Scurry, scurry, scurry. All Ryou could hear was the scurrying of his hamster endlessly running while trying to ignore the weight of the cold millennium ring pressing on his chest. He heard a voice after he touched Yugi’s puzzle, he knows he did. And yet all he could do is convince himself he didn’t.
Ryou needed to sleep, that’s all. All the stress of moving and switching schools was getting to him, he needs to settle down. He barely even heard anything, it was just a small laugh. That could’ve been from anywhere. His chest didn’t hurt, he was just surprised. Staring up at the ceiling, his mind spun crazily with half-baked reasonings like a hamster on its wheel.
His thoughts spun in circles, always coming back to the puzzle, to the pain, to the ring. As soon as he assured himself he’d loop back the same train of thought, ultimately going nowhere. His mind infinitely racing, infinitely running.
And infinitely pointless, as that same wretched cackling returned. “I know you hear me, landlord. You can’t keep ignoring me forever!” Ryou winced, which the voice followed with another chuckle.
The view of the ceiling was blocked by an apparition of himself- or someone almost like himself. Its sharp eyes seared through him, as Ryou stared past him. The creaks and scratches at the wheel used to relax Ryou, was now desperately clinging to the sounds to avoid the devilish translucent figure above him.
Then, his hamster stopped. Everything stopped. The stillness was deafening, followed by deafening screams as prongs shot through his skin.
Ryou hoped his hamster would be okay.
After his dark self was defeated and his newly found friends returned home, a weight had finally came off his chest. Ryou took a brief sigh of relief before a new panic had set in. Anxiously yet eagerly, with his new found energy, Ryou ran back to his room to see his hamster safe and sound. Smiling from the outside of the glass enclosure, Ryou found solace that his pet remained unharmed. His hamster ran up to him, equally excited to see its human back, filled with relief to know he was okay.
Ryou carefully removed the lid of the cage and gently scooped out the long-haired Syrian. It quickly crawled and cuddled lovingly on his arms. As Ryou tenderly stroked its soft fluffy coat, he couldn’t resist the thought of giving it a treat, it had been a long day after all. Ryou delicately placed his hamster on the floor before going to his closet and grabbed a pumpkin seed or two. He sat down and let his hamster happily nibble from his good hand, its whiskers tickling him.
Ryou decided he should treat himself too. Painstakingly, he placed back his hamster in its cage before switching off the lights, (which his other self must’ve carelessly done), and heading to the living room, eagerly starting on his latest diorama.