After dinner, everything felt… normal.
Too normal.
We laughed, talked, and acted like nothing had happened. But deep inside, I knew something had changed.
I couldn't forget it.
The fear.
The excitement.
The fact that it was all real.
Later that night, we were all lying on the floor with our blankets, talking about everything that had happened.
"I still can't believe it was real," Violet said.
"I know," Diana replied. "It didn't feel like a game at all."
I stared at my phone, which was lying beside me.
Something about it kept bothering me.
Then suddenly—
ding
All three of our phones lit up at the same time.
We froze.
Slowly, we picked them up.
A notification from the game.
"New world unlocked."
Violet sat up immediately. "Did you guys see that?!"
"Yeah…" Diana said, her voice a little nervous this time.
I looked at both of them.
"So… are we doing this?" I asked.
There was a moment of silence.
Then—
Violet smiled. "Of course."
Diana sighed. "I have a bad feeling about this…"
I took a deep breath.
"Let's find out."
We opened the game.
The screen lit up again.
New worlds appeared.
But this time…
They looked different.
Darker.
Quieter.
Almost… unsettling.
"Why do they look like that?" Diana whispered.
"I don't know…" I said slowly.
Something didn't feel right.
But still—
We clicked one.
The same pulling force.
The same dizziness.
And then—
Darkness.
When I opened my eyes, everything felt… wrong.
The air was colder.
The surroundings were unfamiliar.
And for some reason…
It felt harder to breathe.
"Guys?" I called out.
"I'm here," Violet said quickly.
"Me too," Diana added.
We stood close together, looking around carefully.
There were no people.
No sounds.
Just silence.
"This place is creepy…" Violet whispered.
"Let's just finish this quickly and go back," Diana said.
I nodded. "Yeah… let's not stay here for long."
We started walking.
Every step felt heavy.
Every sound made us turn.
It felt like…
We weren't alone.
After a while, Violet tried to open the game menu.
"To go back," she said.
But—
It didn't open.
"What?" she said, tapping the screen again. "It's not working."
My heart started beating faster.
"Let me try."
I tried too.
Nothing.
"No… no, this isn't happening," Diana said, panic rising in her voice.
"Why isn't it working?!"
Then suddenly—
A message appeared.
Slowly.
Glitching.
Flickering.
"You cannot leave yet."
We froze.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
"This… wasn't part of the game," I whispered.