The Case of Apple – A Short Story

Not always as one seems!

          Life in Silicon Valley was pretty easy going for the most part. It was a nice area with little crime and had great programs for all kinds of people.

          It was a place for families to live happily, and great for the young and old as well. Silicon Valley wasn’t the kind of place where crazy events took place that ended up on the news; they were a quieter town but still had their unique way of living. This place was somewhere that everybody knew everyone. You may have not known everyone personally, but you recognized faces wherever you went. There was a part of Silicon Valley that had all of the restaurants, bars, shopping malls, and skyscrapers you could imagine. Mostly everyone was in this area at least some point of their day because everything they needed was right in this busy area. Residents respected one another and always gave out a helping hand if one was in need. Silicon Valley was a place for friendship, honesty, and love, until one day, something began to spiral in a direction that wasn’t like the town of Silicon Valley.

          There was a man who lived on 26^th Ferro Street in an apartment complex in Silicon Valley. His name was Apple and people knew who this guy was all throughout the town like they had recognized anybody on the streets. But Apple was different from a lot of residents. He never was that social, as he usually kept to himself throughout the hours of the day and night. People remembered him moving into the apartment he lives in now years before. He moved to Silicon Valley to hopefully start a life for himself and conquer his dreams. His only dream was to be the best and to always win with whatever he strived in. But when Apple first moved in, a lot of residents began talking about him because he just wasn’t doing well with his lifestyle. Everyone knew he was different and that he was trying to become something incredible. Sadly, Apple failed many times to become that something special in Silicon Valley. He just wasn’t surviving in this world and a lot of people began worrying if he would even make it.

          Then one day, Apple suddenly was a new man. He walked and talked differently and was the most incredible man in Silicon Valley. People began to look up to him and wonder what it was that made him instantly so special and intriguing. He had all new things and was better than before in every way. Little did these residents know, Apple had been planning this for years now. He knew he would someday be above people, he was just waiting and planning and being patient beforehand. Once Apple began showing off all his new stuff, the citizens of Silicon Valley couldn’t get enough. They were so intrigued and strapped into the ideas that Apple had to offer, and they wanted to know more and more. Before they knew it, Apple had convinced all of them that what he had to offer was certainly the best, and they began to believe it too. He slowly manipulated all of them into thinking that his products were the best of the best, and that these people better get a hand on them to change their lives. Apple advertised that it was his products and lifestyle that made him popular among his town and that if everyone else wanted some of that popularity, they had to give in.

          A few months in, Apple was the most known guy in this town. He was on newspapers, all over the internet, and even advertised on billboards for what he has done. People were inspired by him and wanted to be cool in just part of a way he was. People were even hearing about Apple outside of Silicon Valley, people were hearing about him even across the country for what he brought into this world. He was the most admired man and everyone wanted a piece of his knowledge.

          But some time later, things began to get a little sticky. As Apple was the popular man with all of his stuff that the town couldn’t get enough of, he began seeing other people very subtly try to imitate him. At first he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. But slowly, as time went on, he saw more and more of it and was getting tired of it. People were getting jealous because Apple was the coolest man in that town, and was becoming a sensation to everyone with his amazing features and knowledge, he was like no other, and people wanted that fame. So those people began imitating him in the smallest ways, thinking they were being slick. But they weren’t slick at all for Apple’s eyes, he was in disgust for people trying to be like him and imitate what he worked so long and hard for. This had to end, and he was going to put it to an end in the worst way possible.

          Since Apple was basically the icon of Silicon Valley and even other towns and cities around him, he knew he had the power to control what would come for these people trying to copy him. He decided that he would go to the law and have them enforce his will on those crazy imitations that were going on . He was in complete control, and nobody could stop him. Some of the imitators of Apple were watched and even had their houses guarded on a daily basis until they proved they would stop imitating Apple as he was the true icon of the town. Apple also instructed signs and billboards throughout the town with names and pictures of those who imitated Apple to embarrass them and have people look down on them in disgust.

          But there were a few competitors that didn’t back down so quickly to Apple and his government intelligence. So Apple had to get even more creative to push these competitors down so he could be the best forever and always. He began to secretly work with the government by making deals with them. Apple had his plans so thought out; nobody expected what would come next.

          Some of the competitors still didn’t want to bow down to Apple and acknowledge he was the best with all he had, but maybe they should have, because they were in for the worst. Apple slowly started tearing these people apart. These people would think they can go against Apple one second, and the next second, their whole style of everything they owned was corrupted and destroyed. Apple was sending agencies inside of these competitors homes to give up what they had that was like Apple’s, and they were forced to give it over so it could be destroyed. Some people obeyed, but some were still thinking they could beat Apple and wanted to push their luck. Before the town knew it, there were people that were going missing day after day. Nobody knew where the lists of people were or what had happened to them. The citizens of Silicon Valley only knew that everyone on the list of the missing had one thing in common: they were all competing against Apple to take him over.

          With that being said, Apple began receiving a lot of hate from fellow citizens in his town and even across other towns. It was going around that there were missing people, and a few rare cases that some of these people did turn up…dead. Apple denied everything that was put on him and said that he is the original Apple and that nobody is like him, but that he wasn’t responsible for any deaths or missing people that were competing against him. People didn’t know whether to believe him or not, so people were puzzled and so confused.

          With many men and women missing, and some killed that were supposed to go head to head with Apple, there was just one competitor standing in his way from being the best of all the best men. His name was Samsung. Samsung was a mysterious man and began imitating Apple ever since he heard about Apple on the internet when Apple first became popular. Samsung began attracting attention as well from other citizens, but not as much as Apple. He had features so similar to Apple, it was amazing sometimes that they were two different people. They had the same everything, except for some details here and there, but they both were pretty well off people that were attracting so many as well.

          Apple couldn’t handle this competition, and frankly Samsung was making Apple look bad. He didn’t care that someone had great abilities, because Apple believed he was more than Samsung any day and that he had more to offer and primarily, he was the original, he was the one that started his town going crazy over him and everything he offered. Apple wanted to finish this once and for all, and wanted to knock Samsung off his horse, because he was not better, and he wanted everyone to know that Samsung was nothing but an intelligent imitator.

         This was time for Apple to think, think harder than he has every thought before. He had to knock Samsung down below him or he would never improve his skills as a person and he would no longer be the best and have the citizens of Silicon Valley worship him like they once did. He went back to the government where he had connections and began planning. He thought for days and nights, wondering what to do, who to go to, and then he realized that he had all the power in his hands the entire time. Apple began thinking in his dark ways and knew he had evidence that Samsung was nothing but a fake trying to be the best. Apple knew that the government wouldn’t accept a phony like Samsung trying to reign over him, when everyone knew he was the original man to be an icon for Silicon Valley. He pulled together his fellow citizens and began giving speeches all across his town reminding everyone who he was and how he got to where he was. He didn’t even know if he would live years before, and today, he was fighting for his right to be known as the best man and person in general in Silicon Valley to be of such prestigious and knowledge. The people began realizing that he was right, Apple was the original, and nobody should take that away from him.

          Samsung thought it was all crap and still didn’t want to back down. So at this point, the law came into action and it went from there. As Samsung and Apple began petitioning of who the best and who was the fake, the citizens waited around wondering what would come of this. In the end, Apple knew all along he had nothing to fear, as he knew he was the man that everyone first saw. He was intelligent, he was perfect, he had everything the citizens and town wanted and needed. He was their icon and hero. With that known, Apple already knew he had to secure himself by using his power to reach to the law to make sure it wasn’t even possible for Samsung to win this battle.

 

          Apple proved himself that day over Samsung and he walked throughout town waving his hand because he had just been titled as being the most dominant, intelligent, wise, powerful resident that Silicon Valley has ever witnessed. Apple became world renowned and was talked about everywhere the media was allowed to go. He had books written about his fame, articles, and songs; and everything you can imagine. All because he was the best, and at that the only best and nothing would stand in his way ever again for his name to be the top name there was.

Photos by Phil Bradley, Mark Hunter , Cameron Grant , wstera2