[WP] There's something off about your new phone. You seem to keep getting cryptic notifications about bad things that are about to happen around you. '21:13:' the latest one reads, 'The time has come. The blade is ready. Here comes the end. Just keep steady.'
******
All my fears about that phone were justified.
When I first saw the 80 dollar phone on Wish Express, I did a double-take. First of all, Wish Express was known for selling fake, substandard products with outrageous specs. This particular one boasted of an 8GB/128GB storage, five cameras (all 12mp), and something called 'advanced AI notifications'.
Sure it sounded great and all, so I clicked it, scrolling down to see the user reviews from suckers who'd obviously be so pissed at their waste of money.
But that wasn't the case.
Users were actually happy.
People talked about how they took a gamble with the phone, and how it was better than they expected. Great performance, Amazing Camera, and apparently the advanced notifications were 'extraordinary'.
Or so the review said.
Well, I was a student on a budget, so yeah, I bought the Sykik 4 pro. Yeah, the name was weird, but hey, it would catch on one day.
The first week was amazing. A sleek UI, excellent gaming and it had amazing battery life. Of course, I flaunted my strange phone at college, wowing a lot of my coursemates. Yeah, everyone wanted to know about the 8o-dollar flagship, and even more, people purchased it.
I felt like a superstar, but the euphoria wore out in the second week.
Buzz, my phone vibrated, drawing my attention to it. It lay on the same table on which I was reading, but Nah, I wouldn't pick it. The test tomorrow was going to determine if I was going to pass the Basic Principles of Physics, and I couldn't...
Buzz Buzz
Buzz Buzz
What the hell?
I picked up the phone grudgingly, determined to switch it off after this notification. As I turned on the screen, the notification I saw shocked me, and it was the first of many that would plague me for the next few weeks.
22:13
She claims to be poor, but really comes for more. To be safe you must ignore, the knock on the door.
After about ten seconds of looking at the notification, I was convinced it was one of my crazy poetic friends trying to pull a fast one on me. I'd just check the name on the message...
It wasn't a message. It came from an app called APAIN. I dashed to my Settings application to find out what that was, and there I got another shock.
Advanced Predictive AI Notifications
.
I vaguely remember it from the specs sheet on Wish Express. But I thought it was all a gimmick, until now. Now that I confirmed it was a stupid bloatware prank app. Guess you must always express something crazy when shopping on that si...
A knock on my door interrupted me.
Not that I was obeying that stupid app, but it was normally my practice to let whoever was knocking state their mission before I opened the door. people who came to see me at my apartment had gotten used to this routine, so who was this?
"Please," a female voice said. "Can I help you with any jobs around the house? Or take out the trash for you? Room cleaning? Laundry? Errands? Or do you have any broken appliances that you'd like to let go of?"
I kept quiet for a little while, trying to check if I'd need her services. I wouldn't mind the room cleaning anyway, since I was too lazy as hell to do it.
"Please, I'm kinda in a really big fix right now and I need this to get by so if you could patronize..."
Urgh.
I stood up, phone in hand, and walked towards the door.
I just couldn't sit and watch someone who was struggling to make ends meet. I had to...
Buzz Buzz.
Buzz Buzzz.
I looked at my phone, and the notification was there again. The Sykik 4 Pro... What the hell was wrong with this stupid device?
Then I paused.
She claims to be poor... To be safe you must ignore...
Was that a coincidence, or was my phone (and the friggin' universe) telling me not to help this innocent solicitor?
I stayed at the table, and after a few knocks, she was gone, while I slept off. I wasn't extremely superstitious, but I believed in the paranormal, and a phone named Sykik giving me predictions definitely put the 'para' in paranormal.
The next day, I dressed to leave when I came out and saw some people in my apartment gathered downstairs, talking about something. I'm usually antisocial, but something didn't sit right with me concerning this gathering so I went there.
"Hey guys, wassup?" I said, asking a bit loudly.
The way they all turned towards me was scary.
Some had bandages, others were crying, but everyone was furious.
"What's up? What's up?..." A female flared up.
"Hey, chill Pamela," Adam said, holding her hand. It was my next-door-neighbor. "But Kyle, you were around last night. How come you didn't know what happened?"
"What did happen? I don't understand..."
"A girl soliciting for help... wanted to do some menial jobs around the house. We opened for her and found out she was a front for a gang of men. They beat us and robbed us, bruh. You didn't experience any of this?"
"What? Wait for real?!" I asked, picking up my phone again. The notification wasn't there, even though I didn't clear it myself. "I didn't open the door for her," I said, more of soliloquizing than replying to Adam.
"Wait, you didn't? I thought you were the human aid type. Why didn't you open?"
"You see, my phone..." I stopped abruptly, my eyes widening.
You dunce! Wat the f*ck are you thinking? You're gonna tell everyone what's going on with this phone? Do you want to look stupid?
"Bruh, your phone what?"
"I...uh..."
TO BE CONTINUED.
I guess this will have about 3 parts, I want to delve into the prompt well.
I want to havw that kind of phone, feel like its predicting whats gonna happen. And its really a good thing he didnt open that door. On to the next chapter..