TROJAN

Author's Note

❝...𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒚
𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒍, 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕? 𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆
𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔'𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚?
𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅, 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆
𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕
𝒀𝒐𝒖'𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕
𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆
𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉.❞

~𝐍𝐅, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡

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This story is solely dedicated to this year's Open Novella Contest. It's my first time entering this competition and I'm very excited. However, I've been battling to meet all of my deadlines because I've been entering international and local writing competitions, I still need to practice for the English Olympiad, I have Wattpad books to review and I also have to study for my upcoming test series! But at least I reached the word count for Round 1. I wonder how far I'll get...

Anyway, my story is based on Prompt 82: You wake up on a seemingly ordinary day to discover that your thoughts are not private. There is someone else in your head with you.

The first time I read this prompt, I thought of writing a psychological thriller-but then I decided to step out of my comfort zone, settling on a sci-fi novella instead. My cousin helped me to iron out the creases in my plot and honestly, if it weren't for him, my mind would have malfunctioned, twisting into this tangled mess of stagnation. I probably would've given up. After all, science fiction is a very intricate genre. I hope I didn't butcher it. (I do not at all believe that I did. But just to be safe, I'm crossing my fingers and praying to God.)

Anyway, enjoy. And goodluck to all the other wordsmiths who are participating in this challenge!
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