Let’s write a story

/ coldhandboyack

Hi gang. Craig with you today, and let’s face it, blog action is probably going to be a bit slow this close to Christmas. I’ve done this before with a different blogger and it turned out hilarious. This is our chance to have a little fun.

There are a few rules, so l’ll get those out of the way. I’ll start us off with a graphic and an opening scene. Then it’s your job to add a paragraph, or a few lines to keep the story going. These things tend to go way off the rails, and that’s just fine by me, but let’s keep it PG. Titillation is fine, but porn is not. Violence is fine, too, until it becomes a splash fest.

Secondly, read what the others have already written, so you can build from there. Our comments at Story Empire run from the bottom to the top, just so you know. That way, if someone introduces a character, or situation, you can keep the flow going.

Third, you’re allowed to come back and play again. There aren’t likely to be many of us on December 23rd, and in the subsequent days, the story might have forged ahead.

I struggled to reach the road after the van I was riding in slid off the embankment. We’d tumbled way down in the forest, and with this storm, help was probably days away. I managed to find one of my shoes but pulled a different one off the body of the man who picked me up. They didn’t match, but it was better than nothing.

A tree cracked open from the weight of the snow. The sound scared me and I slipped. Great, now I wasn’t just cold, I was wet, too. I swooned as I moved to my knees. Maybe that accident beat me up more than I thought.

A blue light flashed way off in the distance. It made sense the snowplow would start on the freeway. Nobody was coming out here tonight. My best option might be to head for town.

***

Your turn. What will he or she find in the wilderness? Will he or she make it to town? What about the body in the van? Maybe a celebrity ghost shows up to help our main character. Bring me your aliens, dancing reindeer, serial killers, gnomes, mutant Christmas carolers. Hit me with your best shot, and have a good time with it.

I’ll respond to your comments, but if I add more, I’ll do it in a fresh new comment. Oh, and when you leave a comment, there is a tiny little checkbox there that will allow you to get updates on other folks’s comments. You might like to know what subterfuge your plot twist brought about.

53 thoughts on “Let’s write a story”

  1. but something behind me moved. “hello? anyone there?” Two very small glowing eyes watched me and then a voice – sweet, soft voice. “come along dear, we were expecting you” I slowly make my feet move. I have no idea where I am going except that it was deeper and deeper into the darkness. I don’t know if this is a good idea but I can’t stop myself. A sudden gust of wind stops me in my tracks “what was that?” The thing with the glowing eyes shrieks. It is in a horrible state. It growls and then vanishes into the woods with such speed that I keep blinking to make sure that really happened. A big hand grabs my wrist. “You should be more careful” I scream but he covers my mouth with his hand “I am not going to hurt you.”

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  2. Instead of signing the papers, I tore them to shreds. There was no way that I planned on being a science experiment of any kind. After the last piece fell to the ground, I turned and yelled at the top of my lungs placere adiuva me, noli mihi morieris.

    His Latin must have been rusty, because I begged for help and not to die and my wish was granted. Well, at least I thought it was. My witchcraft was more than rusty and I ended up in a small cave. I had no idea where and there were strange sounds coming from deep within. What have I gotten myself into now?

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  3. I was about to dip the pen into the ink when I took a closer look. Why was the ink red? It looked like blood.
    “What are you waiting for?” Frank asked. “Go ahead and sign. Everyone else in town already have signed it. You are the last holdout.”
    Everyone else in town? A chill went up my spine, worse even than the wet snow. I thought about the empty cars and shops. Where was everyone else? And worse…
    “How did you find me?” I asked.
    Frank smiled. “Easy, you were in the snow plow, which stuck out like a sore thumb.”
    My head was spinning. How did I survive that awful crash? And that was just the start. I remembered the lights over the tree tops and the empty plow truck. Then all of the missing people in the empty cars and town. The missing time. What was up?
    Frank continued to smile, but it was now sinister.

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  4. “I have some documents for you to sign,” the man told me, whipping out a large stack of yellowed paper. He then produced a small ink pot for me to dip the feather into to sign. Suddenly it dawned on me: He was the lawyer I had met with the day before.

    “Hey Frank,” I greeted him, rubbing my head. I must have hit it harder than I thought.

    Frank stepped towards me in the snow. “You okay?” he inquired. “You’re not looking so hot.”

    “You’re not vision yourself,” I countered with a chuckle.

    Frank winced. I had forgotten he was sensitive about his shrek-like appearance.

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  5. The man laughed at my expression.
    “Is that any way to treat a friend?” he asked.
    I realized that I had seen him before. Was it during the missing time from when I had approached the lights and found myself at the snow plow?
    His smile got larger. “And you want be needing that…”
    He didn’t move yet I felt movement in my hand.
    The hammer was gone and in its place a large eagle’s feather.

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  7. I hadn’t gone far when I encountered one of the strangest looking men I’d ever seen. He was well over six feet tall, but his arms were short enough to belong to someone less than five feet. He had tiny ears, a large bulbous nose, and a greenish-yellow complexion. And his eyes. Strange. Their color matched his complexion.

    A feeling of apprehension washed over me. I tried to hurry by without speaking, but wasn’t so fortunate.

    “Good evening,” the stranger said.

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  8. Not the best weapon, but but better than nothing. Disoriented, with a gash above my eye oozing blood, I crawled from the plow and onto the road, hammer in hand. Those damn orbs hovered there, a trifecta of light, then did a power blast into the stratosphere. For a single second, they solidified as one, a blinding ball of light, quickly obliterated in the wink of an eye.

    No way was I the only one who saw that light show! Someone in town had to witness the event. Could it be a signal of some kind? With my head spinning the way it was, I wasn’t above thinking I’d stumbled onto an outpost of the bizarre. Strange lights, Bigfoot rumors, avalanches, snowplows with phantom controls–just what the heck awaited in those innocuous looking buildings tucked on a darkened street?

    High time I found out.

    I plodded down the hill and entered Main Street from the east end.

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  9. I cranked the heater to full blast, but it felt more painful than helpful. The radio dial scanned across the stations all on its own, until I poked it off. I needed to head south, but the little dashboard compass spun in circles. The small orbs showed up in my rear view, so I stepped on the gas. Snow blasted from the side of the plow, causing the orbs to climb to a new height. I rounded the corner to an avalanche. Snow, rocks, and trees filled the way to double the height of the plow. I stomped the brakes, and slid into the wall of white. My head broke the windshield, but I remained alert. The two-way radio flashed across frequencies, but I tried it anyway. No answer. The orbs hovered just behind the vehicle. I frantically searched for anything I could defend myself with, but found only a cup of lukewarm coffee with too much sugar. When I reached under the seat, I found a small hammer the driver must use to check his tires.

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  11. As I headed towrds the police station in the plow, I noticed the clock. Three hours were missing! What had happened? I then remembered those lights in the sky. It landed, didn’t it? What had happened? Where was the missing time?

    OK, stitched back together 😉

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  12. I stood and leaned against a tree while I dusted off the melting snow from my already soaked clothes. The lights of the plough had disappeared, but so had the lights roaming above. I was disappointed with the former, relieved with the latter, so I convinced myself that the plough had just rounded a bend and kept moving forward. The landscape slowly became more manageable, and after an hour of walking, I turned the bend to find myself at the highway. And there was the plough! As I mustered the energy to run (or perhaps, walk a little faster) toward the plough, I realized the lights were off. Reaching the plough, I opened the door and found no one inside. It was then that I realized that there were other cars on the highway, and they had all been abandoned.

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  13. Without a sound, a large oblong disc drifted down, hovering a few feet off the frozen ground. A door slid open and something that resembled an assembly-line belt appeared. Shit! I turned to run, but my legs wouldn’t move. It was as if a force field held me in place. My heart pounded in my ears. It appeared that the accident would be the least of my worries tonight.

    There you go. My two-cents worth. 🙂 Fun, Craig!

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  14. Fun idea, Craig! Here’s my addition:

    I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at. Helicopter? No, it couldn’t be. Not with the lights breaking like that. Three separate orbs spaced randomly apart, and growing larger as they neared. I’d heard stories of UFO sightings in this part of the country, even a Bigfoot connection–probably why I’d been too antsy with that flare. Was it possible in warning that stupid raccoon away, I’d alerted something else to my presence?

    Swallowing hard, I tried to disappear among the trees. Damn, if it didn’t look like those lights were on a path to land.

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  15. In the flare’s glow I could see the startled racoon scurry up a tree. Damn, I used my one tool that could possibly show people were I was on scaring away a silly racoon! My cell phone? I had searched and searched at the site of the wreck and it was no where to be found. I stood up again and headed towards the highway.

    After walking for what seemed like hours, but I knew was less than ten minutes, I saw headlights! Hurray! But then I realized that the were coming over the trees, not through. And there was no noise from a helicopter’s rotors. Oh oh…

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  16. Hey! I’m fairly new to the blogging scene but I love these kind of writing games so I thought I would join in!

    The sound of the plough had grown faint, but was still there, reassuring me I was headed in the right direction. My legs felt like rubber as I attempted to stand.

    Another sound began, low and behind me. I wasn’t much of an outdoorsy type of person, but I could recognize the sinister growl of a wild animal when I heard one. Thinking quickly, I reached into my knapsack and pulled out a flare I had snagged from the van I had abandoned in the ravine.

    “Eat flame!” I spat at the hungry, unseen beasts in the dark. I shot off the flare in the direction the growling was coming from. The flare launched with immense force and speed…

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  18. I’m traveling today and on my iPad, so I can’t reblog. Here goes for my addition to the story …

    The blue lights bobbed up and down in the distance, barely visible through the snow covered trees. If I could reach the plough, I would be at the highway, which would lead me to town. Cold, wet, and weak from shock, I took a step forward, then another. My third step landed in soft piled snow and tumbled me forward. I landed with a crump in the cold wet white stuff. Semi-dazed, I stared through the thick foliage, seeking the comfort of those lights. They’d disappeared.

    Enjoy! 😁 🎄

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