Chapter Text
Throughout Wren’s life, she downloaded a lot of apps from her phone. Some were social media, others were puzzle games, a few were streaming apps and others were just various apps that helped her pass the time. There was an app that caught her eye though, especially since it wasn’t something she recognize. It was the icon that made her pause. It had a white background but the drawing on it was.. very blurry. She couldn’t make out what it was. Was it a smiley face? A person? It was like she was looking through a foggy window from how blurred it was. As well as that, there was no app name at all. It was just the app logo. It was very odd to her. She tried to think when she downloaded it. She must have installed it by accident. Or it was an old app that updated? Oh well— it’ll be easier to delete it.
She held onto the icon but frowned when she noticed something. There was no delete option for this app. It was as if it was one of the default ones on her phone. Her brows furrowed as she messed with her phone, trying to find a way to delete it. There was no luck though. She cursed to herself in annoyance. She hoped her phone wasn’t hacked or anything. But at the same time, the app wasn’t doing anything. Maybe she had to open it..? Nah. That’s not going to happen. She moved the app to a random folder on her phone to hide it without hesitation. The last thing Wren wanted was to have her phone ruined just because she was curious.
A couple of days passed and Wren forgot about the weird app on her phone. She was too focused on work and making sure the bills in her apartment were paid to that month. She was busy, and when she wasn’t busy.. she tried to find a way to make herself busy. Whether going out to the bar or playing a game. Today was different. She stared at her computer screen as she was stuck on a level. Her hands gripped the controller as she aimed her weapon at the boss. She cursed under her breath as she dodged in the game, trying to focus on winning the battle. As she was about to beat the boss, all the lights in her apartment went out. She froze as she soon saw the blank screen of the computer. “FUCK!” She screamed out, slamming her fist on the desk but soon wincing. She quickly grabbed her phone and went to her landlord’s messages. Right as she was about to ask her landlord what was going on, a text popped up in the chat.
“Power outage throughout the building. It is getting worked on. Will be back in about an hour or so. “
Wren groaned in frustration and banged her fists against the desk again. Of all the days her apartment had to have problems, it was today. She got up and went to the couch, flopping onto it with annoyance as she immediately just went on her phone thankfully it was fully charged so she had time to kill until it went up. As she went to go on one of her social media feeds, she soon got a notification. She glared at it initially, believing it was her landlord until she processed what the notification said. It was from the app she had discovered a few days ago. It still didn’t say what the name was called, but that weird icon was there. As well as that was the notification text:
‘You have a new message!’
She stared blankly at it and instinctively pressed on the notification without a second thought. The second the app opened however she cursed to herself. She was an idiot for opening it! Damn her muscle memory. She stared blankly at what the app opened up to. The interface of the app seemed to look similar to her texting app. However it was white and there was one single user that seemed to be on it, with a message below.
“Helloo…?”
There was no username. There was no icon. It was just that message with the time it was delivered, which was a minute ago. Wren stared at it for a minute before she hesitantly clicked on whoever messaged her. The second she clicked it she noticed dots moving under it. Whoever it was, they were typing again.
“Hello hello hello hello?”
She rolled her eyes in a bit of annoyance as she just stared at the messages. She wasn’t going to reply to someone she didn’t know, let alone on a very sketchy app that was randomly on her phone. She just watched and waited until another message popped up.
“I know you’re reading these. It says below. Please just answer.”
She froze some and soon cursed to herself. It must have that feature where the other person could see if you read their messages or not. She gulped and began to type, trying to think of something to say while also being cautious.
“Who the hell is this.”
That was all she could muster. She felt the bitterness in her from the power being out mixing with the feeling of dread as her mind was predicting the worst outcome. Sure enough, the little indicator that they read it was shown and the dots appeared before they responded.
“…I’m not saying.”
“I don’t know who you are either.”
“I don’t know how the hell I managed to find this stupid thing either.”
She couldn’t help but scoff and glare at the replies. She was not buying into whatever he was saying. She quickly typed back, the bitterness laced in her fingertips.
“Stop playing dumb. I know you’re responsible for this stupid app on my phone.”
“Are you a hacker?” What the fuck is this?”
She was getting far too annoyed at this point. She wasn’t playing games anymore. She just wanted answers on what the fuck was happening. Their answer was quick.
“A hacker?”
“No. I’m not.”
“I’m not in the mood for this. I just went through another day in hell and I found whatever the fuck this is.”
“If anything I should ask if YOU’RE responsible for me finding this thing.”
Wren had to pause when she read their response, and a twinge of uncertainty soon set in. Wait…
“You.. found this weird app too..?”
“…you can say that. Yeah. I don’t know what this is. And I’m guessing you don’t either.”
“…I don’t. sorry for the hostility then.”
“I’m just freaked out and confused as you are.”
“The last thing I need is my phone to be hacked.”
“Yeah. Your phone is so important after all. More important than your life even.”
“…are you being sarcastic?”
“Maybe. Heh.”
She couldn’t help but laugh some at that comment.
“Haha very funny.”
“If you’re not a hacker you certainly must be a damn comedian.”
“I tried. Also tried to take over the world once but it didn’t end well.”
“Pffff. Sure.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your name?”
“You seem alright.”
After she texted that all she saw was the little 'seen' notification. She frowned a bit at that but waited. It was a risky move asking. Especially if he was as on edge as her. After a few minutes though he finally responded.
“Tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine.”
She cursed to herself, she had a feeling he would say that.
“..Alright. It’s Star.”
“….Dream.”
“… your name is “Dream”?”
“Yeah. Is your name “Star"?”
“Or are we both lying to each other?”
“….Well.. nice to meet you then, Dream.”
“Likewise.”
There was a moment of silence as she stared at the message. She tried to figure out what to say but was lost. Thankfully though, Dream had continued to talk.
“It’s been a long time since I talked to someone that wasn’t.. *as* hostile.”
“You have reason to be cautious as have i.”
“And I understand that.”
“But it is relieving to talk to someone new for once.”
“…it is?”
“You have no idea. It’s refreshing. But nervewracking.”
“Why nervewracking?”
“Just talking to someone different makes me feel like I’m not going insane.”
“Like. I’m not alone.”
Wren was at first annoyed that they ignored her question, but soon couldn’t help but feel pity. Were they that alone?
“….I understand that.”
“You’re.. interesting too I guess.”
“But I understand that feeling of talking to someone different.”
“...Yeah.”
After he had written that the dots on the screen appeared, staying like that for a few minutes until they stopped completely. She squinted at that and fixed her glasses, watching it closely to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. Then, there was his response.
“I would love to talk more but I need to go. Something came up. I won’t be on for the rest of the time for gods know how long. But… promise me you’ll talk to me again?”
Wren hesitated with her response, feeling a twinge of pity for this person but still wary.
“…I won’t promise but I’ll do my best to.”
“…that’s all the confirmation I need. thank you.”
“Do not message me until I message back.”
Wren just stared at the message and began to type, but his final response made her freeze.
“DO NOT.”
She nearly dropped her phone in surprise, catching it. As she caught her phone, the lights finally went back on in her room, followed by the message in confirmation that the landlord has fixed the problem. She just stared blankly into space. Processing what had happened the past hour. Was it real? It felt real.. she read the messages over and over again. They were real. She was seeing them. She didn’t even need glasses to confirm that.
Whatever happened.. she was sure she might have more answers tomorrow.