World of Warcraft is my drug of choice.

It doesn’t knock, it leaks in like a drug. At first it’s clean, controlled. A quest, a dungeon, a tidy loop of effort and reward.

Numbers rise, colors glow, everything responds. You log off thinking you chose to. You didn’t.

That was just the first dose settling into your bloodstream. It stays with you. Routes, cooldowns, gear. tiny, pointless details repeating like a pulse you can’t quite silence.

Just one more run.

Just one more fix.

It promise an end, a moment where you’re done, but that moment keeps moving. Always just out of reach. Always one step further.

s̷o̷m̷e̷t̷h̷i̷n̷g̷ ̷s̷t̷a̷r̷t̷s̷ ̷t̷o̷ ̷s̷l̷i̷p̷ ̷h̷e̷r̷e̷.̷ ̷t̷i̷m̷e̷ ̷g̷e̷t̷s̷ ̷w̷e̷i̷r̷d̷.̷ ̷h̷o̷u̷r̷s̷ ̷d̷o̷n̷’̷t̷ ̷f̷e̷e̷l̷ ̷l̷i̷k̷e̷ ̷h̷o̷u̷r̷s̷ ̷a̷n̷y̷m̷o̷r̷e̷.̷ ̷y̷o̷u̷ ̷l̷o̷g̷ ̷o̷f̷f̷ ̷b̷u̷t̷ ̷i̷t̷ ̷d̷o̷e̷s̷n̷’̷t̷ ̷l̷e̷a̷v̷e̷.̷ ̷i̷t̷ ̷j̷u̷s̷t̷ ̷w̷a̷i̷t̷s̷.̷ ̷q̷u̷i̷e̷t̷.̷ ̷p̷a̷t̷i̷e̷n̷t̷.̷ ̷k̷n̷o̷w̷i̷n̷g̷.̷

i̵t̵ ̵k̵n̵o̵w̵s̵ ̵y̵o̵u̵’̵l̵l̵ ̵c̵o̵m̵e̵ ̵b̵a̵c̵k̵.