It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to.
You’re welcome for the song in your head.
Was it exciting?? I was excited. Then again, I’m excitable. (Witness the sheer number of words I put in all caps and bold. Yep. Excitable.)
Really, I had so much fun today, with the energy and enthusiasm and the PRIZES! I can’t wait until tomorrow morning to give them away.
But first things first. Finalists!
Thanks again to our guest judge, Roni Loren, @RoniLoren for taking on and accomplishing this daunting task. She’s a real trooper. And here are the five finalists she picked:
Chris Blanchard, @blanchardauthor
Yay! Two of them are going to win prizes tomorrow morning, one for the winner, and one selected randomly from the other four. Of course, it won’t just be them. A prize will also be given to one participant, selected at random, from all the entries today (minus the finalists.)
This is gonna be great. In the meantime, read the finalists’ entries below and vote in the poll. You have until 9:00 EasternΒ tomorrow morning when I post the winner(s). See you there!
Another year of That and she was sure sheβd go mad. And yet there it stood, impeding her path once again, blithely refusing to be visible to anyone else walking past. Sheβd tried to name it, tried to come up with some possible explanation for it, but all she could come up with was βThat.β
βWhat is it this time?β
That looked at her with its large, baby blue eyes. That, as a whole, was large and baby blue. βWhere are you going today?β
βIβm going to the store. For some milk.β
βYou donβt need any milk.β That was it. That was always it. She brushed by That, ignored the people who stopped to look at her. Why didnβt they look at That? That was right there in front of them! That was always right there in front of them.
βYouβre going to talk to him again, arenβt you?β
She ignored That. But she was. That was the problem. That was always the problem, the one she talked about with her psychologist.
βIt hurts, you know. Hearing him talk about how I donβt exist. Hearing you agree with him. It hurts miserably.β
That hurt her, just a little. She looked over her shoulder. His tail swished ever so slightly, and his big mouth was blubbering. That always took her breath away.
βActually, instead of milk, maybe a bit of ice cream.β
The big baby blue That smiled broadly, and caught up with her, passing through the other people on the street. The ones who couldnβt see That. Who hadnβt heard That. Who didnβt know That.
Another year of That and she was sure sheβd go mad. But maybe. She didnβt know. That didnβt seem quite so bad.
Chris Blanchard, @blanchardauthor
Another year of that, and she was sure sheβd go mad. In fact, she might already be mad already, she wasnβt sure. Madness was always so hard to determine in oneself. She reached up to touch the blindfold across her eyes.
βDonβt touch it,β came the deep male voice. She had no idea who the voice belonged to, but it resonated in her like a base drum. She felt it as much as heard it, all the way down in her toes. She pulled her hand away and continued to walk.
βWhere are you taking me?β she asked. Maybe she should have asked who he was. That seemed a more logical question.
βYouβll see soon enough,β he said.
She sighed and continued to walk. There was a hand that held her wrist, but she was sure it wasnβt the manβs. It was too small and feminine to belong to that voice. Plus, she heard more than one other person walking down the hallway. It sounded like several, in fact, though it could be echoing. She wasnβt sure.
Where ever it was they were going, she didnβt really care. At least it wasnβt that cell. A year. She must be mad already. But now she was free. Or at least out of that room, which was free enough for her.
Finally, they stopped. She heard a door open and she was shoved violently inside. The door closed and she panicked. This place had the same sound of the room she had just left. Not again, not another room.
She could feel her mind bend, about to snap. What was it these people wanted from her? Why had they captured her so long ago, only to never ask her a single question?
After a few seconds, she tore off the blindfold. She screamed. It was exactly like the room she had left, only newer, cleaner. There were no marks on the wall to track time. It was starting all over again. She fell to the floor weeping, and she felt her mind actually snap this time.
Outside, the two men looked at a monitor on the wall.
βYou were right,β the thin man who had been holding her said to his large companion. He nodded and they both wrote notes on their clipboard.
Another year of that and she was sure sheβd go mad.
Just like her predecessor. And the guys in the mail room. And that woman who used to hang out in the lobby, then one day took a swan dive off the highest level of the balcony, making a huge splash in the atriumβs Koi pond.
The madness had taken her predecessor slowly. It had started with the giggles one day. They it turned into Touretteβs-like outbursts of laughter. Then the day came that she literally could not stop laughing, and the friendly men in white coats came to take her away.
She thought about the guys in the mail room, how theyβd all stripped naked one day and started wrapped all packages with photocopied pictures of their ownβ¦ erβ¦ packages.
That was an accident.
She hadnβt meant to hurt them, but it was funny!
The lady in the atrium? She was practice.
And her predecessor? Well, that was her goal all along.
And now that she had the job she wanted, she could stop.
Because one more year of making others go crazy, and sheβd probably go crazy herself.
βAnother year of that and she was sure sheβd go mad.β *click*
As I had thought, turning off the television got Dickβs attention. He turned to face me, βHey, I was watching that!β When he saw the expression on my face, he knew that this wasnβt a time to argue about rewatching his favorite movie on television.
Ever since weβd moved in together, the relationship had been sliding down hill. Like most couples, weβd started with wine and roses and had lately descended to cheap beer and spray cheese. Not that I minded, but the latest development was something I wasnβt willing to accept.
βWhy havenβt you been giving me my messages?β
βWhat do you mean?β He looked confused, but he was a professional actor so I didnβt trust him.
βMargery said she left three messages. My mom called a couple times last week. And I just talked to Beth. Sheβs pissed. Said she talked to you and was specific about me needing to call back.β
βI never talked to any of them!β
βFirst there was drinking my milk. Then there was not flushing the toilet. And now this!β I was losing my calm, but I didnβt care.
He stared at me, anger flashing across his face in response to what Iβd said. He stood, grabbed his keys, and stalked towards the door. βIβm not taking this abuse anymore. Iβm going. Iβll be back for my things tomorrow. I canβt live with a crazy woman anymore.β And with that, he slammed the door.
I turned back to the now empty apartment, my mind racing with plans. The little voice from behind me shocked me, though.
A little growly, and coming from ground level, it took me a moment to see that Starlet β my CAT β was speaking. βI did all those things, you know. But he wasnβt any good for you.β She groomed herself a little. βHe stayed too long, though. Another year of having to put up with him, and Iβd’ve gone mad.β
Another year of that and she was sure sheβd go mad. They had been on the brink so many times, and she had considered ending everything so many times before. There were always signs, always little earthquakes that tested her resolve and made her want to throw in the towel. But somehow she had always managed to hold on. One more year, she kept promising herself, one more year and Iβm done.
The funny thing was she had always believed that strength was a prerequisite for sustaining such a toxic relationship. However, more than anything, she came to realise that it was a sense of humor that was helping her hold it all together. After all, watching your children deliberately and wilfully destroy themselves required a particular kind of amused detachment, and that was the only thing keeping her together. That, and the occasional bubble bath thrown in now and then.
She lifted her robes and climbed down from her seat on the tree branch, brushing her hair back. It had once been black, long and lustrous like dark silk, but now it was grey and frayed at the ends. Her nails were brittle, and the wrinkles in her unholy face told of the grief she had to bear for centuries. Eventually, a sense of humor could only last you so long.
As she descended from the ancient tree, a sprite stepped forward and knelt deeply before her. βMother, what do you require?β
Mother Nature said with a sigh, βA bubble bath.β
[poll id=”52″]
Interesting. The one I thought was the best (not my own) wasn’t even in the finalists! Makes me wonder sometimes about my own ability to critique. :-\
Either way, congrats to all the finalists! And thanks to Leah for this really cool thing she’s got going! Happy Anniversary Baby!
Big thanks to Roni Loren for the nod this week. I’ve been having a blast these last few weeks, and wish I’d known about this a year ago rather than coming across it so much more recently. As redshirt said, you’ve got a great thing going here, and I’m hoping it keeps going for a long time to come. Happy anniversary!
DL Thurston recently posted..Picking up a thrown gauntlet
I liked Leah Petersen’s the best, although I’m guessing she was disqualified π
Amber Skye recently posted..Explicit Sex Scenes
I want to vote for AmyBeth Inverness…and I can’t figure out how! LOL Technology strikes again!
NC Narrator recently posted..Hide & Seek
NC, if you’re on a mobile device, you may not be able to see/use the poll that’s just after the five entries in this post. π
Amber, you’re sweet. π Actually, I didn’t tell her to disqualify me, so I think I just fell in with the other excellent-but-not-a-finalist entries. Happens more often than not. π
Leah Petersen recently posted..5MinuteFiction 1st BIRTHDAY PARTY!
Redshirt,
I don’t think it’s lack of crit skillz. Different people spot/prioritize/prefer different things. That’s why I have a new judge every week.
Leah Petersen recently posted..5MinuteFiction is One Year Old!
I actually liked the Alzheimer’s one the most, as well as Leah’s, which I thought was some sinister Lottery homage at first or something, but the ending made me laugh and surprised me in a good way. Anyway I was really surprised to get shortlisted and even though I won’t win, it’s really heartwarming to be a finalist on my first try. Thank you so much for creating this contest, I think you’re helping a lot of people (like me) jump-start their writing mojo again!