He woke up with a headache and didn’t know if he was being punished for last night’s drinking or his caffeine addiction. He stayed a moment longer in bed. Wondering if the painkillers or the coffee machine was closer. Admittedly, neither was long, as student flats are rather small. In the end, he went for coffee. Or at least tried to, as a rush of pain reminded him just how much he had drunk the night before. He groaned and walked to the kitchen where he grabbed a mug and put it under the coffee machine. But when he tried to turn it on, a message appeared in his field of vision:
Not enough credits are available. Required amount: 100 credits. Drink a glass of water to receive 200 credits.
Luke tried thinking back about what on earth he might have drunk the night before to get this kind of hallucination. He gave up when he realized that most memories were nothing but a blur. His persisting headache was not helping in any way either.
He removed the mug, filled it with water, and drank it in one go. His headache subsided a bit and another message appeared, awarding him the promised 200 credits.
He put his mug back under the coffee machine and watched his credits decrease as his mug was filled. Then he became aware of a red dot in the bottom right corner of his vision. And as he focused a bit on it, a list of chores appeared.
Brush your teeth for 50 credits, get changed for 100 credits take a walk for 200 credits, drink a glass of water for 100 credits, reply to your e-mails for 500 credits, reply to your friends for 300 credits….
He noticed that the amount for a glass of water had gone down and when he glanced at the coffee machine, he saw that the required amount had gone up to 200 credits.
Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the list of tasks, he grabbed his phone and was about to scroll through social media when another message appeared:
Unlock doomscrolling for 1500 credits.
He thought the list back up into his vision field and noticed the option to filter by priority and credits. Since none of the tasks would be enough to unlock his phone by itself, he went by priority and then into the bathroom.
For some reason, the walk came before his e-mails, so he did that and some groceries while at it. Then he grabbed some breakfast on the go and went back home. He thought about whether to save credits for social media but then opted for another coffee and got to his e-mails and some assignments for class.
As he racked up credits, he felt increasingly better, his hangover subsided and the memories from last night became clearer. He pushed them away and focused on the list.
He cooked a healthy lunch and then spent some credits on watching a show. It started at 500 credits, but this number would surely increase with each episode.
Afterward, he looked at the last item on the list. He also had to face the reason for his hangover in the morning. The night before, his girlfriend had dumped him for his lack of communication and empathy.
Write down your feelings for 2000 credits.
© Vanessa Smiatek 2024-06-27