For some characters the sudden disappearance of the Internet in The Fridgularity frees them from their addiction. (For others, it’s a challenge recovering from their habits.) This is a scene in which the two main characters, Blake and Lyca, go to check on Will, whom they know is addicted to social media:
The door creaked open, just like the door creaks open in movies right before someone finds a murder victim.
“Ohmygod,” Lyca said. “You don’t think he’s–”
“Lax on security? Yes, yes, I do,” Blake said and then shouted into the apartment, “Hey, Will, it’s Blake and Lyca. We’re here to check on you, and we’re coming in, so if you’re naked and/or doing something weird, please cover up and/or stop it!”
They walked into the apartment, which was practically dark. It looked tidy and surprisingly stylish for a twenty-something bachelor pad.
The curtains were drawn, so Blake walked over and slid them open. Light flooded the room. Both Blake and Lyca noticed a figure on the couch, in the fetal position, face into the upholstery. It wasn’t moving.
Lyca gasped. Will was dead!
“Uhhhh,” the body said. So, not dead. “Close the curtains.”
“Will. Man, what are you doing?”
“Can’t talk. Thinking about the tweets I’m missing.”
“You aren’t missing anything, Will,” Blake said and sat down next to him on the couch. “The whole network is down.”
“Ohhhhhh,” Will groaned.
The thing was, Blake was pretty sure he wasn’t just being melodramatic. “I’m going to get you something to eat,” Blake said. “You probably haven’t eaten, have you?”
“Mmmmmmmnnno.”
“I’ll stay with him,” Lyca said, pulling a book out of her bag. It was a dog-eared copy of Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. She sat in a stylish chair perpendicular to the couch.
“Okay,” Blake said, returning from the kitchen with an apple. “Don’t worry, man, we’re going to get you some help. My friend, Dr. Tundra, is a psych doc, and we’ll go pay him a visit after this.”
“After the food run,” Lyca added.
“Right, after we get some supplies.”
“Mnn.”
“Okay, let’s go.” Blake sat down next to Will on the couch. He touched his shoulder awkwardly. “You can stay with us during the blackout, okay, Will? We’ll pretend we’re tweeting.”
“Really?”
“Sure. We’ll make a game of it. Everything in 140 characters,” Blake suggested.
“I’ll need paper for that,” Lyca said.
“Yes. Great idea! We’ll use paper and hand it back and forth, just like a Twitter stream!”
“Twitter stream?” Will sat up. He took the apple.
“So what do you want to pack?”
#
The official release date of The Fridgularity is later this month, but you can get a copy now at Amazon.com and download one right away on Kindle (FREE today and tomorrow still). And you know you can read a Kindle edition on all kinds of devices, right?