'BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.'

Alerting the birds, they fly away in terror from the curtainless window. Chell squirms in her bed in annoyance, desiring nothing more than the alarm to just fade away into nothingness.

"Bah, five more minutes please."

Attempting to reach for the alarm to free herself from the blaring sounds, she realizes she has committed a Sisyphus once more. The alarm clock has been placed just out of reach.

"Ugh... damn you past-self. Truly. Damn you."

Without an option, Chell reluctantly rises from bed and beats the alarm until it fell silent. Stretching her arms up she reads the time on the clock - '5AM'.

"Welp, birthdays over. Back to hell"

Sighing, Chell heads to the bathroom and showers. Letting the water run down her body, depression seems to slowly sink in.

"Day in, day out. Start lecture, end lecture. Sleep. Day in, day out. Start lecture, end lecture. Sleep. Day in, day out...."

Like a broken responder, she constantly mutters to herself the same things over and over again, as if it's a ritual.

Ending the shower, she covers herself with a milky white towel and brushes her teeth. Dead fisheyes stare dead set on her facial expression in the mirror, who knows what thoughts were going through her head?

Leaving the bathroom, she dresses up in a neat black suit and grabs a pair of glasses. Staring down at them, she whispers to herself,

"Ryan, you bitch."

Walking slowly, as if hoping for a miracle to occur that'll end this repetitive cycle, she opens the front door of her apartment.

"Gods, if you can hear me, do something, anything, to make life worth living."

Out of nowhere, a cold shiver runs down her spine. Feeling an overwhelming sense of dread, she immediately looks behind her and stares at her living room window. It was unlike anything she has ever felt before, the horrid sensation of a predator stalking its prey.

"Gods, if you can hear me, the fuck?"

Pretending she didn't feel anything, she left her house to head to work. Ignoring such a thing, was it madness? Was it because her dull life may finally find change? Was it because she'd be late otherwise if she waits too long? It remains unknown, but Chell for the first time outside of a holiday had a genuine smile upon her face.

Departing from her home, she drives off towards her university. Feeling boredom creep up once again, she decides to listen to the morning news.

"...according to the new information regarding yesterday's star incident, the government has blocked off all access towards the impacted area and is expected to deliver the rock by tomorrow towards an unspecified scientific institution. According to the Walter Times..." Groaning to herself, Chell turns off the radio. "That star again? It's a one-time wonder, just let it go already. Fuckin hell..."

Half an hour passes in complete silence until she finally arrives at her university. Parking her car, she mutters unspeakable horrors to herself whilst entering through the front door and passing the security check. Before her, Chell sees two ladies talking to each other, bearing the same uniform.

"Susan, Rose, I want to die!"

"Ah, Chell, good to see you're back from your birthday. Oh my god, you'd never believe what happened to Rose the other day, you see..."

Sharing gossip and talking with each other, Chell, Rose and Susan slowly make their way down the hall. After meeting at an intersection, Chell bids them farewell and heads off in the direction of her classroom. Entering the room, she sees half the students either studying, talking or playing.

"God, how much free time do you lot have to be here at 6 in the morning?"

Heading to her desk, she speaks with a loud and clear voice: "Alright gentlemen and gentlewomen, we will now be learning about multivariate calculus and mathematical models."

...

"...And that should conclude today's lecture. I will be emailing you all the model and the pre-recording of this lecture and as usual, any and all questions should be directed to my email. You are dismissed."

Exhaustion catching up to her after a long days' worth of work, Chell leaves her class and notices her two friends outside.

"Susan, Rose, I'm finally done. God, everyone had problems with the subject I was teaching today so that's why I'm a little late."

They both stare at Chell before looking back at each other and nod their heads. This action caused her to become confused, were they planning something?

Rose spoke up first, "Listen Chelly, ok so uhm, you know how the shooting star n' stuff just hit the beach you were at? Yea well your dad is a marshal too, right?"

Feeling a headache creeping on, Chell disrupts her "For the love of god Rose, they said the damn thing is radioactive. I know you're curious and always dive headfirst into danger but think about this. RADIATION. You teach science for god's sake; you KNOW better than me with how dangerous that is!"

Rose smirks in response and counters her argument "The effects of radiation depend entirely on your distance from them. We'll just take a little peak at it and I'm sure your father will let us with the appropriate clothing, like something lined with lead."

Putting her hand on her head, Chell was about to counterargue until Susan speaks up.

"Oh, come on Chell, you CAN'T tell me you aren't curious about this. It's a SHOOTING STAR which landed IN-TACT. Most of it just burns up in the atmosphere or just explode into a million pieces or dust as soon as it hits the ground. This is probably the first and last time this'll ever happen, and YOU have a father who can grant us access to SEEEEE ITTTT."

Groaning with despair Chell caves in "Goddammit, I hate both of you. I'll ask my father."

Both cry in unison...

"YIPEE!"

Stretching her arms, Chell calms them down "Alright, alright, enough. I need to head to my father's place since all his phone calls are monitored. It'll be one long drive, so I'll have to head out now. Just text me any gossip when I'm in the car, alright?"

...

Driving towards her parents' home with the radio playing music, Chell looks into the rear-view mirror to see for just a moment, a gouged-out eye on the backseat. Immediately slamming on the breaks, stopping the car, and looking backwards, she sees nothing. Holding her head, she mutters to herself. "Is math driving me insane?"

Arriving at her parents' house, she had to get through multiple layers of security. After confirmation of her identity and being escorted to the front door by numerous guards, she rang the doorbell.

A minute passes before the door suddenly opens. A butler clad in a neat white suit and grey goatee with slick back white hair greets her.

"Ah, Lady Chell. Good to see you again."

"Bennet! Good god man, I thought you died!"

"Of course, not Lady Chell, I always survive. Cancer is nothing compared to 13 hours of daily service."

Hugging Bennet, Chell enters the house as he leads them to the dining room. As they approach, the sound of chatter slowly grew louder and louder. The halls are adorned with pictures of Chell and her family, showcasing her life as she slowly grew up.

"God, those pictures are so embarrassing…"

As they arrive, Bennet clears his voice "Sir Raymond, Lady Ada. Your daughter has arrived."

Raymond speaks first "Ah darling! Come, come, sit. Thank you, Bennet."

Bennet bows in respect than leaves the dining room, presumably to attend other matters at hand.

Approaching closer, Chell doesn't know how to talk to her parents about the whole shooting star situation. Will they get mad?

Misidentifying the issue, Raymond laughs and proclaims to not worry and that her mother wont bite. In return, Ada looks at him with mild rage before speaking up.

"Come deary, sit. We're having lobster tonight."

Sighing, Chell sits down and waits for the nearby servants to cut and serve them a plate each filled with food.

The plate was adorned with lobster rolls, mashed potato and a tall glass of wine. Taking a bite of the lobster roll, Chell was in a world of flavor and yet her face didn't flinch.

As she ate, Ada and Raymond continued their previous conversation which unfortunately revolved around the shooting star. Hearing about it again made Chell get annoyed and slowly space out whilst eating and drinking.

Peculiarly enough, she spaces out more and more until her vision blurs and the world distorts. Being confused on what was going on, Chell tries to move but couldn't feel anything. The absence. Emptiness. Nothing. These words are the only way to describe the desolation that has just swallowed her mind but as she begins to panic two figures appear before her, cloaked in black.

One begins to laugh while the other just... watched. The entity just stared making her feel naked, bare, open, as if nothing in this world could hide from its hideous eyes. Before she could process the two entities standing before her, they both in unison lifted one of their arms to point at her.

F O L L O W M Y V O I C E

No word in any language could explain the sheer distortion and terror within those words. It was nothing short of dread personified and yet as soon as it was said, both entities slowly turned their heads to stare at each other before a rumbling was felt. Hate.

S H E I S M Y C H O S E N . L E A V E .

The entity who seemed to be all-seeing spoke in unbelievable malice. It was as if it would sacrifice everything and anything to have the other entity killed.

S H E I S M Y B L O O D . L E A V E .

The other entity retorted, the comprehension between entities disappeared afterwards, spiraling down into a hellish torrent of sounds, as if it were a song conducted by the devil, and played by the damned.

Struggling with all her might, Chell manages to break free, and her vision fixes itself back into the dining table. As she looks around, she notices her parents staring at her with worry.

"Deary, if you're not sleeping well because of university then don't go. I'll speak with your boss." Ada spoke with both anger directed at her boss and worry for Chell's health.

"No, no. I'm fine." Chell responds. She quickly begins to eat and finishes her meal, pretending as if what she just saw nothing but an illusion. Raymond looks at her as if not believing her words. He sighs out loud.

"Come darling, let's get you back to your apartment. zero o clock speaks midnight after all."

Hearing those words Chell feels moderately relieved. It wasn't meant to be taken literally or as a quote, but as a code word. Something developed between her and her father to communicate if something was wrong.

Heading out of the dining hall, Chell can't help but feel as if the pictures of her on the walls were... staring. Judging. Mocking. Shaking her head, she ignores it all, but she couldn't hide the smile slowly growing on her face. She whispers to herself "Gods, did I pray well enough to you that you finally gave me paranoia to keep me company?"

Entering a long black vehicle, A soldier enters the driver's seat whilst Raymond and Chell enter the backseat. After putting on a seatbelt, Raymond takes out a small wineglass and a bottle and fills it to the brim. After taking a long sip, he spoke up.

"Speak to me Chell, what's wrong? I know you'd never visit without a reason."

All of a sudden, Chell grabs the wineglass out of her father's hands and chugs all of it within seconds. Bracing herself for the worst, she spoke

"Father, can me and my friends see the shooting star that landed on the beach? We're all curious to see how it looks and I know you're able to authorize it."

Raymond sighs "That thing broke RECORDS on its radiation. Two scientists have died so far even with full equipment and thus we have many members calling it the Second Elephants Foot. I can only permit you and your friends to see it from a distance only. Okay?"

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Putting the wineglass away, Chell hugs her father.

"Thank you. Really."

Chuckling to himself, Raymond teases her about how she usually never hugs anyone. Feeling energized, Chell takes out her phone and texts her two friends to meet her at the crash site.

...

The night has cloaked the land once again, only being lifted for moments at a time by passing cars and streetlights.

The vehicle screeches to a halt as they arrive at the beach. The gates shut, soldiers patrolling and a navy ship in the distance. Tanks are lined up and helicopters fly overhead. Whatever this fallen star was, the Military spared no expense in ensuring it will not be stolen by land, air or sea. Just what was it that made it so valuable? Its research potential? Chell thought about it and concluded the probable reason: The fact it survived fully intact from both entering the atmosphere and landing. Such a powerful material could change the world forever.

Exiting the car, Chell walks forward to see her two friends being held by numerous soldiers.

Rose immediately tears up from seeing her and begins shouting "Chell! Please for the love of God tell them you let us be here!"

Raymond seeing the situation, waves to the guards and they salute, letting them leave. The two guards return to their original positions, and all appears to be peaceful.

Out of nowhere, Chell felt a compulsion. An incredibly powerful compulsion. Looking towards the beach, she feels a calling. It was... peculiar. The star felt as if it was reaching out to her. Beseeching her to approach it. Begging to be used. Staring blankly into the beach, her friends and Raymond look at her worryingly.

"Hey Chell... uh... you aight?" Susan looks at Chell as if she got possessed.

All of a sudden, the shooting star shot up from the ground, its impatience could be felt. It was large and looked like a spherical polyhedron with the faces glowing a black hue before condensing into a tear shaped object and shooting with immense speed towards Chell.

Before anyone could even process what was going on, it tore through the fence as if it were a paper tiger in front of a storm and shot into Chell's heart. Her organs were torn to pieces and absorbed by the rock before it collapsed into itself, seemingly turning into a blackhole and disappearing, never to be seen again.

Feeling everything slowly fade away as darkness consumed her, Chell desperately tried to look around in and saw the rock again. That tear-shaped rock. It radiated power and dominance as it shot towards her once more and pierced her heart, making sure not to mess up this time. as if making itself home within her flesh. As it drills within, a gleeful voice screams into the sky.

Y E S M Y C H O S E N ! C O M E , I A W A I T Y O U R A R R I V A L !

Eyes began to appear all over the darkness of all shapes and sizes, all staring right at her. They were filled with expectation and joy as if she were their saviour. Tears began to ooze out of them, slowly making their way towards Chells feet and sinking her body into the ground. Unable to move, all Chell can do is watch on in horror as she sinks into the abyss as a horrendously distorted laugh resounds throughout the desolate dark.