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The Story in Your Eyes

Author/Uploaded by J. D. Lorien

The Story in Your Eyes By J.D. Lorien No part of this publication may be reproduced, photocopied, translated, stored in a database, or distributed in any way by any means (electronic, optical, or mechanical, including photocopying or recording) without the prior permission of the author. Previously published as a Kindle Vella Story. Published in the United States, 2023 Also by J.D. Lorien: In pro...

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The Story in Your Eyes By J.D. Lorien No part of this publication may be reproduced, photocopied, translated, stored in a database, or distributed in any way by any means (electronic, optical, or mechanical, including photocopying or recording) without the prior permission of the author. Previously published as a Kindle Vella Story. Published in the United States, 2023 Also by J.D. Lorien: In progress now on Kindle Vella: To Unring the Bell When Addie receives a package from the father she never knew, she's driven to solve the mystery of his death. What begins as a puzzle to be solved quickly becomes a journey through the impossible. Soon, the cryptic message, and clues he left behind, lead her to Dorian, a woman who looks at Addie like she knows her. Like she loves her. Even though they've never met. Is it possible that Dorian and Addie's lost father somehow stumbled across the secret to changing fate? Now, Addie must decide who to trust, what to believe, and what price she's willing to pay to undo a tragic mistake. Come along for the exciting twists and turns of Addie’s journey to discover if love is strong enough to redefine destiny. Table of Contents Chapter 1: Ranting Chapter 2: Masking Chapter 3: Melting Chapter 4: Waking Chapter 5: Disorienting Chapter 6: Deflecting Chapter 7: Lingering Chapter 8: Rendering Chapter 9: Prepping Chapter 10: Deciding Chapter 11: Hiding Chapter 12: Assembling Chapter 13: Admitting Chapter 14: Beginning Chapter 15: Communicating Chapter 16: Deciphering Chapter 17: Surprising Chapter 18: Clubbing Chapter 19: Confessing Chapter 20: Demolishing Chapter 21: Outreaching Chapter 22: Accommodating Chapter 23: Misunderstanding Chapter 24: Plotting Chapter 25: Testing Chapter 26: Dawning Chapter 27: Questioning Chapter 28: Relaxing Chapter 29: Texting Chapter 30: Dancing Chapter 31: Yelling Chapter 32: Offering Chapter 33: Grinding Chapter 34: Pampering Chapter 35: Alarming Chapter 36: Recovering Chapter 37: Appraising Chapter 38: Assuming Chapter 39: Advising Chapter 40: Touching Chapter 41: Deserving Chapter 42: Reflecting Epilogue: Displaying Chapter 1: Ranting “Greetings, it is I—L1S-8—otherwise known as your Unreliable Narrator!” Why does enthusiasm have to be loud? I’ve never understood that. “Welcome to my channel! If you’re new here, I like to draw and rant about things! So, stick around, I’ve got a lot to rant about today!” After seeing my first attempt at making a video, my little sister warned me that viewers might think I was using an artificial voice, if I didn’t add volume and inflection to my tone. When Persie was six, one of our neighbors projected WALL-E onto a white sheet that had been draped over their clothesline to keep the children occupied while the adults played cards around folding tables. Toward the end of the movie, when the idealistic little robot had lost his memory and personality, my sister proclaimed—loudly—that I must secretly be a robot who had reverted to factory settings. Everyone knew what she meant. I’ve never been outwardly expressive. Now that they’d been given the seemingly innocent excuse to tease me, the neighborhood children spent the rest of the evening pretending they were trying to shock me into a more demonstrative personality by touching me and making various bzzzt sounds before giggling and running off. The only emotion they successfully inspired in me was frustration. Excited by such an undeniably successful effort to tease me, Persie has been pummeling me with jokes about my robotic nature—like ACME anvils equipped with a complex targeting system—ever since. She dubbed me L1S-8, the droid version of Lyssa, after seeing Rogue One with her friends ten years later. By that time, I was already living in Tallahassee with Rory, our only cousin and self-appointed peacemaker, who was at least thoughtful enough not to laugh. When I started this channel a year later, Persie commenting on my mechanical inflection just seemed like more of the same. It was only when Rory quietly suggested I might try mimicking the tone of Sportscenter anchors narrating the highlights, that I knew I had to take it as a serious criticism. So, I practiced mimicking enthusiasm deemed loud enough to approximate sincerity, until it became just another mask to wear. My own instincts are often judged to be somehow inappropriate in the eyes of polite society. “But before we get into all that, in my last video, Annabella Leia asked why I call my perspective unreliable? The answer is that I frequently get confused by common social conventions, slang, idioms, that kind of thing. I’m also bewildered by the concept of looking at a stranger’s face and somehow divining what they are thinking or feeling based on their expression. If only people were like cartoons, with helpful thought bubbles or visual tropes to portray their emotions, my life would be so much easier.” It’s certainly not a coincidence that I decided to pursue a career in animation. “Scorpia_Unbound wanted to know what in the hell I put in my water? And why am I using a plastic water bottle anyway when they’re so wasteful?” I hold the bottle in question under the camera, sloshing the unnaturally purple liquid inside. “The answer to the former is that I use a grape drink mix powder. And the answer to the latter is that it’s easy to carry around, and I use the same one over and over again. That’s why I use the drink mix. No matter the source, my water always tastes the same. If you don’t understand why that is important—lucky you.” A long drink of my grape-flavored water does little to wash away the lingering, bitter taste of albuterol. When I first started answering questions left on older videos, I was naively hoping it would keep the same questions from being asked dozens of times. Now, I do it because it drives up viewer engagement, which makes the Algorithm Gods of YouTube happy. “You see, when I woke up yesterday morning, I finished with my work on the group thesis project, a short film that would have

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