I'm working on a new story called The Rather Complicated Affairs of Frederick Nightingale, which I hope to make a series, but that depends on weather the first story goes well. It's a sort of old fashioned murder mystery, so if you're into that kind of stuff, keep visiting!
You can visit my personal blog at www.pinocchiospeaksthetruth.blogspot.com
All for now!
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
New Look!
Hey guys,
I thought it was time for a change in look on my blog. I am currently working on a new story and a fanfic!
Make sure you check out my other blogs: www.pinocchiospeaksthetruth.blogspot.com.au and www.thepandoricawillopen.blogspot.com.au!
I thought it was time for a change in look on my blog. I am currently working on a new story and a fanfic!
Make sure you check out my other blogs: www.pinocchiospeaksthetruth.blogspot.com.au and www.thepandoricawillopen.blogspot.com.au!
Sunday, 27 May 2012
Travelling Story
Hey everyone!
My english teacher gave me a sheet about the National Young Writers Month Travelling Story. 30 writers will be selected to contribute 100 words to a travelling story working it's way around Australia. The travelling story will be published in the September issue of Voiceworks.
Entries have closed now, but you had to send in 100 words that you would add to a story starter by Chris Currie. Here's my entry:
My english teacher gave me a sheet about the National Young Writers Month Travelling Story. 30 writers will be selected to contribute 100 words to a travelling story working it's way around Australia. The travelling story will be published in the September issue of Voiceworks.
Entries have closed now, but you had to send in 100 words that you would add to a story starter by Chris Currie. Here's my entry:
She feels a sharp jolt of horror run down her body as the ghostly, translucent, blue figures float gracefully toward her, but as they gather around her car, they begin to jeer at her, cackling a horrible, unfriendly laughter. The voice in the boot begins to cackle, it’s voice bouncing off the walls of the car. She climbs quivering and petrified over to the boot, and feels the presence of another unearthly apparition. All grows quiet as she feels the weight of her body slump to the floor of the car, and a blue, transparent apparition emerges from her body...
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Dreamers 7
I woke up with a killer headache. I was in my bedroom, very unthankful of the water bed I had chosen to replace the old, mouldy mattress a few days ago. I felt seasick, or bedsick, if I could call it that, and vomited straight onto the carpet. Vulpecula must have heard me, because she and Carina came rushing in with a mop and bucket. I noticed that there was a camp bed near me, with Corvus on it, covered in blood, and severe burns to most of his body. I went all squeamish at the sight of the moist, pink skin covered in ash as black as night. I tried to ask them one million questions, but all that came out was a low mumble. I must have gone back to sleep because when I woke up, Corvus was gone and so was the camp bed. I heard the door slam and Olivia came rushing to my side. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Alya! I shouldn’t have let you come here! I knew it would be dangerous but I didn’t think anyone would die! Everything is hell with Fornax gone and Corvus just died, and now me and Aarek have to deal with everything!” Olivia blurted out, and she sounded genuinely sorry, but her whingey, whiney tone was really annoying me, especially with my head throbbing like someone was banging it with a saucepan every nanosecond. I went through everything she said in my head again, trying to sort out what Olivia had said so quickly, but all I could remember was the part about Fornax being dead.
“Fornax is dead?” I said barely audible.
“Yeah, Alya,” Olivia was choking back tears. “ He died blowing up the Far Limbo. We just managed to get Corvus out after he shifted back, but he couldn’t hang on.” Olivia’s tone was morbid and depressed. I guess Corvus was her friend, but I didn’t get why he was there.
“Shifted?” I questioned, curiously.
“Well... Corvus was a shapeshifter. An old one at that. I think he was about 150, going by the history books. He’d met Fornax in Paris, in a secret underground society escaping the Man In Charge’s reign. He’d gained his trust, helped build the teleporter and was helping to set up the end all this time!” She rushed her words, which were full of sorrow, and left me to ponder on the past events for a while, but I heard Aarek and her’s hushed voices just outside my door.
“Did you tell her?” I heard Aarek’s voice exclaim, rather husky.
“No, like I was going to Aarek! You don’t tell people those things! And besides, she’ll figure it out soon enough anyway!” Olivia exclaimed, failing to be less than audible.
“Yeah, but the time she’s figured out she’s dying, she’ll be dead, idiot!” Aarek was clearly annoyed now.
“Shhh! At least if we don’t tell her, she won’t have to sit around waiting for the end of her bleeding life!” Olivia finalized the argument and stomped off down the hallway.
Aarek came into my room after that and squeezed my hand. Olivia eventually came in with her head down and held the other. I think they knew I knew about their conversation outside my door. I didn’t want to die. I wanted to stay with Olivia and Carina and Vulpecula and Lucy!
“So, did we do it?” I asked, barely audible.
“Yes. When Corvus died, we figured out that the computer controlling the worlds was inside him, and he was taking advantage of it. So the computer was destroyed and end of. The computer was fried like most of his body, and we just got him out alive, not knowing who he was, of course!” Aarek explained.
“Hold on, hold on, hold on! What computer?” I questioned, taken aback by this huge idea.
“Well, Alya. It’s a long story. There are the dimensions that we know, like The Metropolis and Paris, and the limbo worlds, inbetween the dimensions. But there was another one, so many miles away it’s too much to count, and it was destroyed by a supernova. It was programmed to plant itself in any human it could find, and it found Corvus. Understand?” I tried to answer, but nothing came out. At least now I knew that Fornax’s death hadn’t been for nothing, and that the world wasn’t going to end, wheather it was Paris or The Metropolis, a bad world or a good world, full of free will or labour, shops or factories, things weren’t so bad after all.
All the other Dreamers relocated to The Metropolis, and Olivia published a series of books dedicated to Alya and Fornax, about all the happenings of Limbo, Paris and their dealings with The Metropolis, start to finish. The Dreamers regularly make sure history isn’t going to repeat itself.
Well guys, that's the end of Dreamers, but keep your eyes peeled for new stories!
“Fornax is dead?” I said barely audible.
“Yeah, Alya,” Olivia was choking back tears. “ He died blowing up the Far Limbo. We just managed to get Corvus out after he shifted back, but he couldn’t hang on.” Olivia’s tone was morbid and depressed. I guess Corvus was her friend, but I didn’t get why he was there.
“Shifted?” I questioned, curiously.
“Well... Corvus was a shapeshifter. An old one at that. I think he was about 150, going by the history books. He’d met Fornax in Paris, in a secret underground society escaping the Man In Charge’s reign. He’d gained his trust, helped build the teleporter and was helping to set up the end all this time!” She rushed her words, which were full of sorrow, and left me to ponder on the past events for a while, but I heard Aarek and her’s hushed voices just outside my door.
“Did you tell her?” I heard Aarek’s voice exclaim, rather husky.
“No, like I was going to Aarek! You don’t tell people those things! And besides, she’ll figure it out soon enough anyway!” Olivia exclaimed, failing to be less than audible.
“Yeah, but the time she’s figured out she’s dying, she’ll be dead, idiot!” Aarek was clearly annoyed now.
“Shhh! At least if we don’t tell her, she won’t have to sit around waiting for the end of her bleeding life!” Olivia finalized the argument and stomped off down the hallway.
Aarek came into my room after that and squeezed my hand. Olivia eventually came in with her head down and held the other. I think they knew I knew about their conversation outside my door. I didn’t want to die. I wanted to stay with Olivia and Carina and Vulpecula and Lucy!
“So, did we do it?” I asked, barely audible.
“Yes. When Corvus died, we figured out that the computer controlling the worlds was inside him, and he was taking advantage of it. So the computer was destroyed and end of. The computer was fried like most of his body, and we just got him out alive, not knowing who he was, of course!” Aarek explained.
“Hold on, hold on, hold on! What computer?” I questioned, taken aback by this huge idea.
“Well, Alya. It’s a long story. There are the dimensions that we know, like The Metropolis and Paris, and the limbo worlds, inbetween the dimensions. But there was another one, so many miles away it’s too much to count, and it was destroyed by a supernova. It was programmed to plant itself in any human it could find, and it found Corvus. Understand?” I tried to answer, but nothing came out. At least now I knew that Fornax’s death hadn’t been for nothing, and that the world wasn’t going to end, wheather it was Paris or The Metropolis, a bad world or a good world, full of free will or labour, shops or factories, things weren’t so bad after all.
All the other Dreamers relocated to The Metropolis, and Olivia published a series of books dedicated to Alya and Fornax, about all the happenings of Limbo, Paris and their dealings with The Metropolis, start to finish. The Dreamers regularly make sure history isn’t going to repeat itself.
Well guys, that's the end of Dreamers, but keep your eyes peeled for new stories!
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Dreamers 6
Corvus wanted to destroy the world! No! Who would want to die? Even the Man-In-Charge didn’t want to die, only to exist! “Got it yet? Even the Man-In-Charge is stupid enough not to think we shouldn’t be here. Why should we? We just poison the earth, day after day. So what if we were to die? All of us? Wouldn’t the Earth be so much more healthy?” Corvus seemed so different. I knew it took a lot to work up the nerve to want to kill yourself.
“Why, Corvus? Think about how much the human race has done! A lot! We have so many ideas, and you’re just going to chuck that all away!” He’d made me angry. Who said we had to be perfect. Just as I was working out how I was going to seriously injure this man, I realised he had beat me to it. He was wielding a metal pole and swinging it my way before I had a chance to deflect it. There was a loud crack from my arm and a sharp, agonizing pain followed. He had broken my arm! Right! That was it! We were going to stop Corvus! I ran as fast as I could back to the teleporter and set the coordinates back to Limbo. The fierce flourescent light greeted me and I ran straight for Fornax’s quarters. As I got to the door, every single light in the building went red.
I banged violently on Fornax’s door until I managed to put a splinter in the wood. He finally answered and I screamed everything that had happened at him. He grew more and more alarmed as my story went on. The first thing he did was grab my arm, and I immediately let out a yelp of pain. “It’s broken, Fornax! Watch it! Your dear friend Corvus did it with a metal pole!” I cried out in agony.
“Well, he’s gonna have to pay for that.” Fornax’s alarm had turned into anger. He went around banging on everyone’s doors until they emerged yawning and asking questions, but Fornax just ordered them all to go into the teleporter and set the coordinates of Far Limbo. We all arrived there, shocked to see a huge, green, horned reptile waiting for us. Not some secret movement wanting to destroy the world, but a gianormous monster. Typical.
There were remains of people everywhere. So that’s where all of the people who lived in Limbo before us went! It roared at us and we all discovered it didn’t have the best breath. Actually, it had the breath of a million dead bodies all in different stages of decomposition. I saw Scutum grab a bar of metal that was lying around, probably one of the corpse’s weapons, and wack one of it’s legs with gritted teeth and a kind of battle cry, as hard as he could. It immediately roared even louder than before, and kicked him to the red brick wall. Scutum hit the wall with a loud crack and fell dead. Lucy was stupid enough to try again, but his time with a sword. She managed to make no more than a surface wound on the gigantic reptile, but she was fast. She grabbed the sword and crawled underneath the creature, a look of desperation on her face. I gave her a nod indicate she did well, but before she could smile back at me, Fornax came with a crate of explosives. I thought I saw him mouth something like get out, but I was staying where I was. I wasn’t going to let him do this! He wouldn’t be able to get out fast enough after he set them off! As the others got back in the teleporter, I was keen to take this thing out. I threw a number of weapons at it, but none of them helped. I wasn’t going to let Fornax give his life. I ran around the back of the reptile, with a gianormous sword and took a swing at one of it’s legs. It let out an agonized roar cross scream type of noise, and I felt a pang of satisfaction. But it was soon to be abolished when its tail swung towards me and propelled me across the room. I made a loud grunting sound from the tail and the wall, and fell onto a pile of mouldy looking bones. I felt someone dragging me out, and all I could remember after that was a loud bang and my ears popping like balloons.
“Why, Corvus? Think about how much the human race has done! A lot! We have so many ideas, and you’re just going to chuck that all away!” He’d made me angry. Who said we had to be perfect. Just as I was working out how I was going to seriously injure this man, I realised he had beat me to it. He was wielding a metal pole and swinging it my way before I had a chance to deflect it. There was a loud crack from my arm and a sharp, agonizing pain followed. He had broken my arm! Right! That was it! We were going to stop Corvus! I ran as fast as I could back to the teleporter and set the coordinates back to Limbo. The fierce flourescent light greeted me and I ran straight for Fornax’s quarters. As I got to the door, every single light in the building went red.
I banged violently on Fornax’s door until I managed to put a splinter in the wood. He finally answered and I screamed everything that had happened at him. He grew more and more alarmed as my story went on. The first thing he did was grab my arm, and I immediately let out a yelp of pain. “It’s broken, Fornax! Watch it! Your dear friend Corvus did it with a metal pole!” I cried out in agony.
“Well, he’s gonna have to pay for that.” Fornax’s alarm had turned into anger. He went around banging on everyone’s doors until they emerged yawning and asking questions, but Fornax just ordered them all to go into the teleporter and set the coordinates of Far Limbo. We all arrived there, shocked to see a huge, green, horned reptile waiting for us. Not some secret movement wanting to destroy the world, but a gianormous monster. Typical.
There were remains of people everywhere. So that’s where all of the people who lived in Limbo before us went! It roared at us and we all discovered it didn’t have the best breath. Actually, it had the breath of a million dead bodies all in different stages of decomposition. I saw Scutum grab a bar of metal that was lying around, probably one of the corpse’s weapons, and wack one of it’s legs with gritted teeth and a kind of battle cry, as hard as he could. It immediately roared even louder than before, and kicked him to the red brick wall. Scutum hit the wall with a loud crack and fell dead. Lucy was stupid enough to try again, but his time with a sword. She managed to make no more than a surface wound on the gigantic reptile, but she was fast. She grabbed the sword and crawled underneath the creature, a look of desperation on her face. I gave her a nod indicate she did well, but before she could smile back at me, Fornax came with a crate of explosives. I thought I saw him mouth something like get out, but I was staying where I was. I wasn’t going to let him do this! He wouldn’t be able to get out fast enough after he set them off! As the others got back in the teleporter, I was keen to take this thing out. I threw a number of weapons at it, but none of them helped. I wasn’t going to let Fornax give his life. I ran around the back of the reptile, with a gianormous sword and took a swing at one of it’s legs. It let out an agonized roar cross scream type of noise, and I felt a pang of satisfaction. But it was soon to be abolished when its tail swung towards me and propelled me across the room. I made a loud grunting sound from the tail and the wall, and fell onto a pile of mouldy looking bones. I felt someone dragging me out, and all I could remember after that was a loud bang and my ears popping like balloons.
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Dreamers 5
Over the next few days, I learnt how to programme, work the teleporter and the floorplan of Limbo. It was hard to believe it was just there, waiting for people to occupy it, floating in the middle of nothing. I met some of the others, and became particularly good friends with a boy named Scutum and a girl named Lucy.
I woke up in my bedroom needing to go to the toilet. As I got up, I noticed Corvus walking briskly down the hallway. No one was up at this hour, not because of rules, but because there was basically nothing to do. I followed Corvus just in case something was going on (he had seemed suspicious to me from the start not helped by the fact Olivia was confused too) even if he just needed to go to the toilet too, but he headed in the complete opposite direction of the toilet. He was headed towards the teleporter room! I hid behind the statues in the hallway, hoping that he wouldn’t see me, but Corvus wasn’t being too alert. He softly shut the door behind him, and I tried to see as much as I could through the keyhole. By the looks of it, Corvus was in the teleporter. Before I could burst in and try to stop him, he had already transported. Only Fornax operated the transporter on his own, so this was way out of the ordinary, and to be honest, I wasn’t too fond of Corvus. I ran into the teleporter, being rash with what buttons I pressed, but managed to make the teleporter run the last program. As I was whisked up into the storm of light, I felt the urge to go back to Paris. I hadn’t felt it before, as my life wasn’t too great, but I was probably at the risk of Corvus attacking me again, especially if he saw me and I saw what he was up to. I hit what felt to be concrete ground hard. I managed to get up, feeling slightly disorientated. I was in some sort of warehouse, judging by the gray light and dirty windows. Dawn was just breaking, by the looks of it. I got up and walked through the warehouse. Everything was covered in dust, cobwebs and dirt. Luckily, I could make up slight footprints in the dirt on the floor. There was a roller door straight ahead of me, and a sound proof door to my right. I took the door, figuring that the roller door would be open if Corvus had gone through it. I walked into a room with revolting mustard coloured tiles, and matching walls. There was a sink filled with grime and broken glass all over the floor. This place was a wreck. I must have been in Paris, seeing as this was a factory. It must have been one of the abandoned ones in the centre of the city. I heard the sound proof door open and shut behind me, and spun on my heel, knowing who it would be. It was Corvus.
“You know, Alya, it really took you a long time to figure out I was up to no good. What tipped you off?” Corvus questioned with a smirk.
“Maybe you walking down the corridor to the teleporter room at three o’clock in the morning, or was it your shoes?” I remarked, proud of my sarcasm.
“Well, have you figured out who I am yet? Who else would want to go to Paris without anyone noticing? Do you really think I’m the save-the-world type of guy?” Corvus was confusing me more and more. If he didn’t want to save the world, what did he want to do? And then it hit me...
I woke up in my bedroom needing to go to the toilet. As I got up, I noticed Corvus walking briskly down the hallway. No one was up at this hour, not because of rules, but because there was basically nothing to do. I followed Corvus just in case something was going on (he had seemed suspicious to me from the start not helped by the fact Olivia was confused too) even if he just needed to go to the toilet too, but he headed in the complete opposite direction of the toilet. He was headed towards the teleporter room! I hid behind the statues in the hallway, hoping that he wouldn’t see me, but Corvus wasn’t being too alert. He softly shut the door behind him, and I tried to see as much as I could through the keyhole. By the looks of it, Corvus was in the teleporter. Before I could burst in and try to stop him, he had already transported. Only Fornax operated the transporter on his own, so this was way out of the ordinary, and to be honest, I wasn’t too fond of Corvus. I ran into the teleporter, being rash with what buttons I pressed, but managed to make the teleporter run the last program. As I was whisked up into the storm of light, I felt the urge to go back to Paris. I hadn’t felt it before, as my life wasn’t too great, but I was probably at the risk of Corvus attacking me again, especially if he saw me and I saw what he was up to. I hit what felt to be concrete ground hard. I managed to get up, feeling slightly disorientated. I was in some sort of warehouse, judging by the gray light and dirty windows. Dawn was just breaking, by the looks of it. I got up and walked through the warehouse. Everything was covered in dust, cobwebs and dirt. Luckily, I could make up slight footprints in the dirt on the floor. There was a roller door straight ahead of me, and a sound proof door to my right. I took the door, figuring that the roller door would be open if Corvus had gone through it. I walked into a room with revolting mustard coloured tiles, and matching walls. There was a sink filled with grime and broken glass all over the floor. This place was a wreck. I must have been in Paris, seeing as this was a factory. It must have been one of the abandoned ones in the centre of the city. I heard the sound proof door open and shut behind me, and spun on my heel, knowing who it would be. It was Corvus.
“You know, Alya, it really took you a long time to figure out I was up to no good. What tipped you off?” Corvus questioned with a smirk.
“Maybe you walking down the corridor to the teleporter room at three o’clock in the morning, or was it your shoes?” I remarked, proud of my sarcasm.
“Well, have you figured out who I am yet? Who else would want to go to Paris without anyone noticing? Do you really think I’m the save-the-world type of guy?” Corvus was confusing me more and more. If he didn’t want to save the world, what did he want to do? And then it hit me...
Monday, 21 May 2012
Dreamers 4
I went back to the common room to find all the kids doing their own thing. Some where talking, some were playing computer games, and some were reading books. I went over to two girls, one with straight black hair wearing jeans, a white t-shirt and red slip-ons, while the other one was a brunette just like me, but with the bluest eyes I had ever seen. I had learnt that the brunette’s name was Carina, and the other’s name was Vulpecula. We got along well, discussed how we got here, the classic getting to know you stuff. As I mentioned Aarek and Olivia, their eyes darted towards the doorway, and I turned around to see Aarek and Olivia were standing in the doorway, holding hands.
I immediately got up, ripped Olivia from Aarek’s grasp and dragged her into another room, a bedroom I think, but no one was in there so I couldn’t care less where we were or whose room it was. I was more preoccupied with sorting things out with Olivia. Once I had slammed the door with all my might. I felt my anger explode like an atomic bomb. “Why didn’t you ask? Huh? Did you ever think I didn’t want to be here? And what’s with you and Aarek? How could you! I trusted you! I was just starting to think life wasn’t so bad, and you got me mixed up in this!” I screamed. I suddenly felt horrible for screaming at Olivia. She pushed me onto the bed and I started to cry. I had set Olivia off in the process of my screamed questions. She wasn’t screaming like me, but was pretty angry as well. “I thought this would be better for you! Rather than living in a sewer and not getting enough to eat, drink and getting dirtier and dirtier I figured that you would rather be well fed and looked after by Fornax and Corvus! And as for Aarek? I love him, and I don’t care how much him and his posse have beat you up. Just be grateful for what I have done for you!” I had never seen Olivia angry before, and my constant flow of tears had not stopped, but instead of continuing to scream at me, she sat down beside me and gave me a hug. “I’m sorry, Alya. I just did what I thought was right.” Her tone had become softer now.
“That’s okay. I guess this is better than the sewer, but I was just annoyed because no one had asked. You know I’m like that! I’m just tired and overwhelmed.” I opened my arms for a hug, and suddenly remembered she had mentioned someone called Corvus. I wanted to know who that was, just like I need to know everything, so I asked, and before Olivia could respond, The door was thrown open so hard one of the hinges broke, and a huge boy with a black ponytail emerged, with a tiny looking Aarek behind him. “I’m Corvus!” He boomed. “And I don’t appreciate people disrespecting my friends!” He must of punched me after that, because all I could see were stars and the only thing I heard was a loud slap that must have been Olivia striking Corvus right in the face and screaming for him to go.
When I woke, I felt a cold force on my head as I sat up, a cold pack fell onto my lap. Olivia was sleeping in an armchair. I decided not to wake her, so I took a book off the shelf, and started to read. When Olivia woke up she was extremely apologetic. “Sorry about him. He’s not usually like that. But I wouldn’t worry, he gives all the kids here a hard time, but managed to give me and Aarek the burden of being his friends.” She was almost whispering, probably because of the enormous headache I had woken up with.
“Yeah, that’s okay. Listen. I want to see The Metropolis. Can you take me?” I asked. I was worried she’d say no, as I’m always scared of the word no. That’s what I had once told a psychiatrist once, just to wind her and mum up, even though it was true, but they wouldn’t take answers they didn’t like.
As we approached the room with the transporter, Fornax and Aarek emerged from a room, blocking our path. What was with Aarek and standing behind people? And what was with him getting me into trouble? “Olivia, you know going to The Metropolis is not allowed, unless you’re with me or Corvus!” he scolded. Before Olivia could object, I piped in, “Well, I’ve met Corvus, and we don’t exactly get on. I just wanted to see the place I’m supposedly saving!” I half teased, half argued. Olivia gave me a thankful look, and without even taking notice of Fornax, she glided into the teleporter room. I followed her, and so did Fornax, but Aarek just stood in the hallway, obviously annoyed at the fact that I wasn’t in trouble yet. What was his problem? That I had stolen Olivia? It’s not like I’m any competition. As we approached the silver dome, I felt a pang of nervousness. What if this didn’t work? What if we got stuck in some dimension full of aliens that looked like Marvin the Martian? I heard to sound of the door opening and had to be dragged inside by Fornax and Olivia. Inside the transporter were more flashing lights than the room it was in before. There was a green glow and multiple beeps while Fornax did complicated code-like things and Olivia was on the other side making sure everything was working by the looks of it. Suddenly, we were whooshed into a storm of flashing lights. We were moving so fast everything was a blur around me, and I could barely make out the silhouettes of Olivia and Fornax. I started to feel sick and just as I was about to throw up, we landed in some sort of lane and I banged my head on wet, gray cobblestones. There was water falling on my head. “Rain!” Olivia squealed. As I looked up, all I could see were tall buildings with balconies and pot plants, and I got a slight glimpse of the swish furnishings inside. Olivia and Fornax were already up, dragging me along at I stared in awe of this place. There were no factories or fumes at all, and there were buildings with big windows and plastic people wearing beautiful dresses and jewelry. “There called shops,” Fornax told me. “It’s where the people here get their clothes from. Back in Paris, we got given government clothing. Jumpers, jeans and boots for the winter and shorts, t-shirts and sandals for the summer. I had never imagined the luxury of picking clothes for myself, let alone having so many choices. I assumed they would cost money, and the only thing money was used for was to pay for the delivery of food and where you lived. You either lived in old shotgun style house with 1 or 2 bedrooms, or you lived in a two-storey house with big rooms. “Corvus says this is what things were like before the revolution. He lived in one of those,” Olivia said, pointing to a gigantic building, with windows reflecting the world around them like mirrors. She was clearly proud of her knowledge.
“That’s right Olivia. We went our grim, sad way, while this world is just going keep on moving, like the Man In Charge never existed,” Fornax agreed. Apparently Paris was one of the most romantic cities in the world, where people would go for holidays. But when the revolution came, only a few cities stayed the way they were. Even then people were made to work. In Paris, factories made furniture and day-to-day items, while food was made and grown in the country and made into microwave meals, delivered to the cities. That’s how it was everywhere. The leader of the revolutionaries, who took charge of Europe, never took on a title, so we just called him the Man In Charge. He forced us to knock down the buildings and build factories, so that we could live off them. He claimed that we should only live to survive, because we were such a burden on Earth, blah di blah di blah. Anyone who tried to rebel against him was either publicly shot or taken away, never to be seen again.
As we walked around, I was taken aback by the people. They would walk around of their own free will, with no curfew or designated times of the day. People did as they pleased, wore what they wanted, did their hair how they wanted. It was amazing! The freedom was overwhelming! People were laughing, holding hands, happy as could be. I felt a pang of longing. I wish I could have been brought up here! Everything so perfect! But before I could soak any more of it up, Fornax dragged us back to the teleporter. I was beginning to question why we needed to save our world. I bet everyone would love life here. I posed my idea to Fornax. “After saving The Metropolis, can’t we move everyone here? Everyone would like it so much better! I mean, what’s the harm? It’s a whole world, isn’t it?”
“No, Alya. It’s not that simple. We can’t just move a planet full of people. The Metropolis isn’t any bigger than Earth, and we could never do it without the Man In Charge noticing. He’d have us executed before we could blink, let alone move everyone. Then everyone would be dead anyway! You do realise he kept the nuclear weapons?” Fornax sighed at the thought. “There must be some way we can get everyone on Earth to leave a better life. Right now we just exist, we don’t do anything, we just work, eat and sleep. What’s the point in that?” I was beginning to feel desperate. After my encounter with The Metropolis, the thought of Paris made me sick.
I immediately got up, ripped Olivia from Aarek’s grasp and dragged her into another room, a bedroom I think, but no one was in there so I couldn’t care less where we were or whose room it was. I was more preoccupied with sorting things out with Olivia. Once I had slammed the door with all my might. I felt my anger explode like an atomic bomb. “Why didn’t you ask? Huh? Did you ever think I didn’t want to be here? And what’s with you and Aarek? How could you! I trusted you! I was just starting to think life wasn’t so bad, and you got me mixed up in this!” I screamed. I suddenly felt horrible for screaming at Olivia. She pushed me onto the bed and I started to cry. I had set Olivia off in the process of my screamed questions. She wasn’t screaming like me, but was pretty angry as well. “I thought this would be better for you! Rather than living in a sewer and not getting enough to eat, drink and getting dirtier and dirtier I figured that you would rather be well fed and looked after by Fornax and Corvus! And as for Aarek? I love him, and I don’t care how much him and his posse have beat you up. Just be grateful for what I have done for you!” I had never seen Olivia angry before, and my constant flow of tears had not stopped, but instead of continuing to scream at me, she sat down beside me and gave me a hug. “I’m sorry, Alya. I just did what I thought was right.” Her tone had become softer now.
“That’s okay. I guess this is better than the sewer, but I was just annoyed because no one had asked. You know I’m like that! I’m just tired and overwhelmed.” I opened my arms for a hug, and suddenly remembered she had mentioned someone called Corvus. I wanted to know who that was, just like I need to know everything, so I asked, and before Olivia could respond, The door was thrown open so hard one of the hinges broke, and a huge boy with a black ponytail emerged, with a tiny looking Aarek behind him. “I’m Corvus!” He boomed. “And I don’t appreciate people disrespecting my friends!” He must of punched me after that, because all I could see were stars and the only thing I heard was a loud slap that must have been Olivia striking Corvus right in the face and screaming for him to go.
When I woke, I felt a cold force on my head as I sat up, a cold pack fell onto my lap. Olivia was sleeping in an armchair. I decided not to wake her, so I took a book off the shelf, and started to read. When Olivia woke up she was extremely apologetic. “Sorry about him. He’s not usually like that. But I wouldn’t worry, he gives all the kids here a hard time, but managed to give me and Aarek the burden of being his friends.” She was almost whispering, probably because of the enormous headache I had woken up with.
“Yeah, that’s okay. Listen. I want to see The Metropolis. Can you take me?” I asked. I was worried she’d say no, as I’m always scared of the word no. That’s what I had once told a psychiatrist once, just to wind her and mum up, even though it was true, but they wouldn’t take answers they didn’t like.
As we approached the room with the transporter, Fornax and Aarek emerged from a room, blocking our path. What was with Aarek and standing behind people? And what was with him getting me into trouble? “Olivia, you know going to The Metropolis is not allowed, unless you’re with me or Corvus!” he scolded. Before Olivia could object, I piped in, “Well, I’ve met Corvus, and we don’t exactly get on. I just wanted to see the place I’m supposedly saving!” I half teased, half argued. Olivia gave me a thankful look, and without even taking notice of Fornax, she glided into the teleporter room. I followed her, and so did Fornax, but Aarek just stood in the hallway, obviously annoyed at the fact that I wasn’t in trouble yet. What was his problem? That I had stolen Olivia? It’s not like I’m any competition. As we approached the silver dome, I felt a pang of nervousness. What if this didn’t work? What if we got stuck in some dimension full of aliens that looked like Marvin the Martian? I heard to sound of the door opening and had to be dragged inside by Fornax and Olivia. Inside the transporter were more flashing lights than the room it was in before. There was a green glow and multiple beeps while Fornax did complicated code-like things and Olivia was on the other side making sure everything was working by the looks of it. Suddenly, we were whooshed into a storm of flashing lights. We were moving so fast everything was a blur around me, and I could barely make out the silhouettes of Olivia and Fornax. I started to feel sick and just as I was about to throw up, we landed in some sort of lane and I banged my head on wet, gray cobblestones. There was water falling on my head. “Rain!” Olivia squealed. As I looked up, all I could see were tall buildings with balconies and pot plants, and I got a slight glimpse of the swish furnishings inside. Olivia and Fornax were already up, dragging me along at I stared in awe of this place. There were no factories or fumes at all, and there were buildings with big windows and plastic people wearing beautiful dresses and jewelry. “There called shops,” Fornax told me. “It’s where the people here get their clothes from. Back in Paris, we got given government clothing. Jumpers, jeans and boots for the winter and shorts, t-shirts and sandals for the summer. I had never imagined the luxury of picking clothes for myself, let alone having so many choices. I assumed they would cost money, and the only thing money was used for was to pay for the delivery of food and where you lived. You either lived in old shotgun style house with 1 or 2 bedrooms, or you lived in a two-storey house with big rooms. “Corvus says this is what things were like before the revolution. He lived in one of those,” Olivia said, pointing to a gigantic building, with windows reflecting the world around them like mirrors. She was clearly proud of her knowledge.
“That’s right Olivia. We went our grim, sad way, while this world is just going keep on moving, like the Man In Charge never existed,” Fornax agreed. Apparently Paris was one of the most romantic cities in the world, where people would go for holidays. But when the revolution came, only a few cities stayed the way they were. Even then people were made to work. In Paris, factories made furniture and day-to-day items, while food was made and grown in the country and made into microwave meals, delivered to the cities. That’s how it was everywhere. The leader of the revolutionaries, who took charge of Europe, never took on a title, so we just called him the Man In Charge. He forced us to knock down the buildings and build factories, so that we could live off them. He claimed that we should only live to survive, because we were such a burden on Earth, blah di blah di blah. Anyone who tried to rebel against him was either publicly shot or taken away, never to be seen again.
As we walked around, I was taken aback by the people. They would walk around of their own free will, with no curfew or designated times of the day. People did as they pleased, wore what they wanted, did their hair how they wanted. It was amazing! The freedom was overwhelming! People were laughing, holding hands, happy as could be. I felt a pang of longing. I wish I could have been brought up here! Everything so perfect! But before I could soak any more of it up, Fornax dragged us back to the teleporter. I was beginning to question why we needed to save our world. I bet everyone would love life here. I posed my idea to Fornax. “After saving The Metropolis, can’t we move everyone here? Everyone would like it so much better! I mean, what’s the harm? It’s a whole world, isn’t it?”
“No, Alya. It’s not that simple. We can’t just move a planet full of people. The Metropolis isn’t any bigger than Earth, and we could never do it without the Man In Charge noticing. He’d have us executed before we could blink, let alone move everyone. Then everyone would be dead anyway! You do realise he kept the nuclear weapons?” Fornax sighed at the thought. “There must be some way we can get everyone on Earth to leave a better life. Right now we just exist, we don’t do anything, we just work, eat and sleep. What’s the point in that?” I was beginning to feel desperate. After my encounter with The Metropolis, the thought of Paris made me sick.
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