The computer turned on in the small room, casting a faint blue light onto the face of the sleeping young man.

Huh? He subconsciously squeezed his eyes shut even more, looking to block out the light. Slowly, he started to wake up, and he squinted blearily at the screen in front of him. What’s going on?

Something on the screen blinked, catching his attention. As he stared at it, it grew larger and split into two separate windows. Pixelated images and blurred text filled the windows, leaving the man completely confused.

“Good morning Ilja. From a very young age, you have always been skilled with technology. Unfortunately, you gave up on using this talent for good, and instead have been using it to line your pockets with wealth. You have stolen money from countless people. People that have never done anything to you. It may have started off as a way to get back at someone that wronged you, but it quickly spiralled out of control. Now, you will have to face the consequences of your actions.

You are going to play a memory game. As you can see on the screen, I have given you some important details of two different people. One you have stolen from, and the other you haven’t. Can you guess which one is which? This game is a test of your memory, and will get harder as the game goes on. I hope you can remember each of the people you have stolen from, otherwise you won’t be able to last long. Good luck Ilja.”

Who was that? Ilja looked around frantically as he tried to find the source of the voice. He realised he was trapped in a frighteningly tiny room that was so small it could barely hold him and the computer. His breathing grew heavy, as he searched for an escape.

His hands scoured every inch of the walls next to him, but it was all completely smooth, as if the entire thing was built around him. How is this possible? Where am I? Trapped in such a tight space, he panicked. He began to hyperventilate, and he felt incredibly dizzy. I’m going to die. I’m going to die!

“You have a task to do Ilja. Don’t forget that.” Buddie called out, forcefully calming Ilja down.

Ilja choked as his emotions disappeared. He felt absolutely terrified, but at the same time completely calm. He had no idea what to think, and felt it was safer for his sanity to just ignore the implications of what had happened.

Looking for anything to take his mind off it, he looked at the screen. At some point in time, everything on the screen had unblurred itself, and the information was completely revealed to Ilja. Looking at the face on the left, Ilja felt completely cold. It was the person that caused him to lose his job. Without hesitation, he clicked on her.

The screen cleared, as it was quickly replaced by new information.

Taking his time to read through it, he found that the bank details of the one on the right looked somewhat familiar. He quickly realised that it was one of the accounts he was currently siphoning money from. Clicking on it, a new set of information appeared, and still nothing wrong happened.

I guess that mean I was right. This is actually pretty easy. I can do this... Reading through the third set of information, it took him a moment to make a guess. I think it’s the one on the right again. she looks familiar.

Staring at the persons face, he tried to remember where he had seen her from. Seeing the exhausted look on her face, a memory of him sitting in a café surfaced. A few weeks ago, he was sitting in the café waiting for someone to connect the café’s insecure Wi-Fi network so that he could access their accounts. He remembered that this woman was on her laptop nearby.

It’s definitely this woman. Clicking on the one on the right, the screen paused for a moment, frightening Ilja. What’s going on? He squeezed his fists until his knuckles turned white, waiting anxiously for something to happen.

He breathed a sigh of relief as the screen split itself once more. Now he had four documents to study.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Phew, I thought I got it wrong. This must be what they meant when they said it would get harder. On the surface, he calmly perused the information, but inside he felt more and more anxious and worried. With each increase in difficulty, his chances at getting something wrong increased dramatically. He was scared to find out what would happen.

Finishing reading the files, Ilja felt that one of them was vaguely familiar to him. He was hesitant to click on it but decided to trust his gut. Fortunately for him, his gut was correct.

The screen cleared and new faces appeared.

Staring at the faces, he felt a tinge of guilt for his actions. Most of the time, he didn’t know what the person looked like, and was able to absolve himself of guilt. But now, he knew who they were, and he knew what struggles they were facing in life. Maybe, I shouldn’t have been doing this.

He shook his head, reining in the guilt he was feeling. I can always turn over a new leaf later. I need to get out of here, I can’t keep distracting myself.

Reading through the information, none of them felt familiar to him. He read through them again and again, trying to stir up his memories. Finding nothing, he decided to trust his gut again and picked the one that felt right.

BUZZ.

The entire room was flooded with a bright red light, disorienting Ilja. No. No!

His skin began to bubble and squirm, as he felt something painfully plucking on all of his nerves. He screamed out in agony as his body shifted and melted. He felt his arms collapse in towards his chest, as they shrunk down and changed. His arms felt completely smooth and gained a rich tan that didn’t match the rest of his body.

He watched on in horror as the left side of his face melted and morphed into the face of the woman on screen. Staring at his reflection on the screen, he could barely recognise himself. He felt like a monster. His hair became a mottled mess of two different colours, textures and lengths, and random tan splotches appeared all over his skin.

“What’s... happening?” He said painfully. He struggled to get the words out through his deformed mouth. He felt pain all over his body as he stared at his reflection.

At some point, the screen had refreshed, and he was faced with new information. He tried his hardest block out the pain by reading the information. Thankfully, one of the people stood out in his mind, and he was able to get it correct.

The screen changed once more, leaving him with just a single window open. Two buttons appeared below the new tab. A green one saying yes, and a red one saying no. Above all of this, a timer appeared and quickly started counting down.

What’s going on! Ilja was swirled up in a panic as he stared at the minute long timer quickly going down. He tried his best to read through the information as fast as possible but failed to reach it before the timer had ended.

BUZZ

His entire body felt like it was engulfed in flames as it began to change once again. He almost fainted from the pain as one of his legs shrunk down significantly, leaving him hobbled and severely mismatched. Acne exploded all over his body as his face contorted even more, becoming a mixture of three different people. His chest shrunk in, forcing the air out of his lungs.

He struggled to breathe, and every moment was sheer agony for him. The second his eyes landed on the screen, he burst into tears. Both from his own horrid appearance, and from the fact that the timer started ticking again. He frantically clicked, not even knowing which button he happened to be on.

Ilja felt as if he had ascended to heaven as the screen cleared quietly. For a moment, he was happier than he had ever been before. The satisfaction he felt at getting it right almost made all the pain fade away, but seeing the timer begin anew brought it all back.

He skimmed over everything on screen as he fought against the dwindling timer. Nothing popped out to him, so he resolutely hit the no button.

As the screen cleared, Ilja swore that it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Once again, everything had changed. The buttons had disappeared. As did the timer, much to Ilja’s relief. Instead, he was left with a photo and a series of drop-down buttons.

What? Confused, he clicked one the button corresponding to bank account balance and was given a list of four options to choose from. He was filled with dread upon seeing all of the blank spaces he would have to fill in. Thankfully, his captor had shown some mercy, as the photo was of the woman who had fired him.

Remembering back to what he had seen earlier, he quickly began to fill in the information. He struggled to think of a few things, but otherwise managed to fill in everything with confidence. Hoping for it to all be over soon, he quickly sent it through.

BUZZ.

He dropped to the floor in agony as he felt his entire body melt. His face completely deformed, blocking his vision.

No longer able to see anything, he found himself alone in complete darkness as his body was set alight by overwhelming pain. He choked and coughed up blood as he devolved into a disgusting mound of mismatched limbs and flesh.

“Unfortunately for you, Ilja, it seems like your memory wasn’t good enough to keep you alive. Do you regret what you did? Your true self is a far more disgusting creature than what you have been turned into, but you will realise that soon enough. Enjoy Hell Ilja. Goodbye.”