My Best Friend is a Robot

Today I'm here with a sneak peek from my latest story, My Best Friend Is a Robot.

Golly, I'm in love with this plot! But it's not long enough to be a full novel, so it's going to be a fast and furious action packed novella. Whoop de do! I'm aiming for about 20,000 words at the least.

MBFiR is set in a dystopian setting. I hope it turns out at least half as good as I'm hoping.

"Right now, we aren't living. We're just... Existing." - Dawn

In this paticular time setting, the government is in control of everything. And by everything, I mean even the oxygen needed to breath. This government maintains the perfect lifeforms. There are no germs, there is no sickness, nobody is unhealthy. Everything and everyone is perfect.

"There are the ups to this way of life, but the bad far outnumber the good." - Seth

 This is truely one wacko government here, people. Like, insane. They choose when you marry, who you marry, how many kids you can have, decide if your kids should live, what the perfect time is for you to die, just bad bad bad BAD. My characters are fixing to stop it. But that doesnt mean they will. But there is a whooping %5 chanch that they could. With my carefully placed plot twists and so much more goody goodyness, I hope I don't completely kill my story.

And on with the peek I promised!

My name is Dawn Ryder. This is the story of how I rescued my best friend. By “best friend” I mean my robot; Seth.Yeah, I bet that sounds really weird. Let me explain:The year is 2417. There are three countries left on planet Vouch which was lately known as Earth. Yep, the planets were renamed. Stupid world leaders. Anyways, three countries: Egone, Prine, and Chash.
These three countries worked together but apart: Egone supported the animal world, protecting every species from the harm of unknown dangers this world has developed in the last three hundred years. Prine grew every know plant known to mankind and that’s where the other two countries get their food supply. And Chash is where they create the perfect people. I live in Chash.In Chash there are twenty five levels. In every level there are different classifications. Everyone has been genetically altered to have specific traits: Red hair, brown hair, white hair, black hair, blond hair, blue eyes, green eyes, grey eyes, brown eyes, skin, hair, and nose. Blah, blah, blah.I lived in Level nine, where everyone has been genetically modified to have black hair, green eyes and freckles. Everyone was the same. Almost everyone, that is. I was the oddball.
I love history – especially the history before the levels were created. What little they give us, anyways. I wanted to be independent. I wanted to see the ground, like the planet’s surface. But we weren’t allowed to go down. I was sick of the same everyday routine. I wanted it to be different.

So basically, I had no friends. Nobody wanted to be friends with a weirdo. I was told that the kids who learn more than they are supposed to get taken away from the levels and were never seen again. I’ve been warned. Numerous times. Whatever.Eventually, my perfect parents realized that I was lonely and so for my thirteenth birthday I was given Seth. He was already programed for my needs. Or that’s what they told me.

Your pal,
Maddie

So I'm thinking Steampunk.

Lately I've been wanting to do something with a steampunked plot line. But modest steampunk, not the type where the girls are uncovered. And not quite as dark - I want it to be happy yet gear-ish. Not black but bright cheery colors.
I've found some cute outfits but they're mostly dark and too short skitred or low cut.

So here is a plot I've dreamed up that I think this theme would fit with:

An old inventor living in the 1800's with astounding ideas. Not a rich man, but not a begger either. He has taken in twenty six orphaned children and raised them as his own, doing whatever he could for them.

When he finally created a flawless flying device, he disappears along with his plan.

Amelia, his newest orphan child, is devastated and begs the others to help her find him. They agree and set about using his blueprints to create the devices to save him.

And so they go along until Amelia meets this high-end steam worker named Jethrow.

Jethrow goes and helps find the old man and so on and so forth. I'm not giving the big long plot I've got drawn up because 1) it would be pages long and 2) I don't want to give away my secrets *bwahahahaha*.

So you could say that I've got a mind full of adventure that I'm ready to spill. :)

Keep it cool, writerly nerds!

Maddie

Am I the only one that feels like "the love triangle" is way overrated? And other things?

I don't know... I just feel like the love triangle just keeps being used over and over. It's getting old. 

I wish there could be books where three knight have to fight for the ladies hand or there is the one character the girl/boy loves through the entire book.

Oh, and there is the other thing. Bad boys.

Can't there be the nice guy? Or the sweet guy? Or what about the poor overlooked goofy one that I always love by the end of the book?

They are the ones that need to over rule the bad boys... They just aren't appealing after the nine hundred books about them finally gaining the girls heart.

I don't know about you guys, but my dad would be hurt if I chose a bad boy. So why would I feel drawn toward them in books??? 

What about the black haired, green eyed main characters? I admit that I fall for this one, as most of my characters are black haired and green eyed.

And the favorite character dying. WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?! I cry and break my heart over these people that ultimately die a horrendous death. And I find myself doing the same exact thing with my characters. I don't know why because my people are everything I love and I'm all "BwahahahahaHA DIE!"

So, there are a few of my pet peeves.

Your writerly friend,

Maddie

The Unhappy Bush - A Short Story

There once was an unhappy bush, a little brown and thorny bush, resting in a sleepy garden, subdued by the falling snow. Two people came walking around and looked at the bush.

“That’s an ugly little bush.” Said the first person,

“It’s very ugly.” Agreed the second person and they both went on their way. The little brown bush heard this and started to weep. The wind heard the bush crying and blew over to it.

“Why do you cry, little bush?” the wind asked, rustling its little brown leaves gently.

“The people said I was ugly and it hurt my feelings because I know it’s true. I’m little and brown and ugly.” The little bush sobbed.

“You are not ugly, just young and cold. Just be patient and you will grow taller and you’re cold leaves with turn green. When this happens, I will come back and dance.” The wind said in a comforting voice and then blew away.

The little bush was thankful to the wind for being so nice and he believed what the wind said, so the bush waited.

The snow stopped falling and melted away; Spring was here! And just like the wind had said, the little brown bush grew taller and greener. And the wind came back and danced in the tall green bushes leaves.

The bush was happy and smiled all day and even at night while it slept.

One day, a child was playing by the garden when he noticed the beautiful green, tall bush.

“May I take a branch of your green leaves, beautiful bush?” Asked the child.

The bush was so happy at being called beautiful, that it told the child to take its most beautiful, green branch; the branch that held its biggest, prettiest leaves. But when the child grasped the branch, he cried out in pain. When the child pulled his hand away, a big drop of red blood slid down his hand.

“You tricked me!” The child cried, “Your branches are covered with thorns!” And the child ran away, holding his hand and tears falling down his face.

The grass outside the garden despised the bush.

“You tricked the child and poked him!” “What good are you if all you have are thorns?” “Nobody will like you know.”

And the bush began to weep again. “Now my beautiful leaves no longer matter because of my thorns.” it mourned.

Now the sun heard the bush weeping and he sent down warm, comforting rays of light.

“Do not cry, green bush. You didn’t mean to hurt the child.” He said.

“But I did hurt him and now no one loves me. I only wanted to share my leaves because he was so kind to call me beautiful.” The bush lamented.

“The child didn’t know about the thorns and in your moment of happiness you forgot to warn him. It was an accident.” He consoled the bush. “Go now and explain what happened. It wasn’t right of the grass to blame you.”

So the green bush did and the grass listened to it then apologized for accusing the bush of hurting the child.

As spring wore on, the flowers in the garden grew their petals. They flaunted their colors and celebrated. The tall green bush celebrated with them.

The green bush smiled and sang and the wind sent its beautiful leaves dancing.

But then a flower asked, “Where are your petals, bush? The spring is almost done.” And all the other flowers heard the question and they all asked the bush the same question.

“I don’t know!” The bush exclaimed. “I thought I was just a bush.”

And the sun was hidden by grey rain clouds.

The flowers left the bush and went to play. So the bush looked up at the clouds and grew sad. Then the rain started to fall and the bush grew sadder.

“Don’t be sad, green bush, sleep.” The rain whispered. “Tomorrow you will be even more beautiful.”

So the bush slept and the next day when it woke up, it was surrounded by smiling and surprised faces.

“What’s the matter?” The bush asked.

“You have flowers!” the rest of the garden squealed with delight. “You are a rose bush!”

And the wind came and danced and danced and wafted the sweet fragrance of the bush’s roses for all to smell. The beautiful rosebush outlasted the other flowers. The two people came back and said the bush was beautiful. The child came back and all was forgiven when he found the red flowers peeping out of the green leaves.

And the tall, beautiful, green rosebush – which used to be little, ugly and brown, lived happily ever after.

Found

 "Jo! Jo can you hear me?" i heard a distant voice calling my name. I looked around in the think white cloud in vain.

"David!" I yelled as I wiped the tears from my face. "Dave where are you?"

"Keep talking Jo. I'll find you, don't worry." He called in a soothing manner.

"I'm scared. Where am I? Where are you?" I was starting to panic.

"Just keep talking Josie, I'll find you."

I pulled my coat closer around me and shivered. I don't even know where I am. I had been walking home from the little coffee shop I love when the fog came in thick, white and sudden. I had turned back to run for shelter when I lost my way. It was getting dark quickly.

"David? How did you know where I am? I don't even know where I am."

There was a pause before he said,"I don't know how I knew." He sounded closer. 

"Dave!" I shouted. I looked around and noticed the fog was starting to lift. There was a figure right in front of me.

The shape turned. 

"Josie!"

I ran up to him and threw my arms around his chest. I started sobbing with relief.

David hugged me tight and rubbed my back while he spoke softly,"shhh. I've got you. It's okay. You're not lost anymore."

He wiped my face dry with the sleeve of his coat.

"Let's go home." He held out his arm and I linked mine in his and smiled at him. The fog was thin now and light from the lamp posts streamed around us while we walked in the direction of my home.

~Maddie

(Image via Pinterest)

•Fate, P2•

You wouldn't realize how hard it is to time travel, or be a Time Traveler.

First off, I am a type of type of Time Traveler known as a Time Warrior.

I am sent off into the past and/or future to help in a random war, battle or fight.

I've been to places and times that the history books don't tell about.

I've been in totally different dimensions.

My last mission, the one with poor Hugh, was a war. 

Hugh's father was killed by rebels who took over the palace of Kilnna in Drached.

You've never even heard of that place or war, have you? 

Well, I was sent to help the Draghs win.

They did win and then I was sent back to my home time in the 20th century.

The downfall of being a female Time Warrior is that many profess love. 

Yuck.

I want to be married someday, but for now I would LOVE for that stuff not to happen to me.

I, as a teen in America in my normal time zone, am a usually happy person until some poor guy falls in love. 

Then I end up breaking their hearts.

It's really not fun. 

I hate hurting people.

The second thing:

You learn soooo much from being in different times!

I've only been to three recorded wars in my travels; one was with Alexander the Great, one was with the Israelites when they where surrounded on the walled city of Jerusalem and the last was the Civil War.

It was amusing to see the Roman technology. The Israeli war was a fierce thing to behold. The Civil War was terrifying. 

I've been to 6 future wars that will be to hard for you to understand, so I'll save you the trouble of confusion.  I'll just tell you that the weapons were VERY deadly, but the new inventions and technology were AWESOME.

So something more about my family,

I've got an older brother, Mike (24), his wife Leah (23), their son Roy (4) and one older cousin, Jeff (19).

The year Mike turned 18 my parents where killed in a car wreck. He had an apartment so he moved me in with him.

He met Leah in High School and they got married soon after they graduated.

They don't know about me. Time freezes for me so that nobody expects that there is something wrong with me. I don't really have friends. They think I'm a nerd because I get really high scores on history. That's the only thing I'm good at though.

It's my fate to be alone and prepared for the unexpected.  Because believe me, you have to expect the unexpected in order to survive.

•Fate•

So this is a story I've been working on... Hope you guys like it!

"Why do you cry?" A young child placed his hand on my knee.

"It's nothing sweet."  I answered, quickly brushing the tears away.

He looked at me solemnly.  "If it was nothing there would be no tears, dear auntie Eliza."

I smiled at little Roy.  "You speak wisely for a young one."

"You taught me to, auntie." He smiled up at me.

I smiled to myself as I remembered my adorable nephew.  

But enough.  Focus on the present.  Roy isn't even going to be born for another 1000 years. 

"Why are you smiling like that?" A deep voice startled me out of my reverie.

"Just.. Thinking. That's all." I shrugged off the question. 

Dread filled me.  I knew why he was here and I knew what I had to do.

Hugh put his hand on top of mine and squeezed it.

I pulled away gently.

"Please don't.  It could never work."

"Why?" He asked, his voice was gruff.

"I can't tell you.  But you have to trust me.  You are only 17, you've got a long life ahead of you."

"I won't.  I want you to marry me!"

 I shook my head. "Hugh, someday you will find the perfect girl. It's not me."

I hate this. I sobbed within myself. It's always like this...

"I can't marry you."

"Is there someone else?" His face was stricken with heartbreak.

"No." I swallowed hard.

"Then tell me why!" He begged.

"You won't believe me!  You will not understand."

"How are you so sure I won't?!"he raised his voice.

"Do you understand time travel?!?"

He was confused.

"See!  I told you you wouldn't understand!"

He opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again.

"What does it mean?" He finally whispered.

"It means that I have to leave this time.  That I can never see you again. It's what I am, a time traveler.  I can go to the past or future. Do you understand?" I reached to pat him on the arm but he pulled away.

"You can go to the past?" He asked unbelieving. 

"And to the future." I whispered.

"Why do you have to go?" He bent his head and released a choking sob.

"My time here is up." A tear rolled down my cheek. I hated hurting him like this...

I can't do this anymore! I screamed at myself. I need to leave. Now!

 "Why can you come back?" He grabbed me by the shoulders and made me face him.

"I'm done here, Hugh.  My job is done. You won the battle.  That's why I was sent here."

"You can never come back?"

"No I can't."

I started sobbing. "I'm sorry! I never wanted to hurt you.  I know you will marry a wonderful person.  You are going to meet her on you 18th birthday!"

Hugh pulled back as if I burned him.

"You know my future?"

"Yes.  You will have a good long life! That's all I'm aloud to tell you."

He stared at me.

My head started to ache horridly. You need to leave now, Eliza!

"I need to go, Hugh.  I'm going to miss you. Farewell."

He started to reach for me. "Wai-"

I winked out of sight.

Black surrounded me for a few seconds, then I found myself sitting cross legged on the bed in my room.

I stood up and turned on the bedroom light.

Now you know.

My name is Eliza Perris. 

I am 16 years old. 

I am a Time Traveler.