Have a freak out.

Lowering the lid, I sat on top of the toilet, head in my hands. Suddenly reminded of it by the system, the pain of being crushed under several tonnes of truck stuck in my mind like a thorn, hanging over me like a portent of doom. Focusing on my breathing, I tried to regain my mental equilibrium.

A couple minutes into the exercise had me feeling considerably better, the sharp spike of panic I’d been dealing with since I woke ebbing, replaced by a rapidly growing sense of curiosity. The curiousty swelled as I considered this so called system, eagerness to explore this new and strange development filling me. I started a little as a little envelope icon started flashing in the corner of my field of view, a small number 4 emblazoned atop it.

Mentally trying to select what I assumed to be several unopened notifications, I could only sigh in disappointment as I was met by an error message instead.

Shaking my head in amusement at the snarky comment, I waved the message away, standing up and heading over to the sink to start my morning routine. I noted with mild interest that, although anime-fied, my odds and ends were exactly where I’d left them the previous morning.

Taking the weirdness of the day in stride, I cleaned my teeth and washed my face before stripping off my boxers and hopping into the shower. The warm water was soothing on my skin, my muscles relaxing further and easing some of the tension they’d gained after this morning’s strangeness.

I was quietly contemplating the wider universe and my place inside it when a knock at my bedroom door coming from the main room caught my attention, shortly followed by a muffled voice of someone on the other side. A short internal debate raged as I considered if I really wanted to get out of the shower to open the door. I had no doubt in my mind that it was one of my shitty flatmates, probably wanting to ask a favour.

A little miffed that one of my the two flatmates assigned by the uni had picked now of all times to bother me, I stoically ignored the noise as returned my thoughts to the meaning of life.

My eyebrows rose in mild surprise and consternation as, rather than give up and sort out their own problems, my unwelcome guest tried the door handle. My eyebrows rose even further as I heard the decidedly unlocked door swing open, the soft sound of bare feet on carpet as someone entered swiftly following.

I breathed in sharply, taking in a lungful of air as I prepared to deliver a chewing out of epic proportions to whichever of my two ‘flat bros’ thought it’d be a good idea to enter my room without my permission. The might speech died in my throat, however, when the intruder spoke up.

“Casper, are you up? You know Annie will be pissed if you sleep in and miss your first class... again.”

The voice, which was tinged with mild exasperation, was not in fact the dulcet tones of one of my male flatmates, but instead sounded decidedly feminine. Alarmed, I spun to face the bathroom door, suddenly very aware that, in my distracted state, I’d left it wide open.

“Are you even in here? I swear to God, if you’ve left the shower on to piss out all our hot water then swanned off somewhere, then I’m going to be…”

“Wait, no, don’t!” I cried out, cutting the stranger off in my desperation to warn them.