Hacked

eNTry OnE

Every since I was a fetus I've been interested...no, enthralled with technology. Not just the internet, necessarily, but anything mechanical. I've always had this overwhelming desire to find out how all machines functioned, and how to invent my own.

While I lived with my mum and dad, they would always bring home little pieces of discarded equipment from their places of work. I'd spend hours putting them together in tiny little robots along with old paper towel rolls and empty pop cans.

When I turned eighteen I moved out of their home and made my way to the outskirts of New London.

Right at the edge of the massive city...I knew that was where I belonged. Yes, the only places to live, if not in a box, are sagging apartment buildings and motels with strange stains covering the floors. Yes, I have to carry a knife with me on most days just in case. But I've never felt more at home anywhere else in my life.

It was June 13, two days after my nineteenth birthday.

I was going through Area 8; the biggest junkyard in the whole city.

I trudged through the sea of computer pieces and metal parts, up to my knees in it. If I were wearing anything other than my working outfit, I would have bled to death with all the scrapes I would be getting. Fortunately, I was wearing my special combat boots, trousers, and four layered bomber jacket. So stylish, I know.

My jacket was large and oversized and, I have to say, incredibly comfy. Insulated perfectly on the inside, a faded blue color on the outside. Sewed into all different pockets and seams were USB chords and hard drives for storage.

I adjusted my pack on my shoulders and blinked three times.

The bluetooth sensor that hooked over my right ear and went over the eye turned blue, scanning my surroundings.

"Crap..." I mumbled. There didn't seem to be anything interesting.

I walked a little bit farther, stopping when I spotted a rectangular formation jutting from the ground, moss and flowers growing around it.

I sat down, tugging at my leather gloves before reaching into my left boot. I pulled out a granola bar, chocolate chip. I unwrapped it, tossing the plastic into the wind, and took a bite.

I would just go home. Chris and PJ were always available. We could take a cab into town and see a film, or ask raunchy questions to the AI robots stationed around the street corners.

"There's never anything interesting anymore."

Bzzt.

I got to my feet as fast as I could, a stream of curse words flowing from my lips.

I turned around and looked down at what I had sat on, breathing heavily.

"Did you..." I breathed. "Did you just shock my...?"

Sparks burst from beneath the vines and flowers.

I felt myself grin, my pulse quickening. This was it. This was something for sure.

I got down on my knees and began to tear away the plant life, occasionally needing to squash a spider or two, until it was completely cleared off. Save for the years of dust, of course.

"Alright," I said in a whisper, "don't shock me. I'm helping you."

I lifted with all my might, ignoring the crunch of rust beneath my fingers, until I pulled it from the ground.

It was a computer; completely outdated.

And broken.

As if it were a lost puppy, not a piece of junk, I cradled it in my arms and smiled. 
"I'll fix you. Let's see what you're made of."

And so I made my way out of Area 8 to where I had set my wagon; a little red one that I had painted black with my name in silver.

I gently put the busted machine in it, my heart blossoming.

As I pulled it down the oil splattered streets past the bars and cigarette-scented night clubs, I couldn't stop smiling.

I hadn't seen such an old piece of technology in so long.

The screen was shattered almost completely, suggesting that someone had done it intentionally. I ignored that. This was mine now, I found it.

And I would bring it back to what it once was.