𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙕𝙤𝙣𝙚

Four

TEAGAN HARPER

Don't do it, I keep telling myself.

Keeping my phone next to me whilst studying was definitely a bad idea.

Yes, there's only a week left of school before the Summer. Yes, the exam I'm studying isn't exactly a subject I plan on pursuing. And yes, it's nearly midnight. But this part of the revising is mostly to keep up a reputation. I'd never hear the end of it from my classmates if I failed the paper.

The phone next to my computer keeps buzzing. For some reason, it seems that half my friends believe that now, in the middle of the night, would be the absolute perfect time to bombard my phone with notifications. If I stop now, all I'll be able to think about later is how I could've done so much more. It's not the healthiest idea to base your self worth off of grades, I'm well aware, but...

I groan in frustration as it vibrates on the desk. I pull the laptop closer to me and lean in to the screen, typing notes down more furiously as if to prove to it that I'm not interested in what it has to say.

I stop my typing mid sentence when I spot a different icon appear on my phone. Finally, I give in and press on it. At first I was curious, but now I'm confused.

A video belonging to the channel The Game Theorists has been posted, but it's not actually a theory video; it's a Let's Play. The one in charge of the channel, Matpat, has collaborated with the other creators involved before, but never all together in one video. The YouTubers are Markiplier, Jacksepticeye and Natewantstobattle from Give Heart Records.

Could be interesting. But there's no way I'm going to be able to stay awake to watch it all; my head is swimming. Self loathing tommorow it is.

I shut the lid of my laptop and stand up to get ready for bed. I barely reach the duvet before I collapse onto the covers, nevermind change into nightwear or switch my devices off.

"Ugh..."

I hear the door open.

I don't need to look up to know my mom is peaking in, staring at me sprawled across the bed fully clothed, seemingly half dead. The light switches off. The door closes. I've been doing this every night for this last term of school; my parents have basically given up on lecturing me about it.

It takes a minute, but I realize that the world should have gone dark when the door was shut. The light above me is dimmed, but I can still see perfectly. I sit up. And I'm the source of the light.

It's as though I've been dipped in metallic golden flakes. My arms and hands are glowing yellow in the darkness. And I wish I can say that that's the end of the strangeness. I'm just about to brush the glitter off my arms against the bed, to test if I'm not just seeing things, when i collapse onto the floor beneath me; the bed, and the rest of the room, for that matter, has dissapeared.