I spent an hour typing this story, my favorite writing so far...and then my phone died. I lost the whole thing, three lines away from finishing.

Here's the ending at least...Im too demoralized to rewrite it this late. Hope you enjoy, sorry for the fragment! P.S. This takes place in hell.

Steve only saw a man with a grey suit and a pair of short stubby horns nestled among hair too black for most light too escape. The devil didn't seem like so bad a guy.

Steve was thankful for the relief, he'd spent what felt like millennia on this damn stationary. Trapped, unable to stop pedaling, he had to deal with flickering lights, a cheesy 80's 'motivational' video, and an infernal wobble every time he pedaled with the left foot.

Needless to say, he was pretty sore.

But here was the boss, for the first time, asking a whole lot of questions.

"What have you been doing all of (this) time?"

"Cycling," Steve had replied.

"And what keeps you from getting knocked off by the machine's violent rocking back and forth?"

"Balance," Steve had again answered. The man must have just finished chatting with Socrates.

"Have you suffered, Steve?"

Feeling the strain in every muscle fiber, the pain of eternal loneliness and duress, Steve whimpered a feeble, "Yes."

Seeing the look of pain on the man's face, Steve felt his answer must've hurt the man's feelings. He added, "But not too much...I mean, I bet a lot of others have it worse."

The horned man sighed. Somewhere on earth, oceanic sailboats plucked from drift and carried on their way by a sudden wind.

After a second, (or a millenia, it was hard for Steve to tell), the man spoke thoughtfully.

"If you stop suffering through the wobbles, you lose balance. If you lose balance, you stop cycling. If you stop cycling, you stop everything."

"..."

"Do you want to stop suffering, Steve?"

Steve shook his head, still gripping the stationary bike tightly.

"You want to keep cycling then?"

Steve nodded, more afraid of nothingness than the pain of existing in this hell.

"Make the best of it then, Steve."

The devil smiled, and somewhere on Earth, a baby was born. The horned man looked down at the stationary bike, jealous of the ability to cycle.