Whisper

Chapter Two

The rain didn't stop its endless stream even after I spent an hour or two in the grocery mart. I trudged along the abandoned chip aisle reaching for a bag of chips every here and there. The excessive crinkling sounds of the chip bags made me cringe.

Beep. Beep.

Instinctively I dropped everything in my hands, a bag filled with food and a chocolate bar I'd been snacking on, to see who was reaching my ICD (Intercom Device). My fingers punched in a code on my wrist band, opening my retina display and switching over from eyesight mode.

As a child, I was born with a damaged optic nerve. After living almost blind for five years, my parents decided my pain grew too strong. Of course, we didn't have enough money to get an advanced retina display but I could get rid of the pain. Ten years passed with no eyes. Which not only took a toll on my self-esteem and confidence but my education too. Living in a technology-based society with no eyes wasn't very beneficial. I had been bullied growing up. Once I had gotten into a fight. Surprising. The other person rammed my head into a wall. Metal wall with wires. Fried parts of my brain. Every birthday for the past twelve years since I was fifteen, I have been upgrading my features. The government had been kind enough to replace my brain, or at least fund it.

I waited a moment for my display to transmit the message.

Faith. Pick up some ibuprofen and Adderall for Micky, some type of sweet for Killian, and I want to make cheeseburgers. Please and thank you. Text me back if you need anything. :)

Faith Aris, my sister. Much older than me by thirteen years. Making her turn forty-one this June. Micky was her son. My niece was seven years old as of two weeks ago. Killian is Faith's best friend on the island. We call it The Glass Dome, but that's just preference.

Text? What'd she thought our century was? Living in 2310 is different from living back in 2154 when phones almost died out and were brought back as a new device, ICD's. Then everybody started saying, "IC me." At least that's what our archives say.

I punched in the code again and switched back to eyesight. Returning to stuffing the bag with other chips. I moved on, walking to the foreign foods aisle. Hamburger buns rested on the top shelf. Sighing I reach up on the tip of my toes. I grunted as I grabbed five bags. Only twenty-eight people lived on The Glass Dome, many were vegetarian. I wanted to be vegetarian but I couldn't give it up.

I shoved the food into my bag and retrieved my RCMB (Remote Controlled Mirco Bag). Handy little things. Clicked the button and my bag collapsed on itself into a tiny little flat rectangle. I bent over and picked it up, putting in my pocket as I walked to the medicine aisle.

The clouds had dispersed but nightfall had come and I was left to walk to the docks. The only problem I had noticed was I had been being followed again. The thought of who it had been crossed my mind.

The cop guy lived. But that's not the problem. The problem is whom he works for. Ceratin police stations won't bother with me. I'm just highly advanced at technology, literally because I have a computer brain. If he worked for the government then we had a problem.

I sild my fingers over my wrist easily, typing in a special code.

Bright red words flashed on my retina, "Night Vision Activated." It followed with another red text, "Surround Vision Activated."

I grinned beneath the face mask. My retina brightened almost instantaneously, the docks were deserted. Rubbage and liter filled it like a living trash can. Climate change had been prevented but that didn't stop people.

I cauaslly walked in an open area surrounded with leftover car bits and hovercrafts of old centuries. Perfect place for a standoff. Perhaps this cop guy would appear and we could play Beat the Baddie.

Even through my hacker's suit, my feet were being poked and stabbed to death by shards of metals. I sighed, laying on my back to stargaze. The stars were blurred out though. Humans decided it was best to cover our entire planet in a bubble essentially. I never studied science, but I did know this bubble supported some rich billionaire's dumb dreams of climate preservation.

Light gleamed across the sky. Shooting star.

Red flashing lights on my retina alerted me that had not been a shooting star, but a flashlight coming from a human. Cop guy had arrived.

I rolled onto my stomach slowly sliding into a crouching position. My retina whirled around me. He stood on a pile of junk on the opposing side of the clearing. I crept out. Clicking a button on my thumb. An electric blade popped out.

Cop guy turned his back to me. At that moment I took my opportunity. Lunging as fast as I could in his direction. Raising my blade while my legs launched me up.

My blade was aimed at his exposed throat. It would be easy and painless.

However, he too was smart. Prepared. Naive. He let an electric blade of his own come free.

Our blades crashed together, sending electric sparks in the air. We both fell to the ground.

"Hello, Whisper."