Scott got out of bed and moved to the window, pulling back the curtain. The sky was a bright, cloudless blue, and the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. Everything seemed normal, yet as he watched, he noticed something peculiar.
A bird in mid-flight outside his window suddenly stopped, frozen in the air with its wings outstretched. It hung there for a few seconds, defying the laws of nature, before continuing its flight as if nothing had happened. Scott blinked, unsure if what he’d seen was real or just a trick of the early morning light. He shook his head, chalking it up to his imagination, and turned away from the window.
Scott arrived at school just as the first bell rang. The hallways were bustling with students, lockers clanging open and shut, and snippets of conversations filled the air. He made his way to his locker, trying to focus on the day ahead.
As he reached for his books, he glanced down the hallway and saw his best friend, Jake, approaching. Jake waved and shouted a greeting, but the words didn’t match the movement of his lips. It was as if someone had dubbed over his voice, creating a bizarre, out-of-sync effect.
Scott frowned, unnerved by the strange occurrence. He shook it off, convincing himself it was a momentary glitch in his brain, nothing more. He closed his locker and joined Jake as they headed to their first class.
“Hey, did you finish the math homework?” Jake asked, his voice now perfectly in sync with his lips.
“Yeah, I did,” Scott replied, trying to sound casual. “Did you just have a… weird moment back there?”
Jake looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“Never mind,” Scott said, dismissing it with a wave of his hand. “It’s probably just me.”
As they walked into their English class, Scott couldn’t help but feel on edge. He scanned the room, half-expecting something else to glitch or warp before his eyes. The class began as usual, with the teacher discussing Shakespeare and the themes of Romeo and Juliet. Scott tried to focus, but his mind kept drifting back to the strange occurrences of the morning.
By lunchtime, Scott had convinced himself that the glitches were nothing more than figments of his imagination. He sat with Jake and their friends at their usual table, joining in the laughter and chatter.
But as he took a bite of his sandwich, he noticed something odd. The background noise of the cafeteria—the clinking of trays, the hum of conversation—was slightly distorted, like a recording played at the wrong speed. The sound seemed to lag the movement of the people around him.
Scott put down his sandwich, his appetite fading. He looked around, watching as students moved in jerky motions, like characters in a video game with a poor connection. One girl’s laughter played on a loop, echoing unnaturally in his ears.
“Scott, you okay?” Jake asked, noticing his friend’s distraction.
“Yeah, just…not feeling great,” Scott replied, trying to mask his discomfort.
Jake gave him a sympathetic look. “Maybe you’re coming down with something. You look a little pale.”
Scott nodded, grateful for an excuse. “Yeah, maybe. I think I just need some fresh air.”
He stood up, leaving his tray behind, and headed outside to the school courtyard. The crisp autumn air filled his lungs, offering a temporary reprieve from the distorted world inside.
Scott found a quiet bench under a tree and sat down, trying to steady his racing thoughts. He pulled out his phone, hoping that scrolling through social media would provide a distraction.
But as he swiped through his feed, the images on the screen began to glitch. Faces warped and pixelated, words jumbled into nonsense, and videos played in reverse. Scott’s heart raced as he watched the chaos unfold on his phone.
He turned it off, shoving it back in his pocket. The glitches were following him everywhere, creeping into every aspect of his day. It was as if the world around him was unraveling, and he was the only one who could see it.
“Get a grip, Scott,” he muttered to himself, rubbing his temples. “You’re just stressed out. It’ll pass.”
He took a few deep breaths, focusing on the sensation of the cool breeze against his skin. Slowly, the world seemed to regain its normalcy, the glitches fading into the background.
Convinced that he was simply imagining things, Scott made his way back inside, determined.
The afternoon passed uneventfully, much to Scott’s relief. He went through the motions, attending classes and completing assignments, without any weird stuff happening.
By the time he reached his last class of the day—math—he was eager for the day to be over. The classroom was quiet, the students focused on the equations written on the board.
Scott took his seat, pulling out his notebook and pencil. The teacher, Mr. Johnson, began the lesson, explaining the intricacies of algebraic expressions.
But as Scott copied the notes, he noticed something odd about Mr. Johnson’s movements. The teacher’s gestures were slightly delayed, his voice echoing with a distorted timbre. The equations on the board flickered, like static on a television screen.
Scott’s heart pounded in his chest, a growing sense of dread consuming him. He looked around the room, searching for signs that someone else had noticed the glitch. But his classmates were absorbed in their work, oblivious to the unraveling reality around them.
And then, in a moment that felt both surreal and terrifying, Mr. Johnson turned away from the board. His face flickered and glitched, pixels warping and shifting as if he were a digital image being corrupted. Mr. Johnson moved slowly between the desks, in a blink of an eye Mr. Johnson sprinted towards Scott, his voice distorted almost like an alien, as he yelled:
“Wake up, Scott,”
