Call Failed

• Majich Sam, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2018

‘’Malcolm you’re late for your meeting!’’
My what?
‘’What are you doing just standing there, hurry up!’’
Who, me?
‘’Useless!’’. My arm proceeded to get grabbed and dragged around by this middle-aged secretary-looking woman.
‘’Do you understand how important this meeting is? Our relationship with Nitrosoft could very well shake the foundations of our company!’’
Company? Relationships? What’s going on?
‘’Hello? Are you paying attention? For god’s sake, what’s gotten into you?’’
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I look around me and realize I’m in some office-type building with workers rushing around everywhere.
‘’…Where am I?’’
‘’How do you not know?!’’
‘’Excuse me ma’am, I think you’ve mistaken me for the wrong person.’’
‘’Wh-!’’
As she was exclaiming I immediately ran out to what seems to be the exit door. I have to get out of here.
--
‘’*pants heavily*, this place seems fine.’’
I stop by an empty park enclosed by trees. I should be safe here.
‘’I need to recollect my thoughts.’’
I don’t remember anything. I know my name is Malcom Jameson and that I’m 15 years old. I know that I’m still in high school, and should still be studying. Even if this is the future, I shouldn’t be this successful in life.
-- Hold up.
I thrust my hand into my pocket and bring out my phone.
Yep, the dates the same as I remembered it. So where am I? I check my contacts and all my apps, everything is the same.
I bring out snapchat and look at my face.
…Yep, still as ugly as ever.
I check my streaks with everyone and realize they’re all gone. I must’ve ended it with everyone a long time ago now that I think about it.
‘’So far so good.’’
They really must’ve been mistaken then. I thought this was going to be one of those situations where I’ve gone mad with amnesia, however since everything seems to be the same, that can’t be true.
I try calling my mum.
*Call Failed*
Huh? She should’ve finished work by now. I call again.
*Call Failed*
…Alright, let’s try someone else.
*Called Failed*
…Strange.
I check my phone again and realized that I have no signal.
That explains a lot.
I look around again and still find this place unfamiliar. However, when I close my eyes and let the atmosphere take me, it somehow feels nostalgic.
Nostalgia… even though I’ve never been here before.
‘’We’ve finally found you!’’
Ah, they caught on fast.
‘’Trying to hide from us even though we’ve put a tracker on you, have you forgotten?’’
A tracker? Isn’t that an invasion of privacy? I demand rights!
‘’If it weren’t for the looping signal we’ve ordered from Nitrosoft we probably wouldn’t have found you’’.
Ah.
I remember now.
I’m stuck in an endless Loop that repeats over the course of 3 weeks.
I sure as hell must be close to insanity if I’ve forgotten about that.
Alright then, back to the plan--