Chapter 2

Nessa was feeling lost. "Maybe it's the wrong building?" she said quietly. It was the same number, though. "Maybe I didn't notice any changes all this time since I'm never observing the surroundings?" she asked herself, trying to rationalize this discrepancy. She looked at the building's surroundings, and it was very similar, so much so that it couldn't be another one. But some other class was going on where she was supposed to be at. So where was everyone? She tried to search all classes, but one hour passed and nothing. So she searched for people going out of the classrooms, nothing.

Some other people were searching in the building. The same group of friends as before, and one of them noticed Nessa also searching for something. Maybe she saw him? They asked her if she'd seen their buddy, and gave her a small description of him. She said no. "Gonna do an Amber Alert, I guess!" one of them said, and everyone except Nessa laughed. "What's an Amber Alert?", she asked only in her mind, not wanting to embarrass herself. "Please send us a message on Facebook if you find him. His name is Blaine …, and my name is …" She had a puzzled look on her face. Sending a message on a Facebook? How would she send the book to him?

She interrupted him and said "Just give me your phone number, simple!"

"I'd rather not." He said, "Or send me an e-mail if you'd like" he spelled out his email, and she wrote it down on a piece of paper. "I'll be sure to help you!" she said, and they left. Now she wasn't sure what to do. So she went to her dorms. As she was going, something felt odd, around her. She looked at people passing by. Some had little black objects they were staring at.

It was lit up, and there were pictures or videos on it, she remarked by creepily observing strangers. They noticed her and either went away or stared at her disapprovingly to make her go away. Nessa then smiled awkwardly and went on to look at other people. Something is very odd. Was she actually dreaming? She tried to wake herself up, by pinching her arm, but nothing. Slapping herself didn't work either. Again, people found her very odd, so she went to her dorms.

The dorms were remodelled, but the key to hers still worked!

"Dreams aren't very logical", she thought. She opened the door, and her room had also changed: the walls of the living room were now beige, with weird appliances strewn all over with, for example, one she identified as a very thin television set. Everything else was normal, just weirdly designed. She heard some screams, probably from a tv nearby. Then it stopped, and she heard someone stand up and come her way. She scrambled to an open door and hid behind it. A young man was looking all around, after hearing the sound of a key opening a door and finishing his turn on a strategy video game. He saw nothing, so he went back to his game. After two minutes, she decided to quietly go back outside, and when she closed the door behind her, someone else noticed her. But he didn't find her suspicious, he just smiled, and winked at her. She felt very gross at that moment, and for the 2nd time today, power-walked out. "Hey buddy, I found your secret girlfriend!" he said, "I saw her closing your door with a key!"

The apartment's current tenant facepalmed. There was someone in here! "Dude, I don't have a secret girlfriend, that girl just b&e'd (breaking and entering) my apartment." And the other man slowly opened his mouth and said : "Oh f***, it's those stupid locks, they're way too old!" "Yeah people keep getting robbed!" The tenant exclaimed. But he thought for sure that each key was different.

—-

He requested to change the locks in the dorms and many students joined him. The people in charge accepted to do so, but only did it a year later, because he had pushed them to do it.

—-

Nessa quickly evaded the man who had caught her. The same thing as back when she went to class was happening, and she was now sure this wasn't real. "Am I really in a coma?" She asked herself, and someone passing by stared at her. "Oh, she thought, I said that out loud didn't I?".

She tried to find a phone box, but there were none, so she went to a building and asked someone working there for a phone. Someone gave her one, and she tried calling her parents, but a gravely voice asked "Who are you?" and as soon as she said "It's me, Nessa", they hung up the phone. So she wandered around until dark, which was after 20 minutes. She got to observe more people playing around with those devices. They had a phoning function, a television function and you could also type text messages, like emails, and send them to other people. All that, without any wires whatsoever, and it could fit in the palm of your hand without muscling your arm. That was all she knew about it, except for one thing : she NEEDED one. The people searching for a certain Blaine came back. They were looking at the devices. "Hello!" she said cheerfully, while approaching them. "Did you find him?" she asked when she remembered they were looking for someone. "No, and we're very wo-" someone said, but they were interrupted by Nessa pointing at the object of her desire while asking "So where can I buy these… Things?". They looked at her like she grew a second head, then one of them said hesitantly "…Smartphones?". "Ohhh… Smartphones, I see. So where can I buy them?"

They figured out pretty quickly that she didn't know anything about today's technology, let alone the internet, apart from emails. So no one said Amazon or anything like that. "Anywhere like tech shops or somewhere where they sell devices like Walmart" one of them said. He was Blaine's best friend. He almost never was judging with other people, even if they were odd to him. Because we all have different experiences, and that's what makes this world interesting. She thanked him, and ran to the nearest Walmart. When she entered the store, she was amazed by everything she saw. In this case, everything means the decoration and design of the place and products, after the new technologies. There were phones you could test, and she went straight to the section they were at. She spent some time in it, admiring, but mostly touching. With a touch of a finger, you could do almost anything.

When she looked at the time on a phone, she realised it was 11pm. "Oh god, what do I do now?" she thought, very concerned about the fact that she didn't see the time pass at all. She very well couldn't sleep in a Walmart. But she could go on a Safari and ask questions. She typed "How do I sleep if I don't have a home?", but it wasn't good enough, it was just results about how to fall asleep. She tried again : "Where do I sleep if I'm homeless?". And the first answer was "Hotels or Motels". "Of course!, she thought, where was my brain?!". She said "Thank you phone!" and ran out of the store. Then she ran back in. She didn't know where the hotels were now. She probably would have to sleep in a Motel though. She searched for hotels in the area, and settled on motels. This tool was truly a godsend for her. That's why everyone was using it. It could simply do anything. There was much less walking and talking to do what you like.