Erin blinked her eyes in the bright moonlight. It wasn't that glaring; just the flow and ebb of the sounds made her want to open and close her eyes.
"Darn it." She shut her eyes and rocked gently on her heels, reaching out with her mind as the shells on the beach crooned sweetly. "I lost my......"
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Play Storytellers by adding to the story in the comments! Feel free to be as silly or creative as you like. The wackier, the better!
There are only three rules:
1. Keep it clean.
2. There may not be two comments in a row by the same person unless they're saying something unrelated to the story.
3. One story must be finished before another one is started.
Have fun!
There are only three rules:
1. Keep it clean.
2. There may not be two comments in a row by the same person unless they're saying something unrelated to the story.
3. One story must be finished before another one is started.
Have fun!
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About Storytellers
A couple of years ago there was a blog that I absolutely loved. They played a game just like this! It was loads of fun and I missed playing it so much I decided to create another one.
-Rebecca
-Rebecca
22 comments:
"I love my necklace."
She pictured the smooth, silver crescent and her father's disappointment as one. It was a family heirloom, one that she'd promised to be careful with.
What would he say if he knew she lost it the night after he'd gifted it to her? How could she face him?
She dug her fingers deep into the sand, feeling the wet grittiness of it clumping under her fingernails. It wasn't that father was a brute or anything, but he could shame her as no one else could. And the crescent had been more than a gift. It was a symbol of her approach to womanhood. A crescent for the girl child approacing her fullness.
The shells on the beach seemed to twang in sympathy and she hastily reigned in her mind's touch. She knew they'd find her eventually, but why make it easy for them?
She practiced the exercises Manta had been teaching her, letting the straining energies within her mind wash away like the tide. She withdrew her fingers from the sand and concentrated on her hands, her fingers, the way the wet grains felt against her fingertips.
If only Mother...
She slowly rose thinking what more could she do. Sand was sand and a very good cloaking mechanism in this such situation. She cried as she dragged her feet back over where she had past walked, what will he say, or even worse what won't he say. What if he just gives her that calm tone and sad eyes? She simply couldn't bear the thought of her fathers dismay.
If only mother had taken the time to teach her more control. Then she could focus more and wouldn't loose things. It was sad, but perhaps it wasn't all her mother's fault. Did she listen to all she should have? Oh dear, focus was still the problem. What was she going to tell her father? Why were the shells singing so loud? If only they would be quiet and she could focus her mind better. What?, she thought, as the shells got louder and louder. She then set her mind towards the shells. Oh how could she be so silly, the shells were telling her. . .
that Manta was coming. The shells were singing now, welcoming the Aged One. Indeed he was drawing near, her wise, ancient teacher. White underbelly flashing through the waves, the great ray slid through the water like an eagle in the blue expanse of sky.
A deep rumbling sounded, and the shells ceased their song.
"My child," he intoned deeply, "I sense your sadness. I know where you can find what you have lost. But first there is something you must do, for the good of all. You must..."
... put aside your selfishness and seek deep within for the one thing that would bring harmony back to your family."
She thought for a moment, searching her inner self. Why was the Aged One asking this of her? How could she possibly be the one to solve the undercurrents of discord that ran through her family? She knew it had been prophesied that her bloodline would be the one to bring in an era of peace to the land, and she knew that as long as she and her parents were at odds, the prophecy would never be fulfilled. But how could she be the key?
Suddenly, it came to her, and she realized ...
that her mother's child bearing years were not entirely over. Yes, that was it! An intense wave of relief washed over her and she pretended to yawn and stretch to hide a faint smirk from Manta's view. Really, she was surprised he hadn't had the same realization. Erin was not the girl for the job. She practically reeked of unsuitability. But just because she was the only child now didn't mean she always would be.
She debated whether or not to share her new theory with Manta, and shrugged and flashed him a toothy grin as she mulled it over. There. That immature reaction to his solemn pronouncement should be enough to dispell this crazy notion that she was destined to be a peacemaker for her people.
If Erin had paid more attention, she would have noticed the deepening of sorrow in Manta's eyes. He knew what she had thought, and knew it wasn't that easy. Erin was the prophesied child. Manta knew what Erin did not, that her mother had not survived the night.
Erin turned her thoughts towards. . .
...her mother, pushing a silken wave of amusement in her direction. She wished Mama were here to see the somber look on Manta's face. He was so stodgy and her and Mama often giggled together as if to provide a counterpoint to his over the top seriousness.
The mind push snapped back at her suddenly, sending her reeling backwards onto the hard packed sand. She knew that her back should hurt, that the wind should have been knocked out of her, but she was too busy fighting the pain throbbing in her head. She clutched at her temples, specks of sand rubbing against her tender skin as she massaged her fingers into her skull. The pain was intractable though and she let out a low moan, confused and hurting.
She turned to Manta, biting back the urge to weep from the intensity of it all. She saw sympathy in his soulfull blue-green eyes.
"Erin," he said quietly. "I came to tell you..."
....to wake up, WAKE UP,ERIN....WAKE UP, ERIN!!!
Feeling her entire body startled by incessant shaking and cold water, Erin widely opened her sweet cobalt blue eyes, steadily focusing on the voice coming from behind. It was brother, Gabe, who although younger than Erin, possessed maturity beyond his years. "Wake up, Erin", he kept repeating, as a feeling of pressure built up behind his eyes. His mind started to give in to his fears. "No tears, stay strong", he thought to himself. As Erin turned her head upward towards the mottled turquoise and white sky, Gabe's intense face came into focus. "I went swimming and...I don't know...I felt like I was swirling around and around and around...and had so many weird dreams!", Erin cried, her voice rhythmically interrupted by stuttering sniffles.
Echoing voices, coming from a distance, cried louder with each heartbeat. "Dad, we're over here", bellowed Gabe. Hand-in-hand, Dad and Mom frantically appeared over the white sandy mounds, with the breathtaking Disney World Carribean Resort enveloping their silhouettes from behind. "Do you know how long we've been looking for you? This is a big place, ya know! And, you go swimming without telling us?", Dad asked, not realizing that Erin just had a near-death experience. Erin gazed up into her dad's eyes, and said........
"Edward saved me! I knew he would come back for me!"
Dad's brow furrowed. "Erin, are you okay? Who is Edward?"
"It wasn't Edward?" Erin's eyes widened. Mustering what little strength she had regained, she managed to pull herself up. Turning her head quickly from side to side, she frantically scanned the beach in much the same manner as would a mother who had just realized her toddler was no longer at her side.
Suddenly she stopped. Squinting into the sun, Erin could make out a woman tossing a Frisbee to what appeared to be a golden retriever about fifty yards away.
"Jacob!" she shrieked. "You do love me!"
The adrenaline rush was enough to counter the effects of the almost drowning. Before any of her family members could register what was happening, Erin shot up and sprinted in what might be best described as a drunken beeline toward the woman and her unsuspecting dog.
"Jacob!" she exclaimed as she tackled the poor animal. "You saved me!"
The dog's owner quickly regarded her canine companion and what appeared to be a teenage drug addict who had begun to plant kisses on its head, mumbling something about werewolves being better because they were so warm.
"This must be one of those hidden camera shows," she decided. "I wonder where they put it. Could it be in that palm tree over there? Maybe it's in that rock..."
As she stood there waving at a nearby sand castle, her reverie was dashed to pieces by the breathless arrival of Erin's family.
"Erin!" her dad commanded. "Pull yourself together! That's a dog girl!"
Erin wouldn't let go. "Jacob! Thank you for saving me." She cried. "Hold me Jacob. Hold me. Hold me. . .Why are you licking me Jacob? Am I yours now? Did I become yours? Did you bite me? Jacob!" Erin's voice rose to a near panicked pitch. "What have you done to me."
"Nothing." the dog crooned in Erin's ear. "Nothing my dear. You saved me. I'm not Jacob. But you have saved me, and in saving me you have saved yourself."
"What do you mean? What's your name?" Erin asked, ignoring the increasingly concerned looks on the faces of her parents.
"My name is. . .
...what? My name is what? My name is what? Slim Shady".
Erin stared at the dog. "Jacob, don't you know me?"
"Oh no!" Erin's mother wailed. "She must have hit her head harder than we thought!"
Her father took her by the arm and let her quickly up the beach, away from the lady who was now waving at a large oyster shell, oblivious to their leaving.
Her mother was terribly upset. "We have to find a doctor fast! Quick, find a first-aid station!"
Dad had to resort to carrying Erin, who had dropped on the sand, making swimming motions while saying "Who is Slim Shady? Is that a nickname for the Volturi?"
Erin's brother Gabe ran ahead a few feet. He stopped, pointing. "There's someone who can help us!"
Mom's face looked dubious. "Are you sure?"
As Erin began mumbling about cliffs and Edward not showing up, Dad said, "She's getting worse, and there's only one way to find out."
Imagine their surprise when the distant stranger came into view, his pale skin glinting diamond like in the mid-afternoon sun. Erin struggled her way free from her father's arms and ran towards the stranger crying out, "Edward! Edward!"
"Erin!" The young man's deep, throaty voice boomed out above the roar of the surf. The two young people ran towards each other, their strong lithe limbs pumping energetically in their eagerness to reach each other.
Alas, that reunion was not destiny as Erin and Edward may have supposed, for at the very moment when they were about to hurl themselves into each other's arms...
...there was a bright FLASH and a big poof of glittery smoke. When it settled down, both Erin and Edward had disappeared.
Erin's family stood helplessly, staring at the empty space in shock.
Grumpy (of the seven dwarfs), who was taking a break to buy a sno-cone gave a "hmphf".
"Vampires and humans--never works. The hot and cold collide too quickly and BOOM!. Nothing but steam."
Erin's family were very, very somber as they went to their hotel to pack up to leave.
They drove to the airport, back to their mundane lives, without their daughter and sister. Their eyes were red-rimmed from grief.
Breaking the sniffly silence of the car, Mother tearfully said...
"I was actually rather fond of that Earthling. I will miss her terribly"
"As will I," replied Erin's father. He sighed. "I suppose There's nothing we can do about it now. We will have to return to Sylphanon Prime and suffer the consequences of the failure of our mission."
Turning off on a side street, they parked the car and got out. A quick survey of their surroundings told them they were alone.
As one, the three beings who Erin had believed all her life to be her blood relatives, reached up with both hands and tugged on their ears. Their "skin" fell off, revealing creatures with bright orange scales on their chests and purple fur running up and down their backs.
Their disguises shed, the smallest one, who had gone by the name of "Gabe", lifted his left leg and touched it to his right elbow.
"Ballazor reporting. The mission has ended unexpectedly in failure. Request extraction."
A shimmering, fluorescent yellow light briefly engulfed the three beings. It only lasted a second before it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. When the light was gone, so were they.
THE END
I think my husband is a bit...insane.
Bravo, everyone!
Just kidding, James. Kinda. No, really I am ;) Love you!
Well, honey, it's like I once told my friend, Kurt, "I never claimed to be sane." ;-)
When does the next story start?
When Kim, L.T., or James start another one. I don't want to do two in a row. So...whoever wants to, jump right in!
Dedee, if you'd like to be an author send me an email at one cool cucumber at gmail dot com, no spaces.
That's a serious invitation, by the way. We can always use authors to jump in with a new story! I would have sent you an invite directly if I had your email address.
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