[ WP ] It is year 2250 , everyone has a brain implant that connects them to everyone else . As a result , people have become dependent on this connection and no one has survived longer than 18 days without social media . Your chip malfunctioned and it is now day 17 .

I rose from my bed, taking the mobile IV drip with me. 
 
 17 days ago, it happened. All the screens that connected me to other people-my mother, father, even my baby brother, disappeared. I did n't know why, or how. On one hand, I finally found out what my parents looked like in the physical world. On the other, many of my friends were running around like headless chickens trying to figure out if I'd died or not. 
 
 The door opened with a loud creek. I took another look around my room, a stark white affair with appliances of all sorts cluttering the room. They were just add-ons, enhancers to the experience I'd been otherwise cut off from. 
 
 `` Audrey, how are you feeling?'' 
 
 I looked down the hallway. My dad was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily, thin frame looking as if his bones would crack if he moved too fast. 
 
 I sighed. `` Fine. By the way, you do n't have to push yourself. I can take care of myself.'' I'd gotten into shape and everything. Isolationism was n't exactly fun, but the disappointment of not being able to move from one house to the next without the help of a robotic personal assistant ( which, of course, I could not contact ) was more than a little infuriating. 
 
 He chuckled wearily. `` Sure, but I think I'm a bit better than that.'' 
 
 I shook my head, modestly attempting to untangle my hair. It was generally a failure, but I felt like I was doing something. ``... Thanks, dad. Where's mom?'' 
 
 `` Still sleeping.'' He blinked. `` Hey, you know that she tends to sleep far more often than a normal person? It's a medical condition.'' 
 
 I tilted my head. ``... What, really?'' 
 
 `` Oh, I suppose not. We met when I was eight, five or six years before this became standardized technology. She would collapse in classrooms and everything. But it's hard to know those things when these chips,'' he tapped his head, `` can bridge our waking dreams.'' 
 
 ``... I see.'' 
 
 He laughed. `` Oh, right. You've gone for 17 days, have n't you? They say that rabbits die when they're lonely, but you're no rabbit, right?'' He said this a little grimly, but continues. `` No one's survived longer than 18 days, but few have even tried. Aside from that, a lot of my friends who are parents like to post about their children and their virtual accomplishments... but none of them have children who have seen the sun in recent years, or can walk more than a mile. I'm proud of you.'' 
 
 My face heated up. ``... You talk too much, dad. I'll be fine, I swear.'' 
 
 `` If you say so, sweetheart. As a celebration, I tried something I have n't done in more than thirty years.'' 
 
 `` Oh god.'' 
 
 `` It went better than expected!'' He paused. `` Oh, Lina's calling for me. I'd better stop talking.'' 
 
 I nodded and walked down the stairs, lifting the fairly heavy ( in my opinion ) IV stand over the stairs, making sure my heart rate did n't go over 180 through the courtesy of a heartbeat timer on my wrist. 
 
 I... smelled something? Smelled something sweet at that. I have n't smelled anything in the past 17 days other than trees and hand sanitizer. 
 
 I went down and nearly burst out laughing. 
 
 In order to regain color and fitness, I had to occasionally actually eat, which mostly meant the supplemental pills and a copious amount of protein. 
 
 But in front of me was something I used to enjoy eating in virtual space. Seventeen days without pancakes. 
 
... For me, that was the real tragedy. 
 
 Pouring syrup on chocolate chip pancakes, I looked out at the street. Trees grew over the asphalt, deer and squirrels darting left and right. Ravens, swallows, other birds swept through an untouched once urban paradise, only proof of human life being the occasional chrome pod, which moved lovers to their partners and animal companions ( equally brain-chipped ) to their owners. 
 
 Yeah... another hour till the 18th day. I stepped toward the glass door, unafraid of any predator. 
 
 Another thing I did for this neighborhood, nowadays, was looking out for fools who went outside with their frail, barely moving bodies.That was one of the real killers of people who dropped off the grid: They would get mauled in seconds when the boredom overtook them and they went out. 
 
 I had no such fear, now. I could even climb a tree if I had to. 
 
 I opened the door, preparing to walk out. 
 
 -- - 
 
 Twenty four hours later. I came back home, my mom and dad clutching me tightly as if to make sure I was still alive. 
 
 A lone screen popped up in front of me, so I focused on that instead. 
 
 **Achievement: You've just obtained the world record for longest time spent without social media! Would you like to resume services? ** 
 
 **Y/N** 
 
 Smiling, I took a shaky breath, a quiet sob escaping my lungs. 
 
 Pressing the'Yes', the world exploded back into digital color. 
 
 Screens popped up, all around me, most of which saying basically the same thing. 
 
 `` Audrey! You're still alive?'' 
 
 I got a lot of that in the next few days.
