“Are you ready for a real adventure, or just a digital one?” Joan laughed, typed “Real,” and hit Enter.

Instead of a standard download bar, her screen bled into a vibrant, jungle green. A dialogue box popped up, but it wasn’t a system error. It was a prompt:

She looked at the man, then at the vast, dangerous green world ahead of her. She didn't close the window. She just stood up, wiped the mud on her knees, and reached for the machete.

When the world stopped spinning, Joan was sitting in the middle of a Colombian rainforest. Her designer leggings were caked in clay. Across from her, leaning against a rusted Jeep, was a man in a sweat-stained safari shirt, tossing a machete into the air with practiced ease.

Joan looked back. Where her monitor should have been, there was only a shimmering, rectangular tear in the air. Through it, she could see her empty apartment, safe and boring.