Writing Contest - April 2010

[princedee]

Writing Contest - April 2010

Welcome to April's writing contest. This contest theme will be about a lost of a close friend.

Rules:

• You cannot vote for yourself.
  
• You can only post one of your written story.
  
• The story is required 2,000 characters minimal.
  
• There's also a limit of only one post for the story. If it can't fit in only one post it's too long.
  
• The content of the story must be DE characters. If you use characters other then your own you must receive permission from the creator of the character(s) first.
  
• Do not ask for comments or critique within this thread – save that for the actual Comments board. Of course, you are still allowed to discuss the contest within this thread. BUT, keep discussions civilized – don’t let debates explode into flaming.
  
• Each month’s contest will be posted within the first five days of the month, and users are given exactly 20 days from the date of the thread to submit their entries. Voting will be done by both users and staff at the contest's end. Users are to pick their favorites, then will pick between the top three (or however many) submissions.

The winners will be announced in each Monthly Highlights thread.

Now lets see those stories.

[Neki]

Ok, not trying to be mean, I love the idea of having a writing contest. Don't get me wrong. I just think this months contest theme is just a liiiiittle too similar to last months. Like, they are both about a batlle. One actually has to be physical, the other could be any. I was just hoping there would be something....... different.

If I'm being mean or overstepping my bounds let me know, but I'm just a little disappointed.

[princedee]

:facepalms:

How did I not see this mistake?! Don't worry, there will be a new one to replace this.

[Neki]

-makes happy face-

Its okay, everyone has moment where they're not paying attentions and they do something like that. I do it all the time.

[imelza0]

Woo! I'm do glad this was changed! I have the perfect idea for this! *off to write*

[Neki]

ok, I'm starting to getmine up a bit at a time. It's not finished, but I have a limited amount oftimeto type. So its goingto go up in pices. I'll let ya know when it's done. Hopefully I have it completely up by the end of the week. It's actually pretty long. Thats why It's going to take so long. I am typing it up at lunch at school.:C

Fire and Rain


Rain pitter-pattered on the desplate rooftops of the city. It was a cloudy day, mildly warm but raining none the less. The rain itself was soft, not cold and driving. The sound was a warm melody in the streets, paird with the occasional roll of thunder that hummed in the air. Streaks of lightening provided flashes of light against the sky, clouds given a warm tone from the sun that they hid. It was nice actually, a reprive from the recent heat. The cities inhabitants were almost all in thier homes, enjoying time with thier families or listening to the rain.

A boy sat on a porch, watching the sheets of rain that fell around him. It was silvery rain, but beautiful. His sandy hair was damp from running around earlier. when it had first started raining. He had been looking for someone, but he had been unsuccessful in finding her. He knew that if she didn't want to be found she wouldn't be, but he alsoknew she was probably looking for him.

His golden eyes searched the darkness, waiting for a figure topart the rain and comeforward to greet him. He looked for that familiar face that warmed his heart. His best friend in this city was good at hiding, and he knew it.

"Jaythen" his father called, standing just inside the door. The young boy turned, as mile painting his face.
" Ya Dada?" He asked. His voice was strong, happy with youth and innocence.

" Did your friend show up?" his father asked him. The boy shook his head, smile gone to be replaced by a puzzled frown. He glanced back out into the darkness as if speaking of her would bring the girl to him.

" Don't stay out here too much longer, its supposed to get colder. And please stay on bthe porch. I've had reports from other merchants and Commander Charter that the Shadow Snakes are on the move." Johnathan Kairey smiled at his son. The artifact merchant was tall, well over six feet.

Jaythen winced inside as his father spoke of the gang. He knew they were on the move, informed by one of thier members. Coincidentally she was his best friend. He had always ignored what she did when he wasn't around. It wasn't really his buisness. He was just glad to have found a friend like her. It was almost like having Jofffrey back, but the snakebite that had taken his friend hand't been seen to in time to save the young girl.

He brought himself out of that well of sadness, image of the smiling girl vanishing from his thoughts. He looked backward, smiling to his father.
" Kay Dad, I'll be careful." He didn't say he would stay on the porch. He knew that his father would be unhappy, and that it caused him to worry. The crinkles at the edges of the mans eyes weren't from laughing, but from worry and sadness. Ever since his wife Serirame had died he had thrown himself into his work to keep from falling into depression. Jaythen was one of the few people left that brought him happiness. The man nodded, turning and walking back onto the house. The boy watched his fathers shoadow recede into the house until her couldn't see it any longer.

Then he was back to watching the rain. It was a little harder now, a silvery curtain in the darkness. It separated him from the city, keeping him in a dry bubble that felt safe and homelike. Jaythens thoughts drifted, and he let his gaze wander. He wasn't really concentrating, just sitting there staring off into the distance. Man, I wish she would get here. We were supposed to be gone almost an hour ago ! He shook his heas, clearing all the cluttered thoughtts.

There wasa thum above him and he jumped backwards. Someone swung over the edge, peering at him from upside down. It was a girl, green gray eyes twinkling. Her curtain of red black hair was soaked drops of water falling off the ends. She smiled, her face lighting up.

" Gotcha." She said lightly. Jaythen relaxed.
" Jeeze Shinrah! I was about to have a heart attack!" The boy exclaimed. The girls smile grew wider. She flipped landing with the grace of a cat on the wet ground.
" Showoff." He muttereed as he sat back down on the porch step.
" I heard that. Don't worry so much. You heard me well enough You know I'd never do anything to hurt you, and that inclused scaring you to death. No matter how much fun that would be." She snigered. The boy thumped her on the shoulder lightly, happily playing the part of someone who was well and truly mad.

" Aw, I know. I was just kidding with ya." They sat there for a few moments in companionable silence watching the rain beat on the ground and collect in pools of dirt and skywater.

A light went out across the street, showing that someone was going to bed. Another light went out. The almost silence was blissful, only the sounds of the rain and a far off crocdog butting in. After a whiole the streetlights came on, the electricity powering them up.

" So what made you so late? You're usually here early." Jaythen finally asked, breaking the silence. Shinrah's happy face flashed with worry and something akin to anger, but it was gone in an instant.

" Darren had a clan meeting. The Kg found the Water Street Den a few weeks ago and those stupid guards are slowly but surely learning to pick out the signs of a den. Darrren Worries the Willow Den or the Dragonfly Den is next, and we can't afford to lose either of them at this point."

She sighed in frustration. Over the past year or so she had been learning street polotics, and there was alot to learn.

" Ok, so lets go check out haven forest then. I mean, I've never seen it at night. I think we should go check it out." The boy jumped up, ready to go. His golden eyes seemed to glow with excitement and he joined Shinrah under the red eco shield she had made. Something in the way she was reluctant to move struck him as odd. She was always ready to get in trouble, always ready to risk everything on some stupid adventure.

" Shinrah?" He questioned. The girl looked over to him, eyes brighter more vivid green It was a green that made one think of fear. Jaythen knew something was wrong, but not what it was.

" Let's wait until tomorrow." She said suddenly. There was no hesitation in her voicem just a thin ribbon of unease. It was out of place in her voice, and she was biting her lip.

" Shinrah, what's wrong? You're afraid of something."" The puzzlement in his voice masked the worry and concern that he was feeling. The boy looked at his best friend and saw not a strong devious girl but someone who was afarain of something, something out of her hands,

" I can't go out at night for a while. The city has assasin to kiill the assasins." It dawned on Jaythen. She was learning to be a killer and they were hunting her for it. His head hung low, unsure what to do.

" Tomorrow then?" He questioned, and Shinrah nodded. He felt something in his stomach unknot. It was a ball of feelings, fear,unease, and concern all rolled up together.

" I'll see you bright and early then." She nodded, and was gone.

The sun was gone, having sunk below the horizon line. It left only cold gray clouds on the horizon line. They were lit by occasional flashes of lightining, but that was it.

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`



The next morning dawnee cold and wet. It had rained all night, loud crashes of thunder not abating until the odd ours of the morning. There was mist swirling arounf clinging to everything with a sodden determination. There were sparkling drops of water everywhere, showing that the once parched earth had not absorbed them into her skin.No one was moving, avoiding the wet and rain if they could.

One young person was awake. His shock of gold hair was spiked from sleep, and he brushed his fingers through it to tame the wild locks. He was waiting for a friend, for Shinrah

And all morning he waited

And waited

And waited.

Time passed by slowly, bt it passed. Hours went by quickly

[imelza0]

Wow, totally forgot that I promised that I would enter. The story is roughly half done, though I hope to have it done soon. Agh. Sorry, guys.

[princedee]

Try to get in within 3 days. That's when the voting time will begin.

[imelza0]

Okay. I'll try to finish it tonight. Stats homework first though. 0_o

[imelza0]

Underground

Kait woke up; lulled out of her pleasant sleep by her mother’s cheerful humming wafting from the kitchen. Her scraggly long brown hair swished over her shoulders as she stretched her arms and popped her back, glittering slightly gold in the early morning sun coming in through her window. She stumbled through her house still half asleep, blinking her eyes and rolling her shoulders to try to wake herself up.
She walked into the kitchen, where her mother was patiently cleaning dishes from the previous night’s party. Many people that worked with Kait’s father had been there, but of course she wasn’t allowed to interfere with what they had talked about. It was grown-up stuff after all.

Her mother smiled as she walked in. “Glad to see you’re up, sleepyhead. Did you get enough sleep last night? I know you went to bed pretty late after everyone left.” Her mom dried her hands on a towel hanging from a hook on the wall and gave Kait a morning hug.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Where’s dad?” Kait wasn’t used to her father being gone this early in the morning. He usually stayed until at least she and her brother were up and ready to go to school, then he would leave for work.

“He had to leave for work early today. I’ll be leaving in a little while, too. He needed my help with some of his work today, but we should both be back before dinnertime.”

Kait regarded the absence of her father paired with the fact that her mother was going into help her father with his work highly suspicious, but she didn’t pursue questioning anymore, she was still a little tired, and nothing her parents could ever do would get them into trouble.

Her brother limped into the kitchen at that time, rubbing his eyes, wearing nothing but his boxers as usual. She elbowed him in the ribs as he walked past and asked him how he had slept.

“I was doing OK until you just hit me. You made any breakfast?”

Kait glared at him for being so rude, but she couldn’t be mad at him for long. Their mother had wandered off into the other parts of the house, and reentered the kitchen in a black suit carrying a black leather briefcase. This was the second highly suspicious thing Kait had seen this morning. Her mother never wore black, and Kait certainly didn’t know that she owned a black suit. Her brother forged ahead where normally caution would have been the better path.

“What’s up with the suit? You look like you’re off to a funeral. You got some kind of business you’re doing that we don’t know about?”

He laughed, and their mother returned the laugh, but shook her head. “No, your father just mentioned that he needed some help today at work, and I happened to find that this suit still fits. I think it looks rather nice, don’t you? Anyway, I have to leave soon, so you both will have to get ready to go to school on your own. There’s breakfast in the fridge, and please don’t be late.”

They both nodded, still not sure about their mother’s appearance. Kait shook her head and wandered over to the fridge while her mother fixed her hair in the hall mirror and searched for her keys. She pulled out a plate of bacon and waffles covered in plastic wrap, and put it on the counter, pulling out two plates and heating up a breakfast portion for bother her and her brother in the microwave. When she was finished, her mother came back over and kissed them both on the cheek, promising she would be back before dinner, and walked out the front door.

Kait’s brother Andrew immediately dropped his fork and sprung to the window, watching their mother leave through the garage. He motioned for Kait to come over to him silently, and she did so, tiptoeing over to the window, where her brother was peeking under the blinds at their mother. She was on a phone, though it was one that neither child had seen before, and was talking solemnly with whoever was on the other end of the call. After about five minutes, an all black zoomer pulled up, and the driver beckoned their mother to get on. Their mother smiled at the driver, and got on board, stopping for only a moment to lift the driver’s helmet visor and give him a kiss. It was their father.

Kait and Andrew’s parents drove off on the zoomer, and Andrew stumbled into his room as quickly as he could to dress. Kait followed him, plaguing him with questions all the way about what he was going to do.

Slamming the door in her face, and returning only a few seconds later fully dressed, he didn’t speak to her as he walked out into the hallway that lead to the front door. He had a pack in his hand, and was stuffing it with various things. Kait ran to her room for a coat and boots to put over her pajamas while Andrew packed, and ran out just as he was heading out the front door. He was heading across the street, to his best friend Lile’s house. Kait followed, her oversized boots slapping as she walked.

He reached Lile’s garage, and pulled the sliding door up, revealing an old but still functioning zoomer. Pulling spare keys out of his pocket, Andrew threw his pack onto the back of the zoomer and got on. Kait stood behind him so he couldn’t pull out of the confined space.

“I’m not moving until you tell me where you’re going.”

He stared at her with an angry scowl on his face for a few moments, then backed down. “I’m going to follow mom and dad. I want to know where they were going. Get out of my way, please.”

Kait paused for a second to think. Then she walked to the side of the zoomer, and positioned herself on the very back, with her arms around her brother. “I’m coming with you. Nothing that mom and dad could be doing would be important enough for you to know and not me. So I’m going with you.”

Her brother scowled angrily again, but started the zoomer anyway, and backed out of the room, barely managing to not scrape any of the paint on the door of the garage.

Once outside, they headed in the direction they had seen their parents go, but soon had to stop and ask which way the couple had gone. Finally, after almost an hour of fruitless chase around the city, one merchant in a square many miles away from Kait and Andrew’s home said he’d seen the couple they were looking for go into a building about a block away almost forty-five minutes before.

They raced around the corner to the building the man had pointed out, and parked the zoomer across the street. They both noticed the zoomer they had seen their parent riding parked about a hundred yards away from the building on the opposite side of the street. This was definitely the place.

The building was tall and square, with no windows, and only one steel door, with a handle on the outside. It was painted a slate grey, and other than the unornamented door, was completely unremarkable. Andrew picked his pack off the back of the zoomer, and slung it over his shoulder.

“Now I’m insisting you stay here. I don’t know what will be in there, because I don’t know what mom and dad have been doing. I’ll be back before you know it, though. I promise.”

He ruffled her hair, and walked off, and this time, Kait let him go. She was afraid of the building; it looked like an ogre looming above her, completely evil. She didn’t even warn her brother to be careful, or even tell him to return soon. She only managed to nod her head and watch him walk away, completely transfixed by the building.

He reached the door of the building and gave her a little wave before opening the door and going in. She only thought for a moment about the fact that the door was unlocked. Her father worked in an office, and if the building was an office building, of course the door would be unlocked. But, then again, if it was an office building, there would be signs above the door for what kind of office it was. Wouldn’t there? She shook her head and turned to observing the people on the street.

Many of them looked her way and continued walking, not caring who she was, but many of the people who walked past were guards, and seemed to take a special interest in her. A few even stopped only a few feet away from her and stared at her, as if considering something, then shook their heads and walked away. After she had been waiting about fifteen minutes, and was starting to get worried, one of the guards that was walking past decided to come over to talk to her. As he was on his way over, the ground started to rumble. He looked around, and began to run towards her with purpose.

The ground shook harder, and a nearby sewer grate in the street blew sky high, leaving a trail of smoke and flames behind it as soared up, the rocketed down again, landing on the street with a clang that Kait would never forget. Moments later, every other street grate in a mile radius did the same, all at slightly different times, creating a symphony of clangs so loud Kait was deafened. The rumbling continued, and turned into shaking, as the local merchants began to evacuate their stalls thinking this to be more than a simple earthquake. Pieces from nearby building began to fall off, and the recently evacuated merchant’s stalls fell to bits. The guard who had been running toward Kait had flinched and ducked when the grate blew, falling onto his side from the heavy armor he was wearing.

Kait was terrified, and only wished that Andrew would come back. She cowered behind the parked zoomer as the ground began to fracture and covered her head with her hands, tears streaming down her face. Finally, the door to the building across from her exploded outward, slamming into the wall next to her only a few feet away from where she was hiding. Behind the door came another pillar of flame, this one larger and hotter than the previous one from the grate had been, scorching her arms and burning her hair short. Kait screamed, wishing it would stop, but the flames spilling from the building continued. Finally, they petered off and the shaking ceased, though the ground that had been covered in flames from the explosion of the door was still burning. The entire episode couldn’t have lasted more than ten seconds, but to Kait it seemed like ten years. She waited for what seemed like hours after it was over, hiding behind the destroyed zoomer. Finally, she stood up.

The guard who had fallen was dead, killed by the explosion, and she could see that the grey building across the street was cracked all the way to the top, and was on the verge of falling apart. She glanced at her surroundings only long enough to realize that she didn’t want to be there anymore, and with renewed tears on her face, and KG sirens blaring in her ears, she began to run.

She ran for hours, not knowing where she was going, and only stopping when her crying got too severe, or when she had to stop for breath. She made her way home eventually, though she didn’t know how. She threw open the front door that she had forgotten to lock and slumped down behind it, burying her face in her knees and sobbing until she was empty.

She knew her brother was dead. There was no way that he could have survived that blaze. She also knew that her parents were most likely dead. But she didn’t want to think about it. All she wanted to do was cry.

And the next day, when she woke up on the floor covered in her own tears and blood from her oozing burns, she realized she was right. Her brother, nor her parents, had come home the night before.


_______________________________________________________

There we are. My entry for this contest. Just a warning, if this didn't really make sense with what you have seen of Kait on the boards, read her history because, though lengthy, it will make my story make much more sense. Anyway, I hope you all like it, and I look forward to the voting.

Also, I will not be entering the drawing or writing contest for next month, as it is the deathly month pf AP tests, so more people need to post entries so that not only one or two people are competing! ^^