Karin sauntered down the street, arms swinging happily. It was her birthday today, and she was expecting a truly spectacular present from me. I was pretty confident she'd love it, we'd discussed what it was going to be so many times over the last three months. I'd been clever with my words, though, so she had no idea what to expect as she headed into college.
There was a steady breeze, and her hair whipped back like a waving flag. Even though it was long enough to reach her shoulders, it rarely touched them, preferring to stick out in all directions. Since she'd had it dyed platinum blonde, she looked more than ever like a dandelion clock. I thought it was adorable, and now she was starting to bloom with enough confidence to take pride in her natural style; going with what worked for her, rather than following whatever style the media currently declared to be fashionable.
Her arms stopped swinging when she heard a chiming sound from her bag. She was carrying two bags today. One was a medium size backpack, which she'd picked up on the way out of the house without really thinking about it. She assumed it contained her present, which in a way it did, so she wasn't going to peek inside until she felt it was an appropriate time to open it. The sound, though, came from the purse slung over her shoulder. This was a fashionable bag, just large enough to carry a Moleskine notebook, a pair of sunglasses just in case, and other essentials like her student bus pass.
Today, it contained a cell phone. It was a little smaller than the one she'd been using for the last couple of years, and a sleek lilac finish that seemed to reflect every colour of the rainbow when it caught the light at the right angle. The only breaks in the iridescent coating were a few buttons around the edge, and the screen which occupied most of one side. Right now it was showing a spiral in shifting purple hues, matching the styling of the hardware. This was a present that had taken a lot of thought, she knew. As she looked at it, wondering what to do next, words rippled into view at the centre of the swirl.
« Happy Birthday Princess »
The letters were bold and simple, but still gave the impression of ornate handwriting with a few subtle swooshes. Beneath them, more words appeared like handwriting, but the invisible pen always making clockwise loops around each character.
« A Fantasy Game of Wish Fulfillment »
« Are you ready, Princess? »
The question mark developed with a huge swirl, taking up most of the screen, and Karin found her eyes following the end of the line as it looped around, and around, and around to form a second spiral almost aligned with the one in the background. She was still walking slowly as she watched, but a good deal slower than her usual breezy pace now. She didn't even notice that she nodded as she read the question, but it seemed the new phone did. The programmers were very skilled, and the special application was designed to track the movement of her eyes across the screen. As long as she played the game, she wouldn't need to give a single thought to the controls.
« Choose Your Theme, Princess »
«Bliss» - «Challenge» - «Humiliation» - «Magic»
Her eyes danced across the labels, each emblazoned on a pastel pink diamond with its own spirals mirroring the background of the whole screen. She glanced at all the options, of course, but this time the game was watching how long her eyes lingered on each, her gaze flickering back and forth between two or three favourites before returning to the centre of the spiral.
She turned left onto Charter Street, a quiet tree-lined avenue. She'd walked this route often enough that she didn't pay attention to the landmarks on a normal day, whether she was concerned with talking on the phone, speculating about what I was going to surprise her with today, or composing a mental rough draft of one of her papers for college. Staring at the phone wasn't any more distraction, and there was nobody else around at this time of day. This shortcut wasn't on the way to college for students coming from the low-rent accommodations most of them were limited to, so depending on the time of her first lecture she might have the whole walk to herself.
« Thank you for your choice, Princess »
She blinked in surprise, wondering when she'd even made a choice.
If her subconscious mind chooses Magic + Humiliation, turn to chapter 2
For any other option, we're going to need a second book... perhaps once this one is complete
YOU ARE READING
Birthday Games
FantasyFor her birthday, Karin got a new phone, which seems to have some magical, or at least hypnotic, properties. But once it turns her into a child again, what will it make her do? This is an interactive story... I've written lots of different paths thr...
