But his hand, no longer his own, reached for the mouse. The cursor drifted toward the button. As his finger hovered over the click, the chat window updated one last time.

Below it was a navigation bar: Home , The Lost Worlds , Player Archives , Escape .

A grid of thumbnails loaded. They were screenshots of Roblox places that didn't exist. One showed Crossroads but flooded, with giant, eyeless Noobs swimming through the murk. Another showed Adopt Me! with all the pets frozen, their mouths sewn shut with red string. The worst one was labeled My Restaurant (v0.1) . It was just an empty room with a single table. In the chair sat a Player named .

His mouse cursor, now a standard arrow instead of a Roblox hand, trembled as he clicked The Lost Worlds .

Leo screamed. But no sound came out. Only the Oof .

Leo looked at the navigation bar. The Escape button was bright red. He knew it was a trap. He knew if he clicked it, his save file would be overwritten. His chair would be empty. His mom would find a Google Site open on his laptop with a single new entry in the Player Archives :

Welcome home, Guest.

It started with a glitch. Not the fun kind, where your avatar T-poses through a wall in Adopt Me! , but the kind that makes your screen flicker green and your ears ring with a sound like a dial-up modem crying.