Where to start? It had been an ordinary fall day. The bike path had been covered with leaves-- actually, most of the city had been covered with leaves. I take a bicycle to work because, basically, there is no parking anywhere near where I work (there ARE parking lots, just not enough of them, and the university charges a lot for a space which might be all the way across campus) and bicycling saves me about a half hour of commute time, more if I push it. Despite the regular exercise biking gives me, plus the fact that I am on my feet all day, I am still overweight. Not morbidly obese, thankfully, but still heavier than the doctors say is good for me. Some of it is because of my age-- firmly in middle age, some of it is genetic (I guess), and some might be from the various medications I am on. A couple types of anti-depressants, something for high blood pressure, and something for my near chronic headaches. And I think I might have missed one or two in the list. Anyway, as long as it isn't raining (especially cold rain), too windy, or icy out, I really don't mind biking. It is definitely cheaper than driving, and my income is, to be frank, definitely below middle class.
Arriving home, covered in sweat, as usual I had pulled off my work shirt (a short sleeved thing I wore over a t-shirt [black that day with no printing on it] which had embroidered on it that I was an official employee) and hung it on a doorknob to dry out, kicked off my shoes, grabbed a glass of water and started my usual rounds on the computer while letting the oven warm up for pizza. My email was, as usual, stuff from some lists I had joined then lost interest in, and the normal ads. Facebook was also a bust. (I wondered if some new site was the one everyone but me was now at. Maybe...) I check a few other spot and then went, as usual, to CYOC.
I'd just finished looking over the forums (someone was looking for a story they'd read a few years back on site no longer in existence, someone was complaining about someone's post, etc.) and had switched to the Interactive Update page when something-- I'm not exactly sure what-- happened. I think that there was a dimming of the monitor and, maybe, of the lights. And then a bright, white flash from the monitor. (I also think that the timer I'd set in the kitchen pinged, but that almost certainly was a coincidence.)
I don't know if there actually was a sensation of weightlessness/falling, or if my imagination filled that in after the fact for some reason. I gradually became aware that I was lying on my back on a hard surface. I heard other people around me, and the ceiling overhead was white. I just lay there, letting my body take a status report.
Nothing seemed broken or hurting much more than normal (my left ankle got injured more than ten years ago and has never really healed right). *I* seemed to be pretty much normal, except for where I was. Wherever that was.
Sitting up, I saw other people of all ages looking just as confused as I was. From what I could tell, people were comparing notes about what had just happened-- and what had happened had been pretty much what had happened to me. Right down to being on CYOC at the time. Oddly, that seemed comforting-- I wasn't the only one who got teleported(?) away from their computer.
Getting to my feet I saw that I was in some sort of large, white room. Instantly my mind started up "White Room" by Cream, even though this white room lacked black curtains. Great. I didn't know the lyrics, so I was getting only the tune and the first few words of the song
Looking around, it seemed people were grouping into small clumps. A guy about my height hooking up with some kids who looked too young to have been on the site. One of the kids looked Asian. A short person wearing a purple shirt and yellow spandex pants with a fox's tail talking with a girl whose back was to me. I wasn't certain if the shorter one was male or female. And so on.
I wandered around the edge of the room, finding three doors, a small alcove which looked like a elevator, and some arcade style machines. I saw someone pocket something which appeared to be a small amulet which had been lying near three white boxes (one with a purple ribbon, one with a pink ribbon, and one with a blue ribbon.)
I'd never been good at arcade games, so I ignored the machine. I also decided not to mess with the boxes. If, as it seemed likely, this place was connected somehow with Choose Your Own Change, just about anything could happen opening those boxes, and they likely were not the way out. That left the doors and the elevator.