ken barber Posted March 4, 2015 Report Share Posted March 4, 2015 Ok this one will take a little longer. Select a random book on your shelf and pick two chapters at random. Take the first line of one chapter and the last line of the other chapter and write a short story (no more than 1000 words) using those as bookends to your story. ChrisTheBlizzard and Mark C. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisTheBlizzard Posted March 5, 2015 Report Share Posted March 5, 2015 Oh wow, this one is really throwing me for a loop. The fact that 99% of my books are in German isn't helping either. A.B and Mark C. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benji Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 This may actually be easier than the alphabet one. I think I have an idea for this... Have to finish the alphabet first though. Okay, done. “As Summer wore on, the routine of work and study asserted itself…” I read the book disinterestedly, my mind bouncing off the (now blank) walls of what had been my bedroom for as long as I can remember. I tried not to think about it, tried to read myself into another place and time as had so often worked to ease my stress in the past. But this time it didn’t work. I sighed and closed the book in defeat (not getting through one page). The empty walls and bookshelves stared soullessly, mocking me without remorse or pity. The shelves themselves, built into the closet wall, would be staying here. The place I had kept all my other worlds for so long now sat empty of anything resembling life. I hated the idea of moving, but my parents loved it. A new house, a new place, a new job. For me it just meant the desolation of everything I have ever known. But it was ‘an adult decision’ made without consulting me. Sure my parents had good intentions. But that was no excuse for tearing my heart out. What about Billy, what would he do without me around? Sure I had taught him enough about a fight that if he ever grew into his body he could defend himself well enough. But I worried about the other kids picking on him. Hopefully Dave could pick up the slack without me, we had an intricate system set up to prank people especially the teachers. No way he could get away with half his crap without me covering for him. But my fate was already sealed, I was moving. Whether I liked it or not. I should get used to the idea. But how could I just roll over for them even if they were my parents. I had to defy them some way, even if it was so small that it wouldn’t make a difference in the long run. I could run away. Joe would take me in... But if his parents found me, they’d turn me over to ‘the authorities’ or my parents and I would just be moving anyway. They had set aside an outfit for me to wear in spite of me telling them I could dress myself. Sure, it had been one of my favorite outfits. But they were using it to try to make light of the fact I was not going to see any of my friends ever again. I glared at it laying on top of the one box in the corner by the door. I knew I wanted to wear something else, my parents had perverted the purpose of these clothes. At the same time, I noted the irony that 15 years worth of things fit into just one box. The clothing in a suitcase as if it were a vacation. Just another mockery of the heart ache I felt. But all the things that held memories and seemed to matter most were either in the town - permanent fixtures of the place I had lived- and being left behind or else in one box. I suddenly knew what I had to do. I changed clothes. I called both Billy and Dave on their cell phones. I told them to meet me just down the block at the bus stop in 15 minutes. It was almost 6:00. The parents wanted to be left by 7am. Each of us took seats at the bench where the school bus would have picked us up had it been a school day. I sat in the middle between Dave and Billy. “I don’t want you guys to say anything, that would ruin my intent here.” I pulled a little black bag out of my front right pocket and handed it to Dave. Dave gasped and looked like I had struck him between the eyes. “Your lucky dice!?” He had done it, blurted out... This was now turning into something more emotional than I had wanted. I began to tear up a little. “Figured you’d need ‘em more than I will. I’m told where we’re going that luck is what you make it...” I then looked at Billy, and pulled the leather holster from my back hip. I had made it myself, and it almost always had my wrist rocket in it. Today was no exception. It was designed to fit under the shirt and be barely perceptible if you didn’t know it was there. “Use it well, keep the strap maintained and change it out if it breaks.” Billy’s eyes glistened a little with the awe of what I was giving him and partly with tears. “Dude... Thanks! I’ll take good care of it.” I wrapped an arm around each of them, pulling them close. This was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do in my life. I just held the two of them to me and put our foreheads together. It was strange, but it was something we did from time to time. “You two . . . take care of each other. Watch eachother’s backs and don’t let me leaving change things between you.” We cried together for a few minutes and I got up, looking over my shoulder as I walked back down the block to my house and the waiting car. It was 7:00, I sat resignedly in the back seat and glared at my mom and dad in the rearview mirror making sure they saw the expression on my face before cracking open the book and starting to read again. “Deslucido - Damn him to Zandru’s coldest hell!- has won.” Mark C., ken barber and ChrisTheBlizzard 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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