Chapter 1 out of boredom
📝 Chapter 1 – Out of Boredom
Ellie had come to a very important realization at exactly 6:00pm
Life was painfully, unbelievably, ridiculously boring.
Not the kind of boring that came with dramatic sighs and staring out rainy windows. No—this was worse. This was the quiet kind. The kind that crept in slowly until every day felt the same.
Wake up. Eat. Scroll. Exist.
Repeat.
“Wow,” she muttered, lying flat on her bed, staring at the ceiling like it had personally offended her. “I’m really living the dream.”
Her phone slipped from her hand and landed on her face.
“Okay, that’s a sign,” she groaned, rubbing her nose. “A sign of what? I don’t know. But it hurt, so it must mean something.”
She turned onto her side, grabbing her phone again and unlocking it out of pure habit. Notifications filled the screen—none of them interesting.
Group chats she muted. Videos she didn’t feel like watching. Messages she’d reply to “later” and never actually would.
Ellie sighed.
“This is tragic.”
She sat up abruptly, her hair a complete mess, eyes slightly narrowed like she was about to make a life-changing decision.
“I need something new,” she declared to absolutely no one. “A hobby. A personality. A plot.”
Silence.
“…preferably something that doesn’t require effort.”
Her gaze wandered lazily across her screen until it landed on a random link buried in an old message.
Some kind of chat website.
Anonymous. Random people. No strings attached.
Ellie squinted at it.
“This,” she said slowly, “is either the beginning of something exciting… or the worst decision I’ve made this week.”
A pause.
“…I’m curious.”
She tapped it.
The website loaded.
Simple layout. Minimal design. A blinking “Start Chat” button sitting in the middle like it was daring her.
Ellie stared at it.
“Okay,” she said, cracking her knuckles like she was about to enter battle. “Let’s see what the internet has to offer.”
She clicked.
User connected.
Ellie waited.
Two seconds.
Three.
Then—
hey baby ;)
Ellie’s face immediately went blank.
“…no.”
Click.
User connected.
She gave it another chance.
u got pics?
Ellie blinked once.
“…seriously?”
Click.
User connected.
“Third time’s the charm,” she muttered.
what r u wearing
Ellie sat there for a full second.
Then slowly lowered her phone.
“…I hate it here.”
Click.
She flopped backward onto her bed dramatically, one arm over her face.
“Crazy people,” she mumbled. “What is wrong with them?!”
Her voice echoed slightly in the quiet room.
No answer came, obviously.
Ellie sighed and turned her head to the side, staring at the wall.
“Maybe this was a mistake,” she admitted.
But then again…
What else was she going to do?
Sleep?
“Yeah, no,” she said, sitting back up. “We’re not that desperate yet.”
She adjusted her position, pulling her knees up and resting her chin on them, phone back in hand.
“One last try,” she decided. “If this one’s weird, I’m leaving. For real this time.”
(A lie. But a convincing one.)
She tapped the button again.
User connected.
A new username appeared.
aeros_midnight
Ellie paused.
“…okay, that’s already better.”
No weird message. No immediate nonsense.
Just… quiet.
She tilted her head slightly, staring at the screen like it might reveal secrets if she looked hard enough.
“Suspicious,” she whispered.
Five seconds passed.
Nothing.
“…are you broken?” she muttered at her phone.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard.
She hesitated.
Which was rare.
Ellie wasn’t usually the type to overthink things. If anything, she underthought them.
But something about the silence felt… different.
Not awkward.
Just calm.
Still.
“…okay, fine,” she said. “I’ll start.”
She typed quickly, barely thinking it through.
cloudyday_ellie:
Are you normal or should I be concerned?
She hit send.
Then immediately dropped her phone onto the bed.
“Why did I say that?” she groaned, covering her face. “I sound insane.”
She peeked through her fingers.
Three dots appeared.
Ellie froze.
She slowly sat up straighter.
> Oh. He types like a human.
The reply came.
aeros_midnight:
That depends. What do you consider normal?
Ellie blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Then a small smile crept onto her face.
“…finally,” she whispered.
She picked up her phone again, this time a little more careful… but not by much.
cloudyday_ellie:
Someone who doesn’t ask weird questions in the first five seconds.
There was a pause.
Then—
aeros_midnight:
That’s a low bar.
Ellie huffed out a quiet laugh.
cloudyday_ellie:
You’d be surprised.
On the other side of the screen, Mikael leaned back slightly in his chair, eyes focused on the conversation.
Most chats ended quickly.
This one didn’t feel like it would.
aeros_midnight:
So why are you here?
Ellie read the question, then flopped back onto her bed again, staring at the ceiling.
“Why am I here…” she murmured.
Her life wasn’t complicated.
She wasn’t running from anything dramatic. No big heartbreak. No tragic backstory.
She was just… stuck.
In between who she used to be and who she wanted to become.
Not lost.
Just not moving.
She glanced back at her phone.
Then typed—
cloudyday_ellie:
I was bored.
A pause.
Then she added—
cloudyday_ellie:
Like, painfully bored. This was my last resort.
Mikael’s lips twitched slightly.
aeros_midnight:
That’s reassuring.
Ellie grinned.
cloudyday_ellie:
Don’t worry, you’re doing better than the others.
aeros_midnight:
That’s not saying much.
She laughed softly, rolling onto her side.
Maybe…
Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Ellie was just a simple girl.
A little chaotic. A little impulsive. A little too honest for her own good.
She didn’t have everything figured out.
Actually—she didn’t have anything figured out.
But somehow, in the middle of an ordinary night, driven by nothing more than boredom and bad decisions…
she had stumbled into something unexpected.
And she had no idea—
that the quiet stranger on the other side of the screen…
was about to become the most important part of her days.
