Late at night, it seems the world takes a completely different form. At day, the ugly little rural town I call home is nothing special. Just another cluster of buildings built decades ago. But at night? It is wonderful.

The dim, orange glow of the streetlights, the crips night air, and the vast, empty loneliness; it all comes together to create something beautiful. Something I could enjoy for hours on end without getting bored.

I take a deep breath, savoring the fresh air, and I relax as the wind blows over the sweat that I worked up jogging.

Man, I am so fucken' glad I started touching grass last month! I had decided to try it since people online kept using that phrase over and over, and I was pissed off that such a lame line was actually an accurate description of my life.

Well, my reasons for visitin' the great beyond were not particularly virtuous, but who the fuck cares? It all turned out pretty great in the end!

I take out my phone to check the time, and yeah... it's 2 am now. I think now's a good time to head home. I'll probably have a solid 6 hours to game, and then it's time to sleep the day away.

I check my notifications as I walk, and unsurprisingly RUBY has sent me a couple messages, asking when I am gonna be online to game.

 RUBY today at 1:58 am Hey, are your done walking around, staring at people's houses in the dead of night like a creep? I have a new hacked client for Roblox I want to test out, and I don't want your fat-ass too exhausted to use it.

Sexy Chameleon today at 2:02 am "creep"?! Women, have you no concept of Zen? I am out here pontificating my damn brains out on the path to enlightenment! Do you not know? True knowledge can only be found by shufflin' 'round town after midnight, everybody knows this

Sexy Chameleon today at 2:02 am And yes, I will be back soon

RUBY today at 2:02 am Sorry dude, those voices you are hearing now are not a part of 'the path to enlightenment', you are just schizophrenic. Don't worry though, it's a commonly known fact that schizophrenia can be cured by trolling little kids on Roblox with hacked clients

RUBY today at 2:03 am And cool, i'll prepare the client for you

Sexy Chameleon today at 2:03 am Just 'cause you can't see The Government's Transgender Fairies watching you from the walls, doesn't mean ya need ta label me as crazy! Kinda rude, don'tcha think?

Sexy Chameleon today at 2:03 am  And also, the client won't brick my PC again, lol .... ?

RUBY today at 2:03 am Wow, what a strange collection of words you just sent. I dig it! Transgender Faires are definitly going to appear in one of my projects

RUBY today at 2:03 am  And also, I DOUBLE CHECKED I AM SORRY I AM SORRY I FIXED IT STOP BRINGING IT UP"

Message @RUBY I am even more curious now, stop teasing me! What is your 'project'? You keep mentioning i

It was in that moment, that my face plowed into a stop sign. I bounce back, and it takes me a second to process.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

I... I had seriously not noticed the stop sign because I was focused on my phone. This shame... I don't think I will ever forget it. I will remember this moment until the day I die.

RUBY must never know this happened.

I put my phone away and jog the rest of the way home.

****

When I got home, I made sure to be extra quiet. I woke my parents up when I first went to touch grass, and let's just say they were...

... well, they were actually overjoyed. Honestly, the disbelief in their eyes when they saw I had left the house kinda hurt.

Anyways, I made sure to never wake them up at night again.

I quietly, stealthily, tip-toed my way up to my room. I was actually proud of how little noise I made, 'cause our house was old as hell. I could lay down a feather and the old wood would creak and whine.

And yet, here I was, being silent as a mouse while sneaking into my bedroom without waking anyone up.

One perilous journey in the dead of night later, and I arrived at the entrance to my abode. But, on the door...

I reach over and grab the paper taped to the wall.

Happy Birthday, my sweet little Ace-hole, and congratulations! As of today, you are no longer a teenager! God, can you believe it? It feels like just yesterday that we took you into our lives. At the time, life seemed so uncertain, but you were our single, bright little bundle of joy. Thanks to you, we had something to push us forwards, and everything turned out alright.

Suddenly, the font becomes significantly messier.

Don't get it mistaken, your dad was the only one worrying back then!! I was always confident that things would end up great for us. And guess what? I was right, motherfucker! He's right though, you were way cuter back then! Now that you're older, you actually gotta put in effort to look good (like me!)! So, get your ass up and outside during the day, like a normal human! Oh also lets go the gym together! I could- 

The font once again becomes neat and tidy.

Anyways, we love you lots! Whatever you decide to do, you have our full support. Expresso Muy Buen, as they say.

I stare at the note for a second, and then sigh.

Man, how the hell did I end up such a loser when my parents rock? At least if they were abusive, I'd have an excuse!

I fold up the note and put it in my pocket. I'll store it in my shelf, with the other birthday notecards.

I open up my bedroom door and-

Dear god, it smells musky!

... Well, whatever. The smell 'll go away once I get used to it. And if I can't smell it, it isn't smelly! No wasting time cleaning necessary; Now this is the type of efficient problem solving I can get behind!

I deftly, quietly sneak past the dirty laundry, trash, and piss bottles covering my floor (don't ask), and finally arrive at my destination.

My gaming PC.

God, I poured so much of my parent's money into this, and it turned out great! 64 gigs of DDR4 ram, an Intel® Core™ i9-12900KS Processor, and... I can't remember what graphics card I put in? Also, how much storage do I have?

Yeah, once I build it, I forget what's in it until it breaks. Not my fault, I am a pro gamer! Don't got room in my brain for unneccessary details.

Anyways, before I spend hours of my life crushing toddlers beneath my digital boots, I have some important tasks to take care of.

I sit down, and prepare myself. As my computer turns on, a dark, devious grin appears on my face; my eyes covered in shadows. Then, once my computer is done booting up...

I log onto Twitter.