Underground Writers Network : Forum : Challenge of the Week ~ #13


Challenge of the Week ~ #13

18 Years Ago


Hi everyone!

Since we've reached the number 13... I'd like to propose somethng different for this challenge. Let me know what you think.

Basically, what this challenge is about, is creativity. The way it works is: someone posts a line (in this case me), and the next person has to write a poem or short story (in any style) using that as their first line. Should be no longer than 200 words so that we all have time to read them and enjoy them ;)

Please feel free to post a line for others to use... or to write a poem/story for any of the lines given, or just simply read and enjoy.

First line:
Quote:
Dwelling beneath the ambience


Shoot any questions my way, or post them here :)

All Waste Away

18 Years Ago


Dwelling beneath the ambience
The ambiance,
The ambiance.
Dwelling beneath the ambience
Sat the little boy.

Don�t know why the sky is blue,
Sky is blue,
Sky is blue.
Don�t know why the sky is blue
But the night it does destroy.

The night it did destroy,
Did destroy,
Did destroy.
The night it did destroy
And the moon shone full and bright.

The moon shone full and bright,
Full and bright,
Full and bright.
The moon shown full and bright
Until the sun came into light.

The sun came into light,
Into light,
Into light.
The sun came into light
And the boy refused to stay.

The boy refused to stay,
Refused to stay
Refused to stay
The boy refused to stay
And watch the days all waste away.

[no subject]

18 Years Ago


Dwelling beneath the ambience,
A feeling I can't describe,
Partly born of fear
Partly born of pride.
A feeling that the lies I tell
Will leave me far behind.
That the surface "me"
I present to you
Obliterates the only me
I ever knew.

What then will you see
If you turn to look for me?
Why, you'll only grasp thin air.
No longer is there an essence there.
No, only ambience.

[no subject]

18 Years Ago


Here's a line for others to try:

"The sunlight changed shape passing through the smudged glass of the half empty tequila bottle."

[no subject]

18 Years Ago


Its a little over 200 words :(

**Author's note: Luminol is an agent used by law enforcement that reacts with the iron component in blood. When it comes into contact with blood, it glows. This can be used to find blood that has been cleaned up, etc **


Dwelling beneath the ambience of this place, and it has much, with its stylish dark red painted walls, black carpet and old brass light fixtures, lies its bloody history. I swear you can feel it when you walk throught the door, the energy of this house pulsing through your being like some polluted river, pregnant with putridity. You'll say thats because I know what happened here, but if thats true, then why has it been on the market for 3 years after it, um, became available?

The carpet is black because it matches the walls. They are painted as they are because painting them black would make the place look small, and painting them any light color would require too many coats. The dark brown stains that splashed the walls here have a way of working their way through light paint. S**t, I bet if you sprayed luminol in here, it would still light up like a christmas tree. Even after all the paint, and all this time.

I was the lead detective on the case. I'd investigated over 23 homicides, some of them quite messy, by that time. But when I first set foot in this house that Christmas day, I'd almost lost my lunch. Blood had been everywhere. There were huge streaks and splotches of it on every wall, made all the more visible since the walls were white at that time. The ceiling was splashed with it. And, of course, the carpets were soaked. Trails of blood ran in all directions and there were bloody hand and footprints running all over the place.

We found the children, Maggie, Michael, and Jodi, ages 7, 5, and 3, in the kitchen, huddled together as if they could protect one another from the blows of the axe. Little Jodi was missing a hand. All of them were nearly unrecognizable.

We found the father, John, nearly decapitated in the den. I follwed a trail of blood up the stairs, my .357 drawn and fighting back tears and vomit, and gound John's wife, Elizabeth. She was laying face down at the top of the stairs, her pale hands, covered in gore, gripping the bannister. She'd been struck over 45 times. We never found the axe, or its wielder.

The public knows none of this, of course. We never released the location of the homicides. And we certainly didn't release the condition of the house. Members of the family hired folks to clean it and get it ready for sale. And yet it still sits vacant. I bet it will for a long while, no matter how low they cut the price. There is evil here, imprinted on this place from that blood-soaked night. You can feel it.

[no subject]

18 Years Ago


Dwelling beneath the ambience
A house below the noise.
A shelter from my surroundings.
I battle for my poise.

Dwelling beneath the ambience
The sound takes my soul astray
Trying to stay hidden.
Because the world is to far away

Dwelling beneath the ambience
I can hear the birds and trees.
I can feel my old self crying
As I succumb to the disease.

Dwelling beneath the ambience
The last home that I will know.
I wish I could have saved me.
But Death demands his toll.


[no subject]

18 Years Ago


Okay, so this is way longer that 200 wds., but I wanted to use David's line. If you don't feel like it, don't read it. This is just so much darn fun it's practically sick!

"The Morning After"

The sunlight changed shape passing through the smudged glass of the half empty tequila bottle. As the distorted light poked at Sheila�s scratchy eyelids, she moaned and tried to rollover. It occurred to her that she was lying on the floor. She knew she was in the kitchen by the linoleum under her cheek and the odd, almost raw odor that permeated the room. When Sheila moved an inch any way razors ripped her skull. Thank God the sunlight had not penetrated the rest of the room. There was blissful darkness through most of the house. What had she done exactly? It was all a bit fuzzy. Her lack of recollection and the pain in her head suggested that she had at least helped empty that bottle.
Shelia remembered arguing with Tom. She had been irritated with herself for not seeing their �relationship� for what it was. Women. Huh. Sheila let out a very unladylike snort. She was sure women read way too much into everything. Like a dog on the scent backtracking over and over until he�s not sure if he smells the rabbit�s trail or his own a*s. It gets all twisted up and confused. Men, they think in a straight line. Chances are, what he said was what he meant. No hidden meanings. With the exception of the words �I love you�, and even then it�s a straightforward lie. It�s so simple it�s downright confusing.
Sheila gave a heave and pulled herself off the floor. Damn! What did they do last night? She felt�sticky. Now in an upright position Sheila realized she had better get to the bathroom, pronto. She had never felt such an overwhelming urge to vomit.
Her thoughts drifted back to the puzzle of the previous night. She could still hear Tom�s snide voice. �This isn�t some sort of thing. We�ve been sleeping together. That�s it. Hell, half the time neither one of us is even sober!� �We can�t keep on like this. Honestly, what are we doing here?�
�I thought we were having a relationship. I guess I was just fooled into thinking that sex and emotions had something to do with each other again!�, Sheila screamed. Something in her broke. She hadn�t asked him to be a genius or a romantic, or even a good man. She just wanted him to be there. Well, that at least wouldn�t be a problem anymore. He wasn�t going anywhere now. Shelia shook her head. Why had she thought that? It was obvious from the almost oppressive silence that Tom was no longer in the house. He must have gone.
Sheila trudged into the bathroom. She raised her eyes to a bath�. a bloodbath. Tom hadn�t gone anywhere. The other tequila bottle sat broken and jagged next to Tom�s slit throat. Ah, yes. The end of the argument. He had turned his back on her to go take a piss. Not a good idea. Sheila, so enraged to be dismissed, grabbed the nearest thing and smashed it over Tom�s unsuspecting head. With the tequila bottle broken and Tom unconscious on the floor, the rest had been easy. After all, Sheila thought, wasn�t this how it's supposed to be? Eternal love and all that drivel. Throw caution to the wind. Do anything for love, right?

[no subject]

18 Years Ago


Love teeplo's piece. that gets my vote.

[no subject]

18 Years Ago


It gets mine too. :)

[no subject]

18 Years Ago


humm, how underground is this? i thought this space was about people who couldn't or can't conform.

[no subject]

18 Years Ago


If you are referring to the writing challenge, you're just talking crazy. What you post can be anything but the writing challenge has rules. All challenges have rules. You need a basis to judge the winner of said challenge.

[no subject]

18 Years Ago


Dwelling beneath the ambience,
She sat there, gazing out into the distance,
Eyes fixed on a far off point past the horizon.
Her thoughts ran amok inside her head.

Why... was she here? What... was she doing there?
Where... had she come from? Where... was she going...?
Her brain tried to remember where she had come from,
But failed due to tover to the the lack of information.

So she just sat there, uncaring...unseeing...unfeeling.
Presently, she got up and walked out of the ambience,
Went around it four times, then had an idea!!!
She went over to the kiosk, and bought an icecream!