Do you know a person? One who lies within the bounds of ordinary? Someone who's not quite exciting, but not quite boring. Not quite messy but not a neat freak either. They're not a genius, but not an idiot. They're average. Have you ever met somebody like that?

Anyone who knew Jane Lindley, the 35-year-old virgin writer from Colorado who grew up in Maine, would say so. Jane was never something extraordinary. Not to those who knew her and often not even to herself.

Jane had an average family with a mother, father, sibling, and dog. She had a solid C average with the occasional B. Was never really outgoing but never too introverted either. Not a troublemaker per se, but Jane wasn't completely straight-laced. Just average.

Jane was Jane. Even her name being average, forgettable. Nothing in her life lasted particularly long or short, her relationships dead even. Jane could be removed from life and nothing would change. Even Jane herself doubted anyone would notice if she just disappeared.

There was only one thing that could be considered extraordinary about Jane. Even then it was something only Jane could see. Although 'see' isn't exactly the word for it. It was her imagination after all.

Imagination was the only thing that Jane liked about herself. Just sitting for hours and letting the worlds created in her mind take over her, overpower her, empowering her to continue her boring and average life.

Yet it was the same imagination that Jane liked that led to her greatest weakness. Her attention span, or lack thereof. It seems silly but it's true.

Not being able to focus affected Jane in many ways. Her grades dropped as she missed information. Her relationships suffered, Jane seemingly uninterested in what others had to say. Even if Jane couldn't care more about what someone had to say. She'd miss it, mind wandering.

It's this weakness that even led to her death, as stupid as it may seem. Honestly, it's ridiculous on Jane's part for how she died. Jane even paying the slightest bit of attention would've been able to save her.

A burglar had broken into Jane's house, more of an apartment really. That in it of itself isn't all too special. Except this was clearly a novice thief, making enough noise to wake the dead, and Jane was sitting on the couch.

Freaking out at the prospect of being caught, the thief had made a grab for the nearest thing to him, a lamp, in an attempt to knock Jane out. Really all he had meant to do. The thief yanked the lamp from its socket and bashed Julia over the head.

Now, just about literally anyone else would've noticed the burglar long ago. Heard them enter with a thud against the worn-out carpet. Heard their quiet curse as they realized someone was there. The clatter of a metal lamp being forcefully tugged from its position, clattering against the table loudly.

The solid metal lamp, an old antique, hit Jane's head a bit too hard. Completely by accident of course, easily excused by the thief's panic. So Jane wasn't knocked unconscious. No-no, Jane died.

Except, Jane didn't die. Or at least, her consciousness did not as her body certainly had a crushed skull. Not that Jane noticed at first. At first, Jane didn't even notice she died, far off in some world or another.

Time went on, who knows how long as time didn't exactly exist in the void. Jane remained locked in her own head, thinking and imagining this and that. Nothing seemed intent of changing. At least, that is until-

GAME OVER

'Ack! Bright red?! Really? It had to be bright fecking red?' Jane cursed, her first real though in the void being a complaint. Rubbing her eyes, or lack thereof because she was more of a ghost technically, Jane kept grumbling to herself.

'Stupid bright red letter, stupid game over screen, stupid void, stupid stupid stupid' Jane went on and on in her frustration. At one point even smacking at the surprisingly solid red letters. Jane didn't even notice her mostly transparent hand.

Jane's complaining and grumbling went on for quite a bit, she often got quite riled up when torn from thought. Until logic seemed to catch up with her thoughts. The thin bits of self-awareness making themselves known.

'Wait that said 'game over'... I'm in a void… I'm all ghost-like… almost like dying in a video game' Jane considered for a moment. Then she froze, blinking as she came to the simply stunning realization she should've had a long damn time ago.

'Does that...that means I… I'm dead?' Freaking out should've been Jane's first reaction. Well technically realizing she's dead instead of complaining should've been first but Jane was past that.

Instead of freaking out though, Jane was… oddly calm actually. As if being dead was as simple as noting the weather or it being a Tuesday. 'Is it a Tuesday?' Jane thought for a moment before shaking it off, she had no way of knowing.

Then it hit her and Jane was… not exactly calm but somehow still thinking straight. There was something but it certainly wasn't the panic Jane expected. Maybe that was a good thing though.

NEW GAME

LOAD GAME

OPTIONS

EXIT

Fourth option? Yeah no, Jane didn't even consider that. Jane wasn't exactly a genius but it didn't take one to realize that Exit would mean dying, permanently this time.

The next thought was to Load. Jane had never seen a screen like this before but maybe there was something there? There wasn't. Shocker.

"What idiot doesn't save?" Jane scrunched up her face, even she remembered to save. A flush spread across her face as Jane remembered that this...game thing was apparently her life. The idiot was her.

One of Jane's decisions finally bore some fruit as Jane went with the third option. A mental slap to the Options screen bringing up… an options menu? She supposed that was to be expected. It was pretty typical for a options screen.

Difficulty: Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard, Nightmare

Language: English, . . ., . . .

Leveling: Enabled, Disabled

Tutorial: Enabled, Disabled

Help: Enabled, Disabled

Graphics: Pixelated, Cartoon, Realistic

HUD: Enabled, Disabled

A mildly offended noise left Jane, "Who the hell chose these options? It certainly wasn't me!" She protested. Even though that, as far as Jane knew, she was the only Player. So, it was, in a way, her fault.

Either way, it wasn't like Jane was going to let it slide. So with a solid vision of what she wanted, Jane moved some of the options around. Difficulty went to normal, not allowing easy for some reason. All the disabled options were enabled too. Jane wisely left the graphics alone.

Language remained English because Jane didn't know any other language. Maybe that's why it was the only option? Probably.

Eventually, Jane was happy with her settings. So, leaving the Options, Jane went to the only option she hadn't explored yet.

After intense deliberation -or about five seconds, either or- Jane just decided to click New Game. It was the least predictable option. Sure it meant starting this… game but what was the game?

New Game selected…

...Loading…

...Loading…

...Loading…

...Error 404: Character not found…

...Redirecting to Character Customization…

...10%...

...23%...

...45%...

...64%...

...75%...

…80%...

...93%...

...100%...

...Finalizing…

Loading Complete

Enjoy the Game