WARNING: This story contains graphic content and triggers. Viewer discretion advised.

He greeted me with a sweet kiss before heading to the bathroom. Just then, my phone started ringing from another room, and I rushed over to check it, half-expecting it to be Mia calling off our plans. But instead, all I saw was “No Caller ID” flashing on the screen.

I set my phone aside and let it ring- seventeen times- before finally picking up. “Hello?” All I could hear was this heavy breathing on the other end. Then a voice broke through, “Break up with your boyfriend.” My heart raced as my eyes widened in disbelief. “Excuse me?” I shot back, my mind swirling with questions like ‘Who is this?’ and ‘Why do I need to break up with Brendan?’

Without thinking too much, I blurted out, “Who is this?” More heavy breathing filled the silence until a deep, distorted voice delivered eight words that would stick with me forever: “Hello Seo, this is the Hotline to Heaven.”

...

As we reach the bar area in the basement, my mind drifts back to that night when we had a few too many drinks and ended up with hickeys all over us. But this time is different- before I know it, he grabs a bottle and smashes it against my head.I stagger back, feeling warmth trickle down from my scalp. Instinct kicks in, and I grab a shard of glass from the broken bottle. With all the strength I can muster, I hurl it at him while shouting, “Stay the hell away from me!” Clenching my eyes shut, I silently wish this was just some nightmare. Part of me braces for him to come after me again, but instead there’s nothing but eerie silence enveloping me.

When I finally open my eyes, Brendan is nowhere to be seen. Cautiously creeping behind the counter, I glance down to find him gasping for air, the piece of glass embedded in his neck. Panic floods through me. “Shit,” I say, “I just killed my boyfriend.”

Ian, a technician living in complete isolation in a cave in the middle of the desert, had fixed his phone. But for his phone to be useable, he needs to take it to the capital, a highly futuristic and important city, so that his phone can be verified by the servers there. However, moving towards the capital he encounters a group of rebels who also want to get inside the capital in order to shut down these servers. In sensitive times where dystopia is present and apocalypse imminent, will Ian help with these plans, or will he only focus on his own tasks?

Do you ever sit there looking blankly at your incoming texts, with tears in your eyes, hating yourself and everything around you, take a breath and put on your act? Yeah, me too.