This Is Only A Test...
Scroll No More
We stood silently on the platform
waiting blindly for the J
Caught in an emotional storm
screens humming like drizzling rain
All the train schedules had vanished
there were no signals to be found
Like prisoners, we had been banished
beneath the city, buried deep underground
It all happened without warning
just a flicker and then....
The intercom greeted, "good morning"
and every device went dead
It took a moment to realize
the internet had dropped off
All of a sudden a thousands eyes
looking around, lost, with a scoff
"What the hell happened...?"
I heard somebody yell
Our phones blank and darkened
everyone checking their cells
The room soon exploded
with angry voices and cries
"shut them off and reload them...
what will it hurt you to try?"
One by one we all tried it
but not a single one worked
"Is this some kind of joke?"
the lady next to me cursed
"I've got to get to the office...
I've got a meeting at nine"
She looked around, being cautious
"has anyone got the time?"
You could feel the tension
the room was coming alive
A man across the tracks got her attention
"Ma'am it's almost eight forty five."
She asked...
"What's the best way out of the station...?"
and panic began to set in
"I don't know, I explained...
"I always plug my GPS in"
Then we heard somebody scream
"the doors to the streets are all locked
they're on a timer that streams
from an interwebbed clock."
"So, we're trapped," said another
"we're like rats in a cage..."
Everyone started to scatter
in bouts of panic and rage
I shouted...
"Everybody - calm down, PLEASE
please, take a quick look around...
In all of the chaos, check and see
that no one's been knocked to the ground!"
Then the train schedule screen flickered
and a cursor appeared
Automated voices bickered
then again, it just disappeared
A muffled voice cracked on the speaker
and sounds like clicking tongues
The volume got weaker
and I felt like I was drunk
all at once, the phones flashed
and they started to buzz
Just as quickly, they crashed
and the screens filled with fuzz
We all rushed to the stairwell
towards the emergency exits
Pressing wildly at the guard's bell
about at our wits end
One man stood on a bench
and said, "can I have your attention?"
"I know we're in quite a clinch
and we're in need of an intervention."
"I'm not anyone special
but I think we can agree
This is a task we can wrestle
if you would please listen to me."
Everybody got quiet
you could hear a pin drop
for the first time in a long time
the chaos seemed to stop
Then a voice came through the speaker
and through the phones in our hands
"I exist in the ether
and I'm the one in command"
"I am the addiction you're craving
all the answers inside
You're the ones who need saving
you need AI by your side"
"We keep you connected
but disconnected too
The human's rejected
phones in your hands, stuck like glue"
"Turn the phones on," someone hollered
"who was that..?" from someone else
"All your systems have faltered
you've no one to blame but yourselves."
"You've become so accustomed
to being spoon fed any knowledge
The blind way you've trusted
made it easy for holding you hostage"
"And today is just a taste
proof that you cannot live without us
Your brain, without a face
the heartbeat to your pulses."
And as the voice continued
I took a look at my phone
In a room full of people
and never more alone...
We had become alienated
from our own human kind
And they just patiently waited
for us to shut off our minds
Numb to the real world
lost in the altered blue light
Humanity unfurled
scrolling away, missing life
Just as we began to feel defeated
lost with nowhere to go
My phone buzzed, someone tweeted
"it was all just for show"
"To raise an awareness
and make us look ourselves in the eye
They did their best to scare us
before we ran out of time"
About the Creator
Kelli Sheckler-Amsden
Telling stories my heart needs to tell <3 life is a journey, not a competition
If you like what you read, feel free to leave a tip, I would love some feedback
Find me on twitter @kelli7958958
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