Souls in Pixel Dust
The city, this beast built of steel and glass, devours and disgorges streams of people by day, shimmering with tireless neon lights by night. Skyscraper spires pierce the clouds, as if to seize the secrets of heaven, while beneath their shadows, narrow alleys twist like the tangled intestines of the beast, squirming with humble yet tenacious lives.
In one such alley lived a young woman named Ah Mei. Her dwelling, less a room than a forgotten corner, could only accommodate a bed, a table, and a few stubbornly growing potted plants on the windowsill. Yet, Ah Mei's world was not entirely bleak. She possessed a "treasure"—an iPhone 6, its edges worn, its screen bearing fine scratches. In this age where the latest phones are updated like relentless tides, this old machine, in her hands, glowed with a peculiar light.