Mobile Addict

John peered at his mobile screen which was projecting light deep into his eyes. His screen time at night was enough to curb the secretion of melatonin hormones. A smile curved on his lips as his favourite hero shook his body exhibiting his insane dancing skills. There was noise around the house but John through his addiction had been able to successfully filter out the noise and focus only on the screen and its audio. His mother Rita had been aware of his son's mobile addiction. Her advice often fell on deaf ears. She continued to heap reprimands but to no avail and eventually, she gave up realizing her words would not affect her son anymore. Her son often wallowed in the entertainment churned out from the mobile. 

On a Tuesday morning, John strolled along the pavement with the phone in his hand. He wasn't even aware of what was materializing around him. Vehicles stormed past the two-way roads and pedestrians clamoured as they moved. John slightly moved towards the corner of the road and one of the bikes accelerated at a high speed towards his direction. He was stunned to see John completely immersed in his phone while being on road. His bike horn blared but it couldn't perk up John's ears. Somehow the bike rider barely managed to whizz past John without running over him. He stopped his bike at a distance and called out John but the latter didn't respond. He hurled expletives at him and drove home. Had the driver displayed the slightest of negligence John would have lost his life but ironically he was oblivious to what had transpired.

John reached his college and scurried to the classroom with his eyes still hooked to the phone. He plopped on the last bench. His classmate stared at him for a while and then waved his hands across his face to grab his interest. Later, realized he was trying to deal with a mobile addict who would not take his eyes off the phone come what may. Mathematics lecture walked into the class peering at the students through his specs. Everyone rose to greet him except John who was seen seated. The lecturer did observe him but purposely denied to channelize his attention towards him. He began teaching the maths chapter with full zeal and enthusiasm. He expected the students to reciprocate the same back to him. Others in the class did show interest in his teaching but John had the guts to disrespect his teacher by ignoring his lecture. The lecturer who had turned a blind eye up until now lost his cool as one of his students had utter disregard for his subject. 

"Hey, John!" he said.

His words did not affect John.

"Can you hear me, John?" He screamed this time letting his voice echo through the room. 

He couldn't grab his attention again.

The lecturer flung chalk at him finally managing to grab his attention. John picked up the chalk and handed it over to the lecturer, "I don't know why your friend was trying to teach me."

"How dare you disregard me and my subject? Even at this age, I come every day to teach the subject to my students, " he said. "You are not even half of my age but you disrespect your teacher and his subject."

"I am extremely sorry, sir! All you do is play with numbers. I am interested in playing with my phone not numbers."

"Why did you join college, then?"

"What to do? My parents persuaded me to join."

"If you are not willing to listen to the lecturer why are you sitting in the class?"

"To be frank just for attendance sake."

"I will give you 100% attendance but I don't want to see your face again in my class."

"Oh, thank you very much, sir! I appreciate it!" John pulled his earphone plug and thrusted it into his ears before signing off from the place. His behaviour left the lecturer dumbfounded as he stared at his back that disappeared into the distance.

John sat on a bleacher with his favourite phone giving him the much-needed company. It was colluding with his mind to dig him deep into the addiction world so that he wouldn't find a solution to come out of it. The scorching sun lashed his anger upon him but couldn't deter him from using his phone. Very soon students filled upon the bleacher to watch the football match which was to commence in two minutes. It was a match between John's college and the other college. The match was officially set in motion and the players from both teams manifested their talent on the field to score a goal. Suddenly, John's college conceded a goal. John went bonkers as if he was celebrating the goal scored against his team. But in reality, he was excited by his favourite hero who blasted the villains black and blue. His college students were shocked to spot him celebrating the opposition goal. 

"He is betraying our college, " one of them said.

"How dare he find admission in our college?"

The students combined to boo the opposition and John but the latter as usual wasn't affected by their jeers and boos.

Mr Mobile Addict John walked down the pavement and accidentally stepped on the tail of a dog that whimpered in agony. John donned a smile on his face enjoying the comedy projected on the screen. One of the animal lovers observed this incident and he refused to let this go by. He gathered a few people and confronted John.

"How dare you inflict pain on an innocent animal?"

"What the hell are you barking?"

"Aren't you aware of what you did?"

"Can't you see me watching a movie? Why are you barking like a dog?"

They glanced at each other and one among them gestured to beat him. They combined and taught him a lesson by hammering a few blows. John couldn't digest the fact that his phone was a few centimetres away from him begging for his protection. His heartbeat threatened to escape as he crawled and managed to grab the phone. The onlookers giggled at him. He got back to his feet, dusted off his phone and resumed the movie which he was watching before consuming the blows.

John hurried to his house with his mind all set to binge-watch another comedy movie by his favourite actor. The dining table was festooned with delicious foods but John wasn't interested. Just for the heck of it, he had come to pour some food into his mouth. Somehow he thrust some food into his mouth while watching the movie. Instead of gulping milk, he poured it over the table and he had no idea what he was doing. His mother looked at her only son behaving like a surreal monkey.

"Why are pouring milk over to the table? Is it going to drink milk on your behalf?" she asked.

John kept the glass on the table and hurried to his room shutting the door behind.

"My son went mad!" Rita looked perturbed. 

Two pigeons perched on the window sill as if trying to strike a conversation with a mobile addict. Wind stormed past the window to attack him all at once but their force couldn't harm him. The bulb increased its intensity of light to blur his vision but even they failed the test. He continued to laugh with his mind acclimatized to the movie pattern. His mother sensed pain in her heart. She clasped her chest and called her son. Unfortunately, she couldn't even move from the place which made her life even more difficult. The intensity of pain magnified instead of dwindling which eventually malfunctioned her heart. Had she been treated with Cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) she would have survived. Five hours since she breathed her last, John appeared at the dining table but couldn't find any food placed over it. He walked over to the hall only to see his mother laying on the sofa motionless. His heart skipped a beat. He immediately shifted her to hospital but the doctor declared her brought dead. They also told him they could have saved her had he arrived early. John looked around the hospital with his heart tearing apart with agony. 

"I killed my mother, " he screamed smashing his phone on the floor which broke into million pieces. Tears welled up his eyes unable to bear the tragic death of his mother. He slapped his cheek multiple times but the pain he inflicted on his body had no license to bring back the life of his mother. All memories of his mother flashed past him wounding him in and out. He could do whatever he wants but nothing had neither the power nor the permission to bring back his mother. He begged his mother to speak with him but her motionless body could only deliver silence.