Aanika Shetty

Imagine a world where you wake up to birds chirping instead of the blaring of your usual 6:00 AM alarm. In a burst of confusion and defeat, you check under your pillow for the familiar dent of the thin, glowing metal box that stores your entire life. But it is not there, so you grumble out of bed and put on an outfit that isn’t very flattering because you cannot access any of your twenty Pinterest boards at the moment. 

What will you eat? The meals that your favorite influencers posted regularly are at your disposal no longer. Your brain grinds to a halt when you search the database in your head for the meaning of “breakfast food.” You shrug off the rumble in your belly and head out for the day. 

Where is the school bus?

Only it left, because you don’t own a non-digital watch, and you didn’t realize that you lost track of time. You rush to your car instead, but oh no! The GPS controls seem to have failed. The blue lines you have grown so fond of following on the screen are now gray and static. You have been going to this school for years, but somehow the GPS always ends up in the drivers seat when it comes to your morning commute: how will you get to school now?

You grudgingly start your treacherous walk to JP, innocent and unaware of the dangers to come. As you continue your journey, you observe the lack of cars on the usually bustling streets. 

Maybe they cannot drive without directions either. 

And this is true, because the few cars that are visible are tangled up in a large traffic blob of confusion. Horns are blaring, lights are blinking, and voices are screaming over one another as smoke rises from the catastrophic mess that these senseless drivers have created. Gosh, how can you possibly get to school now? 

Kids all around you seem to be thinking the same thing, as they mindlessly walk the streets, not a thought motivating them. The horrifying sight sends shivers down your spine. The worst part, though, is that you cannot post the mindblowing occurrences on one of your hundreds of private stories. You nearly sink to your knees from the despair this thought brings you. You are now entirely on your own, your following of four hundred strangers stripped of your entertainment. Defeated, you continue on trudging through the unplugged monotony. 

The sky begins to change color. Evening already! How long have you been on your own? Three hours? Four? But alas! You don’t know––you haven’t known since this morning. You are now incredibly and utterly exhausted. With no food or water in your system, your determination is running thin. 

What can be done now?

As these thoughts run through your mind, you come across a clearing in the distance. The trees are thick with leaves, and not a human is in sight. There is a beautiful pool with fish swimming carefree in a swarm of lovely colors. You creep up along the scene, surprised to find two wide bowls placed on the ground. 

One holds a book titled “The Answers You Need to Escape This Unfamiliar World”, and the other, to your delight, holds your phone. You ignore the former option and run desperately towards the latter. Finally! After what feels like forever, you are reunited with the metal device which utterly dictates your life. The words on the book glow in a warning, but once again, you ignore them. 

As you clutch your phone in your hand, the book disappears. To your dismay, however, the device doesn’t turn on. You try and try again but the screen remains black.

Oh no. 

Oh no indeed. You stare at the phone, and then forlornly bring it against your chest. Around you, the trees wither and nothing remains. But it’s okay. You have your thin, glowing metal box with you. It may not turn on, and the world may be ending, but at least it’s with you. 

The world is right again, fixed, better, finally at the loading screen after having just been plugged back in.