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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

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.


Cordelia Falco
Cordelia Falco
Battered Shoe

Jul-26-2007 09:36

If I’d know how it would all end, I would never have started it.

“Widow seeks female companion on world cruise”. In return for a little boring conversation, I’d get my dream trip. I went.

I couldn’t stand her vicious temper, so that emerald necklace proved a little too tempting.

The sleuth she put on my trail was cute. But he had to go.


Cordelia Falco
Cordelia Falco
Battered Shoe

Jul-26-2007 09:36

Jimmy Donuts was just an old bum. Kids threw stones at him.

But the Jimmy I was looking at now seemed taller. Younger.

“Hello, doll. Been a long time. But my memory’s back now. I remember who I am " and just who gave me that crack on the head.”

Light glinted off the barrel of his gun.


Cordelia Falco
Cordelia Falco
Battered Shoe

Jul-26-2007 09:36

The evidence was there, had anyone bothered to look. Three pebbles, a carrot and a scarf lying in the yard.

Some smart alec cop came up with this story about a melted snowman.

Nice try. But the old guy with the scarred neck and the donkey who chucks stones at girls’ windows seems to have skipped town.


Cordelia Falco
Cordelia Falco
Battered Shoe

Jul-26-2007 09:37

How had things even gotten as far as they had?

I looked at the corpse lying forlornly in the road. I knew the story.

I was depressed so I hit the bottle. I was broke so I took a job walking some old girl’s lapdog. Put it together and you have an angry truck driver and a very dead chihuahua.


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