Jake returned to his bed wearing nothing but his boxers and vest. His room though tidy was cluttered with merchandise from his favourite game franchise ‘Dinosaurs & Basements’. He was OBSESSED! Ever since his friends had introduced him to it when he was just a kid.

He eats sleeps and breathes the game and became so good he became the T-Rex of his region. That’s the highest level in the game you could receive. Most people only make it to the Raptor rank and then stay stagnant.

Every night Jake goes to bed and allows his game to run without him physically playing. Whenever a herd of Dinosaurs comes to take his domain he’s set up an alarm to blast out from his phone. He’ll go downstairs to the desktop and defeat the herd before going back to sleep.

The players of his region learnt this habit of his and tonight they’ve been relentless. In herds of six to ten they attempt to break through Jake’s basement every ten or so minutes. At first he thought it was a piece of cake, but after two hours of having his sleep disrupted he found himself unable to stir himself out of bed when his alarm blared.

The next morning Jake smiles as he stretches, daylight caressing his face as he gets up out of bed. He doesn’t bother to change, he will just quickly check his game then go about his morning.

He approaches the desktop and notices something odd on the screen.

“No, no, no!” He runs over as he clicks on a notification.

“Your Basement Has Been Raided, You Have Been Demoted to Rank: Raptor!”

Jake slammed his fist down on the desk as tears burned his reddening face. All his years of work ruined!

It would take him months to even get close to having a basement the size of his old one and he would never regain his status. Not from lack of trying, but from lack of caring. He’d been defeated in the game he loved, his interest - extinct.