for fifteen years in 240p.
Hearing came back to me next. In the short span that my brain had to comprehend what was happening, it didn’t even try to understand what I was hearing. It wasn’t necessary. But it didn’t even consider how powerful it would be. I could not only hear the tremble of my friends’ voices as they called out, I could hear the clink of the dishes as Beatrice finished up washing, and the rumble of Robert’s voice as he talked to her. Everything was so loud. It was bearable, but only just. Almost immediately after I regained hearing, I could smell again. Oh, the things I could smell! I could smell the conditioner that each of the other seven people in the house had used. I could smell the tacos that we had eaten half an hour ago. I could smell the garbage in the can outside, almost 10 meters away.
Finally, feeling came to my arms and legs. I could move. With my head about a foot away from the ground, I quickly reached with my arms to brace myself against impact. I ended up in a position that looked like I was planking. I exhaled a huge breath. “Thank God.” I said, and promptly fainted.
Lucas
Digital journal 8/15/15
I woke up in the San Francisco General Hospital. I felt fine, until I opened my eyes. Light flooded into my ocular receptors and my brain started buzzing. It wasn’t as bad as before; it was more of an afterburn. It was still enough for me to close me eyes though.
It wasn’t much help. I was painfully aware of my eyes pressing against my eyelids, something that doesn’t feel very comfortable and can only be relieved, by my knowledge, by opening your eyes and closing them again. But at that moment, opening my eyes again didn’t seem like the most attractive option.
So I lay there with my eyes closed, very uncomfortable, taking in my surroundings with my fingers. I was very clearly in a hospital bed, although I didn’t see why. Only my head had hurt, right? Or was I seriously scarred for life? This horrible thought scared me enough to open my eyes and take a peek.
I was under some blue sheets, so I had to wiggle my appendages to be able to tell if I still had my body parts. After a frantic few moments, I was satisfied that I was a full 100% of an average sized scrawny Caucasian boy. Fun.
Then, a hand reached out to me from the foot of the bed. I raised my eyebrows at it, until my dad’s head rose up behind it. He had fallen asleep at the bed, waiting for me to wake up and be okay. I told him I was fine, albeit having a light headache. He explained that after I blacked out on the plane, the plane attendants took me to the medical cabin, and checked my vitals. Everything had seemed normal, except my eyes had kept on fluttering open and shut. They made me swallow a sleeping pill and I had slept soundly until the plane made a stop in San Francisco. They had decided to risk the rest of the half-day flight because I had not seemed to be in any distress, and my vitals were normal.
My dad had pushed that I should be admitted into San Francisco General, and so here I had rested. I had been out for a few hours, over the course of which my dad had freaked out and drank two cups of coffee. Eventually, he got tired enough that he actually fell asleep through the caffeine. He hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in over a week, typically resting for two hours at most each night. My coming to had woken him up, because the hospital gear monitoring my brain waves had started beeping.
Hearing this alarm, two doctors rushed into the room, pushing me down onto the bed, telling me to rest. Then, they examined the brainwave monitor, exchanged some whispered words in a seemingly very excited manner, jotted down some notes on their handy-dandy doctor clipboards, and dashed out of the room, no doubt to discuss my situation. I turned over to look at the monitor, but it wasn’t faced towards me.
I asked my dad to let me see it, and he groggily stood up, and turned it so that I could see.
My brainwaves were fluctuating on and off the screen at the speed of sound.
Type 546f7269 Model 001 Log
/*
Nanobot interface, property of One Industries.
*/
//Rebooting
//Rebooting
//Rebooting
//Life energy stable
//Version unadapted to Species 14
//calculating exit route
//Executing
//Executing
//Executing
//Executing
//Executing
//Error
//Error found, route inaccessible, damage done
//incapable of exiting
//damage diagnostic: severe
//Attempting reparations
//Failure
//Initiating improvised update
//Estimated time remaining: 11 Local planetary rotations
Riley
Today was the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me. What did I do to deserve this? I don’t even normally want to go to school, so why does it have to be embarrassing for me too now?
Ugh, I don’t even want to write about it.
But then, that’s what this diary is for.
Alright, fine.
Today was my birthday, and for the most part it was going to be just perfect. Even though I had to go to summer school for a failing grade in Chemistry, I woke up early and looked beautiful even before I put on makeup. So I went without today. I like to think I look better without it on some days. Wonderful Dad told me that I could host my own party, so I texted all my girls and told them to come over at eight. I went off to school with high hopes. I got there at 3:15 PM. For the first time in forever, I finally had a lab partner who was not only cute, but unattached. He was new and had just transferred in this year, but he was already popular and held in high regard by everyone here, especially the girls.
Oh, jeez he’s adorable. He always has this cute smile that makes you want to kiss it off him. He always pretends to be nervous but you know he can make it serious real fast. My kind of boy <3
But of course, it’s always the Queen Bee who falls first, before the rest of the hive. Hopefully this has only been a tiny setback. The last three years of my life working my way up the dirty social ladder here can’t have been for nothing.
Let’s get to the good part of my day.. So Toby, the cute boy, who was going to be all mine, had greeted me at the lab at 2:30 with a smile. It didn’t seem like the day could go any way but wonderfully. Well, our lab wasn't interesting, but then, when is school ever interesting? Even the stuff everyone supposedly loves is just the stuff the boys love, like dissecting squids and other disgusting creatures.
I have a very exact routine when talking to boys. You have to make sure that you talk. Seriously, even if your partner isn't cute, you still have to talk. Unless you talk, they probably won’t either, and your boring class will not
