Friday, April 14, 2017

30 Days of Fiction: 9

Thomas created a YouTube account when he was 14 for one reason, to get famous and it took five years before anyone really knew he existed. Those years consisted of him taking other people's work and re-cutting it for comic effect or filming himself going through drive-thrus saying pop culture catch phrases or getting away with calling people cunts and the like.  Needless to say it was not successful nor particularly unique and therefore he gained little attention from it. Five years in, with only a few hundred subscribers, he decided to make one last video.

He pulled up to the intercom at Taco Bell and with his two Go Pro cameras semi-disguised he started his usual and now lackluster witty repartee, "Can I get the supreme butthole."

"I'm sorry, I didn't get that," a female voice responded.

"Yeah, the supreme burrito," he clarified.

Just then his car door opened and a man jumped into the passenger seat.

A shocked Thomas looked over and exclaimed, "what the fuck?"

The white haired man looked at Thomas with worry on his face and said, "you have to help me. They're​ after me. Please."

Feeling the excitement of something actually happening to him Thomas pushed on the accelerator and rushed toward the road, not knowing where to go. After a moment the dread of ignorance hit him like a stone in his stomach. He looked over at the stranger and asked, "who are you?"

"My name isn't important right now", the stranger explained. "What is important is that I have information that people do not want me to have. Information they would kill to get back," the man said said frantically looking back and forth around the vehicle.

"OK," Thomas said concerned about what he had gotten himself into. "So, what now," he asked hoping it wouldn't involve the police.

"Now we need to get to a computer," the man said.

"The library then," Thomas suggested.

"Don't you have a computer," the man asked.

"Yeah, but it's at home and my mom is there, so," Thomas explained.

"Well, I guess the library it is," the man said with excitement.

Thomas was perplexed but still somewhat intrigued at what this was all about. He hoped that his recording of the event might yield some click worthy content and so continued toward the public library with his new companion. He noticed that the man was dressed too shabby for such a distinguished looking face with his green hoody and plain blue jeans. 

"Who is after you," Thomas asked.

"Don't worry about that," the man continued. "All I can tell you is that there are people in this country that want to take your freedoms, start unjust wars and deceive you into thinking that they are helping you. But they aren't. It's all bullshit and someone has to do something to teach them a lesson."

"OK," Thomas said unenthusiastically.

When they arrived both Thomas and the man with no name walked up to the library, past the metal detectors and headed for the computer section.

"Looks like you need a library card to login," the man said to Thomas looking at him expectantly.
Thomas leaned over and typed in his library card number into the login screen. The mystery man pulled a thumb drive out of his pocket and put it in the computer.

"Do you mind," he said looking over. 

"I'll go to the bathroom," Thomas responded and walked off toward the restroom.

A few minutes later he returned to the computer to find that the man he had helped was no where to be seen. Curious but defeated Thomas went home and started uploading his footage to see if he could use any of it. He stared at the man's face on the screen feeling a sense of recognition that was hard to place.After the watching the mostly uneventful footage he decided to leave it for the day, played video games for a while and went to sleep.

The next morning his mother heard a loud rapping on the door and as she walked toward the sound the door burst open along with ten armed men in black swat gear.  "FBI, is there anyone else in the house?" Someone exclaimed.

Thomas's mom dropped to the floor and with her hands behind her head she yelped,"Just my son, upstairs. Don't hurt him!"

The men rushed upstairs to take the stunned young fame seeker. While Thomas was being interrogated​ he learned that the white haired man was a Federal fugitive convicted of treason, terrorism and murder and that he had aided him in launching a computer virus that cost billions of dollars in lost banking information. Thomas was interrogated for two days before they took him to the county courthouse where hundreds of reporters were gathered to question the young man. As they walked up, the 19 year old man in handcuffs, his armed escorts staved off the swarm of microphone wielding squawkers and as Thomas looked around at all the cameras he smiled.

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