story starter 1

[melw]

use the following picture as a story starter

Remember only 500 words

Good luck

MEL

[melw]

Waiting
498 words

I looked across the landscape where the sun was melting the mist. I could see the moss on the trees, as if in another world. It wasn’t like a normal world, how could moss be on all sides of the tree? Wasn’t it just meant to be on the north or south side?

I sent a silent pray up to God praying for safety. Safety for my heart, safety for my family, safety for my baby brother who was out there in the unforgiving land alone. With no map or compass how would he ever find his way home?

I was sure I saw movement, but realised it was just my imagination and then I heard the mocking cry of “Caw caw” of the crow. Why couldn’t he just waited until Father had left?

Two days ago he had left the logging camp to come home, before Father was planning on leaving. Then Father arrived but Joey hadn’t, we all thought he had just stopped off for a night, but no one had seen him. He wasn’t all that young anymore, but he was still the baby of the family.

I heard a sniff from behind me; I knew it was Shelly, Joey’s soon to be bride. It is why he wanted to get to home so quickly. She had been staying with us until their upcoming nuptials in 3 weeks. Some of the logs would go towards their new log cabin Joey had almost finished building with his own two hands.

“Shelly are you all right?” I asked in concern. “Joey is coming back, I am sure of it.”

“But he left two days ago, he should be here by now. Maybe he has changed his mind about me and just doesn’t want to tell me.”

“Shelly, Joe is so in love with you. Remember the chest he carved for you last winter. The way he always checks with you when he comes home. He’ll be back.”

“But we are getting married in three weeks. I need to see him Louise.”

I looked back out to the landscape. The moss and vines were almost choking the trees all I wanted to do was cry. It was so much a reminder of a day two years earlier when my intended never turned up after a logging trip.

Except I was told the news by my father, who had seen the tree trap Luke’s legs and body. At least he was able to give my father a parting message to me. Luke had said tell Louise that I love her and that she’s always in my heart. Then he had said I will wait until you get help. He never lasted until help was arrived. Louise still remembered seeing his cold limp body coming home.

She shivered at the memory; it had been a cold and wet spring, so much like this year. Would God bring Joey home safe? She was hoping her faith was strong enough for this.


Enjoy MEL

[Binbi]

She shivered despite the humid jungle air, and gazed around at her unfamiliar surroundings. The tropical foliage and trees seemed to crowd closer together as if to block her from seeing where she was. Her fear heightened as she spun in every direction, looking for a clue to tell her the right way to go.

She should know where she was. That's what was nagging at the back of her mind. She'd lived in the jungle with her missionary father since she was a baby; and as a result, she knew the Amazon labryinth as well as any native child. But this was an area she'd never been to before.

She clutched the tattered skirt of her shift in her hands. She must stay calm. All of the lessons and survival skills she had learned from the native tribes ran through her brain. Stay where you are. Don't try to find your own way and get even more lost. Wait for someone to find you.

The night was rapidly approaching. The last few rays of remaining sunlight shone dimly down through the trees. It was getting harder and harder to see clearly. The bushes and plants were starting to blend together to form long dark shapes. She knew how many predators could use this to their advantage. Just thinking about that made her jumpy. Her brain started to doubt what it saw. Was that a vine, or a snake? The jungle's otherworldly beauty had become a savage danger.

The noise of the jungle became almost deafeningly loud. The animal calls were the soundtrack of her life. They had simply become background noise to her young ears. Now, as she stood in the harsh reality of every child's nightmare, the noises pounded in her ears as if reminding her of the ever increasing danger she was in. The monkeys screamed at her for her forgetfulness. Parrots laughed mockingly at her terror. Even the bugs were whispering to each other as if they were discussing how it would end for her.

Her attempts at remaining calm were not working. She covered her mouth as silent, terrified sobs shook her slight frame. The villagers had made sure she knew all about the dangerous animals that would love to eat a little girl for dinner. They had done so to keep her safe, to scare her enough to keep her cautious. Hadn't her father, just this morning, warn her not to stray too far?Now, the stories were only feeding her fear.

Something thrashed about in the branches above her head. She screamed and covered her head. Wildly searching for shelter, she pulled herself up into the lower limbs of the nearest tree. She slid down into small hollow where the trunk and branches met. Curling up into a whimpering ball, she wished she could wake up to her father's soothing voice telling her everything would be all right. She winced when her pinch only bruised her arm.

"Please, Jesus," she whispered, praying to the God her father loved so much, "please help them find me."

[melw]

Good job binbi, i love the chance to write something that is not going to be judged, i can just relax. Also try to challenge myself too.

[Binbi]

Thanks! you do great too. Yeah, I like the challenge. Doing English compositions in school was one of my favorite classes. Of course, it took me FOREVER to pick a subject, cause my teacher just told us "write a composition of 500 words" or whatever. And of course, I, being the author that I am, had to pick the perfect subject! lol it was fun though.

[jacks girl]

I really liked both of them, sometimes it's easy to write when we know it's for fun, so that is why we need to incorporate that thinking into our daily writing. make it fun and relaxed.

I'll think on it and give it a try.

[Pamela1957]

A startled rabbit scurried away as a woman trudged along the overgrown path. Twigs caught at her hair and scratched her skin. Her mind tried to make sense of the changes around her, for this was not the trail she remembered from her childhood. The price of wasted years swept over her like a tidal wave.

In those early years, her laughter had filled the air as she skipped along this path. The sound of her mother’s gentle voice warning her not to get too far ahead. Their destination was a pristine clearing amongst the trees where, for a few days each summer, her family would take up residence. It was their very own paradise. But that was so long ago.

Moments, frozen in time, raced through her head as she pressed further down the path. Her father’s strong arms lifting her to his shoulders. The warmth of the campfire on her face. The sound of their voices echoing through the treetops as they sang favored hymns. But more recently, how peaceful her father had looked last week, laid out in his best suit. And how frail her mother had looked sitting at his grave side.

A tear slipped down her cheek as grief clutched at her heart. Why had she let time slip through her fingers? What had been so important to keep her so far away? Suddenly, her life seemed a great waste. Then she looked up and realized she had reached her destination and her legs grew week. She staggered and sat down heavy on a fallen log. For before her was a tangled web of destruction. Where had her paradise gone? What could have happened to completely erase the beauty she remembered?

Where there once had been a pristine clearing, now a tangled web of fallen trees and chocking vines ruled. It was the final straw, her heart fell apart and she sobbed in great waves of loss and regret. It was much later that she sensed she wasn’t alone. Looking about frantically, she saw noone. Then a small movement caught her eye. In the middle of the chaos before her, a small animal stood bravely staring at her then slipped into the dense brush. Next, her ears picked up the song of a bird high in the trees. Then slowly she became aware of the chorus of sound and the flurry of movement all around.

With new eyes she looked again upon her paradise. This time she saw the fallen, moss covered trees as the foundation her parents had laid for her. The vines were life’s lessons learned along the way. But perhaps most comforting of all was the new growth. It sprang up against all odds, from the forgotten dreams of yesterday to face a new tomorrow. With a new peace, she realized this new paradise was a tapestry of life and it was time to get to work on the next chapter.

[Binbi]

Great job Pamela!! Your writing is so smooth and has a poetic sound to it.

[ledwardsii]

The team sat joking and laughing in the jump seats of the United States Air Force C130, as it made its way toward an undisclosed location in South America. Msg. Mark Jameson, the team leader studied the lay out of the terrain on the map; calculating every move that the team would make when landing.
“Mac, Bowman!” Jameson called over the racing engines of the C130.

“Here Chief!” they both said in unison.

“Get over here.”

Both Mac and Bowman knelt down in front of Msg. Jameson, looking at the operations plan and receiving the final instructions for the team’s mission. Just as Sfc. Greg “Mac” McNeal started to shout the team’s motto “no man left behind” there was a blinding light and the airplane shook violently. The intercom suddenly filled the air with the captain shouting “we’ve been hit and were going down, everyone bail out now!”

Sfc. McNeal lay on the forest floor seriously wounded. The femur in his right leg protruded out of the skin like a broken twig mangled and torn. As he regained consciousness, the pain seared through his body with every beat of his heart. Noticing the condition of his leg, his military survival training instinctively kicked in. He removed his belt from his pants and made a tourniquet to slow the bleeding, while at the same time keeping a watchful eye out for friend or foe.

The swamp where he lay didn’t appear on the map that he and Msg. Jameson had looked at earlier. This can’t be right, he thought. How far are we off course? Where are the others? He knew that he couldn’t call out for fear of possibly alerting the enemy. He checked his head set and found that it had been destroyed in the landing. Would the others find him before the enemy?

Off in the distance Cpl. “Doc” Luke Billings carefully began a search for his fellow team members. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed by one of the fallen trees covered in moss, a body lying next to it. With his army assault rifle pointing in the direction of the body, he cautiously began to approach it. Suddenly the body moved, poised to shoot its approaching enemy; Doc froze for a moment and then noticed that it was Cpl John Snider the team’s machine gunner. The two of them united with great relief in knowing that each was friend and not foe.

Sfc. McNeal after propping himself up and concealed from enemy; waited in hopes that team would find him soon. His mind wandered back to the briefing that Lt. Col. Masters gave before the mission. “Men, this is a mission like none other before. It is imperative, that we retrieve this virus before it falls into the hands of the wrong people. Not only will it affect our national security but it will affect the security of the entire world…” Suddenly, a noise in the distance alerted him to his current danger.

[theemeraldskull]

500 exact! (had to cut a sentence...)

Paradise?

The light played about the branches as a cat does with a mouse. A slight breeze sent the silent scene into sudden disarray for a moment, then passed and all settled into stillness again.

It was my favorite spot of late, one of calmness and tranquility, a place that offered me room to think. I had been wanting to paint it for months now, but still hadn’t gathered the courage to attempt it.

I sat in the crook of a large branch and shifted myself to a comfortable position. The desire came, as always, though it was much stronger this time, as I knew it would be. I wished to stay here, forever, to leave my harsh realities and live forever in this peace.

The party would be gathering at my house in little less than an hour. Not a happy party, for any of those attending. I struggled to keep the tears from arising again; I had cried enough already.

I forced my mind away from these thoughts and back to my surroundings. I studied the play of light upon a patch of moss, followed the dust motes swirling in the ray of light that hit my arm.

I looked past the branches closest to me, gazed deep into the darkness beyond. I didn’t know what I looked for. Perhaps answers, perhaps hope, maybe I even dared to imagine that I would see her face again.

I turned my head away, my hair catching momentarily on the bark behind me. Everything led back to her, and I wished I could just forget. Usually I came here for my job, because of too much stress with family, sometimes even to simply be inspired.

I stood, on the branch, wiped off my pants. I looked out and my eyes fell on a slightly purplish mass of dead branches. I couldn’t help but to relate it to my own condition, slowly dying among so much life. Now was truly the end, I felt no incentive to go on, to even return to my house.

A faint birdcall caused me to look up, but there was nothing to be seen. Just as I made my mind up to go back, her words suddenly filled my head, consumed my being.

“Life isn’t about just getting by, or being the best. Life is about Jesus. He’s the only thing that will satisfy you, Tammy.”

“What about you, then?” I spoke aloud, knowing I would sound crazy if someone heard me talking to myself. “Why so young? You barely started life!” I leaned against the tree, the tears coming in rivers again. They had hardly stopped since the day…

Why, Cin? Even in my mind I used her nickname. Even now…

“God, you know I don’t believe. I haven’t. I…” I stopped again, unable to continue for the lump in my throat. Here I was, a thirty two year old widow of six years, speaking to a being I didn’t believe in.

“Why did she die?”