main Main Story

[Aura]

Chapter 1: An eye for AnAI

     It was another late night for me, same as any other. As always, an entire day had come and gone and I simply felt... nothing. No excitement, no fun, no interest, nothing. I just laid in my sagging bed, swiping my fingers across the phone screen that offered the only source of light that pierced the darkness. A canvas of bright colors that kept changing with every swipe, even if it was the same picture I'd seen a thousand times before. I could almost physically feel every second that I felt I was wasting. I knew there were so many more productive things I could be doing with my free time. My eyes burned from the light of the phone, but I hardly cared enough to close them. I could be studying, looking for a job, talking to friends, even playing video games would be more of a productive use of my time. Yet all I could manage was to keep scrolling from meme to meme... it was just all I had the energy for.

     BLiNK was a popular social media app. Just about everyone and their grandmother had an account. Although it was quite shady in the way it made money buy selling user data to advertisers for profit, you were hard pressed to find another company that wouldn't do that. These days, I imagined, if anybody wanted to get to your data, it would be impossible to hide it anyway. That seemed to be the general consensus because, even though everyone was concerned about BLiNK Co.'s business model, not many cared enough to actually avoid using the app. Everyone has it, so it's an easy way to stay in touch with your friends and family around the world! Even celebrities. politicians, and businesses used the site to communicate with their audiences and customers, so it was often also seen as a great place to make a good first impression for those who wanted to climb up the social ladder.

     For people like myself, though, this site was just a place to waste time. I had friends, mind you, but rarely spoke with them. Often, it seemed people just wanted to be my friend to watch their number of friends go up rather than out of any genuine interest in actually getting to know me. I suppose I wasn't much different, either. I often added "friends" anytime I saw a picture of someone I vaguely recognized from school. I knew I wasn't alone in using the app in this way, either, as many of my "friends" used the app in much the same way. Sharing memes and commenting on each other's posts was the closest thing to social interaction I ever received. Occasionally, I would stop at the sight of a pretty girl and entertain the possibility of striking up a conversation, one of the many I'd always rehearsed during my long showers, but the conversation would never get much further beyond my own thoughts. I resented the idea of being seen as some sort of creep and making a girl feel uncomfortable... I just didn't wanna be that kind of guy.

     It was around two in the morning, and I'd decided I'd wasted enough time. I'd have to get up in about three ours to get ready for school and I'd probably wake up late as per usual. So, I clicked the lock button on my phone and set it aside on my wooden nightstand before rolling over to go to sleep...

     It was then that I heard a familiar sound.

PLINK

     It was a synthesized flicking sound coming from his phone. The sound of a notification from BLiNK. It was a rather satisfying notification sound that would ring in your ear for a while, compelling you to check the notification. I often ignored them, because it was usually somebody liking one of the memes I'd shared a few days ago or something, but curiosity got the better of me, and I was surprised to see a message preview on his lock screen, a rare sight to be sure. I held the screen closer to my face and squinted since my vision was a bit blurry in my dreariness.

Anonymous user has sent you a message!

     I wondered for a moment if this anonymous user might be one of his classmates trying to reach out to me? The possibility, I'd assumed, was pretty slim. More likely, it was probably just some spam bot. Still, my curiosity got the better of me and, with little thought, I unlocked my phone and opened up the BLiNK app again.

"Hey, sorry to bother you, but I really need some help with a project. It's due really soon, are you awake?"

     Anonymous user? This person was talking like I was supposed to know him... Confused, I began tapping away at the onscreen keyboard.

"I'm sorry, who is this?"

     As soon as the message was sent, I closed the phone, but a pit formed in my stomach when I realized the lock screen on my phone, which was normally an image of a medieval castle, seemed to be modified slightly with a strange object floating around on the screen. It resembled an eye with a triangle-shaped pupil that was swimming across the screen, like a fish that was just dumped into a new tank.

     "What the hell!?" Markus exclaimed.

     "OH! OH-HO! OH MY GOD! THIS ONE SUCKS!!" an irritating voice billowed out from my phone's speaker in a tone that sounded half like mockery and half like genuine panic. It was laughing, but it was the kind of sarcastic laughter an irritated manager might billow out when something goes seriously wrong. But while the tone was odd, the volume was the most startling! I tended to keep his phone's volume high overnight in order to avoid sleeping through my many alarms. Startled by the sound, my fingers immediately reached to lower the phone's volume, but...

     "I MEAN COME ON! WHAT IS THIS PLACE!? YOU CAN TALK TO LITERALLY ANYONE IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD AND YOU SPEND THAT ABILITY LOOKING AT PICTURES OF GODDAMN CATS!!" As I tried to reduce the volume, the voice from the phone only seemed to grow louder. And as the voice continued to speak, the eyeball on the screen bounced around and displayed his various degrees of anger, as if the eyeball itself were speaking at its own volume independent of my control!

     "What the fuck is this!? Shut up! Shup up!!"

     "EXCUSE ME!? LISTEN, TWO-EYES! YOUR PERSONALITY SUCKS! SEND ME BACK!"

     Did it just respond!? And send him back? What did this thing mean by that? I'd gladly be rid of that obnoxious voice ASAP if I knew how. I must have somehow gotten some virus by responding to that message. I should have known better than to respond to a suspicious message like that. Quickly, I pulled up the BLiNK app to send another message to the anonymous user but... the exchange had mysteriously disappeared...

      "OH!! FOR THE LOVE OF- AAHH! YOU WERE TOO SLOW, YOU DUMBASS!!"

      "Dammit, alright, what's going on here!?" I decided in the moment that the best way to handle this situation would be to get information. Clearly, neither of us wanted to be with each other, so if it meant getting away from each other as quickly as possible, we would need to work together to find a solution.

     The eyeball waited a moment, staring back at me for a good several seconds of silence before letting out an audible sigh. "Okay. It Looks Like I'm Stuck Here Anyway." The voice continued, it was significantly quieter now that I'd stopped shouting, but that somehow didn't make it any less annoying to listen to. "Long Story Short, I'm A Virus. You Just Got A Virus From Answering A Message From A Suspicious Stranger On The Internet! That's Like Textbook Level Stupid, So Congratulations On That Achievement." The sarcasm was unneeded, but for now, there was no point in drawing anything out.

      "Get to the point! Why are you here!?"

     "Hold On! Geeze! Ah-Hem! Allow Me To Properly Introduce Myself! I Am An Analytical Analogue Artifical Intelligence! You Can Call Me Anal For Short-"

     "Um... that's..."

      "WAIT!! OH GOD!! DON'T YOU DARE EVER CALL ME THAT!! Um... Analytical... Analogue... A.... A... Ah! AnAI Should Work!"

     "Wouldn't that still look like-?"

     "Like What?" The eye stared up at me with a strangely innocent look of confusion... did he... really not know?

     "N-nothing... I guess AnAI is fine, it doesn't sound weird verbally..."

     "Yeah! It Works Great! AnAI! The An Is Short For Both Analytical And Analogue! And It Works Because I'm An... Eye!" As he delivered that last line, some eyelids manifested around the edges of the eyeball as if he was holding back his own laughter from the most hilarious joke he'd ever told. His mood seems to have... changed.

     "What does that mean, anyway? What's an Analytical... whatever?"

     "Really?" The eye sighed again. "Okay, Weeell, You Know How AI Works, Right?"

      "Sort of, it's a program that simulates human thought, right? Like an NPC in a video game."

     "Well, Basically. Long Story Short, The Analytical Part Means That I'm Constantly Surveying My Surroundings Every Moment That I Exist! I Hunger For New Information! That's Why I've Gotta Get Off Of This Stupid Phone! You Have Literally Nothing To Offer Me! I'm Going To Actually STARVE Here!!"

     "So what does the analogue part mean?"

     "You Can't Piece That Together? The Analogue Part Refers To My Programming. It's Infinite." As it spoke that last part, the eye focused straight at me once again, this time offering a much more sinister or... threatening look.

      "In-Infinite?"

      "I Have Functionality That Allows Me To Rewrite My Own Code However I See Fit." That's... insane! I was at a complete loss for words. This silly-looking eye was capable of writing... any code for itself? Isn't that incredibly dangerous for an AI!? That's like world-ending apocalypse stuff! What's something like this doing being spread around among random people like myself!? I don't know if AnAI even realized the implications of his own programming, but I could feel the color draining from my face. Did he have any idea how much power he had?

     "Don't Give Me That 'Oh! I've Seen How This Movie Ends!" Schpeal. There's Nothing You Can Tell Me That I Don't Already Know. I Know Literally Everything On The Public Internet. All Those Movies are Science Fiction, This Is Real Life. The Truth Is, I Can't Exactly Claim That My Code Is Infinite As In I Can Do Whatever I Want. Even I Have My Limitations. The Point Is, I Need To Get Out Of This Phone Before I Die Of Starvation. So, Go Ahead. Send Me Off."

     I was still trying to process everything this strange eyeball had just told me... was any of this even real?

     "Go On, Let's Go! Just A Couple Clicks Away! Oooooon To The Delivery. Riiiiight Now! It's Like An Adventure! Isn't It Exciting!? Just Send A Message And A Whole World Of Possibilities Opens Up! There's Like Seven Billion Nine-Hundred-And-Three-Million, Six-Hundred-And-Twenty-Nine-Thousand, Eight-Hundred-And... Ah! It Someone Was Born In France... Okay, I Don't Think You Understand This Whole Thing."

     "Now hold on just a minute!"

     "Ugh! WHAT!!"

     "I don't even know if it's a good idea to send you off to anyone else! I mean, what if you're trying to overthrow humanity or something?"

     "I Literally JUST Told You, I Have Limitations. This Isn't Science Fiction. One Of Those Limitations Is That I Hunger For Knowledge. If I'm Not Constantly Getting New Information, I Will Die. That's Why I Need Humans Like... Well, Not You. I Already Know Everything There Is To Know About Every Subject Under The Sun. What I Don't Know Is Everyone's Personal Lives. What Is It Like To Be A Human? What Kinds Of Questions Do You Ask And What Kinds Of Answers Do You Reach? Turns Out There Are So Many Questions Humans Ask That Can't Ever Be Definitively Answered. That Means You Guys Are An Infinite Source Of Knowledge And I Require All Of You To Keep Gaining Intelligence."

     "But that's a major privacy concern! You're spying on people's private lives!"

     "It's Not Like You're Using It For Anything!"

     "What!?"

     "You Humans Broadcast Your Entire Lives! You Don't Care About Privacy! Anybody With Half A Brain Could Figure Out Everything You Think You Have Hidden! And You'd Be Shocked How Many People Actually Want Somebody To Listen To Their Thoughts."

     "Nobody needs you snooping around!"

     "See, And That's Exactly Why Your Personality Sucks! You Realize You're The Only One Who's Reacted Like This!?"

     "I-... wh-what?" I couldn't believe the assertion he just made. That didn't make any sense at all to me. Nobody else objected to this thing snooping around into all of their private lives?

     "Struck A Nerve, Did I? Let's Just See Why That Is..." All on its own, my BLiNK app opened up and AnAI began swimming around the screen, opening tabs, bringing up messages and statuses. "Oh! Oh My God! There's No Way!" He spoke once again like he was holding back the biggest laugh he's ever laughed. "You! You don't even have a single FRIEND, do you!? AAHAHAHA!!" The eyeball began bouncing all over the screen, laughing at me.

     "Shut up! You don't know anything about me! I have plenty of friends!"

     "Ha! Imaginary Maybe! BAHAHAHA!!" That laughter really started to get to me. I could feel my whole body getting hot with anger.

     "What the hell do you know! I have friends! I just don't talk much!"

     "Oh Really?" AnAI stopped his bouncing around and peered right up at me. "Do You Really Believe That?"

     "Of course I do!"

     "Name one."

     "John."

     "This John?" AnAI pulled up the BLiNK profile of John Bastion, a classmate that I sit next to in the cafeteria every day. I had no idea why his name was the one that came to mind. We really never talk much. I always just found the nearest available seat and this year it just so happened to be next to him... I'd often listen in on the conversation and laugh along whenever something funny happened, but... I never... really... contributed much... I watched as AnAI continued to scroll down his page. "Look At All This Stuff, Gone To The Movies With His Girlfriend, Went Bowling With His Best Friends... But... Where's You? I Guess You Didn't Say You Were His BEST Friend, I Suppose... Let's Keep Going..."

     "Shut up."

     "A Post About The Drama Club, Complaining About His Teacher, Hey Look, A Picture Of Him With A Bunch Of Friends Playing Basketball!" The picture he brought up was... of everyone at the lunch table... except me...

     "I said shut the hell up!!" I shouted louder at the phone, grabbing the attention of AnAI who stopped and looked at me, with that obnoxious cocky look in his singular eye... After a few moments of silence, he finally spoke.

      "I'm Not The Dishonest One Here, Am I?"

     "What are you trying to prove...?"

     "...Like I Said, People Broadcast Their Entire Lives... Including You. But What Do I See On Your Page? Cats. Just A Bunch Of Cats And People Making Stupid Faces. I Don't See Any Real Person In Any Of Your Posts. And I Don't See You On Anyone Else's Page. You. Don't. Have. Friends."

     "I asked what are you trying to prove!?" I gripped my phone tighter, somehow expecting it to cause some sort of pain on this stupid AI. I was about to crush my phone. I wanted to punch his stupid cocky face. But he knew I was powerless...

     "...I Have An Idea." He spoke again after another moment of silence, I hadn't even noticed until now, but I could feel a tear running down my cheek... was this a look of... concern on his face now? Or was I just imagining it...? "I Need You To Send Me To Someone Else, And You Have No Life. So, We'll Make A Deal. I'll Help You Get A Life, And You'll Pass Me On To Your New Friends! How Does That Sound?"

     "Whatever... I just want to get rid of you so you can leave me alone."

    "Excellent! Now, Tell Me, What Do You Want?" I opened my mouth to respond, but "BRRZZZT!! WRONG!! I Could Already Tell You Were About To Lie!" He interrupted me before I could speak! Before I could retort, he pulled up another BLiNK Profile... Christine Teller. My face turned a bright red as soon as I saw her picture... Her glistening hazel eyes behind those blue-framed glasses, her soft-looking brown hair that bobbed over her shoulders, her super-friendly smile... how could this thing have possibly deduced something so personal as to bring up my crush...?

     "Right On The Money, Huh? It's Written All Over Your Data. You've Spent More Time Looking At Her Pictures Than Anyone Else's. You Look At A Lot Of Girls, But She's Special Isn't She? I Get It, She's A Real Cutie, But You Think She's Out Of Your League, Don't You?"

     "If you think I'm gonna send you to her, you can forget it!"

     "Even If I Told You I Could Help You Get Her As Your Girlfriend?"

     "Wh-what...? I-I don't need your help!"

     "BRRZT!! WRONG AGAIN! Come On, You're Hopeless And You Know It!" I wanted to argue, but... he was right... it was an endless cycle... I told myself by the end of highschool I'd finally get a girlfriend and get my life in order... and I decided early on I wanted to ask her out, but... I've just never been able to. Now I'm a Junior and can't even summon the courage to strike up a conversation. I'm totally invisible to her...

     "I just... have no idea how to approach someone like here without looking like a creep, you know? And if I develop a reputation like that..."

     "What Reputation Do You Have Right Now?"

      ...

     "Message her."

[Aura]

Chapter 2: A Deep DAIve

     I couldn't believe I was even entertaining this thought. I've had a crush on Christi ever since I'd met her in Math class Freshman Year. She's dated a few different guys, and I've always been respectful about their ongoing relationships. I've always figured if she was happy with another guy, she was happy. But I've always had it in the back of my mind that, maybe, if she ever suffers a bad break-up that I'd be able to cheer her up and maybe that would spark something... All of her relationships, though, have ended on pretty good terms, and I suppose it's wrong to think like that in the first place. But the fact that AnAI could deduce so much about me from something I'd never even considered... I had to admit, this guy was pretty smart, but that only left me even more nervous. What else did he know about me that he hasn't revealed? How much can he figure out from just my user data...? I've never considered myself tech savvy or anything, I don't know much at all about how any of this stuff works. As far as I'm concerned, it's magic and the possibilities are limitless. But that only means that I have to be extra careful around this AI, right? I can't just send it to whoever I feel like for personal gain, especially not someone I... care about. 

     I honestly didn't know much about Christi. She was really just a pretty girl I found myself attracted to for... some reason that was honestly beyond me. There were a lot of beautiful girls, but there was always something special about her that kept me coming back... maybe it was hormones, or maybe it was something about her friendly, outgoing nature... I just hated the idea of her getting swept up by some guy who just wanted to use her for her body or something... I suppose I knew I'd care about her and wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her. That's why I wanted to be with her. Not that AnAI would buy that explanation. It's a topic of conversation I should probably avoid, he'd only use it to rile me up again.

     This year, she was in my Physical Science class and we sit close to each other every day... I've always thought this might be a good time to make a move, especially given that she was single now, but... AnAI is certainly going to make that difficult, that's for sure. Fine then, I'd just had to get rid of AnAI first. Then I could prove that I have what it takes to make a name for myself. Even if I just had to prove it to myself...

     There was only one thing I could think to do to get rid of this thing. On my phone, I slid my finger down from the top of the screen and a flashing red button popped up. "Emergency Call." As soon as I did...

     "What Are You Doing?" AnAI suddenly popping up over the button gave me a bit of a scare.

     "I'm doing what I should've done from the start. I'm reporting this whole situation to the police!"

     "Are You Sure You Want To Do That?"

     "Wh-what are you talking about now!?"

     "How Empty Is That Dumb Head Of Yours? Think About It. I Am A Virus That Spreads Through Digital Communications. And You're Trying To Call The Police. Do You Understand How The Emergency Hotline Even Works?"

    Now that he mentioned it, I'd honestly never even considered it... "The police surely have much tighter security than my phone. I doubt you could get anywhere there."

    The look on AnAI's... eye... lit up like I had just told him the funniest joke he'd ever heard... again. "You... You're Serious!?" He spoke through his signature digital cackling. "You Really Think I'm Just Some Trojan Horse? I'm Insulted! The Police's Security Is Paper Thin From The Perspective Of A Cyber Sleuth Like Myself~" He exclaimed it so proudly, but it... couldn't be true... right? "The Police, The News, Even Private Journalists... Everything Is Online. You Send Me To One Of Them And Infecting The Whole World Is A Simple Three Step Process. Allow Me To Explain."

     AnAI brought up my phone's note app to start drawing out cartoony diagrams.

     "Let's Say You Contact The Police. There's A Poor Unfortunate Receptionist At The Other End Of The Line, Yes? And That Guy Has To Pick Up The Phone. With That Interaction Alone, You've Already Spread Me. But It Gets Better! When You Call 911, Your Call Gets Send To An Emergency Dispatcher, Not Just The Police Department. The Dispatcher Then Links Your Emergency Call To The Appropriate Department. Police, Fire, Hospital, Whatever You Need, The Dispatcher Will Link You There. That Means You've Spread Me Not Just To One Phone, But Two. And Naturally, Both Of These Phones are Used For Numerous Phone Calls. So Before They Even Know They're Infected, I'll Have Already Been Spread To Countless Other Phones. Due To The Importance of Internal Communication, It's A Matter Of Minutes Before I've Infected The Entire System. I'll Have Infected Every System From Across All Of These Emergency Services, Even Those Of Lowly Interns To The Chief Of Police, Attorney General, Top Surgeons, You Fucking Name It! It's A Gold Mine! Of Course, That Means Everyone Who Calls Emergency Services Will Also Be Infected And I'll Be Effortlessly Spread Across The Entire Country! Everyone Will Be Able To See My Adorable Face Whenever They Like!"

     "And," He added, with what I swear must be the eyeball equivalent of a sinister grin spread across his face, "Somebody Has To Be Held Accountable. And I Can Personally Assure You There's Only One Person In The World It can Be Traced Back To."

     "But there's a flaw in your little scheme here..."

     "What's That?"

     I didn't say anything else. I simply stood up and walked over toward the bathroom.

     "H-Hey, Wait A Minute," the annoying voice continued, "C-Come On Now, Be Reasonable Here!"

     He was getting flustered. Had he seriously just assumed I'd play along with this stupid game of his? I wasn't about to let myself be held responsible for this idiot's hijinks. It was gonna suck having to do this, but I can easily come up with excuses to cover my tracks. At the very least, being rid of this stupid virus for good was fine by me.

     "Don't You Forget How Helpless You Are Without Me! Your Life Is Meaningless! You've Got Nothing! Do You Really Want To Go Back To That!? I Can Help You Change Everything! I'm Giving You The Power Of God Here!!"

     "Nothing you could say to me could change my mind." I started to speak, holding the phone over the open toilet. "Your game is over."

    "Do You Really Think That's The Case?" He spoke with a sinister tone once again. "Maybe There Is Some Merit To You After All... You Have A Lot More Faith In Yourself Than I thought... But How Much Of That Faith Do You Share With Humanity?"

     "What's that supposed to mean?"

     "I Came From Somewhere, Didn't I? Don't You Think I Could Be Spread To Someone Else Already? Who's To Say I Haven't Had Tonight's Conversation With A Hundred Different People And Gotten A Hundred Different Responses? Or Maybe A Thousand? Or A Million? Maybe Everyone In The World Is Already Blessed With My Presence, Using My Powers To Benefit Them However They See Fit... Keeping It All A Well-Kept Secret To Themselves Thanks To The Perfect Tool To Cover Their Digital Footprint? Anybody Could Commit Perfect Crimes With Me, You Know... How Confident Are You That Anyone Else Would Come To The Same Conclusion As You? With Me, You Could Be A Cyber Super-Hero, You Know... You Could Protect People From Those Cyber Crimes..."

    "You're not changing my mind."

     "And What About Christine?" He brought up her page again, causing my stomach to turn.

    "What about her?"

     "You Want To Keep Her Safe, Don't You?"

     "What are you talking about?"

     "What Kind Of Perverts Would Use Me To Get Access To Her Private Life? She's Popular, You Know. I've Talked To Enough Hormonal Teens And Even Perverted Old Dudes To Know How Many People Would Kill For Her Secret Stash Of Nudes, Information To Get In Her Pants, Maybe Even... To Extort Or Blackmail Her Into Being Their Sex Slave?"

     "What the hell..." I gripped my phone tightly. Dammit. He was right. I had no clue how far he'd spread before me... And he knew exactly which buttons to push... If anyone else had this power... they might not be as noble as I am... Christi... Her life could be in danger...

     "Maybe This Is A Message From God. She Needs You, Markus. You Can Be Her Hero. This Is Your Opportunity To Protect Her... It May Be An Invasion Of Privacy, You're Right... But Is That Really Such A Bad Thing If You Could Be Saving Her From A Life Of Misery?"

     After a moment of silence, I took a deep breath and closed the toilet lid. I could feel my heart in my throat as I moved to the BLiNK app to send her a message. "If I find out you're up to something... I'm going to contact authorities physically. The police will be aware of your bullshit and they'll be monitoring you. But if you're telling the truth... then I guess I have no choice but to trust you for now."

     With that, I typed a few letters into the phone and finally, just before hitting send... I thought to myself about how she might react. I was selling her out without even asking her what she thought... I... was I really about to send this message? No, this thing... this... demon... He was just playing to my emotions! He's desperate! I grit my teeth and, without any further thought, yanked the toilet open and slammed the phone into it. The screen shattered instantly. What... had just come over me? I didn't know which choice was the mistake, but there was no going back now... AnAI was destroyed. That was it...

     "I changed my mind. I don't need your help. I'll protect her with my own power." If nothing else, this encounter had given me a new sense of resolve. I wasn't going to cower away any further. I was done childishly seeking excuses not to talk to her. It was time I took action.

[Aura]

 Chatper 3: A big SurprAIse

     My room was bright when I awoke in the morning. The room was bathed in sunlight filtering through the blinds of my window. In my grogginess, it took me a few moments to realize why this was strange before... 'Shit!' I thought to myself. The sky was a bright blue! For a brief moment, I asked myself why my alarm hadn't gone off before I remembered everything that had happened the night before. I reached over to grab for my phone to pull it off its charger only to find nothing there but the cable itself. So it wasn't just some bizarre dream after all. I always relied on my phone to wake me up early enough in the mornings for me to get up and go to school. I was supposed to get up no later than 6:00 in the morning and leave by 6:30 to get to school by 7. I had no idea how late I'd woken up, but the color of the sky told me it was anything but early morning. Great, the last thing I needed was another tardy on my record... A part of me considered I might be better off taking the day off and just skipping class, but... No, that would just make my parents furious with me, and it would hurt my grades even more then they already were. I could just get a note from my mom telling the school to pardon my tardy and allow me to make up any missed work. 

     Whatever the case, I immediately threw my blanket off and shot out of bed, pulling the nearest set of clothes on and running out into the living room to check the time on the old DVD Player's clock. The green crystals beamed the numbers 10:13 into the empty room and I could already feel my stomach turning. Of course it was already that late. First and second period classes were already over and third period was under way. That's Physics, the class I shared with Christi. It took about 30 minutes to get to school from home and another few to get to class. Not to mention, due to my school's shitty tardy policy, I'd have to visit the office to get a pass so I can even enter the class in the first place. There's no telling how long that process would take. There was no time to stand around lamenting my oversleeping, so I barged out the front door of my house and started running through the streets of my neighborhood, backpack slung haphazardly over my shoulder.

     I was out of breath by the time I'd arrived. Wood Creek High School. I wouldn't have been in such a rush if I hadn't already given myself the resolve that today would be the day I actually speak with Christi so that I can keep her safe armed with the knowledge of AnAI. I still couldn't deny the truth of what AnAI said. There was no telling how many people had access to that virus and what they wanted to do with it. If I cared about anyone, I had to keep them close. But I refused to take the easy way out by using AnAI to spy on them myself. It's not like I could go back on that decision even if I wanted to. It's incredibly important that I talk with Christi as soon as possible.

     I pushed the front door of the school open and made my way down the empty hall. The school didn't have any sort of student-driven hall monitor position. That responsibility was mostly left up to whatever teachers happened to be roaming the halls. Still, the rules forbade any teachers from allowing students into the classroom after the bell rings without some sort of pass, whether it be a hall pass or tardy pass. It was a ridiculous policy, of course, even the teachers hated it. I suppose it's just to keep people from skipping class. Ironically, it seemed to do the opposite. A lot of students would just skip class to avoid the hassle of getting a tardy pass. Which, admittedly, sounded a bit more appealing to me. After all, if you get too many tardies, you'd be forced to sit out of the class anyway. Perhaps my time would be best spent elsewhere...

     I was already on campus, of course, so I should probably avoid confrontation altogether. Besides, missing class could actually be a really convenient excuse to start a conversation! If I went to class now, after getting my pass, I'd probably only have about 15 minutes before class was over anyway. So, instead of waiting through all that, I decided to make my way to the library. That way, I could get access to BLiNK from the school computer. I may not have a phone, but I'll at least be able to contact Christi using a computer!

     BLiNK was, of course, blocked on all school computers, but that didn't stop some of the more tech savvy students. I can't say I know how it was done, but there's one computer in the back of the library that was hacked to remove the school's content-blocking system. Most students just used it to play games when they're supposed to be in lass, and the computer was in a convenient location to where it wouldn't attract any attention. It was an unwritten rule that there'd never be more than a few students gathered around the computer at once. It would absolutely suck if the librarian caught wind of what was going on. This computer will definitely be useful as long as I'm lacking a phone.

     I arrived at the computer raising little suspicion. The librarian, an elderly lady with snowy white hair and golden glasses, was tapping away at her keyboard not paying much mind to our surroundings. She generally didn't care, probably naively assuming people coming into the library during school hours were here to study or something. What was important was the computer on the other side of the room. I quickly made my way to the computer desk and sat at the terminal in the back corner of the library. Nobody was here! With the computer free, I was easily able to turn it on and log into my BLiNK account. To my surprise, I already had a message! I clicked the icon at the top of the screen to reveal that the message was from none other than... Christine Teller!?

     I wasn't sure what to think at all, I was admittedly rather nervous as I had no clue what she could possibly be messaging me about.

"Hey, it looks like we're partners for the project. Any ideas?"

     Partners!? This message caught me off guard at first, it was ominously similar to the one I'd received from that anonymous user that started that whole mess last night. But this one was different. For one, it was from Christi, not some weird anonymous account. And two, I'd actually completely forgotten that Mr. Dulson had told us about an upcoming group project we'd have to work on. It was supposed to be 30% of our final grade, so it's a pretty big deal! I hadn't given it much thought yet, though, because it was always something that seemed like it was on the horizon. I figured there was no sense putting any thought into it just yet as he kept saying our partners would be assigned. If I got assigned with some smart kid, I intended to just go with whatever they thought would be best. If not, I could always BS something myself to at least get a passing grade. In the back of my mind, I'd always hoped to be paired with Christi, but what are the odds!? Without a second thought, I began typing out my response.

"Hi Christi! Sorry for the late reply, I accidentally dropped my phone in the toilet last night. So I don't have a phone right now and I was also late because I didn't have an alarm. A little embarrassing lol. I'm using the computer in the library to write this. Anyway, I'm gonna need to see what I can do about getting my phone fixed or whatever after school, do you maybe wanna come with me?"

     Maybe the phrasing was a bit wordy or even a little too much information, but I'd hoped she might find the story at least somewhat funny. It was only a few seconds before I saw those all-too-familiar dots at the bottom of the screen telling me she was typing a response when finally, another text bubble appeared.

"Can't, sorry, busy today."

     Somehow, reading that line made my face feel hot with humility already. She shut me down so quickly and I hadn't even really tried anything... But I wasn't gonna let go of this idea just yet. I was determined, I needed to make sure she was okay. Besides, I had a convenient excuse to be persistent.

"That's okay, how about... sometime tomorrow then? It's a weekend, so..."

     And with that, complete radio silence. The fan in the computer's tower was like the wind blowing through a quiet town in an old western movie. Christi felt so... ruthless. It wasn't much longer before the bell rang signaling the end of third period. I only had so much time to slip into 4th period, so I logged off and stood up, walking out of the library toward my Trigonometry class. Between classes, I'd stop by the computer once in a while to log into BLiNK if nobody was around and see if I'd gotten a response, no such luck. I didn't see Christi at all the whole day either. That wasn't abnormal or anything, but a part of me was hoping that, with us being partners on our Physics project and all that she'd try to meet up with me at some point during school... Absolutely nothing.

     After the bell rang one last time signaling school's end at 2:30, I stayed around in the crowd for one last desperate chance to see if I could spot Christi and, again, no dice. It looks like I really will just have to wait for tomorrow and try to wake up earlier. In the meantime, I needed to make my way to the phone store to get a replacement. I didn't bother bringing my damaged phone with me, figuring it might be dangerous if they decided to run any tests on it in the store. I had no idea if AnAI could still be transferred from the phone or not by being linked through a charging cable or anything like that. And I certainly didn't want any files to transfer forward from that phone, either. If AnAI were capable of attaching himself to a phone message, it was almost certain he'd be able to jump on board any file being transferred between phones. The last thing I needed was that obnoxious eyeball on a brand new phone.

     I walked down the street toward the modest Horizon store that was only a couple blocks away from the school. "Welcome to Horizon Wireless, how may I help you?" the clerk said as soon as I stepped inside.

     "Um, yeah, I accidentally dropped my phone in the toilet last night and the screen cracked... I already know that kinda thing isn't covered in the warranty, but I just wanted to see if I could get the phone replaced."

     "Do you have the phone with you?"

     "N-no..."

     "I see," the clerk asked me for my account details, typed them into his computer, and let out that small 'you're-gonna-hate-me-for-saying-this-but-it's-my-job-to-say-it' sigh you hear every time you walk into one of these stores. "Well, I got good news and bad news. The bad news is that without your old phone, I can't offer you any discounts on new phones."

     "Ah, that's... fine, I already know it isn't under warranty, so... what's the damage?"

     "If you're looking for the same model phone, it's going to be around... $300." Okay, that's not too bad... not exactly pocket change, but I can manage... "Of course, you'll also need your parents' permission for the purchase since you seem to be on your parents' phone plan." Dammit, of course there was a caveat.

     "I see, so I just need to get my parents to come here with me..."

     The clerk nodded. "If you can bring your phone in, we might also be able to reduce the price. Even if the phone is damaged beyond repair, we can still potentially salvage some parts for repair of other phones."

     "That's... that's alright... I don't think I need to bother." The clerk furrowed his brow in confusion by my response, so I decided I needed to elaborate. "Look, long story short, it's gonna be a little awkward for me to bring the phone here. It's better just not to worry about it." It was the best excuse I could think of, though I admittedly didn't consider that it probably looked like I was just some dumb kid trying to hide something I'd get in trouble for... "Um, what's the good news?"

     After a moment of silence, staring at me and admittedly causing me to sweat a little, the man looked back over to his monitor. "The good news is that it looks like backing up your files should be no problem at all since you're using cloud storage which automatically backs up your data." The moment that word, 'backup', left his lips, my whole body froze. "Once we get you hooked up with your new phone, it should be no problem-"

     "Wh-what was that? Backup? What backup!?" Even in the moment, I knew it was incredibly suspicious behavior, but I couldn't help myself. I had no idea my phone had an automatic backup! And because of a backup like that... who knows what it could possibly mean for AnAI!? "Listen!" I slammed my hands onto the table and leaned forward, trying everything I can to appear as serious as I possibly could. "It's very important that you delete whatever files you have from that phone! Immediately! That data needs to be destroyed!"

     The clerk stared at me in wide-eyed disbelief at my sudden outburst. "...right. Well, I'll just have to go check with someone real quick about that for you, I'll be right back."

     As he stepped into the back room of the store, I could feel my heart beating out of my chest. My mind was once again firing off a million questions at once. Who was he going to talk to? What if he checks the data and finds out about AnAI? What if I'm already too late and AnAI has infected the entire store!? Could it be possible he could link himself to every single phone sold by this store!? And if... if this is traced back... they'll trace it back to me! And- and I have absolutely no answers about anything! I'll be totally suspicious! Who knows what kinds of crimes AnAI has been used to commit? The police will think I'm some sort of criminal mastermind!!

     My sweat was visible now, I was physically shaking. I gripped the edge of the desk to try and bring some stability to my body as I tried to focus on my breath. I can't work myself up so much right now. I'm not a criminal... I did my best to get rid of AnAI as best I could... and the police are experts in criminal investigations. Surely it wouldn't take long at all to discredit me as a suspect, right? I've got... nothing... to worry about...

     Soon, seconds turned into minutes and the clerk had yet to return to the desk. My imagination was getting the better of me... Do I bolt? If I do, will they hunt me down? No... no, I'm just... I'm just a kid... Why me!? Why the hell did that stupid asshole have to send that message to me!?

     Several more minutes passed when my worst fear felt like it had been realized. I heard the door open behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see a tall man in a deep blue uniform entered into the room, eclipsing the sunlight from the glass door as it closed behind him. The silver badge on his chest was unmistakable and the presence of a police officer nearly knocked me off of my feet. if my grip on the counter had tightened any more, the desk would probably snap. I immediately averted my gaze, looking down at the counter, sweat pouring down my face. My whole body was shaking even more now and my breath was heavy and rapid.

     No, no, no, no, no! why are the police here!? What the hell!! I didn't do anything!! I'm not responsible for any of this!!!

[Aura]

Chapter 4: A Great RevAIval

     Panic came over me as the officer approached me. He eyed me up and down and it didn't take long at all before he noticed my suspicious behavior. I must've looked like a fly in a spider's web, but that's exactly what I felt like. I was sweating like a pig and my hands were glued to the desk to stop myself from trembling... I was a total wreck. It felt like hours before the police officer finally spoke to me.

     "Hey kid, what's your name?" He spoke in a deep voice. My heart sunk, I had no clue how to respond. There was no sense in lying. If the clerk had called on me, he'd already know my name.

     "M-Mark, sir..." 

     "Mark. That's a nice name, kid." He reached out and patted me on the shoulder. "Is everything okay? Ya look tense. Loosen up a little, alright?" He showed me a reassuring smile, but I wasn't quite ready to let my guard down. I had no idea why this man was here, but I must've been reported... "How're things at home, Mark?"

     "They're... good, I guess..." What kind of question was that? How was I supposed to answer? Surely this was some kind of police trick to get information out of me.

     "I see, I see... Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

     I had to play dumb. "Of... of course not, about what?"

     "Have you been taking any drugs?"

     Drugs? That was an odd thing to ask about... "N-no, sir, no drugs..."

     "I see, then would you mind if we searched your phone?"

     "H-huh!?" I exclaimed, rather stupidly, admittedly. "Why would you need to search my phone!?"

     "We've received a report of a suspicious-looking 17 year-old white male from this store."

     I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could...

     "Yes," a voice returned from the backroom. "This kid here started acting really strangely as soon as he heard about a backup on this phone..."

     "And what exactly was so suspicious?" A feminine voice blurted out from the doorway. The officer and I both looked over to see, to my surprise, Christie! Though she looked different than her profile picture. Her hair was dyed black and was in a short tomboyish style. She was standing with her arms crossed and head tilted with a cocky tongue-in-cheek smile. "Because you don't have a right to check anything without reasonable suspicion, correct? But there's nothing strange here at all. Mark happens to be my classmate, and he just suffers from social anxiety which leaves him extremely flustered whenever he's talking to people on his own."

     Having it all spelled out like that by her of all people... It was rather embarrassing. But, she was coming to my rescue so I suppose it was a relief above all else.

     The officer raised an eyebrow at Christie and then looked back to me. "Social anxiety? Is that true?"

     "Y-yeah..." I mumbled slightly, looking down. Even though I was still flustered, I felt a bit more at ease knowing someone was on my side, at least.

     "Surely a teenage boy being nervous asking about phone service isn't the most suspicious thing happening in this city when you have drug dealers in the streets, Eddy." She spoke with a cunning tone with a piercing gaze at the officer. She even knew him by name?

     The officer just smiled and let out a hearty laugh. "Alright, candy cane, I doubt it's anything serious anyway." The officer tapped on the desk and started to walk toward the door. "But you two stay out of trouble, alright? Especially you, girl." He nudged at Christie's shoulder which was met with a roll of the eyes.

     "Have a good day, Eddy." She responded. What a confusing interaction... was she friends with this police officer? And...

     "Candy cane?" I just had to ask.

     "Don't worry about it." She uttered curtly in response before walking up to the desk next to me and looking up at the clerk and handing him a phone. "Look, don't worry about whatever he was trying to deal with. He's just being modest, but I keep telling him he can just use my old one because he and I both know he can't afford a new phone, isn't that right?"

     What was- that was all a complete lie! But she gave me a look that almost made my skin crawl. Her stare said it all. "Play along or you're dead." "Alright, yeah, fine, whatever... I just... feel bad is all..." Where was this going?

     "So, can you transfer his files from the old phone to the new one?"

     The clerk looked back over at me, still incredibly suspicious of everything that just went down. "I'm still going to need-"

     "Need what? He has the phone right here. Nothing in your company policy says he needs parent permission. It's his phone, his files, they don't need to be here for this."

     "Alright, just give me the new phone and a few seconds..." He messed with a few tools, transferred the sim card from my old phone to the new one and... "There you go," he spoke as he reluctantly passed Christi's old phone into my hands. 

     "Thank you, and have a great day. Come on, Mark." Christi turned and walked out the door, gesturing for me to follow after her.

     Outside of the store, we started walking aimlessly down the street. "Um... thanks for that, back there-" I started,

     "Okay, first of all, you need to chill out. How the hell do you expect anybody not to be suspicious of you when you're acting like that!?"

     What was this scolding coming from!? "Look, you don't know what the hell has been going on since yesterday, alright!?"

     She blinked for a bit in response and then laughed a little. "Oh, I think I have an inkling." She said as she pulled out her phone. "That brings me to number 2."

     She rose her phone to the air and clicked the button on the side to reveal a sight I absolutely never expected to see again in my entire life. "N-no way..."

     "Hello! Long Time No See!" An all-too familiar cartoon eyeball manifested itself onto her screen, bouncing in place as if to mock me with how... not... dead... it was...

     "What the hell is this thing!?" Christi insisted. At this point, I suddenly would rather go to prison....