My time?

I reached forward and touched the water droplets. It rippled, and all the droplets merged together to form a puddle. It was definitely a statement, but more importantly, I had no idea who was writing it, and why.

I pored over the puddle in an attempt to make sure that it was not going to form another message for me. Only my reflection stared back at me. I looked like myself. Except the fact that something was off. My eyes.

I wasn't wearing my contact lenses.

My eyes were shimmering, and together with the aquamarine colour, they looked like the surface of water.

I poked a finger to my eyes gently. It only hit the plastic of my contact lenses, and I heaved a sigh of relief.

Then why does my reflection show me without my contact lenses?

My eyes shimmered again, as if to say, find out why.

"Iolla!" I looked up to see Denisse beckoning me. I took one last glance at the puddle of water before following her out.

I walked out of the school compound, my mind racing. The water is strange today. Perhaps I should sleep more these few weeks, since it's the school holidays.

Nope. I ended up staring at the dark ceiling above me, my eyes still wide and awake. After about half an hour, I gave up and turn on my PC.

The large and colourful logo of Google showed up, and I typed 'aquamarine eyes' into the search bar and waited for the results.

Several were advertising blue contact lenses, others are clearly photo-shopped. I shook my head. No, not this. I needed genuine eye colours. I clicked on the search bar and typed in 'rarest eye colours ever'. I clicked on a few of the websites, but they were useless. I got the gist of most of the other results too – the rarest eye colour is green, and 'blue' eyes refer to medium blue eyes.

Ugh. They're just telling me that my eye colour doesn't exist. Yeah, quite obvious.

I continued typing in various search phrases related to unique aquamarine eyes, but all that comes up is a bunch of advertisements and results that clearly show that not a person in the world – other than me – has aquamarine eyes.

My mother's voice was the last thing that came to me.

Never rely too much on the Internet this era, it's overflowing with conspiracies and fake news.

I woke up, thinking, Yes, I can't rely too much on the Internet. But who says I can't rely on a hacker?

"Denisse," I greeted the brown-haired girl standing in the doorway.

"At last. Come in!" Denisse opened the door to my opinion of freedom.

We spent the morning at the shopping mall, where we shopped for clothes and ate at some Italian restaurant. Exhausted, we returned to her house to play board games and watch a movie. Denisse was very engrossed, but I was more distracted by one thought.

Ask her. Why are you hesitating?

The movie was not bad, and the moment Denisse turned the television off, I seized the opportunity to ask.

"You said something about some chatter? Something about a scientist?"

"Oh yes, I did want to show you. Follow me," Denisse replied.

When we enter her room, I noticed that quite some changes had been made. The music posters of her then-favourite band had been taken down and were replaced with blueprints of the latest Artificial Intelligence. A pile of books lay at the foot of her green bed.

"So, I told you I was checking out the black market for some cheap stuff, right?" She asked, typing on her laptop, which was sitting on her desk.

"Yeah, I thought you were going to buy a device," I replied.

"I was." I noticed the change of tone in her voice. The excitement had died down and had transformed into horror. "Until people started talking about this."

Denisse turned the screen of her laptop to face me. I recognised the black background of DEflayte, and my mouth fell open.

DEflayte was the home for all the shady business deals and illegal trade in the world. Great for shopping for drugs and cheap items too. When our resources declined and inflation became too much to handle, it was what people turned to. Governments could not trace them, due to the expert coding skills of the creator. I would argue to Denisse not to trade on a platform where conmen, scammers and assassins traded, but from her look, now was not the time.

Shutting my mouth, I took a closer look at the chat. About five people were actively chatting in the live chat, in the middle of some discussion:

Krire Bewtacap sent, 'The serum is now depleted, as the scientist who created it can no longer replicate it, and he claims that even if he could reinvent it, it would take years to form.'

Pennyguin replied, 'So we can't get another dose. What about finding the people he gave the serum to?'

H4TE GOV2 added, 'Pennyguin, Krire mentioned a few teenagers.'

Krire Bewtacap replied, 'Yes, they took the only doses.'

Desmond Hawkins sent, 'How can we identify them?'

Krire Bewtacap replied, 'Their eyes are unique and unnatural. Nothing like the so-called 'rare' green eyes. They look stunning.'

Like mine.

All the messages stopped, and I assumed that they were thinking. Or maybe, searching for them.

What if they're searching for me?

I shook my head, trying to brush off the thought. Stop overthinking, Io.

After a long five minutes, H4TE GOV2 sent, 'I would pay millions just for one dose! By the way, has anyone been able to locate them? We need to capture them in order to sell the dose at the auction.'

Another person, who had been silent the whole time we were watching, Jessica Krone sent, 'I have. Sending people now. No idea how powerful this one could be.'

Pennyguin replied, 'Alright.'

Krire Bewtacap replied, 'Spill the beans.'

Jessica Krone sent, '21 Binker Avenue.'

My address.

~

Man, what a surprise!

Do you think such a platform like DEflayte will exist in the near future? Why or why not?

Chapter Two: The Eyes of Secrets

0 Comments