It was a chilly September morning in New Jersey. Birds chirped, cars whizzed by, and the sun cast rays through the clouds. As the sun shined through the curtains, I awoke in bed. I slowly sat up and looked at my alarm clock. It was 9:00 AM, so I only had a half hour to get to work. Knowing that I didn't have enough time to shower, I climbed out of bed and got dressed for work. I put on my black hoodie, sweatpants, and bandana. I walked out of my room and grabbed a banana and began to unpeel it as I opened my laptop. The screen showed an article on Omega Labs, a local tech company working on a device to hypothetically open portals to other universes, that my boss had sent me the night before. I closed my laptop and packed it into my backpack along with its charger. After finishing my banana I put on my shoes, grabbed my keys and wallet, and locked the apartment door behind me as I made my way to the stairs. I walked down the stairs and exited the lobby. The news building was luckily close enough to walk to. On my way there I heard somebody playing guitar. When I turned the corner I saw that they were playing music for money. I pulled out my wallet and tipped the man a few dollars. "Thank you very much, sir," the musician said. I continued my way to work and eventually made it there. I greeted the receptionist and got in the elevator to get to my office. When the elevator stopped at my floor I walked out and into my office which overlooked the streets. I sat my backpack down next to me and started up my desktop computer. After logging in, someone knocked on my door. "Come in," I said. The doorknob turned and my boss John walked in. "Are you busy?" He asked. "I just turned my computer on so no, what's up?" "Did you read that article I sent you last night?" "Yeah, I assume you want me down there," "Exactly. I want you to take one of our photographers with you down there if you don't mind," "Is this your way of saying you don't like my photography?" "Maybe," John said with a chuckle, "He'll be in the lobby at 2:45." "Alright, I'll be down there then," "Alright, thanks," John said as he walked out of the office and shut the door. When he exited, I continued working on an article about Arthur Williams, a deranged former serial killer who recently killed three guards after attempting to escape prison. After what felt like five minutes of typing I looked at my clock and saw that it was already 2:40. I shut my computer down and grabbed my backpack before leaving my office and going down the elevator to the lobby. When I walked out of the elevator I spotted someone holding a camera and a bag for it, so I assumed he was the photographer John wanted me to go with. I walked toward him and greeted him. " I assume your Erin," the man said. "That would be me," I replied. "My name's Jeremy," Jeremy said. "Nice to meet you," I said as I shook his hand. "You ready to head out?" "Yep." We then walked out of the lobby and into the busy streets. Crowds of people were on their way to Omega Labs for the event. They're going to be hosting a press conference before demonstrating their device. "What do you think about their device?" Jeremy asked trying to make conversation. "I mean, the idea of a multiverse sounds interesting but I haven't looked into the device itself much." "It's really interesting to me. The device essentially builds up energy powerful enough to break a hole through reality itself and create a portal to the multiverse." "Sounds pretty dangerous." "From what they've said they haven't encountered many dangerous side effects." "Guess we'll see soon," I said as they approached the front of the event. The two were bewildered by the device that stood in front of them. It was a seven-foot tall hexagonal frame with gun-looking tubes protruding in the corners and centers of the frames. "Wow," Jeremy said. "Yeah," I said, feeling curious yet fearful. We entered the crowd and Jeremy began taking pictures as the team behind the device walked onto the stage near the device. "Good evening everyone. We'd like to thank you all for coming out here to witness the biggest steps in science since the moon landing. For the past several years with the help of some of the smartest people in the world, we here at Omega Labs have been able to construct a device to tap into the multiverse itself." As they continued talking I heard a commotion in the distance. I turned around and Jeremy did as well hearing the distant yelling. Suddenly an explosion of fire burst out from a nearby apartment building as it lit ablaze. It happened as the device was initiated and blue energy began pouring out from the tubes and into the main frame. Without a word, Jeremy began sprinting towards the building to help the people inside. I ran after him into the street but was stopped by a loud noise from behind me. I turned around and saw a portal open inside the frame of the device and produce a massive beam of energy into the sky and formed a storm. I began sprinting away as a shockwave of energy burst out from the device. It caught up to me and knocked me into the air. I then looked up to see a bolt of lightning striking down on me. It blasted me down onto the asphalt as I heard several bones crack. As my vision faded into darkness I felt an incredibly sharp pain in my spine. After that, my vision went completely dark and I lost every other sense. The last thing I heard was an explosion from the burning building.

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