Round 8: Old style.

[tw]

and me too dammit!

[Wendy]

WS1

I watch him light the candle as the clocks chime the hour.
I see him in his leather vest, this man so full of power.
I hear the clink of handcuffs and the rumble of thunder.
I see the wicked smile that casts the spell I'm under.
I feel the pain of hot wax as it dribbles across my skin.
I feel the tickle of his whiskers as his tongue slips in.
I hear the snap of rubber as his hand goes in the glove.
I wish this wasn't what he meant when he said, "Let's make love."

[Tricia]

TW1

The old woman stared into the crystal ball. The light from the candle on the small table next to them danced and tickled the prism inside the glass.

“This is not so good”, she whispered.
“What is it? What do you see?” the young woman asked excitedly.

“It is growing faint. The crystal has gone dark”<br>The old woman reached out with a hand the texture of old leather and grasped the crumpled twenty dollar bill that the young woman had placed on the table when she sat down over half an hour ago.
The young woman reached into her purse and pulled out another twenty dollar bill to ‘help’ the crystal to see the rest of the message that the old woman said was of such importance to her future.
“No”, the old woman hissed.
“I told you, the crystal is dark. Heed the warning. Do not return to your home tonight. Find a place to stay, a hotel or a friend’s house… anywhere that you will be safe”.

With that the old woman stood and shuffled her way through the clinking beaded curtain and into the back, where she sat down to finish her dinner of cabbage and bread.
Rebecca found herself alone in the dark room. She grabbed her bag and headed towards the door.
As she made her way across the parking lot she thought about the old woman.



She had been having a drink at the bar on the corner after work and when she had gone to her car to head home, she had run into the old woman. Almost literally run into her.

She had gotten in her Honda to head home and, thinking she was alone in the parking lot, had started the ignition and closed the door against the loud chime of the door ajar warning. She reached down and put the gearshift in first. As she flipped on her headlights, she was startled to see the old woman, hunched right in front of her car. She was staring straight at Rebecca as if she had could see her face through the bright headlights shining in her squinting eyes.

Rebecca put the car into neutral and gave the engine a little gas thinking that the rumble of the engine would cause the old woman to realize that she needed to move before she ended up getting hit. The woman pointed one crooked finger at her through the glass, but did not budge from her spot in front of the car.

Rebecca shut off the engine and rolled down her window. She left her headlights turned on. The parking lot was completely dark, it was enclosed on all sides by old deserted warehouse buildings and there was not a working street light anywhere nearby.

She leaned her head out of the window and gave the old lady a disarming smile.
“Can I help you with something, ma’am”?

The old woman shuffled her way to the driver’s side, but remained in front of the vehicle, blocking any attempt to pull the vehicle away from her.

Again she raised a bony finger and pointed at Rebecca.
“He spent 20 thousand dollars”. The words dribbled from her mouth full of stained brown teeth.

Those words had sent a chill up Rebecca’s spine.
She had the eerie sense that the woman’s mouth had not moved and that the words had come from some where further away than this woman standing three feet from her driver’s side window.

She had felt her breath catch in her throat.
She had just been to the bank that day and found that her husband had transferred 20 thousand dollars out of their account a few days earlier. She had tried to reach him, but he had been on a business trip all week and he was not answering his cell phone.


Her curiosity was peaked by the words the old woman had said to her.
She rolled up the window and stepped out of her car.

The old lady had made a gesture to follow and Rebecca followed her through the parking lot into the back door of one of the deserted warehouses.
She walked into a small dark room; the old lady had sat down at a table in front of her a crystal ball.

Well great… she was obviously some kind of crackpot, Rebecca thought as she observed the strange scene around her.
She sat across from the woman and slid a crumpled twenty dollar bill onto the table.

“So are you going to tell me what you see”? She asked.

The woman sat for a good half hour murmuring and staring into the crystal.
Finally she began to speak. Once again Rebecca had the sensation that the voice was coming from somewhere far off in the distance.

She began to speak of Rebecca’s anniversary, which was two days away.
She said that her husband had used the money on her.

Rebecca felt a jolt of elation. She had thought that maybe he had spent the money on her. She had told him that she wished they could take a cruise together and spend some time working on the baby she had been longing to have. He had agreed, but first he had to go on this trip. Then he promised to take her away and make up for the time he had been spending away from home.

She was imagining the wonderful surprise he must be planning for her when the old ladies voice changed. She began to mumble something about a warning from the spirits, that there was danger waiting for her.
Rebecca felt something dark and cold take hold of her.

When the crystal grew dark and the old lady had refused her plea for more information she was left to wonder alone out into the night.

She once again made her way through the parking lot and let herself into her car.
This time the darkness was consuming. The shadows seemed to move and shift when she once again turned her headlights on. She could smell burning rubber coming from one of the alleys, where the homeless would set tires on fire to light up their dark world.
She had never noticed just how desolate and menacing this parking lot was before.
From now on she would only park out on the street, even if it would mean a fortune in meter fees.

She turned the corner out of the parking lot and headed towards home.
Again she thought of the old woman’s warning. How silly was she, to listen to some old crazy gypsy, whom she almost ran down in a parking lot?

As she pulled into her driveway she was overcome with the feeling of eyes on her. The hair on the back of her arms had risen and she had a tingly feeling in her stomach that was almost painful.

She turned off the engine and sat staring at the house.
Of course it was crazy. Who would listen to the words of some old crackpot witch?

And yet...
She turned the engine back on and slowly began to back out of her driveway.
She could go stay with her sister, it had been a long time since they had spent an evening together and she had not seen her niece in at least six months.

A feeling of relief came over her as she pulled out onto the road.
She didn't notice the man watching her from her upstairs bedroom window.

[Collin]

Okay, the extended deadline is past and I'm happy to see that two more people were able to get something written. Obviously, I didn't.

Yesterday, when I had planned to write my story, I didn't realize how long our train trip was going to take. Actually, it wasn't the train ride itself, it was the ride there and back. I'll talk more about it in a blog post later (hah) with a link to the photos I took.

Since I forgot to take the list of words with me I couldn't write on the van ride. So. No story from me Which is a shame since I'm sure it would have been amazing.

I have no idea what Derek's excuse is, except perhaps they are slammed at work. I don't know since I'm not going to be there until Thursday. I'm not even going NEAR there until then.

So now we will open up the voting. Take two days.

Thank you to everyone for participating and sticking with the board through my time of extreme lameness.

[Heather]

I'm just going to make my own rule and vote for two stories since you didn't specify. If this is unacceptable, oh Board Master, I will change my votes.

WS1
DS1

[jenn]

Heather we will take control of the board and do as we please in our fearless leaders absents! Just try and make us change our vote Collin.

I always love everyone stories.

Wendy gets my first vote, I laughed so hard at that!

I am torn between Jay and Derek though. Jay's story was really neat and knowing Jay it just made that story even more special. Derek S writes like an he is much older and I love his work no matter what it. He always amazes me. I think this time I will vote for JJ1 though, because well the whole mom thing just touched me.

Tricia and Heather you guys already know I always love your stories.

[Tricia]

Sorry, I wrote a whole damn book!
Nice story Collin.
Stop annoying me!

HB1
JJ1

[smalls]

hmm

tis tough this time..

TW1
JJ1

took awhile to pick those ones

[Collin]

My DSL was out most of the week at home and I was too busy here at work to get the time to read the stories until a few minutes ago. I had to read fast so my votes may not be entirely fair. I'm very sorry about that.

So, after this the voting is over...way over...

My votes go to DS1 and TW1. Once again I liked ALL of the stories that were written.

I will have the totals this weekend.

[Collin]

The results for the latest and perhaps last (for awhile) Storytelling Game are:

JJ1: 13
DS1: 12
WS1: 12
TW1: 12
HB1: 11
JS1: 10
JS2: 10

Congratulations JayJay! And once again thank you everyone for playing.

[Tricia]

Collin changed his avatar again... he's worse than me with shoes!

Congratulations JJ, you man whore! ;D

[JayJay]

Me? aw, gosh! i'm blushing!!

thanks you guys ;D

[Tricia]

Don't get cocky mangina!