omelette earlier?" I said, quietly.

  I told myself that it's just my nose acting up, but I can't help to notice the goosebumps that was beginning to show.

  I keep telling myself that it's just a part of my imagination-my trembling hands says otherwise.

  Something isn't right.