LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 2: Second Chance!
The cold, hard floor of her apartment felt like a cruel mockery of the soft, comforting bed she longed for. The air hung heavy with the scent of loneliness and despair, a suffocating blanket that seemed to weigh down her very soul.
It was 3:00 AM. The clock on her nightstand mocked her with its relentless ticking. Each second was a torment, a reminder of the crushing weight of her solitude. The fantasy novels she devoured offered no solace. Their tales of magic and heroism seemed like cruel illusions, stark contrasts to her bleak reality.
In the depths of her despair, she yearned for a system, a magical force to intervene, a voice to whisper promises of escape. She wished for a power surge, a sudden awakening, anything to shatter the glass prison that had become her life.
Her phone sat on the table, its screen glowing with a message from her brother. A brief, impersonal text about his latest online game, a reminder of the gaping chasm that separated them. He lived a world away, in a different time zone, a world where her pain and struggles were mere whispers on the wind.
She had tried to reach out, to plead for help. She had told her mother about the relentless bullying, the cruel torment that made her school days a living hell. But her pleas were met with a cold, distant indifference. Her mother, struggling to make ends meet in a foreign land, saw her pleas as nothing more than a desperate attempt to draw her family back to their side.
"You're always trying to find a way so that me and your brother here, will go home?" her mother had said, her voice laced with weariness. "Don't you understand? We're trying to build a better life for ourselves. You just need to be patient."
Patient? How could she be patient when her life was crumbling around her?
The cold, hard reality of her situation gnawed at her. She was alone. No one understood. No one cared.
The fantasy books that offered her escape were now her source of inspiration, a warped vision of hope. They were the only place where she could find a sense of power, a glimpse of a world where protagonists could overcome impossible odds, where heroes fought for their dreams.
She looked at the rope, a length of thick, unyielding cord. A cold dread settled in her stomach, a hollow ache that mirrored the empty void in her heart.
The silence was deafening.
She could hear her own ragged breath, a faint echo of the life force that was slowly draining away.
This was her only escape.
With trembling hands, she tied the rope to the ceiling beam, the cold metal sending a shiver down her spine.
As the noose tightened around her neck, she closed her eyes. Tears streamed down her cheeks, a mixture of fear, sorrow, and a strange sense of release.
She thought of her mother, of her brother, of all the people she had ever loved.
And she thought of the fantasy worlds she had read about, the systems that granted power, the heroes who rose from the ashes.
She wished with all her being that it was real. That there was a system waiting to intervene, a magic force that could turn her into a hero.
And then, she took a step forward, a final, desperate leap into the abyss.
A gasp. A strangled cry. And then, a complete and utter silence.
But the silence was not the end. Instead, it was the beginning.
A faint, mechanical voice whispered in her ear, a voice that sounded like the hum of a computer, a voice that carried a strange, almost tangible energy.
[ "Failed suicide attempt. System activating." ]
The rope loosened around her neck, as if a unseen force had severed it.
The world spun, a dizzying kaleidoscope of blurred colors and muffled sounds. May's vision flickered, a broken filmstrip of her last moments. The rope, the chilling metal of the ceiling beam, the overwhelming sense of despair, all blurred into a single, terrifying memory.
Then, silence.
The silence was absolute, a crushing void that swallowed the last vestiges of her consciousness. It was a terrifying silence, the silence of the grave, the silence of a world where her story had come to an abrupt end.
But then, a subtle hum, like a distant engine, vibrated through the darkness. It was faint at first, barely audible, a whisper in the vast, silent emptiness. Then, it grew louder, clearer, a steady thrumming that resonated deep within her being.
A voice.
A metallic voice, cool and detached, a voice that sounded like a computer from a distant future. It was the voice of the System, the same voice that had echoed in her mind during the darkest moments of her despair.
[ "System initializing... ]
[ " Subject: May Bornilla." ]
[ "Status: Critical." ]
[ "System core online." ]
[ " Initiating emergency protocol: Reanimation. " ]
The voice echoed through the darkness, each word a jolt of energy, a lifeline in the abyss. It felt like a cold, metallic hand reaching through the void, grasping her soul and pulling her back from the brink.
[ " Subject stabilized. " ]
[ "Vitals returning to normal. " ]
May felt a tingling sensation spreading throughout her body, a warmth that counteracted the chilling darkness. It was like a spark igniting within her, a faint flicker of life that was fighting to rekindle the dying ember of her consciousness.
[ "Subject Regaining consciousness " ]
The world began to focus, the blurriness fading to reveal a stark white space. It was a room, sterile and clinical, devoid of any human touch. But it felt different, charged with a hidden energy, a sense of something new, something extraordinary.
[ "Welcome, May Bornilla," ] the System's voice echoed again, a symphony of synthesized tones. [ "You have been chosen." ]
The words hung in the air, heavy with meaning. Chosen? For what?
[ "You have failed to die," ] the System continued, its voice devoid of emotion. [ "However, your desperate desire for change, your longing for a system, a power beyond your comprehension, has resonated with the core. You have been granted a second chance, a chance to rewrite your story." ]
'This is impossible? Maybe... Maybe I'm just hallucinating, and this is just an illusion my mind created.' May thought, still lying on the floor, struggling to open her eyes fully. She desperately wanted to see the voice, the one that sounded like a robot.
And that's when May saw it. A holographic display, flickering to life before her. It wasn't the usual menu of her smartphone or tablet; it was a system menu, similar to the one she'd read about in her fantasy novels, the ones that were too good to be true.
The world faded to black.
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