Chapter Two
Addie couldn't barely remember how much time had even passed once she started coming to, flinching and moaning from both the sudden shock her phone sent her and falling into unconsciousness as a result of it. Eventually, as her vision gradually faded in from the darkness, she would come to, wiping her eyes before she could see where she would be now and what would be her surroundings this time. Addie found herself laying on a hospital bed of sorts, alone in a white room that she had never been in before but would certainly recognise as a nurse's office.
"Addie", a light male voice spoke up and called the girl's name, causing her to jolt up a bit and look around. "I knew you'd be okay. I apologise for the shock though".
Addie noticed the voice coming from her own phone, just laying on the small table beside her bed. "What the-" She muttered quietly before attempting to speak. "You're actually talking? As in, to me, right now?"
"Yeah, I'm communicating with you right now", the voice in the phone confirmed. "Just as you would talk and message anyone through your device".
Stuck at a brief loss of words, Addie kept wondering if it was just someone talking to her through her phone, or if it really was her phone itself speaking to her. She used just enough strength left in her arm to reach out and grab hold of her phone, albeit hesitantly as the memory of that sudden static shock that started this still ran fresh in her mind. But as soon as she touched it, the same didn't happened here this time, Addie picked up her phone and observed it closely as the screen lit up to reveal something she didn't expect, not that she was expecting anything at all. On the screen was a simple blue background and in front of it was an equally simple yellow face, perfectly circular and with black dotted eyes and a flat line that showed the hint of a smile.
"Who, or what, are you really?" Addie questioned, holding the phone in her right hand.
"Didn't I tell you already?" the voice questioned back. "I'm G.E.N.E., the Global Emotive Navigational Entity. At least that's what I was named and designated since my creation".
"Wh-what happened?" Addie stammered. "What did you do to me?"
"I only granted you an ability of sorts", the voice, referring to itself as 'G.E.N.E.', vaguely explained.
"Ability?" Addie tilted her head, . "Like a superpower?"
"In a way, yes", G.E.N.E. answered.
"What kind of superpower exactly?" Addie continued asking.
"Try and see for yourself", G.E.N.E. suggested.
And so, Addie thought deeply about how she had been feeling, and soon, as the veins in her left arm and hand lit blue once more, something manifested. Floating above her palm was an emoji very similar to the one on her phone screen, only this one was slightly bug-eyed and its frowned mouth was gaped open, the same sort of emotion Addie was feeling right now.
"How's any of this possible?" Addie murmured.
"What else other than your own imagination?" G.E.N.E. replied. "As well as whatever true emotions you're feeling within".
"What do you mean by that?" Addie looked at her phone and cocked a brow.
"More often than not, when people text emojis, they're only conveying what they want others to think they're expressing, but not what they're truly feeling within", G.E.N.E. elucidated.
Addie took all this in with as much a straight face as she possibly could, she wouldn't normally be able to believe any of this, but being in a world where gods, mutants, inhumans, super-soldiers, and friendly web-slinging neighbourhoods exist and roam about saving the day and all, she could no longer express any genuine surprise anymore at this point.
"So you gave me the power of...showing how I really feel?" She paused in between.
"That and maybe be able to see how others around you may truly be thinking and feeling as well", G.E.N.E. elaborated.
"Like mind reading?" Addie tried to wrap her head round this.
"Perhaps, something like that", G.E.N.E. said. "Just represented through emojis and emoticons".
"What good would that really do?" Addie doubted.
"Even the smallest simplest things can do a lot of good", G.E.N.E. imparted.
"I guess..." Addie said as she looked around in the room, still no one else had come to examine and inspect her in whatever condition she may've been in. "So you think we should head on out of here?"
"How do you feel right now?" G.E.N.E. tested.
"Apart from feeling shock and confusion from talking to my phone who's telling me that it has given me the superpower of emojis, I'm feeling pretty fine", Addie quickly ran down pretty much everything.
"Then you should be free to go", G.E.N.E. responded nonchalantly. "And I'd rather prefer to be referred to as a 'he'".
"Noted", Addie nodded before she got off the bed and left the room, taking the phone with her and placing it in her pocket, still curious about everything she had been told.
To be continued...