"..."
"Soooo? what do you think?"
"I...I'm speechless." he blinked a few times in utter disbelief.
"Wow, I didn't think you'd like it honestly. But that's great!"
"I've never seen this amount of wasted potential in my life. That's it?"
"What do you mean?" she tried to play it off as if she didn't have an idea.
"That's it? what happened next? did he die? did Marshall come to his rescue? Did they murder him? Tell me you weren't just explaining his cycle." he set the book on the table; almost tossing it off its surface.
"What? can't I try new things?" She couldn't look him in the eye.
"Really? because it feels like you didn't want to finish it and slapped the end half-way through."
"Uhhhhhhh..."
"I'm right, aren't I?" He gave her a smug smile.
"Okay, okay fine! I stopped writing cause I had no idea how to progress in the story, so I just ended it." she crossed her arms huffing.
"If I was someone else who didn't know your style of writing, I would've thought this was the ending." He paused and sighed "May I ask what would've been the moral of this story?"
Amani fell silent switching between tapping her finger on the table and laughing nervously.
"You didn't have a moral?! No wonder you stopped writing!"
"Hey! There are so many stories out there that don't have a moral and are super popular!"
"Yes, low-life fanfics that revolve around the writer's carnal pleasures, How fitting. And when did we ever placed popularity over morality?"
"Come on, not all popular stories are like that, these are just teen stories." She defended herself.
"Do we write stories just for them to get popular Amani?" He glared at her.
His sister groaned in dismay "No, we don't. We write them to send good messages."
"Good girl." He jokingly patted her head.
"But can't I at least write something I thought of instead of focusing too hard on a moral?" She sighed.
"You can. I just don't recommend it, because it most likely would end up unfinished unless you have a clear vision." He poured himself another cup of tea as he felt his throat drying up.
"A moral helps the writer build a more coherent setting that is based off a specific foundation. Writing with a specific propose in mind is much easier than writing off the top of your head."
Amani went silent; which made her brother worry that he might have discouraged her.
"Something wrong dear sister?"
"Is it bad that I want our stories to be popular?" She asked with a sad tone.
Marid realized that he should've worded himself better. "Absolutely not! Every writer wishes their works to become the next hit, and there is nothing wrong with that."
"Then why are you putting me down for this attempt?!" She crossed her arms and puffing her cheeks in anger causing her to look more childish than she already is.
"That wasn't my intention! I want you to focus on getting better in writing than on what others would like. You know your purpose. Our purpose." He paused "I would never ever want to discourage you munchkin."
"I know, I was just pushing your buttons a bit" she giggled.
"You little..." He regretted any attempt of explaining himself; or trying to nice. Maybe he should've just shut her idea down.
"Anyway, let's discuss the story." He started "You did attempt to world build a place made out of the character's mind, but then you did nothing with it cause you lost sight of the story."
"Yeah... I guess." Amani slummed her head to the table, mumbling to herself in incomprehensible words.
"What would've been the ending may I ask?"
"I wanted him to be found by Marshall and then when he wakes up, he would've grown a bunch of grey hairs."
Marid's eyes widen. "Really? How long was he in that machine?"
"Ten years."
"I see, Interesting."
"The facility would've been abandoned because the police shut down the project thanks to Luna."
"She gave out this location?"
"Yeah, she felt guilty about it." She smiled.
"It was definitely building up to it. What's with their rocky friendship"
"You mean Marshall and Zachary? It's not a rocky one. His fear and longing to see his friend manifested into blame for not being able to get himself out of the virtual world. But that's all thanks to the program they're using your manipulate his mind."
"That or you didn't think it through?"
"... I didn't think it through." She sighed.
"Alright, but Marshall saves him anyway in the unwritten ending."
"Yup yup!"
He thought for a bit then said: "that would've been a good lesson."
She blinked a few times. "A moral? In that ending?"
"Yes, everything can have a lesson to learn from."
"Well, what is it then?! Tell me!"
"Nothing lasts forever. He thought he would forever stay trapped but such thing isn't true. He was saved in the end after many years; therefore the moral of nothing lasting forever."
"Oh my God, it completely flew over my head." She slammed her forehead against the table.
"Obviously." He smirked, "don't beat yourself over it."
"It's your turn now. Is your next story gonna be about a haunted factory that had the ghost of a worker who died of neglecting the safety protocol?" She mocked.
"Haha, very funny." He put down the cup of tea and walked to the library books and pulled out a book.
"We'll see how your words hold after reading this."
- Amani's world END
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