Charlotte Picks the "Fair Share" Punishment

“You have selected “Fair Share” as your punishment for losing this round. Please go to the info section to learn more about this punishment.” The game text read. Charlotte was nervous and slowly made her way to the info section of the app and read the following: “Fair Share: You will ecstatically answer yes to any physical request from acquaintances or friends you know who you perceive to be a 6/10 or lower on the attractiveness scale. This won’t apply if the request the person makes puts your life in danger in any way. Do not attempt to hide yourself from others while you have this punishment. There will be consequences.”

Charlotte was confused on what this punishment even meant. It couldn’t be for real, could it? Before she could think too long, she received a text from one of her best friends, Abby.

“Hey, are you still up for drinks tomorrow at our usual spot? I’ve got a friend I’d like to introduce you to! :P” The text read.

Charlotte wasn’t in the mood to go out partying with Abby, she was about to lie and text Abby she was busy tomorrow, but something overcame her and she started texting back automatically.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world! See you tomorrow! <3” her text back read. As soon as she sent the text she threw her phone across the room. “Jesus fuck” she said out loud. It was like she wasn’t in control over her body while she was texting. It was like she was just an observer in her mind while someone else controlled her body.

“Just take a couple of deep breaths Charlotte, we can get through this.” Charlotte thought to herself as she closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths.

Charlotte had never been religious, but she knew now, deep down, that whatever the App on her phone was, it wasn’t from this world. Was she dreaming? She couldn’t figure out if this was even real. She thought more about the punishment. She did think that Abby was probably a 6/10, so it made sense the punishment would take effect. “I guess I should be glad that it only applies to some people I know.”

Charlotte got up from her bed to grab her phone from the other side of the room. She was going to try to do more digging about the App. Maybe there was a way to look into the files where the App was installed? She picked up her phone and noticed she had a new text notification. It was from Scott, a student in her psychology class.

“Hey are you alright? The professor asked a question directly to you during the zoom lecture and you didn’t respond. It was pretty awkward.”

“Shit” Charlotte thought to herself. she had completely forgotten about the lecture. Charlotte checked the time and realized the class had ended a couple of minutes ago. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be in too much trouble with the professor.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I had something I had to take care of.” Charlotte replied back. Charlotte wanted to delete all contacts from her phone and lock herself in her room, but the App said there would be consequences if she did so.

“Ah okay. By the way, are you busy tonight? Would you want to come study at my place for the exam on Monday?” Scott texted.

“Fuck.” Charlotte thought to herself. Immediately she started to automatically text back “Sure! What time is good for you? :)”

“God fucking damnit”. It felt really weird when she lost control of her body.

“Could you be here in an hour? There is a lot of material to go over for the exam.” Scott texted.

“Absolutely! See you then :)” Charlotte automatically texted back.

She threw the phone across the room again. She was still so bothered by being controlled like that. Charlotte didn’t even know Scott that well. They only knew each other because of the Psychology class they shared. They almost always stuck to talking about the class. Scott first reached out to Charlotte at the beginning of the semester because he had missed a class and needed to ask someone for notes for that day’s lecture. Charlotte was praying that Scott wasn’t a creeper or anything. They had never actually met up in person. Charlotte had only seen Scott a couple of times on Zoom. Maybe all they would do is study?

Charlotte got up to retrieve her phone once again. She noticed she had a new text notification from Scott.

"Cool! My address is 1408 First Street. See you in an hour!" the text read.

Charlotte held the phone in her hand quietly for a bit. She was trying to think of some loophole she could use to get out of receiving more texts from people. She did sometimes turn off her phone to concentrate on reading books. She figured that she would just read for a little bit. I mean, this wasn’t really hiding herself from other people was it? She did truly sometimes turn off her phone to read. She decided to move forward with her plan and tried to turn off her phone, but discovered she it would not shut down. Instead she received a notification from the Gem Ladies App “Nice Try! You have earned one additional punishment. “Freaky Pheromones”.”