Tech

Terra was no ordinary girl. She was blind and her parents treated her like a baby for it. She was stronger than she looked, and she was stronger than they thought she was. With the help of a quickly earned friend, will Terra prove to them that she is strong, or will she prove them right?

Terra is an 8-year-old girl with 8-bit blue hair and blue-gray eyes. Her grayish eyes aren’t a misunderstanding. Terra is blind. Even though she was blind, she was always aware of her surroundings. She was always aware of what was around her even though she couldn’t see it. Her family treated her like a baby. She didn’t have any friends, so she was always lonely. Terra didn’t have any siblings either. Since she spent every day alone, she had time to do anything she wanted after homeschooling classes. Terra always had a fascination with technology. She had a computer in her room, and she went on it to try to break codes. The codes she breaks are not any simple codes. She breaks high-grade codes, but she once got caught by her guard. When the guard took her to her father and mother, Terra felt with her magic that her parents weren’t the only ones in the room. She used a small area of her magic and noticed that she wasn’t just with her parents and the guard.

“What are you doing here?” Terra’s father asked the guard.

Terra then used her magic again while the guard was telling her father what she did. This time she used it so she could fully sense the people and an outline of what they look like. To her surprise, she saw a girl with who she was guessing was her parents. The girl looked her age and had long hair. The girl wore a blindfold and gloves.

“Ok. I will deal with that later.” Terra’s father told the guard.

“I have an idea.” Terra’s mom said. “How about Terra and your daughter go into the field and play for a little while!”

“I think that is a great idea.” The girl’s mom said.

The girl’s mom then whispered something in her daughter’s ear. The girl then walked over to Terra and Terra led her to the field. Terra took the girl to the mother tree in the field. It was hot that day and the gigantic area of shade under the tree was refreshing.

“H-hi.” Terra said with a stutter. She hasn’t talked to anyone outside of her house’s lands before.

“Hello.” The girl said. The girl’s voice sounded plain. Like it had no emotion. If it did have emotion, the girl did an excellent job at hiding it.

“I’m Terra. Nice to meet you. I don’t get to talk to anyone outside of my house’s land so I’m a little nervous.” Terra said. I don’t know how the girl would react. My mom always said that people would make fun of me for being blind and hurt me since I can’t defend myself which is a lie because I can defend myself.

“I’m Alecaria. You can call me Alec.” The girl said. “If you are worried that I will make fun of you for being blind, I won’t.”

“Ok. Good to know.” Terra said. “By the way, when I use my magic, I can see an outline of people around me and sense their movements, though, I can’t see colors with it. You look very pretty.”

“Thank you.” Alec said.

“Question. What did your mom tell you before you walked over to me?” Terra asked.

“The usual behave and don’t cause trouble.” Alec said as she sat down and leaned against the mother tree.

Back to their parents

“Is she your only child Mari?” Terra’s mom asked Alec’s mom.

“Yes, she is.” Alec’s mom said.

“Are you sure you want her to stay with us for a month though?” Terra’s mom asked.

“They will be fine Ala.” Alec’s mom assured her friend.

Mari was just saying that to comfort her friend. Alec is a very problematic child. She is always aggressive towards anyone we set up a playdate with for no reason. The problem with her is that we can never stop her from doing it either. No matter what we do to prevent her from doing this, she is still so aggressive.

“I don’t know what you wish to accomplish with your daughter meeting mine. My daughter isn’t allowed to go outside so there is no point.” Terra’s dad says to Alec’s dad.

“I don’t wish to accomplish anything with this. My daughter has trouble making friends with the girls we set up play dates with and I am hoping yours is different.” Alec’s dad said.

“This is risky. I know you have the best intentions but, I don’t trust your daughter around mine. Your daughter might hurt her or put her in danger.” Terra’s dad stated with a more serious tone.

“My daughter will not hurt your daughter. If there is one thing my daughter won’t do is hurt yours. My daughter will not hurt anything that is defenseless. She knows better.” Alec’s dad said.

“I doubt that. I had heard about your daughters’ actions towards some of your other friend’s daughters and I don’t know what to say. Did you just lie to me or are you just trying to get your daughter a friend that she won’t end up hurting?” He said the last part more like a question.

With Terra and Alec

“What magic do you have?” Alec asked Terra.

“It is called Technology. It allows me to break almost any code undetected. I can also use electricity. My electricity is what I use to see as well. I can send shockwaves through the ground and depending on how much magic I use, the more I can see.” Terra then said.

Terra didn’t want to ask Alec her magic. She knew that Alec would have already told her. Terra, being herself, was curious about what Alec’s mom actually said. Tech knew that Alec wasn’t telling the full story, so she decided to ask once again.

“What did you mom actually say? I noticed she whispered in your ear way to long for it to be a warning like that.” Terra asked.

“She had said that and then told me that I better not make it turn out like all the other times.” She said. “I had always gotten in trouble for hurting the other people my parents set up a play date for me with. They would never let me tell them what happened. All they ever cared about was the others opinion, but they wouldn’t let me, their daughter, explain. A month ago, was my most recent play date. The girl it was set up with hurt my cousin who was visiting for the week. Me being overprotective of the only family that cared what I thought, I pushed the girl and she ended up falling in the pond. I got blamed for it and punished, while she walked home free with an apology for my horrible behavior that wasn’t truly earned. I wasn’t really bothered by it since I have been blamed for having a terrible attitude and behavior my whole life, but I still don’t get how they get away with it when it is so obvious that it wasn’t my fault.”

“Were they all like that?” Terra asked.

“Yup. Every last one. And every time, they would walk home free while I got punished” Alec said.

“Well, you won’t have to worry about me doing that.” Terra said happily.

“Good. Then you’d be the first.” Alec said.

The girls went back inside not so long after. They weren’t mad at the fact that Alec would be staying for a month. They were quite happy about this. Alec and her parents left for one day so they could get Alec’s things from home. When they got back, Terra led Alec to the room right next to hers. Terra helped Alec unpack her stuff and place it around the room. They then went outside and laid under the mother tree.

It has been about two weeks since Alec first moved in with Terra for a month. It hasn’t been smooth sailing and the girls don’t know what to do. Two days before now, Terra was once again caught hacking on her computer. Her father had gotten angry and yelled at her. Terra ran outside to the mother tree where Alec was laying on a high branch in the tree. When Alec saw Terra, she climbed down to the closest tree branch to the ground. Terra does get upset sometimes and for some reason, Alec could always calm her. Terra knew why this was. Alec’s voice was a plain tone but when she was upset, it was soothing to her and she would calm down almost instantly.

“Alec?” Terra asked.

“Yup?” Alec replied.

“I am sick of them thinking that I can’t protect myself and do things on my own.” Terra said. She had been treated this way her whole life and she was tired of it. “Can you help me prove to them that I don’t need them to baby me anymore?”

“Sure. I mean, what do you have in mind?” Alec asked.

“I don’t think you’re going to like it.” Terra replied.

“I’ll do it.” Alec said.

“But you don’t even know what the plan is yet.” Terra said.

“You want me to attempt to hurt you so you can defend yourself and prove that you can protect yourself to your parents.” Alec said. Once again, the plain tone just makes it sound so cool and scary.

“Yeah.” Terra said.

“Ok. But I am only using a small amount of my power. My intention isn’t going to be to actually hurt you.” Alec stated.

“Yeah. My plan was that you would act like you were going to hurt me and I defend.” Terra said. “Do you think it will work?”

“It might. But I can’t make any promises it will work.” Alec said.

“Good enough for me. I think we should do it in two days. I think that is plenty of time to get this fully functional.” Terra added.

“So, it’s set then. Though, we can’t just make this happen out of nowhere. We must add small hints that we haven’t been getting along as well and then we pull the plan. So, the next two days, we have to drop small but visible hints that we aren’t getting along.” Alec stated.

The next day had went as they planed but later that night, Alec left her room and went to Terra’s parents to talk to them. Terra was asleep and Alec didn’t want her to know or hear about what she was about to do.

“Hello?” Alec said as she walked into the room.

“Hello dear. We were just about to head to your room and tell you something that is happening tomorrow.” Terra’s mom said. “You can say what you wanted first though.”

“I want you to see what your daughter can do. She isn’t the weak, helpless girl you think she is.” Alec said.

“She is blind. She can’t see and she is weak.” Terra’s father said.

“She can see, with her magic. Just give her a chance to prove you wrong. I will do anything you want me to do, just give her a chance.” Alec said. Alec had been in a situation like this before. Though, she doesn’t like to talk about that.

All was then quiet. Both of Terra’s parents were looking at each other like confused puppies. Alec knew at this point that they were deciding among themselves about her offer. It took them about five minutes before Terra’s father spoke again.

“I don’t want anything from you. But I will accept your offer.” Terra’s father said.

“Thank you.” Alec said. Though, something in her said there was more that he wasn’t telling her. When she left, she stood behind the door and listened.

“If I accept this, I will try to keep my daughter away from her. I know that girl is dangerous and if my daughter spends too much time with her, she might do something reckless.” Terra’s father said to his wife as he stood up.

“And if you fail to keep them apart?” She asked.

“If I fail to keep them apart, I will hope that girl keeps my daughter out of trouble. But I will keep them apart for as long as I can.” He said. He then went to his quarters with his wife leaving not so long after him. But before she left, she said something.

“If he fails, promise to protect my daughter.” Terra’s mom said. She had obviously known Alec was listening.

“I think she can take care of herself. Also, it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when.” Alec stated. She then walked back to her room. She locked the door then went to sleep.

With Terra’s parents

“When I fight her, I am using my magic. I will not reduce the amount of magic I use. I will refuse to do so no matter what.” Terra’s father said. Even though he didn’t like it, he knew his daughter was powerful, even if she was blind. He can’t hold anything back when he fights her.

The next day with the girls

Alec woke up to the sound of her door opening. She was wearing her blindfold when she slept as usual when she traveled somewhere. She saw Terra’s mom walk into her room, so she got up.

“Your parents got back home early. They are picking you up today. I came to help you pack up.” Terra’s mom said as she walked over to Alec’s lamp and turned it on.

“I can pack my thing myself but thanks for offering. Though, thank you for waking me up. I probably would have slept in if you didn’t.” Alec said as she got out of bed.

“Ok then. Call me if you do need help packing anything though.” Terra’s mom said. Then she left. Probably to go check on the chefs to see how breakfast was going.

Alec got up and got changed. She changed her blindfold to match the outfit she had picked out to wear and put the one she was wearing away. Alec went over and locked the door. Black magic then flew from her left hand. The magic swirled around at her command grabbing things and putting them away. When it came to Alec’s cloths, she had to wane the amount of magic she used. If she didn’t decrease the amount of magic she used, there’s a chance that she could rip them to shreds. Terra’s mom knocked on her door a couple of hours later.

“Your parents are here. Terra isn’t awake yet and your parents want to leave as soon as possible but you can leave her a brail letter. I know your mom had said that you were an incredibly good brail writer.” Terra’s mom said. “Don’t worry about explaining the deal to her though, me and her father will do that later.”

“Ok.” Alec said.

Later when Terra woke up, she had a feeling something wasn’t right. She used her magic, and she knew why. Alec wasn’t anywhere on her homes land. She went to the dining hall where her breakfast was waiting for her. When she finished eating, A house cleaner gave her the letter. She took it to her room and opened it. When she noticed it was brail, she started reading it.

In the letter

“Dear Terra,

Sorry about leaving. My parents came home early from their trip, so they picked me up almost two weeks earlier than anticipated. We can’t do the plan anymore, but I already handled that so don’t worry. You know, it was fun to hang out with someone who didn’t want to ruin my life. When you’re allowed to go out of your home, try to find me. I have some friends that would really like you. By the way, I left you something in my room that I think you might enjoy. If you think I am going to tell you what it is though, you’re out of luck. You should also talk to your parents later. They have something they want to tell you. I must go. I don’t think my parents are going to wait any longer for me to leave.

From,

Alecaria Fang

PS: You had asked before what my nickname is for you. I think I’ll call you Tech.

Out of the letter

Terra liked the nickname. She went into Alec’s room and felt something that was like gloves under her fingers. She put them on and went to her mother and father. They said she looked pretty with those gloves on. When her parents told her about the deal, Terra wasn’t that happy. She knew though, that there was nothing she could do about it.

Ever since that deal, things had been looking up for Terra. She beat her father and is now free to venture out of the house. She was able to try so many things that she had never done before. There was only one thing left to do. Find the person who helped her accomplish it all, Alec.