Later that night, John sat in his dimly lit apartment, surrounded by empty Rockstar Energy Drink cans and glowing monitors, his fingers twitching slightly from the excessive caffeine intake. His room smelled of stale energy drinks and unwashed ambition, but he barely noticed—his focus was locked onto the monitor in front of him. The program he had been working on at the café earlier pulsed ominously, its black terminal screen filled with glowing, shifting hieroglyphic symbols that had no business being there. They weren't standard syntax, not ASCII, not even garbled machine code. It was as if an ancient scribe had been let loose inside his processor, inscribing lost knowledge into his meticulously structured lines of logic. He squinted, heart pounding, as one of the symbols flickered, then rearranged itself, spelling out what almost looked like his name.
"Okay… that's new. And terrifying. Definitely terrifying." He leaned in, studying them carefully.
Then, the screen flickered violently, like an old CRT monitor on its last breath. His mouse pad vibrated as if moving on its own, his speakers let out a faint electronic whine, and John swallowed hard.
"Great. Either I'm about to get hacked by the world's most theatrical malware, or I've unlocked the secret language of the digital gods. Either way, I should probably unplug this… but of course, I won't… W?T?F?"
A deep, vibrating hum filled the air, making his two-bedroom apartment feel less like a cramped student living space and more like the control room of a spaceship about to make an unauthorized jump to hyperspace. The glow from the screen intensified, casting long, unnatural shadows along the walls. He shuddered as the sensation of static electricity prickled at his skin. His fingers hovered over the keyboard, hesitant yet undeniably intrigued. Curiosity was winning over self-preservation—never a good sign.
"Okay, let's be real. Best-case scenario, I'm about to make history. Worst-case scenario… I become a cautionary tale on Reddit's r/nosleep."
He took a deep breath. He had written thousands of programs before, debugged countless errors, even created and trained AI bot—but this… this wasn't coding. This was communication with something otherworldly. And whatever was on the other end of his screen? It was watching him back.
HELP! WE ARE UNDER SEIGE, SEND YOUR PRIME!
At this moment, his roommate Paul walked in, rubbing his eyes and yawning as he tossed his keys onto the counter. The instant he stepped inside, a strange heat washed over him, like he'd just walked into a sauna fueled by malfunctioning servers. He looked over at John, "Dude, you're scared of everything, and now your computer is terrifying you? Why are you acting like you've just seen a demon crawl out of your hard drive?"
As Paul moved further inside, he wiped his forehead, frowning. "Dude, it feels like the sun decided to sublet our apartment. What do you have the thermostat set to—literal hell?" He fanned himself dramatically.
John nearly launched himself out of his chair, his pulse hammering in his ears like a drumline on overdrive. He turned to Paul, his face a ghostly shade of white, his breath uneven. His eyes darted between Paul and the glowing symbols floating above the monitor – like ancient spirits demanding attention. "I… I think my computer just talked to me. And not in the fun 'Siri, tell me a joke' way."
Paul raised an eyebrow, half-skeptical, half-curious. "You mean, like, Cortana? Or are we talking full-on Skynet? Because if it's the latter, we should probably cash in before it turns against us."
John swallowed hard and pointed at the floating symbols, which pulsed and shifted like sentient neon glyphs trying to communicate. The air itself shimmered as if charged with electricity, static tingling against their skin. "No, I mean, this wasn't supposed to happen. This isn't code. This isn't even human."
"Thanks for pointing out what is clearly in front of my face, Inspector Gadget, " Paul said sarcastically. "I may not be as technologically savvy as you but I can see you've just built some-type of augmented reality app or something." An utter sense of reality hit Paul, "That's wild, how did you do this without… AR, goggles?"
Paul's words tailed-off as he began to realize that this may not be some type of prank. He stepped closer, eyes scanning the room for hidden projectors and realizing the wall color in the apartment had subtly shifted from off-white to a shimmering gold, and were offset by the reflection of the bluish-teal holographic projections.
"Alright, this is some next-level nerd sorcery. You've been working with either Space-X or NASA behind my back?… Probably, Space-X."
He walked closer, his amused expression shifting to one of uncertainty. As the glow from the holograms reflected off the walls, he caught sight of John's eyes—radiating with an eerie, opalescent light.
"Uh, bro… are those new techno-neon contacts or—" His words trailed off as the realization sank in. This wasn't some elaborate prank. This was real. Too real.
John replied, "I don't know what's going on with my eyes. This was happening earlier in the café with Elsa and Ronni. All I can say is that it seems like my body can feel what's going on. It feels like the programming is inside of me."
"Oh, so we're in the adventures of Super Holographic-Computer-Man. You can be so weird and dramatic sometimes dude." John, softly shook his head in disbelief of Paul's light-heartedness, I can't believe you're cracking jokes. Paul's smirk fell off of his face as if to suggest he agreed, he then finally turned his full attention to the floating symbols, their ethereal teal light casting shifting shadows across the room. His gaze then locked onto the pulsating text on the screen, his lips parting slightly as he read aloud:
HELP! WE ARE UNDER SIEGE, SEND YOUR PRIME!
"What the fuck, does that mean" Paul curiously exclaimed. The text then added.
PLEASE CONFIRM.
Then a holographic three-dimensional button elevated in the air with the text:
INITIATE PORTAL
Paul let out a short laugh, trying to mask his unease. "What is this, some kind of prank malware program? Hackers are getting too aggressive these days."
John shook his head. "No. I didn't program this. It just… started happening. And when I tried to reprogram the app earlier today, it just nestled itself deep into my code. When I tried to close it, the whole system glitched and sent shocks through my body. It was like I could feel this person – or this thing – reaching out."
Paul's smirk faltered. "That's freaky. And your eyes look freaky. I bet Elsa would like it." He said mockingly, "By the way, you need to stop helping her, she's' just using you. It's a bit pitiful how you keep falling for her games. Anyways–" John shook his head, clearly done with the topic. Paul continued, "What happens if you press that 'INITIATE PORTAL' button?"
John hesitated, his fingers hovering over the holographic button. The air in the room felt heavier, charged with something he couldn't name. He glanced at Paul. "Should we?"
Paul crossed his arms. "I mean, obviously no. But also… absolutely yes. The real question is where can I get a pair of those freaky contacts, lmao!"
Paul laughed, but fear flickered in his eyes. "Dude… I know you're just f'ing with me… Right?"
John took a deep breath, his fingers trembling slightly as he reached for the "INITIATE PORTAL" button. This went against what he knew to be sensible. In his mind he thought I should just try to reboot my computer and walk away. But something deeper–something ancient–pulled him forward. It felt familiar, like a missing part of him had snapped into place. He felt alive, stronger than he ever had.
As his finger got closer to the holographic button, the computer screen went black –leaving only the floating holographic button behind.
Then the lights in their apartment flickered, and a deep hum vibrated through the walls. The temperature plummeted. Paul took a step back. "Uh, John? What in the world did you just do?"
"Nothing!" John replied before he really had time to process the question, "I haven't even touched the button yet." John's hesitation to press the button prompted Paul to reach for John's arm to pull it away. The moment Paul touched his arm, a painful shock tore through his body. "HOLY SHIT, man!" He yanked his hand back, shaking it vigorously as if to dull the pain.
At that moment the apartment door swung open. "John, I was worried about you from earlier today," Ronni said as she stepped inside. Her voice was laced with concern, but as she shut the door behind her, her words caught in her throat at the site she was witnessing. From her perspective it looked as if her brother was in some type of otherworldly trance and Paul grimacing in pain.
At that moment, John's finger connected with the "INITIATE PORTAL" button. Ronni gasped, "What is that!?"
Her eyes widened in shock as she took in the sight before her. A brilliant violet and gold glow emanated from John's eyes, pulsating with an otherworldly rhythm. The air in the room shimmered as an opal-colored aura expanded outward from his computer, cascading over the walls, the furniture, and even Ronni herself. She staggered back against the door, her breath hitching. "John… What the hell is happening?"
The computer screen flared to life again, symbols cascading down like digital rain.
The holographic border of the button disappeared, and the letters reassembled into a single phrase:
PORTAL INITIATED.
Paul's face was drained of color. "Dude… I think we just did something really, really bad."
John exhaled sharply. His pulse quickened. Every logical part of his mind screamed to shut the laptop, wipe the drive, pretend none of this was happening–but something deeper, something primal, told him otherwise.
John didn't answer. He couldn't. The energy flowing through him was overwhelming, ancient, and impossibly vast. The symbols on his computer screen pulsed in sync with the glow in his irises, their meaning just beyond his grasp, yet tantalizingly close.
The low hum immediately escalated into a high frequency pitch, filling the air with an unbearable shriek. The lights brightened, shifting into violent violet and brilliant gold. The floor beneath John trembled violently.
A powerful surge of seemingly electromagnetic force rippled through the apartment, instantly rendering Paul unconscious. The computer screen went black again as violent pulses of energy coursed through both John and Ronni.
Then, the world around him rippled. Ronnie vanished in the surge as John reached out, desperate to save her from impending doom. Paul disappeared a heartbeat later. And John saw nothing but blinding white— which faded to black in an instant.