Blaine charged his phone. Without cell reception, he was lost though. So he went for the city center. As he was going, he realized he didn't know how to get there. So he asked a group of young women passing by him. "Hey there, what bus can I get on to get to the inner city? I don't have reception here" and he showed his phone without thinking. Then he put it back in his pocket very rapidly. The women stared at said pocket, and one of them asked "What was that?". And he said "It's nothing, just tell me please".
But the women wouldn't relent. "Reception? Is this some kind of spy gadget? Are you a spy?" One other asked. "She's so beautiful", he thought as he saw her. "N-no, it's just a phone," he answered, very flustered. He just wanted to go home! But that lady made him reconsider for a second.
The group was shocked. "That's a phone?!" One exclaimed, and the others were alarmed and all talking.
He felt uneasy again. But he decided to find out why everyone was so surprised.
"This is a smartphone. It's tactile, and you can go on the internet with it." he said, and as he said "Internet", they all looked at each other. He couldn't believe it. "Not even the word internet?!" he thought. But he wasn't so sure of his guess. "You do know the internet, right?" he asked hesitantly.
One of them cleared her throat and then replied : "Yes, but I'm a computer science student. For everyone else, it's a way for computers to communicate. We can use emails to send messages to each other, for example!". The other women were surprised, but amazed. Some nodded as if they just understood the term. And the computer science then went on and exclaimed : "But on this thing?! That is impossible! The technology of today couldn't make processors fit in there! Also, you need wires to connect to the internet." Everyone was puzzled at what she just declared. But for Blaine, it was a very different reason. "It's not the eighties anymore, you know?" as he said that, everyone was shocked, some even gasped, but he continued : "Scientists worked a lot to make everything tinier and more powerful. The first commercialized mobile phone was invented almost thirty years ago!". He almost smiled as he finished, but then he noticed everyone's eyes on him, and not in a good way. They were all very concerned. So he showed his phone. He played a video of him skateboarding, and little screams were heard. "How is this possible?!" one of them said. "This is amazing" said the computer science student, and she looked like she was ready to die in peace. The lady that caught his attention asked the burning question : "So are you a time traveler or something? This IS the eighties."
"Goddamn cults" he mumbled, but no one heard. One of the ladies asked innocently : "Can I take a look?". But Blaine put his phone in his pocket and went away. The group followed him, but he didn't want to. He walked faster, and so did they. Then he ran. He ran so far away. And the girls did the same. And he couldn't get away. Fortunately, he did not run away all night and day, and stopped after ten minutes. Some of the young women had screamed for him, but after a while they were too busy focusing on their breathing. As he stopped, the one that had caught his eye took his arm. He pushed her away, but he couldn't walk anymore. He sat down on the ground, and so did everyone else. Then he said, while regularly taking breaks to breathe : "Look around you. You'll see people with phones, now that we're far enough.".
Someone said "You should look around". And he did. All he saw was eighties cars, eighties haircuts, eighties clothes, eighties shops, and eighties sky, even. The sun looked like it had more of a yellow hue.
"What the hell?!" he exclaimed, "Is this whole town brainwashed?!".
"No! Do we have to take you to New York for you to understand?!" said one of them. A lady with piercing eyes. And he responded "Yes. As a matter of fact, it would be a definite proof, due to a... Certain event happening."
"Well we're all in debt, so do it yourself." the same lady retorted. He sighed. "Maybe somewhere closer... Let me think."
"Do you know this city?" she asked. He shook his head. He was in fact, very far away. It was Friday and he was due to come back on Sunday night. "Not happening", he thought.
"Well, since it's late, we don't have time for you to check that this is the eighties, so we're gonna help you get to a bed and sleep, alright girls?" And she turned around, asking for everyone else's approval. They reluctantly agreed. Then she turned back and asked him : "You in?"
There was no choice. He had no money.
He already didn't have a lot and he spent most of it on food. "I can defend myself" he reassured himself. So he agreed with his brightest smile, which was fooling no one.
They came back to the campus after twenty minutes. In the meantime, the girls were all over his… Phone. Like kids who wanted to play games, they were fighting over it, but this time just to look, touch it and feel it.
He learned some of their names. The one with the scary eyes was Janine, and seemingly the mama bear of the group. The one he liked was Candice, and she tried to charm him out of his gadget, but he refused. She would have to fight for it. "But only metaphorically, it's very fragile!" He exclaimed. At least he would have a good influence on those brainwashed girls.
Since they were inexperienced in modern technology, eventually the phone slipped out of one hand and fell. He screamed "That's the only one in the world!" and it sounded like he believed it. Too concerned for the state of his possession, he turned it around. No cracks. Everyone sighed of relief.
He took the phone and refused to give it to anyone else. But they were very close to the campus anyways, so Janine and Liza, another one in the group, lead him to their dorm room. Liza was very careful when she handled the phone, so he was very grateful about it, and thanked her. She then asked "When were those invented?"
"Not sure, but you could buy those back in… 2007 I want to say, I was very young then."
And they both looked at him without saying anything. One of them said "If you're a freshman, then you went approximately 35 years back in time." And he chuckled nervously. Either he or they were wrong. And either way it was worrying. But he was more inclined to believe the latter, even if it really looked like the former. Time travel wasn't possible, after all.
"Are you really ready to believe that?" Blaine asked, and they both nodded. He added "But it's not possible!"
And Janine said "This phone is impossible, even for the government. Even for research facilities. As for time traveling being possible, I don't know, but it looks more probable as for now."
They entered the dorm room. It looked so tacky, like the rooms he saw in eighties' movies. At least, it was very accurate. Liza turned on the TV. It was on MTV, and Madonna was singing "Lucky Star", a song he'd never heard before. It was pretty good, and he stopped to listen. "Damn, this is old but pretty cool..." he said without thinking. Liza opened her mouth to say something, but then she remembered the circumstances they were in.
Janine cooked some Mac and Cheese, and everyone ate it like it was from a five-star restaurant. Janine stayed up, but her roommate went straight to bed, and Blaine went to sleep on the couch. They lent him a blanket and a pillow, and he was pretty content with that. However, as he closed his eyes, he could only think about the crazy situation he was in. Especially the fact that everything was normal up until he went to the bathroom. It's a good college, he had thought in the morning. There were people with phones on the campus too! But not after that one moment. This train of thought made him so tired he slept until morning.