Fushhh-

A fan was spinning at its top speed while being stared at by a young man, lying on the bed underneath it.

The bed wasn't occupied by him only, an open laptop was there with multiple tabs open, a phone that also had its screen on, a Rubix cube at the edge of the bed threatening to fall at any moment, and earphones buds that were oddly laying on his front head rather than plugged in his ear.

Man's hand moved as he quickly grabbed a chip from the packet that was also lying on the cramped-up bed.

As if finding some motivation to even brush his teeth after pulling an all-nighter on a new web series, he got up from his bed and moved towards the bathroom.

The room was as messy as his bed, had clothes thrown in the corner, and a study table had books piled up on it even though he had passed his college entrance exam a month ago.

Maybe that is the reason why his parents aren't shouting at the top of their lungs after seeing his room. A month or two of full freedom would compensate for clearing the state's hardest exam.

"As if. After studying like an owl for a year nonstop, it made me so insensitive that all my previous hobbies feel rather… dull now.

I can't enjoy them like I used to. Not to mention, conversion to being an introvert after holing up."

"Would my school friend pick my call up after ghosting them for a year?"

"Man, I feel like shit."

After mumbling to himself and cursing at nobody in particular, he finally moved towards his bathroom.

After refreshing himself, he moved towards the mirror to get a look at his current state.

Thin arm and leg with slightly hunched back, lean build with muscle reduced to nothingness after an extended period of avoiding physical exercise.

"Should I join a gym?"

Moving his eyes to the face in the mirror, what greeted him was a rather handsome face with black hair and dark brown eyes.

"Fuck you, David. Even with this face, you haven't scored any chick till now."

David Taylor was his name.

A nineteen-year-old young man, currently finding something to stimulate his dopamine release.

Moving back to the bedroom, his eyes fell on his phone which was continuously beeping with messages in the half an hour time he spent on his morning routine.

"What is this shit going on first thing in the morning?"

Yeah, 1 pm is a morning time, at least for him.

"A large number of people have been reported missing in the past one hour. Some people have seen them going inside a blue spiraling vortex like a thing that started to appear out of nowhere."

"The government has advised us to stay away from it and immediately report to the police."

Reading the article out loud, David started to ponder about it.

"No way it is some portal, right? Like those… those in novels that transport you to another world."

Then looking at some attached video and searching on the Utube, a look of disbelief started forming on his face.

"They aren't real right. Someone must be playing a huge prank online… No, don't be stupid. No one can pull a prank on this scale. The absurd amount of photos and videos online quickly denied that."

Then the possibility of his phone being hacked also crossed his mind.

"Can be possible. But not sure th…"

His self-talking was cut by a blue-colored light that suddenly flashed across his dimly lit room, causing him to squint.

Looking at the source of this disturbance, his open agape. Open wide enough for an opportunist fly to try to enter it.

"Oh fuck, damn insects."

Rushing to the bathroom and cleaning his mouth for a damn good minute, he rushed towards his room and opened his mouth wide open again.

Thankfully, no more insects were there to disturb any further.

In front of his eyes was the same spiraling mass of blue light that he had seen in his phone.

"Should I call the cops? Or inform my parents downstairs, first?"

But after considering the situation again from a more mature point of view, he dismissed the second thought.

"No, better to keep my parents away. What if it would pull them inside? It hasn't done that to me but there is no saying what might go wrong."

He began to pull his phone to dial 100 but stopped as another post online drew his attention.

"It has been observed that keeping the strange portal thing open for 15 min and not entering it causes it to close on its own. This is the average seen in the cases worldwide."

'Damn, this complicates things. No way in hell the police can arrive in 15 min. 5 min had already passed.'

David thought while pacing around the room.

Raising head toward the working fan, he closed his eyes and started to let his thoughts wander.

'What if it is truly connected to another world like depicted in novels? Will I be able to return if I choose to go inside?'

A tingle of temptation bloomed in his heart and soon it started growing.

'This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. There is no saying what is inside. But there is also no saying if it will appear again or not.'

The temptation reached the boiling point as David rushed out towards the kitchen while snatching his backpack along.

'If I'm going inside that thing, better be prepared beforehand.'

Throwing the books inside the bag on the sofa in the living room, he started stuffing it with packed food and portable edibles.

Lastly, picking the largest knife from the kitchen, he moved and also stuffed a medical kit in the bag.

'All finished. Now I have to make a run before the time is up.'

Standing before the portal again, I took a breadth and entered it while thinking…

'...I'm crazy. Definitely crazy.'