*The concept of 100 words is this: some on-line friends/associates and I have an assigned day of the week and on that day we have to write 100 words based on the work of the writer of the previous day.*
6.nov.2009
‘electronica’
It was a jam-packed club. I hate clubs. Especially those that I can barely hear myself think in. But this is where we were supposed to meet. And since he was paying me, I couldn’t exactly say no.
I think about walking to the bar to get a beer but decide against it. I’m not in the mood to try to squeeze my way between the scantily dressed girls and the testosterone fueled guys trying to get laid by them.
Just then Jerry taps my shoulder. I turn around and get sucker-punched. Tonight is not my night. It just isn’t.
(the first line, ‘It was a jam-packed club,’ was used from the previous writer’s piece)
23.Oct.2009
‘work smarter’
The purple carpet smells of urine. But that’s to be expected when there’s a dead body lying on it; fluids tend to exit a dead body.
—Well, whatcha’ gonna do?
—About what?
—Him.
Jorge points toward Collin.
—Nothing.
—Nothing? How could you just do ‘nothing’?
Lacking anything to say, I just shrug.
—Ay Dios mio.
Jorge reaches down and grabs Collin by the ankles. Dragging Collin and the purple carpet under him, Jorge stops in the hallway just outside the office.
—This guy is fuckin’ heavy.
—That’s why I wasn’t gonna do anything jackass. You see how big he is.
(the first line, ‘The purple carpet smells of urine,’ was used from the previous writer’s piece)
16.Oct.2009
‘fell asleep’
No story this week because I was babysitting the hybrid and then fell asleep.
9.Oct.2009
‘autumn in the city’
She has no one to talk to. That’s why she comes here.
—Yesterday I was going to the MoMA when this guy came up to me and asked if I was a model.
She kicks away a leaf that fell on her shoe.
—He said that if I was really interested in modeling to call him. He gave me his business card.
Reaching her hand into her coat pocket, she pulls out the business card as if to prove her story is true.
—See, I told you.
She bends over and brushes away the same leaf from her mother’s tombstone.
(the first line, ‘She has no one to talk to,’ was used from the previous writer’s piece)
2.Oct.2009
‘terminated’
He had never encountered such pathetic excuse. There was no way that she just fell out of the window. Not Kimberly. No. She was a prima ballerina, not someone prone to just stumble and fall out of a window. Something was up and he felt he’d never get anything out of her roommate to even come close to the truth so he headed back out into the night.
Lighting a cigarette, he headed east up to fifth avenue to go to the next best source of information. The only problem was that it would cost money, and he was broke.
(the first line, ‘He had never encountered such pathetic excuse,’ was used from the previous writer’s piece)
25.Sept.2009
‘loss for words’
When I opened my mouth my accent tumbled out. It bounced off my chin, landed on the floor with a thud, rolled across the room, and came to a stop under the table of hors d’oeuvres. I tried not to make a scene so I just causally walked over to the table and tried to knock my accent out from under it with my foot. When that failed I dropped my napkin on the floor and sneaked a peek to see how far back it was. It was against the wall, too far back to get without causing a scene.
(the first line, ‘When I opened my mouth my accent tumbled out,’ was used from the previous writer’s piece)
18.Sept.2009
‘for the want of an addiction’
—The answer is inside the black plastic bag.
Then he jumped. Actually, it was more of a stepping off of than a jump. How the man fell, whether he jumped or stepped off, didn’t really matter to Jared. What did matter was what the man had said:
—The answer is inside the black plastic bag.
What the hell did that mean? Jared scratched his earlobe as he took a drag from his cigarette. Now he would have to go find that black plastic bag. Problem was, Jared didn’t even know him. He just came to the roof for a smoke.
(the first line, ‘The answer is inside the black plastic bag,’ was used from the previous writer’s piece)
11.Sept.2009
‘wrong turn at albuquerque’
There ain’t no stop signs or traffic lights. Chaos is everywhere. But then, what would ya expect in a place like this. Traveling down the different circles of Hell ain’t easy. Your TomTom ain’t gonna work ‘cause you know no one from that company is gonna risk their life just ta map the few roads down here.
And ya can ferget about askin’ fer directions ‘cause ain’t nobdy sayin’ nothin’. Not a word. Better off just goin’ down whatever road catches yer fancy ‘cause it don’t matter anyway. Nope, once ya head down this road, there ain’t no goin’ back.
(the concept of no stop signs and chaos being everywhere was used from the previous writer’s piece)
28.August.2009
Totally forgot to write my 100 words last week. Sorry.
21.August.2009
‘slumber party’
He lifted up his dress.
—Well, what are you waiting for?
Mark and Billy did a double take—What the hell was going on?
Beer. That’s all they wanted. Beer. Two simple six-packs to unwind from a long week of working nights on the docks. But then they had to run into this guy on the corner.
—C’mon, already, I ain’t got all night. Look, I don’t do this for just anybody, but both of you for sixty bucks. C’mon man, that’s like, a forty dollar savings, man.
He lifted his dress higher.
—Make it fifty.
Billy looked at Mark.
—What?
(the concept of dress lifting in the first line was used from the previous writer’s piece)
14.August.2009
‘bump in the night’
She freezes, listens, nothing.
Slowly she walks down the corridor, taking each step only as far as it should go then sliding her back foot up to the front one and repeating the process.
It takes her forty-five long minutes to make it to the end of the corridor. She doesn’t mind. It’s for the best, she keeps reminding herself. If she didn’t do it, no one else would and it had to be done.
The room on her right had a light shining through the small window on the door. She had no choice. She walked into the room.
(the first line was, ‘She freezes, listens, nothing.’, used from the previous writer’s piece)
7.August.2009
There was no piece due to people dropping out of the group and lack of e-mails.
31.July.2009
‘and for dessert’
Robert did not notice Carol standing in the doorway. He was busy preparing dinner, a feast to celebrate the beginning of their life together. He was chopping up the scallions as Carol came up behind him, her arms outstretched to grab him around the waist.
Just as she reached around his waist, Robert swung around and cut a gash across her chest. Falling back against the sink, she clutched her chest, blood soaking into her blouse. Robert quickly grabbed a towel and applied pressure to her chest.
—Sorry. Sometimes I get flashbacks.
He pressed against her chest a little harder.
(the concept of cutting up vegetables was used from the previous writer’s piece)
24.July.2009
‘fools rush in’
Our bodies lie tangled on the single papasan cushion.
—Jeez….Hey, stop pushing.
I shove Jimmy off and look around. I stand up then reach out my hand
for Jimmy to take hold. He does and lifts himself up, slowly.
—It used to be easier.
I nod in agreement. Everything used to be a lot easier.
—You still got it?
Jimmy shows me the key. I nod again then head towards the open doorway.
The last thing I see before it goes black is Amanda, one hand around
the kid’s skinny throat and her other aiming a pistol at the doorway.
(the ‘our bodies lie tangled on the single papasan cushion’ line was used from the previous writer’s piece)
17.July.2009
‘check please’
She feels Numb.
Numb was a simple guy, not wanting much from the world except for a roof over his head and the occasional cheeseburger from Checkers.
She feels the bump on the back of his head from the fall. Numb winces as she moves her fingers over it.
—Sorry.
—No, it’s okay. Say, you think you could get some ice though?
—Oh, yeah. Sure.
She gets up and runs inside to the kitchen to get the ice. Numb reaches into his jacket and pulls out the gun. Wobbly, he gets up, looks at the open door, and walks away.
(the ‘she feels numb’ line was used from the previous writer’s piece)
10.July.2009
‘the zombie room’
The casual footsteps of patients echoed throughout the halls. When they decided to act, they knew it would be a short time before they would be locked up again. But until that time, they had free reign. Mark went over and turned on all of the televisions while Sarah headed to the nurse’s station to look for the key to the pharmacy. Sarah tripped over Nurse Christie, whose head was angled unnaturally away from her body while it lay in the blood of the orderly that repeatedly took advantage of Sarah. You’ll never do that again, will you Orderly Bob?
(the ‘casual footsteps of patients’ was used from the previous writer’s piece)
3.July.2009:
‘birds-of-despair’
He sat there, rocking and crying to himself, as the bird-of-despair circled overhead. The bird-of-despair was always looking for its next victim; the more desperate, the better. Birds-of-despair feed off of the hope of something better, swooping down and snatching away the last morsel of possibility. They live just out of our perceptions, where dreams go to die.
Their numbers coincide with the turmoil of the world. Famine, war, economic meltdown; these are their feasts, their gluttonous times. But, as the world regains its stability these birds begin to diminish, with barely a few to keep our hope in check.
(the idea of the boy/man crying and rocking was taken from the previous writer’s piece.)
26.June.2009:
No entry this week because I haven’t received any e-mails from my fellow writers in the past 4 days. Plus we have a new member replacing a member that hasn’t been participating.
I’ll have a new story this coming Saturday, 4.July.2009.
19.June.2009:
‘tie breaker’
Malcolm takes a picture with the camera built into his tie clip of the man across the table from him. Now it’s just a matter of excusing himself and getting back to the van with the agents in it.
—Excuse me. I need to go to the restroom.
—By all means.
Malcolm stands up from the table.
—You realize that I’ll never let you leave here alive?
—Pardon?
—You really should cough when you attempt to take a picture. It will cover up the sound of the shutter closing. You know what? I need to go to the restroom too.
(the idea of a built-in camera was used from the previous writer’s piece)
12.June.2009:
‘an army of mum’
—Your flower children are in full attention.
—Thank you, Captain Marigold.
General Sage walked up and down the ranks. Here was the best crop of youths he had ever commanded. Surely with this great army he would bring ultimate victory to the war on terra. Those grass shoots will cause no more problems in the parkland.
—You here today are our first line of attack. Our objective is to cut a swath through the enemy. And after we mow them down, we head straight for their field operation station: that green house. Only when we’re there, will victory be ours.
(the first line, ‘Your flower children are in full attention’, was taken from the previous writer’s piece)
5.June.2009:
‘out of the mouth of babes’
—That’s our house, mommy.
Sarah looked at the blue sky, black house, and green grass, drawn in crayon on a discarded spreadsheet. Her concern, though, was the big fire that Kelly had drawn in the middle of everything. It seemed to engulf the house, grass, and most of the sky. Was that a cow being blown away in the corner? And then she noticed the flames and people crawling up from the bottom of the page towards what was the house.
—Honey, ummm, what’s going on under the house there?
—That’s a hellmouth. Armageddon is coming, mommy. Are you ready?
(used the idea of an explosion of blue, black, and green colors from previous writer’s piece)
29.May.2009:
‘wondrous’
The trailing arc of light from the swinging ceiling lamp gave an appearance of a Cheshire cat to the darkness. A giant Cheshire cat, of course. Every six seconds, the metal folding chair reflected a portion of that smile onto the dress of Chris, who stood next to the chair, waiting for the yell from her mom informing her it was time for dinner. Wanting, waiting to hear that call, yet so curious as to what was going to happen, she stood there. Of course nothing was going to happen. Not tonight, anyway. But she waited patiently, hoping something would.
(used the image of a single swinging light bulb from previous writer’s piece)
