July 13, 2012 - Third Contest

[Grace, Head Moderator]

For our third contest, I want you to write a fictional story based on the picture below. Don't think of the picture as a rubric though... let it inspire you. And think out of the box, if you want.



Rules:

1. It must be at least 300 words (anything less will be deleted and disqualified from the contest) but please don't give us a whole novel.

2. No commenting on others' stories. Only writing entries will be accepted in this thread. If you want comments on your stories, post them in the Critique folder.

3. No sex scenes.

4. Keep cussing to a minimum (it's ok if a word slips out here or there, but please keep it PG-13)

5. Have fun and DO YOUR BEST! And vote for the winner!


Entries are due by Thursday the 19th

[[deleted user]]

The Best Day of My Life.

The best day of my life was amazing. It started with me waking to the sound of Gabriella-my little sister- shrill crying in my ear.
"What's the matter?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes and looking at the clock.
"I fell out of bed again." she said. But because of her being three it sounds like she said, "I fwell out ofw bwed." No one outside of my family knows what she says, which is understandable.
"Why can't you ever tell Mom that? Does it always have to be me?" I asked, sitting up and pulling her into my lap. She just snuggled into my arms. "You know it's four, right?"
"I can't wead the cwock." she said.
"Of course you can't." I layed back down. "What are you doing? I weed to eat bweakfast!"
She seems to favor replacing other letters with W's.
I knew she wouldn't go back to sleep that easily.
"Come on." I said, slipping on my fuzzy blue slippers, and stepping/crawling out of bed and down the hallway, dragging Gabriella behind me. "Fallow."
******
I wasn't surprised that I fell asleep in Homeroom.
"Aria? Can I have your attention please?" I jolted awake, bleary eyed, to Ms. Randall's screechy voice calling my name.
"Sorry ma'am." I said, rubbing my eyes. My brother, Nico, snorted behind me. When Ms. Randall wasn't paying attention I turned around to face Nico.
"Next time Gabriella wakes up at four, I'm sending her to your room." I said, poking him in the arm.
"I'm so scared." he said, sticking his tongue out at me.
"You should be."
******
At lunch I sat my tray down at the table I shared with my brother and our friends Kyle and Sybil.
"What's up?" Sybil asked, looking at my bloodshot eyes.
I grunted, and barried my head in my arms.
"Gabriella?" Kyle asked through a mouthful of mac n' cheese. I grunted again.
"Did you hear about the new public art they pu in Mullsberry Park? It looks like octopus tentacles." Kyle said. His eyes started glowing, like they always did when he talked about art. Art was kind of his thing.
"Sounds interesting." I mumbled shoving a spoonful of chocolate pudding into my mouth. Chocolate pudding is my comfort food.
******
We all lived on the same street so we walked home together everyday. Sybil and Nico kind of walked together because they were into each other and Kyle and I did the same thing for the same reason.
Or, at least, I like him. I wasn't sure how he felts about me.
We talked quietly for a while and then Nico called back that Sybil was gonna show him a new song by their favorite band. I just waved at their backs as they ran off, hand in hand, leaving me and Kyle alone together. The idea kind of us being alone together maked me a little woozy.
We talked about random things, our favorite books (we were both bookworms), places we're going on vacation for the summer (his family was visiting his aunt and uncle in the Adirondacks, and I was going to visit my grandparents in South Caroilna), and things we were doing over the weekend (both zip).
I started getting obsessed with how his dimples looked when he smiles and forget to pay attention.
"Aria?"
"Hmm?"
"Did you hear what I said?" I shook myself out of my obsessive daze.
"No, sorry. Repeat it for me?"
"Well, sense neither of us is doing anything this weekend, do you maybe want to do something..together?"
Had he just said what I thought he'd said?
"I mean, if you want to. It's all up to you." He DID !
"Totally! We could, um, go to the park or something." I said, trying to reamain cool and casual, well inside I was mentally doing my Snoopy happy dance.
"Cool!" he said, flashing me a gloriouisly white smile, and making a heat flash run from me toes to the very tip-top of my head.
We reached my door and before I could open it he gave me a quick peck on the cheek and then darted off.
I'm pretty sure I stould there for at least five minutes, perfectly still. It was probably lame for that to be my first kiss at the respectable age of sixteen, but I thought it was glorious.
******
That night I hummed a song as I brushed out my hair, daydreaming about what Saturday would be like. Maybe we'd go to the park and walk by that public art sculpture that looked like octupuse tenticals, and he'd casually slip his hand into mine. Who knew? But honestly, I couldn't ahve been more happy.

[Grace, Head Moderator]

The Black Cords

Her lips dried blue. Evan continued to speak, even as frost slithered at the edge of Stella’s hairline. By the time he paused to take a breath, Stella’s brown eyes had turned an icy gray.

“You okay, Stell?”

The girl’s head snapped up – her pretty blond hair rustled around her face, framing it in a way that never failed to render Evan speechless – and her eyes finally focused on him. She smiled vacantly.

“Come on, say something! Anything.” He was waiting to hear what she thought of his poem. Stella was the only person he ever read his poetry to and his inspiration for every one, though he never had the nerve to tell her.

Stella just kept smiling at her friend with distant eyes. A chill shimmied up Evan’s spine despite the sun’s hot rays beating down on the asphalt.

“If you hated my poem, just tell me.” He pounded his fist against his chest. “I can take it.”

Stella twisted her face to the horizon before them, an abnormally mechanical creak emanating from the bones in her neck as she did so.

Evan’s senses zeroed in on the ice-cold beauty before him, focusing entirely on her. “Stell? Stella? Are you alright?” He stopped walking but she didn’t falter. He reached for her hand and yelled. The skin on her fingers had frozen, the veins painted a bright, glowing blue. He shook his hand out and looked up to see Stella far ahead of him. A cry in the sound of her name broke forth from his throat and he ran after her. The reverberation of his feet slapping the pavement was the only sound for as far as he could hear.

Evan was a swift runner and caught up in seconds. He walked backwards in front of her with his hands against her shoulders as she continued to stroll unknowingly. He dug his heels into the earth but couldn’t halt the girl.

“What is wrong with you?” His face was turning scarlet from exertion as he yelled in her face. She didn’t even blink.

Terror seized Evan’s heart as he watched the girl he loved become some sort of icy machine. He pulled out his phone to call 911 but before he could, Stella snatched it from his hand and smashed it on the ground, shattering the screen. Glass shards showered their shoes and a few dug themselves into Evan’s ankles, but he didn’t take any time to watch the drops of blood fall from his sticky skin.

“Stella!”

She gazed at him and another eerie smirk stretched her chapped lips. Her jaws unfastened from one another slowly and with great resistance, as if a force within was pushing against her will. But instead of words coming forth, black cords, thick and long like tentacles, slithered from her throat and paused as if to take in the view before binding themselves around Evan’s neck. He would have screamed, but the cords were tight and suffocating. Before anyone could help, Evan’s throat was crushed and his last thoughts were of the Stella before the monster had taken over.

[[deleted user]]

Shhh
653 words

A flash of rage, and her fist flew out in the direction of her brother.

Just in time, he dodged, and his furious older sister planted her hand through the wall of her bedroom.

“Oliver! God, seriously!” Sister, Eve, wrenched her fist out of her wall and whirled around to her brother. She felt her face burn. “Don’t steal my stuff like that! Especially my iPad! You could’ve broken it!”

Oliver’s eyes wafted to the hole in the wall, and he snickered a little. “Look who‘s talking.”

She pointed to the opening. “That’s your fault too! Now get out of my room before I put a hole in your head!”

The fourteen-year-old brother scurried away from Eve empty-handed.

She sighed, anger making her weary, and looked back to the hole in the wall. Maybe she did need to go to anger management.

Or maybe Oliver should just go away. Forever.

Deftly, Eve poked her long fingers through the hole, hooked them on the sides and brought her face forward. Her nails drifted along the ragged edges, and she peered in.

Black. All black, swallowing up details and letting only noises remain.

“How am I going to fix this?” In an instant, Eve had her bedroom door shut and she was collapsing onto her four-poster bed. Her legs dangled over the edge as she stared up at the water-stained ceiling, waiting for answers to fall from it. Though she was nearing the age of eighteen, she hadn’t a clue how to fix a hole in the wall.

“I could just tape a picture over it…”

Shhh.

Eve sat up, eyes narrowed and senses alert. “Oliver, get out,” she mumbled.

Shhhh.

“Oliver?”

Shhhhlip.

Eve flew to the hole in her wall and shoved her ear into it.

Shhhlll…

Was that…slithering?

Eve’s face twisted up and she wondered. Wondered, what. Indeed she knew hardly a thing about houses, and hers was ancient and sideways, but a sense of wrongness hung in the air. Yes. Something was undeniably wrong.

Shhhhh.

She jerked her head away and glared at the hole.

Shhhhlip.

It was getting louder.

Shhhh…

Eve had no ability to scream.

Cables poured out from the hole, struggling, fighting with each other to be out first. Segmented with translucent black cup-shapes, they slid against one another, that dreaded shhlip sound loud as ever when they did. The could be called cords, but no, they were live. Feelers. Tentacles.

They were increasing.

Eve stumbled to her door, feet sliding out, terror firing through her. What were they? Why were they in the walls of her house?

She got to her door, reached for the knob, but one of the tentacles got there first. Next she went for her windows, but the tentacles had arrived there too, creeping up the glass like vines. Eve watched in horror as they snaked under her comforter and up her walls. They didn’t stop coming from the hole.

One brushed her ankle, and she staggered backwards. Eve kept on staggering until she was in the darkness of her closet.

She slammed the door shut and buried herself in clothes.

…

Shhh.

The doorknob twisted from the outside, click, and the door to the closet swung open.

There was nowhere to run now.

Eve felt the tentacles slip up her legs, around her torso, and squeeze. This time, she did scream.

“Oliver!! Mom!! Dad!!”

Her arms were fastened to her sides and she was brought out from the closet. Held in the air, she watched her room, her door, her everything being shattered by black lines. The tentacles headed for her neck, and then encased her head.

“Help--”

Her last word was muffled as a tentacle pried her mouth open, and another skidded down her throat.

Eve’s world went blank.

Later, she’d wake up.

And her body would be filled with them.

They would control her every move.

It would not end well.

[Emily]

A Forbidden Destiny

“Tristan! Don’t go in there. The Master’s just waiting for you.” I pulled his arm back to me before he could turn the knob on the giant wooden doors.

The bright sun had made it impossible for me to get a good look at the expression on Tristan’s face, and the typical lovely sound of the birds singing had begun to irritate the nerves inside my stomach.

“There’s no avoiding it, Laurel,” Tristan said weakly, his eyes glued to the ground. I hated that he couldn’t even look me in the eyes, at a time that I needed to see him the most. We both had a bad feeling about what was going to happen today.

He tugged his arm out of my grip and entered the Master’s castle. I had no choice but to follow. The heavy doors made the loudest creaking sound as they slowly opened, spilling sunlight upon the red carpet, lined with villagers in their fancy clothing and gossiping mouths. The chatter amongst the crowd faded to an uncomfortable silence as they all turned to stare at us.

At the very back of the overpopulated room sat the Master on his throne, wearing an ugly velvet robe and a golden crown that declared his royalty and the power that he held over all of the villagers.

His mighty voice boomed as he called upon my best friend. My one love.

“Tristan Calloway, please come forward.”

The doors slammed shut, making everyone jump, and the only sound anyone could hear for several agonizing seconds was the heavy stomp of Tristan’s boots on the carpeted alley.

“You do know why you are here today, don’t you, Tristan?” The Master’s voice was mocking, and it made me grind my teeth until tears formed behind my brown eyes.

Tristan barely nodded as he stood directly in front of the Master. I shifted more to the right from where I stood by the entrance, so I could see the both of them.

“I know that you understand the rules of my kingdom, but what I don’t understand is why you chose to disobey them,” the Master said as he gripped the sides of his throne. His unwavering devil’s gaze seemed to burn holes through Tristan’s bowed head of golden-brown hair. “Look at me, boy!” he bellowed.

There was another eerie silence, and someone in the crowd coughed. I swallowed thickly.

He continued when Tristan’s head unwillingly rose. “You, Tristan Calloway, disobeyed my order to stay in the perimeter of this kingdom. Not only did you break that one rule, but you went outside of the kingdom with Laurel Ambrose.”

I flinched as I heard my name and the Master’s black eyes darted to me. I felt beads of sweat drip down the back of my neck as all the heads faced me, but Tristan’s back stayed turned towards the throne.

I thought back to when the law of not being able to be alone with the opposite gender was announced. That was when Tristan had the idea to take off. I had agreed. We loved each other. So much that we broke the rules of the kingdom and fled town. We’d only been gone for five hours before the police had found us and brought us back to the awful village that I would now always call home.

The Master’s voice brought me back to the present. “Laurel will not be punished, as we have found out that it was your idea, Tristan, to flee the village. You have broken two of my laws in such a short period of time, and that does not sit well with me. I’m afraid that you will have to be incarcerated.”

With a flick of his hand, two guards grabbed each of Tristan’s arms and tugged him to the side of the castle’s room. An alcove was present in the back corner and my heart was thrown into the little area along with Tristan.

I ran to the alcove, crying out for them not to lock him up. Before I could reach Tristan’s hand, black ropes swooped in between us. The ropes were ragged and dangerous to touch. They slithered and wrapped around the entrance to the alcove.

I caught Tristan’s sad eyes with my water-filled gaze before the last black rope tightened in the gap. I pounded and pounded on the secured wall of ragged rope, but only ended up with bloody fists.

I would never see him again, and the thought weakened me. I dared a glance at the Master who now stood tall in front of his throne. He had no soul as a smile stretched across his foul face.

I have never hated Master Calloway as much as I did then. I would never, ever forgive him for what he did to my best friend, and his own son.

[Katie]

Freedom
Words: 672

Music spilled out of the walls like liquid fire, enchanting the dancers. Most were coupled, but a few danced alone, their hair sweeping around their faces and their hearts beating wildly.

Keep the tempo, a voice seemed to murmur to one of the lone dancers. Her heart slowed, learning.

An imaginary partner took her waist and his heart was perfectly in balance. He’d been here before; unlike her, he didn’t need instruction.

“Amaryllis,” he whispered her name. His voice was of the cello, deep and gratifying. Her body melted into his. She looked into his face. Black music notes spiraled across his paper-white skin, and even his eyes seemed to shine with the steady, constant flow of music.

“My rock,” she whispered to him. Somehow, her partner was her transformed dead beau. “Why did you leave me?”

A tear slipped down her face. It was heavy and hot, almost uncomfortably so. With a gentle fingertip swirling with half notes Amaryllis’ beau, William, captured the tear. In his hand sat a miniature harp playing a song of heartrending tragedy.

“There was nothing to do, Amaryllis. But it doesn’t matter now; you found me.”

With a slightly regretful sigh and another half dozen tears, Amaryllis tore her gaze from William. “I suppose it’s all right, to die. There’s all this music.”

William nodded encouragingly. “As much music as you want. Wine served in glass flutes, the best raspberries you’ve ever tasted.” He hesitated. “And me.”

“There was always you, Will. Always. I didn’t need death for you—I don’t still.” Uncertainty erased her past feeling of resignation, and he saw it in her eyes.

“But we’re together,” William responded almost desperately. “You can feel me. My new skin. Hear my new voice.”

Amaryllis stepped back a little, breaking the dance. She’d once loved a boy with chestnut brown hair and agate green eyes. A boy who loved both music and freedom and was sometimes unconvinced there was a difference between the two.

A boy who loved her.

“It’s not what’s new about you I missed,” she told him. Her voice was gentle, but her words were almost cruel. A few of the coupled dancers looked towards her, angry at the interruption. Their eyes, once hypnotic in the glow of the symphony, now dulled to a glassy sheen.

William touched sheet music that was his new skin. “Please, Amaryllis. This place…it’s not for people to stop dancing. If you stop, you’ll—”

“Live?” Amaryllis guessed. “Die? The words have no meaning. Haven’t since…since…”

But Will wasn’t really dead, obviously. He rotated in an endless partnership with music. One day he would be the music, trapped within the walls. Was that what she wanted? To be jailed, but to be with him?
Music wasn’t really bad thing. And William? He was very, very good.

“Please,” he begged.

“What will happen?” she asked. Wary. Guarding her heart.

The coupled dancers seemed to draw nearer. A few of those dancing alone—like she seemed be—struggled to break free.

“You’ll die,” William conceded. “We’ll dance for a while. And then,” his breath hitched, and then smoothed to the glossy wood sheen of a polished violin. “Then we’ll become the music. Together. Forever.”

“Are you even William?” Amaryllis asked, fear lighting her eyes. All at once, she tried to step away. But he wouldn’t let go. Around her wrists curled stretched music notes.

“From my heart to yours. From my bondage to yours,” William said. The notes were distorted into long, triangular tentacles of glossy black.

“Please,” Amaryllis whispered, sobbing. “Stop!”
William pulled him tight against her. The rhythm of his heart seeped into her head, overcoming all feeling. The need to struggle became distant.

The remaining vestige of fight manifested itself. “No!” she screamed, forcing herself free. But the tentacles were already separating back into music notes and travelling over her skin. In a gold-framed mirror she watched as the black tentacles swallowed her blond hair, erasing all fear.

There was brightness.

No thought.

And music.

[Natalie, Moderator]

The Haunting

The music was deafening. The lights were flashing. Then darkness, accompanied by silence. It was like being dunked in and out of ice cold water. I couldn't take this much longer. This battle with death had certainly weakened me. I willed myself to wake up, gasping for breath as the music returned. I wondered what this must've looked like to others at the party. Lifeless and blank one second, wheezing and alert the next. I supposed that the Darkness would scrounge up some robotic phrase for the shell of me to reply to the concerned questions.

The Darkness first came to me once my mother died. It had been haunting her for weeks, battling for her soul. Eventually it overpowered her. Then it latched onto me. I had been struggling for months, and it was by far the most drearily horrific experience I have had. It was like being enclosed in pure suffocation, struggling to breath. Attempting to move, to call for help. But I could never stay conscious long enough.

This time, I summoned every drop of strength I had, inwardly wincing at the pain this was causing me. I awoke to a different layout than expected. Where I was is hard to describe. I was weightless, and I was unaware of the presence of time. It was dim and mysterious, though. Somehow I knew I was in between worlds. Suddenly, a wave of darkness swept over me. Black tentacles descended upon me. It had the essence of evil imprinted on its existence. Tendrils reached out for me, and I swatted them away. This angered them, and they jabbed at me, striking my stomach hard. I winced in pain. They drew back to strike again, but before they could my hands automatically formed an ancient gesture of which I had never seen before, yet knew formed a barricade. It shocked the Darkness. It made a pained screeching sound, and drew away. “You shall haunt no one” I said, in a voice that wasn't mine. The tendrils flailed about, and with one final agonizing shriek, the Darkness had left.

I awoke to the coolness of the dance floor and a shocked silence. The next thing I remember was waking up in a hospital and hearing five words I had long thirsted for. Everything's going to be okay