Dimension 404

Rain tapped against the bus window as Mila rested her head against the glass, half-listening to Liv and Kai argue across the aisle.

“For the last time,” Kai said, offended, “I could survive in an apocalypse.”

“You cried during a power cut,” Liv replied.

“That was DIFFERENT. It made a weird sound.”

Auren laughed quietly from the seat behind them, sketching something in her notebook while Zayden scrolled through his phone beside her.

Friday nights usually ended like this all of them together, too bored to go home, looking for something to do.

Kai suddenly sat up.“Wait.”

“That tone never leads anywhere good,” Mila muttered.

“I found a place.”

“Oh no,” Zayden said immediately.

Kai turned his phone around dramatically.

On the screen was a blurry photo of an abandoned mall.

“People online are saying there’s still electricity inside.”

Liv’s eyes lit up instantly. “Absolutely yes.”

“No,” Zayden said.

“Yes,” Kai and Liv said together.

Mila sighed already knowing how this would end.

Because somehow—every terrible idea eventually became a group activity. Twenty minutes later, they were standing outside the abandoned mall in light rain.

The building towered over them, dark and silent.

Half the sign had fallen off years ago.

“Okay,” Zayden said, staring up at it. “We’ve officially crossed into horror movie territory.”

Liv pushed open the rusted side gate.“If we die, I’m haunting all of you.”

“You’d haunt us for fun anyway,” Mila said.

“That’s true.”

Kai stepped inside first using his phone flashlight dramatically under his face.

“Welcome,” he whispered, “to our deaths.”

Auren walked in behind him, looking around slowly.

The mall looked frozen in time.

Old posters still hung on the walls.Dust covered overturned chairs.A broken escalator disappeared into darkness above them.

And somehow—

it didn’t feel empty.

A faint buzzing sound echoed somewhere deeper inside the building.

Kai immediately looked excited “You guys hear that?”

“Nope,” Zayden lied.

Then the buzzing came again.

This time louder.

From somewhere near the arcade. The arcade was hidden near the back of the mall.

Most of the signs had fallen down, but faded neon letters still flickered weakly above the entrance.

Kai stopped dramatically.

“Oh this is DEFINITELY cursed.”

“Then why are you smiling?” Mila asked.

“Because cursed things are interesting.”

Liv walked past them first. “If something jumps at me, I’m suing all of you.”

The arcade smelled like dust and old wires.

Most of the machines were dead. Broken screens. Cracked buttons. Prizes still hanging inside claw machines like nobody ever came back for them.

Auren ran her fingers lightly across an old racing game. “This place feels stuck.”

Then—

bzzzt.

One machine lit up at the very back of the room.

The whole group froze.

Zayden blinked. “There’s literally no electricity in this building.”

The screen glowed blue through the darkness.

Three words appeared slowly:

DIMENSION 404

The machine buzzed louder.

Blue light flickered across the arcade walls while the screen glitched violently.

DIMENSION 404

Then underneath:

PRESS START

“Nope,” Zayden said immediately.

Kai looked personally offended. “You can’t just NOT press it.”

“Yes we can.”

“We literally came here for weird stuff.”

“We came here to explore,” Zayden corrected. “Not summon demons.”

Liv folded her arms. “Technically we don’t know if it’s demons yet.”

“That sentence is not comforting.”

Mila stepped closer to the machine carefully.

The screen reflected all of them strangely, glitching every few seconds like bad internet lag.

For one split second—

Auren frowned.

She could’ve sworn there were six reflections.

Then it flickered back to normal.

“You guys saw that too, right?” she asked quietly.

“Saw what?” Kai said.

Before she could answer, the machine made a sharp static sound.

Everyone jumped.

“Jesus Christ—” Liv grabbed Mila’s arm. “Why is it making noises?!”

Kai grinned. “Oh, this thing definitely wants us to press start.”

Zayden stared at him. “You are exactly the type of person cursed objects look for.”

The machine suddenly flashed again.

New text appeared:

PLAYER COUNT: 5

The group went silent.

Kai slowly looked around. “…Okay that’s kinda sick.”

“No,” Mila said. “That’s kinda serial-killer-ish.”

Auren stepped back slightly.

The machine already knew how many of them were there.

Nobody had touched it yet.

Then the joystick moved on its own.

Very slowly.

click.

Liv immediately swore. “OH, HELL no.”

The screen distorted violently.

For half a second, another image flashed across it—

Not the arcade.

Not the mall.

The same five of them standing somewhere else.

Somewhere brighter.

Different clothes. Different expressions.

Then the image vanished.

Kai stared at the screen with wide eyes.

“…Tell me I’m not the only one who saw that.”

Nobody answered.

Because all of them had.

yep

Nobody spoke for a solid five seconds.

Then—

“Okay,” Mila said slowly, “what the actual fuck was that?”

Kai was still staring at the screen. “I think we just saw alternate versions of ourselves.”

“You say that WAY too casually,” Zayden snapped.

Liv leaned closer to the machine. “Wait, wait, make it do it again.”

“That is a terrible idea,” Auren said.

“Counterpoint,” Liv replied. “It’d be cool.”

The machine buzzed louder.

Then the screen changed again.

REALITY AVAILABLE

PRESS START TO ENTER

Kai immediately reached for the button.

Three people yelled at once.

“DON’T—”

Too late.

CLICK.

The arcade lights exploded off.

Darkness swallowed the room.

A loud ringing sound filled the air as the floor suddenly shook beneath them.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Zayden shouted.

“I PRESSED START?!” Kai yelled back.

“WHY?!”

“IT LITERALLY SAID PRESS START!”

Blue light burst from the machine.

Not from the screen—

from behind it.

A crack of glowing light split through the

wall like glass breaking.

Everyone stumbled backward.

A cold wind rushed through the arcade even though all the doors were closed.

“What the fuck—” Liv whispered.

The crack widened slowly into a glowing doorway.

On the other side—

was the mall.

But not theirs.

The lights were on.

Bright neon signs flickered across clean floors. Music echoed faintly in the distance. Stores looked brand new.

The group stared silently.

Kai blinked twice. “…Nope.”

Mila grabbed his hoodie before he could walk forward. “Oh NOW you’re cautious?”

“I’m being smart for once. Appreciate it.”

Auren stepped closer carefully.

People were moving on the other side.

Laughing. Shopping. Completely normal.

Except—

every few seconds the image glitched strangely.

Like reality buffering.

Zayden looked horrified. “There is absolutely no scientific explanation for this.”

Liv looked delighted. “That sounds like a YOU problem.”

Then—

someone walked past the portal.

Someone familiar.

The group froze.

It was Kai.

Alternate-universe Kai walked by holding shopping bags and talking to someone offscreen.

Except this version looked… cleaner somehow.

Better dressed. Hair actually styled.

Main-universe Kai looked offended immediately.

“Why does alternate me look financially stable?”

uh huh

Liv snorted so hard she nearly fell over.

“Oh my god, he upgraded.”

“Shut up.”

Alternate Kai disappeared into the crowd as the portal flickered again.

Mila stared at the glowing doorway. “So… we’re just ignoring the fact there’s another version of him walking around?”

“No, we’re acknowledging it and panicking internally,” Zayden replied.

Auren kept staring quietly at the other side.

Everything looked so normal there.

Too normal.

Cleaner stores. Brighter lights. No cracked ceilings or dead silence.

Their mall looked alive.

Kai took one careful step closer to the portal.

The machine immediately beeped.

ENTRY WINDOW: 13:00

A countdown appeared on-screen.

“Oh, that can’t be good,” Mila muttered.

Liv looked between the timer and the portal. “So hypothetically…”

“No,” Zayden said instantly.

“We go in for like—”

“No.”

“Five minutes.”

“Absolutely not.”

Kai pointed dramatically at the glowing alternate mall. “There is literally another version of me in there.”

“There are BILLIONS of problems with that sentence!”

Auren suddenly frowned.

“Wait.”

Everyone looked at her.

On the other side of the portal, people were still walking normally through the mall.

But none of them were looking at the group.

Not even once.

Almost like—

they couldn’t see the portal at all.

Then alternate Kai stopped walking.

Slowly, he turned his head.

And looked directly at them.