Rummage Sale Computer

word count: 659

I was wandering through the rummage sale when I spotted it – a brand new Dell laptop. I picked it up to inspect it. I turned it over, looked through the box and found that everything seemed to be in order. I looked at the price sticker and had to look again. $50. Could that possibly be right? I picked it up and carried it up to the card table where a 12-year-old girl with brown pigtails was sitting with the cash box.

“Excuse me, but is this right? You only want $50 for this computer?” I asked the girl. She nodded and smiled.

“Yep, my brother’s trying to get rid of it. Guess he doesn’t want it anymore,” she told me.

“Okay, awesome.” I dug the money out of my pocket and handed it over. The girl widely grinned and thanked me as I walked back to my car. I had to go home and try this out.

I arrived home and said hi to my mom as I walked in and headed for my bedroom. I set the computer on my desk and hit the power button. I sat on the edge of the bed to take off my shoes and threw them into the closet. I jumped and spun around when a high pitched squealing suddenly sounded from the computer. I stifled a scream and hit a few buttons, hoping one of them would stop the squealing. Finally, the computer quieted down and continued booting up. The Windows blue screen came up, telling me that whoever had it last hadn’t shut it down properly. I clicked the option to start the program normally and waited for it to finish booting.

I slid into the computer chair as the computer finished booting and reached out to move the cursor with the touchpad. I stopped when the screen suddenly went black.

“Take me to your leader,” an evil voice suddenly screamed at me and I jumped out of my chair, falling backwards and landing on my butt. My eyes were wide as I looked up at the screen and saw that the serene background picture had been replaced by two red eyes and a red mouth peering out of blackness.

“Take me to your leader,” it screamed again and I screamed as I scrambled to my feet. I ran my fingers over the touchpad, thinking maybe the girl’s brother had made a screensaver he didn’t know how to control, but nothing happened. The evil eyes and mouth screamed at me again to take it to my leader. I didn’t know what to do. My heart pounding, I closed the laptop, hoping that would make it stop. The computer top flipped open again and the red eyes slanted as though it was glaring at me as it continued to scream at me.

“I don’t have a leader!” I yelled back, my hands fisted on my hips as I tried to figure out what to do. The computer wasn’t plugged in so cutting the power wasn’t an option – I doubted whatever it was that was screaming at me would let me turn it off.

“Take me to your leader!” it shrieked, the last word dissolving into the high pitched squeal again. I clamped my hands over my ears as I frantically looked around to find something to make it stop. My pillow was too soft and the bedside table too heavy. Finally, I slipped my foot back into my shoe and smashed it into the computer. The screen broke off from the keyboard and everything went silent. I took my hands from my ears and glared at the broken machine as I caught my breath.

“No wonder he was getting rid of it,” I grumbled as the bedroom door opened. I turned to find my mom in the doorway.

“What was all the noise, honey?” she asked.

“My new computer. It’s broken,” I told her and sighed as I left the room.