I’ve opened the app six times. I promise this seventh will be my last.

It started when I downloaded a new app onto my phone. No, I’m not going to tell you the name of it, I’m not stupid enough to let other people harm themselves too. I’m a little embarrassed to say exactly what the purpose of this app was supposedly for, but needless to say, I had my interest. 

When I opened it, I was disappointed to be shown nothing but a black screen. I tried to restart it. Same thing. Just my own faint reflection staring back at me. I looked at myself and gave a smile. When I finally gave up and closed the app, about 20 minutes had passed.

I didn’t revisit the app for a few days after that. 

One night, however, sitting in bed for the night, I attempted to reopen it, hoping for it to possibly work that time. Again, I received a black screen. 

I stared at it. 

Something about it kept my eyes glued to the screen– maybe it was the shade of black, or the reflection of myself, maybe just the mystery of why it wasn’t showing anything else. Whatever the reason, I must have kept staring for a good few seconds.

When I finally closed the app and set my alarm for the night, I realized that 40 minutes had passed. I was surprised. What was I still doing up? I went into a restless sleep.

The next day, in my first class, I got tired of twiddling my fingers and being bored. At 10:40 am, I grabbed my phone and opened the app. Again, it was black. Before I could give it more than a glance, I was interrupted. 

“Excuse me, are you in my class?” The professor called out to me.

Looking up, I realized that this was not my professor. The slide on the board was not for my class. I checked my phone, reading the time as 1:20 pm. I was surprised and confused as to how I let that happen.

Embarrassed, I excused myself from the room and tried to catch up with the class across campus I was supposed to be in.

Later that evening, I thought about what had happened. I couldn’t believe that I had just stared at that app for that long. It hadn’t felt that long, not even close. The mystery of it enticed me. I wanted to figure out what the deal was. Against my better judgement, and alongside a growing sense of habit, I clicked on the icon on my home screen.

The blackness felt warm. I observed it closely, searching for a meaning in it. I wasn’t sure whether I found it or not. I closed it again when I started to feel bored.

That’s when I noticed the sun outside. It was brighter out. I checked the time. It was… 3 hours earlier than it was before? That didn’t make any sense. I stood up and felt two hard pops in my knees and blood rushed to my head.

Dizzy, I walked up to my front door and walked outside to see the light and to get some fresh air. I saw that I had new mail sitting out for me. I grabbed it and scanned it. Spam. Wait. What?

The date was listed as tomorrow.

Or, I suppose, it was today. I double checked my phone to be sure, and it really was. Nearly a whole day had passed. 21 hours? Is that really possible?

From that point I swore off the app. I even deleted it. 

For that period of time, it remained at the back of my mind. Every time I closed my eyes and saw black. I won’t lie, I craved it. I wanted its comfort. But I couldn’t risk it. So I didn’t. For about 3 weeks.

Then, on a particularly bad day, when I collapsed on my bed for the night, exhausted and upset, I needed relief. I honestly didn’t even care if I lost another day’s worth of time. Besides, maybe this time, after a reinstallation, it’ll actually work right.

When it finished downloading, with a nervous jitter in my stomach, I opened the app.

It was black. But… maybe there was something more to it? I thought I could see a faint outline of something. It was hard to tell. I leaned in and really stared closely, until my eyes started to burn. When I gave up, I closed the app. I checked my notification bar.

A flood of missed calls, texts, emails, anything and everything, it was all packed with unread notifications.

It was now December. To be specific, 14 days had passed. 

I missed an exam. Several extracurricular events. People were looking for me. Professors were telling me I was going to be failed. My heart sank. It was a nightmare. 

It took a good few hours to calm the flames of my timely obligations that I had failed to meet. I was so embarrassed. How do I even explain what had happened?

Those thoughts left my mind when I finally tried to stand up and get out of my bed. I immediately collapsed to the ground, my legs aching and weak. My vision was blurry. I laid there on the ground, struggling to stand for several minutes. When I eventually was able to get up, I made myself a meal. I was starving.

While I sat and ate my ramen, I opened my phone to check Instagram. It slipped from my hand and fingers pressed on the screen as I tried to prevent it from falling into the bowl, failing. 

Frustrated, I looked into the full ramen bowl with my phone poking out. 

The screen was black.

Was it off? Or…..? My eyes widened and I stared deeply into the inky darkness. It was probably just off.

I pulled the phone out of the dried up, crusty ramen container. Dried up? But I had just made it. I tried to turn it on to no avail. Was it broken? I figured I’d put it on the charger to see if it’d turn back on.

In my attempt to stand up, I collapsed straight to the hard floor, blood flooding my body, and I quickly passed out. 

When I awoke, I groggily stood up and carried my phone to the charger in my room. My body felt horribly achy all over. 

I was terrified to see how much time had passed.

March. 2026. In other words, 1.25 years came and went.

I couldn’t even believe it at that moment. I figured it must have just been a dream. I couldn’t explain it. What was this app doing to me?

I’ve been writing this down here to recount all the previous times I can remember that I’ve used the app. 20 minutes, 40 minutes, 2.5 hours, 21 hours, 14 days, then 1.25 years. From what I can tell, each subsequent time is multiplied by a higher degree. First 2x, then 4x, then 8x, and so on. 

If that’s true, then the next time I open the app… 80 years will pass.

During that year, I was kicked out of school. I lost my friends. I mean, I’ve lost just about everything as far as I can tell. But… I don’t feel anything. Maybe it just hasn’t hit me yet. But I can’t stop thinking about what I may have seen in the darkness. I swear there was something there. If I just open it one more time, I’ll figure it out. And if I do, maybe the time won’t even pass.

I’ve decided now. I’m going to check it out, just one glance, right after I post this. I’ll update this afterwards. Check back soon.