The Happiness Recipe. Chapter 1+2(work in progress
The Happiness Recipe.
Chapter 1
Long ago, when the world was filled with fantastic creatures, there was peace, and in between all that peace, there was Happiness. This is the positive energy in the atmosphere, excitement, love, laughter and of course, happiness. As humanity evolved, the world started changing with us, and so went the so called Happiness, when the years passed, and humanity took over more and more of the world, that Happiness in the air was replaced by chemicals and pollution, now, many years since humanity started polluting the world, the Happiness was completely gone.
Eliot woke with a fright as his alarm clock rung, he turned it off, but it still took him a few minutes until he was fully awake, Eliot was one of the only people in Ireland who still had a little of the Happiness in him. After having breakfast, changing into his uniform and brushing his teeth, he was driven to school by his older brother Harry. It wasn’t a mystery to any of the habitants of the world what the Happiness was, they all knew it, they all knew that it was long gone. Eliot loved science, so did his brother, they would usually stay up at night doing experiments, but that was not the only thing they had in common, they were both interested in the Happiness. Harry slammed the van to a stop, with a swift move Eliot left the van and called out “See you later!” Harry waved goodbye and in question of seconds, the van turned left into one of the many dull, dark alleys in Dublin. The world had changed, you would rarely see birds in the sky, which its natural colour was now grey, there was barely any colour anywhere, everything was incredibly dull. Eliot always noticed that, every time he looked around he got a gut feeling that something bad was gonna happen, and he always, always felt empty, like there was something missing. He loved science, so did his brother, they would usually stay up at night doing experiments, they were also both fascinated in The Happiness. They didn’t mind history, because that is where they learned about The Happiness. The two sibling had a lot in common, the same interests, the same style, and both had hope, hope that The Happiness would one day return. Harry was four years older than Eliot, he also had a more muscular body, but the two of them were approximately the same height. Back at home, Harry had something Eliot was fascinated by, a crystal, they didn’t know exactly what kind it was, but it was truly beautiful, that was what kept the Happiness in them, that was one of the only objects or artefacts from the time they heard in stories, from back when The Happiness was thriving, and every thing was colourful and magical, and beautiful.
Eliot wasn’t having the best time in school, because he could see the misery around him, the sound of silence, and no laughter. The sound of sorrow, and no excitement. The sound of misery, and no Happiness. It was as if emotion didn’t exist, there was only one emotion in this dull, colourless world, and this was misery. For everyone else, that was normal behaviour, because none of them remember what it was like before. Eliot had tried to persuade his colleagues to change, to smile, to laugh. He tried everything, and none of it seemed to work! At least at home he had Harry, who always seemed to make him laugh and smile.
There was one more thing that Eliot loved, but this was his passion, he did everything with it, and this thing, was music. He lived with his headphones on, there was nothing that would make him take them off, ok, maybe there were a few things, but he loved music more than anything else. That was not all, he also played many instruments, the piano, the guitar, the recorder, the ukulele and the clarinet, he also danced, and he liked singing, this, was his Happiness. In school he was assigned a history project to do in the next few weeks, he had the choice to pick any historical event, anyone of his choice, medieval times, the vikings, WW lll, COVID-19, anything he wanted, but, of course, he was gonna pick The Happiness, but not now, he didn’t feel like working on some history project now. He knocked on his brothers door across the corridor.
“It’s Open”-Shouted Harry from inside, Eliot opened the door.
“Hey bro...”
“Sup, how was school?”
Harry was working on something over at his desk, a robot, more specifically a drone, robotics and technology was to Harry what music was to Eliot. The drone was built entirely by Harry, he built it from zero.
“Nothing new, just another boring day!”
“Well, that sucks!”
“Yeah!” Eliot walked into the room and sat beside Harry “So, how’s that thing coming along?”
“It’s going, I can’t seem to balance the weight between the two motors and the batteries, I think I might replace the cover for stainless steel!”
“You know I have no clue what you’re talking about right?!” They laughed for a moment, then Eliot added “ Actually, there was something interesting at school today.”. Harry seemed surprised.
“Well, that’s some news!”
“We got a project to do for history about any big events in history, and I-“
“You’re gonna do it on The Happiness aren’t you?”
“Well, yeah, and I was hoping you could help me do some research.”
“I’m in!” Harry instantly agreed.
“Well, cool.”
“When do we start?”
“Not now! I’m tired, school was somehow extra boring today.”
“Come on, it’s gonna cheer you up, and besides, I need a break from this piece of scrap!”
“Fine, I’ll grab my history book, see if we can find anything useful in there.”
“Yeah, and I’ll grab the computer!”
Chapter 2
The history book didn’t have anything useful in it, it had very little information, and the information that it did have they already knew. So the computer was their only hope, but they weren’t worried, the internet has everything. Right? Harry was the one using the computer because he understood it a lot better than Eliot, and also because it was his computer. Eliot had never seen someone able to type so fast like his brother, it was like his fingers know what to do before Harry even thought about it, it was cool, and Eliot thought so too.
“What the...” Harry exclaimed looking confused.
“What’s wrong?”
“There doesn’t seem to be any information on The Happiness except what we already know in the web!”
“That’s weird, there must be something we can use in there!”
“There isn’t, the closest thing to what we’re looking for in there is this conspiracy theory about it but it still doesn’t give us any information!”
“That’s odd! Are you sure there is nothing we can use in the project? What’s the conspiracy theory about?”
“It’s about some dude saying that no one knows what The Happiness was, and it’s true, we don’t, was it magic? Was it a natural gas? No one knows!”
“Yeah, you’re right, do you wanna go to the library across the street see if we find any books on The Happiness?”
“I doubt we’ll find anything, if it’s not on the web, it doesn’t exist!”
“It’s worth a try!”
“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go.”
“Ok, I’ll go grab my bag in case we do find any books!”
“Yeah, you do that, I’ll take the drone for a test drive.”
Eliot opened the door to his room contemplating on what they had just learned, why is there no information on The Happiness online? Was it the government hiding it from them? What if that’s why no one knew what The Happiness was, that would make that conspiracy theory sensible. YES! That was it, he was gonna tell Harry that one the way to the library, but wait, why would the government be hiding information on The Happiness? Was it to cover up a big mistake they did? They were back at square one, with no information whatsoever!
Eliot found Harry waiting for him outside, with a backpack of his own, where he carried the drone along with the parts to fix it if something did not go according to plan. They started walking, the library wasn’t exactly across the street, they had to walk a good bit before they arrived at the library. Harry was playing with his new toy almost the whole way, so he didn’t really notice the world outside, it had changed, after a while Harry noticed and did not need to be warned. Colour! They could see colour! In one of the many asphalted sidewalks, there was a tiny patch of green! Harry instantly retrieved his walking creation and went to check it out with Eliot. It was small, but they had never seen something like this, in this world completely dominated by machines. Their excitement didn’t last long once they looked up and saw that nothing else had changed, although they could feel a slight change in the atmosphere, it was barely noticeable. They wanted to stay there looking at that single patch of grass, but they had to move on. They arrived at the library shortly after that, because The Happiness was gone, no one read fictional books, or any book for enjoyment. The library was filled with non fictional books about science, history and all that, but no books to escape and enjoy yourself! They both instantly went to the science section of the library, to see if there was any new books they haven’t read, but they had read it all. After a while of looking around, and barely no hope left, they finally decided to ask the librarian.
“Hi,” Started Eliot “do you have any books on The Happiness, I need it for a school project.” The librarian smiled, or at least, what she thought was a smile.
“Of course dear, they’re right behind you in that shelf over there, they might be a bit dusty though, no one’s ever interested in The Happiness.”
“Thank you!” The siblings thanked her together and left to get the books. They were both a little surprised since they were not expecting to find any books.
“We should have started with the librarian!” Joked Eliot.
“Yup!”
Once they started looking through the books, they mostly found misplaced science books on human emotions. But, there was one book, in the very back of the shelf, there was a book on The Happiness, the correct happiness, but that was not the weirdest thing about it, the book in the back, was fiction! Or at least it said so. It was a book, a fiction book, but it was set in the time when The Happiness still was. So technically, it was a fictional book, that had all the information he needed. Eliot showed the book to Harry who was very surprised on their latest discovery. They brought the book to the counter where the librarian that had talked to them earlier on was, but not anymore, someone else was there, a man, he looked young, but had the attitude of a grumpy old man. He picked up the book, scanned it and gave it back to Eliot, he said thank you, but the man didn’t have a reaction. They left the library feeling accomplished.
“I told you.” Started Eliot.
“Yup, you were right, the internet did not have everything. Do you think that this book will have enough information for your project?”
“Yeah, I think s—“
They were startled by a crash beside them.
“What was that?!” Asked Harry
“I don’t know! Use your drone to check it out.”
“Good one.”
He opened his backpack and took a large, grey cube from it, he set the cube on the ground and pressed a button on the controller. The cube opened up into a four legged animal shape, it then opened a flap on the front and a head popped out of it, that was where the camera was placed. The (now not so square) cube then stood in its four legs and started running forward, when it reached a certain pace it opened to more flaps, one on each side of its body, and a propeller came out in each side, then, with one big leap, the propellers turned on and the cube started flying up to the location of the crash.
“Awesome!!!” Eliot thought out loud. In the small screen on Harry’s hand, the siblings could not believe what made that crashing sound!
Chapter 1
Long ago, when the world was filled with fantastic creatures, there was peace, and in between all that peace, there was Happiness. This is the positive energy in the atmosphere, excitement, love, laughter and of course, happiness. As humanity evolved, the world started changing with us, and so went the so called Happiness, when the years passed, and humanity took over more and more of the world, that Happiness in the air was replaced by chemicals and pollution, now, many years since humanity started polluting the world, the Happiness was completely gone.
Eliot woke with a fright as his alarm clock rung, he turned it off, but it still took him a few minutes until he was fully awake, Eliot was one of the only people in Ireland who still had a little of the Happiness in him. After having breakfast, changing into his uniform and brushing his teeth, he was driven to school by his older brother Harry. It wasn’t a mystery to any of the habitants of the world what the Happiness was, they all knew it, they all knew that it was long gone. Eliot loved science, so did his brother, they would usually stay up at night doing experiments, but that was not the only thing they had in common, they were both interested in the Happiness. Harry slammed the van to a stop, with a swift move Eliot left the van and called out “See you later!” Harry waved goodbye and in question of seconds, the van turned left into one of the many dull, dark alleys in Dublin. The world had changed, you would rarely see birds in the sky, which its natural colour was now grey, there was barely any colour anywhere, everything was incredibly dull. Eliot always noticed that, every time he looked around he got a gut feeling that something bad was gonna happen, and he always, always felt empty, like there was something missing. He loved science, so did his brother, they would usually stay up at night doing experiments, they were also both fascinated in The Happiness. They didn’t mind history, because that is where they learned about The Happiness. The two sibling had a lot in common, the same interests, the same style, and both had hope, hope that The Happiness would one day return. Harry was four years older than Eliot, he also had a more muscular body, but the two of them were approximately the same height. Back at home, Harry had something Eliot was fascinated by, a crystal, they didn’t know exactly what kind it was, but it was truly beautiful, that was what kept the Happiness in them, that was one of the only objects or artefacts from the time they heard in stories, from back when The Happiness was thriving, and every thing was colourful and magical, and beautiful.
Eliot wasn’t having the best time in school, because he could see the misery around him, the sound of silence, and no laughter. The sound of sorrow, and no excitement. The sound of misery, and no Happiness. It was as if emotion didn’t exist, there was only one emotion in this dull, colourless world, and this was misery. For everyone else, that was normal behaviour, because none of them remember what it was like before. Eliot had tried to persuade his colleagues to change, to smile, to laugh. He tried everything, and none of it seemed to work! At least at home he had Harry, who always seemed to make him laugh and smile.
There was one more thing that Eliot loved, but this was his passion, he did everything with it, and this thing, was music. He lived with his headphones on, there was nothing that would make him take them off, ok, maybe there were a few things, but he loved music more than anything else. That was not all, he also played many instruments, the piano, the guitar, the recorder, the ukulele and the clarinet, he also danced, and he liked singing, this, was his Happiness. In school he was assigned a history project to do in the next few weeks, he had the choice to pick any historical event, anyone of his choice, medieval times, the vikings, WW lll, COVID-19, anything he wanted, but, of course, he was gonna pick The Happiness, but not now, he didn’t feel like working on some history project now. He knocked on his brothers door across the corridor.
“It’s Open”-Shouted Harry from inside, Eliot opened the door.
“Hey bro...”
“Sup, how was school?”
Harry was working on something over at his desk, a robot, more specifically a drone, robotics and technology was to Harry what music was to Eliot. The drone was built entirely by Harry, he built it from zero.
“Nothing new, just another boring day!”
“Well, that sucks!”
“Yeah!” Eliot walked into the room and sat beside Harry “So, how’s that thing coming along?”
“It’s going, I can’t seem to balance the weight between the two motors and the batteries, I think I might replace the cover for stainless steel!”
“You know I have no clue what you’re talking about right?!” They laughed for a moment, then Eliot added “ Actually, there was something interesting at school today.”. Harry seemed surprised.
“Well, that’s some news!”
“We got a project to do for history about any big events in history, and I-“
“You’re gonna do it on The Happiness aren’t you?”
“Well, yeah, and I was hoping you could help me do some research.”
“I’m in!” Harry instantly agreed.
“Well, cool.”
“When do we start?”
“Not now! I’m tired, school was somehow extra boring today.”
“Come on, it’s gonna cheer you up, and besides, I need a break from this piece of scrap!”
“Fine, I’ll grab my history book, see if we can find anything useful in there.”
“Yeah, and I’ll grab the computer!”
Chapter 2
The history book didn’t have anything useful in it, it had very little information, and the information that it did have they already knew. So the computer was their only hope, but they weren’t worried, the internet has everything. Right? Harry was the one using the computer because he understood it a lot better than Eliot, and also because it was his computer. Eliot had never seen someone able to type so fast like his brother, it was like his fingers know what to do before Harry even thought about it, it was cool, and Eliot thought so too.
“What the...” Harry exclaimed looking confused.
“What’s wrong?”
“There doesn’t seem to be any information on The Happiness except what we already know in the web!”
“That’s weird, there must be something we can use in there!”
“There isn’t, the closest thing to what we’re looking for in there is this conspiracy theory about it but it still doesn’t give us any information!”
“That’s odd! Are you sure there is nothing we can use in the project? What’s the conspiracy theory about?”
“It’s about some dude saying that no one knows what The Happiness was, and it’s true, we don’t, was it magic? Was it a natural gas? No one knows!”
“Yeah, you’re right, do you wanna go to the library across the street see if we find any books on The Happiness?”
“I doubt we’ll find anything, if it’s not on the web, it doesn’t exist!”
“It’s worth a try!”
“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go.”
“Ok, I’ll go grab my bag in case we do find any books!”
“Yeah, you do that, I’ll take the drone for a test drive.”
Eliot opened the door to his room contemplating on what they had just learned, why is there no information on The Happiness online? Was it the government hiding it from them? What if that’s why no one knew what The Happiness was, that would make that conspiracy theory sensible. YES! That was it, he was gonna tell Harry that one the way to the library, but wait, why would the government be hiding information on The Happiness? Was it to cover up a big mistake they did? They were back at square one, with no information whatsoever!
Eliot found Harry waiting for him outside, with a backpack of his own, where he carried the drone along with the parts to fix it if something did not go according to plan. They started walking, the library wasn’t exactly across the street, they had to walk a good bit before they arrived at the library. Harry was playing with his new toy almost the whole way, so he didn’t really notice the world outside, it had changed, after a while Harry noticed and did not need to be warned. Colour! They could see colour! In one of the many asphalted sidewalks, there was a tiny patch of green! Harry instantly retrieved his walking creation and went to check it out with Eliot. It was small, but they had never seen something like this, in this world completely dominated by machines. Their excitement didn’t last long once they looked up and saw that nothing else had changed, although they could feel a slight change in the atmosphere, it was barely noticeable. They wanted to stay there looking at that single patch of grass, but they had to move on. They arrived at the library shortly after that, because The Happiness was gone, no one read fictional books, or any book for enjoyment. The library was filled with non fictional books about science, history and all that, but no books to escape and enjoy yourself! They both instantly went to the science section of the library, to see if there was any new books they haven’t read, but they had read it all. After a while of looking around, and barely no hope left, they finally decided to ask the librarian.
“Hi,” Started Eliot “do you have any books on The Happiness, I need it for a school project.” The librarian smiled, or at least, what she thought was a smile.
“Of course dear, they’re right behind you in that shelf over there, they might be a bit dusty though, no one’s ever interested in The Happiness.”
“Thank you!” The siblings thanked her together and left to get the books. They were both a little surprised since they were not expecting to find any books.
“We should have started with the librarian!” Joked Eliot.
“Yup!”
Once they started looking through the books, they mostly found misplaced science books on human emotions. But, there was one book, in the very back of the shelf, there was a book on The Happiness, the correct happiness, but that was not the weirdest thing about it, the book in the back, was fiction! Or at least it said so. It was a book, a fiction book, but it was set in the time when The Happiness still was. So technically, it was a fictional book, that had all the information he needed. Eliot showed the book to Harry who was very surprised on their latest discovery. They brought the book to the counter where the librarian that had talked to them earlier on was, but not anymore, someone else was there, a man, he looked young, but had the attitude of a grumpy old man. He picked up the book, scanned it and gave it back to Eliot, he said thank you, but the man didn’t have a reaction. They left the library feeling accomplished.
“I told you.” Started Eliot.
“Yup, you were right, the internet did not have everything. Do you think that this book will have enough information for your project?”
“Yeah, I think s—“
They were startled by a crash beside them.
“What was that?!” Asked Harry
“I don’t know! Use your drone to check it out.”
“Good one.”
He opened his backpack and took a large, grey cube from it, he set the cube on the ground and pressed a button on the controller. The cube opened up into a four legged animal shape, it then opened a flap on the front and a head popped out of it, that was where the camera was placed. The (now not so square) cube then stood in its four legs and started running forward, when it reached a certain pace it opened to more flaps, one on each side of its body, and a propeller came out in each side, then, with one big leap, the propellers turned on and the cube started flying up to the location of the crash.
“Awesome!!!” Eliot thought out loud. In the small screen on Harry’s hand, the siblings could not believe what made that crashing sound!
