# Short Story Submission Thread



## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

Ok, so again, not sure what to use as the ground rules so if you have any questions feel free to ask. Lets start with the following:



*Must be original work, previously published elsewhere is fine, as long as it's yours*
*Stories must be no longer than 2000 words*
*You may submit two separate stories as long as combined word count is under 2000 words
*
*Use of language and sexual content is fine but try to keep it pg-13 if possible:laughing:
*
*Entries must be received by March 1st, 12:00 P.M. eastern u.s. time
*

Other than that I guess I'll only pick one winner for this contest so I can increase the prize amount



*Winner will receive $1000 Gold, any ties will result in either reward being split or a separate poll as a tie-breaker decision based on my feelings at the time. If I decide to become the final judge for the tie breaker I am at liberty to do so.*

_One last rule, enjoy yourselves, have fun with it, don't be ashamed to submit something because you don't feel it is good enough._


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

hmm.. would it help if I posted one? would that make people more likely to get involved?


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## roxtehproxy (Sep 9, 2009)

By or before March the 1st?

And yes, it would.


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## reyesaaronringo (Dec 27, 2009)

i made up a joke thats as long as a story. does that help? not a very good joke but it's my baby. it's like 10 years old now though

there was this rich guy, kind of odd, howard hughes type. his 50's birthday is coming up an he decided to celebrate it by having a world renownded artist paint his portrait and have it revealed at his birthday party. he finds and commisions the best artist of the day and is as odd as the patron.

on his birthday he throws a big party and lots of important people are there and finally the moment comes when the portrait is revealed. the curtain goes up and there on canvas is the man having sex with an acorn.

understandably the birthday boy is very peeved and asks for an explanation. "what is the meaning of this?" he asks the artist.

"as you are aware i am an abstract artist and paint things not as the world sees them but as the heart sees them" he began. "i wanted to capture the essence of you and so i asked all of your closes friends what they though of you. the consensus is that you are fucking nuts."


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

*pretty much anything is acceptable, as long as it fits within the frame of the guidelines. If someone wants to recite a 10 page poem than I so no reason to stop them, but if it has no storyline I am not the one to be judging these.

This goes against my better judgment, but maybe if I post something i tried writing once maybe it'll encourage others to do the same, it's rather flimsy story structure, but I like parts of it, I wish we had the spoiler commands though. Either way enjoy:* 


I shuffled weakly through the dark corridor my fingers trailed behind along the cool stone wall. I felt more tired than anything and it really wasn't what I would have expected in this kind of situation. It all seemed so absurd that all I could do was laugh mirthlessly as I slumped against the wall "So this is it, I am the architect of my own destruction" I sighed.

As I sat there with my hand on the detonator I started thinking back to the fact that up until a month ago my only real concern was pushing the limits of my own abilities. If I had only known that in doing so I would bring this kind of trouble upon my head. Shit, where did I go wrong…

They say that in the moments before your death, your whole life flashes before your eyes, but for me all I could see was that girl, the one who convinced me to participate in this whole affair. But to understand that we would have to go back to the beginning, to a regular day just over one month ago..

I woke up after my usual four hours of sleep, and immediately noticed that my laptop which usually enters a sleep mode after several minutes was on, and not only that but it was alerting me to a new e-mail message I had received. As I began to walk past my computer to grab myself some breakfast I froze. I remember thinking to myself that this couldn’t be right. The e-mail was from one of my own anonymous server accounts, and even more bizarre it had no subject, no name for the e-mail sender, and nothing in the text of the body of the letter. I knew right away that this could only mean one thing, which was that someone had sent a tracer message back through my own account, and whoever it was knew exactly where I was.

I immediately threw the notion of a quiet breakfast out the window and began running a special shredder tool for the files on my computer. While that was going I started grabbing my bags and hurriedly shoving everything I thought to be important for a quick getaway. To my utter dismay I heard footsteps approaching the door to my room before I had even put a shirt on. My thoughts turned to looking for another out, but this hotel room didn’t seem to have any viable windows or other options for me to escape through. I quickly threw on a shirt and tossed my laptop in the corner under the chair hoping it would buy my program the time it so desperately needed to erase the evidence. As I heard the knock on the door my blood froze,
“Who is it?” I called out trying to suppress the panic in my voice.\

“You need to calm down Mr. Renton, we are not with the police, and we have only come to ask for your help.” The voice called from the other side of the door.

Normally my paranoia would prevent me from believing such an obvious lie, but there was something in the sound of the woman’s voice that drew me towards the door. I remember thinking that curiosity killed the cat, but I figured I should have some lives saved up, besides, where was I going to go, even if it were the police. I approach the door gingerly, thinking for some reason that should they decide to break it down I might actually be able to escape. I looked out the peephole of the room and saw two people standing there. The one whom the voice belonged to was obvious, there was a very pretty young woman standing besides another man who looked old enough to be her grandfather. My mind instantly began running different scenarios, and none of them were making any sense to me.

Throwing caution aside I reached for the door handle and opened it, expecting to be rushed by members of the local swat unit, but instead I was greeted by a warm smile from the lady and suspicious eyes from the man.

“May we come in?” The lady asked politely.

Despite my best efforts I wasn’t having any trouble speaking, for some reason this lady whom I had never met before had left me speechless.

“I umm, yea uh, help yourself” I mumbled as I headed back inside the room.
Again to my dismay as the man entered the room behind her he went straight for the area where my laptop was hidden and he picked it up. I thought to myself who could these people possibly be? I said,

“What are you doing with that?! Put it down!” Apparently he was oblivious to what I was saying because he ignored me completely. Then I noticed the lady was standing right next to me. I looked at her and the look in her eyes made me shut my mouth. This time it was the man who spoke to me, and what he had to tell me was a bit much to swallow, even for me.

As he began telling me the story of how and why they found me I found myself more and more in shock about who these people really were. As hard as it was to believe in my gut I knew that they must be telling the truth, which made this whole situation all the more worse. Looking back on it I think the only reason I didn’t run the first chance I get was because of that women. She hardly ever spoke a word but there was such an aura about her that I just had to find out more.
The story the man told me was about a dissenting group of people from all of the world governments. These people had a leader who wanted nothing more than to wipe all of mankind from the face of the earth. The thing that made him so terrifying is that he wasn’t looking to control the world, he wanted to wipe it clean, himself included. You can tell the ambitions of a madman by what they want as their final result, and this man was not playing around. What is worse is he had already gathered some of the most respected and advanced scientific minds from all over the globe, although not all of them were voluntarily recruited.

So you may be asking yourself, how do I fit into all of this? What does your average computer geek have to offer that the governments of the world can’t find elsewhere? Well the truth of the matter is it wasn’t so much me as what I had been able to create in my computer. They needed someone who could help them bypass the security around the network of this group, so they could track down their leader and eliminate the threat. After the initial encounter with the lady and man I worked alongside some of the greatest minds in the computer science field to ensure that we could accomplish our goal. But the whole time I was working my mind would be drawn back to that women.

Now to get from there to where I am now would take a lot of time to explain, and that is a luxury that I am running very short on. So allow me to give you the cliff notes if you will. After I had done my part on the program and helped locate the main rally point for the dissenting group I thought I was done, but again the man and that same woman appeared before me and told me they needed my help one more time. I don’t know why I accepted, maybe if she hadn’t been there I would have said no. Still the very next day I found myself on board a helicopter heading out towards the middle of the ocean, where a supposed chain of islands contained the base we were after. My job was to neutralize any additional security as we came across it. I thought it sounded safe enough; nearly everything can be done wirelessly anymore, so what should I have to worry about?

And yet, here I am. I had managed to disable all of the electronic security as well as most of the firewalls throughout the base, but there is nothing a geek like me can do about good old fashioned human surveillance. The group I was with was all dead now, after having set the final C-4 charge we were on our way to the rendezvous point when a firefight broke out. I still don’t understand it, how I managed to survive the fight. Maybe it was the hiding under the table, or the marine who shielded me at the cost of his own life, but here I was, the only person left who could stop this madman from seeing his plans come to fruition.

If only that were the truth though, the fact of the matter is we screwed up, and boy did we screw up big time. This wasn’t the main base; this was just an offshoot, nothing more than a research laboratory. Granted by taking out this target we will slow down their plans for the destruction of the world greatly, it won’t stop them, and may make finding them in the future that much harder. As I clutched the bullet wound in my stomach I found my thoughts drifting back to that girl. I can’t believe I still can’t get her out of my head, it’s a shame I probably won’t ever see her again. It’s funny, at a time like this that old J.D. Salinger quote popped into my head, how did it go again? The mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to die humbly for one?

I guess that makes me immature, dying like this and feeling like I still wasn’t able to accomplish enough. Maybe my girlfriend was right, if I’m not happy with a cause like this… it’s no wonder she left me.

So there I am, sitting with my back against the wall, trying to stave off unconsciousness, and beginning to fail. As the world around me starts to go black, I panic. I can no longer feel the detonator in my hand. With my last remaining bit of strength I try my hardest to pull the switch. I can’t say for sure what happened, but as everything went completely black I heard a soft “click”….

The End..

Or is it?


1784 words​


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## Nearsification (Jan 3, 2010)

I will be back. I need to brain storm.


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## Nearsification (Jan 3, 2010)

Bob give me 1 random sentence and i will make my story out of it.


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

once upon a time in a far away galaxy:crazy:


hmmm... I dunno.. I like comedies, it would be nice to read a comedy, but not everyone can appreciate them in a short story. I think sci-fi would be the easiest way to go as they can be great short stories.

A single sentence is hard, I like stories that start near the end without explaining much and than flashback to how it all began. 

maybe something like, "As I approached the room with trepidation, my heart started to race in my chest."


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## Lilsnowy (Sep 9, 2009)

Hmmm...have to think. Love this idea!


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## Nearsification (Jan 3, 2010)

Uhg. Do i have to count the words and it has to be that long. :shocked: My laziness got to me. Make the prize 10,000 gold and i will join. :crazy:


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

it can be as short as you like, but if it's too short you likely won't win


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## Nearsification (Jan 3, 2010)

Will if i write 1 paragraph and no one else enters do i win?:crazy:


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

yep, but if that happens I may use my entry just to prevent you from getting away with that :tongue:

but if it's just you and one other person I have no intention of submitting my own story


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## Lilsnowy (Sep 9, 2009)

I'm still thinking about a submission and I bet others are too.


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

I may extend the deadline if I see people attempting to come up with ideas, or if people contact me, but I'm hesitant to do so. If anyone else is considering this idea and reads this, please let me know you are interested


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## Nearsification (Jan 3, 2010)

Watch me turn mines in at like February 29th. :tongue:


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## reyesaaronringo (Dec 27, 2009)

wait, my joke counts right?


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## Lilsnowy (Sep 9, 2009)

*About Akar: A Letter To My Twin Brother*

Dearest brother, after receiving your letter about the mystical sherpa who seems to be following you, I thought I should relay to you, my own unfortunate history with same:

The first time I saw Akar, he was levitating over a small stream in a hidden garden I had only just discovered. He immediately knew my name, which startled and amazed me and confirmed what I already knew about him: He was amazing.

I thought he was sleeping as he floated over some unusually vibrant and sweet smelling flowers. As I stood before him, in my soft, flowing floor length maxi dress with beaded trim, I noticed a bright orange and red bloom directly under his... feet. I leaned forward to sniff one (the blossom, not his feet) and he said, “Snowy, our creator gave those flowers thorns to discourage all but the most foolish from getting close.” Well, as the man hovering above the garden said, I must have been foolish because I leaned in and touched the blossom, inhaling the flower’s fresh citrus scent. 

“Hmph!” I said, my immaturity speaking before my experience. “It didn’t prick me.” His eyes still closed, he asked, “Which one did you smell?” I reached into the bush and grasped the flower, pulling it toward me. As I did, a large thorn pierced my finger and drops of bright red blood fell to the ground. “Ouch!” I cried in my distress. “The thorns are underneath!” 

He opened one eye and looked at me. “The thorns are always underneath where you can’t see them. In your foolishness, you thought you were immune to danger. But know this, your pride made you discount my yogi-liscious words and once you are foolish, Snowy, pride always makes a prick,” And I knew, brother, as I’ve known nothing before, this man had something awesome to teach me, if I could figure out what he meant. I looked up at him in incredulous wonder and my incredulity increased as he began to spin around, so slowly that I began to feel lulled and complacent standing there bleeding from that prick of a flower. My deep untapped wells of spiritual growth began to get tapped that day. 

What are you? I asked him, just as you, my twin brother, asks today. “Akar is my name and levitation and incoherent words are my game. I also disappear into mystical mists, but we will save that for another day.” Watching him gently levitating above me, I said, “I searched long and hard for this garden, Akar; I was told I would find a treasure here.” 

With his eye piercing me to my soul, he asked, “Have you found it?” I looked at him and asked, “ _Have_ I found it?” He looked even more piercingly at me and said, “You tell _me_.” His wordy games were confusing me, my sweet twin. I felt distraught and started to run around the garden, my hands caught up in my burnished chestnut locks, cowardly looking for the way out. In my haste to run around dramatically, I snagged my toe ring on a small rock and fell forward, running into his knee with my forehead. The force of my curvy body sent him spinning out of control, which, I learned that day, to a levitating yogi, is quite horrifying. 

He careened up and out of the garden, and I felt a deep shame when I saw the momentary worried look on his normally calm face. I followed him, trying to grab his feet as he rotated this way (and that way too). Exhausted and dizzy, I sat down and cried a single tear so he would know I really felt bad. Finally, he caught some air and came back to me. He asked me to stand in front of him and he said, in the wisest voice I’ve even heard, “Woman, no one has touched me in quite this way before. No one has made me soar like you do. I believe you are the meaning of my seriously cool prophetic dreams. We are destined to be man and wife.” 

And brother, to his surprise and mine, a fierceness previously unknown to me, a fierceness passed down to me by our pirate kin, flowed through me until I trembled with the fiery fierceness of it. I said, “Oh no you di-nt say that!” I looked at him with such fire in my eyes, he floated backward, metaphorically singed by my angry stare. I told him in no uncertain terms that I would _not_ marry him, that I would not marry any man who would always look down on me! I gathered up the beaded hem on my ultra-feminine floor length dress, shook out my shiny tresses and ran away, and haven’t been back since. So you can see, that yes, something was afoot, (or several feet off the ground, as it were) between Akar and me from the beginning. 

After all these years, he still remembers the sting of my words. And my sweet twin, I still remember that prick. 
***


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

there's a little over a week left... two entries. well coolio still time if your out there


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## Lilsnowy (Sep 9, 2009)

*"I love goooooold!"*

Gee, I hope others will enter. As much as I love gooooold, I like to read stories even more!


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## zwanglos (Jan 13, 2010)

I might try to throw one in, though I only just happened upon this thread today :x


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

srsly.. one joke and one entry.. well whatever, I appreciate the people who did put themselves out there, I think you did a great job and you shall be rewarded for it. still one day left for everyone else


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

well because of lack of entries I am not going to bother creating a poll for voting. If you decide that you would like to submit a short story pm me the story or post it here, if ever there is a time when 5 entries are submitted I will come back to it and have a poll with rewards for the winner


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## Lilsnowy (Sep 9, 2009)

With all the creative people on this forum, I'm shocked more didn't enter! It's been fun!


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## reyesaaronringo (Dec 27, 2009)

did i win? i got gold! yay! maybe the pot was split; either way thanks. i won by default i'm sure but i'm happy:laughing::laughing::laughing:.


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## In a Quandary (Dec 26, 2009)

:shocked: Had I known this contest was on in the first place, I would have participated in it.


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## zwanglos (Jan 13, 2010)

Just didn't have the time/energy with everything else going on. *shrug*


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## A Thewiouth Fellow (Mar 3, 2010)

Hey wait so

You gonna extend the deadline or what?

Because this sounds like fun.

And I wasn't even a member of the forum on march 1st...


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## NotSoRighteousRob (Jan 1, 2010)

if people want to submit a story, when there are 5 we'll have others judge them, if it never happens well that's beyond my control.


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