New IPhone

• Courtney Gill, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2021

‘The new iPhone pro elite is a brand-new design with advanced features! It has a never-ending battery, and the best camera money could buy!!’ My eyes widened in excitement. I begged my mum to buy me this new iPhone. She laughed and whispered ‘no, not until your 30’.
On the way to school, I prepared myself for all the gloating everyone was going to do with their new iPhones. When I arrived at school it was so quiet, so I assumed everyone was already in class. As I walked through the hallways, I bumped into 30 different students. They were all distracted by their phone, it looked as if they were being controlled by the bright screens they looked into.
Something seemed odd when I got to school the following week because all the halls were empty with no students. The teachers sent me home and told me to be safe. The idea of everyone just randomly vanishing crosses my mind all day. Then it hit me, every person that has gone missing had the new phone. I go on a mission to buy the phone. The phone turned on and a blue light came on near the camera almost as if it were live recording me. All leads point to the camera. It’s possible that the inventor of the phone installed stalker ware programs which let the inventor spy on everyone. I knew what I had to do. As soon as I peeled off the tape the blue light turned back on. I waited and went to bed.
Toxic fumes flood my nose and I immediately wake up. To my surprise I am trapped in a dark room with all the people that went missing before me. A man creeps out singing with a flute. I quickly cover my ears hoping I cannot hear anything. All the people start marching out of the room, I quickly fall into line to try to fit in. He must be using hypnosis to control everyone he kidnaps. The person takes off their mask and my jaws drop to the floor. The mastermind is Louis Presley, he is a famous hitman who killed Elizabeth the queen. His motive was to gather people by persuading them with the new phone and then kidnap them. To keep them under his control he hypnotised them with the flute around his neck. He formed an army to take over the world. ‘Soldiers, you will attack the royal palace and kill everyone!’ Shrieked Louis. Everyone under the hypnosis cried out ‘Yes master!’. I must get my hands on the flute to stop this attack. Few moments later people started to follow each other into helicopters, the attack was among us. The helicopters pull up around the back. I snatched the flute aggressively and snap it in half. The shock on Louis’s face was if he just saw a ghost in broad daylight. All the hypnotised victims fall to the ground asleep. The security arrived and quickly arrested Louis.