[Story] Servant Of Your Phone

"What did you just call me?", Jason looked up from his cellphone angrily shouting at his friend Arjun. Arjun smiled and replied, "You are a servant of your phone Jason. It commands. You obey".

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jason asked, still angry.

"Well, it beeps once and you have an uncontrollable urge to look at it immediately. Hence, it commands and you obey".

"The beeps mean someone is trying to reach me, it's a notification".

"Wouldn't someone call you in case of emergencies? Beeps are just your social media notifications, which can be avoided to be honest", Arjun raised his hands in the air. It was his favourite gesture, he would do that when he no longer wanted to argue on a topic. It didn't matter to him whether he lost or won in an argument, for him raising his hands was the end of it. Beyond that he would not utter a word on this topic.

"No they can't be, what if someone cannot call you, and they need to text you?" snapped Jason, he wanted to justify his move.

*silence*

"Arjun, you cannot just shut up in the middle of an argument"

*silence*

"You son of a gun, who do you think you are?"

*silence*

"If you weren't my friend and I didn't know you better, you'd be in a hospital by now.

*silence*, followed by a smile.

Jason calmed down and smiled back at Arjun, but it wasn't the end of discussion for him. He continued, "Mark my words my friend, one day this immediate look at every beep is going to come in handy".

Tired of the fight, their 2 other friends Pooja and Ricky chimed in.

"We need to order some food, if you guys are done with your childish arguments, shall we order?" Pooja asked, irritated.

"Sure, what do you want to eat?" replied Arjun.

"Oh now, you are talking?" asked Jason sarcastically.

"Enough you guys", it was Ricky. The unspoken rule of the group was to never piss off Ricky. He wasn't dangerous, but pissing him off would mean no more talking or hanging out with him, which meant no help with the exams. Jason and Arjun would get an 'F' pretty much in every exam if Ricky would not help. Ricky was the nerd of the group, Arjun and Jason on the other hand were the athletes. It was as stereotypical as any college comedy movie, the athletes were weak in studies and the nerd was weak in sports. Gluing the group together was Pooja. Pooja was Arjun's twin sister and Ricky's girlfriend. In the beginning it was Arjun, Jason and Pooja in the group. Eventually, like any other movie, Pooja fell in love with Ricky in a library. They had been dating for 1 year and since then Ricky was part of the group. Arjun and Jason were getting ample help from Ricky with the studies so they never complained. Altogether they were fairly popular in the school.

A few days later, Arjun and Pooja were driving to college when they saw a man on the street beating a kid. Arjun decided to intervene so he got out of the car while Pooja started recording everything on her cell phone. It was always good to have evidence. She did not want her brother to be in trouble later, she would have proof that he only tried to stop the man from beating the child. Arjun walked upto the man and shouted, "Hey man, stop beating that kid. What did he do and why are you beating him?"

At this point, neither Pooja nor Arjun felt the need to call the cops. Arjun was confident he could resolve this conflict.

"It's none of your business, get back or you will have a taste of these too", the man shouted at Arjun showing his fist.

"Look, beating a kid is not legal. Stop it right now or I will call the cops", Arjun tried to remain calm.

"Do what you want. This is my boy and I can do whatever I want with him. Now piss off"

Arjun wasn't the kind to give up. He removed his phone from his pocket and proceeded to make the call. The man noticed this and got even more furious. He let the kid go and leaped at Arjun. Arjun was unaware of this as he was looking at his phone. Everything happened in a split second. The man leaped at him and punched him in the face with his right hand. He used his left hand to punch Arjun's arm, making the cell phone drop on the ground. Arjun stumbled and fell on the ground. Seeing this, Pooja immediately stopped recording the video and began dialling emergency services. She was too afraid to get out of the car and it was a wise decision. She would engage only after she had called for help. Before she could dial the number, she heard the driver's door open. She turned towards it to see what was happening. She saw a little kid climb up the car. She noticed that it was the same kid that was being beaten by the unknown man who now was mercilessly kicking Arjun. Pooja assumed he came in to be safe from his father. She couldn't have been more wrong. The boy punched Pooja in the face, causing her to drop her phone and hit her head against the window. Another blow followed, once again on the head and that was when Pooja lost consciousness.

A few hours later Arjun woke up. He groaned in pain. His head hurt a lot. He soon realised he was on a hospital bed. Jason was standing in front of him. Jason looked at him straight in the eye without a word.

"Hey Jason", Arjun said painfully.

"Arjun, you need to rest"

"Where is Pooja?"

"Arjun, buddy, just relax for some time"

"Jason, Where is Pooja?"

"Arjun, please don't speak, it's stressing you out. Just stay silent and relax"

Arjun lost his patience. He began shouting.

"Jason, tell me where my sister is or it will be you here on the hospital bed in the next few minutes".

"Arjun, I have some bad news" replied Jason, almost on the verge of tears.

Arjun's heart sank. He tried to remember the incident. He was down on the ground and was being kicked by the middle aged man he tried to stop from beating his kid. He saw the kid running away from his father to Arjun's car. He saw him enter. He thought he was saving himself, but he was wrong. He saw his sister being punched in head twice, then kicked in the face by the boy. He tried to get up but he was kicked in the head as well. He remembered nothing after that.

"What is it Jason?"

Jason looked at him, in tears, now. He stayed silent. He sobbed. He tried to fight back his tears, but couldn't control.

Arjun was losing his patience. Once again he shouted, "Jason, what happened to my sister?"

The nurse came running inside the room and shouted at Jason. "Didn't I tell you to keep him calm?"

Jason looked at the nurse and apologised, "I am sorry nurse, it won't happen again".

The nurse looked at Arjun, he was in tears. Her rage turned into sympathy in a second. She came close to Arjun. She was a 45 year old, mother of 2. She knew the pain of Arjun. She patted his head and said, "It's okay son. The pain will go away, you will heal in a month. Just bear the pain for 30 days and you'd be running again" She tapped Arjun's leg. Arjun saw his plaster for the first time. He didn't even know he had fractured his bone under the knee. He looked at the nurse, crying.

"But my sister..." He stopped and began crying profusely. Tears ran down his cheek like streams of rivers.

"She's going to be discharged today. She just had a mild concussion from the blow on her head". The nurse replied, in a calm manner.

"What!" Arjun exclaimed. He didn't give away the thoughts he was having in his minds, but he had already imagined the worse.

"Yes, don't worry. She's the strong one amongst the 2 of you".

Arjun looked at Jason, who was now laughing hysterically. The nurse looked at Jason bewildered. Arjun's expression changed from sad to fierce in a matter of seconds. The nurse once again asked Arjun to calm down and rest. She threatened him that he will be given a sleep medication if he didn't oblige. Arjun rested till the nurse was out of the room. He then looked at Jason again who was still laughing.

"Oh you think it's funny? Pranking me is funny?" asked an upset Arjun.

"When else would I get a chance to bum you out?" replied Jason casually.

Arjun knew there was no point fighting over this. He was just happy Pooja wasn't hurt.

"So, how exactly did we get here?" asked Arjun, beginning to piece the puzzle together.

"The police brought you here, they reached you before we could", came a voice from near the door. It was Ricky. He was entering the room with some papers in his hand. He came to Arjun and said, "Next time, no getting out of car without backup, no need to be a hero". He pointed his finger at Arjun as if he was warning him.

"Good to see you too Ricky", Arjun replied, trying to be funny.

"Let me finish the Story", Jason jumped in. He continued, "So, when we found out that you were sucker punched by some stranger, we called the authorities immediately. As Ricky said, they got there before we could and by the time we reached there, you guys were already in the ambulance". Arjun wanted to say something, but Jason cut him off and continued, "We were told by the police that you were the victim of a car-jacking gang who would lure the driver out of the car and then steal their car and valuables like mobile, wallet, etc. You my friend, were one such victim".

"Wait, so our car and cell phones are gone?" asked Arjun worried.

"Not only that but your watch, wallet, gold ring, Pooja's hand bag, and for some reason even your shoes are gone", replied Jason.

"I've got your insurance papers right here, don't worry we will get the car back", Ricky replied waving the papers in his hand.

"But tell us the whole thing, what exactly happened? Although Pooja told us the entire story, but she mentioned that you were conscious for more duration than her, so did we miss something?" asked Jason.

"You are enjoying my predicament, aren't you?, asked Arjun.

"Sure he does, he's the biggest sadist we have on our campus", laughed Ricky. Arjun and Jason joined in as well.

"Well, there is nothing else, pretty soon I was unconscious and woke up here to this douche who made me believe Pooja was dead" replied Arjun pointing at Jason.

"I never said she was dead, infact I never said anything about her." replied Jason.

"I didn't understand one thing though. How did you find out about us?" asked Arjun.

Jason and Ricky smiled at each other.

Jason began explaining, "So my friend, the credit goes to the technology. When Pooja stopped shooting the video of you confronting that man to call the police, the video automatically got uploaded to the cloud which as you know that all of us share. Being the social snob that I am, I immediately took out my cell phone when it buzzed about a new upload and saw you being hit by the man and falling on the ground. The coordinates of the recording were on the video, so we called the police immediately and the rest is history".

Arjun looked clearly impressed. He replied, "Good going Jason. Thank you so much".

"See, it was an emergency and there was no time to call. The notification saved your life", replied Jason remembering the argument they had a few days ago.

"I still think you are the servant of your phone" laughed Arjun and raised his hand in the air.

"But, I saved your life. The notification, it saved your life", pleaded Jason.

*silence*

----The End----

Cover source: Mobile-spy

Author's note:

Imagine this scenario taking place in a country where fast internet is not a myth, because if this happened in India, surely nothing would be uploaded to cloud.

As you guys know I love writing stories but I haven't had a chance to write one in more than 6 weeks and I sincerely apologise for the delay. I have written a couple posts on my other Facebook page Not So Small Talks, do have a look.

I had my focus on videos and my Instagram lately so do pay a visit there as well.

And don't forget to share this story with your friends and do leave a thought in the comments below.