John forgot his phone at home. He always felt so awkward without it. John looked around the subway platform again. He noticed every single person was on their phone.
Except John. He stared over the sea of people, trying to find someone, anyone, who wasn’t on their phone who would empathize. Their eyes would meet and John would shrug as if to say “it’s no big deal” even though it was a huge deal.
But John didn’t find anyone. No, everyone had their eyes glued to their screen, oblivious to the world around them.
A man bumped into John and handed him something. It was a cell phone, but it was near dead. “Don’t ever let them catch you looking up,” the man warned. He too was holding an object, but the battery life had gone out. Suddenly, the man broke into a run, screaming and fighting through the sea of people to get to an exit. Everyone turned to look at him, almost in sync. John felt the hairs on his neck stand up. A loud noise, unearthly but almost like a telephone dial tone, suddenly rang out on the platform.
People started tearing him apart. John watched with fear as the man was dismembered, right in front of him, by the people who had been looking at their cell phones. John was frozen with fear. Suddenly, it stopped. John was amazed to see all the people go back to looking at their phones. John started to quietly make his way out of the crowd, desperate to get to the world outside.
The cellphone beeped, dying loudly. Suddenly John found all eyes on him.
–
Credits to: krshann
Comments