An hour and thirty minutes before the world announcement.
"15…"
"16…"
"17…!"
Clap~
"Come on, Dave! You are almost there! Come on!" a spotter cheered a fellow gym enthusiast as he tried to bench press his record weight.
All the veins on Dave's body became enlarged and prominent, almost as if they wanted to pop under the weight he was carrying above his head.
It was heavier than anything he had lifted in years, and it told on his body, seeing how his arms were vibrating and sweating bathed his entire body, soaking his grey singlet and even his sweatpants.
Dave groaned and grunted as he paused halfway through on his nineteenth lift. His body was almost giving up but his mind did not. He had been on this same weight for a few days now and had been incapable of scaling through the challenge.
"Come on, Dave!" his spotter continued to cheer him on regardless, even as if Dave turned red like someone who was about to shit his pants, the spotter didn't want to help him just yet.
Dave trembled under the 145 kg weight for a bench press as he stared at the ceiling, seeing nothing else but him finally succeeding. His spotter's voice breezed into his ears, almost in a faded tone, as he regained sharp focus to go for the twentieth life.
"Come… on!" the spotter exclaimed as he continued to clap.
Dave finally lifted the weight with his arms straight above his lying body and as soon as he realised that he had done it, he laughed to himself and exhaled with relief.
"Finally…" he muttered under a shaking breath before his arms started to move like they wanted to give in.
"Help me out, Phil," Dave immediately called for his spotter's help to avoid any accidents from happening, because if that weight falls on him, then he's done for.
He would be dead before any help is even administered.
"Phew, thanks man," Dave thanked Phil before giving him a high five.
As he sat, he noticed the entire gym cheering and clapping for him for his achievements. Dave could only smile and thank them for the motivation they offered, knowing full well how much he needed to break that barrier.
Phil started to unload the bar. "You did great, Dave."
Dave looked at him and gave a slight nod before watching him unload the bar down to a weight he could carry. After he was done, Dave excused himself to give Phil a chance to work out.
With the rush of adrenaline from surmounting yet another obstacle coursing through his veins, Dave rushed to where his bag was and took out his phone.
He couldn't wait to let his sister know what he had just done. His sister, Cassandra or Cassie for short, knew everything that happened in his life. This was not going to be any different since Cassie knew how much he wanted to scale through this obstacle. Consistently working out was not a joke. It was a routine that required tenacity and discipline.
While Dave was resting in a corner, he brought out his phone and unlocked it with a face ID, proceeding to open his online chatting app.
Cassie's contact saved as a [Cassie♡♡] was already there at the top, pinned above every other contact on his phone.
Dave puffed his cheeks slightly and blew out air in disappointment as he noticed that Cassie had not been online for a while. As he drowned in adrenaline, he had forgotten that his sister had school too as a major part of her life and she was not just going to sit down and stay on her phone all day.
Regardless, Dave typed away. He didn't let the absence of Cassie's presence deter him from keeping her updated.
[Dave: Guess what? Finally did it]
[Dave: Nearly burst an aneurysm tho. Shit was hard af but I feel so good!]
He waited on the phone for a while and when it was obvious that Cassie was not going to be online anytime soon, Dave decided to put his phone away. His adrenaline had massively died down, and he didn't feel as excited anymore, but he still enjoyed these little wins. He was someone who learned to celebrate himself and his little wins and progress in life, and it's all thanks to Cassie.
Dave used to be uptight and stiff in his life, always about achieving his goals no matter what and this made him undermine the little things that mattered because they were not big enough achievements for the world to see. It was unfortunate that it took a sad incident three years ago for him to learn to appreciate these little things.
The other guys continued to work out and Dave eventually joined to finish his routine that morning as usual since he was not going to leave until he was done. He was already at the end of his routine and had barely half an hour left to finish up.
He felt good. The gym was like an opioid dealer in his life and the workouts were the opioids. He was addicted to this shit, and he couldn't even tell why. All Dave knew was that it made him feel good, and he loved it.
After he was done finally, he rested for some minutes before packing up his bags. It was as he was packing up that he felt a slight, sharp headache at the side of his head that caused him to press down gently to numb the pain. Dave didn't realise it but he was not the only one who experienced this sharp pang of pain inside his head.
…The rest of the world also did, but since he was indoors, he missed one other thing the outside world experienced. A gigantic floating panel for all to see. Despite this, the image was vivid inside his head as well as Phil's and the others.
'The fuck is this…?' he wondered, confused at the strange event.
[Humans of Earth #210797]
.
.
[Your world has been selected]
Dave looked around immediately to see if it was just him seeing the windows and at the same moment he did, he heard Phil speaking out.
"Is anyone else seeing this shit?" Phil asked loudly as he pointed at an empty space in front of him.