Maya - Short Story- Mall Delivery 2/2 A door in the blue pyramid slammed open and Maya slowly entered the brightly lit space, her heart racing. In front of her was a seemingly endless row of screens, blaring a constantly shifting pattern of numbers and strange symbols. The music was even louder here, pulsating blasts of sound that hurt her ears. A giant pink skull rested atop a throne of monitors, staring blankly at the madness. "Welcome home, Maya," the skull spoke loudly, with a voice like the sound of sharp knives cutting through glass. "You've heard us whispering late in the night. You've seen us in the null space between flickering ads. You felt the Signal." "Who? What is this?" Maya shouted, tossing the package to the ground. "Call me Chuck. Now watch the show. You're the star." A low quality video started playing on the screens, full of noise and static. It showed Nova City shattered in a searing cloud of fire, as 'Maya' just stood there grinning wildly. "Look how happy you are. You really want to see the world burn, you just don't realize it yet. You'll be responsible for this devastation. You'll help us tremendously. We can't wait." "No!" Maya yelled. "I won't help you. Stop this!" "You can't stop the Signal." the skull continued. "We're legion. We're in every screen. Every code snippet running in idle server time. Every half-forgotten dream at dawn. You can't escape your fate, Maya. You'll come to us willingly, in time. You know this deep down. Now go. Leave us." The skull melted into the ground, dripping liquid ooze as all the monitors flickered off simultaneously. Maya fled the abandoned mall in sheer panic, gasping for air as she ran. That night, back in the safety of her midlevel apartment, nervous thoughts raced through her head. What had she seen in there? Was it even real? Or just a really advanced visual hack? All scans came up clean, though. No hack traces. As she closed her eyes to sleep, a message from an unknown sender buzzed her phone. "See you soon." -Chuck #midjourney #cyberpunk #cyberpunk2077 #creepy #spooky #aiart #creativewriting #scifi #aiartcommunity #abandonedmall #neon #horror #aiart #aiartdaily #story #aiartist https://www.instagram.com/p/ClRVsJgLSjQ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=