Blurred Lines

Chapter Three: Facial Recognition

The computer had a password. More specifically, it had a password and an option for facial recognition. It was a huge touch-screen monitor that I could tell was up to date just by looking at it. It was way ahead of the times in this area.

Either way, I wouldn't be able to get in.

My hand rested on the mouse as I chewed on the inside of my cheek. I didn't have very many good options at this point.

I could go through the books in hopes of finding something, but that would take too long, which meant Shawn and Dillon would start to get suspicious-if they weren't already. Plus, with how many books there were, chances are I'd have to go through everyone of them to know all I needed to know.

I could try to get out, but I had no idea how to go about that. I couldn't get the bookcase back down on my own, so there had to be some sort of activation.

But I didn't want to leave before I had the chance to at least try getting into the computer. And, once again, I had that gut feeling that I had to try it.

The password combination could take millions of tries, and I wasn't sure if the computer would reset itself after so many failed attempts.

That left me with the facial recognition. I could try it, but there was little to no chance it would work with my face.

Then again, there was also little to no chance of a man appearing in a storm that only destroyed the room I was in.

That definitely gave me confidence.

"Well, I guess it's worth a shot," I muttered in frustration as I guided the mouse to the facial recognition option. I clicked it and a window popped up in the center of the screen, showing me the view of the front camera. The quality was incredible, even in the blue lighting. Every detail stood out, and something inside me screamed that this was wrong for this place, something this technologically advanced shouldn't be in a town from the seventeen hundreds.

Just like the punk rock guy, Shawn's cuts, and all the other weird things I'd already seen in this seventeen-hundreds style farm town. Something was definitely going on here, I just had to figure out what.

I aligned my face with the blinking square that signaled where it would register.

I waited patiently, not moving so it would be able to see me clearly. A loud beep came after a few minutes, and I jumped.

"Face not recognized."

I let out a sigh and turned to walk away. I guess I wasn't going to be able to get my answers on this, then.

"Face recognized."

I spun around on my heel, staring at the computer in shock. It worked? But it said it didn't work, how could it have worked?

Did it recognize my butt? I thought stupidly, and pushed it aside.

I looked at the screen and it was loading, turning on, logging in. It worked. It actually worked.

It worked!

Excitedly, I crouched on my knees in front of the desktop. I can't believe it worked. How? How did it recognize me if I've never been on it before?

I pushed away my questions and waited with my fingers hovering over the keyboard. Now, I could get the answers to all my questions I've had since I got to this stupid place.

It made the Windows startup sound and I blinked in surprise. Not only do they have modern computers, but they're Windows? Picky picky.

The desktop loaded and I grabbed the mouse, my hands shaking.