Every Time

I have an important appointment in the morning, and I've set my alarm to go off in 8 hours from now.

I clean up and pack away everything from dinner, and decide to watch just one episode before bed.

Five episodes later, 5 hours before my alarm left.

I brush my teeth, and head to bed.

After a few minutes, I grab my phone and check the address, my route, and that I have everything. Then I check social media, briefly.

3 hours left.

I put the phone and force myself to get to sleep.

5 minutes before my alarm.

Testing

 I was summoned to yet another parallel universe.

"Who has summoned me?"

A rather weedy young male looked up from behind several crudely made (and woefully incomplete) protection sigils. 

"I did! I demand power!"

I glanced down at the magic circle I was supposedly trapped in.

"You know, of course, that I must give you a weakness in exchange for this power, yes?"

"Yes, of course!" He lied.

"Once you've killed a million creatures, you will die yourself. Agree?"

He nodded, I gave him the power then he died a second later thanks to all the micro-organisms inside him dying.

Inside The Game

After he touched down and his wings vanished back into the virtual ether, he looked at me, suddenly serious.

"Wait, if I die in here, do I die in real life?"

I blinked a few times until I had a reply chain ready that satisfied both my honesty subroutines and his chosen preferences for my personality.

"What, you think we have a bomb strapped to the interface device?"

He looked a little sheepish.

"Well, no."

"Indeed. There's nothing inside the game that can kill you, so please relax."

Now, remember, the gathering officers and their guns aren't inside the game.

Gratitude

I was awoken by the door opening, and after looking around the shack, I slowly made my way outside. There, the old man who'd saved me from the snowstorm was sitting on a snowbank, overlooking a valley and the sun just peaking over it.

He spoke without turning around.

"I always view the dawn out of gratitude at seeing another one. Ever since someone saved my life, every sunrise is a gift. You should remember that."

I checked my watch.

"But that's sunset."

After a moment, he pulled out a compass.

"That doesn't negate the lesson, you hear me, boy?" 

The Principle

As they left the tavern, I stomped over to the corner, slamming my fists on the table as I glared at the old man hidden in his robe.

"Dammit Grink, how many times are you going to get new customers killed before they can spend any real money here?"

He sipped his cider.

"I was totally honest about what they would be fighting. Maybe they'll be back this time."

I sighed, loudly.

"Or you could pay a fraction of the cost and repay Sanis what you owe here!"

"It's the principle dammit!"

The group did kill the monsters.

And more.

Black Rose

Passing by the graveyard on my way to work everyday was certainly impactful for my sense of perspective on everything.

But to try and alleviate that, I made a habit of keeping track of the status and upkeep on the various gravesites.

And then, one morning, the one nearest the fence had a black rose on it, and while I'm not proud, I lifted it, my workmate thought it was cool.

But ever since, no matter how many I take, there's always another one waiting. Eventually I hung around one night to find the leaver.

Didn't expect it coming upwards... 

About The Last Post

My manager stuck their head into the room I shared with the other social media 'wizards'.

"Last post got taken down, something about malicious content."

I blinked a few times.

"It was a rework of the Foxhole Meme, what's malicious about that?"

"Don't know, don't care, just be more careful."

"Oh I'll be more careful!"

They blinked a few times.

"No."

"No what?"

"You're going to post something similar just to be a dick about it, aren't you?"

"Oh, fine, I won't."

They left, and I got to work on posting about the last one getting taken down.

Got fired.