Elias sat at his kitchen table, eating from a box labeled . It tasted of toasted grain and nothing else. He looked at his wife, who was wearing a DRESS (BLUE) .

He got out of bed, dressed in his , and walked out the door. He didn't look back at the HOUSE . He walked toward the edge of the gray, toward the brown dirt and the rusted metal, waiting for the moment the credits would finally roll so the real movie could begin.

"I found something today," Elias whispered. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, jagged piece of metal. It was a rusted Coca-Cola bottle cap, vibrant red and white, with sharp, irregular teeth.

Elias looked at the bottle cap. For the first time in his life, he felt a sharp, stinging pain in his thumb where the metal pressed against his skin. It was a sensation that didn't have a label. It wasn't just ; it was a cold, metallic bite.

He realized then that they weren't living in a world; they were living in a draft. They were the placeholders, the "Insert Character Here" of a story that hadn't been written yet.