The Pilot Launch Omni-Technical Armour

The box was a glossy plain white colour with no pictures or information written on the exterior. It looked just like any other random box and could contain anything. What did Suit Guy say it was? A something-A model watch?

Abigael shook her head and accepted it for what it was. She was a little disappointed she didn't get the industrial coffee machine, but her luck had never been good in the first place, it was a miracle she got anything.

She walked over to Supermarket A's service counter and received her paperwork before chucking the box into one of her already bulging shopping bags and decided to call it a day, she just wanted to go home and sleep already.

After parking her bike outside her apartment it was 8:30pm and she still hadn't eaten anything since the chocolate bar. Unfortunantly she was waylaid by her chatty neighbour for yet another twenty minutes after getting out of the elevator. Hungry, exhausted and a little depressed she wanted nothing more than to curl up on the sofa, eat chocolate and watch mind-numbing TV dramas. She was struggling to stay awake and couldn't seem to muster the brain power to come up with a good enough excuse to get away. She wished she had the guts to just walk off.

'But Mimsy didn't go anywhere near her perfume collection. I keep telling her it must have been the wind but I know she just doesn't like animals, she's a sour b*tch after all.'

'Yes Mrs C, actually I...'

'I know! Maybe she broke them herself by accident but is too stingy to buy new ones so now came up with this ridiculous story blaming poor Mimsy. Oh, how heartless! It doesn't matter what she says I won't fork out a cent for such a lying, deceitful...'

'Um, Mrs C...'

'Nasty, cat-hating...'

'Mrs C I smell something burning.'

'Smelly little- Burning you say?' The smell of charred baking was wafting slowly out of the open door to Mrs C's apartment. Mimsy the cat had already sought refuge in a pot plant in the hallway as the stench threatened it's sensitive nose.

'Oh heavens! My muffins!' As quickly as Mrs C arrived, she left again, rushing to save her muffins from a charred ending.

Abigael silently thanked the universe and tottered her way to her apartment next door.

Dinner was a bland affair, too tired to cook anything she just mixed some nuts and fruit with a little yoghurt and made a smoothy.

After putting away all her groceries she was about to put the bags away when she realised there was still that box.

[I may as well open it, it was a first place raffle prize after all] she reasoned, stashing the bags in the cupboard and grabbing the box before flopping in an ungraceful mess of posture to recline in front of the TV, box in hand.

There was nothing interesting on the outside of the box, so without further ado she flipped open the lid and started pulling out the wrapping layers.

Surrounded by a few walls of plastic and more than enough bubble wrap to satisfy her popping obsession for the next month, there lay a watch.

It was not bulky but it wouldn't considered delicate either. It was black, but a dull metallic sheen could been seen as she turned it around, observing it. In short, it was a watch. Avery plain watch. Abigael couldn't help the though that she had been ripped off, then remembered it was pretty much free anyway.

She pouted at it, wishing it was at least fashionable looking, but eventually decided to try it on. She slid it over her hand and looked for something to adjust the strap but there didn't seem to be an adjustable parts on the smooth black material.

[Well that's just great. Now it's broken too, was this whole raffle just a hoax to begin with? Maybe that wooden spoon kit was the only useable thing there. Whatever, how do I turn this thing on?] She grabbed the box again and rummaged through the wrappings for a manual only to come up empty handed. Even the paperwork she received from the counter only had purchasing information. Not deterred she decided to work it out as she went along. In her frustration she didn't realise that she had started mumbling to herself under her breath.

'No button, no switch, not even a charging port. How am I supposed to turn this stupid thing on?'

{ON}

The small screen suddenly lit up with a beeping sound, displaying the word in white on a black background.

{Loading...}

{Loading complete}

{Please wait while settings are calibrated} The words scrolled across the screen and Abigael had barely finished reading when the wrist strap suddenly tightened around her wrist without warning, earning a startled yelp.

Shocked, Abigael quickly tried to loosen the strap and remove the watch but found that there was no way to loosen it. It was strapped firmly to her left wrist and wouldn't even twist around her arm, it was like it had been stuck to her with a powerful glue.

'Sh*t!' Alarmed, she ran for the kitchen and grabbed whatever she could put her hands on, which turned out to be a butter knife, and tried to prise the thing off of her. But to no avail it seemed. After a frantic five minutes of jiggling and scraping, and accidentally cutting herself once, she dropped the knife in the sink and returned to the sofa, defeated. Some thirty minutes later there came another beep and a new message.

{Calibration complete.}

{Please input your personalisation preferences}

She gave the watch a glare but decided she may as well play with it for a while, she'd find a way to get it off later, maybe the manual was digital, a copy somewhere in the watch. She started tinkering with the settings, setting the theme colour to purple and imputing her details and so on. Eventually she finished and clicked the Confirm button.

{Personalisation complete}

{Congratulations and Welcome to the Pilot Launch Omni-Technical Armour, watch model!}

After displaying the text the watch beeped and displayed a rather normal looking smart watch screen with a few pre-installed apps.

The first thing she noticed was the time, displayed in the top right hand corner of the screen. It was already 10:30pm. Abigael groaned, remembering she still had to get up early tomorrow for work. She decided to forget about the watch and deal with it later

Turning off the TV and putting her finished smoothy glass into the sink, she turned off the lights and headed for bed.