Sister's Computer

Kevin did a double-take as he was walking down the upstairs hallway when he noticed the door to his sister Celia’s room was open just a crack. He had caught the pale light emanating from her computer monitor out of the corner of his eye. He quietly pushed the door open wider. He didn’t see her sitting in her computer chair. He took a quick peek around her room and didn’t see her. He grinned and pushed the door open wide, running and leaping into the seat of his sister’s computer chair. He landed with a hard thud and spun himself around several times. The chair wasn’t as comfortable as he had imagined. The seat was a bit lumpy, but it spun well.

Kevin rolled himself up to the keyboard and minimized the various browser windows Celia had open. He pushed away the snacks and beverages strewn about the desk. His father had bought her this computer since she was going to college next year. “She’s always wasting her time on stupid schoolwork,” he thought. “Time to use this thing to do what it was built for… games!”

He bounced up and down excitedly as he downloaded several of his favorite games. His mom and dad wouldn’t get him his own PC, and Celia’s could play all the best, latest titles. It truly was a golden age of gaming; so many games were free-to-play!

Time flew by as he played round after round of Fortnite, his current obsession. Then, in the middle of one of his rounds, his mother walked by the door carrying a laundry basket. “Kevin!” she shouted, making him jump a foot in the air. “What are you doing in your sister’s room? Did she say you could play on her computer?”

Kevin’s eyes never left the screen. “No, mom. I just want to finish this one last round!” His mother looked around the room. “Where is Celia, anyway? I thought I saw her come up here.”

“She’s not here. I haven’t seen her.” Kevin said flatly, then thought for a second. It really was odd that she wasn’t here, leaving her door open and her computer on… “Well if you see her, tell her to gather up her dirty clothes. That goes for you too, bud. Last game.”

After his in-game character was finally killed in a most embarrassing and terrible way, He spun the chair around and looked around Celia’s room. It was a mess. Clothing all around the floor and bed, trash overflowing from her garbage can… he even realized he was sitting on some of Celia’s dirty clothes. He wanted to help clean up, but also didn’t want to touch a girl’s clothing. Especially a high school girl’s clothing.

He decided to help by taking the trash bag out of the can, filling it with some of the waste that had fallen to the floor. He took the empty snack wrappers from her desk and threw them out… then he picked up an unusual empty glass bottle. It was small and blue, with a string tied around the mouth. Attached to the string was a fancy-looking card that simply read, “Drink me”.

A twinge of recognition crossed Kevin’s mind. “Where have I seen this before?” A quick Google search revealed its origin from “Alice in Wonderland”. In the book, when Alice drank from the bottle marked “Drink me”, she shrank down to a tiny size.

Kevin was as confused as ever, and now more concerned. It was just a fantasy story, right? Celia hadn’t actually drunk a shrinking potion, right? Nevertheless, he carefully searched all over the carpeted floor, watching his step the entire time, quietly calling out Celia’s name. After he had searched the entire floor and finding nothing, he laughed at himself. Of course it was just a silly story.

He spun the computer chair back around to sit back down, and his veins ran icy cold. His heart pounded painfully. His hands shook uncontrollably as he reached toward the seat of the computer chair and peeled up Celia’s bloodstained clothes. His shriek of unimaginable anguish echoed throughout the house.