Oscar Kingston yawned for what felt like the hundredth time that morning as he stared at the few things remaining in his apartment.There wasn't much left.A small basin containing rice sat beside the old stove, and judging from what remained inside, Oscar had enough to last another couple of days if he was careful. His one out of three 25-liter water reservoir was already half empty too, which was becoming a serious problem.Half of 25 liters might have sounded like plenty to someone who had never experienced a shortage, but Oscar knew better.He hadn't showered in days.These days, even washing his face felt like wasting water."At this rate, I'll probably start smelling like the garbage outside," Oscar muttered.He yawned again before picking up his phone.At least he still had this.The electricity had already gone off twice that morning, but thankfully his phone was still at thirty-seven percent. He opened the group chat he shared with the only two people he could still call his

Oscar was beginning to feel that his parents had deliberately made the thing difficult just to annoy whoever found it. "How did they even put something inside when there's no way to open it?""Fine. Sell it!"He stood up and went to get his phone. He pressed 1, 3 and 3. He was just about to dial it when he turned back to the heavy huge box only to notice a not-so-deep, small hole on one side of the box, close to the upper part, and unlike an ordinary round hole, its shape was slightly wider and curved at the top.Oscar leaned closer."Huh?"He stared at it for several seconds. Why was the shape of the hole like that? "It looks like the shape of my thumb."His thumb suddenly came to mind. "Wait a minute." Slowly, he walked towards the box and brought his left thumb toward the opening and carefully placed it inside.It fit.Oscar's eyes widened as he pushed his thumb a little farther. The fit was almost perfect, as if the hole had been made specifically for his thumb. He pulled it ou

At this moment, Oscar's phone suddenly rang.He was startled and immediately looked at the phone, his first thought being that the government had somehow discovered what was happening. Could they have already found out that he was connected to the strange incident in the capital? His hand reached for the phone quickly, but when he saw the name on the screen, his expression changed.“Charlotte?”The screen showed her name with several heart and kissing emojis beside it.Oscar stared at it for a moment.Charlotte was the girl he had loved before and even date for more than six years.Back when they were in free high school together, Oscar had always been the one doing things for her. He was an orphan, so he had to work odd jobs whenever he needed money, although he never had to worry about school fees because he had been a scholarship student. He was naturally smart, especially when it came to subjects like Geography, History, and Economics, but university was different. Because he s

The newsroom of UNC Dog News was unusually noisy.Anchor Otto Levi was sitting behind the news desk, looking at the large screen in front of him. The screen was showing the town square in the capital city, where a huge crater had suddenly appeared after President Yoka Temples' statue was pushed deep into the ground by something that nobody could see.The President himself was there.Several senators were standing around him, together with military commanders and other government officials. Everyone was staring at the enormous hole in the middle of the town square, trying to understand what had happened.Otto also wanted to understand it.But more than anything, he wanted to go home.He had a wife waiting for him at home, and she was already eight months pregnant. He also had two small children, his two-year-old daughter Maria and his four-year-old son, Otto Junior. There was also a helper staying with them whom Otto was trying his best to feed.Otto was one of the most well-known face