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CONTEST: 50 Words or Less
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Anikka
Anikka
Babelfish

Jul-18-2007 14:03

I've been wanting to do some kind of contest for a while now, so here we go. By the way, a huge thanks to Lady Emerald - she knows why. :-)

The rules of 50 Words or Less: Using a given opening line, you must write a story that uses 50 words or less. The opening line does not count toward your word total.

The rules of the contest:

* I will give a total of 5 opening lines. You may choose whichever line(s) you wish to use.

* You may write an entry for as many of the opening lines as you like, but only 1 story for each line. So, your maximum number of entries is 5. If you only like 3 of the opening lines, then write 3 stories. It's up to you.

* If you write multiple stories, they are not required to have anything to do with each other. On the other hand, you may link them into one overall story.

* Your story or stories must make sense. It also should be mystery-related, or be mysterious with a really interesting twist.

* Spelling and grammar DO count. Please. Spellcheck is our friend. (I realise that english is not everyone's primary language. It is usually not difficult to tell the difference between the grammar of someone writing in a not-ingrained language, as opposed to the grammar of someone who is too lazy to learn how to write properly.)

*All entries must be posted no later than 11:59 PM server time on July 28, 2007.

Now, you can't have a contest without prizes, right? Make sure you get those imaginations going! The winner will receive a three-month subscription (compliments of me) and a unique book for their detective (compliments of Ben). Sweet!

Your opening lines:

1. If I'd known how it would all end, I would never have started it.

2. The evidence was there, had anyone bothered to look.

3. Jimmy Donuts was just an old bum.

4. How had things even gotten as far as they had?

5. Tallulah shook her head in denial while her eyes opened wide with horror.

Replies

Sophie4
Sophie4
Gopher to the Sleuth Gods

Jul-22-2007 08:08

How had things gotten as far as they had? It began so idyllic, a fairytale romance. Everyone said so. After the honeymoon, he changed. Todd had become possessive, phoning her at work, going through private papers. He was always looking for some evidence of betrayal. It was him though who had betrayed her.

The evidence was there, had anyone bothered to look. No one wondered why Tullaluh always wore blouses with sleeves and high collars. The long skirts to cover the massive bruising on her legs from the shackles he used to keep her from escaping his torturous abuse. It had to end, and it had to end today.


Kathryn Gumshoe the 7th
Kathryn Gumshoe the 7th
Battered Shoe

Jul-22-2007 17:17

Tallulah shook her head in denial while her eyes opened wide with horror.

There Jim lay, a knife in his chest. Tallulah's knife.

"I didn't do it! I swear!"

Narayan didn’t take chances. Sister or not, she was a murderer. He ran to the phone.

“Get me police!”

Bang!

Narayan fell. A hand pocketed the revolver. Tallulah’s hand.

She was making her getaway…

Lady Emerald Devon
Lady Emerald Devon
Nomad

Jul-23-2007 02:57

If I'd known how it would all end, I would never have started it.

It all started as a Science Fair project. I just had to beat that know-it-all Lucy.

It took ages to design and create the garden, then make the little animals.
The people though? That's when it went wrong.

They got smart. They replicated. Then murder. War. Famine. Disaster. Destruction.

What had I done?


48484848
48484848

Jul-23-2007 09:53


Tallulah shook her head in denial while her eyes opened wide with horror.
"No, no, no!" she said, shaking her at me. "You've got it all wrong, my sister was very loved at home, no one would kill her." Tallulah made me very surprised in her sudden change from scared to in denial. I guess that's what you get for taking a crazy case.


Violet Parr
Violet Parr
Thespian

Jul-24-2007 06:59

“How had things even gotten as far as they had?” I would not know… life always leaves me unrequited. Yet, there is more: An eternity carries on despite darkness… regardless of light…

As I rise towards immortality, I look to my unresponsive body, “…as far as they had?” I would not know…

I smile… Perhaps death is polite after all.


Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Jul-25-2007 17:05

Jimmy Donuts was just an old bum.
He’d always been a good-for-nothing scalawag who did little more than lie by the window all day and scarf down tuna. He couldn’t catch a mouse to save his life. He was the laziest cat I’d ever laid eyes on. But my daughter adored him. And now, he was missing.

If I'd known how it would all end, I would never have started it. Me and my soft heart. I’d been sweet-talked by my husband into hosting the family’s annual Christmas celebration. Now, two days before Noel, sixteen in-laws were residing in my house, and the cat’d gone poof. I rousted the family and staff, and followed my tearful four-year-old, Tessa, downstairs to search.

How had things even gotten as far as they had? For the next two hours, we searched the house. From fiendish, six-year-old, second-cousin Percival to the termagant of the family, Great-Aunt Tallulah, we searched from coal cellar to attic. Every nook, cranny, drawer, closet, and pigeonhole of every room in the house was searched. No kitty. Tessa was distraught.

The evidence was there, had anyone bothered to look. I decided to conduct one final search of the house. Room by room, no cat. Finally, we reached the kitchen. There, Cook was busily chopping up vegetables for the Christmas dinner. “Cook,” I asked him pleadingly, “have you seen Jimmy Donuts at all this morning?”
“Oh, aye, he’s in t’oven….”

Tallulah shook her head in denial while her eyes opened wide with horror. “You ROASTED the cat?!”
“Nay,” Cook replied placidly, “When ah come from t’pantry, ah found t’cat scratchin’ at t’window wid a ball o’fluff in his mouth. When ah let ‘im in, he were ‘lmost froze stiff, Mum. Ah just popped ‘im ‘n t’kitten in t’oven ta warm ‘em up.”

Jeanne De La Motte
Jeanne De La Motte

Jul-26-2007 03:06


“How had things even gotten as far as they had?” I remember him asking me.
The beautiful fiend that I was, assuming a French name, fake identity and even false accent, I replied. “’tis passion Nicholas, the poison of love would you not agree.” “Poison me,” he begged as his huge arms surrounded my torso... So I did…

The evidence was there, had anyone bothered to look.
I brushed my long dark hair aside and gazed at the immaculate crime scene once more with huge green eyes. I always come back to my murder scenes, live in retrospect, and drown in melancholic nostalgia. The cyanide bottle sparkles untouched where I left it. No one questioned his death.

“If I’d known how it would all end, I would never have started it.” I tell her.
“Lies!” she replies. “Nothing but pitiful formulated lies... You devil.”
I smile. “Flattery will get you nowhere with me.”
“I know you killed him.”
I smile. I attempt walking past her. She blocks my way.
“You killed him.” She reiterates.
Very politely, I nod.

Tallulah shook her head in denial while her eyes opened wide with horror. “How could you Jeanne?! He loved nothing more than your eyes… he desired nothing other than your smile…” She was weeping in sheer terror. I utter the final words. “A death-blow is a life-blow to some, who, till they died, did not alive become.” A dagger appears in the dark.


Jeanne De La Motte
Jeanne De La Motte

Jul-26-2007 03:08

“A death-blow is a life-blow to some, who, till they died, did not alive become” is a line taken from Emily Dickinson's poem, A Death-Blow.

Secret_Squirrel
Secret_Squirrel
Safety Officer

Jul-26-2007 06:28

^ likes that

Cordelia Falco
Cordelia Falco
Battered Shoe

Jul-26-2007 09:35

(These aren't even slightly connected. Hence separate posts)

Tallulah shook her head in denial while her eyes opened wide with horror.

“No,” she whispered. “No, he can’t be dead.”

“I’m afraid so, Mrs Porter.”

She wrung her slim white hands. “I don’t understand. Who would want to poison Harvey? Everyone loved him!”

“I know it seems unfair, but…” He broke off sharply. “How did you know he was poisoned?”

She froze.


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