My computer screen lights up my face and I'm staring at it blankly. There's this application called "Connect to me" on my desktop that I've never seen. It bugs the hell out of me. No one touches my laptop. Who installed it then? I woke up this morning to find it suddenly there. I tried deleting it, but the computer just refuses it, saying it's not removable. Clicking it to see information on the application also yielded no results. Blank field in the dialog box. Like I said. It bugs the hell out of me.
I didn't have time anymore to figure out what the hell it was anymore. I needed to get ready for work. Packing up my lunch and laptop, I made my way to my bike. Every day it takes me about an hour to get there. I could take the public transportation, but I'd rather avoid human contact. At least I can be by myself and listen to some music.
Every day, when I'm on my way to work, I see all these people. They're talking with each other, smiling, holding hands, kissing and all the other normal human interactions I don't participate in. It disgusts me. Mankind's instinct is programmed for survival. Love and friendship is only there to make the survival a little bit more bearable. Maybe it's envy that got distorted into disgust. Who knows? I am who I am.
As I arrived at my work, there was this homeless guy sitting near the door. His sign said, "Will predict your future for five dollars." My future? It wasn't something I was looking forward to, but I could spare some money to make at least one miserable life less miserable. I gave him the money and he thanked me. As I continued heading towards the front door, the homeless guy called after me. "Hey man! You haven't gotten your prediction yet!" I turned around and looked him in the eyes. Red veins slithering in his white eyeballs. Drugs? Alcohol? Something must have kept him in this state of mind. I didn't know and I didn't care.
"Humour me", as I walked back. He looked at me with his bloodshot eyes and started his prediction. "Your life has been devoid of something. Affection. Love. Trust. Keep living in your dark world and you will never find a sliver of light in your life. There is only one way to remove this darkness. Connect. You need to connect." It shocked me. A homeless man describing me so accurately and then telling me to connect? Was it just luck? Nonetheless, it pissed me off. I turned away and headed towards my work, telling the homeless man to spend it well.
"Good morning, Gilly!" It was my colleague Kimmy. She doesn't really pick up well on my signs to leave me alone. I waved and nodded as I walked past her. "Oh Gilly, always playing the cool guy. When are you going to loosen up?" As always, I ignored her and kept going. I've never met anyone so persistent. She does this every day. You would think, that after a few years, you'd get the hint right? At least the other colleagues didn't bother me.
The stairs to the basement office were dark as usual. The company put me there for good reasons. Being the antisocial person that I am, it was a logical decision. I didn't mind and the company didn't mind either. The only one who does mind, is Kimmy. After flipping the light switch, I made myself comfortable in my workplace and checked out the things on my schedule today. It's not going to be a very busy day. Just a few reparations, which shouldn't take me a lot of time. I'll have more time to find out what the hell that application is.
Lunchtime approached and I just finished fixing what needed fixing. Kimmy came downstairs to see if I wanted to join her for lunch. I gave her the same answer as always. She really is stubborn. "Suit yourself! One day you'll go on a lunch date with me!", said Kimmy as I saw her face turn a little bit reddish. "Did I say lunch date? I...I...meant lunch. As in colleagues." Kimmy ran up the stairs quite fast after those words. Date? Me and her? Maybe she's into these kinds of relationships. There are so many people who are attracted to the wrong kind of persons knowingly. The world is full of strange and cruel people.
The fans of my laptop started to whirl as I booted it up. After logging in, I opened up the browser to look up some information about "Connect to me". I couldn't find anything relevant, which was weird, because I can't be the only one with this problem, right? There are billions of people online, sharing their problems and no one has the same problem as me? I decided to post it up on some forums to see if those people could give me some insight.
"I need some help here. When I turned on my laptop his morning, there was this unknown application installed on it. It's called Connect to me. It wasn't there when I shut down my laptop last night. I can't delete it and it doesn't have any information when I check out it's properties. There's no information to be found online about it. Anyone here, who knows something about this?"
Weekend is around the corner and I'm almost ready to call it a day. All that's left is filling out the paperworks. Glancing one last time at the strange application, I turned off my laptop, making my way upstairs. I gave my boss, Ross, the paperworks for today. He looked at his watch and asked me if I was finished already. I told him there wasn't anything left to do and wanted to have an early start at the weekend. He waved me off and went back to his own work. Ross never was the kind of guy to go against me. He knew I did my job well and it gave me some privileges.
I left the building and looked around if the homeless guy was still there. No sign of him to be found anywhere. Remembering what he said his morning still pissed me off. A hand grabbed my shoulder, startling me. "Gilly? What are you looking for?" I brushed off the hand from my shoulder and turned around to see it was Kimmy. "Please don't touch me, Kimmy." I saw in her expression that she was shocked to hear that. "I'm sorry if that came across rude, but I really don't like people touching me." Kimmy shook her head and she smiled a little bit. "It's ok, Gilly. I should've known you value your personal space."
I decided to ask Kimmy if she saw the homeless guy in front of the office building this morning. "Homeless guy predicting your future for money? If there was one, I'd definitely would try it! I'm always so curious if these people can really do it!" Kimmy looked pretty hyped about it, but I gave her the odd look. "You actually believe that there are people capable to predict the future?" Kimmy looked very happy as I asked her that question. "There's this thing about humans only use ten percent of their brain, right? Well, actually that's a myth and everyone, who is healthy, uses their brain fully. The thing is, humans haven't been able to figure out how to rewire the brain, so that the brain works efficiently and at maximum capacity. I believe that there are people out there who have these kind of brains. It allows them to do amazing stuff like predicting the future." Rewiring? I think Kimmy herself needs some rewiring. I gave her the odd look again. I walked towards my bike as I waved goodbye. "You sure are interesting Kimmy." I couldn't see her face, but I imagined she was happy hearing that. It was time for me to go home and solve this mystery.
Closing the door of my apartment feels like shutting out the world. My mind unwinds and I can get back to my own things. I made my way to the kitchen to grab a jar of water and a glass. Settling down behind my desk, opening my laptop and turning it on, I thought about why I'd said that Kimmy was interesting. She sure is an odd woman. Maybe her persistency got to me.
The login screen booted up and I logged in. The application was still there. I opened up the browser to see if anyone had posted a reply on the forum.
"I've never heard of an application like that. Are you sure you have no idea where it comes from?" - H4x0r1337
"Maybe it's some kind of ransomware? Nowadays, hackers really are inventive." - Little-Sunshine
"It is very strange that no one on the Internet knows what this application is. Did you you start it up yet? I'm very curious about it!" - Mynamedoesnotmatter
The replies go on and on with no helpful information whatsoever. I decided to abandon this thread and just open the application. I have everything on backup, so I can always reinstall my laptop if necessary. My laptop started to make noise as I double clicked the icon. A dialog box opened up.
"Hello Gilly. Please press continue to connect..."
YOU ARE READING
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Short StoryGilly finds himself all alone in the world. Isolated, but connected to the Internet as his way of interacting with the world. He finds a mysterious program on his laptop that will change him forever.
