Polarized

The Misadventures of Spud Man and Co

After he finished charging his phone, Cayto opened it and sighed. You got 18 new messages, the notification bar read. View them in YouText.

Cayto opened the app. The first five messages were from his father trying to contact him, only to give up a few days through. I should probably reply to him, Cayto thought. But as soon as he began typing a reply to his father, he suddenly remembered Alexis's conditions:

"1) That you never use it to call your parents again—"

Wait. Am I allowed to send this message? Cayto thought as he quit typing mid-text, his thumbs hovering over the keyboard. For a minute he mulled over whether he should send the text or delete it, but then he realized something: that Alexis only forbade him from calling his parents. She never said anything about texting.  

Hi Dad, I'm here, Cayto typed into the message bar before pressing send, only for the message to not go through. He tried again, but with no success. Then he tried again, and again, and again, changing his reply a little each time, but none of his messages got delivered. 

Just my luck, Cayto thought, annoyed. Is the universe out to get me or something? 

The next three messages, which were surprisingly non-hostile, were from his mother. Well damn it, Cayto thought, somewhat relieved that at least Sierra wasn't chewing him out over text, but still conflicted about contacting her. Guess I'm gonna have to explain everything to her, then. And so, he began typing.

Hey Mom. Just so you know, I didn't run away. I actually got kidnapped by some strange people, and now one of them is blackmailing me into not calling you or Dad. She didn't say I couldn't text though, Cayto typed, letting out the breath he was holding as he pressed send. This time, the message went through. 

A few minutes passed while Cayto waited for a response. He cleared out his inbox. He checked his missed calls. He sat through a long, drawn-out voicemail of "I'm not mad, just disappointed in you," from his father. And finally, he looked at his ten remaining unread messages, all of them from a complete stranger. As he read off his messages, Cayto couldn't help but roll his eyes in exasperation: 

Hey Cayto! 

Cayto, are you there?

Cayto, did you get your phone back? Are you alive? 

Cayto? CAYTO?!

Cayto Halifax? 

Cayto the Potato?

Tater Tots?

French fries?

COME ON SPUD MAN, WHY AREN'T YOU RESPONDING?!

RESPOND NOW ROOT VEGETABLE 

Cayto sighed, again. Who are you? He texted, put off by the unknown contact's persistent messaging and strange nicknames for him. 

A few seconds later a notification popped into view, but it only remained for a brief moment until Cayto swiped it aside. At the same time, a new message appeared in the chat. Don't you know who I am? It read. Below the text was a selfie of a sickeningly familiar-looking girl in pink pigtails, pouting. 

Yes, I know who you are. You're that creepy girl who blackmailed me at the office today, Cayto typed into the chat. Then he got another message from Alexis:

Come on! Is that what I get? You're not even gonna tell me how cute I look in this photo? :( 

Cayto's response was immediate. No.