Loop

Mason Sheppard.

Pretty much the opposite of the poster boy almost every kid wanted to be.

Whiny, stupid, and spoiled.

He got into fights all the time at school.

Detention, detention, detention.

Once he hit the triple digits, his parents stopped caring about the constant calls that would wake them up from their afternoon nap.

“Your son, Mason, received a detention today for — ”, followed by a dial tone.

These fights he got into, however, didn’t just stay at school.

If you came to Mason’s house one day, you would usually open the door to see Mason in a heated argument with his parents.

One day, after one of these fights, Mason’s parents sent him to his room and opened the front door.

His mother shouted, “Mason! We’re going outside for 30 minutes to get away from you and these stupid arguments. Stay in your room and don’t even think about leaving the house!”

Mason flopped on the bed and opened up his phone.

Almost immediately, he received a text message from an unknown number.

“Mason, I assume this is your current number, 202-555-0189. Please, I need you to listen to me.”


Mason sent one back.


“Ugh, why? Is this one of those stupid pranks?”


Ignoring what he sent, the unknown person sent back a text.

“You need to stop being a whiny little brat to your parents and to your teachers. Bad things that you can’t even comprehend are going to happen.”


Mason thought for a second, then replied, “What? Why?”


The reply came back immediately.

“This phone has insufficient funds to send messages.”

Mason sent back, “Is this a prank?”

“This phone has insufficient funds to send messages.”


Realizing that this was an automatic message, Mason turned off his phone.


Thirty minutes passed.

His parents were not home yet.

One hour passed.

Not yet.

Two hours passed.

Nothing.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Mason opened the door, and a policeman stood there.

“Son, your parents died in a car crash. We are on the phone with Child Services right now.”


Mason was sent to an orphanage. In the years that passed, the fights continued at school.

When he was 18, Mason was convicted of assault and murder, and he was sent to prison for 20 years.

When he got out of prison, he was homeless and living on the streets with nothing but the clothes on his back.
One day, a man in all-black attire came up to him.

“Hey, do you want my phone? It only has a couple of minutes left, but you look like you need it more than I do.”
Mason replied, “Yes sir! Thank you so much!”


The man gave a curt nod and walked off.

Mason opened up messages, punched in the number on the keypad, and typed in a message.

“Mason, I assume this is your current number, 202-555-0189. Please, I need you to listen to me.”

 

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