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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Teens
- Theme: Science Fiction
- Subject: Action
- Published: 06/16/2016
Chapter 1: The Doll
It is dangerous to forget. Even if you really want to forget about a dark memory, it is still dangerous. When you forget about something very important in your life, a part of you goes missing. A vital piece of information that you cannot get back and then share the story with others is gone. My name is Pause Misc and I have a story. A story that is too dark and depressing to talk about and to even think about. But, I need to remember it. Like I said before, it is dangerous to forget. So, here is my story. A story that has broke me and ruined my childhood. That has ruined my life. So, here I go.
I lived in an old farm house in the middle of nowhere. Houses like these we call, "shounts." Many of my classmates lived in town. But, they were rich, unlike my family. Normal people, like my classmates, had four essential robots. Each had a distinctive skill. Nurturing, cleaning, informational, and perhaps the most important robot, self defense, none of which we had. Most of the days I spent were inside, because my mother told me that it was too hazardous to go in our backyard. I didn't like that rule, my big brothers were always outside, helping dad. But, it wasn't my mom's fault. Each parent had to follow a list of rules for their family. They couldn't make or ignore a rule listed. My parents were puppets and the government was the puppeteer.
The rule was stated that, "No child under 10 years old is permitted to play outside without a nurturing robot." So I had to be creative and find some fun inside.
"Green?" I asked as I looked inside my big sisters bedroom.
"Pause, I'm trying to read. Find some fun somewhere else," Green said rather hastily.
"Can I see your doll again? She is so pretty!" My sister put down her book.
"Fine," she murmured with a crooked smile.
Green opened up a box and lifted up the enchanting glass doll. It always fascinated me. She had an elegant pink lace dress with a pearl necklace. Her hair was perfectly curled. She had a weird hair color though. It was orangish red. I'd never seen a person with orange hair. But she still looked very beautiful. I always wanted to look exactly like her.
Green gently gave me the fragile doll. I looked in her brown eyes, which also were a weird color to possess.
"She is beautiful. Tell me again, where did you find her?" I asked.
"Grandma gave it to me. She said, the doll was passed on to her when she was my age. The doll must be very, very old. So you have to be delicate with her."
I nodded, "I want a doll just like this one."
"I don't think you will find one, they are extremely hard to find."
I hesitated, "but why?"
Green shrugged, "I guess they stopped making them, maybe children back then played with these dolls instead of playing with electronics."
I knew that my older sister was correct. The children on my schooling website always bragged about what type of gaming electronics they had. Some even claimed that they had a robot designed just for gaming. I never got to see my classmates faces, it's always the law not to. But, I always imagined my classmates wearing head to toe gaming gear. Wearing huge headphones covering almost half of their face and cyber hand pads. I always laughed when I pictured them.
"Why don't we have electronics?" I asked, "It's always boring inside and all of my classmates already have electronics. All we have is a Web Pad and there are no games on there," I complained in an annoying whiny voice.
My sisters bright green eyes looked straight at me like a deer caught in the headlights. I could tell by her face she was upset with me, "Pause, how dare you envy others? Be grateful of what you have! Mom and dad have had enough of everyone complaining! We're in debt, you are just lucky you have food on your plate!" My sister got back her book and continued reading silently. Green was a very nice sister, but she also had a teenager attitude.
Now, you may ask why I am putting this moment in my journal. Well, It's because Green was the only sister I had. I would always hang out with her, and she taught me quite a handful of lessons. But this moment was special. She taught me something that was really hard to find these days. Truth.
"Green?"
"What? I'm trying to read my book."
"I'm sorry. I was being very ungrateful," I confessed rather shyly.
My sister put down her book, "It's okay. You're only seven after all. You don't understand. You do not understand what is going on around us. Do you?" Green asked softly.
I looked at her strangely. I did not know what she was trying to say, but as a normal seven year old, I nodded pretending I knew.
"No," my sister was starting to tear up, I'd never seen my sister Green cry before. She always hid her emotions, "I am tired of our parents not telling you anything."
"What?"
"Here is your story. A story you never knew about yourself. That has been locked away from you. Here is the truth."
I did not remember a whole lot of that conversation. I wish I did but it is all a blur. I did, however, remember what she told me.
Chapter 2: My Name
"Do you even know why our parents named you, Pause?"
I shook my head.
Green closed her eyes and smiled like she was remembering a heartwarming moment. "I was ten when you were born. I was so relieved that it was announced that you were a girl. I jumped with glee, and kept boasting to our brothers that my prediction was correct. But I soon realized that I was the only one jumping with excitement." Green's huge smile faded away in a flash, her happy tone of voice turned into a gloomy, quiet voice. "I looked around and saw that everyone was scared. It was so quiet it took my breath away. Something was not right." She told the story very slowly as if she was remembering each detail as she went.
"I pushed Grandis, our older brother, away to see you. To see what was wrong. I saw you in the nurses arms. You were not crying, which was odd enough. But that wasn't the thing that made everyone speechless. It is the fact that you were frozen."
I laughed as if she was making a joke. "How can I be frozen? I was born in the spring."
Green laughed back, "No, you weren't frozen. You... paused."
I remember when Green told me the truth about the band I wore over my wrist everyday that was to remain functioning. My mother told me that the band was to help me grow healthy. I hadn't thought much about that band until then. It didn't hurt that much, but then again I may be desensitized to the feeling. I've been wearing that band ever since I could breathe.
Chapter 3
We were all in the living room, hoping that we would get the TV to work to watch the news. I hated this time of day. It always made my family anxious and depressed. I had no idea why they would feel this way. It's just the boring news. But, at that time, I did not understand that watching news was very, very important.
7:00 PM was when everyone was seated waiting for father to connect the television to the outlet. We had to turn off every light and technology so the TV could receive the power.
"Come on, Might. Everyone is here, and everyone plugged everything out. You can turn on the TV," my mother put her hand on my father's shoulder. He has been trying to fix the TV as long as I could remember. He wanted more than anything for this TV to work, but without signal we have no hope.
"Dad, it's not going to work," my brother, Scowl, laughed like all of this was a big joke, "Why do you even try? Every single day it's the same thing. We turn on the TV and it doesn't work." Scowl said and laughed once more.
"Are you serious?" Green shook her head at Scowl "Dad works hard every day for this darn TV to work! Sit down and shut up."
My parents never said anything. Even if my brothers were having a fight my mother would just leave the house to get out of the loud yelling. My father would continue working like the fight wasn't even going on.
My father began to crank the level to turn on the TV.
"Cross your fingers Stutter," said Grandis.
My brothers Stutter and Grandis always crossed their fingers when we would turn on the TV. They believed that they were the lucky ones of the family. I always thought our family traditions were silly, but now that they're gone, I miss those traditions with all my heart.
Stutter nodded and crossed his fingers, "Plea-please TV work!" The ten year old whispered loudly.
The TV flickered a few times, a loud high pitched noise buzzed around the room. I remember we all covered our ears. We knew that the TV would not work, unsurprisingly.
The TV turned blue for a few seconds, and then it turned black and the buzzing noise was gone.
We all stood up from the chairs we were sitting down on.
"Well that's too bad," Grandis said as he gave a big yawn.
Father did not move, he continued to stare at the TV. I always have felt bad for him when he failed to fix the old TV.
"Honey, it's okay," my mother whispered softly to dad. "We can buy a hologram like everyone else has. TVs are outdated Hun. They never work anymore, they're junk. We can put the TV in the Scrapforest and buy a hologram at the Nation Store."
"We have no money left," father mumbled.
My siblings and I were eavesdropping to their conversation like usual. It never was good news. But how else could we know what struggles they're hiding from us? "The stove is broke, our medicine has been stolen, someone threatened us, our house could be torn down." These were all news that my parents never told us. Eavesdropping did us good.
We all looked at each other with mixed emotions. Scowl was happy because mother suggested getting a hologram, Grandis and Stutter looked worried when father said there was no money left, Green was crying, she was holding my hand tightly, and my brother Irritus had no emotion because he had a sickness.
I was terrified.
But then, the TV started saying words, like a human. We all focused our attention on the TV set. A couple seconds later, we could see things on it. The TV suddenly worked. After 15 years the TV finally worked.
We all screamed in delight. We all were jumping around. My four brothers were pushing each other in laughter, even Irritus did too, Green's sad tears quickly turned into tears of joy. I joined the celebration, we all were jumping, squealing, and rejoicing. I remember my mother, she kissed my father and whispered something to my father which made him laugh. That was the first time in my life where I saw my father smile. That smile stood on for 2 hours straight of rejoicing.
When the celebration died down, we all were gathered around the TV. It's funny how a smile can turn into a frown as quickly as I saw it. One by one, my family's grins turned into gruesome. The news was reporting some bad news.
The reporter was a panicked woman, she was in a dark room, her voice was weak and uneasy, "Vallers... they have threatened to destroy the Southwestern of Merica. If you or a family member live there you need to warn them. F.B.I are still trying to find out when Vallers will be attacking. It could be any minute or any day. If you live in the Southwest please turn your Self Defense Robots on and pack to leave as soon as possible. Drive to the nearest Protection Center or Local Hideout." The woman began to cry, "The White house is going to be gone......" The woman's crying began to turn into a sob, "There is no more hope, mine as well die already."
I looked around the room, mother had her hands over her face. She was crying like usual. My siblings they were scared, so was I. Seeing this grown woman cry was a shot in the leg. For a child, grown adults were the wisest. Seeing them cry was like a message that there was something totally wrong that was actually worth crying about.
The reporter kept crying and there was background talking whether to stop airing. Father was just about to turn the TV off when the woman finally began to talk again.
"After them it's us. We are all going to die just like everyone else is. First they're going to bomb the big cities. Then, they are going to bomb the small cities." Her voice was shaky and quiet, "....after that we come in, they are going to burn down the towns and villages. The last thing they do is to shoot down the farms and shounts."
"That-that's us," said Stutter.
Mother turned the TV off, "that's enough everyone to bed."
Chapter 4
"What's a Valler?" I asked Green as she tucked me in bed.
"Bad guys. Very bad guys. They destroyed everything that we loved. We once were a strong nation. But, they made us weak." Green explained as she spread the cover over me, "We have lost many people and important monuments because of them. Before them, we were not as a big country. There were places like, Canada, England, Mexico, and U.S.A. But that was a long time ago, now we all are one.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because we all had a common enemy and we all were weak. We figured if we teamed up we wouldn't be weak anymore. We thought we could beat the Vallers." Green looked at me with her mesmerizing dark green eyes, "but I guess we were wrong."
Green stood up and went to the door. "I am going to see if Irritus needs anything."
"How can you understand him? He has a sickness," I said to Green. I felt like everyone ignored Irritus except for Green. She cared for everyone.
"He does not have a sickness. It's just... he can't talk. I don't know why but, he can't. Usually, there is a treatment but we can't afford it so he remains mute. I honestly feel bad for him. He is twelve years old and has no way of communicating toward others."
"Then how does he communicate with you?"
Green smiled and shook her head, "he is an amazing drawer. He draws me little pictures to talk to me. No one in our family cares to know what Irritus is like. Who knows? He could be an amazing artist someday, but nobody cares but me," and at that Green left the room.
As I slept I reminded myself to talk to Irritus but to also not wear the band.
Chapter 5
I woke up that day, and looked over to my nightstand where my wristband lied. I took it and hid it under my bed so my mother wouldn't find it. I also wore a Winter-C. long-sleeved shirt to hide my wrist, despite it was in the middle of summer. The temperature was at least 10 gl degrees so, without a doubt I would be very hot. But as a child, I never really knew how to dress myself. The only goal I wanted to reach was to experiment with what would happen if I paused.
When I got out of my room, I saw Irritus sitting on the couch. Every morning I would see him on the same couch doing the same thing. He was writing in his sepia notebook. The fringes of the pages were wrinkled and torn and some of the perforations were torn off. I saw that all of the papers were already drawn on. But he managed to find some void spots to draw on. Why couldn't he just get a new one? I thought to myself.
"Um, Irritus," I said looking straight at him.
He looked up, his eyes sauntering around the room like something was wrong. He finally looked at me, I could tell by his reaction that he was surprised that I said his name, that I even scrutinized him. He thought something was wrong.
"Do you need a new notebook?" I asked timidly. There was really nothing else to ask him. But I still was hoping that this question would strike up a conversation.
Irritus shook his head.
"Are you positively absolutely surely sure?" I asked. Green always said this to me. It was stupid, but it was fun to say.
He nodded.
"Okay," my head swooshed down seeing the rotted green floor I was beginning to walk downstairs. I somehow felt like I had failed. Failed at what? What was wrong with not having a conversation with him? I felt guilty for no exact reason, but all of those feelings resolved and disappeared when I felt a crumbled piece of paper hit my elbow. I looked back at Irritus and he was looking at me waiting for me to read the note that he threw at me.
I picked up the crumbled paper and flattened it out to read the words. It read, Why are you suddenly talking to me? What's wrong? Where is your wristband? You need it.
I was expecting something more touching like, thanks for talking to me, or you are as kind as Green, thank you for noticing me! But at least I got a conversation opportunity that was enough to satisfy a seven year olds heart.
I went back to Irritus and began to speak to him.
"I thought it would be nice to get to know you and nothing is wrong with me I am doing fine... Also, I have no idea how you knew I wasn't wearing the stupid wristband, but I am experimenting with not wearing it. You cannot tell a soul, you hear me? Not even Grandis or Stutter or Scowl or anyone! Especially not mom!" I demanded.
Irritus just sat on the couch looking awfully concerned. Now, I look back and understand why he looked at me like that. He knew that the wristband was important to my health. Me not wearing it is very dangerous, especially at a young age. He was simply concerned and was caring for me.
But, I did not understand that as a child and got offended by Irritus' reaction to my answers. He shook his head and walked to the other side of the room. I followed him, to see what he was doing.
"What are you doing?" I noticed he was writing another note for me. I took a sneak a peek of what he was writing and soon realized that the note was not for me.
I could see that he was writing a letter to mom about me and how I did not put on my wristband. I couldn't let this happen. How dare he? The one time I actually talked to him, he tattletales on me?
"No! I told you not to," I ripped his notebook out of his hands. That was a choice that was not wise at all.
Irritus grabbed my wrists and tried to retrieve his notebook. That was the very first time I actually saw Irritus angry, and it was because of me.
I wouldn't let go of his notebook and we both were pulling the notebook very hard until it tore. You saw that coming didn't you? All of the old paper filled with sketches, drawings, writings, and designs all flew out.
Irritus looked at me. His eyes filled up with water. He looked down and picked up the remaining pieces of the notebook.
"I am-" I knew that saying sorry wouldn't do anything. Irritus had that notebook ever since he could hold a pencil. It was very special to him, the notebook was the only thing he could talk to. He would write in it during supper, bedtime, and every other time he had for himself. I broke his best friend and all I could say was, "sorry."
I heard him cry in an eerie mute, which still echoed through my mind. His eyes turned red from all of his tears. He knelt down to try to fix it piece by piece.
I felt sick to my stomach. I didn't know what to say nor do. I decided to go downstairs and get some help. But when I tried to take my first step, I froze.
I tried again and again. It scared me, so I tried to yell and get help. But I couldn't yell, my mouth could not move. I had paused.
A couple minutes passed by slowly, and Irritus looked at me. He knew what happened so he rushed downstairs.
Not sure what exactly happened after that. Unfortunately I had forgotten exactly what happened. Do keep in mind that I do not remember everything in my past. Some moments that I had wrote down were based on logic not memory.
I am pretty certain that I had gotten in deep trouble. For from then on, my mother always was heedful whether I was wearing my wristband or not. I hated wearing that wristband, it was very heavy and bulky with lighting buttons and wires everywhere. I had been very anxious to take it off when it was time to sleep.
Chapter 6
Now, I cannot remember when the threats occurred. I think that it may have started after I had turned eight years old. I am not sure, but I do remember the day.
At 7:00 in a May morning I was on the Educational Pad. Let me go into some details about this Pad. This Educational Pad was the cheapest one the government could give us. It was pretty small and flimsy. I couldn't get on the internet, all I could do on the pad was hear the teacher and other students with microphones. I didn't have a microphone but I sure dreamed of having one.
Every month I would tell my parents what I would want to learn. Then, they would send that information to the Education Society of Merical. They would connect that class to the Pad, then I would be learning that subject.
Gosh, I learned useless information in schooling. I picked up stupid subjects like, Child Caring Techniques, Interior Design, and Earth Science. Never needed to use any of that information in my life.
With this pointless information that I had learned, there were classes I took that taught me things that may have saved my life. Classes like, Cultural Studies, Morse Code, Computer Programming, Tech Ed, and Robot Interruption (mandatory).
A lot of those classes were outdated information, hardly anyone took Tech Ed. Our technology today is beyond the word, "technology." But our family did not hardly have any high technology of that kind, so all I could do was just learn about the good old basics of technology. But even though it was outdated it still helped me.
Dead End(Jennifer)
Chapter 1: The Doll
It is dangerous to forget. Even if you really want to forget about a dark memory, it is still dangerous. When you forget about something very important in your life, a part of you goes missing. A vital piece of information that you cannot get back and then share the story with others is gone. My name is Pause Misc and I have a story. A story that is too dark and depressing to talk about and to even think about. But, I need to remember it. Like I said before, it is dangerous to forget. So, here is my story. A story that has broke me and ruined my childhood. That has ruined my life. So, here I go.
I lived in an old farm house in the middle of nowhere. Houses like these we call, "shounts." Many of my classmates lived in town. But, they were rich, unlike my family. Normal people, like my classmates, had four essential robots. Each had a distinctive skill. Nurturing, cleaning, informational, and perhaps the most important robot, self defense, none of which we had. Most of the days I spent were inside, because my mother told me that it was too hazardous to go in our backyard. I didn't like that rule, my big brothers were always outside, helping dad. But, it wasn't my mom's fault. Each parent had to follow a list of rules for their family. They couldn't make or ignore a rule listed. My parents were puppets and the government was the puppeteer.
The rule was stated that, "No child under 10 years old is permitted to play outside without a nurturing robot." So I had to be creative and find some fun inside.
"Green?" I asked as I looked inside my big sisters bedroom.
"Pause, I'm trying to read. Find some fun somewhere else," Green said rather hastily.
"Can I see your doll again? She is so pretty!" My sister put down her book.
"Fine," she murmured with a crooked smile.
Green opened up a box and lifted up the enchanting glass doll. It always fascinated me. She had an elegant pink lace dress with a pearl necklace. Her hair was perfectly curled. She had a weird hair color though. It was orangish red. I'd never seen a person with orange hair. But she still looked very beautiful. I always wanted to look exactly like her.
Green gently gave me the fragile doll. I looked in her brown eyes, which also were a weird color to possess.
"She is beautiful. Tell me again, where did you find her?" I asked.
"Grandma gave it to me. She said, the doll was passed on to her when she was my age. The doll must be very, very old. So you have to be delicate with her."
I nodded, "I want a doll just like this one."
"I don't think you will find one, they are extremely hard to find."
I hesitated, "but why?"
Green shrugged, "I guess they stopped making them, maybe children back then played with these dolls instead of playing with electronics."
I knew that my older sister was correct. The children on my schooling website always bragged about what type of gaming electronics they had. Some even claimed that they had a robot designed just for gaming. I never got to see my classmates faces, it's always the law not to. But, I always imagined my classmates wearing head to toe gaming gear. Wearing huge headphones covering almost half of their face and cyber hand pads. I always laughed when I pictured them.
"Why don't we have electronics?" I asked, "It's always boring inside and all of my classmates already have electronics. All we have is a Web Pad and there are no games on there," I complained in an annoying whiny voice.
My sisters bright green eyes looked straight at me like a deer caught in the headlights. I could tell by her face she was upset with me, "Pause, how dare you envy others? Be grateful of what you have! Mom and dad have had enough of everyone complaining! We're in debt, you are just lucky you have food on your plate!" My sister got back her book and continued reading silently. Green was a very nice sister, but she also had a teenager attitude.
Now, you may ask why I am putting this moment in my journal. Well, It's because Green was the only sister I had. I would always hang out with her, and she taught me quite a handful of lessons. But this moment was special. She taught me something that was really hard to find these days. Truth.
"Green?"
"What? I'm trying to read my book."
"I'm sorry. I was being very ungrateful," I confessed rather shyly.
My sister put down her book, "It's okay. You're only seven after all. You don't understand. You do not understand what is going on around us. Do you?" Green asked softly.
I looked at her strangely. I did not know what she was trying to say, but as a normal seven year old, I nodded pretending I knew.
"No," my sister was starting to tear up, I'd never seen my sister Green cry before. She always hid her emotions, "I am tired of our parents not telling you anything."
"What?"
"Here is your story. A story you never knew about yourself. That has been locked away from you. Here is the truth."
I did not remember a whole lot of that conversation. I wish I did but it is all a blur. I did, however, remember what she told me.
Chapter 2: My Name
"Do you even know why our parents named you, Pause?"
I shook my head.
Green closed her eyes and smiled like she was remembering a heartwarming moment. "I was ten when you were born. I was so relieved that it was announced that you were a girl. I jumped with glee, and kept boasting to our brothers that my prediction was correct. But I soon realized that I was the only one jumping with excitement." Green's huge smile faded away in a flash, her happy tone of voice turned into a gloomy, quiet voice. "I looked around and saw that everyone was scared. It was so quiet it took my breath away. Something was not right." She told the story very slowly as if she was remembering each detail as she went.
"I pushed Grandis, our older brother, away to see you. To see what was wrong. I saw you in the nurses arms. You were not crying, which was odd enough. But that wasn't the thing that made everyone speechless. It is the fact that you were frozen."
I laughed as if she was making a joke. "How can I be frozen? I was born in the spring."
Green laughed back, "No, you weren't frozen. You... paused."
I remember when Green told me the truth about the band I wore over my wrist everyday that was to remain functioning. My mother told me that the band was to help me grow healthy. I hadn't thought much about that band until then. It didn't hurt that much, but then again I may be desensitized to the feeling. I've been wearing that band ever since I could breathe.
Chapter 3
We were all in the living room, hoping that we would get the TV to work to watch the news. I hated this time of day. It always made my family anxious and depressed. I had no idea why they would feel this way. It's just the boring news. But, at that time, I did not understand that watching news was very, very important.
7:00 PM was when everyone was seated waiting for father to connect the television to the outlet. We had to turn off every light and technology so the TV could receive the power.
"Come on, Might. Everyone is here, and everyone plugged everything out. You can turn on the TV," my mother put her hand on my father's shoulder. He has been trying to fix the TV as long as I could remember. He wanted more than anything for this TV to work, but without signal we have no hope.
"Dad, it's not going to work," my brother, Scowl, laughed like all of this was a big joke, "Why do you even try? Every single day it's the same thing. We turn on the TV and it doesn't work." Scowl said and laughed once more.
"Are you serious?" Green shook her head at Scowl "Dad works hard every day for this darn TV to work! Sit down and shut up."
My parents never said anything. Even if my brothers were having a fight my mother would just leave the house to get out of the loud yelling. My father would continue working like the fight wasn't even going on.
My father began to crank the level to turn on the TV.
"Cross your fingers Stutter," said Grandis.
My brothers Stutter and Grandis always crossed their fingers when we would turn on the TV. They believed that they were the lucky ones of the family. I always thought our family traditions were silly, but now that they're gone, I miss those traditions with all my heart.
Stutter nodded and crossed his fingers, "Plea-please TV work!" The ten year old whispered loudly.
The TV flickered a few times, a loud high pitched noise buzzed around the room. I remember we all covered our ears. We knew that the TV would not work, unsurprisingly.
The TV turned blue for a few seconds, and then it turned black and the buzzing noise was gone.
We all stood up from the chairs we were sitting down on.
"Well that's too bad," Grandis said as he gave a big yawn.
Father did not move, he continued to stare at the TV. I always have felt bad for him when he failed to fix the old TV.
"Honey, it's okay," my mother whispered softly to dad. "We can buy a hologram like everyone else has. TVs are outdated Hun. They never work anymore, they're junk. We can put the TV in the Scrapforest and buy a hologram at the Nation Store."
"We have no money left," father mumbled.
My siblings and I were eavesdropping to their conversation like usual. It never was good news. But how else could we know what struggles they're hiding from us? "The stove is broke, our medicine has been stolen, someone threatened us, our house could be torn down." These were all news that my parents never told us. Eavesdropping did us good.
We all looked at each other with mixed emotions. Scowl was happy because mother suggested getting a hologram, Grandis and Stutter looked worried when father said there was no money left, Green was crying, she was holding my hand tightly, and my brother Irritus had no emotion because he had a sickness.
I was terrified.
But then, the TV started saying words, like a human. We all focused our attention on the TV set. A couple seconds later, we could see things on it. The TV suddenly worked. After 15 years the TV finally worked.
We all screamed in delight. We all were jumping around. My four brothers were pushing each other in laughter, even Irritus did too, Green's sad tears quickly turned into tears of joy. I joined the celebration, we all were jumping, squealing, and rejoicing. I remember my mother, she kissed my father and whispered something to my father which made him laugh. That was the first time in my life where I saw my father smile. That smile stood on for 2 hours straight of rejoicing.
When the celebration died down, we all were gathered around the TV. It's funny how a smile can turn into a frown as quickly as I saw it. One by one, my family's grins turned into gruesome. The news was reporting some bad news.
The reporter was a panicked woman, she was in a dark room, her voice was weak and uneasy, "Vallers... they have threatened to destroy the Southwestern of Merica. If you or a family member live there you need to warn them. F.B.I are still trying to find out when Vallers will be attacking. It could be any minute or any day. If you live in the Southwest please turn your Self Defense Robots on and pack to leave as soon as possible. Drive to the nearest Protection Center or Local Hideout." The woman began to cry, "The White house is going to be gone......" The woman's crying began to turn into a sob, "There is no more hope, mine as well die already."
I looked around the room, mother had her hands over her face. She was crying like usual. My siblings they were scared, so was I. Seeing this grown woman cry was a shot in the leg. For a child, grown adults were the wisest. Seeing them cry was like a message that there was something totally wrong that was actually worth crying about.
The reporter kept crying and there was background talking whether to stop airing. Father was just about to turn the TV off when the woman finally began to talk again.
"After them it's us. We are all going to die just like everyone else is. First they're going to bomb the big cities. Then, they are going to bomb the small cities." Her voice was shaky and quiet, "....after that we come in, they are going to burn down the towns and villages. The last thing they do is to shoot down the farms and shounts."
"That-that's us," said Stutter.
Mother turned the TV off, "that's enough everyone to bed."
Chapter 4
"What's a Valler?" I asked Green as she tucked me in bed.
"Bad guys. Very bad guys. They destroyed everything that we loved. We once were a strong nation. But, they made us weak." Green explained as she spread the cover over me, "We have lost many people and important monuments because of them. Before them, we were not as a big country. There were places like, Canada, England, Mexico, and U.S.A. But that was a long time ago, now we all are one.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because we all had a common enemy and we all were weak. We figured if we teamed up we wouldn't be weak anymore. We thought we could beat the Vallers." Green looked at me with her mesmerizing dark green eyes, "but I guess we were wrong."
Green stood up and went to the door. "I am going to see if Irritus needs anything."
"How can you understand him? He has a sickness," I said to Green. I felt like everyone ignored Irritus except for Green. She cared for everyone.
"He does not have a sickness. It's just... he can't talk. I don't know why but, he can't. Usually, there is a treatment but we can't afford it so he remains mute. I honestly feel bad for him. He is twelve years old and has no way of communicating toward others."
"Then how does he communicate with you?"
Green smiled and shook her head, "he is an amazing drawer. He draws me little pictures to talk to me. No one in our family cares to know what Irritus is like. Who knows? He could be an amazing artist someday, but nobody cares but me," and at that Green left the room.
As I slept I reminded myself to talk to Irritus but to also not wear the band.
Chapter 5
I woke up that day, and looked over to my nightstand where my wristband lied. I took it and hid it under my bed so my mother wouldn't find it. I also wore a Winter-C. long-sleeved shirt to hide my wrist, despite it was in the middle of summer. The temperature was at least 10 gl degrees so, without a doubt I would be very hot. But as a child, I never really knew how to dress myself. The only goal I wanted to reach was to experiment with what would happen if I paused.
When I got out of my room, I saw Irritus sitting on the couch. Every morning I would see him on the same couch doing the same thing. He was writing in his sepia notebook. The fringes of the pages were wrinkled and torn and some of the perforations were torn off. I saw that all of the papers were already drawn on. But he managed to find some void spots to draw on. Why couldn't he just get a new one? I thought to myself.
"Um, Irritus," I said looking straight at him.
He looked up, his eyes sauntering around the room like something was wrong. He finally looked at me, I could tell by his reaction that he was surprised that I said his name, that I even scrutinized him. He thought something was wrong.
"Do you need a new notebook?" I asked timidly. There was really nothing else to ask him. But I still was hoping that this question would strike up a conversation.
Irritus shook his head.
"Are you positively absolutely surely sure?" I asked. Green always said this to me. It was stupid, but it was fun to say.
He nodded.
"Okay," my head swooshed down seeing the rotted green floor I was beginning to walk downstairs. I somehow felt like I had failed. Failed at what? What was wrong with not having a conversation with him? I felt guilty for no exact reason, but all of those feelings resolved and disappeared when I felt a crumbled piece of paper hit my elbow. I looked back at Irritus and he was looking at me waiting for me to read the note that he threw at me.
I picked up the crumbled paper and flattened it out to read the words. It read, Why are you suddenly talking to me? What's wrong? Where is your wristband? You need it.
I was expecting something more touching like, thanks for talking to me, or you are as kind as Green, thank you for noticing me! But at least I got a conversation opportunity that was enough to satisfy a seven year olds heart.
I went back to Irritus and began to speak to him.
"I thought it would be nice to get to know you and nothing is wrong with me I am doing fine... Also, I have no idea how you knew I wasn't wearing the stupid wristband, but I am experimenting with not wearing it. You cannot tell a soul, you hear me? Not even Grandis or Stutter or Scowl or anyone! Especially not mom!" I demanded.
Irritus just sat on the couch looking awfully concerned. Now, I look back and understand why he looked at me like that. He knew that the wristband was important to my health. Me not wearing it is very dangerous, especially at a young age. He was simply concerned and was caring for me.
But, I did not understand that as a child and got offended by Irritus' reaction to my answers. He shook his head and walked to the other side of the room. I followed him, to see what he was doing.
"What are you doing?" I noticed he was writing another note for me. I took a sneak a peek of what he was writing and soon realized that the note was not for me.
I could see that he was writing a letter to mom about me and how I did not put on my wristband. I couldn't let this happen. How dare he? The one time I actually talked to him, he tattletales on me?
"No! I told you not to," I ripped his notebook out of his hands. That was a choice that was not wise at all.
Irritus grabbed my wrists and tried to retrieve his notebook. That was the very first time I actually saw Irritus angry, and it was because of me.
I wouldn't let go of his notebook and we both were pulling the notebook very hard until it tore. You saw that coming didn't you? All of the old paper filled with sketches, drawings, writings, and designs all flew out.
Irritus looked at me. His eyes filled up with water. He looked down and picked up the remaining pieces of the notebook.
"I am-" I knew that saying sorry wouldn't do anything. Irritus had that notebook ever since he could hold a pencil. It was very special to him, the notebook was the only thing he could talk to. He would write in it during supper, bedtime, and every other time he had for himself. I broke his best friend and all I could say was, "sorry."
I heard him cry in an eerie mute, which still echoed through my mind. His eyes turned red from all of his tears. He knelt down to try to fix it piece by piece.
I felt sick to my stomach. I didn't know what to say nor do. I decided to go downstairs and get some help. But when I tried to take my first step, I froze.
I tried again and again. It scared me, so I tried to yell and get help. But I couldn't yell, my mouth could not move. I had paused.
A couple minutes passed by slowly, and Irritus looked at me. He knew what happened so he rushed downstairs.
Not sure what exactly happened after that. Unfortunately I had forgotten exactly what happened. Do keep in mind that I do not remember everything in my past. Some moments that I had wrote down were based on logic not memory.
I am pretty certain that I had gotten in deep trouble. For from then on, my mother always was heedful whether I was wearing my wristband or not. I hated wearing that wristband, it was very heavy and bulky with lighting buttons and wires everywhere. I had been very anxious to take it off when it was time to sleep.
Chapter 6
Now, I cannot remember when the threats occurred. I think that it may have started after I had turned eight years old. I am not sure, but I do remember the day.
At 7:00 in a May morning I was on the Educational Pad. Let me go into some details about this Pad. This Educational Pad was the cheapest one the government could give us. It was pretty small and flimsy. I couldn't get on the internet, all I could do on the pad was hear the teacher and other students with microphones. I didn't have a microphone but I sure dreamed of having one.
Every month I would tell my parents what I would want to learn. Then, they would send that information to the Education Society of Merical. They would connect that class to the Pad, then I would be learning that subject.
Gosh, I learned useless information in schooling. I picked up stupid subjects like, Child Caring Techniques, Interior Design, and Earth Science. Never needed to use any of that information in my life.
With this pointless information that I had learned, there were classes I took that taught me things that may have saved my life. Classes like, Cultural Studies, Morse Code, Computer Programming, Tech Ed, and Robot Interruption (mandatory).
A lot of those classes were outdated information, hardly anyone took Tech Ed. Our technology today is beyond the word, "technology." But our family did not hardly have any high technology of that kind, so all I could do was just learn about the good old basics of technology. But even though it was outdated it still helped me.
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