May 21, 2014

Wednesday Weekly Writring Challenge 5.21.2014

Set your timer to 10 minutes and start writing. Your opening sentence should be 

"I turned the corner and suddenly everything was..." 


Remember you can write in any style or format. When you are finished cut and paste your 10 min piece in the comment thread below OR put a link to your own blog or area where you write online.

17 comments:

  1. I turned the corner and suddenly everything was backwards. Not backwards, exactly, but wrong. It was hard to put my finger on it, but there was something alien, something queer, something indefinably other about the world.

    There was what looked like a greengrocer's ahead, but all the fruit and vegetables displayed outside seemed to be the wrong colours - pinks and browns. I walked closer to see what they were, and stopped short in disgust. At first sight, it seemed that the bins were filled with children's heads, but they seemed too small. With relief, I realised that I was looking at a collection of dolls' heads - some European, some African, some Asian. But why would these take the place of oranges and apples? And the dolls' limbs were arranged like bunches of bananas further back in the display. Weird.

    And the shop opposite appeared to be a hat shop. Nothing but hats. But instead of the usual mannequins and dummies usually used to display the goods, this shop had perched the hats in the window on watermelons and pumpkins.

    I glanced up at the names of the shops, and was baffled by the writing. It wasn't in any kind of alphabet that I recognised - neither Roman, Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, or any other Indian or Asian script that I knew of. It appeared to be written from right to left, from what I could see, but it really was impossible to tell. And what must have been a telephone number went on for at least twenty digits. It seemed to me that it would be a good idea to go back round the corner again to where I'd come from, but when I turned round to look, the corner had disappeared. I was stuck in this weird world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love the way the creepiness builds. It doesn't seem that sinister at the beginning. I think I would like it a little better if it didn't have that very last sentence. It's creepier if left to the imagination.

      Delete
  2. disquieting and interesting atmosphere.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous9:49:00 PM

    'This is the place I escaped from,' I thought. The tiny playground was surrounded by tall apartment buildings constructed in mid 90s. I had spent my teenage days there. I was somewhat depressed and incredibly bored. I couldn't figure out why. I seemed to have a nice, normal life, but at the same time, something was missing.

    I understood now. My life was too easy. I needed some serious challenge. That was why I had flown to South America without any apparent reason, not knowing anything about the continent.

    I looked at my old building. I wondered if my friends were still living there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes! If you are looking for the adventure, South Africa is the place...

      Delete
  4. I turned the corner and suddenly everything was lighter, easier, free-er. I felt my stride lengthen and my chin raise up a few degrees. I knew it would make a difference to finally decide and make a move but I had not anticipated the physical feeling of release. The inevitable and somewhat cliche thought passed through my mind, "why had I waited so long?"

    Years of wondering and day dreaming. And all it really took was a simple decision followed by taking that first step. That first walk out of my door, down the block and around the corner. It was like seeing New York for the first time. Tasting ice cream for the first time. Hearing really great music for the first time.

    My last ten years had been a decade of self imposed isolation. One day I had woken up and given up. I had never left my apartment again. Ten long years. I had not planned to do it. I just gave up. One day it became too much. I had already arranged my life and finances so that I could work from home. Over the months leading up to my voluntary incarceration I had gotten into the habit of not really getting up, I stayed in my sleep shirt and stretch pants until around 2 or so when maybe I would take a shower or maybe not. I worked online, saw friends online. I read a lot. But I never left. Never. Food was brought in by various delivery services, and at first I would watch the city from my window, but later I even stopped that thread-thin interaction. The only people I saw were the mail man, the landlord, and the delivery services. I had hoped someone would notice, anyone. But no one ever did. Not in ten years. Not that I had gotten many invitations to go out before- but I thought someone would notice that they hadn't seen me.

    Over time it mattered less. It all mattered less. I even stopped watching the news.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Wow...I love this piece!!!
      " it mattered less, it mattered less..." I understand the feeling....

      Delete
    3. I love the emotional rawness of this piece. "I had hoped someone would notice, anyone. But no one ever did." has a beautiful plaintive quality to it.

      Delete
  5. I turned the corner and suddenly everything
    was silver, green, flashes on a screen
    The shouting gathered, swelled and shrank,
    the lasting call of a final heartache

    Filling without a pause
    Filling out the pause
    Pause
    Pause
    Pause

    Showy spatters, private cubes in gaping maws
    Close against shining slivers, shuttered jaws
    Pause
    And I pause
    And we pause

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love the repeated sounds and words. Feels like stopping and starting

      Delete
  6. Anonymous6:22:00 PM

    I turned the corner and suddenly everything was gone. Turning back to face the way I'd come, I saw it recede, outlined sharply at the edges, as if someone had taken a snapshot of my field of vision and zoomed out. I could still see the paving stones, and the gleaming skyscrapers in the distance, and-

    And a man, turning the same corner as nonchalantly as I had, and stepping just as I had into nothing. "No," I wanted to scream, but my voice caught in my throat.

    Here he was in front of me, his face frozen in fear, panic and disbelief, his eyes casting about for the remnants of the world he had thought was the only one. Raising a hand, I pointed. Together, we watched it shrink into nothing.

    "Are you real?", he said.

    I nodded. "I think so".

    "We're going to die here," he said, his voice barely a whisper.

    I stepped forward and reached my arms up, pulling him towards me, away from the looming blankness that surrounded us. I didn't know what else I could do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. like where this is going- interesting and compelling

      Delete
  7. I turned the corner and suddenly everything lost their colors. I looked myself through the glass of the windows of the bakery, and I found my reflection among those colorless croissants. I was the only one that still had colors.

    That was not black nor white, I've never knew what colorless looked like until now. The blooming cherry blossoms were melancholy without their colors. The singing birds sounded feebly without their rainbow colors of their feather. The shining sun was no longer shining without its golden color.

    Yes, I know. It was me to ask for all of this. I sold the all colors of the town for my colors. Because I wanted to be visible once in my lifetime. I had been invisible for such a long time, and wanted to shine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. what a fun beginning for a story. i want to know more

      Delete
  8. I turned the corner and suddenly everything was dangerous-seeming once again. I thought I had gotten myself off the X spot but had I really? Where was the would-be assassin or kidnapper hiding? Did I go down this same street on other days this week? Did I pass this way at the same time as before? Did I use the same car? I thought I had taken the threats as seriously as I could. I changed cars every day now since the bomb scarred our home and shattered our make-believe normal lives. I used different drivers who took different routes, and we left at different times and returned at equally various times. We lived our lives only to stay off that damned X spot-that magical mark that those who wanted us dead were so desperate to place us on. I was tired of it all. So ready to give up and open my arms wide to present them with the best and quickest shot. I could so easily become an easy target. Odd how brave everyone thought we were and we had no clue why they thought that. My brain reeled from so many death threats written every week by so many faceless people that I no longer remembered who was threatening what. He would remember though, and he would care that I had been taken from him just like the others.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. great perspective of the toll that kind of life exacts.

      Delete