Fair Grounds - Short Stories

The Black App

.K.T. sat in the back of the class with Shondra. Not because she was a loser and didn't want to pay attention to the teacher, but because it was the only class her and BFF Shondra had together and they had important business to discuss.

Her iPhone buzzed in her back left pocket and she fished it out being careful to keep it behind Jason Freeman's back. He was a wide kid with acne that festered across his forehead but he was a computer genius and that made him the good kind of geek. KT was always kind to him. Ever since he bailed her out on her first group PowerPoint assignment.  She wasn't an idiot but her main skill was in knowing which people would help her up the ladder and which were dead weight. She didn't have time for being held down by sandbaggers.

MYSTERY BLACK APP

Those were the only words now flashing bright white on her screen and she quickly deleted them. No thank you. Telemarketers and commercials were not something she had time for.  She placed the phone back in its snug resting spot in her pocket and looked at Shondra waiting for an answer. Shondra was currently ogling Derek King as he gave his speech on the dwindling population of the North American loon.

She tried getting back to the conversation they had started on who was most likely to be kicked out or go nuts on their new television obsession "Tiny House Tantrums" but Shondra was always speechless when Derek was around.  KT had told her once to see a doctor about it. "A girl should be able to get a boost of hormones from her ovaries and use her mouth at the same time, you should really get that checked". But Shondra had just laughed it off.

As she made a firm commitment to her decision that Kayleigh was going to be the next to go (a binge eating drag queen who plays an okarina would never last stuffed with 10 other people in 200 square feet), her phone buzzed again. She stealthily jimmied the phone out into the open and rolled her eyes at the screen.

BLACK APP. LEVEL 1 APPROVAL

Before her finger could swipe to delete it the screen swirled and a flashing white circle with a bright red V appeared. Instinct kicked in and she pushed it. Immediately her phone buzzed with an incoming message.

"welcome test user. you have been approved for levels 1-5 of the black app. by completing level one you agree that black app and its subsidiaries are not liable for mental or physical damages occurring from or obtained while engaged in level activities."

At this point anything would have peaked her interest. No matter how cute Derek was, just because a bird carried her baby on her back and had a cool sound didn't mean she needed to hear about it for ten minutes.

The screen then flashed a series of full screen red blocks and a picture of a decaying crypt appeared.

LEVEL 1:  "you have until midnight tonight to find Groves Cemetery and scan the hidden barcode on the Moynihan crypt. Failure to do so will result in termination of your game privileges. Once the task is completed you will level up and be assigned a new task"

A GPS map blinked to life on the screen. The cursor showed her exact location at Albion High School and the red blinking V appeared as a destination. Twenty minutes from her current location.

The map faded and a pixelated picture took its place slowly coming into focus to show a swarm of bats surrounding an odd looking girl cowering in a darkened corner.

Immediately her phone went back to its locked screen mode.

KT's head snapped to Shondra. Trying to see if she had caught any of the craziness. Her bestie, unfortunately continued looking dreamily at the bird boy. Ugh. She searched her phone for another sneak peak of the game. All that was there was a small black app box with a red V in the middle. It wasn't opening when she touched it and didn't give her the option to delete it.