I had been lonely for a very long time. I've spent most of my life alone in my apartment browsing the internet, no one to talk to. It never really bother me too much, I guess I just got used to it. I was always an outcast in high school for having nerdy interests and being shy, I had a bad relationship with my family and now we don't talk anymore. So being alone was just a part of my life. I got so used to it I never realized it bothered me, but lately I just want someone to talk to.
One night while I was browsing some of the darker parts of the internet I got a strange ad, It was a remote that let you change people. I brushed it off as some kind of stupid joke initially but for some reason I was compelled to buy it. It didn't cost a lot so i figured 'why not' worst case I had a new remote I could program to my TV, I had been meaning to get one anyway.
And now I'm sitting in my apartment looking at this weird remote in my hands, it was black in the ad but the one I got was purple, not that I cared. It was weird it looked more like a long smart phone than a remote due to it having a touchscreen. But I was curious in what this thing actually did since the ad was bullshit. I turned it on and was met with a pale blue screen with some text on it and a little loading logo.
Scanning
What was it scanning for. I guess if I'm supposed to believe the add than its scanning for people. But what was it really scanning for.
A little logo of a lamb popped up and then it showed a list of everyone in range. Of course it was only me, but it used my full name first middle and last, how did it get that. Things were getting a little weird but I couldn't just put it down now, I had to figure out what this thing was. I clicked on my name and some information about me came up.
-Pessimist
-Lonely
- smoker
- introvert
I was shocked and almost offended but I guess I could admit that these things were true. what really struck me was the little red "edit" button next to each of them. I clicked on the edit option beside smoker, It showed me a slide bar and then a delete option. I'd been meaning to quit for a while now so I just hit delete and… nothing. No changes at all. I knew it was too good to be true so I just tossed it into my closet and went back to my desk.
A few hours later while just messing around on my computer I realized I was meant to get a package today. I usually check my mail by now so its odd that it only just occurred to me. I grabbed my jacket and went downstairs to check the mail. It was cold as hell outside I don't know why they have the mail on the outside of the building, it never bothered me before but it does now for some reason. Then it hit me like a tidal wave, it didn't bother me before because I smoked when I got my mail, and I haven't check it yet because I haven't had a craving to smoke.
Immediately I ran back up to my apartment and practically dove into the closet to get the remote. When I found it I thanked the lord I didn't break tossing it into the closet. I turned it on and everything was just how it was before but this time smoker was gone. I couldn't believe it . Years of smoking gone in a second, I wanted to see what else I could do with it. I started in front of the mirror but upon the realization it couldn't change anything physically I went to sit-down a little sad. But that didn't matter because I just added "Gym regular" to it and felt it in my head that I wanted to work out the next morning, there goes that problem.
I messed with a few more attributes making myself more motivated, better spoken, and extroverted. But then I remembered that when I first turned it on it scanned the area for ALL available people, not just me. I opened the door to my building and started walking down the halls, pretty soon the names of all my neighbors started popping up on the remote, and as the names came in I learned I can alter the relationships between the people the remote learned, I used this handy feature to make everyone in the apartment friends with me so that I'd have people to talk to everyday.
I spent Hours in the lobby of my building just changing people characteristics without a second though. Some people took up baking and cooking while making them generous with the hopes of maybe getting some food and treats from them especially my sweet neighbor Martha a kind old lady who baked sweets for people in the building on their birthday, some people I made nicer, others I made more social. It occurred to me when looking at the time as I headed back to my apartment that I might have gone a little overboard doing so much so fast I spent 5 hours just altering the people in my building, I just hopped the other people wouldn't notice the changes or think anything weird was going on.
A couple days later as I was coming home from the gym there was an ambulance in front of my apartment building. As I got near the doors two EMT's came out rolling a stretcher with a body on it. I found my building manager and asked her what was going on.
Something happened with Martha where all she did was bake cookies and nothing else. She died from exhaustion because she didn't take breaks to sleep. No one knows what happened.
I was in shock. Did I cause this. I ran back up to my apartment and grabbed the remote. I couldn't find Martha on it anymore, I guess that made sense. I looked through everyone else and made sure that everyone would sleep but I still felt awful. I killed someone. And nothing I could do would change that. I needed to get rid of the remote, I'm done playing god.
Flipping over the remote I took the back off, but there were no batteries in the back. But it still worked. I tried smashing it but nothing would break it, not my foot not a hammer, I even ran it over with my car in the parking lot. So I did the only thing I could think of, walked down to the lake near my house and tossed it in. I stood there looking out at the lake making sure that it didn't float or something. I didn't want that thing to ever come back. It was simply too much power for a human to hold.