Thursday, February 28, 2013

100 Words a Day 200

When he thought back on his time in Spain, walking down boulevards on warm nights, the sound of the city gently caressing his ear, it brought pain to his heart. It was the pain one experiences when the mind turns to a true love you were separated from, not by anger or waned affection, but by circumstance, sudden and cruel.

He continued down the cold, narrow street, the sun bathing him in frigid light. He sighed and watched his breath spread out before him. He was shocked from his reverie by a blaring honk and leapt back to the curb.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

100 Words a Day 199, 36 Plots 36/36

The drug deal had gone terribly wrong.

Chad and Sara were staring down the barrel of Julian’s gun.

“Shit,” Chad said to Sara.

“Well,” Julian said, causing both Chad and Sara to snap their heads, focusing on Julian’s cold eyes.

“You only came up with half of the money,” Julian said.

“We told you,” Chad implored, putting up his arms. “Jack stole the other half of the payment. We’ll get the rest together. Just give us a chance.”

“I’ll give one of you a chance,” Julian said; right before coolly pulling the trigger.

Chad was thrown backwards by the impact.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

100 Words a Day 198, 36 Plots 35/36

She lifted up the pillow and saw the grey cube.

“Companion Cube!” she cried, gathering the fuzzy thing in her arms.

The cube didn’t respond.

“I was looking all over for you,” she continued. “I was worried I’d lost you forever.”

The cube was silent, but then, it always was. That never stopped her though.

“Mom, I found it. I found Companion Cube,” she said, running down the hall, each step crashing with the volume only a child is capable of.

“That’s nice dear. I knew you’d find him,” her mother said.

“It’s not a him mom. It’s an it.”

Monday, February 25, 2013

100 Words a Day 197, 36 Plots 34/36

The rugged switch made a loud click as he turned it off.

“Now,” the spindly man said, “I believe we were discussing the hidden location of the secret rebel base.”

Shaking his head, the prisoner tried to clear his vision. After spitting a bloody mouthful, he let his head sag, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The interrogator’s angular face sank, his predatory smile becoming a frown.

He shook his head with a tsk tsk, “that won’t do at all. I already know you’re involved. Why do you shield the rebels? It just means their punishment falls on you.”

Sunday, February 24, 2013

100 Words a Day 196, 36 Plots 33/36

The window broke with a crash.

“Damn it! Not again Jeffery! When I get my hands on you…”

It was several hours later when Frank threw open the door to the hop. He had known the kids would be there.

“Jeffery, you’ll pay for my window.” He roared as he stalked towards the teenager.

“I didn’t break your window, Frank!” the boy shouted, hands raised. “I was behind the fryer all day.”

“It’s true, Frank,” Shelly said, wrapping her hands around Jeffery’s arm.

“It was Travis who did it, Frank. I saw him do it.” Luke insisted, stepping forward boldly.

100 Words a Day 195, 36 Plots 32/36

“Did you see Regis has a new cloak?” Gil asked Yurk.

“Yes! I bet he stole it, and I bet Lork helped him!”

“Do I detect a hint of jealous?” Gil asked slyly.

“More than a hint I would say. It’s fine though. Regis won’t have it for long. Soon he’ll be jealous of my new cloak.”

Yurk was about to continue, but he saw Lork slipping through the crowded street.

“There’s that two-faced cutpurse now,” Yurk said. He began walking towards the street.

“Not worth it, Yurk,” Gil said, placing his hand on his friend’s shoulders. “Get him later.”

Friday, February 22, 2013

100 Words a Day 194, 36 Plots 31/36

“Father, what would you have of me?” Thalk asked his father, his voice echoing weirdly through the dream realm they spoke in.

“My son, a mortal, one Goshu, has offended me, stolen what is mine. You must destroy him and recover my treasure.”

“Yes father. What has he taken from you?”

“The miserable human invaded my temple, assaulted my priests, and stole my Golden Hand. Even now he is planning to barter it for the superficial pleasures of the flesh.”

Goshu felt the sack containing the golden hand slap against his thigh, each thump a comforting reminder of his fortune.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

100 Words a Day 193, 36 Plots 30/36

“And what to do with this young upstart,” the queen mused. “She looks at my crown with ambitious eyes.”

She continued to stroll around the room, stroking the sleeve of her gown.

“I’ve seen the way the king looks at her, gazes into those eyes I’ve heard him compare to emeralds.”

Her face screwed up in anger, “emerald green with envy!” she shouted.

The bell rang.

“Enter,” she said, turning to face the door.

“Your highness,” the young girl at the door said, bowing.

“You!” the queen exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“I have a gift for you, queen.”

100 Words a Day 192, 36 Plots 29/36

“Ugh!” his sister shouted. “Why do you date her? She’s such a tool.”

“What are you talking about?” he responded, walking over to where she was sitting.

“Did you see what she posted?”

“Uh, no.”

“You need to look at this,” she said, turning her laptop so he could read the post.

“Okay,” he said, scanning the page. “What’s the problem?”

“Look at that! I can’t believe you can’t figure out what’s wrong with it."

“Got nothing,” he said, shaking his head.

“She’s so needy! She makes comments like that just so people will feel bad for her.”

“Not really.”

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

100 Words a Day 191, 36 Plots 28/36

He whipped his head around, averting his eyes, when she looked up at him. He kicked himself mentally again. Why didn’t he just say he to her? He wanted to talk to her, but he was just too shy. After finishing his internal berating, he looked and saw she’d left.

Why did he always look away, she asked herself. She wished he would come over and say something; she could tell he liked her. She’d have said something, but she was too shy. Instead, she got up and carried her tray past his table. They locked eyes for a moment.

100 Words a Day 190, 36 Plots 27/36

The sound of the TV wafted down to Terrance as he folded the laundry. They discovered another body. He shivered a little, the other gruesome murder scenes coming to mind.

Terrance was putting his sister’s laundry basket in her room when he noticed her diary, open. Hoping to find something worthy of blackmail, he began pouring over the neatly written pages.

He found something far different than the name of her crush.

There was a detailed account of a murder, the one he had just heard about on TV to be exact.

He stumbled backwards when he heard a footstep.

100 Words a Day 189, 36 Plots 26/36

“You’re hogging the blanket!” John yelled.

“No, you’re hogging it!” Jane responded.

It was night and it was cold. John and Jane loved their blanket setup: it was comfortable, easy to clean, and worked when they were both in town or when one of them was out of town.

The only problem was that in the winter, they both tried to steal the blanket.

It caused a strain on their relationship, so much so they’d seen a therapist about it.

Everything was resolved though. They still had the occasional blanket theft, but they always worked things out in the end.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

100 Words a Day 188, 36 Plots 25/36

“I can’t do beers tonight, Bob. Something came up at work,” John said into the phone after his friend’s voicemail greeting.

“Hey Honey, there’s some bad traffic out here and rather than sit in it and get home late anyways, I’m going to grab a bite to eat and hopefully it will clear up. Don’t hold dinner for me.”

Jenny hung up the phone and turned to John, smiling. “Now that that’s out of the way, what do you say we have that surprise you promised?”

John smiled back at her and opened the door behind him, into the bedroom.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

100 Words a Day 187, 36 Plots 24/36

Sergeant Wong and Private Ming came upon the treasure together. They locked eyes and saw the gold glitter each other’s gaze.

“Sergeant Wong, we should split this. We both found it,” Ming said.

“No Ming, I am the sergeant; I’ll take it all.” As he finished his statement his fist shot towards his subordinate.

Ming tried to dodge the meteor fist, but he wasn’t fast enough. It slammed into the side of his head and sent him reeling to the floor.

Without a glance back, Sergeant Wong grabbed the chest of gold and walked out, leaving Ming on the floor.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

100 Words a Day 186, 36 Plots 23/36

“Sorry Zed, but I deserve the money,” Patrick said as he pushed his brother off the bridge.

Earlier that day, their father gave up the ghost in his hospital bed.

Both Zed and Patrick had been preparing for this for some time. The old man had been sick and they were greedy. Consequently, the opened his will shortly after finishing with the hospital paperwork.

The will said that all his possessions should be divided among his remaining kin, of which there were two, Zed and Patrick. Neither was happy about it, but they hid their disappointment until crossing the bridge.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

100 Words a Day 185, 36 Plots 22/36

Kyle made a special trip to the bank to get his five pennies exchanged for a nickel. He had to run to make it to his night shift on time.

There was no one at the facility, and the only, lonely sound was created by his worn shoes. Bored and hungry, he made his way to the break room and approached the vending machine. Extracting his last dollar, and the nickel acquired earlier, he pondered his selection.

He inserted his money and pushed D9, a Snickers bar. The coil turned, but the candy bar became stuck, leaving Kyle with nothing.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

100 Words a Day 184, 36 Plots 21/36

When she heard about her brother’s condition she was the first to step forward. She would donate her organs so he could live. She wouldn’t last much longer anyway.

The last thing she remembered was being rolled into the operating room. The surgery was routine. After her organs were removed, things went awry.

The doctor left the operating room, briefly. One of the nurses saw him speaking to a man through the surgery window.

When the doctor returned, he told them the organ was going to a different man. They wheeled in Richard Kain, the wealthiest man on the island.

Monday, February 11, 2013

100 Words a Day 183, 36 Plots 20/36

He sat, waiting. The soldiers broke his door down, but he didn’t stir. He pushed the sound of their heavy boots from his mind.

They found him sitting, the eye of the storm they had created upon entering his house. With the thrust of a spear, the man’s meditation was ended forever.

The underpeople heard about the death of the man. His words had circulated among them and he had many followers. His death only grew their numbers.

It was only a few at first, but the number daily. When the brutish overseers came, they simply sat, silent and unmoving.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

100 Words a Day 182, 36 Plots 19/36

The young man arrived at the castle with a letter, seeking redress from the old captain of the guard for old grievances on behalf of a woman.

The two men, one young and one old, stared at each other from across the small ring. They began to circle slowly, holding their spears before them, death in their eyes.

The young man charged first, driven by impatience. The old man casually readjusted and skewered the boy.

He pulled his spear out and turned around. A moment later he felt a sharp pain in his kidney.

“That’s for mother,” his son said.

100 Words a Day 181, 36 Plots 18/36

“You can’t tell anybody!” she said.

“Why not? It’s cute,” Ashley replied.

‘You can’t tell anyone,” she repeated.

“So, you’ve never guess who Cecilia has a crush on,” Ashley said into the phone, idly winding the cord around her finger.

“Max!” she replied. It flashed through her mind that she had just betrayed her friend’s trust, but she forgot about it.

The next day Cecilia was in the bathroom crying.

Amy smiled cruelly, doing her makeup in the mirror. No doubt Max had found out. Now was her chance to talk to him. Maybe they could go to the movies.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

100 Words a Day 180, 36 Plots 17/36

It seemed like a good idea. They were in San Francisco, at the top of a hill with a steep lip, and in a car. What else were they supposed to do?

They floored it and went hurtling towards the slope. The car sailed into the air before smashing nose first into the pavement.

After disentangling themselves from the airbags they found the doors had bent and wouldn’t open. They hauled themselves free of the car by the sunroof and inspected the damage. There were several fluids flowing away from the car and they could see the radiator was toast.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

100 Words a Day 179, 36 Plots 16/36

It was one teabagging too many. It pushed him over the edge. Raging crimson, he staggered to the closet and got his railgun. Loading it with shurikens, he stormed down to the videogame café.

Throwing open the door, he leveled the shuriken cannon at Eric, his habitual online antagonist.

“Die camping bitch!” he cried, sending shurikens ricocheting around the room. Eric dove away from the missiles repeatedly. He used the time to close with the other boy. When he was close enough, he hit him with the butt of his rifle.

The police report said he used a baseball bat.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

100 Words a Day 178, 36 Plots 15/36

The sense of betrayal overwhelmed any fear of death as the hatchet descended. He’d given as good as he’d got, but there were two of them and he didn’t want to hurt his wife.

He’d walked in on them, his wife and her lover, embracing. He shouted at the other man to get away from her.

The two separated, and all of them began arguing. He turned to his wife to ask her why. While he was turned, the other man struck.

From the floor he heard the other man insist it was the chance they had been waiting for.

100 Words a Day 177, 36 Plots 14/36

The brothers stood in the dusty street, facing each other. They were alone; the rest of the town had sought shelter against the imminent gunfight.

“Annabelle’s mine, brother.” One said.

“Over my dead body.”

The two continued to stare, hands hovering over their six shooters, vibrating with anticipation.

They knew each other very well, each narrowing of the eyes or twitch of the lips was noted, but still they waited for the perfect moment.

They were drawing the fatal breath when someone appeared at the saloon door.

“Annabelle!” they both called, “what are you doing?”

“Jimmy I’ll be yours forever.”

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

100 Words a Day 176, 36 Plots 13/36

“Why Gorth, to what do I owe the honor?” Galin said with a mocking bow.

“Don’t mock me brother, or I shall leave you to rot in exile.”

“I don’t believe so. It was a long trip, you must have something important to discuss.”

“Garath has become a nuisance. It’s time he be removed from the line of succession.”

“Murder our own brother? You recall why father sent me away, don’t you?”

“Father is dying. If you assist me, I will lift your exile.”

“As you wish, brother.”

It was the day after Gorth’s ascension when Galin’s blade found him.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

100 Words a Day 175, 36 Plots 12/36

The two children tugged on the toy with pintsized might.

“It’s my turn!” one screamed.

“No! You just got it!” the other responded.

They two broke off their cries, but neither released the toy, as their mother entered the room with footsteps like thunder.

“What’s going on here?” she demanded.

“It’s my turn mommy!” one insisted.

“No, it’s not. You had it last time!” the other countered.

Their mother sighed, “Every day this week I’ve had to resolve this issue. If you can’t learn to share, neither of you can have it.”

With that she snatched the toy and left.

100 Words a Day 174, 36 Plots 11/36


“I set a great task before you today, a series of challenges and riddles. To overcome them is to be raised above all others and to know that you are great.”

The students began attempting to decipher the series of math problems before them, occasionally glancing up at the Pedestal of Greatness, upon which the first to finish would sit.

After a half an hour into their exam when their teacher spoke up, “I’ll give you a hint: you have to tackle it from a right angle.”

A few more minutes passed and one of the students jumped up: “Eureka!”

Saturday, February 2, 2013

100 Words a Day 173, 36 Plots 10/36

It was his brother’s birthday and their mother had bought his favorite cupcake. It sat, taunting Jack, in the refrigerator.

Jack waddled towards the kitchen, his small legs barely supporting him. His mother was folding laundry, his brother at the toy store.

In the kitchen, Jack stared up at his adversary. He staggered towards the gargantuan device that kept all the delicious things, kept them from his pudgy fingers.

He reached up towards the door handle. What luck! Jack had grown enough to grasp it. After opening the door, he took the cupcake and waddled back to the living room.

Friday, February 1, 2013

100 Words a Day 172, 36 Plots 9/36


“That Grabowski! How his meddling vexes me!”

“And how is that master?” his hunchback asked.

“The rapscallion had the audacity to break into my chambers while I was in a delicate situation with the governor’s daughter. She fainted straight away!”

“Most unfortunate master.”

“Fortunately I was able to take up my rapier, although I was forced to defend myself in my undergarments. I had him cornered, at my mercy, and I was about to end his disruptive interference when a wardrobe malfunction reversed our positions. Laughing, he took my favorite hat, and the governor’s daughter, before escaping!”

“Most unfortunate master.”