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ThinkWrite Challange LXX

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ThinkWrite Challenge LXX

Thank you Nylecoj for the honour of being the torchbearer for this next challenge. A simple challenge of up to 300 words in any style you like. The closing date will be in one week on 13th May, so don’t delay! The ten words I have selected for my list are below;-

Beach

Book

Door

Friday

Picture

Seventy

Stairs

Star

Sunset

Unlucky

Good luck and get writing over the weekend!

Saxon

set May 6, 2011 by Saxon (664 points)
Hhhmmmmm! Nice word list Saxon. Now to find a pencil!!!
Agreed Nyle!  I think I can get something out of this!  And 300 is usually just right for me...

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(236 words, no title, and I used the word in order, just for fun)

She glanced at the beach over the book she held in her hands. The sun was still on its way up and the gentle breeze softened its heat into cosy warmth. It was empty, the beach, save for one little girl that ran around holding a long string whose other end was a colorful kite. It was her adopted daughter, Lucy. It felt as if only a week had passed since she brought her through the door. She could remember clearly that Friday afternoon. The day was picture perfect. Seventy degrees and not a cloud in the sky. She walked with her up the stairs into the newly decorated room, marked with a pink star and Lucy's name. Lucy was two years old then, big enough to understand the world around her, but small enough to be amazed by all the little things we take for granted. They explored the room for the whole day and watched the sunset together. The girl fell asleep in her lap as if they had spent their entire lives together. Form that day on they were inseparable. Lucy was an absolute jewel. The day she got the news she could never bear a child, she thought herself unlucky (to say the least). But, it was her inability to have children that brought the two of them together. You could say it was the best thing that ever happened to her.
answered May 10, 2011 by Spots (946 points)
Looks good!
Spots,
I pass the torch over to you and look forward to the next challange. They were all good, but I liked yours the best. Happy Writing!
Saxon
Wait, what? I wasn't gonna... Aw, damn.... Well, thanks for the honor. I guess I'll need to spend more time on here after all. :)
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The beautiful sunset was like a picture in a painting-with the sun's many arms reaching out to grab as many clouds as she could before sinking into the ocean. Soon enough, stars will begin to uncover themselves from above. But for now, I think I'll just enjoy what's left of the sunlight.

The beach was no longer crowed like it was in the usual Friday afternoon. Now it's empty with only a flock of about seventy or so terns dancing in the salty breeze. Their feathers ruffled as they flew-forming what seemed like it could be stairs to the heaven. 

The sun was sinking even lower now, almost about time for me to leave. I gently closed the book I was reading and got up. On the way back to my hotel, I thought about that book. The main character didn't have all the lucky breaks like I did. He was an unlucky fellow, who didn't even get a single day off where he could watch a sunset like I did today. As the car door slammed behind me, I took one more look at the sky. The sun had sank and the terns have scattered, leaving behind me and this book in my hand. Maybe, by the end of the story, the main character would be able to watch a sunset at the beach like I did today. 

answered May 7, 2011 by Akira (64 points)
Very nice and some lovely descriptice llines.
Now I am wondering about the book your character is reading....
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Number Thirteen

There is a street with thirteen houses on it. Everyone has always said that the house at the end, the house with the number thirteen on the door, was unlucky. Every person who’d lived there had left soon after. Left, or died. The last woman to live there had a mysterious accident the day before she turned seventy. No one liked to think about Number Thirteen.

But today, a Friday as it happens, is Halloween, and a small group of teenagers are planning on camping out inside the misfortunate house for a dare. If someone had been watching the house around sunset, they would have spied three figures creeping up the stairs to the front door. The teens slipped inside, whispering in a mixture of fear and excitement.

They slipped inside and looked about. It was a beautiful house, though it had a lonely and melancholic air about it. There was an open fireplace before them, carved with all sorts of intricate designs. There were animals and plants curling up the sides, and right in the center was a seven pointed star. Hung above the mantle was a picture, or a painting to be more precise, showing an empty beach, and a ship disappearing off into the distance.

What drew the teens attention though, was not the fireplace or the painting as such, but the book lying open on the mantle, free of dust and right in a patch of dying sunlight. There was something eerie and yet enticing about the book, and they found themselves stood in front of it without even realising how they got there. The small part of them not entranced by its blank pages was screaming at them to run, but they ignored it. Then one of them reached out and touched it.

answered May 7, 2011 by Setari (79 points)
Awesome~! I'd love to know what happens next. =)
Ooo!! Amazing creepy story! Great job!
You have set this off very well, it is so atmospheric!
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Here you are, Saxon, and the rest of you TWers!  :)  Enjoy it...  300 on the dot...

 

Once upon a time, many years ago, a baby boy was born.  He was called unlucky and his mother was cursed, for he was delivered on a Friday.  The woman loved him however, for he was all she had left of a recently murdered husband.  They lived in a small house near the beach and there the boy grew quickly.

His name was Peter, after his father, whose picture hung smiling over the mantle.  He loved the outdoors and spent many happy hours playing among the trees along the shoreline.

On his eighth birthday, little Peter asked his mother about stars, and she told him what she knew.  From that day on, he climbed the stairs to the roof every night.  There, he did his best to think of good, unselfish wishes and when he thought them good enough, he sent the wish up to a star.

One of the many wishes Peter made was for the soldiers.  From their peaceful little home they could hear gunshots and cannon blasts and Peter’s mother often stood in the doorway, repeating sadly to herself, “They fight for our freedom.”

The two of them lived quietly for many years, cultivating and harvesting their land.  Far away the war continued to rage.  One day, Peter’s mother fell ill, for she was nearly seventy and time had taken its toll on her.  For several days she lay in the hut, drifting in and out of sleep.  Peter sat beside her, reading from their favorite book.  On the fifth day, as the sunset colored the sky, she breathed her last, leaving Peter alone in the world.

Less than a week had gone by before the door to the hut was locked.  Peter had left to fight for his freedom.  None of his acquaintances saw him again.

answered May 9, 2011 by ladyhwin (203 points)
Very nice.
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Sorry I haven't been around for a bit.  Here's a poor attempt just to get the juices flowing again.  Great words Saxon; a world of possibilities.

 

Unlucky Love

It was going to be just another “beach fest” anyway, so I didn’t mind missing it. How tiresome, constantly partying the nights away starting just minutes after sunset. I promised my Mom I would stay “sober” for seventy days. It was day number one.

Harriet pulled up in her flashy green Jeep. It was Friday night and she promised we’d have a good time. After nearly an hour she pulled off the side of the road and a nondescript landscape was before me. She grabbed my hand tugging me out of the vehicle. Without a star to guide us she led me into the woods as briars I couldn’t see ripped at my legs and arms. They didn’t seem to bother Harriet, but she was always the outdoorsy type. We reached the ruins of some building that I could barely make out in the dark of the forest. She led me through a door and I saw a faint glow in front of us that seemed to come from a well spent candle wick.

That was when I surmised we were not alone and I began to protest that this had better not be another party. I made a promise to my mother for Christ’s sake. She smiled again and led me on as we approached the dim light of the candle. It was in the middle of a cavernous room with no roof to speak of that she began to explain her plan as she planted a moist kiss on my cheek. There was a table directly in front of us with a large book that looked as old as the ruins of the building we were in. She kissed me again, but this time right on the lips and I didn’t resist the urge to reciprocate. I was beginning to sweat and pictured us both naked on the table enjoying ourselves immensely.

The hammer came straight down and cracked her skull; I had a party to get to. 

 

 

answered May 12, 2011 by doug (883 points)
A bit twisted but I will read it again tomorrow before I pass the torch on.  Nice to see you writing again!