That night, I dreamed I was stuck in a dialogue box.
> "Zeke_N, do you wish to continue?"
[YES]
[NO]
[GLITCH]
I tried to click "GLITCH."
Woke up in a cold sweat, power flickering, windows shaking. The building itself felt… off.
I ran to the hallway.
And saw her.
Tall. Slender. Human-shaped — kind of. But her limbs were just slightly too long. Her skin shimmered like static, constantly re-rendering.
No face.
Just a blinking message above her head:
> [Patcher_002]
Target Acquired: Unauthorized Debug User
EXECUTING: MEMORY CLEANSE
"Nope," I said. "We're not doing that today."
She raised a hand. The hallway stretched. Like, literally — the walls pulled apart like rubber. Lights flickered into binary. My door vanished behind me.
> //USE: "Emergency Glitch Patch"
(Cost: 5 Sanity)
"Wait, sanity?"
Didn't matter. I clicked it.
Everything froze.
Then reversed. Like someone hit rewind on the world. The hallway un-stretched. The lights undimmed. The Patcher glitched backward and folded into herself with a low-pitched ping.
Gone.
I stood there for a long time, hands shaking. Not from fear — not exactly.
From realization.
This wasn't just a cool game anymore. Someone… something wanted me gone.