We'll do a short story contest...The story cannot be much longer than 500 words.(no more than 100) It can be an interesting piece of a story...as long as it feels complete in and of itself. Must not be copied. No Plagieurism,cursing,or magic. Keep it clean. I'll start off with the first bit. Hope you enjoy this thread. I'll be waiting to see what kind of stories we get!

   It was nearly midnight, and a fierce storm was underway. Lightning flashed as Branden poked his head out of the water. He pulled himself up onto the shore. He hastily scanned the area in hopes of catching a glimpse of the lab. Again, lightning flashed, and as it lit up the sky, Branden could see the smoldering ruins of his lab. As it started pouring down rain, Branden sighed. His sons were far away; his home was destroyed into flaming ruins, which were soon put out by the now torrential rains. "You've left me with no choice, Black Hawk," Branden Lee declared as he shook his head. With that, he turned around and took off running through woods--once so friendly and cheery, but now ferocious and dismal. With the lightning lighting the sky, he saw what used to be his shed; but now, it too was destroyed. Drenched and undaunted he got to work throwing the debris out of the way. In a couple minutes, he had cleared the ruins of his old shed. Next, he moved forward to open the trapdoor; and he descended into the underground tunnel. This tunnel look as though it will collapse soon...I'd best get out of here soon. Branden ran along, empowered by his fury...Still dripping wet, he made it to his garage--where he kept the battleship...FaithFighter...he had come to call it. And across from it, he could see the vault...he stepped forward,and turned the dial of the combo lock...right to 4, left to 9, right to 0. The huge vault door squeaked and rumbles open. "Correct code entered.take 1 normal step forward" the computer voice announced. "Provide correct password." "the LORD is my Strength and my Shield: I shall not be afraid." Branden answered. "Correct password entered...What is your motive?" the computer asked. "My sons, the inventions that GOD has given me have been kidnapped. Black Hawk has destroyed our home; and my latest prototypes have been taken as well--or destroyed with my home. I fear their use for evil instead of good." Branden replied. "Clean motive," the computer spoke, "you spoke truth...access granted." With that the bars that sealed the vault unlatched and slid out of the way. The door opened. Inside was a prototype suit he had been working on. It gave him much protection from attack, Ice storm, sonic block, night vision, and a jetpack. he strapped on his yellow, red-flamed power suit. With every ounce of determination of his spirit, he proclaimed. "Black Hawk, get ready to meet...A Father's Fury!" With that, he boarded the FaithFighter and flew into the distance...

FaithFighter : That's a good short story Faith, this isn't really my expertise but I gave it my best attempt. Hope you like it

"Hey! What are you doing here?" asked Jerome, "Do you know how long I have searched for you?" ...
Kai let out a deep lazy yawn and stretched his arms, "do you mind? I came here to get some peace and quiet. Besides that,
You should have known to look here for me, we always come here to get away from the noisy city"..
Kai wasn't very concerned about Jerome's exhaustion, still adjusting his eyes to the glare as the sun was setting.
Above the two friends was a very large tree, this tree was atop a steep hill. The wind blew softly on the leaves,
They could hear the soft chirping of birds and flapping of wings as the birds chased each other around in the highest branches.
"Your family is waiting for you to return home, Kai" spoke Jerome after regaining his breath. "Oh I'm in trouble aren't I?"
Jerome leaned down and held out his hand, Kai lifted his own and was pulled to his feet. "You're going to be in trouble if
you don't hurry up and get back, let's go"
Both the boys hurried off down the hill and away from the large tree that sat on the steep hill. Through the lush green fields
and across the fresh water stream. Jerome was already running out of breath again, "slow down Kai, there's something I haven't yet..."
Kai stopped as he reached the entrance to the city walls, "where is that smoke coming from?" He asked, puzzled for a second
.. Something wasn't quite right. Jerome was about to answer, before quickly grabbing onto Kai's shoulder.
"Quick! They're coming!" He yelled. "Oh no it can't be" Kai was shocked. They ran down the gravelled roads towards the lights
glowing through the windows of the city structures, "Get in the house! They're nearly here! Quickly they shut the door!"
Kai's brother and sister were in a frantic state pushing chairs and tables and heavy cabinets against the doors.
stacking them up on top of the other. "Quick the Dragons are coming!" stormed Jerome ... they paused as silence fell over the city.
As if they were waiting, listening. The sound of wings could be heard in the distance...

RockmanXLan : Nice little cliff hanger at the end. At first, I did not think that anything was going to build up, but you surprised me. Nice job!

I thought it was going to be easy but it wasn't. The not being able to finish or write more than 500 words made it a little difficult to keep a decent amount of story and make more sense of it. I gave my fairest effort and it didn't even take very long.

Really now I'm wondering how much awesomeness novel writers and story writing has in it. Though you would have to put so much more time than a measly half an hour.

RockmanXLan : All right...apparently, this thread is not going as well as I had hoped. Maybe another story piece will spice things up a bit...

By the time he opened his eyes, he could feel that he was bound. His whole body was racked with pain. What could he do now? The world was in trouble; and here he lay, in a dark, dank cell. The stench of the place made him nauseated. He managed to get a finger out, then two. He picked and picked at the mattress, digging for something. "Aha!" He exclaimed to himself. Reaching his two fingers into the hole that he had made, he pulled, and pulled. He desperately tried to not lose a hold of it. Finally, it snapped. He pulled it out of the mattress. The sharp end of this broken spring turned out to be just the thing to tear through the ropes that bound him with the grip of death. "my KING, my mission is not complete. I have more work yet to do. Don't fail me now." With much effort, he broke through the ropes and broke free. "YES! I'm free!" he exclaimed. "Now, if I could just squeeze through the bars..." he mumbled to himself. Slowly, he made his way through. He just about got his entire body through.
However, his head was stuck! To make things worse, he could hear the heavy footsteps of the guards. They were coming for him. No, my LORD, he whispered frantically. I have not completed the task YOU have given me. They were coming closer. He knew why they were coming. His heart pounded so hard that he feared that the guards would hear it. He began to wriggle his head through a little; but got stuck on his ear. He could hear them talking...They came closer. He began to pull his head through again. Slowly, very slowly. He was almost there. "This is taking forever!" he thought to himself. "Why are they not here yet?" Looking far to the right as he could, he could see their shadows. "I guess this is it..." he sighed to himself. And let go. It was at that moment he let go that he was out of the cell. Realizing he was free, he ran...

Charlie pulled into the garage and cut the headlights.  Night arrived quickly in October and the neighborhood was dark.  The lone streetlight had a a close friend in the form of an evergreen and the city never trimmed the tree to allow light in the cul-de-sac. 

"I need night vision goggles," Charlie said to himself.

And he froze.  Looking out of the garage, he didn't dare breathe.

It defied logic.  There's no way it was standing in the street, looking toward him.

The word dinosaur came to mind first but that wasn't it.  It stood in the street, ducking its head under the bare tree branches.  Moonlight glinted off the eyes and hints of large teeth sparkled.  Long talons grew from two feet and scales worked their way up its body.  It sniffed the air.

Charlie debated reality.  He didn't think the thing could fit into the garage but his eyes darted to the front door.  It was shut, locked.  He could close the garage door but the beast look more than capable of battering it.  The thing glanced down the street.  He took a step further into the shadows.  His foot slide along the concrete.

The beast's head snapped toward him.  It let out a low, gutteral hiss.  It took a step toward the house.  The car was still unlocked.  Charlie could pull the door and get in.  What could any animal do to a car?  He thought of elephants and rhinos.  He'd hold off.  He could wait out the beast.

It's head cut left.  A figure was walking a dog.  The beast melted between the houses.  Charlie marveled at its stealth.  The figure drew closer, was a woman.  The beast lunged.  The dog barked and the woman screamed.  Charlie took the opportunity, unlocked his door, threw himself inside.  He knew it was crazy but he locked the door.  He fled through the dark house to the bedroom and closed his eyes.

The pillow over his head didn't drown out the woman's screams.  They went on for a while.  Then stopped.

The dog's barks were cut off suddenly.

warmaker : Nice fright story...quite intense. It's a whole in itself yet leaves you wondering what might happen next.

I thought, 'This looks fun! Let's give it a shot!' This time, I had a little fun playing with a very mean main character/narrator. It's a little long (560 words), but you said it could be about a hundred words over 500... Sorry if I misunderstood that. I titled this piece, 'Chocolate.'

---

Nobody had a care in the world that day, as is the case in days like those- days when wind’s song whistles through the trees and clouds amble across the blue sky, days when birds and pink-cheeked schoolgirls are both all a-twitter. This heavy air of optimism and possibility descended most heavily upon skipping, humming Julia, her Mary Jane shoes clacking against the cobbles, hair flying back and swinging her satchel as she danced down the lane towards the schoolhouse in the distance. A natural singleton, Julia took solace in her own company and made the trek to school each day invariably alone, though in various stages of satisfaction.

But today, Julia had no reason to be upset with the world, considering her homework was completed, she’d successfully turned a boy down for a dinner date the previous day (because, although she had no interest in dating at the present, she was quite flattered that she was considered ‘worthy girlfriend material’ by some), her father had promised her a boat ride on the lake when she returned from her lessons, and she was holding in one hand a bar of chocolate. This was no regular chocolate, but the finest, most expensive Belgian variety that one could find in their little town, compliments of Julia’s mother, who believed sugar nourished the soul when it was given in modest amounts.

Julia nibbled on the chocolate as she frolicked to school, a little bite here and a little bite there. It had been her intention to make it last until lunch, when she could devour it in front of a hoard of jealous onlookers (considering the difficulty in obtaining quality chocolate now that it was rationed for the War), but the temptation of the blissful taste overcame her almost sadistic sense of general lording over others, so she made a compromise: half on the way, and the rest at the lunch hour.

She’d just finished the half she’d allotted herself when she heard the greeting: “Julia!” She turned her head daintily and flashed a little pearly smile, just charming enough to suit one such as her. It was Alexander, the same boy she’d turned down just yesterday. “Julia!” he repeated. “Wait up!”

“Hello, Alexander,” she said. “I hope you don’t think your approach yesterday means we’re suddenly acquaintances.”

“Not at all,” said Alexander, a blush creeping upon his cheeks and the back of his hands. “I was hoping you changed your mind, that’s all.”

“I most certainly did not.”

“A pity,” Alexander mumbled. Then his eyes honed in on the chocolate, as if radar finding a sub. “Is that European chocolate?”

“As unattainable to you as a woman’s affections,” Julia sniffed.

“No need to be so rude,” Alexander replied. “I was just wondering.”

“Well, wonder no more.”

They walked along in silence for a moment, and a rather nasty but interesting idea popped into Julia’s head. Like most sixteen-year-old girls with no filter, that meant it popped out of her mouth as well. “Would you give someone chocolate so they’d be your friend?”

“There’s no point,” said Alexander. “Why should I pay someone to be my friend if they don’t want to? If they hate me, I don’t want to spend time with them, so it makes more sense to give them chocolate to leave me alone.”

“Very well then,” said Julia, snapping off a piece and handing it to him. “There you go.”

Dragonlord Stephi : Wow, that was pretty good. You developed your character very well, and the dialogue was superb. I've tried a lot of dialogue, but I have never done that well with it. Alexander was pretty smart, I would say! Maybe he did not get the girl, but he got the chocolate! I'm sure it was sweeter than her personality! Oh, by the way, I had left room for about a hundred word gap. So you are completely fine!


Singelli : I haven't talked to you for a while. i wasn't informed about these replies and did not know you had posted. Your story really is an interseting one. A great way to explain something that would happen in an icy environment such as that. Really ordinary things, told in an unordinary way, I know that I do not have that touch. If anything, my storytelling is the other way around!