Bella

Mark was a young twenty five year old man who was quite a loner. He didn't spend much time with friends like normal twenty five year olds. He preferred staying home, reading books, and playing games. Many referred to him as an introvert, you know like a very anti social, lonely person. Although he was quite the loner, he did have one thing that he loved more than anything. That one thing was his iPhone. He did everything with his iPhone. He talked to it when he was overwhelmed. He looked to it for advice. He even named it. Bella was her name. He considered her his girlfriend. Sometimes he would even imagine that she acted like an actual girlfriend. She would remind him when their "anniversary" was coming. She would provoke him to go to bed, and sometimes even put on soothing music to put him to sleep. Although it was awkward at times, Mark loved Bella and he would never trade her for anything.

One Friday night, Mark went to a bar, just to pass time. He sat on his phone and drank most of the time, that is until a beautiful woman caught his attention. She had an amazing smile and the cutest laugh he had ever heard. For the first time the whole night, Mark looked up from his phone. He ignored the vibration that rang through his arm and even silenced the ringtone that would normally gain his undivided attention. The mystery woman smiled and winked at Mark, making him smile and blush slightly. He took a deep breath and walked over to her.

"Hi" Mark said nervously.

"Hi I'm Christina" she stated while holding out her hand.

Mark shook her hand and before he knew it, they were talking for almost two hours. It felt like they talked about everything. they talked about work, friends, common interests , and even about thing they didn't like.

"You know what I hate" stated Christina while taking a sip of her drink. "I hate when people are so attached to their technological devices, you know like their cell phones and their ipads and all that other crap. I mean granted, they are helpful, but you dont have to live on them."

Mark chuckled, knowing that he was one of those people. "Yeah, but you know they can be addictive. Its like they become a part of you that you can never get rid of, until of course the next best thing comes out."

"Ha! Until the next best thing comes out. That is so true."

Christina moved closer to Mark. "You know, at first I thought you were one of those people. You know that lived on their phones and never talked to anyone. But now I see that you are actually pretty cool." She smiled and moved away from him.

He could tell that she was drunk but he was having too much fun to be a party pooper. "You know, I was but I've been trying to 'breakaway' from the habit. I guess I realized I was missing so many things in my life, you know like I would have missed meeting you if I didn't look up from Be- my phone."

Christina smiled the best smile Mark had seen that night. She looked at the time and saw that it was close to eleven.

"Its late. I should get going."

"Yeah we should probably go. Maybe we can meet up another day, you know for coffee or something." Christina looked at him grateful for his inquisition.

"Yeah I would love that."

Before parting, she gave him her number and made him promise to call her the next day Mark promised her and watched as she walked away. He put her number in his phone and then left the bar. His whole walk home, Mark thought about the wonderful night he was having. When he got home, he heard a noise that he couldn't place. Then he realized that it was his iPhone. He heard the buzzing sound that rang through the speaker. Mark looked at his phone and found that there had been many memos and reminders that had gone off. He tried to think of when he had made them, but couldn't remember if he had. He ignored the curiosity that buzzed in his head and began reading all the memos. As he read, he saw how personal the reminders were. Some were about things he vented about, while others were little things like getting a gift for his mother's birthday that was in three weeks. His curiosity grew more and more as he read. He honestly didn't remember putting those memos in his phone. Then suddenly he heard the soothing music he heard many nights before start to play. He never actually considered how or where the music came from, but he liked it. He put Bella on the charger near his bed and then went to sleep.