Sentence starter #6: 300 words: COLD, DARK, RAINY NIGHT setting

[Doctor Setebos]

Week 3 - week of 10/20/08

Sentence starters (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/tags.php?tag=sentence+starter) are a fairly simple concept. I'll post a sentence. You write everything that follows that sentence. That's it. It's just flash fiction. Make it interesting. Make it compelling. Make it yours.

The count for this starter is 300 words. Remember: the word count isn't meant to be a hard and fast goal, merely a suggestion. But for those that wish to use sentence starters as true exercises in forced writing, it will be welcome practice in attempting to stick to set goals.

In preparation for the Halloween season that is slowly shambling towards us, this week's starter should have a COLD, DARK, RAINY NIGHT setting. It can be any period, any genre. Just make sure the story is set in a cold, dark, rainy night. You know, the forlorn, miserable kind of night that breeds mischief and murder.

Here is your sentence starter:

The sharp crack of thunder overhead told Elizabeth that this was just the beginning of a long, miserable night.

[crazyD]

Man, I am struggling on this one. I was originally going to do something about Elizabeth literally talking to the clouds, but that seemed kind of ridiculous. Then, I wanted to change it to some sort of medieval news show with Elizabeth the Meteorologist, but I got nothing after the novelty of the initial wackiness fades.

[Doctor Setebos]

Man, I am struggling on this one. I was originally going to do something about Elizabeth literally talking to the clouds, but that seemed kind of ridiculous. Then, I wanted to change it to some sort of medieval news show with Elizabeth the Meteorologist, but I got nothing after the novelty of the initial wackiness fades.You know, a conversation between someone and clouds could be really interesting if done right.

[VerseD]

The sharp crack of thunder overhead told Elizabeth that this was just the beginning of a long, miserable night. They were ten miles into their five mile hike, and Lillian Backet's mom had just made the announcement that Brownie Troop 405 was lost.

"I think we may have passed the turn-off to the parking lot," said Mrs. Backet.

"Hnnnnn," said the twelve girls, and Marcy added, "Oh my God I'm going to miss Gossip Girl."

Elizabeth checked her plastic watch and saw that the Brownies were very late. She pictured her mom, parked in the Toyota, nursing an empty Starbucks cup and calling all her girlfriends in that trembling voice she got when something was wrong. With a sigh, Elizabeth sat in the grass next to her best friend Debra.

"What're they doing Liz?" Debra asked, meek and wide-eyed. At the head of the troop, Mrs. Backet and Mrs. Flores passed a folded map back and forth and muttered, then they pushed their sunglasses onto their foreheads.

"Distressing," said Elizabeth. "My mom does it all the time."

The sun glittered through a line of pines in front of her, but dark stormclouds crept up behind, flashing lightning off the hills. A cold wind picked up so that Elizabeth pulled her Brownie vest close.

"Okay girls," said Mrs. Flores. Mrs. Backet was on her cell phone. "We're turning around and going back down the trail to that path we crossed a little while ago. That goes to the highway, and your moms will pick us up there." Both Brownie leaders grinned, and their daughters looked embarrassed. Elizabeth groaned and rubbed her legs before getting up.

As it turned out, "a little while ago" meant a mile, and "down the trail" meant up a steep hill on winding switchbacks, which had seemed so nice on the descent. A bat soared overhead and Debra grabbed her ponytails and squealed. Elizabeth was to brave to be bothered by that. It started to rain halfway to the highway, and the girls arrived wet and glum. Elizabeth turned up the heat in her mom's Toyota and leaned back in the passenger chair, happy to be going home.

[CaptainYesterday]

The sharp crack of thunder overhead told Elizabeth that this was just the beginning of a long, miserable night. It would have been alright with Elizabeth, that is if she was tucked into here enormous king sized bed and could just listen, almost cocooned in it's warmth.. Not tonight though, Mike had asked her to come meet him at this stupid baseball field, and now he was late and the only respite she could find was under the bleachers.

"Liz", she could here Mikes voice now faint at first, but getting louder.

"Liz bear, are you out there" Mike said, from the comfort of the enclosed dugouts.

"Mike, I'm over here, and with a sense of embarrassment about not noticing the dry dugout earlier "uh, under the bleachers"

Mike made his way across the field with movements that made it look like he was actually trying to play baseball. With his puddle dodging reminding Liz of an eager batter, trying to make his way out of a rundown situation. She had a laugh at this but would never tell Mike, he always got sensitiv when people made fun of him.

"There you are" Mike said out of breath.

"Here I am, what is so important that you couldn't tell me over the phone, and couldn't wait till tomorrow"

Mike made his way under the bleachers and nestled in right next to the area that Liz occupied. The rain had slowed down now, nothing more than a drizzle and an occasional blast of thunder. Mike sat there for awhile staring at Liz like it was the first time he had seen her.

"Mike, what is the matter" she said.

"Nothing's wrong, this is perfect" Mike beamed.

"Perfect, you drug me out of my house at midnight, were sitting under the bleachers in the pouri......" she stopped.

As the lightning filled up the sky like a bright spring day, Liz noticed what Mike was holding.

"Mike, what is that" she tried to contain the excitement that was coming over.

It was a while before Mike answered, almost as if he was waiting for something. Liz began to grow impatient, it was as though she could feel the words making their way from her mind to the tip of her tongue. Just as she was about to say something she could just barely make out the creak of something opening. Suddenly the sky seemed to close as quick as it had opened, and now with the rain stopped the lightning took it's last bow and lit everything completely.

The brightness seemed to last for an eternity, and as she looked over to Mike she saw the opened ring box he was holding.

"Will you" Mike asked nervously.

"Yes of course, but why the rain at midnight Mike" she asked fawning.

"Because you light up my life" he smiled.

Suddenly the warm king sized bed seemed not to matter.

[Hellbug]

I am bored and feel like I haven't written enough lately, so here is just a real quick thing. The moments leading up to the real action are always what interest me. :D


The sharp crack of thunder overhead told Elizabeth that this was just the beginning of a long, miserable night.

“Tallos is in position, Ell.” The communication link’s static broke for that brief moment but that was all that she had been waiting on. Ell rolled from underneath the horse cart she had been hanging from for the past six hours and looked towards the garrison quarters. That was where the strike team would be making their insertion, and where she had to clear. The boys in gray always had a certain knack for coming in with a bang.

The technological limits of the Pharstee often led the colonial troopers to act like this operation was easy, but Ell had seen firsthand how brutally effective the rebels had become. Still, sometimes technology alone could overcome willpower.

“Is the point clear yet?” The voice barked into her ear, and she tapped her signal twice for no. “You have thirty seconds before they hit the dirt.”

Ell moved like a shadow among soldiers on guard, making her way to the front of the camp. She slid into the sewer that she had entered three days before. The suit that she wore could have easily let any novice infiltrate the camp the Pharstee foot soldiers were occupying, but she was no novice. The four charges that were meant to destroy the garrison buildings had been set two days earlier. After watching the movements of the soldiers for a complete day, she had decided the best placement for insertion point would be where the most soldiers would be at the time.

She took a moment to peek through one of the windows of the officer’s quarters, the building next to the soldier’s garrison. The Pharstee general was in the center of the room, drinking a large bottle. These brutes chose to destroy their own bodies with intoxicating liquids. It would make the next few moments quite simple for Ell and the team of commandos that were falling from the sky above.

“Ten seconds. Hit the charges!”

The explosion was muffled by the tunnel, but the vibrations could be felt clearly. There were screams, and then the crash of a dozen boulder-like objects falling from the sky and crushing the remnants of the garrison quarters, along with all of the soldiers that were resting within. Ell’s job had just been finished, but the real action had just begun.

[Lint of Death]

The sharp crack of thunder overhead told Elizabeth that this was just the beginning of a long, miserable night.

“Geraldskovsky…” Elizabeth whispered.
“Yes, Ms. Betterham?” Geraldskovsky murmured as he rolled over in the sheets.
“For the last fucking time it’s Elizabeth. Or Elly.” She hissed.
“Sorry, Eliz—Ell--El-”
“Anyway, what I was trying to say was that I get the feeling this is going to be a terrible, long, terribly long night.”
“Oh, geeze, Ms., I’m so sorr—“
“It’s not your fault! Okay! You did your best, I’m sure. It’s just a feeling. You know, one of these days you gotta grow a god damned spine.”

And that’s exactly what Geraldskovsky did. He bolted upright as a ghastly gasp escaped him. Elizabeth, her assertive poise dethroned for the first time in her life, let out one of her own as she fumbled for the lamp switch. When she clicked on the light she saw Geraldskovsky’s meekly built back convulse and ripple in a truly unholy fashion. With a silent tear a hundred vertebrae lashed their way out between the man’s shoulders. Within moments his spine was thousands of parts long, and they began winding their way around the room. It wasn’t long before the tip of the spine reached the ceiling; upon doing so, it crashed straight through and tore a hole in the roof of Elizabeth’s seven-story hacienda and shot into the stormy sky.

Elizabeth could do nothing but stare. For a minute, two, twenty, nothing seemed to happen, no words were traded, as more and more spinal column unraveled. Even the thunder had stopped. If either of them had thought to look up at this point, they would not have seen much. After all, the spine had made a small hole. and, besides, dark sphere in dark sky, the moon was nigh invisible as it crashed its weight upon them.

That’s amore.