Idle Animation

The sunset is beautiful, as it is every evening. I sigh as I look out of my bedroom window across the street. I can see Mrs. Pete through her upstairs window; she is running around in circles, probably playing with her two-year-old son. Joe, the nineteen-year-old gardener my neighbor to the left hired, is finishing up for the day just as Greg runs down the street with a police officer hot on his tail, exactly as he did yesterday. It's a very normal evening around here.

I head down the stairs just as I always do around this time of day and make for my front porch. The lawn chair looks brand new, and a steaming cup of tea waits on the table beside it. It's just a normal evening around here. I take a seat and start scrolling on my phone, watching funny videos. I can hear children laughing on my neighbor's lawn and dogs barking down the street. It's just a normal evening around here.

Then everything stops all at once. The laughter of the children. The barking of the dogs. Even the sound from my phone. I lift my head and look around. Mrs. Pete and her two-year-old son stand in the window, staring straight ahead. Concerned, I move to check on her, and that is when I see the children standing still as well, and the dogs too. A new feeling settles in my gut. It's not a normal evening around here. I run up and down the street, something I have never done before. I have also never seen all my neighbors standing at their windows, staring straight ahead. It's not a normal evening around here.

Somewhere in the streets of Lagos, a teenage boy walks across his living room, up a flight of stairs, and into his bedroom to resume the video game he had paused earlier. He settles into his gaming chair and picks up his controller when something catches his eye. One of the NPCs is moving around. He checks whether the game is still paused, and it is.

"Is this a secret event?" he wonders aloud, and calls for his older brother to come and see his game, completely oblivious to how real it is for the NPC.