Forgotten

For the longest time I remained forgotten on a shelf in a closet. Before that, I spent a few years at the bottom of a drawer.

One day, the closet door opens and the human walks in. The lights, which were dormant for ages, are elated when the human switches them on. Dust particles jump around with excitement as the human moves by.

The human sees me on the shelf, picks me up and dusts me off. It smiles. Maybe it remembers how useful I once was.

"Wow, I didn't realize I still had this. It must be, like, 5 years old at this point," the human says, laughing.

The human grabs a large basket and tosses me in. The human then starts adding more things to the basket. Unread books, old cameras, ancient laptops, and all sorts of miscellanea.

"Why? I'm working perfectly fine!", I mutter.

As if sensing my thoughts, the human says, "I wish I could keep you. You were my favorite. But you're not as fast as you used to be. Plus, I already bought a new one."

"I haven't slowed down! It's the software!", I cry. But it does not hear me.

The human drops off the basket at a donation center. The employees sort through the basket to determine what is worth keeping. One of them lifts me up and takes a quick glance at me before tossing me into a bin labeled "e-waste".

I could have lived longer. Much longer. If only the software had supported me.

I guess my time is up.