What Have You Done

It had been a lovely party before that moment.

No one noticed what had happened at first. They might have heard something break, and assumed it was a dropped wine glass. But the room grew quieter and soon, one by one, they all stared at her.

She stared at the floor. That glass was actually shards of metal, the unbroken version of which was wrapped around her date’s wrist. Around everyone’s wrist.

“Why did you do that?” Her date, Richard, asked.

Red dots swelled on her now-bare wrist. They dripped.

“Did you hear me?"

She didn’t want it anymore. The tracking turned every second into a metric. She forgot how it had felt, and now she wanted to know. Plenty of people had lived without the band at one point. People had gone their whole lives without knowing their total steps and swallows and blinks and orgasms. Without having the world know those numbers.

The pile was not exclusively metal. It lay in a little red puddle, not wine. She saw what looked like skin. It slithered out and flopped back and forth. Tiny and finger-shaped. Like an earthworm.

More of them emerged. They reached into the air, stumbled, and fell onto each other. Each of them tried again. And again.

Her stomach twisted. Her disgust wasn’t being recorded.

The party hosts had a child who had been sitting in the corner. She’d stared at him when she arrived and he hadn’t looked up, instead flitting thumbs over a tiny box in his hands. He wore that metal band too. His parents had bought it for his birthday, and they seemed very excited about this. Much more than their child, even.

That child was now staring at her, just like everyone was. They were muttering to themselves, to each other. They were asking questions. But their voices weren't clear.

In a few minutes, she could get out. Everyone would find something else to talk about. Richard would turn his back and she could run.

Then loud beeping pierced ears and swallowed all other sounds. Every metal band started flashing red. People clutched their wrists as if being burned. Some twisted their mouths and glared. They were closing in. There were maybe a few seconds left, and the door was unlocked.