PHEME: The Ultimate Celebrity System

Chapter 4

Asher’s POV

“Ph… Pheme…?” I repeated the name with my eyes closed, regardless of how silly it sounded. I just couldn't stop thinking of what would happen if anyone happened to walk in at that moment. 

My fame would spread even more but for the wrong reasons. I feared that even more than the sudden light that had shot out of the watch on my wrist. All of that happening at the same time left me wondering why I was fated to be that unfortunate.

After some moments, I mustered the courage to ask one of the many questions in my head. “What the heck is a Pheme?”

“Ugh…” the feminine voice sighed. “It's not a thing, it's my name. Looks like I have an awful lot of work to do on you, Asher. You probably never paid attention in any of your history classes.”

I became even more afraid as the ‘thing’ could talk back to me. Now I really wanted to open my eyes to see what was going on, but I was paralyzed by the fear. 

“You can open your eyes now and satisfy your curiosity…” the feminine voice spoke with some level of authority that made me feel threatened. 

After thinking about it for some time, I decided to give it a try. Slowly, my eyelids cracked open to see the lid of the watch had been open and at the other end of the room was a bright light that had the shape of a female. 

“Hello, Asher…” she said, not knowing how much in was being creeped out by what was happening right in front of me. “I'm Pheme…”

“What the heck is that?” I was shivering as I wanted to be sure that it was some sort of hallucination. Perhaps the awfulness of my circumstances had gotten into my head and were making me imagine things. 

“I'm the system your father willed to you…” she kept speaking like I had been given some prior knowledge and wasn't supposed to be as creeped out as I was at the moment. “Well, I'm named after the Greek goddess of fame and renown. I'm a system to help ambitious young people like you get to the top.”

“Huh…?” A cold sweat broke out on my forehead as all of that was just too much for me to take in. “Ambitious young people like me? What do you mean by people like me?”

“Losers, Asher. I'm talking about losers like you who have been oppressed and have possibly had the so-called love of their lives taken away from them and embarrassed in the…”

“Fine, I get it…” I interrupted as I was tired of hearing the mysterious thing in front of me recite my life's story to me like she had been there while it all happened. “How do you know all of that?”

“The watch you've been wearing. It's no ordinary watch and your father probably knew this day would come and that's why he insisted you have it…”

“Wait up… slow down…” I was struggling to assimilate all of that on the spot. 

I couldn't stop staring at the smart watch I had been wearing mindlessly all that time. At that point, I couldn't stop wondering what would have happened if I had sold it like I had wanted to back then. 

“What’s all of this about? All of a sudden I'm almost getting blinded and now you tell me about my life and my father as well.”

“How about I explain to you as we carry on with your mission?” She seemed impatient. “You've been chosen to be the ideal celebrity to model positivity. I'm sure Neil makes you sick and you'd love to have your revenge on him and that girl. Your mission begins right away.”

“What? I don't understand…” I was still confused and frightened even about what exactly I was about to get myself into. “I am not supposed to be—”

“Your profile has been created and now you will have a million dollars in your account to kickstart your journey to the top.”

“You're kidding, right?” I was beginning to suspect strongly that I was in some sort of dream. “If you're going to play with my emotions, you have to—”

My phone dinged and I was almost throwing it away in shock as I saw the alert. I had just become a million dollars richer. 

“From now, I will be connected to all of your devices and you must keep all of this secret. I am here to take you to the top and you must promise not to abuse your influence like you've seen Neil doing.”

“I…promise…” I stuttered shakily as I was hoping that it wasn't a dream I would wake up from.

“Now your first task is to create a following on social media. You can leverage on your trend already and with each task you pass you earn rewards and unlock the next. You have a period of three days to complete each task and any task you don't complete within the timeframe reduces your points by one. The higher you go, the more the stakes and the more you stand to lose.” 

I didn't like the sound of that, but then I was ready to do anything at that point, to get the edge over Neil. “Fine… I'm ready for it…”

“The top right corner of your watch shows how many points you've earned and to the left, you will see the time you have left for your current task…”

“Wow…” I gasped in shock as I almost couldn't believe my eyes as I stared at the watch to see it was just like she had said it was. “This is… awesome…”

“You should get running, Asher. The time is already ticking. And remember, nobody has to know, or you will be kicked out of the system for good…” 

She had barely finished speaking when the door opened. 

“No…!” I shrieked in fear as my newly found secret was about to be blown. "Damn it..."