Broken Smiles: Single Short Story

By Dawn Blair

Some things should stay broken.

 

Derek owns the auto shop that his father started. but in this modern age, his job feels stale. Self-driving cars don't need many repairs. The computer handles most of the work once done with real tools, leaving him bored beyond belief.

 

He can fake happiness with a smile on his face, but the emoji on his arm doesn't lie.

 

Every day, the government-implanted chip in his arm frowns at him and becomes a deeper shade of blue. His friends and family worry about him, knowing the dangers if he doesn't tune-up his attitude soon.

 

Derek's mental state can't slip down any further. Otherwise, someone might come to fix him.

 

From the author of Oxygen comes a terrifying look at an alternate reality not so far off in our possible future.

 

WARNING: Does contain explicit language.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Morning Sky Studios
• Release date: Jun 27, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386899716

Dawn Blair

Come take an adventure with your multi-dimensional, time-traveling tour guide, Dawn Blair. Telling stories of noble hearts and fantastic places, Dawn enjoys creating stories full of action, fantasy, quests, and maybe a touch of technology.  For as long as she can remember, she's been telling stories, starting with tales of cats and dogs. No one ever dared to ask her to "imagine" something because it would send her creativity spinning. One fateful day, her grandmother, certainly tired of listening to the endless prater, sat Dawn down at a typewriter and told her to write the story out.  Growing up on a ranch in rural Nevada, she had plenty of time and space to let her imagination roam free. When she wasn't out playing or working in the alfalfa fields or swimming at the pool, she was at home typing away at her novels.  Dawn moved to Idaho and, after a second fateful day where an instructor taught her to see as an artist, her life expanded to include other creative endeavors: painting, illustrating, animating, and photography in addition to writing. They all became mediums for the way she could share stories. Soon, she had won numerous awards for writing, painting, and photography, as well as gaining readers and collectors worldwide. All while raising her two fantastic boys as a single mom.  Dawn decided to start recording audiobooks. Knowing nothing about the process, she began learning and transformed a simple home setup into a home studio, a sequence marked by a third fateful day in her life when she decided to quit dabbling and get serious. Dawn aims for improving her audio with each narrative tale she completes. Still in Idaho, Dawn spends every moment she can exploring strange worlds, seeking out brave lives and magical civilizations. She wants to touch your life with magic, open your mind, and make sure you will never be the same again. Let her show you the sights. Let's be on our way, shall we? Sign up for your adventures at: www.dawnblair.com

Book preview

Broken Smiles

Broken Smiles

Dawn Blair

Morning Sky Studios

Copyright © 2017 Dawn Blair

All rights reserved.

This book is protected under copyright laws of the United States of America. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

The story and characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual events, persons (living or dead), or locales is purely coincidental.

Cover and layout copyright © 2021 by Morning Sky Studios

Cover design by Dawn Blair/Morning Sky Studios

Cover art copyright © Monika Huňáčková | Dreamstime.com, © Dianaopryshko | Dreamstime.com, © Wisconsinart | Dreamstime.com, © Aleksander Bedrin | Dreamstime.com

Contents

Additional Short Tales

Broken Smiles

Also by Dawn Blair:

Ready for another quest?

About the Author

Additional Short Tales

Wells of the Onesong

Fractured Echo

Fall’s Confession

The Doorway Prince

Stardust

Mystery of the Stardust Monk

Alexander’s Den

---

Ninjas

By the Numbers

Space Ninjas Aren’t Real

Other stories

The Last Ant

Broken Smiles

Oxygen

I’m With Cupid

Let’s Make a Deal

Broken Smiles

Derek sat in the café’s outside dining area listening to the soft purr of electric engines as scooters and self-driving cars went by. Somewhere in the hum of all the early morning traffic was an older model vehicle. He could tell. It made him miss his father. It made him miss a lot of things.

In a moment, he’d have to get to the shop to start his day. For now, he slowly sipped his fresh coffee, enjoyed the sunlight, and watched the emoji on his wrist rotate and flip as he moved his hand around. The yellow emblem glowed on his skin and he felt like it was a constant