My body launched forward a bit, trying to control my breathing. I was gasping for air, like I was previously drowning. My eyes were trying to focus so I could see around the room.
"Wha...." I breathed, knowing that was back in the room with the multiple colored chairs.
"The procedure is over. Thank you for using our services. You now have a SOuND. Have a good day." The monotone voice concluded. I got up and looked for the door.
When I got out of the room, the receptionist was still at her desk, glancing from her computer screen to her phone that was on her lap.
"Wow," She said. "Yours looks... different." She continued to stare at me with amazement.
"What are you..." I mumbled, my eyes widening. I slowly reached to touch my ears.
They were both covered with SOuND technology.
"Um, why do mine look different?" I asked her.
"Maybe the machine got you mixed up with our latest version." She explained as I leaned on her countertop.
"Huh, cool." I said, looking at my shoes.
"You better head on home. Here are the instructions you need to put music on your SOuND. Have a nice day." The receptionist handed me a document as I turned and made my way to the door.
"Thank you." I said.
"Wait, um, I can drive you home if you want, if your ride or something can't come." She told me.
"No, it's OK. I'm an inventor, and I just created some rocket boots that I want to test out. Thanks for the offer though." I said. I pulled up my wristband to my face.
"Come. Now." I commanded. I sat in front of the door, waiting for my invention to respond.
"Ah, a young tinkerer. Don't see many of those these days. You must be really smart to know how to voice control everything or even build rocket boots." She said.
"It just comes naturally," I explained, grinning at her. "It should be here in a couple of minutes."
"Y'know, it seems like you and my daughter would make great friends." She replied, handing me a picture of her. My eyes lit up when I saw her.
"You're Tris's mom?" I asked her. She nodded in response.
"You already know her? We just moved here a couple days ago, I'm surprised she already made a friend."
"Yea, we were talking at school. She seems like a great girl." Her mom stared at me with suspicion written on her face.
"As a friend, as a friend. I'm not the lovey-dovey kind of person right now. Maybe later." I explained, trying to show her that I wasn't one of 'those' guys.
Suddenly, a light burst through the door and latched itself onto my foot, making me fall onto the ceramic floor.
"Oww... oh look, it's here." I muttered as another came and stuck itself onto my other foot.
"Are you OK?" Tris's mom went around her desk and helped me up.
"Yes, I'm fine. It was nice meeting you, Tris's mom."
"Nice meeting you too. Goodbye now." She started, shoving me out of the door. I sighed, wondering if that was coincidence or just pure luck.
"Alright, rocket boots. I've seen Iron Man once or twice before, so I kinda know how to do this. Don't fail me now!" I urged, looking up into the sky. I took in a deep breath and started to run.
"Aaaannnddd, now!" I commanded as the rocket boots took off. I smiled as I was in the air, soaring like a bird with no cares or worries.
Like how everyone in the past wanted to be.
"Alright, now take me HOME!" I yelled as they blasted off and took me to my destination.
Home.
----~----
I threw myself into my Gravity chair and picked up my aunt's gift. I ripped it open with my MultiTool and put the USB into my computer.
"Thank you for purchasing an A.I.B. Your name?" It asked me.
"Mark." I replied.
"OK, Mark. I'm gonna need a name and a voice, unless you like this one. Give me a voice first." It told me.
I tried to think of multiple voices before finally choosing a girl voice, like Siri.
"A name?" It asked me. I thought even longer on this one. But then I realized the answer was the person I met a couple of days ago.
"Tris. It stands for Totally Right Interchangeable System. Tris." I said, smiling.
"Whatever you say, Mark." Tris muttered, getting itself set up.
"All done. You can now download me into anything you want. I am now your personal servant forever." Tris concluded. I took the USB out and stared at it.
"Cool. So, Tris, what do you want to talk about?" I asked her.
"Well, I kind of am a robot that just got installed so... I don't really know that much until I get to know you." Tris said.
"Huh, OK. How would you like to be in a SOuND? I hear it's roomy in there."
"Oh, really? Cool! Hook me up!" It exclaimed. I chuckled as I synced my SOuND to my computer, as well as Tris to my SOuND.
"Wow, there is a lot of space in here! Thank you, Mark!" It said. I felt a warmth through my high-tech headphones, not knowing what that meant. Weird.
"So Tris, you think you can hook up to my Chaos?" I asked her, leaning back in my Gravity chair.
"Sure, no problem!" It cheered, syncing to my Chaos immediately. "Done!" It squeaked.
"Wow, you're fast." I thanked her.
"It's all in the wrist... hey, what's that?" She asked me. I turned to the last electronic thing in my room. My rocket boots.
"Um, that's a big responsibility. You have to come when I call you, even if I'm one hundred miles away. Are you sure you're up for that?" I uttered to her.
"Yes. I know that I'm ready for anything." She replied with pride in her voice. I nodded.
"Alright, do your duty." I told her.
"Done." She said almost immediately.
"What? That fast? I put so much security on them so they wouldn’t get hacked and stuff..."
"I dunno. I just went in and did my stuff. Oh yea, and I also renamed them to Roots. It sounds way cooler than dumb ol’ rocket boots." She told me. I sighed and turned to my computer.
"Whatever. Here's a big one. Go online, find some music that I like and pull up some pages so I can purchase it."
After about two minutes, Tris had already pulled up the websites for me to buy their music.
"Wait a second, how did you know what music that I like?" I questioned her.
"Well, SOuND reads your mind to tell what kind of music you want to listen to. I just pulled up that information on your computer." She explained, opening more pages.
"OK, here's another biggie. Can you read this debit card?"
"Yes."
"Buy that music and sync it up with my SOuND, please." I asked nicely. And two minutes later, she was done with the whole project.
"Thank you. Is there things you cannot do?"
"Well, I can't cook, clean up your room, wash windows... shall I continue?" I chuckled and shook my head no.
"You're funny." I sighed, floating closer to my computer to find more music.
----~----
We spent the rest of the afternoon talking, downloading, reprogramming, and syncing. The sun had set in my room, and everything was at peace.
I walked downstairs to the kitchen to get another piece of cake, but to my dismay, the kitchen was a complete mess.
I heard yelling come from my parents' room that ended with Evan bursting into the kitchen. He stopped in front of me, breathing hard and looking me dead in the eye.
"Oh, here comes the birthday boy. Look at him, he's all special. Has everything he wants in the world. He doesn't care about anybody except his precious little mother. 'Oh look at me, I can create all these stupid, retarded inventions. I'm so special.'"
"My inventions are not retarded!" I yelled back at him, catching a whiff of his breath. "Are you drunk right now?" I questioned.
"Why do you care?! You don't care about me. I can't even get a simple hello from you!"
"Maybe because I don't want to talk to you!"
"Hey! Don't talk to my son that way!" My mother exclaimed, pushing Evan out of the way. He stumbled but retained his balance, pushing my mother into the wall. She fell, slowly sliding to the ground.
"I never even wanted to marry you. I was in it for the money." He admitted, shoving me. I kicked him in the shin, making him fall. He grabbed my leg and dragged me to our teleportation room. We used that room for emergencies only. It could take you anywhere, even to the edges of Alversia.
"I'm leaving this dumb family; but not without getting rid of you first." I tried to struggle out of his grip as he punched in the password that opened the door. He threw me in and shut it, trapping me inside. I banged on the door, trying to escape.
And I know where he was going to teleport me to.
"Tris! Tris! Answer me!" I yelled, but there was no response. Suddenly, I felt a shock.
I was free falling.
I started screaming as the wind tossed me back and forth in the air. I pulled up my arm to check to see if I was still wearing my wristband.
I wasn't.
"TRIS!!!" I yelled.
"Yes, Mark?"
"OK, um, um, plug into the mainframe of our house. Kick Evan out of the house and make sure my mother is safe. Put on all of the security protocols and protect her. Then, take Evan's DNA and retinal scans out of our system to make sure he never sets foot in our house again. But first, BRING ME MY ROOTS AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!!"
"Alright, on it, Mark." Tris replied.
I twisted and turned in the air, looking at the thick and dark clouds below. Pollution clouds. Will I even be able to breath? I flailed my arms, trying to at least get some balance. The clouds were getting closer and closer by the second.
"TRIS, WHERE ARE MY ROOTS!" I yelled again.
I saw one boot stamp onto my foot, but it was already too late. I was forced into the pollution cloud, and into whatever was below it.
"Tris... save me…”
Comments (0)
See all