I never like complaining about a piece of writing, but “The Magic Direction Box” by Hannah Craig might have been the most pointless, confusing, nonsensical fiction story I have ever read in an issue of Teen Ink. I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be that way, or I just completely missed the message.

The narrator enters an electronics store, in need of a GPS. She proceeds to ask employees for GPSes, or “magic direction boxes.” When she asks for a GPS, the response was “’Phones have GPSes.’” When she explains that she doesn’t need a phone, but a GPS, the workers are confused, and don’t know where the GPSes are located. When she asks for a magic direction box, the employees are either confused, or understand but, again, don’t know where they are.

I’m not entirely sure if there was an over-exaggerated message of the evolution of technology, as well as the ignorance of workers that are supposed to be technological experts. The plot was slow, and there was no characterization, so I couldn’t take the author or narrator seriously. Even if I started to, I lost all faith when I read the last line: “’Give me a f---ing magic direction box.’”