Thursday, June 27, 2013

The App. A short story.



Daisy’s parents brought her to her uncle’s cabin in the woods to spend the summer vacation.  If she were to be frank, it wasn’t her favorite place.  For miles around the cabin, there was nothing but trees.

It was only a few hours since they reached the cabin, and Daisy was already bored.  She decided to take her camera and go out on a stroll through the woods while her parents prepared lunch.

Daisy’s elder sister, Diana, who was away in college, was going to join them tomorrow. But Daisy wasn’t looking forward to meeting her either.  In a way, Daisy was jealous of her elder sister, because she was everything Daisy wanted to be. She was slim, good looking, and popular.

After she had walked for a while, Daisy decided to sit down for a while. She was already feeling short of breath.

Daisy hated herself.  Her doctor said she suffered from depression. And whenever she was depressed, she ate whatever she could get her hands on. Over the last few years, she had gained a lot of weight.

As she sat on a fallen tree and checked her snaps on her digital camera, something on the ground caught her eye. Some shiny.

She slowly got up and picked it up. She was surprised to find that it was a mobile phone.

She looked around expecting the owner of it to walk up to her and demand she give it back, but she was alone.

She pressed a button and surprisingly the screen lit up.

She sat back down and began to go through the applications in hope of finding the owner’s numbers, but the contacts list was empty.

On the home screen was an app.  It had the face of a pretty girl and the word “LIFE” written in sparkly letters.  Getting curious, she clicked on it.

The screen turned green and said: “Please enter your name and date of birth to proceed.”

She did as instructed.  Then the screen said: “Please wait. Processing…”

After a few seconds, it said,

“Welcome to LIFE!!
I want to [___________]”

Daisy wondered what the app would do.  She typed in:

“I want to [lose weight. Be beautiful]”

As soon as she finished entering the text, the screen said,

“Opps! It seems like you don’t have any credit. Click to Buy Credit now!”

She did so.
The new screen said,
“YOUR PARENTS                               4 hrs.
 YOUR SISTER                                     2 hrs.”

Getting more curious, she clicked on “YOUR PARENTS.”

The screen turned green again with the text:  “Processing your request. Please wait…”

A few seconds later, it said, “DONE!”

Daisy laughed. She wished it was that simple.

She decided it was time she headed back to the cabin. Lunch must be ready by now.

As she got up, she felt her jeans slip down to her knees. She almost dropped her camera in shock when she looked down at her skinny legs. She realized her T-shirt was now oversized.  She had really become thin!

She must have been dreaming, but it seemed so real.  She wondered how her parents would react when they heard her story.

She ran back to the cabin pulling her jeans up in one hand and her camera and the phone in the other.  

Upon reaching the cabin, she decided that first she needed to change into something fitting before she showed herself to her parents.  Luckily, her parents were not around and she ran right into her room.

She couldn’t believe how thin she had become. In fact, she was so thin that none of her clothes fit her. Finally, she had to dig out her pajamas and wear them.

When she came out looking for her parents, they hadn’t returned yet.  She assumed they must be out searching for firewood.

She went back into her room and proceeded to take photographs of herself.  She was truly beautiful. 

She wasn’t chubby anymore. And the best part was that she didn’t even have any stretch marks from the weight loss.

She started to get worried about her parents as they hadn’t returned yet. And she was starting to feel very hungry.  She prepared herself some omelets and started to eat them.

That’s when she heard a notification alert on the phone.

“You are out of credits! Buy more to get more time!”

She ignored it and continued to eat her meal.

Then it happened.  Suddenly she felt as though the room temperature had gone up.  And she began to feel as though her organs were beginning to swell up insider her.  She found herself in excruciating pain.  Her pajamas started to feel tighter and tighter.

After an agonizing minute’s confusion, Daisy realized that she was gaining her weight back.  And it didn’t seem to slow down.

She screamed out in pain for her parents, but there was still no sign of them.

She picked up the phone and clicked on “Buy more credits!”

The next page said,
YOUR PARENTS                                 4 hrs.
YOUR SISTER                                      2 hrs.

She clicked on “YOUR SISTER                                      2 hrs.”

The screen turned green with the text:  “Processing your request. Please wait…”


****

- Rejo John


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