Lauren stared blankly at the computer screen, reading and then re-reading the message displayed on it.

[b]Thank you for participating in the Closed Beta![/b]

Lauren sat back in her chair, trying to process it.

[i]What does that even mean?[/i]

She sighed, moving the cursor to the corner of the screen and closing the browser window. She tried to convince herself it was all just a stupid joke. Initially, she'd been excited when she saw the discussion thread on the forum. The name of the website intrigued her, and with the mention of a Closed Beta, her enthusiasm only increased. But the message she just saw left her feeling confused more than anything. Nothing happened. She sort of expected their to be another secret link somewhere on the new page. A download link or something. Nope. She clicked frantically, and even tried tabbing to cycle through each element. Nothing. So her excitement quickly left her, replaced with confusion, impatience, and disbelief.

[i]Looks like it really was a joke.[/i]

She blinked, and only then registered that her eyes were heavy. She turned her head, her eyes settling onto her clock. The red numbers glared back at her, displaying the time as 1:56AM. Lauren sighed again, before shutting off the computer and lying on her bed. Tomorrow was Easter Sunday, and her parents were going to bug her to come along to church with them, even though her answer was always the same every year: no. She buried her head into her pillow. She just wished that they would get the hint.

She turned, laying on her back. For now, she needed to get to sleep. Still though, that website stayed in her mind. Even as she slowly drifted off to sleep, she was still thinking about it.