Thursday May 19th, 2011

The exercise:

Today we're going back to: continuations.

If you've written something recently - either here or elsewhere - that felt incomplete, feel free to carry on from where you left off. If nothing comes to mind, you're always welcome to continue on from where I finish.

I've chosen to continue my scene from yesterday.

Mine:

He grunts in response and shuffles toward the fire in a crouch, his fingertips brushing against the cave floor. He studies me for a moment without blinking and then turns his attention to the flames. I decide to try again.

"Dad? It's me, Mitch. Are you okay?"

I watch my father as he sniffs the air, his head angling upward and cocked to one side. He closes his eyes and goes perfectly still, then suddenly whirls and scrambles out of the cave on all fours.

My feet feel like they've grown roots as I stare out into the night. It's a struggle to get air in and out of my lungs. Thoughts refuse to gather in any semblance of order. Finally the words that I've been pushing away squeeze between my lips.

"Oh no... he's been infected."

4 comments:

morganna said...

Katie crouched in the tiny lifepod, concentrating on following the alien ship through the dips and twirls of hyperspace. Tom was dead, killed in the initial attack. She ignored the tears running down her cheeks, focused only on revenge. She didn't know what she would find at the other end of hyperspace, but she knew it would involve revenge, or die trying.

Heather said...

Marc- So, not time travel then. Okay, fine. I was wondering how much research you did for your Dragon story from last year's Nanowrimo. 'Beng' is gypsie for Satan. You know, in case you forgot about those of us that are still waiting for the next installment ;)

Morgana- I didn't catch the first part of this, but wouldn't mind reading it. I liked the imagery in your piece.

Greg, who has yet to submit his piece- A long while ago, say 6 months or so, you asked if I had plans to continue a piece I had submitted here. I could have sworn I had sent you a continuation, but can't find it on here or my other blog. So, that is what my submission is today.

It's a bit lengthy though.

Conscience

Greg said...

This is only short today as I'm having real trouble getting an internet connection. I'm really pleased you carried yesterday's story on a little, Marc, it's good to see where it's going!

Continuations
"What do you call this?"
"Continuations," said Geraldinium Holmes, creator of insipid art. "It's a continuation of my last piece."
"The dead rat rotting in a jar of old cheese?" The reviewer's nose was wrinkling at the memory of it. "How does this continue that?"
"I painted it using the contents of the jar after the rat had finished rotting."

Marc said...

Morganna - happy to see another update on that adventure. Feel free to continue sprinkling more of these vignettes here whenever the prompt allows :)

Heather - ah, I thought I recognized Beng from somewhere. And don't worry, you're not the only one harassing me about that :P

So happy to see you writing lengthier pieces again :)

Greg - that sounds like an utterly delightful work of art. As long as it's viewed from a safe distance. And the wind is blowing in the right direction.