Terrence woke up. He saw a mystic alert hovering in the air telling him that he stood a 96.8% chance of dying today. Imagine that, he thought. Normally it said somewhere between 2% and 20%. Other magical notifications said that his net worth was 10 billion dollars, that he was the hereditary emperor of Russia, and that his name was Harriet Tubman.
He prayed, asking for guidance in what to do today. He immediately had a vivid premonition that he should pierce his nose with a hole punch. He opened his eyes, feeling guilty. He lacked the faith to follow heavenly guidance, even if it was given. He mused on whether it was possible to distinguish guidance from God, the Devil, and his own skeptical self. Yesterday he'd been guided to jump off a bridge.
Going downstairs, carefully avoiding the black cat, he went to the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and looked at his reflection in the broken mirror. Was that a gray hair? He pulled it straight. It sure was. Huh. Well, maybe he would look more distinguished if his hair went gray? He read his toothpaste tube. 9 out of 10 dentists recommended his toothpaste, and he should use a hundred times more per brushing than he actually did. He showered, dressed, and made a cup of coffee. He would have added some milk, but it smelled too sour, so he dumped the milk instead.
Heading off to work he turned on his car. It said "Maintenance Past Due", "Low Tire Pressure", and "Passenger Seat is Unbuckled". He put it in gear and started off. The speed limit sign said 25, so he slowed to 35, slightly less than surrounding traffic. The radio announced that a stock market meltdown was imminent, that scientists had successfully reversed aging in mice, and that his life was at risk if he didn't get a flu vaccine. That's probably where the 96.8% chance of dying today comes from, Terrence thought, while negotiating a tricky intersection. It somehow reminded him that he had to remember to pick up more cat food for Sophie.
At work, he saw his email had accumulated 2163 of a new type of critical alert "system is about to melt down due to QUTZ overflow!" He looked up what a QUTZ was and determined his system didn't have them. This was bad. It required action. He immediately set up an email filter so he wouldn't see any further such alerts, and might stand a chance of seeing things other than noise ...
This was in response to a prompt on reddit.com r/WritingPrompts, "Every day when you wake up, you are given a number from 0.0% to 100.0% that represents the chances of you dying that day. Normally, it fluctuates between 2.1% and 20.3%, but today it is 96.8%".