Someone once told me that even a single small step could make a big difference.
Who said that? I did. Because now, I truly believe it.
The air I breathe feels fresh, soothing my restless thoughts. The gentle breeze caresses my skin with a calm, comforting touch. Standing on the bridge at dusk, I gaze upon the sea, watching the horizon glow like hope itself. But… is that really hope?
It doesn't matter. Nothing really matters in this world. But if something did matter.. perhaps it would be happiness.
Yet happiness isn't eternal. It's just a fleeting moment. Does that mean everything that matters is temporary? If that's true, would it still be meaningful even if it only lasts for a while? Is this short-lived life still something that matters?
Lost in my own thoughts, someone suddenly shouts at me.
"Hey, kid! What are you doing? Come here! Don't do anything stupid! You could die! Aren't you afraid of death?"
What is he talking about? Of course everyone fears death. Even I do.
"I'm just enjoying the view, don't worry," I say calmly, stepping back to the safer side of the bridge.
The man who yelled looks annoyed. He gets back into his truck, cursing at me as if I were playing a cruel joke. I wasn't. But it doesn't matter. It never does.
I walk, and keep walking following my feet wherever they take me, without thinking about where I should go. My steps finally stop before my house. In the end, home is always where people return to, if they still have one.
I open the door, step inside, and head straight upstairs to my room. I ignore the greeting from the woman I no longer want to call mother. A small guilt stirs inside me, because honestly, I still wish I could. I want to.
Then I lie on my bed, not caring about anything. I don't want to think.
Not now.
For now, I just want peace even if it's temporary. But that peace matters to me, because I need it.
So I decide to sleep a long, long sleep. Or at least that's what I hope for. A faint disappointment lingers in my heart, knowing I'll still wake up tomorrow. To a tomorrow I don't wish to reach.
Even so… I fall asleep.
My dream that night is beautiful.
So beautiful I wish I could stay there forever because in that dream, I have everything I've ever wanted. Everything I could never have in the real world.
I wish I wouldn't wake up. But wishes like that are meaningless. Because in the end, everyone who dreams wakes up, realizing their dream was just that a dream that could never come true.
And so I open my eyes to see my mother's red, tear-filled gaze staring down at me. Her hands are wrapped around my neck, slowly draining my consciousness until finally…
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Slowly, I open my eyes again, as if waking from an endless slumber.
But… this is no longer my world.
How do I know?
Because right before me floats a glowing rectangular screen, displaying a strange message:
[Welcome, player. You have met the conditions to enter the world of Wonderland. Good luck.]
Light pierces through where the roof should be, flooding my eyes with a warmth that feels foreign. Dust drifts like faded memories, clinging to my skin until it burns.
The air hums differently here—alive, almost whispering. I sit up, expecting the familiar weight of my room, but it's gone.
The world looks the same, yet everything in it has forgotten me. I find myself surrounded by the ruins of a place I no longer recognize yet somehow, I know exactly what they are.
It's my home. My destroyed home.
Suddenly, I hear a car approaching. Instinctively, I hide instead of calling out for help or for information I probably wouldn't get anyway.
Four men step out, laughing crudely about girls I've never heard of.
I feel a strange relief. Maybe hiding was the right choice. But then, for reasons i can't explain , I step out and shout:
"Help! Is anyone there!?"
I pretend to be clueless to play innocent.
Why? Honestly, I don't know.
Maybe… I've just stopped hoping.
The four men turn, startled but curious, when they see me. Yet instead of hostility, they offer me a ride. They even treat me kindly—sharing food and water as they listen to my unbelievable story.
"...I fell asleep, and when I couldn't breathe, I woke up here."
"What do you mean you couldn't breathe?" asks a young man named Ryan, probably seventeen.
"I was strangled."
"By who?"
"That's… a secret."
"Huh? Why keep the name of someone who tried to kill you? Come on, tell us! I'll help you get revenge if you want!"
"…"
I fall silent.
I can't tell them it was my mother.
They'd think my family was broken, which in truth, it is.. but I don't want anyone to know that.
Before I can change the subject, an older man named Harry cuts in.
"Don't force someone to say what they don't want to. Everyone has something they'd rather keep hidden. Isn't that right, Ryan?"
Ryan looks guilty and apologizes. I accept it, quickly steering the conversation elsewhere to learn more about this world.
That's when I find out. This world is the same as the one I know… yet different.
Like two sides of a coin.
It's called Wonderland, a world where every wish can come true, but never truly become real.
Nothing that happens here affects the other side. But for us—"players"—things are different. If we die here, we die for real. That's why this place has another name.
"The bridge between life and death?" I ask.
"Yeah, sounds cool, right?" Ryan grins.
"Lame."
"Huh!?"
A burly man named Donny laughs. "He made that name up himself."
"Just like i thought," I say casually.
Laughter fills the car, echoing through the broken world. Ryan pouts as everyone keeps laughing.
And just like that…
my life continues.