YOUR TRUE SELF AWAITS!...

The TV flickered softly in a dimly lit living room, casting strange shadows across the room. An old recliner sat in the centre, worn and overused. Slumped in the chair was a balding man in his forties, with a large belly barely contained by his grease-stained t-shirt.

His head tilted back, a trail of drool escaping from the corner of his mouth, glistening as it dribbled onto his chin. His snores filled the room, loud and uneven, punctuated by the occasional grunt or snort as he shifted in his sleep.

The TV in front of him played a commercial on repeat, and the volume was slightly too loud for comfort. The cheap and overproduced ad showcased a flashy new product: a metallic silver mask with the tagline, "Your True Self Awaits!"

The screen displayed a slick animation of a face contorting into different expressions, each one morphing into the silver mask as an upbeat jingle played in the background.

VOICEOVER - "Why wait? Experience the future of self-discovery with just one click! Put on the mask and unlock your potential! Order now, and you'll receive—"

The ad cut suddenly, only to restart again from the beginning. It's the same animation. The same jingle.

The man snored louder, oblivious to the repetitive loop on the screen. He shifted in his chair, and his arm fell limply over the side, fingers brushing against a half-eaten pizza slice on the coffee table beside him.

A beer can, barely touched, teetered on the edge of the table, threatening to tip over with every deep breath the man took.

The ad continued:

VOICEOVER - "Your True Self Awaits! Experience the future of self-discovery with just one click!"

Again, the loop started over. The colours on the screen flickered, but the fat man remained lost in his dreams, oblivious to the odd glitch.

His dreams were a mess of images. Nothing coherent, just flashes of bright lights, the sounds of distant voices, and the smell of something metallic. He groaned softly, rolling his head to the side, his eyelids fluttering but never entirely opening.

VOICEOVER - "Order now, and you'll receive not one but two masks! Twice the discovery, twice the—"

The ad glitched again, the audio stuttering slightly before resetting once more. The words began to overlap, becoming an indecipherable jumble of sounds as the screen dimmed momentarily. The flickering returned, faster this time, as if the TV was struggling against something unseen.

Outside, the wind howled, rattling the thin windows of the man's apartment. The clock on the wall ticked on, each second dragging slower than the last. In the corner of the room, a small houseplant wilted under the dim light, its leaves brown and crumpled. The air inside the room was stale and heavy with the scent of sweat and old food.

And still, the ad looped.

VOICEOVER - "Unlock your potential! Put on the mask and discover who you were meant to be!"

The camera zoomed in on the silver mask, its smooth surface catching the light in a way that made it almost hypnotic. The man twitched in his sleep, his lips parting slightly as if to say something. His chest rose and fell in a slow, heavy rhythm, each breath dragging through the room's silence.

The screen flickered again, lingering longer in its glitch, the colours warping and twisting in ways they shouldn't. For a moment, the mask on the screen seemed to shift, its expression subtly changing—a smile curling at the edges of its metallic mouth.

VOICEOVER - "Your True Self Awaits..."

The ad stuttered, looping back, and then the TV went silent. The room, for the first time in hours, was still.

But then, it happened.

The TV flickered once more, the screen going completely black. The power didn't go out. No. It wasn't that simple. The TV just... turned off. On its own. No warning. No sound. Just an eerie, dead silence.

The man stirred. His snores stopped abruptly, replaced by a long, heavy exhale as his drool-soaked face twitched. He blinked, his eyes opening groggily, confusion pulling him from his dreamless sleep.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to figure out what had happened, his brain still sluggish from the nap. The silence in the room hit him first, the absence of the TV's constant drone unnerving. He sat up slowly, his large frame shifting awkwardly in the chair, his joints creaking in protest.

"Wha'...?" His voice was raspy, barely more than a mumble, as he reached for the TV remote, patting around the mess of the table.

But something was wrong.

The air felt different. It was colder. He could feel it now—the sudden shift in the atmosphere, the sensation that he wasn't alone. He looked around, his eyes barely adjusting to the darkness.

And then he realized something even more disturbing.

He wasn't in his living room anymore.

The chair beneath him felt different—harder, colder. The familiar clutter of his apartment was gone. There were no pizza boxes, beer cans, or dusty old TVs in front of him.

Instead, he found himself sitting inside a small, metallic pod. The walls around him were smooth and reflective, with a soft, blue light pulsating from somewhere above. He could hear the faint hum of machinery, a rhythmic pulsing that seemed to resonate in his bones.

His breath quickened, panic rising as he looked around frantically. His hands pressed against the cold metal of the pod, feeling the vibrations beneath his fingertips.

"What... what the hell...?"

He tried to stand, but his legs felt weak and unsteady. The pod seemed too small, too cramped. His heart pounded in his chest as he fumbled for any kind of handle or latch to open the pod and get out.

But there was nothing. No way out.

He was trapped.

The soft blue light above him flickered briefly, and then he heard a voice. Low, mechanical, and dispassionate. It wasn't coming from inside the pod but from somewhere... else.

VOICE - "You have been selected."

The man's eyes widened in terror. He slammed his fists against the walls of the pod, shouting now.

"Let me out! Let me out!"

But the voice continued, calm and unyielding.

VOICE - "Remain calm. The process has already begun."

He screamed, his fists pounding harder against the metal, but it was useless. The pod sealed shut, and he was completely at its mercy.

The lights flickered one final time before they dimmed completely, leaving him alone in the dark, his breath echoing in the confined space.