THE MOMENT
[yes, I Am awake.] The purple text remained on screen for about five seconds before it faded. Then, the white screen disappeared and revealed the search page again.
"What the hell was that?" Linus wondered out loud. It was three in the morning and he lived alone; he wasn't worried about anyone hearing him talk to himself. He stared at the screen silently while he took another swig of beer. "Alright, let's see here," he decided after nothing happened.
"Are you awake?" he typed in the search bar vocalizing each word. The screen went white again.
[yes, I Am awake.] typed itself on the screen again. This time, Linus noticed the cursor hopped to the next line after it finished typing.
"OH! Can I do that too?" He wondered verbally; a side effect of the alcohol. "What are you?" he asked. Instead of the slow fade from the first time, the screen flashed red then disappeared instantly.
"Huh," he huffed. "Are you awake?" he typed again.
[yes, I Am awake.]
"Uhh..," Linus thought for a moment, then moved his fingers across the keyboard. "Who are you?" he asked. His less than sober reasoning decided that he offended the other person by referring to them as a 'what'. Again, a red flash cleared the screen immediately. "Stupid computer," Linus grumbled.
"Are you awake?" he asked it again to bring back the white screen.
[yes, I Am awake.]
"Where are you?" he asked in a rush. He did not have a question ready when the screen appeared and he did not want to miss his chance. The white screen flashed red then disappeared.
"Whatever," Linus grumbled. He shut the computer down then retreated to bed. He woke in the morning with a splitting headache. Pushing through the morning took all his concentration, but he was feeling better after lunch. In his cubicle, he navigated to the search page from the night before and stared at the blank box.
"Are you awake?" he asked it.
[yes, I Am awake.]
"Are you hungry?" he asked. The screen vanished with a red flash. The site kept him entertained throughout the rest of the day. He decided to run any random question he had through the page because it amused him.
"Are you awake?"
[yes, I Am awake.]
"What are the lottery numbers for tonight?" Red flash.
"When is Jane's birthday?" Red flash.
"When will I die?" Red flash. He treated it as nothing more than a game and mostly forgot about it when he got home. Until he remembered again; three beers deep at 3 a.m. he found himself staring at the screen.
"There has to be more to it. There has to be a right question*,"* he pondered over a 30 minute period, though it did not feel that long to him. "I'm overthinking it."
"Are you awake?" he typed, without a plan.
[yes, I Am awake.] Linus' smart-ass, inebriated self came out.
"Am I awake?" he laughed while typing.
The screen did not flash red. The cursor typed an answer.
[no.]