Chapter Text
Ever since the release of the hit game "Prime Empire", it seems to have taken the world by storm. Thousands of players have already registered and flooded the servers ever since it finally hit the app store and various other sites. The official websites experience bugs sometimes because of the number of players on the servers.
A few strands of hair dangled off the raven-haired head, only to be re-tied back into its man bun. A chilling, sharp inhale was taken before breathing out again. The sound echoed throughout the small room, which was poorly kept and nowhere near organized. He’d have to cleanse later on. The LED lights in the room changed colors in a frequent pattern, slow enough to where it wouldn’t cause eye strain or a headache. A bright light glowed brightly on the computer, reflecting across his face. The man’s eyes narrowed as he read the monologue off of his screen.
"Would you like to play Prime Empire?" He read aloud, making sure that he was comprehending the right words.
"We should play that tomorrow on stream. What do you think, Cole? " It’s been pretty popular lately. I was thinking for maybe an hour or two. " A high-pitched voice spoke from the other end of the cellular device in the man’s hand. It worked well, snapping him out of his trance, but it ended up catching him off guard. Cole jumped slightly at the sudden interruption, but he just shook it off as if nothing happened.
"It seems kind of easy for a gaming pro like me." Cole boasted about himself briefly before stimulating a small chuckle. "But seriously, Jay, I think we should. It sounds like a good time, and it's currently at the top of the charts. It would gain some attention if we played it. "Will it be just us two or should we invite the rest of the gang to play too?" It didn’t take long for a response to be formed.
"Glad you’re in! I haven’t talked to the others yet, but I'm sure they’ll agree. " Jay replied ecstatically. It’s been made clear that he had been wanting to do this for a while. Cole could only imagine how Jay felt, it had been a couple of months since the group had played together. Everyone had just gotten busy and it was the sad part about growing up.
"Do you want me to shoot them a text or get on a group call with them?" Cole set his phone on speaker mode and got up from his chair. Pressing hold on the power button for his PC, the computer screen dimmed before fading into black. The fans roared, cooling off the PC before it came to a halt. His reflection is shown across the lifeless screen, almost as if it was never on in the first place.
"A text would be fine. Thanks, Cole. " A small pause filled with static carried the conversation for a few moments before Jay spoke up again. "Ah, crap. It’s almost 11 p.m. I forgot I told Nya I’d help her write a script tomorrow for our lore stream next week! I’m going to sleep in, and Nya won’t go out with me because she’ll think I ditched her! " Jay was practically screaming into the microphone, and what made it fun was that he was so loud that the phone audio frequently went out mid-sentence. Cole did his best not to laugh and kept his composure. Jay freaking out wasn’t the best thing to deal with.
"Calm down, simp. It isn’t the end of the world. You still have time to go to bed. I’ll also call it a night since it is late. I’ll talk to you later. Night 'Jay. "
"Night 'Cole!" A small smile spread across Cole’s lips before he ended the call. It had been a rough day, so talking on the phone with Jay made the raven-haired man’s day better by a thousand percent. Cole plugged his phone in on his charger and tossed it onto the nightstand before plunging into his mattress.
The last stream was cut short because his internet was buggy all week and his fans were giving him hell about it. He had already called Ronin, the IT man, to come to check what was wrong with it. However, Ronin said that there was nothing wrong and that he should consider buying another router. Typical Ronin, he was probably lying so that he’d have to spend more money.
Cole’s face collided with the pillow. The impact only left the feeling of a soft cushion, just as the boy had expected. The bed shook slightly, rocking back and forth before finding the ground to stop shaking. Cole turned his body so he was now lying on his side. Multiple colors shined in the room, almost making it seem like he was having a party just for himself. And then suddenly, the lights went out.
****
Cole was sitting at the end of a dinner table in a dimmed room. A large, rounded chocolate cake with pink frosting and strawberries sat only a few centimeters away from him. It was within arm's reach, yet it felt so far away. A small party cap was placed on his head as black figures suddenly closed in on the room. Cole looked up at the cake and found six lit candles that melted the longer they burned.
"Eat it." A voice echoed out from within the crowd. Cole shot up and jumped from his seat, both hands on either side of the table. The crowd of people looked at him, seemingly disappointed.
"What’s wrong? Isn’t the cake delicious?" It was made just for you." Another person from the crowd said in an irritated tone. It was clear that the crowd of people was fed up with him. A bead of sweat slid down his cheek, indicating he was very uncomfortable. He tried to speak up, yet nothing came out.
"Aren’t you going to dig in already? We’re waiting, so hurry up. " A shadowy figure emerged from the crowd and placed its hand on the back of Cole’s head, roughly grabbing hold of his hair. Cole shut his eyes for a brief moment and tried to pry off the person behind him. Suddenly, two more figures from the crowd joined the first one, and they grabbed ahold of Cole’s shoulders, forcing him back into the chair.
"Looks like the big guy needs a bit of help." Don’t worry, I’ll just give him a little motivation." The figure behind him said harshly before slamming the poor boy’s face into the cake. Cole felt disgusted, humiliated even. The cake felt soft and moist, yet it smelled like it had been sitting out for a while. Cole tried to lift his face so he could breathe, but the grip of the people holding him down never released him.
The crowd went silent for a couple of seconds before erupting into cries of laughter. They were laughing at him. All of them. His head was lifted and he was forced to meet the gaze of the audience in front of him. Thin streams of tears ran down Cole’s face. He felt pathetic. Who were these people and why did this mean so much to him?
Come on, Cole! You’re stronger than this. You can show them that you’re not to be made fun of!
"Oh look, he’s crying. Guys, look, he looks so stupid!" The laughter became too much to bear. This was just pure torture at this point, and for what? What had he done wrong? Cole felt sick as his face was being stuffed with the cake. He wanted to vomit.
"Get it out. It’ll feel so much better."
The voices slowly piled upon one another. He felt trapped, caged, and tormented. And then Cole slammed his fist into the table before releasing a blood-chilling scream, and the crowd only got louder. and louder. and louder. Before, nothing could be heard at all.
****
It was only 3:47 AM, yet the only thing that could be heard were muffled groans coming from another room. Cole was sitting down on the ground with his head leaned over the toilet bowl. His cries reverberated throughout the room as he struggled to reach for the lever to flush the toilet. He wiped his tears away with one hand and finally reached the level. By then, his eyes were still red and watery. A few stifled coughs broke the silence for a minute or two.
After minutes of cleaning himself up, he dragged himself back into his room and plunged into his bed, followed by a familiar creaking noise. Cole dragged the covers over himself and repositioned himself on his side. He was not going to tell any of the others about this since, as far as they know, Cole supposedly stopped doing this over a year ago. Cole gave one last sigh before drifting back into his original state of slumber, only this time, he didn’t wake up in the middle of the night again.