I couldn’t believe I was cutting it this close.

I only have minutes to spare.

I can’t believe I waited this long, but it took me forever to gather the necessary credits.

Two weeks ago the nanomachines were put in. They changed everything. I couldn’t believe they were getting away with it, but here we were.

Those microscopic mechs were like biological malware. About a year ago, some rich guy got the idea that maybe air shouldn’t be free.

So, everyone had to go to the doctor and get these nanomachines.

At first, it didn’t seem so bad. It was just a shot.

But then I learned that is they could keep oxygen from binding to your blood. Unless the devices got the message that your subscription was paid.

And, let’s just say I wasn’t exactly rolling in credits.

The year went by and I was living payment to payment, but this last month I scraped by and got the credits. I finally got the last credits in my account about ten minutes ago.

Ten minutes before the new system went into place.

I rushed to the portal into input my username and password, and then it happened.

Error: The site is currently down to overwhelming traffic. We are trying to get this fixed. Please be patient.

I…I…didn’t know what to do.

I hit refresh over and over.

And over.

And over.

I looked at the clock.

One minute.

59 seconds.

The error message was still there.

I looked to see if there was another way to register, but it said the same thing. I had to use the portal in my home.

30 seconds now.

I was sweating. A lot. My legs shaking.

I didn’t know what to do.

10 seconds now.

I started to hyperventilate.

It was the same every time.

Refresh. Error. Refresh. Error. Refresh. Error.

Over and over again.

There was a beep when the clock struck 0.

I felt funny for a second and then it happened. I…I…couldn’t breath.

I sucked in as hard as I could. But nothing. I might as well had been under water.

I was really panicking now. A lack of oxygen tends to do that.

And still the error message persisted. I was getting dizzy. Almost a minute without air.

A minute and a half.

Two minutes.

I clawed at my throat and gasped for air.The air was going into my lungs but it did nothing.

I fell from the chair. My vision getting darker.

I couldn’t move anymore, just as I heard the beep from the portal.

The error message was gone!

I tried to get up. I really did.

I got half way and then fell back down.

And then everything went black.