Doug

Once again, thank you for the honor of leading this wonderful forum. I was absent for too long from this site. I'm not the greatest artist in the world, lol, but I do like to write and read. Went to school for Journalism, got married and decided I needed to work for a living so I quit school and started working. I keep finding ways to push writing to the side, but its always been my passion.
The word list inspired by the latest novel I read..
Word count is 245. Good luck!

dreams
waking
flower
scrawny
begged
down
fresh
year
kitten
mouth

All of these words are from the first page of "The Hunger Games". Not an especially hard read, but very interesting.

Hazer

Do you have a deadline in mind, Doug? Looks like an interesting word list. Can't wait to read the variety of entries that this will inspire!

Doug

The deadline will be October 19th or soon after. Sorry I forgot that part. lol.

vitula

With a nod to the upcoming holiday, here is goulish entry to your writing challenge in a scant 163 words.

The dreams began about a month ago, but waking in the middle of the night is a new development. Like a single radiant flower in a garden patch of scrawny vegetables, I am conspicuous. I am not sick like the others are. I have begged to be let out. From the one barred window, I can see the sparkling pool down below. I yearn for exercise, for a breath of fresh air, but year after year, I am locked in this ward. The last time I was free to walk about the grounds in the pleasant afternoons, a stray kitten crossed my path. I reached out to it and it didn’t resist. It was thrilling. When the doctor came to fetch me to my room, blood dripped from my mouth, spattering my gown. He seemed so disappointed. He took the dead kitten from my bloody hands and led me back upstairs. Here I’ve remained, surrounded by lunatics, dreaming night after night of freedom.

marg

Aaahh.. I guess you don't like cats much then, vitula ?

Doug

Vitula: Just my kind of sick, twisted story. The scary part is I had a chuckle reading it. What does that say about me. I'll just chalk it off to an extremely looooonnnggg night at work. Good story, I enjoyed it!

vitula

I really do like cats, especially kittens. Your word list simply led me astray. What else can I say? This was a fun exercise. Do you do it often? I'm new to this site.

Doug

The Thinkwrite thread has a long tradition. I'm a cat person also even though I do have a dog who adores me. With Halloween coming up writing a good scary story is almost mandatory. I'll submit a couple before the deadline. Come on writers, I want to see your stuff!

Hazer

To Charlotte it seemed that she had spent every waking moment of the past year planning the wedding of her dreams. If only Momma had lived long enough to see her only daughter get married. But if Momma had not taken ill, Charlotte reminded herself, there would be no wedding to plan. No Dr. Joe Harding with his unruly mop of hair and boyish grin. His gentle compassion for her beloved Momma had so impressed her that her admiration and respect for him soon grew into love, and well, the rest was history.

With the wedding arrangements made, and everything in order, Dr. Joe had prescribed a week of rest and relaxation, so here she was, standing on the deck of the cabin they planned to spend their honeymoon in later that month. The view was spectacular as she took in a deep breath of fresh mountain air and at that moment an involuntary shudder rippled down her spine. Charlotte turned and stepped back into the cabin, sliding the glass door behind her. Just nerves she told herself. She had begged Joe to stay longer but of course she knew that he was needed at the hospital. She would be fine he had reassured her, and had she not always been delighted as a teenager to watch her parents and brothers drive off to the city and leave her in charge of the farm? So…

I see I will have to break this story up into two non- qualifying entries. You’re probably thinking this woman has read too many Harlequin Romance novels but trust me it gets better in the last half.

Hazer

Charlotte shrugged it off. Joe promised to come up every chance he could get away from work and in the meantime Charlotte determined to enjoy the solitude.
She busied herself with preparing a light lunch which she packed into her backpack together with a couple of bottles of water, her camera, sunscreen and insect repellent. She didn’t plan to go far. In fact she could see her destination from the deck. Joe had pointed it out earlier….a small outcropping of rocks just downhill from the cabin. From that vantage point one could look down to the churning water of the river below. Armed with a can of bear spray, just in case she met any along the way, Charlotte set out. It didn’t take her long to reach the rocks and there, surrounded by the rugged beauty of the mountains, time slipped away. Realizing it was getting late Charlotte gathered up her gear, excited at the thought of all the beautiful shots she would show Joe, but somewhat disappointed at not having seen as much as a squirrel. Perhaps tomorrow.
Turning back up the trail, she hadn’t gone far when she noticed a single flower off to her right. Stopping to pull out her camera, Charlotte left her backpack on the trail as she maneuvered herself into position. Just as she was about to snap the picture something in the underbrush moved. Charlotte froze. Was it just a squirrel? Slowly lowering the camera, charlotte held her breath, eyes straining to catch a glimpse of what she prayed was something small and harmless, calculating the number of steps back to the trail and her can of bear spray. There it was again…it was small and scrawny, it’s mouth open, hissing at her, warning her to stay away. Why it’s just a kitten! And with that realization came a simultaneous flood of relief and gut wrenching fear. Cougar kittens are never far from their mother. Charlotte bolted for the trail, the scream of the kitten mingled with her own scream as the big cat pounced.


Much too long, I know. Sorry.

Doug

The peace and serenity of rest and relaxation in the big outdoors vs. the violence of nature. A well told story Hazer. It kept me sucked in from the get go.

montefraya

Melissa lay curled like a kitten on the soft down coverlet of her bed. Occasionally a semblance of a smile would flit across her mouth. One would think that perhaps her dreams were of the most pleasant nature, but were they really? The year before they might have been just that had it not been for the scrawny kitten her husband Jake had
brought home. He was so soft hearted and the small grey kitten had been hiding outside his office building for days. He had brought it home because he thought it would starve and he knew their three year old son Andy would love it. Andy had begged for a kitten one day when they had passed a pet shop with several in the window. Andy was thrilled with the kitten and played with it lovingly every day. He was as gentle and caring as his father.

One day Melissa and Andy were in the front yard. Andy was playing near Melissa with the kitten as she weeded in the flower beds, his blond curls shining in the sun. He chattered his baby gibberish to the kitten as his mother worked nearby.

Melissa's sleep became restless and she began tossing and turning. She was dreaming again of that day... she realized at once that Andy had fallen silent. She
had plucked a fresh daisy and turned to tickle him under his chin with it as she often did. The kitten was sitting on the sidewalk in front of the house at the edge of the yard, but Andy was gone! Melissa screamed and screamed...

She screamed again and again waking Jake who held her as he had many times over the last year. Chaos had reigned in their lives since that day. Their son was gone!
The police figured the kitten had wondered to the road and Andy had gone after it.
Someone had been hiding nearby apparently and had snatched the child.

Melissa had not forgiven herself. How could he be gone so quickly? Who would do such a thing? Would they ever recover from the loss of their darling child? Would he ever be found? Was he even alive? The questions were unending.

The years passed swiftly by. Andy would be nineteen now. Melissa wondered what he would be like. Would he still have blond curly hair like his father or would his hair now be auburn and straight like his mother's? Would he have blue eyes like dad or green like mom? Was he in college? She had never given him up as dead. So many things she would never know.

The psychiatrist had encouraged Melissa to write her thoughts and feelings in a journal and so she sat writing her thoughts and feelings. She guessed it maybe helped a little. She was writing a sentence when of a sudden it was as if her
hand were being controlled by something, not herself. Without even the thoughts in her head her hand began writing... Kiss the wind...my darling...

Far away at a small college in Boston a young man sat at a desk writing. He had all his life had a certain longing as if he had lost something or someone. It had lent a certain melancholy to his personality. His curly auburn head bent over his paper and he began to write...Kiss the wind my darling and I will kiss it too...

Melissa sat staring at what she had just written, shaken. She had never been a poet, but yet somehow she had written this poignant little verse. She read the short verse again and again.

The young man was pleased with his poem and green eyes gazed on it. He read it aloud to the air... Kiss the wind my darling and I will kiss it too... perhaps by some strange magic fate...

Melissa felt a calm come over her she had not felt in years. A peace, a kind of joy of knowing somehow that all was right with her world.

Kiss the wind my darling
And I will kiss it too.
Perhaps by some strange magic fate
My kiss will come too you.

Doug

Beautiful! I was enthralled. Thank you for your submission.

Doug

I guess it's time to pass the baton. I find myself with a shortage of time and patience now a days so I'll keep this brief. I would like to thank those who submitted entries. All were well done. I have decided to chose montefraya to lead our next installment of this legendary challenge. If you need any help feel free to shout out. Congrats, and looking forward to your word list. Never was much for rules in ThinkWrite. lol.

Doug

Looks like out new leader is a no show. If anyone would like to lead the next one feel free. If not, I'll try to start one within the next week. Cheers!

Doug

Still no takers? Give me a bit, been real busy. Feel free to start us off please.