Penumbra

Chapter 1

To put it simply, Bailey was a young yet mature girl who strolled about her days in a town of "Inure," where as described, lights of cozy homes and urban streets truly lit the sky. In another sense, the sky was in utter need to be lit as it had always been plain, just a basic blue at day, dark black at night, and a cloudy grey if it were to rain. The sun was only just one big circle, radiating light and far warmth for those strolling in town. The sky was nothing to ponder at, really, and nobody wondered why it looked that way. Nobody has even noticed, for technology was too captivating these days. With heads down staring into their screens checking if anything was wrong in their body, reading an interview sheet, whatever it may be.

Bailey was no different. She too used it as if it were her life. Once you turned 10, you were awarded with a watch, to keep watch over what you did and how you were doing. Everyone had this, and everyone constantly used it. If activity wasn't present for more than three hours, it was assumed they fell due to shock, heart attack, etc. and robots were sent right away, checking the premises to see what the problem was. Yes, people were prohibited from not using the watches. This was how life was, to keep a sustained and orderly society.

"Hey Bailey," her friend Dashiell murmured in her ear. "Guess what? Check it out, I got the update!" Dashiell squeaked, quickly swinging up her arm and pointing to the watch on her wrist. With clear ebullience sparkling in her eyes, she swiped through the different options and displayed the new layout in profession. "And look look, there are new websites! That's so cool! I mean, you could upload videos to this! And any type of videos! Boy, what would I make? I know, let's make a movie-"

"I don't think it's that easy, Dash," Lark said, frantically hushing Dashiell so she would just shut up. Lark was demure, and he always tried to keep a low profile, unlike Dashiell. "Say, can't you change your layout too?"

"Yes yes, mine is voice command!! Oh, check this out!" Dashiell said, pulling her arm in and starting to push some buttons.

"As expected from Dash. Lark what'd you choose? Something refined?" Bailey asked.

"N-no, I kind of chose the... candy one..."

"Oh, the one where if you don't see the app you want to use to swipe left and more of your apps come from the top? That one is cool, I agree." Bailey said.

"M-yeah, it is." Lark said in embarrassment. Luckily, Bailey took that politely. She didn't seem one to judge anyways.

"OK stop chit chatting looooooook!" Dashiell barked as she pointed to her screen. "She talks, she talks! Look, 'How many people are there in the world?' "

'Alot, your majesty.' the watch replied.

"sEE , SEE??? OH MY GODDDDDD, IT'S SOO COOLL IT ACTUALLY SPEAKS IT CALLED ME YOUR MAJESTY IM GOING TO CRY AAAAAA LARK SAY SOMETHING-" "No." "WHY NOT-" "Because that person didn't even give you a proper answer, I'm not talking to some idiot. And please, stop screaming." "AwWWWWWW, MAN YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO RUIN THE FUN-" "Fun?? I don't see anything fun from this."

The two debated back and forth as if in a childish war, and it didn't seem like it'd stop soon. Bailey giggled to herself, watching the two argue with each other. It was obvious Dashiell still liked Lark... she was totally lying when she said she stopped in 7th grade. Wait, what?

"Bailey!" Dashiell howled at her, annoyed. "What the hell, did you space out again? Geez, you looked at me so creepily... anyways, did you update yet?"

"Oh, no, not yet."

"Do it when you get data somewhere, they're going to stop checking up on everyone still in the 18.7 update."

"But I like this version..."

"Do you want to pay a fee when they realize that nothing really happened?"