33

33 is a very weird number. At least it is to me. I don’t know why but I keep on seeing this number.

For example, my grades at school have recently started to become bad. I have recently had my exams. 6 out of the 10 subjects ended up with a 33,3%. It’s such a weird coincidence.

I like to read books from time to time. The total number of books that I have read is 33.

I also like to play video games. The number of games that I have played is also 33.

I am also a very clumsy person. During the entirety of my life, I have had 33 injuries and have gotten sick 33 times. I have a diary where I write all of these things down.

It is so weird. I can get it if some things end up with a 33, but at this point, my life is surrounded by the number 33. It is as if I am cursed. Maybe I am just crazy, but I will have to put my tinfoil hat on for this one. This is one anomaly that I just can’t ignore. I am going to prove that this number is more than just a coincidence.

I first started writing down all of the times I see the number 33. 33 total anime’s I have watched, 33 manga’s I have read, 33 school projects I’ve had this year, there were even exactly 33 pieces of fries in my NicDonalds bag.

What did all of these have in common? Anime and manga are both from Japan. The subjects I have failed, and the number of school projects are also the same. Me being a clumsy and unhealthy person could also be related to each other. Manga and books? Fiction with video games? Books have a connection with school, but games have no connection with school. Is it a chain of connections?

I then went on the internet to search up if the number 33 meant anything. I found some interesting results.

Jesus has performed 33 miracles and has died at the age of 33.
Islamic prayer beads are arranged in sets of 33 to recite the names of the God.

The Trayastrimsha Heaven translates to the heaven of the 33 Gods.

It seemed like religion had a big part in this. The number showed up in the Christianity, Islam and Buddhism.

The 33rd degree is the highest honorary degree attainable within the Scottish Rite.

It is also said that seeing the number 33 repeatedly is often interpreted as an angel message to pursue creative self-expression and trust your inner wisdom.

This wasn’t leading me anywhere. Is something trying to tell me something? I couldn’t figure it out.

I was starting to get tired, and the sun was starting to set. I didn’t want to sleep. So, I went outside, took my bike and went for a ride.

I rode through the city at a speed of around 10 meters per second. It was a chilly day, but I liked the soft breeze going through my hair. It was as if I could feel freedom. I was finally free from all the stress school brought me. I could finally have a break.

But at the same time, I felt stressed. I am riding fast, sure, I won’t deny it. But this feeling in my chest hurts. Why is my heart pounding so fast? Am I having a panic attack?

As the sun completely disappeared and the sky turned completely black, I stopped riding. I panted, holding my chest tightly.

Something was wrong. Something didn’t make sense. I looked around myself and noticed something off. The streetlights weren’t on. It was completely dark making it hard to see. There were houses around me, but there were no windows on. Everyone was probably asleep.

Suddenly, I heard something behind me. My neck snapped backwards to see what was behind me. There wasn’t anybody there. It was total silence. Suddenly, the cold breeze didn’t feel so good. It felt as if something was holding my throat tightly. I tried to ignore this feeling and move on.

I turned on the lights of my bike and started to head back home. But with the lack of lighting, I could barely see the route I was taking. I took turns to the left and right, trying my best to find the path back home, but I couldn’t figure it out.

I then proceeded to stop, take out my phone, pull up maps and locate my home through there. That would be a good plan if I had signal. My 4G didn’t want to work with me.

I sighed looking up at the sky. I noticed that it was cloudy. But this shouldn’t be possible due to the darkness. Maybe I don’t understand physics well enough to know why. After all, I did fail.

Suddenly, something caught the corner of my eye. It was light. A building must be shining so bright that it is reflecting on the clouds. Maybe that was why I could see the clouds in the first place.

I wasted no time and rode my bike there. It was a little far. My legs were starting to get tired. But I also didn’t want to sleep on the street like some homeless men.

It took a long time, but I have finally reached there after… 33 minutes… Maybe I have to stop timing things. This number was driving me nuts.

But I stood there in front of a big bright building. It was the city shopping mall. This could be a good way to find someone and ask them why the streetlights aren’t working. I looked behind me one last time at the town and noticed something else.

Every single building that could be seen was exactly the same. I am no architecture, but buildings aren’t supposed to have same shape and size. Maybe I am overlooking this small detail. I ignored it and entered the mall.

The doors creaked open, like old wooden doors. Weird. Mall doors aren’t supposed to sound like that. It is supposed to be smooth without sound. What’s weirder is that this is a glass door, it is not supposed to make this sound. Maybe I just never paid attention to my surroundings.

I stepped in and felt a sudden warmth on my face. I looked around happy to see some light. I then looked back and saw the mall. Maybe I am wording it weirdly. What I mean is that the entrance to the mall is gone. The wall behind me is gone. It is as if I have been teleported to the middle of the mall.

The heat didn’t feel comfortable anymore. My body couldn’t move anymore. My chest started to hurt more. My breath felt heavy. Something was wrong.

I closed my eyes trying to comfort myself. I took deep breaths. In and out. To make my blood flow a little slower. I opened my eyes once again. I saw a black figure in the distance. The figure was standing on the second floor looking at some billboard about shoes on sale.

“H-Hello?” I spoke out to get the person’s attention.

“…” I got no response.

“H-Hey! I am talking to you!” I raised my tone. Maybe the person didn’t hear me last time.

“…” No response once again. The figure didn’t even move.

I took a step closer to get a better look at the person. But it then disappeared, as if it was a mob despawning for not being interacted with for too long.

I didn’t say anything else. Instead, I slapped myself, hoping that all of this was a stupid nightmare. I looked around trying to find an answer or a living soul, but there was nothing. No people, no workers, shops were open, but nobody could be seen.

I continued walking around and spotted a clock. I looked at the time, and it read 03:33:33 on the dot. The 33 curse appears once again.

I sighed deeply…

Took a breath in…

Let the breath out…

…

..

.

.

.

I grabbed the clock and smashed it hard against the concrete floor shattering the entire thing into pieces. I proceeded with punching the wall. It was so hard that my fist bled. All that was going through my head was absolute wrath. How did I even get here? I may be an idiot, but I know damn well that physics doesn’t allow this. Forces, thermodynamics, magnetism, none of these could be broken.

“Oh! Now I get it! I was hanging out with my friends, got drunk on three beers and right now I am just going insane. Isn’t that right?!”

I shouted so loud, my voice echoed through the entire place three times.

“Fuck!” I shouted punching the wall again, damaging my fist even more. “Please…” My vision started to get blurry. “Please let me go home… I didn’t do anything wrong to get here… I didn’t do anything worth being punished for.” I tried to convince myself.

Maybe I am being punished by my bad grades. Maybe it is due to underage drinking with friends. Maybe it is the fetishes I have. Perhaps the drugs. Not eating properly… I did many bad things. Maybe I do deserve this fate.

I am a weirdo. A freak that doesn’t deserve a place on this planet.

But I do not accept this. I won’t give up. I may have done bad things, but I will get out of here and get back home! I will figure the rest out later.

I straightened myself and started walking towards a possible exit. If I could enter this weird world, then I can definitely escape this world.

I looked at every nook and cranny this mall had to offer. It may span for an infinite distance long, but there must be some place out. Something that stands out. It could be anything. I need to be observant and fully focused. I will win against fate.

…

Many hours have passed. I don’t know how many, as each clock keeps reading 03:33:33. My stomach is rumbling, my lips are dry and my eyelids weigh heavy. Motivation can easily be overruled by how one feels at the moment.

A moment ago, I was full of hope, now all that there is to my mind is despair. I want to stop, but stopping has almost the same effect as continuing. Going on has a percent extra of survival. Or at least I think that.

I walked… Nothing.

I walked more… Nothing.

I walked even more… Nothing.

I see a dark figure in the distance. Was it the same as I had seen earlier in the distance? No time to ponder that question. Despite my exhaustion, I dashed forward to try and catch the figure. This time it wasn’t disappearing.

But no matter how close I came, I couldn’t see what the figure looked like. It had a humanoid shape, but other than that, I couldn’t tell. It was tall, with no hair, no clothes, no clear signs of what gender. The whole figure was blackened like a censorship.

And then, right before my eyes, the figure disappeared. I was panting very hard. My chest was starting to hurt again. Was this some kind of trauma response? I tried to stand up straight and take deep breaths to relieve the pain, but it wasn’t working. Something that would really help is 3 grams of cocaine. But I do not have that kind of thing with me.

I then looked to my left. It was a grocery shop. I saw fruits, vegetables, bread and most importantly, water. I went in to refresh myself but trip up by my exhaustion. I fell face first onto the floor. It made my nose bleed.

I pushed the floor, forcing myself to stand. I stumble forward feeling pain on my ankle. Did I twist my feet? I grabbed my feet to try and stretch it. But it was no difference. I then stomped that feet 3 times hard on the floor. It made the pain worse. What was I thinking. Of course it would.

My thirst and hunger were unbearable, so I ignored the pain and started to limp forward to consume something. I grabbed a bottle of water and chugged the entire thing in one go. It wasn’t enough, so I took another bottle and drank it completely too.

I was now hydrated. But I was still hungry. I went to the bakery section to eat some break, bull all of them ahd mold grown on them. I looked at every one of them but couldn’t find anything consumable. So, I will instead go to the fruits section. I am not really the fruit type of guy, but I had to take something in.

I grabbed an apple and took a bite. I then took another bite. And then one more. 30 minutes later, I ate 4 apples and 5 bananas. It wasn’t exactly feeding or enjoyable to consume, but what other choice did I have?

I then grabbed a few extra bottles of water to head back out into the mall, but there was something wrong.

The door was no longer there.

That can’t be right? Did I get lost in here? No. That’s not possible. I didn’t even go that deep into the shop. I went on my knees, grabbed my head and slightly pulled my hair. My cortisol levels started to rise once again.

But then, realization hit me. What if this is a good thing? What if this place is the next stage. The next part that will help me get closer to escape.

I wiped my eyes, fighting back against my tears and despair, but suddenly…

“Hey!” A female voice touches my shoulder. I recognized this voice from somewhere. But where?

“Wah!” My tone reached a high note.

Getting scared like this isn’t so manly of me. But by turning around and looking at the person behind me, I finally understood who this voice belonged to.

“M-Mom…?” My voice was shaky. My hands still trembled in fear.

“Hey darling. How are you doing?” My mother asked me.

I ignored her question and asked a question of my own. “How did you get here?”

Something was wrong.

She was at first silent, as if processing what I had just said. “Well, I was at one point walking on the streets, clipped though something, got into a maze got through many different looking rooms and eventually arrived here.”

“You weren’t first in an empty city and then a mall then here?” I asked next. My hands stopped shaking now. I had a little more trust.

“Maybe how someone traverse here depends on how they feel? My previous room was a corridor with multiple doors. Door number 333 led me here.” My mom then answered. She then smiled brightly, a smile I hadn’t seen in a very long time. “Let’s find an exit together.” She held her hand up, hoping for me to grab it.

I hesitated at first, feeling ashamed to cooperate but there is no one that I know here, so I shouldn’t have to worry. I grabbed her hand and we started to walk together.

It was really empty. Other than my mother, there wasn’t a single soul in sight. Me and my mother didn’t exchange a single word. But then she sparked up a conversation. It wasn’t a pleasant one.

“By the way, I don’t know for how long you have been here, but there are also monsters in here.”

“Excuse me, what?”

“There are monsters here?” Was she joking around. I couldn’t tell by that cheerful behavior. “You know well enough that I can handle scary stuff.”

“Really?” My mother asks with a smirk. “Last time I saw you watch a horror movie, you were trembling so hard covering most of your body with a blanket.”

“That was two years ago, I have grown into a refined adult now.” I spoke full of pride.

“But I am serious.” My mother’s face darkened a little. “There are actually dangerous monsters here that can kill you.”

“Like what?”

“Floating smiling faces with sharp teeth at dark corners, Suspicious light hanging in the sky with no source to feed it’s brightness, monsters that feeds on your limbs and monsters that steal other’s skin.”

“What…?”

“I saw a high school girl get her skin ripped off and worn by a weird white to grey creature. It then proceeded to eat the remaining body leaving nothing behind. Not even a drop of blood.” Her eyes were wide open, as if she didn’t want to recall back to that moment. “I ran as fast as I could out of there. I wasn’t going to risk my life like this.”

I stopped walking and retracted my hand in disgust. “How can I know if you’re human?” I asked.

“It is clear if someone is a monster or not. Deformed face, body, weird legs, they don’t look human.” My mother answered. “Please trust me. If I were one of those monsters, I would have already kill you.” She held her hand out again. “So, please stay with me and trust me.”

Did I have a choice? “Fine… I’ll trust you for now.” I grabbed her hands. And we continued our walk to find an exit.

We walked together for a few hours. We barely said anything to each other. After some time, I finally asked a question.

“What is the time?” I asked not even looking up at her.

She raised her hand to look at the watch on her wrist. “3 o’clock and 33 minutes.” She simply answered. “Seems like the seconds is also stuck at 33. Maybe my watch is broken.”

“33 again…” I whispered softly.

“33?” My mother asks.

“Don’t worry about it.” I brushed my mother off. I didn’t want to stress her too much off. If I even care at the first place.

We continued to walk for a few hours. We spoke very little to each other. We’d often just decide together where to turn to. After a couple more hours, my mother asked me a question.

“How has the collage life been?” My mother asked. “It’s been a while since you had moved out.”

“It is alright…” I answered softly. “I am failing though.” It was painful to admit this.

She smiled. “You always act like this.” She comments on my answer. “Even if the beginning is doubtful, you always prove in the end that you can do it.”

I chuckled softly. “That is true. But I’m not sure if the same thing applies here in college.”

“You worry too much.” She laughed the matter off.

My smile then softly dissipated, going into a more serious tone. “Mom… I have a question.”

“What is it?” She noticed my serious tone and also gotten serious.

“After dad had left us, you stopped to love me. The last time I saw you smile was when I was five.” I started to explain what was going on. “And at the end of it all, you died.”

“W-What are you talking about?” It hesitated. “Are you saying that I’m not your mother.”

“Not only that. You are not human.”

“D-Darling. You have to trust me.” It tried to get my trust back. “I am your mo-”

Without hesitation, I lunged myself forward and grabbed her throat. This action made her fall behind and I fell ahead of her. I sat on top of her and started to squeeze her throat.

“This whole time, you haven’t even said my name.” I squeezed harder. “You’re not real!” My knuckles turned white. “You’re supposed to be dead!” I couldn’t feel my fingers anymore. “After all I-!”

I stopped speaking and let go of her throat. Whit foam came out her mouth and her eyes were closed. I placed my hands under her nose, no air went in and out. I followed with checking her pulse. Nothing. She’s dead. Again.

I could’ve cried, but I don’t care for her. I hate her. Instead, I stood up and ran away. I ran as fast as I could. I didn’t look back. Despite all the physical pain I had, I just ignored them all and kept running.

With a sudden sting on my ankle, I tripped and fell once again. This time, I stayed on the floor. I turned around to sit and grab my ankle. I raised my trousers to look at my ankle and noticed that it had completely turned blue. I sighed, wishing I could take a drag and forget about all the pain.

Or maybe that paracetamol liquid to pump directly in the blood that my homeboy somehow got his hands on. Man, that was so addictive. Maybe some alcohol… Wait… Grocery shops has alcohol.

I stood back up with new motivation to find alcohol, get drunk, hope I somehow reach the next stage in this drunk state. I may still be in pain, but as long as I know what I want, I can be happy.

I started to walk around to find some kind of clue of where I could find some alcohol. After some time, I found a map that partially showed the areas of the shop. I looked at them and found the alcohol section. It is in aisle 33. Of course it is.

I ignored it and walked over to aisle 33. When I arrived, the thing I saw was heaven. Shelves filled with fine wine. I danced happily to the middle of the aisle and took a bottle.

It was a hard glass bottle of red wine. It is made out of red grapes from Italy. It was manufactured in 1933. Again, that number. I ignored it and looked at how pure it was. 33% pure alcohol.

Yeah, no way. I threw the bottle behind me and grabbed another bottle. It’s the same brand with all the same things written. I looked around and noticed that all the wine here is the same. What shop only has 1 type of wine!? Whatever… With a pop, I opened the cap of the bottle. My lips touched the tip of the bottle, ready to drink it all up, but I got interrupted.

Something stabs me through my stomach. It made me puke out blood. I slowly turned my head to look at the thing that stabbed me. It was some distorted grey looking creature with dark dusty spots and red bloody spots. It had facial features, but no eyes, nose, or mouth. Despite having no mouth, I could tell that it was smiling.

It then retracted its hand, making me fall forward onto my hands and knees. Blood splurged out my stomach. I was surprised that my organs weren’t falling out. I am not supposed to be alive at this point.

I couldn’t fight back, but I also didn’t want to die. So, I pushed myself up and began to run. I looked behind me and saw the monster slowly limping towards me. Its legs were pretty deformed. It can’t run.

I clenched my stomach and ran further ahead. I guess that thing that copied my mom was telling the truth about some things. My vision was blurring. I kept running. I looked around me and saw multiple other monsters going in my direction. Some looked like humans. They were probably fake.

I then saw a staircase that led me upstairs. I ran in that direction and went up. I ended up on the roof. It was cold up here. And there was an edge. I was on a platform of around 3000 square meters. It didn’t seem infinite from up here.

I ran towards the edge and looked down. It was a total void… That’s bad. I have completely cornered myself. I had to hide somewhere before the monsters got up here.

I then spotted some cardboard boxes with trash bags. It didn’t look like good protection, but I had no choice right now. I could escape by either jumping into the void or hiding in the boxes. I chose the boxes despite the bad smell. I quickly went to the pile of garbage and boxes and then hid inside a cardboard box.

I made sure to cover the lid properly and make no sound. The sound of the wind then slowly faded as I lay on the floor.

Suddenly, I felt safer. I don’t know why, but something has changed. I opened the lid of the box and looked outside. I was no longer on the roof. I was in a completely new area. Did I survive the challenge? Have I moved on to the next level?

I laid down on my back completely exhausted. But my body was still in pain. My stomach was somehow still bleeding, and I was somehow still alive, somehow still conscious. The laws of biology shouldn’t allow this.

I want to take a little bit of rest, but I know that I need to get out of here. So, I forced my ass up to explore and search for an exit. This place looked like a fancy mansion except for that the walls, floor and ceiling were made out of cardboard. It looked really unstable, but whenever I push on the wall, it felt like any other ordinary brick wall.

There weren’t any signs of monsters nearby. That was a good thing because now I don’t have to worry about getting more hurt than I already am.

I kept walking around. It was so quiet. I explored each and every corner of the house.

I felt oddly familiar. I know this layout. It is the same building as the crib of my best brother. He was for real the goat. I’ve gotten so many things from him that helped me out. Those were awesome memories.

But I wondered something. Why is this place made of cardboard? Why is the outside an empty void? I had so many questions. But all of them had to be shoved to the side as dizziness started to blur my vision. Was the amount of blood loss starting to catch up to me? Was I finally going to die?

All colors of the rainbow started to overflow my sight. I suspected that I was high, but then my breathing once again started to get abnormal. I tried calming myself down, but nothing seemed to work.

I looked ahead of me and saw a glowing smile. A floating smile staring into me. I tried to rum away. Through the hallways towards the kitchen. The creepy looking smile just followed me. Was it here to kill me? Is this what the grim reamer looked like?

Out of a drawer, I took out a knife. With the knife, I pointed it at the smile.

“Don’t come close to me!” I shouted out to the monster. The monster didn’t react. It didn’t even flinch. I actually can’t tell much by my blurred and colored vision. I had no choice. I was going to die here. So, I lunged forward, attacking the smile.

“AAAAAAAHHH!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, running towards the thing. I then swung my knife, attempting to kill it. I then took a step back.

I looked at the entity once again…

Nothing happened…

The monster was still floating there. Glowing. Grinning.

“I can’t handle this anymore…” I whimpered to myself. “I can’t handle this…” I flipped the knife around. “I won’t let you kill me.” I held it up to my own neck. “I won’t!” I pressed softly making a little bit of blood trickle down my neck. “If I am going to die, then I’ll kill myself!” With one swoop motion, I pressed down hard and sliced my own throat.

Everything suddenly got dark. I couldn’t feel anything anymore. My body had no weight. It wasn’t warm nor cold. I felt free for a small moment before I felt something hard pressed to my back. I opened my eyes and saw stars in the sky. I was laying down somewhere.

I wasn’t feeling any kind of pain. My stomach didn’t hurt and my throat didn’t hurt. I then sat straight up. Looking ahead, I saw an empty road. On both sides, there were houses. Despite the lack of visible light, I was able to see everything clearly.

Am I free…? I wondered to myself. This didn’t feel right though. Every house looked the same, it was very dark and there were no roads turning left or right. It was a straight line where the front and the back led to darkness.

I didn’t have a knife with me anymore so killing myself will not be easy. But I had no reason to kill myself. I wasn’t high anymore and I wasn’t in sight of any entity planning to kill me. So, instead, I stood up and started to walk ahead.

It was a long and silent walk. It didn’t seem as if I was going to get anywhere. But I kept moving forward. I anyways had nowhere else to go. Step by step, I slowly moved my legs.

Soon enough, a mouse started to walk beside me. The mouse didn’t do anything. It just walked next to me. I decided to ignore it.

After some more time, I started to get paranoid. As if there were something following me. But every time I looked behind me, I didn’t see anything. It was way too dark.

Some time later, I started to hear whispers. I couldn’t decode what the whispers were saying. It felt like listening to a conversation behind a door. I started to get nervous. What if the possible entity following me is trying to tell me something.

Suddenly a bloodcurdling scream could be heard from behind me. It sounded like a small girl screaming in terror of something bad that had happened. This gave me deja vu, so I began to run.

I ran ahead as fast as I could. But then the landscape started to warp in millions of impossible ways. I looked down to my side and saw the mouse running beside me. But then suddenly, the mouse disappears. It didn’t fade or disintegrate, it just vanished.

My chest began to hurt, my fingers started to feel weird and I tripped forward. I was going to hit face first against the concrete floor. I closed my eyes and braced for impact. But then I landed on something soft. I opened my eyes to get flashed by a bright white light.

It was painful for my eyes to adjust to it. But after it did, I saw that I was lying on a cloud.

“You are an annoyingly difficult human to deal with.” Something spoke to me.

I turned my head to look at what just spoke to me. It had a voice of neither man or women, yet still man and women. It had an echo and didn’t. It felt scratchy and rough, but it also wasn’t.

The looks of this creature also didn’t make sense. I don’t even know how to describe how it looks like. Was I observing an entity beyond the 3 dimensions we know? Looking at it just made my head hurt.

“Searching up the meaning of 33 should’ve been a sign clear enough of what you should’ve done.” The entity then spoke.

“Y-You are the one behind all this?” I asked, still feeling spooked from what just happened.

“You could’ve avoided this whole life journey recap if you understood what you read on Google.” It completely ignored my question.

“Life journey recap…?” I followed by asking.

“Wasn’t it obvious?” It then asked back. “I supposed you aren’t smart enough to understand.”

But then, everything clicked.

From a young age to my fifth year, I had a normal life. Those 5 years were the only years I saw my mother smile at me. After I became five, my father cheated on my mom by going out with another woman. They divorced and I ended up with my mom.

Since then, she started neglecting me. She said that I looked too much like my father. Once when we were in a mall, she ‘accidentally’ lost me. I saw her many times, but I couldn’t catch up. Someone found me and brought me back home.

This caused her to start abusing me. She has hurt me so much. When I turned 16, something finally snapped in me. Out of pure rage, I wrapped my fingers around her neck and choked her to death with no hesitation.

This made me extremely depressed. I ran away from home, hoping to somehow get out of here without any problems. I tried to get rid of the depression by consuming a lot of alcohol. This made my stomach hurt a lot. I got drunk and ended up at some trash dump.

After I regained consciousness, I went to my best friend’s house to get some drugs and painkillers to relieve the depression. This made me addicted and very often high. I turned into a junkie. I kept this habit all the way until now.

“You seem to understand it now.” It spoke to me again.

“You can read my mind or something?” I irritatingly asked.

“Of course, I am. After all, I am angel 33.”

“Angel 33…?”

“The number 33 is a number that tells humans to take more care of themselves. I am the deliverer of those signs. Small things around them will get unenticingly changed to 33.”

“If that’s true, why are you only sending this message to me now? Why not give me a sign when I was sniffing some cocaine?”

“I did… You were just too dumb, high and depressed to notice it.”

“Rude.”

“It is true though.”

I sighed, placing a hand on my forehead.

“So, the thing you want from me is to take more care of myself?” I asked.

“Isn’t that clear?” It asked back. How annoying.

“What makes you think that I am going to start taking care of myself?” I asked next. “Addiction is a habit that can’t get rid of easily.” I explained the implications of the situation.

“When you go back to earth, you will forget everything that has happened here.” It replied. “This whole conversation, the entirety of the journey, all forgotten. But you will be filled with determination and self-care.”

“How are you sure this will work?”

“Despite being an absolute idiot. You will know how to take more care of yourself.”

I didn’t respond to the angel. I can’t imagine becoming a better person. But maybe, this was the right thing to do. I will finally become a better person.

“This must be everything then.” It spoke. “I will send you back. Any last words?” It asked one last time.

“It doesn’t matter as I am going to forget it anyways.” I answered.

“In that case, good luck.” It spoke. I can’t observe it, but I can tell that it is smiling.

A howling white light appeared, blinding me completely. The colors then shifted to a bright yellow-orange-ish color.

…

My eyes felt heavy. Have I fallen asleep on my desk. The bright sun was blinding me. I raised my head from my desk and looked at my laptop. It was the entire night on.

That’s right. I was searching for the meaning behind the number 33. I read the first paragraph once again. This number tells a person to take more care of themselves.

Is this a sign…? I should take care of myself. That’s probably why I’m seeing it everywhere.

The end.