A few posts ago we tried to create a story one line at a time (here). The results generated lots of interest, so I thought we should give it another go under more controlled conditions. Once again, we need everyone to help out.
As before, I would like us to create two short stories one line at a time. Each story will start with the same initial line, but one of them will be written by men whilst the other will be written by women.
Here are the rules….
- Each person can only submit ONE sentence
- The story will end after 50 sentences.
- Try to build on the previous contributions.
- Really try to work together to create something that makes sense.
- Try to avoid the ‘and it all turned out to be a dream’ scenario.
Please encourage your friends to contribute -it would be great if we could get it done and dusted in a day again. Once again, we will look at the resulting stories in terms of differences in character, plot and structure.
This is the MALE thread of the project so if you are a man, feel free to contribute. After our initial attempt, I asked everyone to contribute a possible opening sentence (here), and this is the one that I have chosen (thanks Margaret) ….
The box was old and dusty, and clearly hadn’t been opened for many years.
Where the tape across the top was peeling I could see something black and furry.
As I reached to peel away the tape, the fur moved, as if it were breathing.
Suddenly, I saw an eyeball peering at me through the crack.
The iris was a bright, violent orange and the pupil was a long slit, that narrowed almost imperceptibly as it focused on my face.
This room was supposed to have been locked and sealed since the crime – how could an animal be in here?
And how did it stay in a box, alive, through all those years?
Twenty-seven years since the case was abandoned and the room sealed off – yet as I looked, the eye blinked within the dusty box.
Figuring there was only one way to find out, I held the box steady with one hand as I slowly began peeling the tape away.
Sudden movement within the box startled me so much that I dropped it, half-open, on the floor.
The box laid on the ground as glints of light hinted pointed teeth.
And that’s when the strange, unidentifiable, furry creature broke free of its 27-year prison and darted out the door I’d left open when I came in.
Something within me urged pursuit and yet I couldn’t resist a closer look at the box I now assumed to be empty.
[OK Frank]
I couldn’t believe it…there was a skull inside it…could it have been the head Steven Spielberg? I picked it up after sweeping layers of fecal matter and examined it…witnesses says they saw the person being stabbed with a knife in the head and the large crack on the surface of the cranium proves just that. The murderer must’ve stashed it in this box to avoid it being found…but what in the world was that Tazmanian Devil doing in there?
So i left the building, but on the way out, i saw a cleaner, who apparently is meant to clean all the rooms every day, so was taken a back that she hadn’t found the box.
Had she planted the box in the room for me to find?
She lay dead in a pool of blood, clearly mauled by the creature.
[ignore my previous one]
Whilst shocked, there was no time for pondering, I had to catch the furry devil.
Knowing what I need to do, I grabbed the cleaning lady’s broom and placed it between my legs.
I snapped the broom in two between them, and threw one half out of the door and down the stairs to see if it would get the creature’s attention; it did.
It ran at me, teeth gnashing, an embodiment of molten rage.
It was then I noticed the true form of this creature, with its vile rotting flesh, a putrid nauseating stench, and an unending hunger for living meat, the blood of its kill still dripping from its teeth he sat there staring at the squeaky toy by my feet.
It was that squeaky toy that saved me from the same fate as the cleaning lady but where did the toy appear from and why did it have such a mesmerising affect on the strange creature from the box?
The creature walked slowly up to the toy and nudged it, as thought it though it should be alive, maybe asleep.
I’m not great with animals – even a Chihuahua freaks me out – so, what to do next?
It suddenly dawned on me, this was animal society had tried to hide away after years of terrorising children & parents: Barney, the purple dinosaur!
With only the soft toy to help me, I knew I had to get this evil creature back where it belonged, and lock it away: this time I hoped, for good.
And with that, I realised I must be dreaming, and that wakefulness was not far away.
Throughout the events that followed I was convinced that I was dreaming, and were it not for this self-deception I would never have had the courage to act as I did.
(Interestingly I’m writing an amateurish fairy tale that starts with an old dusty box, well, in the third paragraph actually. As for the creature, its obviously a light resisting grue.
You desperately need to use a wiki to organize this story may I recommend http://www.wikistory.com/wiki/WikiStory_Home good luck!)
I grabbed the soft toy in one hand, and the creature (now placated by the apparently mesmerizing toy), and headed full-speed for the swimming pool.
Approaching the water I felt a writhing in my hand and looking down I saw that the toy and creature were becoming interlocked, even at some points melding in to one.
I dived in, clutching the king-ratlike bundle closely to my chest, and sank slowly to the bottom of the pool as the water began to bubble and boil violently around me.
The effect of the water was to cause the beast to reproduce, like a budding hydra, into half a dozen smaller clones.
That’s when I had one of the craziest ideas of my life: suppose I were to swallow one of the miniature beasts while it was still small enough to fit in my mouth?
As soon as I has placed one of the writhing beast into my mouth I realised that I had made a terrible mistake.
I felt a pulsating heat bulge down my neck and into my chest where the pain almost knocked me unconscious.
I struggled my way out of the pool.
As my ribcage began to flex, I wondered how I could possibly survive this mashup of Gremlins and Alien that was happening in my very own chest cavity.
Then I realised, the pain wasn’t the creature trying to escape, but my own body aquiring its attributes.
I screamed as horny talons thrust from my fingertips, wiry fur sprouting from my skin.
A faint whimper came from the shadows, and I realized there was a little girl, watching my transformation in horror.
but then she smiled at me and produced a small squeaky toy. she gave it a squeeze and a shake which drew my attention. the little girl then threw it, with which i gave chase with no other reason than pure impulse. the toy bounced down the path and into a box laying on it’s side. my momentum caused me to slide into the box as i gave chase…
However, once i found myself in the box, rather then it being taped up after me as i expected, the other end opened up and i found myself on a stage, in a theatre in Las Vegas, surrounded by dancers in feathers, my body transformed into Whitney Houston!
Ya baby, I feel good!
After the show, I withdrew myself backstage, and sat down on a chair, tired from all the events that happened today.
I felt remorse for what I done today. I need to tell someone the whole truth, every single bit of it.
Although I hadn’t done anything wrong, or hurt anyone intentionally- apart from the broomstick maybe…
I then noticed the squeaky toy sitting on the table next to me, looking at me…
It looked at me and said the one thing I would remember for the rest of my life…
“Wanna be friends?”
OK – that’s it – well done!
[...] A few posts ago I suggested that we create another ‘one sentence at time’ story (here). 100 comments later we have our male and female stories. Here they are….what do you [...]