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This is supposed to be a short story. Please excuse the typos. I haven't edited it.

Year: 2317
Sebastian Orwan entered the room as soon as the doors automatically opened. He undid the strap which held his helmet and removed it. "Things are worsening. The rebels refuse to stay calm," he said, worriedly. His wife, who had been preparing food using the auto-wave, turned to face him. Darla Orwan was quite beautiful and made a decent wife for Sebastian. "What about Stone?"she asked, taking out a batch of biscuits and placing it on the tray a robot was holding. Then she went to her husband and placed her hand on his shoulder. "He refuses to meet their demands,"he said, slowing removing his coat. "By the way, where are the kids?"he asked. "Arthur is teaching Candice,"replied Darla. "Well, I'll leave them alone for a while,"he said, taking out a file.

Candice sat at the table, yawning as her brother was speaking about something called the 'Holocaust'. She straightened her position when she met with his glare. Arthur's glare was so sharp that it could bore a hole in the metal table. "I'm sorry, Arthur. I won't attempt to sleep again,"she apologized. "Candy,"he said, taking a seat at the table. "What did you learn after reading Anne Frank's diary,"he asked, his voice laced with venom. "Well- um- never be a Jew and respect Hitler?"she replied. "Candy," he sighed, "I have one more question for you. If you could meet Anne, what would be your advice to her?"

Candice almost flinched after hearing this. "Well- I'd advice her to shut up her pseudo diary since there are people who are sceptical enough to believe that the diary is purely fabricated,"she said, in a calm and composed manner and surprisingly, without showing any fear. She had never been impressed after reading the diary. I'm her opinion, it was just a pseudo journal which consisted on a nonsensical and fabricated story which was given a name Holocaust and mourned by some ultimate nincompoops. All of this ought to be denied. As for Anne, she was just a classic attention seeker.

Arthur gritted his teeth and growled at his sister. Candice noticed his reaction, but only reclined. "What is it, Mr Dog?"she asked, nonchalantly. Apparently, Arthur wasn't pleased to hear him be referred to as 'Mr.Dog', and of course, was not pleased with her answer. "Do you really have to be so impertinent all the time?"he asked.

"I'm afraid your question limit is over. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a person to..."she clasped her hand on her mouth. Arthur raised his eyebrow. "Person?" He asked. Candice got up from her seat, and walked to the door. Fortunately, Arthur hadn't locked the door. But her carelessness worried her. She had just told Arthur about someone she was supposed to keep as a secret. She certainly couldn't tell him that she had met a person from the past over the internet.

Encountering with the past was advanced technology which was used only by the top ten members of the British Council' for instance, her father. When Sebastian gave her his computer, he forgot to delete the application. Candice, who loved surfing the internet, accidentally activated it, and ended up meeting a man who claimed he was from the year 2015. And he had arranged a meeting with her to know more about the future. Candice agreed to it, since she could demand information about the past, and boast in front of Arthur.

But first, she will have to prove her honesty (note sarcasm). "By person, I mean, Maggie. You know, my friend,"she lied, hoping Arthur would not find out. "Whatever,"Arthur mumbled, leaving the room. Candice heaved a sigh of relief. I hope he isn't suspicious, she thought, walking out of the room, and entering her own, which was only a few doors away.

She entered her room, but forgot to lock it. She took out her computer, which, of course, was not the one used these days. It was highly advanced, with different appearance, size, and even new features. She logged into her favourite website, Pacify. She hoped the person was not waiting for too long. He was already online. She clicked his name, and the private chat appeared on the screen. "Hello,"she typed. "Hello,"was the reply. She stared at the screen as the person in the past typed.

'Since we haven't really met properly, why don't we introduce ourselves first?' Alright, she thought.

My name is Patrick Wilson, and like I mentioned before, I am in the year 2015. I lie in London, and work as a scientist,' he typed. Candice opened her mouth while she read Patrick's introduction. 'Now that is an essay,' she typed, hoping she would not sound too offensive.

'My turn. My name is Candice Orwan, and I'm from the year 2317. I live in London, and am the daughter of the top ten members of the British Council It has been a pleasure meeting you,' she typed. 'Well hello Candice. It has been a pleasure meeting you too,' appeared on the screen. 'Perhaps you could tell me about the future.' With pleasure, thought Candice.

'You do know about the two world wars, don't you? Well, now the World War 3 has broken out,' she typed. 'And how did that happen,' was his reply. 'Well, the fight broke out over the internet. A diplomat from USA became vulgar, and abused the diplomat from UK, and a fight broke out between the two nations. France, Russia, Japan, and Germany formed an alliance with UK; while Italy, Philippines, China and Australia formed another alliance,' she typed.

The Allies and the Fascist respectively, she thought. Or was it the Fascists and the Allies? 'So you are witnessing a war right now.' Patrick asked. 'Well yes. The highest authority of UK and the other countries is the British council. My father happens to be one out of the top ten; if USA wins, my family will be....'

The door flung open, and Sebastian entered the room. Candice quickly ended the conversation by saying gtg. "What are you doing, Candy?"he asked. "Just fooling around,"she replied. "Well, if you're just 'fooling around', why don't you devote yourself to your studies?"he asked.

Suddenly, a huge bomb was dropped over their house. It blasted with in 5 seconds; all the ten members of the British council had been annihilated; USA has won.

Patrick Wilson waited, and waited for his friend in the future. But she never appeared again. Never logged in again. Never.....

Hey Hallie! First off, I think this story has a really good concept. It's a great idea particularly as a short story because it gives you the opportunity to show a snippet of life within your WWIII without going into great detail. Well done! C:
If you don't mind, I have a few suggestions for if you were ever to write it again, or write something similar - to give the online conversation and the dramatic ending (which I really like btw) even more impact, maybe you should focus on it more towards the beginning of the story; if their conversation was ongoing throughout the last moments of the people's lives it would make the whole cut-off point more dramatic for the reader I think. Also, you could definitely add more to the dropping of the bomb; you're good at description, so you could make it even more of a big deal.
Overall, though, really cool!

I'm going to edit this soon, so I'll take in the suggestions. Thanks for reading and the feedback :)

no problem C:

I really like the story and the plot line, I just wish it didnt end so suddenly; I want to know more. xD

Wow I really like the story, Hallie! I wish you had explained more about the war and perhaps the previous conversations between Candice and Patrick. The suddenness of the bomb was good, but I wish you had described it more. Like how they felt the tremors, the sirens, how they tried to hide, etc. But the very last paragraph was great!

I'll take these advice too. Thanks a lot.

I absolutely love the ending!! It makes me wonder what Patrick thinks. I would have ,inked to have know n more about the war but I loved the responses to her studies.

I'll describe the war more when I edit it because I feel it's too less now that everyone pointed that out. Thanks for reading :)

It's an intriguing concept - "time travel" via the internet. Will you be fleshing this out? I'd like to know the ages of Candice and Arthur. Paragraphs 14 and 15 (the two just before the last one) both begin with 'suddenly.' Might look at changing one of them.

Sandaidh wrote: "It's an intriguing concept - "time travel" via the internet. Will you be fleshing this out? I'd like to know the ages of Candice and Arthur. Paragraphs 14 and 15 (the two just before the last one) ..."

Well, when I was writing this, Candice felt more like a 14 year old, but I don't know about Arthur; 19 I guess. Thanks for pointing out that. I must correct that immediately. It might have happened because I wrote the ending in a hurry and without reading the previous paragraph.

Easy enough to do, especially when in the rush to get the story down. I have to keep telling myself - write first, edit later.

Initially Candice "felt" a lot younger, but then "felt" more like a teenager. Same with Arthur. Probably what caused my confusion.

I actually wanted her to be a teenager but act jejune. Looks like I failed.

Not necessarily. Could just be me.