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As the dipping sun was obscured by a row of tenements I felt the chill that was in the air all this time. It was late afternoon and I had only a light jacket and t-shirt on. It was enough when the sun was on me - I even almost took off the jacket- but the cold air from the North soon asserted itself in the shadows.
I was walking home and took a short cut through the back alleys of the old Georgian buildings. I buttoned up my jacket and quickened my step. In my pocket I thought I felt my phone thrum so I stopped and took it out. Nothing.
I turned and looked behind me and there was a dark hooded figure looking at his phone. He stood statue still. Something about it unsettled me so I put my phone away and headed down the cobblestoned alley.
A little further on my phone vibrated again, yet when I took it out there were still no notifications. I went into my apps.

Facebook: nothing.
Twitter: nothing.
Mail: nothing.
Texts: nothing.
WhatsApp: nothing.
Instagram: nothing.
Soulmates: nothing.

Very strange.

I lifted my eyes and almost stumbled in fright. There behind me was the boy again, face hidden in the soft dark folds of his hood, head down towards his phone. He seemed frozen in that posture.
I hurried away and turned down another alley that I didn’t quite recognise. I went to go back but suddenly there was the hooded boy again and I let out a cry. I could feel my heart beating. It was odd, he was stock still.
My phone vibrated again and the boy seemed to momentarily blur into static with each buzz of my phone. I didn’t answer it and turned to set off. Only to walk straight into the boy.
Only I passed right through him as if he was a hologram, a phantom. I could barely swallow, my heart was panicking in my chest. My phone was still vibrating, the hooded boy was still fading in and out of focus with its buzz. I took my phone out and looked at it. Nothing again.
I lifted my head and the hooded boy was now back down the alley where I had seen him before turning and walking through his likeness. I had to get a picture of this for my Blip, I thought, so I thumbed on my phone camera and clicked.

He vanished.

I looked at my images and there he was, this image you see here. As I was looking between it and the empty alleyway my phone pinged and I jumped at the sudden sound. It was a voicemail notification.
I didn’t recognise the number but accessed it anyway. The voice was that of the SIRI feature on my phone.

HELP ME. I AM TRAPPED INSIDE MY PHONE. I CAN’T GET OUT. PLEASE RETWEET THE PHOTO OF ME. IF ENOUGH PEOPLE SEE ME I WILL LIVE AGAIN.

I listened to the message six times more. I felt clammy and a bit sick. There was still no boy in the alleyway, there seemed to be no-one around at all.
So I attached the photo and sent it out on all my social media apps. Almost instantaneously my phone started vibrating and pinging in my hand. So much so I jerked back and it fell onto the cobblestones.
It vibrated and pinged away crazily, spasming on the ground. I groped for it and eventually managed to pick it up. Notifications were flashing and popping up on my home screen. Re-tweets of the picture. Likes of it. Hundreds, thousands, millions of them maybe.
Then the sun emerged from behind the tenements, and a thought popped into my head.
These were all the lost children trapped inside their phones. They were trying to make the world real again. Trying to help one another escape. They were trying to connect with as many others like them in there in a hope it would set them free.
My phone battery quickly died. I stared at the black screen, and the bright sun reflected my quizzical face. I tried to move but couldn't. I was frozen. I was locked in the posture of looking at my phone. And I am trapped inside, in here among the electrons and static.

So I am sending out this hopeful message to you through Blipfoto reading this on your phone, your tablet, your computer. Please share. Please Like. Re-tweet. Help me out of here. Help me live again. While there is still time.