deserted. I frowned. This was the base that started everything. I slumped back in my bed. Then where did they all go?
Caribbean plopped in his tank.
“I know. I know. I’ll be there in a minute.”
That was so odd. They just shut it down? Just like that?
I typed in a new search, ROBOTS and EMOTIONS, but nothing came up. Humph. I tapped my finger against my lips. How could it be no one else noticed this glitch or gave the slightest possibility of something like this happening? Shouldn’t there be blogs about this somewhere?
I rubbed my head and slowly got out of bed.
Caribbean whizzed across the surface of his tank. I dropped in three flakes and opened my window blinds. Stars twinkled in the night sky against the patches of rain. A plane flew overhead and the moon cast a soft glow on the tips of the dead limbs of the trees pointing back up at the moonlit sky.
But everything had changed. I was no longer living in a winter wonderland in Philadelphia. It was now a desolate wasteland covered in frost. It was now the land of government and their robots, not their people.
The dead branches seemed to swell around me, enclosing me in my room. The glow cast shadows on them, making them come alive, turning into stalking predators. Their pointy tips ready to wreak havoc on any it crossed, becoming the bringers of death to the valley. Almost like an army of robots.
A breeze blew through a few of the trees around me. The bringers of death swayed back and forth and I waited for the breeze to blow through the rest of the trees but it stopped there.
I frowned then brushed the unsettling sensation off. The wind seemed to be like Mom, fickle and uncaring. It went where it wanted, not caring about those it affected or rather, didn’t affect.
I went over to my bed and picked my book bag up. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the branches sway again and I sighed.
The wind was playing games with my emotions. A feeling I was used to.
I turned around and dropped my book bag back onto the floor and then something exploded behind me, piercing my ears with the sound of glass shattering into millions of pieces and catapulting me into my bed. My heart pounded in my chest and my face slammed into my comforter. Tiny pieces of glass cut into my skin and lodged in my hair.
Then I heard the plunk of boots, thumping down on my carpet.
Chapter 10
I spun around, glass crunching under my feet. Rain pelted against the man standing in the center of my room. Moonlight glinted off his cropped hair and highlighted the bulges of muscles popping out of his shirt.
“Oh, God.”
My knees gave out, and I buckled against the nightstand. There was a man.
A massive man.
Standing. In. My. Room.
My hands clenched the sides of the drawer. His teeth flashed white as a smile raced across his lips.
“Get out,” I screamed, flinging my bed pillows at him.
“Pillows?” He laughed and brushed them aside, like he was batting away a fly. “Let’s see if you can come up with anything better?” His voice was deep with excitement as he stalked forward, step by step, his smile getting wider and wider, leaving me a mouse, trapped in a corner.
My hand glided across the dresser and my fingers stilled. “Then how’s this?” I grabbed and swung.
The weight of the glass lamp lightened in my hand as it shattered across his forehead, pieces cascaded around us, flying in all directions.
And he was still there, smiling, like it didn’t even . . .
Oh, God.
The shatters of glass embedded in his face gleamed in the moonlight against the glow of the tiny cuts marring his skin.
“Nice touch. Would have worked, too.” He tapped his skull, and I heard the click of metal upon metal.
No.
The broken lamp base thudded to the floor.
My heart pounded in my chest. No.
“You can’t be,” I whispered.
“And now.” He reached for me. “Game over.”
But my life was not a game. Not ever. And especially not for him.
I threw my fist at him as hard as I could. It
Caribbean plopped in his tank.
“I know. I know. I’ll be there in a minute.”
That was so odd. They just shut it down? Just like that?
I typed in a new search, ROBOTS and EMOTIONS, but nothing came up. Humph. I tapped my finger against my lips. How could it be no one else noticed this glitch or gave the slightest possibility of something like this happening? Shouldn’t there be blogs about this somewhere?
I rubbed my head and slowly got out of bed.
Caribbean whizzed across the surface of his tank. I dropped in three flakes and opened my window blinds. Stars twinkled in the night sky against the patches of rain. A plane flew overhead and the moon cast a soft glow on the tips of the dead limbs of the trees pointing back up at the moonlit sky.
But everything had changed. I was no longer living in a winter wonderland in Philadelphia. It was now a desolate wasteland covered in frost. It was now the land of government and their robots, not their people.
The dead branches seemed to swell around me, enclosing me in my room. The glow cast shadows on them, making them come alive, turning into stalking predators. Their pointy tips ready to wreak havoc on any it crossed, becoming the bringers of death to the valley. Almost like an army of robots.
A breeze blew through a few of the trees around me. The bringers of death swayed back and forth and I waited for the breeze to blow through the rest of the trees but it stopped there.
I frowned then brushed the unsettling sensation off. The wind seemed to be like Mom, fickle and uncaring. It went where it wanted, not caring about those it affected or rather, didn’t affect.
I went over to my bed and picked my book bag up. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the branches sway again and I sighed.
The wind was playing games with my emotions. A feeling I was used to.
I turned around and dropped my book bag back onto the floor and then something exploded behind me, piercing my ears with the sound of glass shattering into millions of pieces and catapulting me into my bed. My heart pounded in my chest and my face slammed into my comforter. Tiny pieces of glass cut into my skin and lodged in my hair.
Then I heard the plunk of boots, thumping down on my carpet.
Chapter 10
I spun around, glass crunching under my feet. Rain pelted against the man standing in the center of my room. Moonlight glinted off his cropped hair and highlighted the bulges of muscles popping out of his shirt.
“Oh, God.”
My knees gave out, and I buckled against the nightstand. There was a man.
A massive man.
Standing. In. My. Room.
My hands clenched the sides of the drawer. His teeth flashed white as a smile raced across his lips.
“Get out,” I screamed, flinging my bed pillows at him.
“Pillows?” He laughed and brushed them aside, like he was batting away a fly. “Let’s see if you can come up with anything better?” His voice was deep with excitement as he stalked forward, step by step, his smile getting wider and wider, leaving me a mouse, trapped in a corner.
My hand glided across the dresser and my fingers stilled. “Then how’s this?” I grabbed and swung.
The weight of the glass lamp lightened in my hand as it shattered across his forehead, pieces cascaded around us, flying in all directions.
And he was still there, smiling, like it didn’t even . . .
Oh, God.
The shatters of glass embedded in his face gleamed in the moonlight against the glow of the tiny cuts marring his skin.
“Nice touch. Would have worked, too.” He tapped his skull, and I heard the click of metal upon metal.
No.
The broken lamp base thudded to the floor.
My heart pounded in my chest. No.
“You can’t be,” I whispered.
“And now.” He reached for me. “Game over.”
But my life was not a game. Not ever. And especially not for him.
I threw my fist at him as hard as I could. It
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