Phantasm (Phantasm, #1) - Camila/You

Chapter 1 [📱]

After re-heating a day old lasagna in the microwave, I made my way up the stairs and into my sister's room. I opened the door slowly, careful not to wake her up. Peering into her room, I saw her sleeping quietly under her covers with Penny, her stuffed penguin, cradled in her arms. She was only eight years old but she was already a lot more mature than me.

I remember when my father left, she was only six years old and I was afraid she wouldn't understand why he was leaving. But both mom and I were surprised when she didn't cry at all. I still remember what she said when I asked her about it.

"Dad just needs some time for himself. He'll be back."

I don't know about the last part but, maybe she was right about the first one.

I slowly closed the door and made my may to my own room. There was nothing for me to do so I grabbed my guitar from the corner and plopped down on my bed. I closed my eyes and just strummed a random melody. Memories of my high school days spent writing songs resurfaced from my mind. Sometimes I would even skip lunch just because I had an idea for a song that I needed to get on paper before I forgot. I convinced myself that songwriting was what I wanted to do in the future. My songs would be sung by famous singers and everyone would be clamoring for me to write songs for them. But that was a distant dream now.

Sighing, I placed the guitar beside me on the bed and grabbed my phone. My phone was more for apps than messaging in all honesty. I mean I literally had no friends to text. I went to the App store and scrolled through the free apps. I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, just something to distract myself for a few hours.

I yawned in my hand and was about to put away my phone when I saw a peculiar app. Its name was 'Phantasm' and had no review nor downloads. Poor app, no one cares about you. Like me. I tapped it and read the description. But there was only one line written on it.

I can make all your dreams come true.

Now that sounded like a porn tag. But it was still weird because the icon was just a red P with a black background. Of course that could stand for porn but... why hasn't anyone downloaded it then? I debated whether to download it or not. It was definitely weird but if I don't like it then I could just delete it, no harm done, right?

Finally, after about two minutes, I decided that there was no harm in trying it out. The moment I saw it downloading, I placed my phone on the nightstand and let my eyes drift off to sleep. I began to wonder when my life would change, or if it ever would. Well there's no point thinking about the what-ifs now.

Maybe tomorrow would be better.

-//-//-//-//-//-

My eyes slowly fluttered open when sunlight hit my face from the window. I really didn't want to get up yet but-wait what time was it? I fumbled around the nightstand for my phone and raised it up to my face once I had it. I was expecting to see the time but I saw a pop-up on the screen instead. Careful not to let the guitar beside me fall on the floor, I sat up on my bed and wiped my eyes.

Finally, I started to focus on my phone. The background was dark red and there was a pop-up window in front of it.

Do you agree with the terms and conditions?

At first, I was confused but then I remembered the app I downloaded last night. Was this the Phantasm app? I pressed the agree button without looking at the terms and conditions. I mean, who reads those things anyway?

The moment I pressed the button, however, my phone suddenly shut down. Did I forget to charge my phone? I was trying to find my charger in the drawer when I felt my phone vibrate. I breathed a small sigh of relief when I saw the apple logo on the screen. Good, it must've just restarted. I really couldn't afford a new phone so I needed to take care of this one.