giraffe

Maddy, This forum is normally allowed as many submissions as you want - unless it states "one entry only". I think he was suggesting that you could get 3 full-length stories out of that material.

mouse

Doug. I decided not to try and change the other story just yet but enter a totally different one. Look forward to what you think. I know I do have a problem with the proper punctuation. Was not my best subject in school

366 not including title

The Medicine Man


Many, many moons ago there was a powerful medicine man from the great tribe to the north. He had learned his craft from his father and would pass it on to his son. He helped his people in all aspects of their lives. One autumn, after a poor maze harvest there was a time of great need. The tribe had many unusual deaths, failed deer and bear hunts. Few babies had been born that summer, too. The sadness that encased his people was so black that even the Talisman he had made for each of them did little to curb their fears of the Angel of Death

What was needed was a special ritual. The sole purpose of this ritual he was about to perform was to ward off the ghost that plagued his people. It was a potent ritual and he had done it only once before.


He stood on an elevated platform made of stones from the sacred mountain. On each stone were carved symbols of his power: an Eagle, Wolf, Spider, and Cave Bear. The most important symbol he possessed he carried in a pouch tied around his neck: a clear crystal stone that gave off a viridescent glow. He began by moving in concentric circles, slowly at first, increasing to a pace so fast it appeared as if he were in a centrifuge. He held the crystal high above his head and spoke loudly in an unknown tongue. A soft white wisp of smoke began to emanate from the crystal and slowly ascend, growing darker as it rose. The higher it got the larger it grew until there was no doubt it was an evil poltergeist. When the image reached to touch him he threw the crystal to the ground shattering it. A moan rose from the depths of the poltergeist and in a flash of brilliant light it disappeared.

Today the legend is told to all the young children of the tribe just before they go out on Halloween night. They are told “Beware of the Ghost” and each is given a talisman to wear as they go door to door.

maddyjean08

Ooh, Native American story, right? Awesome!

maddyjean08

Okay, second attempt.
She of No Name
Susie got out of bed one morning to a putrid odor. She ran into the kitchen. She felt a tickling on her toe. As she looked down she felt no fear. A spider ran across her big toe. It was a small spider, and when she picked it up she noticed a small hourglass on the underside of it's abdomen. A dark red hourglass. a female black widow. As she looked up, she noticed black spiders that looked the same on every square inch of the kitchen. Again, she felt no fear. As she turned around to walk back to the livingroom, what should have put her brain in a centrifuge did not. The ghastly sight of her mother with a knife in her head did not scare her. She, being a very imaginative little girl, thought this to be the work of an evil poltergeist. Even this thought did not scare her. The thought that an evil ghost lived in her house, one that killed her mother, possibly her father, and maybe her in the future, did not scare her. As she searched the house for more ghoulish sights, a swirling cloud of blackness surrounded her. A what should have been frightening pitch-black. Images of her as an angel were forced into her mind. She floated around Heaven, with her feathery angel wings. Then, she was pushed of the fluffy cloud by an invisible hand and landed in the Underworld, being forced to walk upon volcanic rock in bare feet. The swirling blackness faded. She heard a shrill shriek and turned around. Her murdered mother was standing up. She had been turned into a skeleton. She slowly reached out one bony arm and held out a talisman with the image of a silver cross and a red rounded ruby in the middle. Susie looked at her with curiosity. " Take it", she heard it whisper, though it's jaws did not move. Susie slowly walked over and took the talisman from the bony hand. The skeleton collapsed onto the floor, completely shattered. The talisman gave off a viridescent glow and she heard a shriek. She stood on the platform in the livingroom and yelled. "PERISH!". Best Halloween ever! It really, truly was the best!

maddyjean08

That is exactly 366 words.

Doug

mouse: Loved the story! Pulled me in when it got to the ritual which was riveting!

Doug

Maddyjean: WOW! That was one action packed story! It was very good towards the end when it calmed down a little to a more focused scene. Breaking up some of the beginning action into paragraghs would make more of a statement. ThinkDraw is a little strange that you have to double "enter" to start a new paragragh when you're transferring over from "word" or another writing program or it will lump all your sentences into one long paragragh. Much better than the first story, but no stories are bad, just different and just like art. Everyone has their own style and the votes don't count. (At least I keep telling myself that! lol).

Doug

Ok all you ThinkDraw folks! I know you're all busy making scary monsters and such, but lets add some scary stuff to the ThinkWrite Scary Spectacular! (does it sound better that way?)

Dragon

I love the word list and really want to enter something, it's just been so busy I'm having a hard time getting to it. I'll try Doug, really.

mouse

Doug

This is as scary as I can get . My 3rd last Halloween submission. I had fun doing this. 366 words not counting title.

The Cauldron

Mariah laughed with a strange evil cackle. The sound alone would send shivers up your spine.

She was the epitome of an evil witch, with her long stringy hair swirling around her head, the long hawkish nose and the small beady eyes that seemed to look right through you. She wore a long black dress and a lime green cape lined in scarlet. Her tall pointed hat had seen many a Halloween. Her talisman, made of silver and in the shape of a winged bat, was hanging from her left misshapen wrist.

She stood in the middle of the room. This was her domain. The rest of the coven had gathered to prepare for the upcoming feast. A huge cauldron suspended from a tripod was perched upon an oval stone platform, a fire beneath it. It was bubbling rapidly and a viridescent glow seemed to hover over it. The way the mist hung in mid air made one think it was a ghost or a poltergeist. There was definitely an eerie presence in the room.

She needed a few more ingredients before she could use the mixture to lure unsuspecting guests to her lair. She sent Elspeth to look for 12 spider legs and Bella had the most difficult task of finding a feather from an angel’s wing.

Mariah stirred and stirred, faster and faster, until the putrid mixture was spinning like it was in a centrifuge. An unearthly smell emanating from it.

Elspeth arrived with the twelve, hairy, spider legs. “Ah, soon my pretties and we will be ready“, said Mariah. We need only the feather now. We shall feast this night on tender bones.

It was two minutes till the witching hour as Bella burst through the door.” Quick, put the angel wing feather into the pot”, Mariah commanded.

Bella fell to the floor, shaking and trembling in fear. There would be no feast this night. She could not get an angel wing feather. Mariah howled and the room shook.

Outside the children ran from door to door for their treats, never suspecting how close the came to being the treat.

maddyjean08

I have seen a movie just like that, mouse! Where these witches lure children to their house with a potion so they can eat them? It's cool!

Dragon

Here's one for you, 366 not including title.

Spider

She is a weaver beyond compare and her tapestry is immense and complex. She is a remorseless dealer of death and even when sated her thoughts are always on her next victim, her next meal. Bigger and more vicious than Shelob, she is a mass of long, black legs and shining, viridescent eyes. As intimately linked with Halloween as moaning ghosts and mischievous poltergeists, as warty witches and angry, black cats but she cares only for her prey. Wander into her darkened, fetid parlour and you’ll find yourself spun faster than a centrifuge into a silk cocoon.

One would be hard pressed to see the former use of what is now her home and hunting grounds. If you should be so bold as to dare to venture in you may see glimpses of its previous glory. A serene stone angel here, a heavenly painted saint there, all slowly and inevitably being swallowed by the gloom and the infinitely intricate web system she’s spent decades building, shaping, perfecting.

If you, impossibly, manage to make your way to the platform against the back wall you may look up and see her bloated, black and hairy body hanging like a dark and deadly talisman from a thick rope of silk spun from her own massive spinnerets. It would be impressive, I’ve absolutely no doubt of that my young friend, but it would be your very last sight in this world.

More heroic men than you have sought to slay this almost alien beast. Some have called her Arachne and have lusted after the acclaim and accolades her death would bring them. Some have called her Widow and their wives can tell you why that name is particularly pertinent. Some have called her Wolf but they were the ones to howl in her clutches. Some have called her Eight Legged Death and she has proved that name true time and again. We simply call her Spider and stay as far from her sticky grasp as we possibly can. But you just go ahead and try young squire. As long as foolish young bucks like you keep walking so willingly into her lair she’ll have no reason to stray from it.

mouse

Dragon
That was absolutely incredible. What an amazing story. I could really visualize the whole thing. WOW !!! So glad you found some time to enter.

giraffe

Wow. Mouse, Maddy, Dragon, all these thought provoking stories filled with double meanings. Are you 3 in a coven? There's so much being said between the lines. That's what adds the mystery.

Doug

Bravo Dragon!! A great story, very visual, and it menacingly drags you through the whole scene. Being the former torchbearer it is not proper to make you the next torchbearer unless it is impossible not too.

Doug

-o.....oops

Dragon

LOL at the Mouse, Maddy, Dragon coven! I think we need at least 4 for a proper coven though, any takers?

I actually had quite a time trying to get this up to the right number of words. I had the whole thing done at about 210 words and had to go through adding. It meant I got a lot more descriptive than usual. Glad you guys liked it.

Login

Dragon, you are a born writer ... you drew my right in.

giraffe

OK. Let me run with that. It's a little over 400 wds, but I'm not really competing here.

CYBER-COVEN

"It takes four to make a proper coven" Lady Dragon cackled, "By the time the Torchman Doug arrives, we'll have a complete circle. Haaa Haaa." She was brimming with excitement as she stirred her viridescent brew. To mortals, it looked like green chile on her electric stove. But to her it was the magic ambrosia that would transform the modern world.

Lady Dragon was the High Priestess and she occupied the Northern Post in Alberta, Canada.

The Mad One Jean chose the Western Post of South Dakota. Jean was the prodigy child who held the Talisman named Ka. It was awarded to her for her precociousness because she actually created Ka herself. To mortals it looked like a tiger mask on the wall above her computer, but to her, it was a source of magical inspiration.

The Crone Mouse chose the Southern Post in Pennsylvania and that is where she kept the owls which were the coven's familiar. Many of these predators sat perched on platforms around her home. The Black Angel Owl was her favorite and would probably lead the flock on Halloween - in this year of transformation.

Lady Dragon gave a shriek when she realized that her spider was missing. It was the final ingredient for the brew. Her scream sent an urgent message to Mad One and the Crone so they all rushed to their computers. They all logged into their cyber-cave simultaneously and began chanting.

Doug was obligated to fill the Eastern Post. Dragon represented the love and care for animals and nature. Jean's element was solitude and youthful growth. Mouse stood for fertility and nurturing. They needed Doug to represent major change or 'death of the old ways'. (and since Doug worked The Graveyard, he was perfect for contact with ghosts). Every morning he would transmit coded art images through computer pixels to the cyber-cave and now they had an emergency. Dragon's spider was gone!

It had to be done by Halloween. Doug was scrambling to create a new spider in pixels. The other three were chanting "The future we'll see. This Halloween. Who will it be?" Doug worked harder, faster on his spider. A giraffe walked by. The chanting swirled in tempo and intensity. Finally the centrifuge of poltergeists and angels disappeared.

Doug's spider was perfect and Lady Dragon rushed it over to her brew. As she slowly lowered it into her sauce, the world became calm. Owls flew everywhere across a moon that looked like a tiger's face.

Finally, The Mad One Jean was contented. The Crone Mouse would have no fears for the safety of her offspring. And Lady Dragon would worry not for the security of her beasts of nature.

The Torchman Doug got one taste of that chile and broke into a sweat. "Yes," he said, "I will occupy the Eastern Post proudly. But somebody has to hold my Torch, though."

giraffe

I hope Login, Peasy and others join in. We need more bloooooooood.