I wasnt much of a person who enjoyed looking back at childhood memories. Nostalgia always felt so unneeded in my day-to-day life that I had mostly forgotten about many things I used to love when I was younger, that was until my mother had asked me to clean out my old bedroom, as they were adopting a foster child. And thats when I saw it, the teeny tiny, off-brand tomodachi (cleverly named PocketPetz! to avoid lawsuits) keychain hanging off of my long-forgotten, elementary school backpack. "I havent seen these things in years.." I mumbled as I detached it and picked it up, looking into the screen. "I wonder if it still works." I pressed the small power button behind one of the ears on the casing and was met with the happy chirp of my PocketPet, Elsie. She was a rare, from one of the limited drops of plushies that could be converted into pets. I distinctly remember pratically begging my mom to buy one.

I couldnt help but crack a smile as Elsie did a little dance on the screen. These things always had that small ounce of life in them, at least Elsie did anyway. A textbox appeared on the bottom of the screen. "I missed you so much, Lei! You're so much bigger than I remember!" How did it...know my name? That...cant be normal. I remember upon booting it up that there was no input to tell your PocketPet your name... My thoughts were interrupted by another seemingly excited chirp coming from the small device. "I'm so hungry...can I please have some food?" Elsie asks. I recognized this as the default message for when they were hungry and quickly tapped the "Feed!" button.

As I watched Elsie happily gobble up the pixelated food, I started to think. Maybe I misheard or I just didn't remember it prompting me to tell it my name. "Honey? Have you finished yet?" My mother softly called from downstairs. I took this as my cue to turn off the small device and continue to clean. This was all too..weird for me. I pocketted the keychain. I could've swore I heard a worried mew come from Elsie.

That night, as I was getting ready for bed, I figured that I might as well charge up the Pocket Pet. I placed it on my dresser and began to search for the correct charger, until I heard the sound of the device turning on. "Lei? Lei! I can't see you! I'm scared!" What I assumed to be Elsie whined. I walked to my desk, charger in hand and stared down at it. "Lei! Hi! Where are we?" the pet purred happily, seemingly getting closer to the screen. "I'm in my house, in my room." I explained. I felt stupid, of course it couldnt hear me, it was just a t- "Oh! That's good!" Elsis squeaked before I could even finish my thought. They curled up and seemed to fall asleep, little Z's appearing on top of their head.

I am going to stop here cvause i cant think anymore