Early Fall was here. The dreariness of it was nonexistent. The trees' beautiful leaves were colored brightly in golds and browns, with the rare and occasional yellows making their appearance.

The cold wind blew against the tree leaves making them shudder and rustle.

This would only last a couple of weeks or so before they fell and crunched splendidly.

Pulling his coat tighter to keep out the cold, a young man hurriedly rushed to his grandfathers home. He had been away for a few months and was worried.

He pushed by many tourists in town making them yell at him in anger, but he wasn't in the mood to pay them any mind. His heart was tight with worry.

Scrambling for his keys he opened his door and almost fell on his knees in relief. 

While cleaning his place in the city, he had received a phone call from his neighbor. The neighbor who had been walking their dog nearby heard something break next door and called him knowing he wasn't home.

The house was fine besides a broken dish spread across the floor. Looking around cautiously, he poked his head into the bathroom.

A small shadow scurried past and ran out. Running after it and almost tripping, he caught it in the palm of his hand.

Expecting it to be a small animal ,a bird, or even a small mouse he looked inside his hands. 

He jumped when it hit his hand and threw the rat near the door, it hurried along the edge of the walls and disappeared into the wilderness.

"Holy shit! Ew, ew, ew." Running to the sink, he vigorously scrubbed his hands. He could stand mice but not rats, It wasn't even one of the small ones.

He cleaned the wound and slapped a bandaid on it.

He felt his adrenaline sink and plopped on the couch head first. He kicked off his shoes and began his usual soap operas binge frenzy.

—

“How could my son riot?! He’s just a poor soul of a boy who went to look for his father even in this dreary show!”

“Henrito was found inside his Kings chambers!” 

“He’s just a boy! He knows no better!”

The argument escalated from there. The arguing drizzled with the appearance of the king.

—

His eyes slowly closed to a helpless slumber, his day at the studio was tiring. He had to show many examples to the newbies.

He was just another limb for the head teacher because he was the lowest rank in his grade. He had no power like his peers since he was a man who climbed from the bottom.

He was stuck in his last year because he couldn’t seem to grasp what he was missing in his performance. He was nicknamed the ‘Wooden Portrayal’.

Though it sounded cool it was actually a mockery of his almost soulless acting.

“Hah. Why am I thinking about this.”

He closed his eyes tiredly and slept as the world outside grew darker and darker he dreamt of something. He forgot it just as quickly.

 He woke with a start and massaged his eyes.

Moving his sight away from the television to look at the time on his watch, the transparent roulette followed. He was shocked, he rubbed his eyes hard but realized even with his eyes closed he could see it.

He was covered in cold sweat, not knowing what to do..

The roulette was annoying even though it was transparent. Even when he was eating it would constantly blink the 'Spin' button.

Maybe it was like one of those optical illusions people showed in videos where you had to stare at a dot and when you blinked it was suddenly there.

After a refreshing shower and plopping into bed he curiously poked it with his finger.

He jumped from his bed getting his feet tangled in the blankets as his butt hit the wooden floor.

The wheel had spun! Wasn’t it just a case of afterimage because of sleeping in front of the television?!

As he started to panic the wheel stopped and a ringing sound went off in his head.

As his consciousness slipped away from him he could see his body laying on the bed, he looked as if he were in deep sleep. 

He was sucked up into the sky like a bag of rice. As he hit the black abyss of the galaxy he suddenly spun downward.

Spinning until he hit the earth with a kathunk.

He wasn’t sure if he hit the ground but he certainly hit something.

Shaking his groggy head he looked around while trying to get his bearings. 

It was dark.

So dark.

As his eyes adjusted he could see he was in a large wooden box. The box's walls were scattered with dark brown splotches.

As he looked closer at them he could see claw marks hidden underneath. He concentrated on pushing the top of the box with his hands, but it was for naught, it didn’t budge an inch.

Laying on his back to kick the top he turned his head slightly as something caught his eye. 

It was a person! As he calmed his erratic heart he examined the person gently with his hands, he wasn’t breathing.

It was a dead body! Screaming in terror he suddenly jumped up with fear and traversed through the walls of the boxes like a ghost.

“W-wait.”

‘Ding’

‘Host is now in place.’