Your session has expired.

Reset your password.

John Smith cursed under his breath. How many times did he have to do this in a week?

Too many times, he thought.

It was not like he never kept notes of his old passwords. He religiously did it. Unfortunately, he never put to which accounts the passwords belonged since he was afraid that if someone got a hold of the notebook, he would lose everything.

Sweat beaded down at the back of his neck as his brows stitched together. In the dim-lit room, he whispered to himself as he read through the ridiculous passwords he created.

If only his handwriting was more legible to him, he would know if he had capitalized the letter or if O was actually 0.

The time on his clock glared crimson at 3:00 am and he still had to figure out the password. He had been locked out far too many times and had waited several hours to try again.

He should be asleep by now but he had a presentation due in a few hours—a presentation that he did not think about starting until the night before.

How did it all come to this?

Well, he had multiple papers due and midterms he had to prepare for this month. With a part-time job on top of school and volunteering, he nearly forgot about the presentation that was worth 30% of his mark.

However, was that all the reason for his procrastination?

No. He sighed as he stared up at the ceiling.

He had break times. He wasn’t always preoccupied with work. Regrettably, he had put it off to party during the weekend. It was a reward for his hard work! He deserved a break!

He truly did but he did not stop there. Instead of working on his presentation during the week, he had chosen to go out to fancy dinners, binge anime, read manga, write his novel, and play games.

It was not until his calendar reminder dinged that he remembered again that he had an important presentation due.

Should he just take the failing grade at this point? Groaning, he clicked the reset password again. He could not afford to take a failing grade. He would lose his scholarship and God knew that he could not afford his tuition with a part-time job at McDonald’s.

So he clicked reset password again and as soon as he did, it led him to a portal for verifying the request. The instructions told him to input the 7 digits that were sent to his email. Confidently, he opened his Gmail to grab the verification code only to be told: your session has expired, please log in again.

He tried not to scream in frustration since the last thing he needed was to wake his roommate and let him know that he had been lying about having the presentation done. He certainly did not need that judgment today.

Carefully, he typed his Gmail password and triple-checked it before he clicked sign-in. He was not sure about this password. It had been a long time since he had to manually log in again.

The blue circle popped up as the website tried to log him in. Everything should go smoothly by now. Once he had that verification code, he could log into the student portal and then start the presentation.

However, as soon as his stress level subsided, a message popped onto his screen: Incorrect log-in details.

You got to be fu— he took a deep breath. Calm down, John. Just reset your password on Gmail too.

So, he did. He clicked the reset password and it led him to a portal that he was all too familiar with.

We sent you a 7-digit verification code via text message to the number ending with 6644. You have 3 minutes to enter the code.

He froze. 6644? His phone number ended at 9872!

Then he remembered that he used his ex-girlfriend’s phone number when he had set up his Gmail. He didn’t have a phone then so she let him use hers.

Unfortunately, they did not end amicably. Who would have thought that cheating on her with her best friend would come and bite his ass like this?

The clock glared at 4:00 am.

Swallowing hard, he braved a text to her. He explained the situation and begged for her mercy. Surely, she would understand and would show him some mercy. His education was on the line, for God's sake!

Yet, after a long wait for her response and praying for her cooperation, her text back was no more than three letters: LOL

Closing his laptop, he grabbed his jacket and keys in defeat.

He remembered her cursing him and wishing for bad karma for his deeds. But who would have thought that a simple “reset your password” was his karma?

Thank you for reading this short. I had way too much fun with this prompt. Why? Well, it's because I am notorious for resetting my passwords! How about you? LOL

Anyway, I usually create darker content whether it is art, video shorts, or stories. If this is something that you also enjoy, let's be friends :)

You can connect with me on Instagram, Twitter & TikTok @cyrls_corner and read my Lux et Obscurum issues at https://cyrlscorner.com/short-stories/lux-et-obscurum-grimoire/.

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