The first thing I heard that morning was my alarm clock.The second thing I heard was myself groaning, "Why does school start before my soul is ready to exist?"
I rolled out of bed, nearly face-planting into the floor. Smooth start. Ten points for style.
Backpack, check. Shoes, check. Dreams of skipping school forever, double check.It was supposed to be a big day — math test, maybe hanging out with my best friend afterward. Normal. Safe. Forgettable.
Except… something already felt wrong.
My mirror looked odd. The photo of me and my best friend at the beach — gone. In its place? A clean, empty frame. I rubbed my eyes, but nope. Just blank glass staring back at me.
I shook it off and trudged downstairs.
"Morning, Mom," I yawned.
She turned from the stove, spatula in hand. For a split second, her smile flickered like static on a TV screen. Then she screamed.Full-on horror movie scream.
I froze. "Whoa, calm down! It's just me. Xian. Your child? The person you've fed for seventeen years?"
Her face drained of color. "Who are you? Get out of my house!"
I laughed nervously. "Funny. Great joke. Ha-ha."
She grabbed her phone, fingers shaking. "I'm calling the police."
Not a joke.
My chest tightened as I stumbled upstairs. But when I burst into my room, my heart stopped.
No posters. No clothes. No bed. Just four bare walls, like nobody had lived there in years.
Panic flared. I pulled out my phone.No contacts. No photos. No messages.
Just one notification, glowing at the top of the screen:
Your existence has been revoked. 72 hours remain.
I nearly dropped the phone. "What the—? Is this some kind of prank app?"
But the more I checked, the worse it got.At school, my desk was gone. My name wasn't on the roll call. Even my best friend stared at me like I was some random intruder.
By lunch, I had lost my home, my friends, my records, my entire identity.
The world wasn't just ignoring me.It was deleting me.
I staggered into an alley, clutching my chest, trying to breathe. "Okay, Xian. You're not crazy. You're just having… the world's worst Monday."
That's when I heard a voice.
"Finally," someone said.
A boy leaned against the wall, as calm as if he'd been waiting there the whole time. His gaze locked on me with unsettling certainty.
"You've noticed the truth," he said.
I swallowed hard. "What truth?"
He stepped closer, his tone almost casual."The truth is, you don't exist anymore. And if you don't fix it…"
He tilted his head, smiling faintly.
"…you have only seventy-two hours left."