Darkness.

That was the only thing that surrounded Dan now. Every sense, everything that made him once human was lost to the darkness.

Silence.

The only thing that Dan heard now. A consuming suffocating silence.

Feeling.

Something Dan lost forever ago. Along with being human.

Location.

Unknown to him, his body could be anywhere doing anything now. He could still be in his own mind for all he knows, or lost somewhere in the universe.

Revenge.

Something he wanted, but could never have.

Phil.

He did this to Dan, he took everything away from him while simultaneously giving him everything.

The virus.

He's all Dan has now. He's in control of Dan's body and Dan was dumb enough to allow him it.

Betrayal.

Something Dan feels frequently.

Darkness.

The crushing darkness was everywhere and enveloped him. His sight was nothing but an endless sea of black for kilometers. How he wished to see color or something other than black again.

A week could have passed or maybe even a year, there's no concept of time when you're stuck in your own head. Or wherever he is. He doesn't know how long it's been, it could've been a few hours for all he knows.

He only knows the darkness and he only knows the void. The suffocating silence is his only friend in his new dark reality.

The darkness is his comfort and the silence is his friend. Only revenge and betrayal keep him tethered to the last bit of humanity he had let to lose; emotion.

He wants the end and he wished it would come. The day it's finally over, the day he wouldn't be stuck in his own mind. Freedom is what it would bring, freedom from this hell where nothing ever happens and nothing ever changes.

It was like solitary confinement, but within your own mind where no escape is ever possible with nothing but the crushing thoughts to keep you close to being grounded.

The silence used to be comforting and peaceful, but now it's sinister and only gives Dan more time to think about everything that has happened.

Amongst his slow an endless suffering came something he hasn't felt in a while; a feeling, a touch. It was odd to feel something after so long of being deprived of it. Next he could hear things; voices, oh how he's missed the sound of someone's voice. Their voice sounded muffled and like they were underwater, but they were a voice nonetheless.

"Do you think this is going to work?" Dan could make out one say with difficulty.

"Not...sure....let's try." Dan heard another voice say, but lost their full sentence due to the muffling sound of their voice.

Dan was ecstatic, he was able to hear again, able to hear sounds and voices, something he didn't know he missed until it was ripped away from him.

"Plug in that cord, that should work." The other replied.

Dan could feel even more now, it was like he was in control again. He tried to speak, but his mouth wouldn't open nor would any words come out.

"Is anything happening?" One of the voices asked.

"I don't see anything, so I don't think so. What did we do wrong? Did you put in the correct memory card?"

Memory card? Dan inquired to himself. Why would these voices need a memory card? Why would he need a memory card?

"I thought I did, it's Howell, right?"

Dan was worried now, 'Howell' clearly had to be him and apparently he had a memory card...like a computer.

"Yeah, it's Howell. Did you put it in the right slot?"

"Yeah, it fits in only one area. Look, something's happening!"

Dan opened his eyes, it was blurry at first, but with a few blinks his vision cleared and he was met with two faces. A man and a woman.

"It worked!" The woman said triumphantly.

"Where...am I? Who...who are you?" Dan croaked out slowly, then widened his eyes at the sound of his voice. It sounded far more metalic than usual...

"I'm Dr. Mahias," the woman introduced herself, "this is my coworker Dr. Gaines. You are in the best research lab in London."

"Why?" Dan asked, he felt oddly shorter than usual and he couldn't feel any part of his body except his head and neck. He had a slight suspicion about where he was but he didn't want to accept it.

"You see...how do I explain this...you were taken over by a virus–"

"Tell me something I don't know." Dan interrupted, grumbling under his breath.

Dr. Mahias glared at him then continued, "I'll skip over some details since you already know and tell you that we removed your conscious from your brain, transfered it to a memory card, and put it in this here computer. We didn't have any other way to salvage your consciousness. The virus on the other hand...he's still out in the world somewhere with your body."

Dan clenched his teeth at the thought of the virus that infected Phil and himself. If it wasn't for that virus that tricked him Phil–the real Phil– could have been happy alongside him. If only Dan had inputted that antivirus software, they wouldn't have been in this mess. He missed the real Phil's blue eyes and hated the way he would always look so broken and defeated. The virus did that to him, the virus destroyed any happiness that the real Phil had.

"You put me inside a computer? This is horrible idea, the virus, or another virus could infect me. Like they did to Phil. Don't you realize what you've done? You didn't make things better for me, you made them worse! Now I'm like him, it's gone full circle! You're going to get me killed and ruined by yet another virus!" Dan yelled.

"No, you won't. We uploaded the strongest antivirus software there is. No virus is going to corrupt your system, we promise." Dr. Mahias relied calmly.

"I don't want to be here. I don't want to be alive. I wanted it to be over. I didn't want my humanity riped away from me even more as I'm stuck here. I'll end up just like Phil. You should just delete my memory card. Just get rid of me."

"It's too late for that, this is a great achievement! We're the first to ever transfer a human's conscious into a computer. Sorry, but we have to keep you around." Dr. Gaines said.

Dan sighed, "Fine, I guess I can't do anything about it."

"We have to attend a meeting right now, but we'll be back later." Dr. Mahias said.

Dr. Mahias and Dr. Gaines left Dan to himself as they left the room to attend their meeting. Dan was left along once again. He didn't want any of this to happen. He wanted freedom from the cruel world that forced this upon him. But unfortunately, he would not get what he wanted. He was stuck in a new virtual plane forever.

Realization then struck him suddenly, everything went full circle, except now he's taking the place of Phil and he can only hope that this time, his story has a happy ending.