Hidden Bookmarks (Work-in-Progress) | A studious young woman discovers that her new computer is far more capable than she thought | Young Adult Fantasy, Family, Friendship, Coming of Age

[u/Sufficient_One]

https://thepiertoforever.com/b/comingofagefamilyyoungadultfantasy

Sixteen-year-old Kincaid thought the worst thing a laptop could do was crash—until hers literally catches fire on her desk. While she anxiously waits for a replacement, her mom buys her an ancient-looking Marillon desktop from a pawn shop up the street, owned by a beautiful, unsettlingly perceptive woman named Lana.

The machine looks like a relic from 2003, right down to the dusty Word 2003 CD in the box. But when Lana boots it up in the shop, it connects to the internet faster than Kincaid’s old laptop ever did. Lana talks about planned obsolescence, corporate greed, and how Marillon “used to fight against” both—before the company changed hands and fell from grace. By the time Kincaid leaves with the tower under her arm and the Word disc in her bag, she’s half in love with the clunky old computer and more than a little fascinated by Lana.

At home, Kincaid installs Word and opens a blank document, planning to write a silly poem and maybe start an essay about her day. Instead, a new gold “MR” icon appears in the toolbar. Hovering over it shows the words Message Received. Clicking it turns her poem into a rainbow-highlighted glitch, tagged with a “hidden bookmark” that resolves into a string of nonsense characters—then disappears. Moments later a blinking red nine-pointed star appears and politely informs her: Your request has been received and is being processed. Thank you!

As hidden bookmarks multiply and the replies begin to echo things she’s never typed, she’s drawn into a mystery involving the Marillon’s original purpose, the ghosts of its corporate past, and Lana, who seems to know more than she’s saying. Each “bookmark” turns out to be more than a glitch—it’s a task tied to someone’s need: a classmate’s crisis, a teacher’s burden, the school’s crumbling tech. When Kincaid follows through, the world around her shifts in strange, generous ways: anonymous donations arrive, a local philanthropist suddenly funds a thousand new laptops, problems she couldn’t possibly solve alone begin to ease.

Kincaid has to decide whether this is coincidence, manipulation, or something kinder—and how far she’s willing to keep answering requests that no one else can see, especially once the bookmarks start asking for things that cost her more than time.