"Hey, man, you've gotta look at this." I looked up from my 3DS to see my best friend walk through my door. He was carrying his phone in his hand, which he waved at me once he reached my desk. "It's a newly discovered glitch. Awesome, right?" He leaned on the desk and grinned at me. "Can we try it out?"
"Hold on, lemme get off the island," I muttered. "Yeah, yeah, I'm leaving already."
"Are you done yet?"
"Not my fault Kapp'n sings so much." He shook his head.
"Alright, let me just explain this thing." He tapped his phone a few times. "Looks like you need… a pitfall seed, a shovel, and a King Tut mask. Got all that? Oh! And the Reset Center has to be open."
"Well, it rained earlier."
"Perfect. Exceptionally perfect." He gently tugged on the DS. "You're done. You're done selling your crap. You're done selling your—"
"Alright." I went to the station and got the materials from my locker. Sheesh, so pushy. "Go to the reset center, you say?"
"Yeah." He was scrolling on his phone again. "And then…uh…bury the pitfall seed right in front of the toilet."
"But it's not dirt."
"But you can bury stuff! Weird, huh?" He looked up, the shine in his eyes not unlike Redd's signature glint. "Anyway, do that, then fall from the toilet into the pitfall. There should be a room underneath." I followed his instructions. My character fell through into a little room
"Huh, there's nothing here." I pushed the joystick around and bumped into the edges of the space. "What's so special about this place?" I reached out to grab his phone.
"Hey, watch it!" He pulled his phone to his chest. "It's rumored to be an idea Nintendo abandoned. Neat, isn't it? How we found it?"
"Yeah, I guess." No room to goof off, though. I circled the room another time. "How do I get out?"
"Oh, you have to reset." At the word reset, my hands got a little shaky.
"…Seriously, dude? Ugh, fine. Resetti will bust my ass."
"Who cares? Hey, your mom said dinner will be ready in a bit."
"Are you staying again?" I pushed a hand over my bangs and rubbed at my temples, trying to dispel the drowsiness.
"Hey, your mom loves me. Can't disappoint her." I rolled my eyes.
"Alright, you go ahead." I tried to get up and sank to the floor, overwhelmed by dizziness. I shook my head, trying to clear the blood from my eyes. I leaned against the foot of the bed. Can't hurt to rest my eyes…
I fell asleep there. My dreams were shadowy, as if a puppet master had tied strings to patches of darkness and woven them around his fingers. They danced for him now, and I slowly began to see that I was in a small, empty voice. I tried to move, but I was stuck. The shadows held their poses. I heard a voice, smooth and calming.
"Sleep well, part of the whole, missing piece of our world… Reset."