Lifebooks (Part 2)

Sunday came but no black out. So she did not go to the park. The news that night reported a break-up of a terrorist cell. One of the pictures of the terrorist was the man with whom she had communicated. This at first had terrified her but she rationalized that if they had not come for her yet., they were not going to.

But now she knew that there were people out there resisting Lifebook. She must find out how to contact them. She played the report on the terrorist over and over looking for some kind of clue to where she might find other ‘terrorist’. She finally found it. In the pictures of the arrest there was a bookbag which she suddenly realized was a pictogram of sorts. It showed another possible place to meet. But she knew you could not go there until there was a Lifebook blackout. Otherwise, she would be discovered. The place was a statue in a city park.

Now she would have to wait and hope the blackout would come. Two months went by and no blackout. She knew there must be another way. Maybe she would have to make it. She began to research on LIfebooks persons who may be allies. She was on Lifebooks day and night. Searching for the right people to contact. Interestingly enough her own watchership [viewership?] went down. People bored quickly over her constant looking at Lifebooks and moved on. She was doing nothing of interest.

Months later when she felt as though there could be no one left to discover she quit. But now she had to be careful in her next move. She also realized the less activity the less watchers. With less watchers she had less chance of being caught. Her parents had become worried about her obsession with Lifebooks. Especially since now it seemed to replace many of her other activities.

She had even lost some of her friends in her search. It had been as though she had disappeared from the Earth. The first few contacts with her chosen few did not go well. She spent the next moths approaching the individuals she had marked and gathering firsthand information about them. In the end she did not think they would be the right type. During this time as she became more active her watchers picked back up.

It was at this time the sad realization came to her to escape Lifebooks and its watchers she must become totally immersed in Lifebooks. She began to calculate which were the activities that would bore her watchers. Her goal was to lose all of her watchers. What if what she did was so mind numbing boring that the watchers left. Then with no watchers could she take that moment to disappear from sight.

She started. She fasted. She pushed buttons on her computer. She never talked. She just existed. She never left the house. Watchers left by the droves but something strange happened after a year. The watchers that were left became fascinated if she would ever do anything of import. So they tuned in to see if she would finally speak. She became a cult hero.

Her following grew. Imitators started throughout the nation. Her cult following became so big that the government became concerned. They were no longer concerned about what she might do but now were fixated on what she was not doing. One quarter of the population were now doing nothing. Another quarter were supporting her followers in their endeavors. They became like the desert monks. They lived outside of society. Society in appreciation began to bring them food so they would not have to leave their rooms and keep up their unending search of Lifebooks. The few times they uttered words were discussed and given all manner of meanings. Every small move made for weeks of interpretive parsing for the nation.

But as all fads this fandom passed. And she was left with her Lifebooks and the watchers again began to leave. Two more years out and she only had a few watchers. Her mother was one, as she tried desperately to understand what her daughter was doing. On the third year and two hundred second day she was left with only her mother as a watcher. She could leave now but they would know her mother was watching and would hold her responsible for Maya’s disappearance. But the secret was to make her mother leave too without any due drama that might create more watchers.

She looked into the camera and said leave. No one knows exactly what she meant by this. Her
mother felt she was being told to not watch. Others felt she was saying to them it was time to leave. And yet others felt she was describing what she was about to do. Her mother did leave. She left undetected never to be found again. But in the dark web of Lifebooks the video of her one word credo inspired many to pick up and leave. No matter how many times the government tried to squash the video it always appeared in another place and another time. It became as ubiquitous as the Andre the Giant graffiti.

Today, everyone studies the tapes of Maya’s life to understand what happened. A new cult bigger than the former started. The one word she would pronounce when she returned was ‘back’. The new cult anxiously waited for the day when she would return and take them away to a land free from Lifebooks. ‘Leave’.  

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