Behind him, his bedroom door creaked open. A cloud of thick, grey steam rolled across the floor.
A new prompt appeared, filling the entire screen:
Outside his real-world window, the sound of tracks screeching against metal echoed through the quiet suburb. Elias looked at his monitor one last time. His character was no longer sitting at the desk. The seat in the game was empty. Download The Ghost Train PC Game 2020
The screen didn't fade to a menu. Instead, it flickered to a first-person view of a rain-slicked platform. The graphics were hyper-realistic—too realistic for a 2020 indie title. There was no music, only the rhythmic thrum-thrum of an approaching engine. A prompt appeared in the bottom corner:
Elias slammed the Escape key. Nothing happened. He tried to alt-tab, then reached for the power button on his tower. The plastic felt hot—searingly hot—like coal. Behind him, his bedroom door creaked open
He moved his character down the aisle. Each car he entered was older than the last. The 2020 commuter seats turned into 1940s leather benches, then into rusted iron slats.
The character in the game turned around. Its face was a mirror of Elias’s own webcam feed, delayed by a fraction of a second. Elias looked at his monitor one last time
In the fifth car, he saw a character sitting alone. It was a low-poly model of a man at a desk, backlit by a glowing monitor. Elias moved closer. The character was wearing the same grey hoodie Elias had on. The desk in the game had the same half-empty energy drink sitting next to the mouse.