Kenny rubbed his eyes, trying to wake up. As he was stretching, his mom poked her head through the bedroom door. “Good morning, sunshine,” she greeted him with a soft smile. “I’m enrolling you in the local school today, and once that’s done, I’m heading to my new job.”
Taking a deep breath, Kenny made his way to the bathroom. I’ve got to grow up quick, he thought, splashing water on his face and looking hard at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. I need to help out. It’ll be tough for Mom on her own.
Mom was in a rush, and she kissed Kenny on the forehead as he exited the bathroom. “There’s breakfast on the table, and your lunch is in the fridge. No school today, so you’ve got the day to yourself. Oh! The technician came by early this morning while you were asleep, so we’re all set up with the internet now. Go ahead and play some games, but remember not to be on the console for too long. And don’t forget your reading! I’ll be back late.”
She showed him how to work the landline and scribbled her new work number on a sticky note, placing it on the table next to the phone. And then she was out the door.
It was just Kenny and Whiskers now. Kenny munched on his sandwich, and Whiskers settled down beside him. But the moment Kenny was done and stepped into the living room, Whiskers nuzzled his leg and led the way to the TV console, looking regal with his tail held high. Then, with a swift leap, he landed next to the TV and let out a playful meow.
“Game time, huh?” Kenny chuckled. “All right, you win.”
It was their thing: whenever Kenny gamed, Whiskers was right there, watching intently, his silent presence always making Kenny a better player. Game controller in hand, Kenny switched on the TV. A distinctive logo illuminated the screen—a hammer and hatchet, crossed against a backdrop of leafy branches. There were no words, just the emblem.
The screen flashed with only one option:
New Game
“What’s going on?” Kenny mused aloud. “Why’s it on already? Could Aunt Olivia have played it already? Or maybe even Uncle Gene?” The thought of straight-laced Uncle Gene goofing off with a video game made Kenny snicker. But, no, it had probably been Mom, checking things out. Or… maybe Whiskers had a secret gamer life. Kenny remembered once asking Mom why Whiskers didn’t go to school like him. According to her, cats had all the smarts they needed without hitting the books.
He attempted to quit the game, hoping to see what other treasures the console held. But no dice; the exit button just wasn’t working. “What’s the deal?” Kenny sighed. “Did Santa—or, you know, Mom—bring me a dud system?”
Whiskers gave a pointed meow, almost as if to say, “Get on with it! It was just getting good when I paused!”
Kenny trusted that feline intuition, so he relented.
“Okay, game on!” He pressed ‘Start.’
For a split second, everything went pitch black. When the lights came back on in the apartment, the controller was gone, the TV had disappeared, and Whiskers was nowhere in sight. Floating letters shimmered before him:
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Game World will be created in 04:59… 04:58… 04:57
Kenny’s heart raced. He shot up from his seat, and the letters dispersed like fog. This couldn’t be real, right? A wild look around confirmed that there was no TV, and worse, no Whiskers. What if he’d darted out an open window?
Kenny squinted out the window, expecting to see the sunlit gazebo and his familiar backyard. Instead, an eerie darkness stretched out as far as the eye could see. It felt like nighttime out there, yet the inside of the house was still awash with daylight.
“Hmm, I bet this is some kind of trick,” Kenny pondered, furrowing his brow. “Maybe someone painted the windows black as a joke.” But a nagging thought made him hesitate. Who could reach the second-floor window with paint? And shouldn’t the kids he’d met—Gavin, Aurora, and Roberto—be in school right now? Who would want to play such a strange joke?
“No, something’s fishy here,” he muttered with a wave of unease. “Is it…the end of the world? Did space invaders decide to throw Earth into eternal night?” He shook the silly thoughts out of his head. Monsters outside his window? Ridiculous!
But as the thought settled, a thrill of fear raced up his spine. What if there was something lurking out there?
He took a startled step back, nearly tripping over Whiskers, who meowed a timely warning. Kenny glanced at him, but the feline, ever the picture of composure, hopped onto the windowsill, licking his paw nonchalantly. If you ignored the odd view out there, everything inside was just as it should be.
Or was it? Kenny darted to the hallway, peeked into his mom’s bedroom, then his own. All looked exactly as it should. The kitchen held no surprises either; even the tiny crumbs from this morning’s sandwich were still scattered on the counter. “Should probably clean those up,” Kenny mused. “End of the world or not, no excuse to be messy.” But a pang of concern struck him. Where was his mother in all this?
His eyes landed on the antique red phone in the hallway, with its seriously old-fashioned rotary dial. He approached, lifting the receiver to his ear, but there was only silence. Weren’t there supposed to be dial tones? He remembered the faint buzz from just this morning when Mom was teaching him how to dial her office.
Maybe the answers lay outside. He could slip out and get a glimpse of what was happening, then come right back in. Right?
Hesitating at the front door, Kenny took a deep breath. It wasn’t fear holding him back, more his habit of thinking before diving headfirst into anything. If what he’d glimpsed through the window was real, had his home been whisked away to some alien planet? Or maybe he’d stumbled into a fairy tale, just like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. Could the sun really just…vanish?
Shaking off the absurdity, Kenny cautiously opened the door, expecting to step onto the landing of the second floor. But instead, he was met with a suffocating darkness. Mustering his courage, he slowly extended his hand, anticipating the usual hallway wall or railing. Instead, a jarring chill bit his fingertips, like touching freezing marble.
He pulled his hand back immediately, noticing with alarm that his fingertips had turned a sooty black. An attempt to wipe the smudge off on his T-shirt was useless. Stranger still, he couldn’t feel anything at all from the darkened tips. The abyssal dark beyond the door seemed to ripple, as if reacting to his touch.
A rush of instinct told him to look for the first-aid kit, but this wasn’t a simple scrape. What could he possibly do? Soak his fingertips in antiseptic?
He hastily closed and locked the door, dread settling into him. The omnipresent darkness outside wasn’t just an absence of light; it had felt alive, almost sentient. A chilling question washed fear over him: was there no way back? Heart pounding, Kenny felt trapped. He was shielded within the walls of his new home, but a relentless, encroaching unknown surrounded him. The text he’d imagined seeing earlier now took on a haunting significance.
The instant Kenny’s thoughts crystallized, a change stirred the room. The air seemed to congeal before him, shaping into shimmering letters:
Game World has been created!
Enjoy your journey… and try to stay in one piece!
Whiskers let out a concerned “Meow-merow!” and nuzzled Kenny’s ankle.
“You took the words right out of my mouth, Whiskers,” Kenny replied, eyeing the hovering message. “This is just nuts!”