This story is closed, but you can read our finished story HERE.
My family used to play this game on long car rides. I’ve tried it on my Facebook page. I thought I’d try it here on my blog. Let’s write a masterpiece story together for this week’s Friday discussion.
Here’s how this works:
1. I’m giving you the first sentence.
2. You can add one sentence at a time to the story…one sentence per comment…no more…
Is that clear enough?…one sentence
3. Each new person can add one sentence to the story. You can take the story any direction, but try to write a sentence that doesn’t close out the story…that invites someone to come behind you and continue the story.
4. Please don’t try to write one long sentence that really is a paragraph. The fun is getting the different inputs and imagination to work together.
5. After someone else adds a sentence, or if it has been a while since someone has commented, you can keep the story going by adding another sentence. IIf you haven’t figured out by now, you’ll need to read through the existing comments to understand where the story has gone.)
6. PLEASE, leave the sentence here on the blog as a comment, not on Facebook or as a Tweet. Not everyone gets to read it that way and I will not use those sentences in the final story.
7. I will not be able to use crude or vulgar comments. (I realize that will limit some of you from participating, but…)
8. I’m giving up to a week to keep the process going. When it appears the story is concluding, I’ll wrap it up and post all the comments/the story in a single blog post. (If it got really long I may make it two posts.)
9. If you want me to add a link to you/and or your name in the credits of the post, make sure I have that at the end of your sentence. I will share all names I can decipher, so if you don’t want your name in the credits let me know.
10. Have fun and be creative.
Here’s the first sentence:
“Carolyn knew not to question the timing, but she had never experienced anything like this before now.”
Now go! Add a comment with the next line.
Help spread the fun by Tweeting this post.
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Garretot
She had always had a nose for trouble and now she could understand exactly what had been going on.
Just then, she felt the Lord was leading her to the one place where everything would be revealed: The deoderant factory where she had witnessed the murder.
so she had no other choice but to drop to her knees and pray "Lord, I have no idea what to do or what's going on. What should I do?"
She relaxed with the knowledge that heard dear friend Charlene was, in fact, alive. But something was still not quite right.
Mr. Jenkins replied, "You still dreaming. Think real hard and you'll wake up." She did that and all of a sudden she was awake in her own bed; no clowns or bunny slippers.
She hated clowns, terrified of them since she was a small child because her father dressed for one at her 5th birthday party and screamed so loudly, as he tripped over one of her friends.
Carolyn felt a cold chill as she realized that the footprints led to the two shadows in the corner–it was Robert and Mr. Jenkins, and they were both dressed in clown suits!
She pulled back the covers, sat up and shook the cobwebs of sleep from her mind as she went for her bunny slippers, but where were they and where did those muddy footprints come from?
She needed to get out, to clear her head. But as she turned her mind saw two men in the shadows, then the same bright light and suddenly it was day and she was in her own bed; or was she?
Carolyn shook her head trying to clear the cobwebs out-what in the world was going on? Has this all been a dream or is it really happening. Confusion took over.
Bunny slippers, Mr. Jenkins office; what had happened to the day as it was obviously night now and she was alone in his office; alien abduction perhaps?
Amid the random, myriad thoughts, the bunny slippers peeping out from under Mr. Jenkins desk jolted her abruptly back into the present.
Because the helium that was released from Robert's burst balloon made her voice so squeaky high that she could now sing super-hyper-soprano.
Carolyn, reached Robert right at the same moment that Charlene did.. Both of them where alive, for years she had lived with regrets that weren't real, her world was about to change.
Could it be? "No, that's not possible; she's dead", she thought as she ran to Robert.
Suddenly she heard a loud BANG! …as the balloon Robert was carrying burst…and she saw the person who had perpetrated this cruel action.
She pulled into a secluded spot, turned off the engine and got out of the car. In the distance she saw Robert waiting for her.
But what was that object he was carrying and why was he waving it in the air?
Though stunned by the fact that Robert was clearly not dead, Carolyn drove quckly, arriving within minutes to "their spot"–
She knew that she could not talk to the police just then. She started her car and headed off to find Robert.
The sound of sirens in the distance brought her back to the situation at hand. She knew she needed to leave before she was asked any questions. So she climbed back into the car, stared at the burning house in front of her, and made her decision.
OMG, was all she could think.
Right then, her phone vibrated, it was a text " I'm not dead, meet me at our spot ".
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More importantly, would her ADD allow her to make any sense of what was happening?
Where were all her friends now, for support, validation or just plain help ?
Carolyn started to wonder where all her past friends were , just now, she needed them for support, validation or celebration, she didn't yet know what
It was her Father; "You shouldn't have come back!" He said. "You know what will happen now!"
Startled by Bobby McFerrin singing "Don't Worry, Be Happy", she answers the phone and hears a familiar voice say "I've been thinking about you".
Suddenly, a gnawing feeling engulfed her as she recalled something…and it hit her: in only twenty four hours, she had left her boss standing in the office bewildered and begging her not to leave at this incredible moment of success, had shot off to see Charlene, had nearly been blown to bits, and then flown to Mexico like some asylum escapee passing into and out of reality, like some character in the first novel written by a writer with catastrophic ADD and way too much caffeine.
Could Charlene ever understand the feelings being there brought back?
Something, perhaps a log floating in the riplling water, perhaps a shadow, reminded her of a long ago trip to Puerto Vallarta.
Carolyn was so confused! Everything was gone. Where was she! Who was Mr. Jenkins? Rolling over in the bed she grabbed her blankets and pulled them up over her head and wished for a few more hours of uninterupted sleep. Dreams sure have a way of ruining a nights sleep!
The only thing she coul dthink to do was sit on her favourite rock in her favourite bay and think about what was happening.
Off in the distance a man with wire rimmed glasses looked on through a pair of military issue binoculars. The small device in his hand would ensure that the reunion would never happen. Carolyn raised her eyes up over the porch steps only to realize that Charlene was gone.
The explosion knocked her to the ground.
Sheepishly she pulled into the driveway, brushed a tear from her eye and slowly began to open her car door
And she wondered, 'Should I really be here.. should I be doing this? Does any of it really matter anymore?'
Silence crackled across the telephone wires as she waited for Charlene's reply.
No one knew she had been there when it happened, and the shame and guilt were sometimes overwhelming.
She dialed her phone with trembling hands: "Charlene?–it's me."
The countryside seemed to move by in slow motion; would she ever be home; did she really want to be home?
She quickly scrambled to pack a bag and headed home, wondering after all these years if her secret would be revealed.
A secret only her dog understood.
On the plane, she thought more about Charlene, the murder, and of course, him.
But going back also scared her…it had been so long since she had seen him.
It had all been a dream- but it stirred up the desires in her to revisit her past.
Her alarm clock was blaring in the background as she slowly woke to face her day.
The country music ringtone suddenly made all the pictures of Chuck Norris on the walls of Mr. Jenkins' office make sense.
Sugarland's, "Stuck Like Glue" echoed in the conference room as Mr. Jenkins pushed silence on his phone.
She thought to herself, "I wonder if my name is still carved into the door to the gym?"
In that moment before Jenkins answered the question, Carolyn made a decision. It was time for a trip back home.
Was she still alive…."What was that Mr. Jenkins?"
Her mind wandered back to her hometown of Tribune, Kansas where Mr. Shaeffer had often had to dish out discipline to her and her friend Charlene. Where was Charlene now?
Even though she should be enjoying this success, she felt like she was sitting in her high school principal's office again.
As she contemplated her deodorant her mind took her back to the place she most hated.
However, since she is hardcore ADD, the thought faded as quickly as it came.
"What am I thinking? I've got to stay focused on the issue at hand", which now seemed impossible as Mr. Jenkins was reaching for something inside his desk drawer.
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And then the hardest question of all:” Did I even remember to put on my deoderant this morning?”
…as Mr. Jenkins announced, "You'll be happy to know you've won employee of the year, and you won't believe what the prize is!"
See Carolyn had a history with deodorant.
She turned her head quickly feigning like she was looking for something in her purse, but in reality she was executing a well-timed sniff test.
Assured that she had, she struggled to retain her composure and asked to see the report.
Her ADD was kicking in, this was important, she MUST STAY FOCUSED!
"Carolyn, the demand generated for your new book has been off the charts!" he exclaimed.
But knowing about the events last week at the company HQ her pulse quickened.
She tried to maintain her composure so as to appear neither excited nor nervous.
Her mind raced as she replayed all of her hard work over the last month.
Puzzled, she really had no idea what he was talking about. "See what coming?"
"Carolyn," he said, shaking his head. “How did we not see this coming?!”
The CEO, Mr. Jenkins, had asked to see her first thing this morning.
And she could not have felt more exhilarated!
Here she was, in a place that was both exciting and terrifying.
That she did not know what to say!!
She was anxious that someone so important was interested in her opinion.