Hidden Mysteries

Leaving - Teresa

It only takes me a few weeks to recover. Soon, I can stand perfectly fine but still need crutches. My leg was crushed pretty badly. But aside from that, the bruises covering my ribs, and the longing in my heart to see my friends again, I'm as good as new.

Today I will leave. Vince insisted on sending someone with me, but I convince him to let me go alone. I don't need another incident like the one in the scorch. I'm given fresh clothes, since the ones I was wearing were torn and I've been wearing only a hospital gown and pajamas since.
A pair of jeans and a green tshirt, brand new, probably stolen, along with a black fleece hoodie and sturdy all-purpose black sneakers. Lawrence gives me a backpack with food and a notepad, just incase I find something I need to write down, and a long knife I attach to my waist. A gun would be too big and bulky to carry around, but a knife always works. He hands me one last thing. A black rectangular box, about a centimetre thick. A smallish circular button on the bottom, two small buttons on the left side, the top one with a + and the bottom one with a -. Just above is a little switch. A button on the top, and when I press it the device lights up. I finger it uncertainly. "What is this?" Lawrence smiles. "Years and years ago, long before the solar flares, people used these devices they called 'Smart Phones.' They could speak to each other through the device, or type messages to each other. This smartphone comes from one of the most popular brands, Apple. It's called an iPhone. This particular model is an iPhone 4s. The last generation that ever came out before cellphones vanished off the planet was an iPhone 9." I'm not sure how to respond. "Okay, cool. How do you know this?" Lawrence smiles at me. "I have my ways." I can tell he won't say anymore on the topic, so instead I ask him, "How do they work?" Lawrence shrugs. "Dunno. But I'll show you how to use them." He pulls his own iPhone from his pocket.
"Press the button on the top to turn on the screen," is his first instruction. "The screen will light up. Then slide your finger along the words slide to unlock. The phone will unlock itself, but you can set a password for it if you want, which I would recommend. I'll show you how to do that later. Anyways, you tap on this green square here with the speech bubble on it,"
I do as Lawrence says, tapping on the screen. As soon as my finger touches it, a new screen opens up. In a small section on the top is the name Lawrence. "Tap on my name," he says. I do, and a blank screen comes up. "Now, type and hit send." I hastily type in Hi and hit send. Lawrence's iPhone chimes. He grins, and holds his up. It's the same message I sent him. Then he types something into his iPhone and a few seconds later my iPhone chimes and the message reads Cool, huh?

Yep.
I send back. Lawrence tells me that was what people used to do all the time, a long time ago. He shows me how to set a password on my iPhone.

Three hours later I'm in a berg, Lawrence about to fly me to the village where Trina an Lana and Mark and Alec lived. I've decided to start there, and work my way towards my old village.

I walk around an empty shack. It was obviously where they lived. Beds covered in dust. A photo of Mark and a little girl. On another stand sits a photo of Alec, definitely younger than he was when I met him. His arm is around a beautiful young woman, who I realize with a jolt is Lana. And in Lana's arms, a little girl. A year old, tops. But her face is unchanged. It's Brenda. Brenda. A rage surges through me. My friend's daughter is the girl who stole my best friend. No, I shouldn't think like that. It's my fault Tom hates me.

I hope you're enjoying it so far!

The iPhone part was kinda fun. Everyone knows what an iPhone is, but people could forget about them entirely in ten years so that was cool.

Also the thing about Brenda being Alec's daughter was inspired by a post on IG.