Chapter 126 – the rant

I planned for Honorine’s life to develop in this manner, but I never imagined how much I’d sympathise with her.  The word “shut-in” hit home rather harder than I could have predicted it would.

You know what I really dislike?  When an author starts a story and then abandons it midway, betraying the readers in the process.

I screwed up.  I honestly don’t know what happened.  I wouldn’t blame you if you thought I’d given up on this story, because you have only my word – and you do have my word – that I didn’t.

Lately, I’ve just lost touch with everything, and everyone.  I haven’t been playing guitar, I haven’t been playing piano, haven’t been reading; I’ve lost contact with people, online and even somewhat offline, and not realised how long it’s been until, well, now.  Offline, I have the lame excuse that I have no money and no job, but online I don’t even have that.

There are so many things I should have blogged, but didn’t.  At the moment I find myself very much sympathising with sulz, who I only just learned is stopping blogging indefinitely.  I don’t have her excuses, but like sulz, somehow my heart just hasn’t been in writing lately.

I read a post on Museditions’ blog earlier which I think has made me realise my problem: I’ve been wanting to blog out of necessity – that is, desire to complete the story – but I have had little interest in the blogging itself.

For this reason,I’m not going to insult your intelligence as readers by making more promises.  The fact is, I don’t know if I’ll update regularly.  I am clearly not reliable.  I hate myself so much for this, but I think it’s one of those things I need to face up to.  Of course, I’ll try to update regularly.  But, well, I’m a hypocrite.

And I’m tired, so I need to wrap this post up, but I think I should mention:

Brüno and The Half-Blood Prince

I’ve been to the cinema twice since I last posted.  I went with friends to see Brüno, and I went with my family to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (well, it would hardly have been the other way around!).

That’s right, innocent little Bobby G watched Brüno.  And for the most part, I was entertained by it, although it was extremely crass in places.  It’s a mark of how jaded the Internet has left me that the only thing that really shocked me in the movie was the attitudes of the stage parents.  Oh, and the fact that he was still alive after that comment about Osama bin Laden.  (Oh good grief, I think I lost my innocence to imageboards! :( )

I don’t know why I even joked about that.  It seriously bothers me that I’m not as innocent as I was.  That’s my personality I’m losing.

I had been extremely apprehensive about this new Harry Potter film, and I was especially upset to learn that it left out Luna’s commentary scene, which is the best moment in the entire series, but I was pleasantly surprised by the film.  They didn’t have the commentary scene, but it was nevertheless an excellent adaptation of the novel, and possibly my favourite Harry Potter movie so far.  The acting was a lot better than that of the previous film, which certainly helped.  The characters were very convincing this time around; Malfoy, Luna, Slughorn and Lavender really were Malfoy, Luna, Slughorn and Lavender.  There was something a little odd about hearing Harry say the word “tosser”, but he is supposed to be sixteen by this point (of course, he looks a deal older).  If you haven’t seen it, I definitely recommend this movie.

Goodness, I’m tired.  I have no idea how I’ll be up in good time tomorrow at this rate.  It’s 3:20 already.

Goodnight!

Current listening: S Club 7, “Don’t Stop Movin’”

Chapter 126 – Back Online!

(honorineblanchard)

Hello again! Remember me?

It’s a long time since I’ve been able to blog, since my computer broke down about a month ago, and I’ve only just had it fixed.

It’s been weird not having access to the Internet for a while, but I think it’s probably done me some good. I’ve been out the house more, anyway.

My brother invited me along to see a football game with some of his friends last week. He said I ought to be less of a shut-in. I didn’t really appreciate being called a shut-in, but I went along anyway. He meant well, and it was nice of him to buy me a ticket.

When I was a little girl, I used to love watching football. I never liked playing it. Somehow, I never liked the effort involved in running around a field. And I never had the hand-eye co-ordination for it, either.

Anyway, it was good fun watching a live game again. We lost, 2-1, which was a bit disappointing, but it was fun to go along and cheer on our team.

You’ll never guess who was in the stands, one row in front, right next to where I was sat. The artist guy from the lake! At first I wasn’t sure whether it was really him or not, but then he turned around during half time and it was definitely him. He seemed friendly, so I mentioned that I’d seen him at the lake, and we ended up conversing. His name is François, he’s an artist, just like I guessed, but that’s just his hobby. Anyway, he turned out to be a really nice guy, and he offered to buy us a drink after the game.

So while we were at the bar, drinking our commiseratory drinks, he mentioned that he was in the business of computer maintenance. My brother commented about my broken computer, and François said he’d have look at it and repair it for a low price if I liked. So of course I said yes, and he came round the following day. He fixed it in no time at all!

I’ve been doing some thinking, lately, about who I am and how true I am to myself. And I’ve realised – maybe my brother’s been right all along. Maybe I’m not well. But I still don’t want to see a doctor.

I’m so often apathetic, but I know I’m not depressed, or I’d feel more upset. I don’t really eat enough, but I know I’m not anorexic, because I’m fine with my image and I know it’s not healthy to go without food; I just sometimes forget to eat. I often have trouble getting to sleep, but I don’t think I qualify as an insomniac. There’s always something – some noise, or something on my mind.

I know, this is stupid. And stupidity isn’t a disease. But my brother is right in one regard – this isn’t how I’m supposed to be. I’m going to change, starting from now.

Chapter 122 – the rant

Am I actually incapable of posting these at a sensible time?  No, I’m just rather rubbish at it.

Anyway, I think this should clear up a few more points.

Bradley’s illness is a natural consequence of being kept in such nasty conditions.  It is in no way influenced by how the author is feeling.

***

This has been a good week for TV, I think.  Saturday’s Primeval was pretty cool, and saw the team do battle with a gremlin in a creepy old house.

Then Monday’s Heroes was one of the best this season.  We found out who Rebel is!  I really wasn’t expecting it to be that person, but it’s awesome that it was!

Goodnight!

Current listening: Duke Ellington, “Rumpus in Richmond”.

Chapter 120 – Saturday

(kard)

The following account was written by the traitor, Tom Hogg, during his sixth day of punishment.

________________________

Concrete floors are not comfortable, but I think that’s probably the most sleep either of us has had since we got here.

You know, I’ve been wondering about this back wall. It’s made of metal, while all the others are concrete. I think it might be some kind of door. Examined the floor by that wall, and found there’s a tiny gap next to the “wall”, where it slots into the floor. I can’t hear anything on the other side, though. Tried hammering on it but nothing happened. Didn’t expect it to, really.

We were just leaving the cell through the regular door when we ran into a guy in the same uniform as the security guards coming out of one of the other cells. He held up some kind of gun – a laser gun, by the look of it, god knows what one of those was doing here – and he demanded that we tell him who we were and what we were doing there. Well, you don’t argue with someone who’s pointing a gun at you, so we told him our names and how we got there. He lowered the gun, and said that we seemed like OK people. He offered us some food pills, which he’d been collecting and storing in one of the cells. He told us he’d been stuck here for weeks.

We thought this seemed pretty strange action for a guard, and he explained that the people in uniforms aren’t guards; they’re just Research Team Seven workers who managed to piss off kard. This whole place is a glorified prison. The point isn’t to escape, it’s that we kill ourselves trying. He warned us that a bunch of the uniformed people have banded together to try and find a way out of here, and that they are indiscriminately killing anyone who they come across who isn’t in uniform, since most of those are serial killers and terrorists who kard abducted.

He wants to borrow this computer. He seems an OK person himself, so I see no reason not to lend it to him.

Chapter 117 – Thursday

(kard)

The following account was written by the traitor, Tom Hogg, during his fourth day of punishment.

________________________

Good morning. If it is morning. My watch is missing, so I have no idea what time it is.

Ilona’s not up yet. She’s still sleeping peacefully. I haven’t slept at all, but I’m in no hurry to wake her. She must have been through hell.

She’s awake now. I think it’s time we got moving. We need to find more food, since we’re running out of food pills.

Ilona doesn’t know anything more about this place than I do, but she agrees with me – it’s probably designed to be inescapable. Still, if we got here somehow, there must be an exit, so we’re going to keep looking for it.

We found some more food pills, which should keep us going for a couple of days, but we’re still no closer to finding an exit. On the bright side, we haven’t met any more guards or murderers.

Now, THAT was scary. I’m not sure what the hell just happened.

There was a thing, like the one that attacked Megan at the farm. Like a living shadow. It was in the darkness. It charged towards us, and I called out to warn Ilona. She span around, pulling a machete out of her bag – I didn’t even know she had that – and swung it at the creature. It dodged sideways, and I shot it squarely between the eyes with the nail gun.

That wasn’t a deliberate aim. It was a total fluke.

Amazingly, the thing seemed more angry than hurt. It reared up like an animal, hissing furiously, then turned and sped off down a corridor.

It took us both a while to recover from the shock of that. I told Ilona that I’d seen something like that creature once before, but that just seemed to disturb her further.

We’ve been wandering around a bit more. There was a crocodile! I think it was dead, but we didn’t dare go near it, just to be on the safe side.

Ilona’s supposed to be keeping watch and I’m supposed to be sleeping, but I can’t sleep. I’ve got too much on my mind.

I asked Ilona about the burns on her arm. She said that she was attacked by a man with a welding torch, but she managed to fight him off. I guess it’s reassuring to know she can defend herself.

There’s blood on that machete.

I think she’s far too young to be placed in this kind of situation. I don’t think she can be any older than 20.

Holy crap! That was definitely a gunshot. Sounded like it was a long way away, but too close for comfort. There’s no way I’m getting any sleep at this rate!

Chapter 113 – the rant

This… is probably the nastiest chapter I have written so far.  I hope it’s not gratuitous.

It also contains proof that a certain old plotline has not been forgotten.

***

Primeval is back on our TV screens, which I think is great news.  Series 3 opened with an unusual episode based around Ancient Egyptian mythology, with a giant crocodile rampaging around the British Museum.

What I love about Primeval is that, much like Doctor Who, it’s delightfully silly.  The drama and the storyline are good, but they have a sense of humour, which makes them all the more entertaining.  Lester in particular is a brilliant character.  And Rex is adorable.

I liked the new character.  I expect we’ll be seeing her again in future episodes; I certainly hope so.

Chapter 100 – Research Team 7

(CloudsAreGatheringOverMe)

I’m not really sure what to think now.

We’d made up our minds to visit Steamburg. I like Steamburg. We went there on holiday once when I was twelve, and I loved the place. If it wasn’t for the possibility of being arrested or killed, I’d have been really looking forward to going back there.

It wasn’t difficult to find 15 Ferris Drive. We weren’t sure what we were going to find there, but what we certainly weren’t expecting was for the house to be unlocked and deserted, and completely empty apart from a small table in a room at the back, under which we found a small black box with a red button on top, and a piece of card bearing the name “Bradley Turner” and the instructions to press the button and put her eye to the lens, with the request that this be done somewhere private, rather than in the house itself.

So far, so weird. We were just discussing what to do about the box when we heard the front door open. We all froze, listening, and heard the sound of footsteps going down the hall. Iaru reached for his sword in his bag, but Tom caught his hand and shook his head, and motioned for us to follow him along the side of the room. There was a large low window at the back, and we opened it and climbed out. Then we ran and ran and ran, and didn’t stop until we were back in Tom’s car.

Tom drove us out to the countryside and Bradley pressed the red switch down and put her eye to the lens. At once, the side of the box lit up like a screen, and words appeared on it. It addressed all five of us by name, and said that we should all pay attention, because the message would only play once.

The message requested that we don’t make all the information it contained publicly available, but it included:

• The information that the message was indeed from Research Team 7.
• An apology to Bradley for the incident in America.
• The proposal that we give them the clef in exchange for information and protection.
• The correct spelling of “clef”.
• Directions to a place where we can meet with Research Team 7.
• The warning to beware of an organisation called the Network of Allies, who are also after the clef.
• An additional warning to beware of “shadow creatures”, such as the one that attacked us at the farm.

After the message finished, it advised us to place the box on the floor and stand back, which we did. We soon found out why: there was a small bang, the casing cracked, and a great deal of smoke came out of the box.

The question now is whether to trust them enough to meet up with them. They seem to be going out of their way to make themselves seem trustworthy, but they admit to being Research Team 7, who are the one organisation we were certain we couldn’t trust.

So… now what?

Chapter 94 – the rant

I’m honestly not sure which character I agree with.  I sympathise with both sides of the argument!

***

I saw Underworld: Rise of the Lycans the other day.  That being the first time I’ve gone to the cinema with a group of male, nerdy friends for several months.

I enjoyed it, but in all honesty, it’s no more the type of film I’d normally watch than Twilight was.  The basic concept is essentially vampires versus werewolves, which is, I will admit, genius.  Two of the scariest, most awesome mythical creatures in a dramatic battle.  As a concept, it’s pure win.

The movie is a prequel to a movie I’ve never watched, so it took me a little while to follow it, but there’s just enough exposition that I could work out what was what without much trouble.  It also naturally ended with a cliffhanger, so I should probably watch the original some time.

To be honest, though, I more enjoyed spending time with my friends – my male, nerdy friends – than I enjoyed the movie itself.  It was by far the most violent movie I’ve ever watched, and while fantasy violence and bloodshed doesn’t bother me, neither do I find it as amusing as most of my friends seem to find it.  One of my friends afterwards said that he was dissappointed that it wasn’t gorier(!), but I thought there was quite enough gore, thank you very much.

I did like the way they handled the romance side of the story; the directors clearly know their audience well.  All too often, directors will throw in an unwanted romance subplot under the misguided impression that it adds depth to the story, but here it was entirely relevant to the main plot, while thankfully managing not to dominate the movie (because, let’s face it, nobody goes to see an action movie for the romance).

So anyway, not entirely my cup of tea, but if you’re looking for a decent fantasy action movie to watch with mates, you could do a lot worse.

*Sigh.*  I’m not very good at being “blokey”, am I?

Chapter 82 – On the Run

(bizzariarox)

hello again everybody. you would not believe what has happened since i last posted. for example, the fact that i am now living on the run, along with iaru, megan and this guy called johnny from school.

yes, you read that right. WE ARE ON THE RUN.

i suppose you’re probably wondering how we got into this mess. to be perfectly honest, so are we. but i’ll do my best to explain our situation, as i understand it.

it all started on new years day. the four of us were taken to the police station for questioning regarding that rock thing iaru got given last wednesday. is it normal practice to get taken to the police station just to be questioned? i got the impression that we were in more serious trouble than they made it sound.

when we got to the station, we get shown through to this room at the back, and the first thing we get asked is where the cleff is. you remember that’s what research team 7 kept asking us about? so of course i said to the officer who asked that, “i already told you guys, i don’t have it! i don’t even know what a cleff is”. and the guy said that it was no use lying, and that they had video proof that me, iaru and megan drove off with the cleff on wednesday. then he demanded to know where it was.

iaru was the one who answered first. he said that we’d dumped it by the roadside in the southern part of town, near wistleigh. we hadn’t, but he obviously didn’t want to tell the police where it was really, seeing as it might be a way to pay off adam’s debt. so i confirmed that story. what else could i do? lying to the police is an offence, and i didn’t want to get iaru into trouble.

then the police asked us what we knew about it, and we said truthfully that we didn’t know what it was or what it was for. then one of the police officers accused johnny of lying, saying that johnny had kept it hidden for ages, and johnny said that he thought somebody tried to steal it once, and that it was really valuable. the police officer asked him why it was valuable, and johnny said it was made by aliens.

no, seriously.

the police obviously didn’t believe this and they got pretty angry at that point, but they didn’t get any further because that moment the door burst open, and the room must have caught fire, because all of a sudden there were flames everywhere. the next few seconds are a blur. the police started blundering around screaming and trying to dodge the flames. they were going nuts. a couple of the officers took out guns and fired them, like that was supposed to help. anyway, the four of us just turned and ran, because it was either that or get burned to a crisp or shot. the police didn’t stop us, because they were to preoccupied with the fire, so we just ran straight out the building. we kept on running until we were well clear of the station, then we stopped in an alleyway to get our breath back.

we’d just recovered enough to start asking each other what the hell just happened when a man in a suit turned down the alley, pulled out a gun and told us to hand over the cleff. we were all terrified, and then this guy walked up behind him and hit him over the head with a brick.

johnny recognised the guy with the brick, and called him mr. fletcha. fletcha said there was no time to talk now, and that we would be in danger as long as we stayed in this city. he said there were enemies everywhere, but his organisation could protect us. then he asked us for the cleff.

i think iaru might have actually given it to him, if those other two nutters hadn’t showed up. i recognised them; they were a couple of hawkbite drug dealers who sometimes hung around near the school. both the hawkbites and fletcha pulled out guns, and the four of us legged it.

we didn’t know what to do next. iaru didn’t think we should go home, because he thought it would only put our families in danger. we couldn’t go to the police, because apparently the police are in on whatever this is. iaru suggested going to the swords for protection, but the rest of us all agreed that that would be suicide, so in the end we decided it was best just to stick together and keep out in the open – we figured we were less likely to be attacked in a public place – and to get out of the city as soon as possible. we got on the first cheap ferry to london we could find, came ashore, and here we are.

the other three all have blogs, which i see a lot of you guys have already discovered. the four of us will let you know what’s going on until we get out of this mess. we’ve all contacted friends or family, but i don’t think we should make a habit of that, because phonecams are easy to track. this pocket computer is slightly less trackable, but not ideal.

i guess i also owe you guys another explanation. i haven’t been entirely honest with you guys lately. i think some of you might have already worked it out, but iaru is my boyfriend. he has been for nearly 2 months now.

you’re probably wondering why i didn’t mention that sooner. honestly, i didn’t really feel comfortable talking about that here because of the whole fiasco with my ex, jack, on my old blog, and i didn’t want to risk repeating that. so i told iaru that i didn’t have a blog.

so yeah. i’m a liar, and not a very good one. a liar on the run.

we’ll do our best keep you posted on what’s happening here.

Chapter 81 – the rant

Once again, the story drifts into darker waters.

Clearly, Clouds isn’t feeling too great right now.  Something has happened that has badly upset her.

This is quite a disturbing song, I think, but I’m quite pleased with how it turned out.

***

I can’t believe it’s school again so soon!  I’m not remotely ready for it.

I finally saw the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie yesterday.  My friends kept telling me not to bother and that it was a bad movie, but since these friends included someone who thinks Doctor Who is boring and the people who wanted to see Twilight and High School Musical 3, I decided to give At World’s End a chance.

I could see why people mightn’t like it.  The rate at which characters switch factions is sometimes confusing, and the movie is also more surreal and stylised than its predecessors.  All the same, I enjoyed it and I didn’t find it as hard to follow as some people said it was.  I think I liked the first movie best, but that’s usually the way of things.