The Weekly Writing Prompt
I just can't not participate in these little writing exercises. Thanks again to Nicole and Carrie for hosting the prompt. They are a lot of fun. Here's the rules, if you don't already know about the Weekly Writing Prompt.
1) Use the photo and the 5 words provided in your story
2) Keep your word count 500 words or less.3) You have until next Tuesday to link up your post.
4) Go to websites: HERE and HERE, link your post at the: Add you link button.
5) Have fun, don’t stress, let those creative juices flow.
This week's five words to use are:
Gallows
Tide
Mat
Section
Staple
Here's this week's attempt. Hope you like it!
Gut Instinct
Katrina nervously peered around the corner and tried keeping her heart from beating out of her chest. The alleyway looked the same as it did the last time she checked thirty minutes earlier.
"Get a grip Katrina!" Her whispered words sounded hollow in her own ears. "Come on...you're a Wharton graduate...you're a CEO of a Fortune 500 company...you can get out of this!"She willed her legs to move from the shadows into the dank narrow alleyway. Nervously the striking brunette ventured into the street.
As she walked a poem surfaced in her anxious brain, a poem she studied in an English class while an undergraduate. The name of the author escaped her, but she never forget the poem. Try as she might to keep the words returning, they overpowered the scared woman's resolve.
There is a fear that grows, like a vengeful tide it rises to feed,
In the shadows it hides allowing no escape,
To the gallows our souls march, a staple of humanity fulfills its need,
And a mat that covers, a shroud, a drape,
It eats my section and never stops.
Katrina's heels clicked on the cold pavement and echoed throughout the empty space. With every step her head canvased the street. She looked both in front of her and behind and saw nothing. Gut instinct told her she didn't successfully evade Malcolm's Mercedes and that he was somewhere close. Halfway up the alleyway the sound of the German import's motor cranking over told her that her gut instinct was dead on.
Lights burst behind her head. A jolt of electricity raced up Katrina's spine as she heard the sound of the car's tires scream from the friction of rubber and asphalt. She ran and hoped to God the information she received the day before was right. Either she would meet her contact or the end of the alleyway would be the last thing she ever saw.
Word Count: 321
EEP! Scary. I sensed danger straight off the bat and that poem added a thick layer of intensity! Yikes! If this were in a book, I'd definitely want to turn the page. Well done, Scott!
ReplyDeleteThanks Leanne! To me this picture screamed this kind of story. I actually started with the poem, but it didn't feel right. I think it could be a great start to a longer story. Thanks again!
DeleteYou're right, that alleyway is bad news. Good story, I'd never want to be in Katrina's shoes. You made that awfully intense.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. Hope you can visit again.
Is that your poem? It's incredible!
ReplyDeleteGreat piece. I usual read out loud, like I do with my own work, but I realized when I was on the last paragraph I had been holding my breath. I was intensely waiting to see what was going to happen with her. I LOVE that about the written word—how I can be captured! Good work, Scott. The poem was key! It took me from the moment. This aloud me to be shocked and surprised.
~Christopher
Clever, clever Scott! Using all the words in a poem. It was definitely creepy. I hope she meets her contact - though I'm not sure how the mystery person could keep her from being run over ... Yep. I would turn the page, too!
ReplyDeleteI love how you got all the words into the poem, well done. I wonder what she'll find at the end of the alley, I'd love to find out ...
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm reading this in the daytime. The fear was palpable. This might be a short story, but it could be so much more :-)
ReplyDelete