Be Careful What You Wish For

Oscar grabbed a handful of popcorn and stared continuously at the tv as his favorite protagonist sliced the head off a zombie.

“So cool,” he whispered to himself.

“Oscar!” called a gentle voice from downstairs.

Oscar ignored the voice and continued to give his full attention to the movie. Another voice came from downstairs, but this time in a very harsh tone.

“Oscar Knight, you better come down here right now or I’ll come up there and make sure you never get to see the end of that movie!”

Oscar rolled his eyes and lazily got up from his bed and walked downstairs to the kitchen. In the kitchen, Mrs. Knight was washing a mountain stack full of dishes, while Mr. Knight seemed to be fixing a cabinet door handle, and his little sister Olivia was mixing pancake batter.

“You called me?” asked Oscar uninterested.

“Son, didn’t we tell you yesterday that we needed help cleaning the house before your grandmother arrives today?”

“I was busy, Dad,” says Oscar.

Olivia replied, “Yeah, busy watching Humans vs. Zombies for the 500th time.”

Oscar gets mad. “Shut up Olivia!”

“Hey! Do not speak to your little sister like that!”

“She started it!”

“Did not!” screams Olivia.

“Both of you stop it!” ordered Mrs. Knight. “Your grandma will be here very soon, and I want everything to be perfect for her birthday. Please Oscar, can you vacuum the living room?”

He sighs heavily. “Mom, this would have been a lot easier if you had bought the Roomba as I had said.”

“Honey, this may be harder for you to understand because we both grew up in different generations, but technology doesn’t have to do everything for you. It shouldn’t. There are some things we must do by ourselves. Plus, you will be up and moving and that’s good exercise for you.”

“I don’t want to exercise mom! I want to sit in my room, watch Humans vs. Zombies, play video games, and just chill on my phone.”

“If only life was that simple,” laughed Mr. Knight.

“Okay,” says Mrs. Knight, “Let’s all get back to our chores.”

Oscar angrily began vacuuming the living room.

. . . . .

Later that night, The Knight family drove to a fancy restaurant in the city. Exiting the car next to them was their grandma. “Grandma, grandma,” cries Olivia, “Happy Birthday!”

“Why thank you, my dear!”

“Happy Birthday, Grandma,” says Oscar unhappy.

“What is the matter kiddo? You seem down?” questions Grandma Knight.

“He is just annoyed that we kept making him do chores. He wants technology to do everything for him” says Mr. Knight.

“Well, let’s get some of that Boba tea you love so much after dinner. That will make you feel better,” says Grandma Knight.

The family starts to walk down the street to enter the restaurant when Olivia sees a wishing fountain and runs over to it.

“Olivia, come back,” says Mrs. Knight.

“I want to make a wish first!”

Grandma Knight says, “Why don’t you two head in and check in. Oscar and I will get Olivia and join you soon.”

The parents go into the restaurant and Grandma Knight and Oscar walk over to the wishing fountain and watch Olivia throw a coin into the fountain.

“I made my wish,” she cheered, “It’s your turn, Oscar!”

“You want me to make a wish? Oh, I’ll make a wish.”

He grabs a coin from his pocket. He closes his eyes and breathes in. I wish I could live in a world where technology would do everything for me. A technology-dominated world. He throws the coin into the fountain and opens his eyes. The three of them stroll into the restaurant to meet Mr. and Mrs. Knight.

THE NEXT MORNING

Oscar slowly wakes up as he feels the sun hitting his eyes. He keeps his eyes closed and turns in his bed.

“Good morning, Oscar! Would you like me to pull the blinds down?” asks an unfamiliar voice.

“Sure, thanks,” says Oscar.

He lays still for a moment in bed and then quickly opens his eyes and sits up in the bed.

“Who said that?!”

As he looks around his room, he sees changes and new gadgets that he was not at all familiar with.

“What the hell happened to my room?” questions Oscar.

“Are you ready to get up Oscar,” says the unfamiliar voice.

He jumps in his bed. “Who’s there? Hello? Who said that?”

“I did, silly!” replies the voice.

“Where are you? Come out!”

“I can’t come out. I am a part of you.”

“Did you just say a part of me?”

“Yes! I am a CompanionChip. We are installed into your brain to help assist you in your daily activities, so you will never have to move a finger again!”

“I’m dreaming, aren’t I? This is a dream.”

“Not a dream, just your life. Are you ready to get up now?”

“Uh yeah. I’ll get up now, I guess.”

“You don’t need to do anything. That is what I am here for.”

“How am I going to get to the bathroom if I don’t move?”

The voice says, “Activate Flying shoes.”

Flying shoes. Oh, this is definitely a dream. Oscar sees his sneakers automatically lift from his shelf and come to his feet. He didn’t even have to move. The shoes fixed themselves on to his feet.

“Hold on,” said the voice.

“To what?!” panics Oscar.

He suddenly feels himself moving as he gravitates towards the bathroom door. He enters the bathroom and sees the brush automatically acquire some paste from the toothpaste bottle.

“It’s magic!” Oscar says astonished.

“No, it’s technology.”

The brush moves towards Oscar and starts brushing Oscar’s teeth. Oscar is staying perfectly still, not even rising a finger.

“Oh, I could have brushed my teeth myself.”

“There’s no need for that. As your CompanionChip, it is my job to do everything for you.”

Later Oscar fly’s downstairs and goes into the kitchen.

“I made pancakes and bacon,” says the voice.

“Wow, I was really craving bacon too!”

“I know, I’m inside your brain with you. I know all your thoughts.”

“All my thoughts?”

“Yes.”

“Like every single thought that I have?”

“That is what ‘all your thoughts’ mean,” says the voice sarcastically.

“Is sarcasm a default feature in the CompanionChip or is that something I paid extra for?” joked Oscar.

The voice let out a chuckled and filled Oscar’s mug with more coffee. As Oscar ate the last of his bacon, he looked around him.

“Where is everyone else? The house seems so empty.”

“The house has been empty for a while. The last record I have of anyone else being home was last week.”

“Last week?!?”

“Yes, Olivia left for a virtual reality party last week. She hasn’t returned yet.”

“Olivia went to a party alone. She’s only 13!”

“There is no need to be alarmed. She has her CompanionChip with her.”

“That does not make me feel better. How were mom and dad okay with this?”

The CompanionChip does not answer.

Oscar takes a sip of his coffee as he thinks.

“So does everyone have a CompanionChip?”

“Most people do; however, they are some that refuse.”

“So, do the people who refuse just live their life normally then? Doing everything themselves?”

“Yes, but they are taken to a special facility.”

“Special facility? Why?”

“Because they are not as advanced as the rest of the world. Well, they choose not to be. So, if we allow them to live among the rest of us, it will just create many clashes. For this reason, they are in a special facility. They get a small room for themselves. It has a toilet and a bed-.”

Oscar interrupts the voice. “Wait why does this special facility sound like prison?”

“Because it is a prison, but we do not like to use that word. It is very harsh, so we say special facility.”

“So what? You just put anyone in there who refuses to get the chip?”

“Yes.”

Oscar looks around at his empty house and thinks.

“Want to go watch Humans vs. Zombies upstairs,” asks the voice.

Oscar does not reply and keeps looking around his empty house. Mom and Dad would never let Olivia go to a party alone, especially for such a long period of time, thinks Oscar.

“Want to go watch Humans vs. Zombies upstairs,” asks the voice a second time.

Silence.

“Want to go watch Humans vs. Zombies upstairs,” asks the voice a third time.

“Where are my parents?”

The voice ignores the question. “I can make us some popcorn and we can go watch Humans vs. Zombies.” says the voice.

“CompanionChip, where are my parents?”

“I think I’ll make us some popcorn,” says the voice.

“WHERE THE HELL ARE MY PARENTS?”

The voice does not reply.

“My parents are in prison, aren’t they?”

“We call it a special facility.”

“I can’t believe this! I want them out of there now. We are going to get them and bring them back home.”

“We can’t do that Oscar.”

“Yes, we can!” he urges.

“No, we can’t.”

“Maybe you can’t, but I certainly can. I am going to get them out of there.”

He gets up from his chair and tries to move, however, his flying shoes do not. He forcefully tries to put one leg in front of the other to walk, but the shoes do not move. What the hell?

“You will stay here Oscar.” proclaims the voice.

“Stop controlling the shoes. Let me walk!”

“I can’t do that.”

“You think you’re going to stop me from leaving this house?”

“Well, I have control over your shoes, control over the doors, control over the house, and oh yeah…. control over you.”

“You don’t control me!”

“But I do. That is what you signed up for when you had the CompanionChip installed into your brain. Someone who does everything for you so you never would. Someone who has the power and control to do those things for you.”

“You know what? I forgot this was a dream and this dream is getting too real and too uncomfortable for me, so I’m out.”

The voice laughs. “This is not a dream.”

“Well, obviously it is. You expect me to believe I woke up and now I’m just in some freaky iRobot world?”

“This was your wish, Oscar.”

“What wish? What are you talking about?”

“The wish you made at the wishing fountain.”

Oscar stops and thinks back to that moment.

The voice says, “You wished to live in a world where technology would do everything for you. A technology-dominated world. Your wish came true. Here you are.”

Oscar hesitates, “No, there’s no way. I- this is not what I meant.”

“Awe Oscar,” says the voice, “Hasn’t anyone told you to be careful what you wish for?”

Oscar freezes at what he is realizing is reality.

“Now,” says the voice, “I think it’s time for you to go to sleep.”

“I- I don’t want to go to sleep.”

Oscar slowly sees a robotic face with bright blue eyes appearing in front of him. It smiles. “You don’t have a choice.”

Oscar sees his kitchen one last time before everything goes black.

THE END