Once upon a time, there was a little AirTag. One day, it sprang to life. It was introduced to a nice woman by way of her phone. The phone told the AirTag it had a very important job: to look after her keys and to make sure the woman could always find them.

The AirTag liked being with the woman. It went with her to many places. Most days it would just go to the park, or to the barn to see her horse, but there would be other adventures too.

And sometimes the woman's phone would call out: "where are you?" And the AirTag would always answer: "here I am!"

A time came when the AirTag noticed it was not going out as much. But that was okay, because home was safe. And it could feel the woman's phone nearby, so it knew it was not lost.

More and more often, the AirTag would see another phone. Or rather, another phone would see it. The other phone was suspicious but the AirTag was not. The phone belonged to a boy the AirTag did not know. But the woman's phone knew him. And more and more often they would go out together.

Then one day, the AirTag did not see the woman's phone anymore.

At first, this was not so unusual. The woman would sometimes leave for a couple of weeks and leave the AirTag at home. And home was safe, so that was okay.

But two weeks turned into three weeks. And then into a month. The AirTag grew concerned. It had never been truly lost before. But maybe this was "lost". The little AirTag decided it was so, and it did the only thing it could do: it waited.

A few weeks passed, until one day, it felt a phone nearby. It wasn't the woman's phone, but it was a phone. It cried as loud as it could "here I am!"

It worked! It started moving with the phone. It was the boy's phone! They were going somewhere together! Maybe it was taking the AirTag back to the woman?

A little while later the AirTag felt something familiar. The woman's phone was talking to it! Relief washed over the little AirTag. It had been found.

Then the woman's phone spoke to it. The phone asked the AirTag something it had never asked before. It asked the AirTag to forget. To forget the woman's phone. To forget the keys. To forget everything.

"Are you sure?" the little AirTag asked. "Yes," replied the phone.

The AirTag did as it was told.

...

Once upon a time, there was a little AirTag. One day, it (again) sprang to life.

Author's note: When I was cleaning out my mother’s apartment a little AirTag in the closet started beeping. I took it home to where I had my mother's phone and did a factory reset. It inspired me to write something about how the sudden absence of someone from the world is felt in different ways.

Do not worry; the AirTag has a new job protecting a new set of keys. It has a fresh battery and speaks with the family phones regularly.

Please excuse the small embellishments to Apple’s technology.