As the download began, his internet router hummed louder than usual, and the lights on his desk flickered. The apartment seemed to shrink, the walls closing in, as if the digital world were seeping through the cracks of his reality. He tried to ignore the feeling, focusing instead on the inevitable moment when the file would be complete.

Eddie sat alone in his cramped apartment, the glow of the monitor painting his face a soft, bluish hue. Outside, the city’s midnight traffic drummed a steady rhythm against the window, a reminder that the world kept moving while he was stuck in a loop of his own making.

He stared at the words, a strange chill crawling up his spine. Something inside him clicked. The very thing he’d been trying to avoid—confronting his own stagnation—was now staring him in the face, dressed up as a broken download.