Chapter 1: Game Over, Not Really

I got into a fight with enemy Priya while playing a game. The hostel's old cooler rattled in the corner, mixing with the distant clang of temple bells. That very day, a popular internet celebrity openly incited her fans to cyberbully me on Instagram.

'Tu kya samajhti hai apne aap ko, Priya di ko insult karne wali?'

'Agar doxx nahi hona hai na, toh jaldi se maafi maang le.'

I glanced at the 99+ hateful DMs and sneered. My hands trembled as I scrolled, each ping a slap, each message another brick in the wall closing around me.

Without delay, I asked my secretary to freeze Priya’s game and Instagram accounts.

Who doesn’t have a backup account, anyway?

The air in my hostel room felt heavy, my phone buzzing nonstop even as the evening aarti from the temple next door drifted in faintly through the window. Under the pale tube light, the notifications seemed almost alive, dancing in a menacing rhythm.

1

During my BGMI promotion match, the enemy’s ID was “Priya’s Pro.” As soon as the game started, she typed in all-chat:

'Koi hai kya jo mujhe cheer karega?'

No one on our side replied.

She kept going: 'Seriously, no one? Arjun, dikha de inko!'

So for the entire match, their Arjun massacred us. The final score was 0–20.

After the game, I absentmindedly clicked on Arjun’s profile.

I saw their avatar had a little national badge—meaning they were ranked top in the whole server.

Not as skilled as others, I sighed. Luckily, I had a star-protection card, so I queued up for another game.

A faint smell of agarbatti hung in the air, almost mocking the defeat. My roommate, curled up on her bed with her tiffin open, glanced over and mumbled, 'Another loss?' I shrugged, but my ears burned as my roommate’s words echoed—everyone knew about the loss before I even left the room.

Who would have guessed—I matched with Arjun and Priya again.

Priya clearly recognised me. This time, after loading in, she specifically clicked on my name:

'Aren’t you the Meera from last match? So, want to hype me up this game? I’ll tell Arjun to go easy on you.'

I replied with a string of ellipses.

I just thought she was some bratty kid.

But who knew, my silence made her think I was provoking her.

So for the entire match, Priya stuck with Arjun, hunting me down exclusively.

No matter where I went, as soon as I showed up on the map, my screen would go black the very next second.

She even made a point to run to my corpse and taunt me.

'Meera, say something nice and we’ll let you off.'

'Still not begging for mercy?'

'Don’t end the game yet, dive her a few more times.'

I held back for ages, staring at my 0–16 score, and finally typed:

'Can you just push the tower already? I want to start the next game.'

Priya instantly replied:

'Oh, someone’s in a hurry.'

'I’m not pushing, I just want to kill you. Kya karegi tu?'

'……'

Her laughter echoed in the all-chat. I could practically see her smirking on the other side, nails painted, phone in hand, surrounded by a crowd of sycophants. My knuckles whitened around the mouse. This game wasn’t just a game anymore, it was turning into a one-sided tamasha with me as the sacrificial bakra.