Writing Contest

Friday, July 24, 2009

If you like general writing/editing/publishing information, writing inspiration, or plain entertainment, you need to check out the Novel Doctor, aka editor Stephen Parolini. This little piece is my entry for his most recent contest, based around a first and last sentence that he offers. I can't say I died over it, because I don't have time or energy to die over these things when there are so many other things out to get me. I have to admit to some amazement over what you can fit into 400 words.

I was also rather surprised at my own morbid side. I started out with a depressed guy whose wife had just had twins. Then I tried a suicide attempt that didn't work. I thought about a sci-fi attempt with that first sentence, but come on, I have enough toddler drama to keep me busy already without having to figure out what happened to the sun.

Do enjoy this, if you can. Or, get over to his blog and enter your own, because I'm sure you all have better ideas than I!
The sun didn’t rise on Thursday.

Maybe it isn’t really Thursday, Annie thought, dragging her aching body out of bed. Maybe it was still Wednesday night. The crash was nothing but a nightmare. The sun had to rise today. It was her wedding day.

She groped in the dark for a light switch, tripping over a pile of clothing and stumbling into the wall beside her closed door. She flipped the switch.

Oh great, the power was out. Of course. Her digital clock wasn’t glowing.

Annie rubbed a hand over tired eyes. The darkness was so thick she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face.

She scrabbled through her bedside table drawer for a flashlight. She tried flipping it on. Hmm. Batteries must be dead.

Frustrated, she pitched the light across the room. It hit the alarm clock off her dresser, clattering to the floor.

The clock radio began to play.

“…80 degrees and clear for you today, with mostly sunny skies...”

Annie froze at the sound, then pitched forward, passing from one black world into another.

----------

Her cell phone was ringing. Where had she left it? Her head was spinning. She opened her eyes into darkness, pulled from unconsciousness by the urgency of the identifying tone.

“Jase?” She croaked into the mouthpiece. Why was she croaking? “I can’t see.”

“I’m coming! I’m here!” She thought her apartment door was coming down in the other room. Her ears were ringing.

Someone burst into her room, hitting her leg with the door. Then he was beside her, his touch piercing the isolating black.

“Please help,” she pleaded. “The sun didn’t come up today…”

----------

She was four months late for her wedding. The sun did rise that Thursday. One of her bridesmaids attended her in a silver frame at the front of the church.

Too many tears, Annie thought, leaning heavily on her father’s arm for her walk into Jase’s arms. But she could see them. The tears. The camera flash. Those who loved them. The look on Jase’s face. The tie he was wearing. She couldn’t quite see the color yet.

She stepped toward him. After weeks of blackness, she’d forgotten what colors she’d chosen for her wedding.

Sunlight streamed through cathedral windows across the aisle, bathing Jase in light, drawing her smile.

Ah. She chose the blue one after all.

2 comments:

Alethea Jordan said...

Well, sis...I enjoyed the idea, anyway. =)

Kelly Sauer said...

Man, I really hate this story. :-P

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