When my eyesight returned, I noticed that I was extremely close to the ground—perhaps a centimeter or so above it. I was on the bank of a lake, on the other side of which was a mostly barren hill, aside from a scattering of trees. Wanting to get a sense of my surroundings, I tried to get up, only to find, to my shock, that I couldn’t move. It was as if I was completely paralyzed, save for my ability to see and look around.

I tried to test my vision since I at least had that. I looked as far up as I could, and suddenly, my view was oriented upwards. For some reason, I was able to pivot my entire vision around myself. Above me, I saw the sky, along with the branches of some trees. I looked back down to see my original view. Using this to my advantage, I was able to take a look at all of my surroundings. To my left and right was the rest of the bank, which was littered with pebbles. Behind me was an incline, along with some larger rocks. The only thing I could see beneath me was the ground, which was to be expected. But I was unable to see myself.

I thought that maybe some sort of reflection would help, such as that of the lake. Looking towards the water, I was able to make out the reflection of a bunch of random little pebbles. With the absence of any other entities, that could’ve only meant that I was one of them.

I had become a pebble. An ordinary, insignificant little pebble.

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No, this couldn’t be, I thought to myself. I reasoned that there had to be some way out of this. Most of those shows had ways for their characters to improve themselves, even in the worst of circumstances. I thought maybe I had that too—that if I could just open something up, then things would quickly turn around.

Stats… Magic… Appraisal… Levels… Something... If I just thought…

But it was of no use. I couldn’t do anything. I'm stuck... I'm stuck. I'M STUCK!

The realization of what I had become was finally beginning to sink in, and I started to panic. And for the first time, perhaps in my entire life, I called for help.

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HELP! SOMEONE! HELP ME! ANYONE, HELP! PLEASE!

Suddenly, to my surprise, the grasses rustled behind me, and from behind them came out a man with a fishing rod. I called out to him.

Thank you, sir! PLEASE! PICK ME UP! Take me to someone! ANYONE! Anyone who can fix—

But the man just walked by me and cast his fishing rod into the water, staying completely still. I quickly realized, to my disappointment, that he couldn’t hear a thing I was saying. Of course he couldn’t; after all, I was now just a rock.

So, for a while, I just watched the man fish. I watched the rippling currents of the water, along with the possible movements of anything underneath the surface of the lake. But I couldn’t see anything, and it looked like the man couldn’t either. He eventually turned away and walked up the little incline and back into the thicket, with only the fishing rod in his hand. And with that, I was once again completely alone.

Why? I thought to myself. Why am I like this now? Surely there had to be some greater reason for my predicament, right?

But then I recalled the way that woman looked at me. As if I were nothing. It all made sense. There was no greater purpose for me.

So, this is my fate? I thought to myself. To be a rock for the rest of time... Why did I expect anything better?

And so, I did the only thing I could do: stare into the lake. Well, at least the view is beautiful, I reasoned. I could at least enjoy that for however long I would be stuck here. But I was only partially correct, because a few hours later, as the sun began to set, the world around me was encroached upon by night. As the daylight ceased, I noticed that there was not a single star in the sky, no moonlight reflecting onto the lake’s surface, not even the glowing of fireflies flying around. Instead, everything was dark. Pitch-black dark.

But what was stranger was the quiet. Back home in the evenings, I could hear the chirping of crickets—or the roaring of passing cars—even the barking of the neighbor’s dog. But in this place, however, there was nothing but silence.