Avatara

"I'm not giving you my phone," said Grace. Feeling anxiety over being confrontational, she lowered her neck and stepped back away from the girl. Tilting her forehead forward and maintaining eye contact, she made her demands. "I want to know who I am here to see, right now, or I am off. And don't try to kidnap me because my boy--, my, my." She could not finish the sentence, without breaking down in tears.

This drew a reaction from the girl, who reached out a hand on Grace's shoulder. "I have been told you have been through a lot today. Mr Snow Globe can help you." Grace's posture reflected a position of surrender and resignation. The girl continued her attempt at reassurance.

"The only reason I want you to hand in your phone is that you never know who's listening in. All mobile phones are effectively a form of surveillance technology. You can get it back after the meeting."

"You think I don't know that?" said Grace.

She corrected herself back to an erect posture and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I don't think you understand," she continued. "This whole day people have been making demands of me in the strangest of ways. I've had enough. If anyone wants something from me, they have to meet my demands now. I'm not giving you my phone."

Grace did not hesitate to wait for the girl's response. She climbed over the small wall to walk towards the kids. "I will switch it off."

This was a skatepark. With many low level ramps,banks and ledges, skate bowl sides covered in ill.u.s.trious graffiti. During the day, this renowned park, beloved by notable professional skateboarders to fledgling amateurs was a hub of the community. With the young and old, skateboarders and bmx riders coming together as one family, supporting each other, and helping each other explore the joys of flips and grinds on the metal and concrete of the park. But in the middle of the night, there were only three kids here. If Grace paid attention to it, she would have noticed that these kids also had skateboards, denoting their affiliation with the area, but her fear only gave her tunnel vision.

As she drew close one of the kids turned to look at her and then fully turned his body to face her. He was a tall lanky type with glasses and a frizzy blonde perm which made his hair look like a mop. He had a listless look on his face, which many would consider typical, of a gangly teenager trying to set himself apart as different from others.

The other kid next to him, was much shorter and stubby looking. He was wearing a baseball cap and had headphones around his neck. He smiled at Grace.

"Hey, you're Grace," It sounded much more a statement to Grace than a question.

"A boy called Yi, sent me here, are you his friends?" she said.

"Yeah, we are," said the taller one. Another kid seemed shielded by the taller one.

"Prove it," said Grace. She was close to them by now, so she could lower her voice. She felt a need to keep looking round, today she had learnt what it means to feel on edge.

But the tall one was not happy with her statement.

"Prove what? We don't have to prove anything to you." This is a cleaner version of what he said- switch the word anything, with a swear word beginning with 's.'

"Byte, be easy man. The lady has come out 'ere in the middle of the night to meet us. I think she is owed an answer." The stubby kid was the diplomatic type.

"My name is Qwerty," he said to Grace. "We're glad you've come. Yi told us you are a good person and you're not trying to take over the world with Avatara."

"So you guys know I am the creator of Avatara," said Grace.

"We all know," said the other voice, of the third kid. A female voice that sounded familiar. She took down her hood to reveal her face.

Pixel.

The shock to Grace was visceral. She could not believe what she was seeing. Pixel. Here? People have a habit of packaging people into different boxes in their lives based on their expectations. For instance if you go somewhere with your friends and you see your parents in the same place, or you see your doctor at your gym or on the street, you feel weird. Often, positions of authority factor into this, which is why your boss does not come out for drinks with you after work. For Grace, Pixel was in the flower shop employee box but that box had now flown open and Pixel was hanging out of it on a spring like a 'jack-in-the-box.' An unwelcome surprise.

"Hey, I'm sorry about your ex-boyfriend. Yi has been monitoring you for sometime to see if you share our values and also to keep you safe."

"Pixel?" Grace voice almost hissed as she had said it. "You lied to me."

"I'm sorry I lied to you but as the designer of Avatara, we had to decide what sort of person you were before we asked for your help."

"So begging me for a job at my shop was just a ruse?"

Pixel pleaded with her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I was going to tell you in a better way but the actions of your ex, forced our hand and that's not all--"

"Don't bring Walker into this," Grace said.

"Ok, ok," said Pixel. "I won't mention him again but the point is that you were kidnapped and there have been some other recent new events that came to light. We need your help."

Grace had her fist clenched. She may not have realised it but she was hardly breathing, taking only short shallow breaths. She felt hot and frustrated.

"You're fired," Grace nodded. Her body language was a self affirmed one. "Don't bother coming back to the shop tomorrow."

"That's really disappointing," Pixel said with a flat tone.

"And I think this is some kind of joke that I'm meeting you here to hear this. I am going home."

"Grace please hear Pixel out, help us out. She would have told you but we are a top secret agency and don't want to give out information until we are so sure it is the right decision." Qwerty had a way of speaking that was smooth and inclusive.

"What organisation are you part of? The government?"

Pixel, Qwerty and Byte exchanged glances with each other and Grace had the feeling of being left in the lurch.