[DISCLAIMER: The one who wrote this chapter is the Author ClaudeBlanche]It was summer at where she lived and the sky was still bright, even when it was eight o"clock in the evening, so she didn"t turn on the artificial light from the bulbs.
She sat on her bed and stared at her laptop that was supported by a moveable small desk. Half of the doc.u.ment"s page was filled with words but she hadn"t written anything today, those words were from yesterday.
Cloud averted her eyes away from the harmful screen because she didn"t want to continue staring at it for no good reason. Albeit wearing blue-rays protection gla.s.ses, she was sensitive about her eyesight.
Ironically, she was so sensitive that a moment later, she was watching TwoSetViolin on YouTube. After a video, she moved the cursor to the taskbar where Discord was pinned and clicked it.
She carelessly read the posts and concluded that she had no idea what the authors were talking about. Too lazy to back-read, she went to another authors" server and found that one of the people she liked was there. A person that she loved to bother for his personality was exceptionally interesting.
When she was done with her mischief, she stared at the wall in front of her, unfocused as she breathed in deeply before sighing loudly. After a while of thinking whether or not she should go downstairs to find something to snack on, she got off her bed and followed her debatable plan.
Arrived at the kitchen, she strode to the refrigerator and opened the freezer. Cool air was pouring out as visible new ones, created by the machine, whisked into her face. She shifted her head to a better location where the gusts of chill were abundant and greedily inhaled.
She wished that the temperature outdoors would be the same as it was in the freezer. It was refreshing inhaling the cool air; if it was chilly outside, she wouldn"t have to place her face into the freezer.
It was only when her mother, who was watching the television, scolded her for what she was doing to the freezer did she closed it. She looked around then went to the cabinet and took out the container that held roasted-salt-and-pepper. Rinsed her hand, Cloud dipped her index finger into the container, coated it in the salt and pepper. The seasoning that her mother made smelled so good and she loved it especially when she could consume the pepper in its thoroughly ground powder form.
After finished licking her index finger that was covered in the fragrant salt and pepper, her mouth was acidic as she stared at the rice cooker. Discreetly, because she often got reprimanded for her bad habit, she opened the cooker and spooned a sizeable amount of rice into her mouth. People might find it weird for her to chew on something so bland, but it was not bland at all for her since she stopped consuming an abundance of sugar; hence, the rice was slightly sweet.
When she finished her so-called snack, Cloud went back to her room and tried to continue writing her chapter. She had delayed it so long that if she didn"t write at least 200-300 more words, her day would truly be valueless.
If she had to think back, she literally did nothing meaningful today— she woke up at nine o"clock in the morning and then read chapters till ten; ate toasted loaves smeared with salted b.u.t.ter and drank a gla.s.s of cold milk mixed with turmeric; watch random YouTube videos; and read manga which she always justified the action with: it would help her write better.
Even so, no matter how many romance mange she read, she was still terrible at understanding love to have the confidence in writing a realistic romance novel.
Peering at her laptop, she typed out a few sentences before her mind changed and deleted one of them.
"This sentence sounds odd...Maybe I should modify it a bit then ask for help in discord."
She completed her modification of the sentence and sent the sentence to discord.
Cloud Claude-dono: hey, is this ok?
```Her hair was dangling along with the breeze of spring before it was swept back harshly by a sudden gust of wind.```
WanderingQi: *blob woah*
Cultivator_Requiem ✨: Dangling?
Cloud Claude-dono: dangle
Cultivator_Requiem ✨: Sounds wrong
WanderingQi: Swaying. Dancing
Cultivator_Requiem ✨: How about
Her hair fluttered in the spring breeze
WanderingQi: Fluttering
Cloud Claude-dono: ok…
"I wanted to use something different than fluttering and dancing…" Her brows had unconscious creased faintly. "So should I keep dangling or change to fluttering?"
After she continued typing out more of her plots and plans for the chapter, she decided that she would keep it "as dangling". Thinking that it would be different, she smiled, pushing the gla.s.ses up her nose bridge.
She scratched her head and coincidentally saw the time from the google a.s.sistant cube, gifted to her by her sister"s boyfriend on Christmas. "11:30 pm, I should use the restroom before Mother wakes up and go up here."
When she was back onto her bed, she checked her word count. "Only 200 more."
Thinking idly at what to write, her fingers pecking the keyboard, making cracking noises. They were loud enough to rival her music on another tab, then suddenly another noise caught her attention. The beeping of discord made her curious so she went there and found there was nothing important.
Returned to her writing, she lightly tapped the b.u.t.tons to create the unusual but soothing sound of the keyboard. She stared at the Discord at the taskbar shining yellow. "I should mute this new server, too."
The beeping sound of it annoyed her.
If her parents were to barge in her room without warning, even if she abruptly shut the lid, its beeping sounds still lingered on for a few seconds. Those few seconds were enough to frighten her if her parent opens the door of her room. If her mother found her on her laptop this late at night, she would surely take her laptop away; she threatened Cloud a couple of months ago.
Not that she was scared since her mother almost always talked but, well, no bite… unless it was really late— like 3:00 am. What she was scared of was her mother nagging at her, loudly in the dead of night. However, her father might really do it, confiscating her laptop that was.
There were sounds outside, appearing to be coming from her sister"s room. The m.u.f.fed b.u.mping sound made her frozen stiff in her spot. Another noise sounded, she slightly furrowed her eyebrows and lowered the volume of her laptop, trying to listen to whose noise it was.
Hearing her father"s loud voice below her room, her guard went up tremendously as she ceased her typing.
"Ah...These noises really will not give me a heart attack but just a heart-stopped-beating-in-fright."
She saw from the creak at the bottom of her closed door that the hall light was turned on. She stared at it for a second, shut the lid, and lied down. Hearing that her father"s footsteps were getting closer, she shifted her position to a more believable posture.
Knock Knock Knock!
The door was pushed open.
Even with her eyes closed, she could feel her father was staring at her and then some other places. He walked in and it sounded like he was doing other stuff than just eyeing her stiff. After a short while of breathing soundlessly with her beating heart, she heard the door was slowing closing. When she guaranteed it was safe to open her eyes, she found that the door was not completely shut as she expected. The gap was wider than she thought.
Cloud patiently waited for her father to shut the door to his room before attempting to quietly close hers. Her heart was thumping so hard to the point she could actually feel it beating in her chest. Even when she returned and wrapped herself in her warm blanket, she was still strictly on guard. Any slightest sound would be able to stiffen her.
"Writing is hard and so frightful when you can only work your best at night." She half sighed and yawned as she sat up before scratching her back.
She exhaled and lifted her laptop. A sound outside suddenly made its way to her ears and she was tempted to close the lid again. After a moment of silence, she carried on with her work.
With over twenty tabs opened, she visited one of them. It was the doc.u.ment where she wrote her outlines and explanations of the plots.
She was too lazy to bother with anything and would only think hard on few occasions— when she was in school; doing homework; studying for the SAT; playing virtual stocks; and writing chapters.
She checked discord and chatted with the other authors with silly and random things. A bit later, she shut her laptop and fell backward.