Writing Challenges
Hi there blog readers from the web. You've come back for another taste of madness I see. This was written in response to a challenge prompt that a friend of mine put out this week. You can check her blog out
here. The prompt was do not enter, and the only requirement was that the work be centered around that theme. I hope you enjoy!
DO NOT ENTER
The four friends sat and stared at each
other, unsure what their next step would be. They had expected
immediate freedom when they'd been released from the cell they'd been
trapped in for what seemed like forever. Now they sat in a circle
trying to decide their next move.
Florence tossed her long blonde hair
over her shoulder, she was glad she'd had it up in ponytail. “I
think we should go for it.”
“What if it's a trap?” Stanley,
the cautious one of the group, asked with fear evident in his voice.
The experience had been the hardest on him.
“It can't be. Why would they do
that? Release us just to recapture us?” Helen countered his
argument with her usual sensible logic.
“We all just need to be calm.” The
final member, the quietest one, added his opinion. “Either it's a
trap or it's not. We have to decide and then stand behind our
decision.” He stood and walked away from the group recalling the
events of the past week in his mind and trying to make sense of them.
They had been walking home from their
usual Friday night pizza when it had started to rain.
“That's odd. There's no rain in
the forecast.” Helen was looking at the sky in wonder.
“We could take the shortcut
through the forest. It would get us home in half the time.” Doug
watched his friends knowing that Stan would be the holdout.
“They say you should stay away
from the forest on the night of a full-moon.” Stan's voice was
shaking and frightened.
“That's just an old wives tale!”
Florence laughed at him. “Besides the trees are thick and will
keep us from getting too wet if we hurry.” She ran into the forest
leaving the others no choice but to follow.
That had been the
beginning. They'd walked through the forest for less than five
minutes when they'd been surrounded by a circle of shadows that
slowly closed in on them. Doug watched as Stanley fell to his knees
with a cry and then collapsed, unconscious on the ground. Flo was
next, she cried a little in fear. Helen followed her to her knees
with an unbelieving look on her face and the words “Run Doug!”
before she passed out. The last thing Doug remembered was watching
the ground rush up to meet him before he woke.
He opened his eyes
and noted that Flo was the only other conscious one amongst them.
“Where are we?” He looked at
her grimly.
“In some sort of cell I think.”
She looked around them. “I've only been awake a few minutes longer
than you.”
“I see.” He looked around the
dimly lit area noting the hardened dirt floor under them. It
appeared to be some sort of cave with bars at the front. “Have you
called out?”
“No. I was afraid of making
whoever caught us angry.” She glanced down in embarrassment.
Doug rose, steadying himself against
the head rush it brought on. Standing at the bars he hollered
loudly, “Is anyone there? Let us out!” The echo of his voice
was his only answer.
“Stop making such a racket. My
head hurts.” Helen held her head as she moved to stand.
“Yeah. Let's not attract any
attention if we don't have to.” Stan cowered on the ground.
“Obviously someone put us in here,
and we need to get them to let us out.” Doug gave his friend an
annoyed look.
“I agree.” Helen joined him at
the bars and yelled as well. “Hey! You won't get away with this!
Let us out!”
They had spent the
next few hours arguing amongst themselves as to whether they should
attract the attention of their captors or not. Doug and Helen had
both felt it was their best chance, Flo agreed with them but was
afraid, and Stan was completely terrified of the idea.
“What if they want us to demand
our release?” Helen argued with the two hold outs. They had
agreed to be quiet until they'd reached a group decision.
“What if they want us to be
quiet?” Stan had countered.
It was true, they
didn't know their captors reason for trapping them and so they didn't
have any idea what the terms of release would be. They all sat and
stared at each other wavering in their resolve and how to escape.
“Look Stan.” Doug tried to calm
his childhood friend. “If they were going to harm us they'd have
done it by now. We've been in here for hours. We have to try and
get their attention so we can get out.”
“I agree.” Flo nodded her
blonde head, pony tail bobbing up and down behind her.
“I don't know.” Fear danced
across Stan's face as he looked into the shadows beyond the bars.
“What's out there might be scarier than what's in here.”
“True.” Doug nodded. “But
you'll never know if you don't try.” He smiled reassuringly at the
redhead. “It's like life. You have to keep taking risks. You
have to trust yourself and your strength.”
Stan looked up at his friends as
they stood around him. “If you say so.” He stood shakily to his
feet and approached the bars with them.
All in unison they hollered. “Let
us out!”
As if that had been
the key to the cell the door drifted open. They all looked at each
other in amazement and walked through it, wonder filling their eyes
at how easily it had opened. They squinted in the dark and found a
corridor leading off the open room their cell had been in. Now they
were at the end of that corridor facing a door with an ominous sign
on it.
DO
NOT ENTER
And in smaller letters under it.
Entry offered only to the one
who can see what is around them and not be ruled by it.
“I say we open
it.” Doug ran his hand through his short black hair. “So far we
haven't been hurt for acting on our own.” He rose from the group,
striding over to the door.
“What do you
think it means?” Helen joined him at the door, squinting at the
enigmatic message.
“I'm sure I don't
care.” Doug shook his head and reached for the handle.
“NO!” Stan
stood and ran to him. “It's a trap.”
“I don't think
so.” Flo joined them. “I think it's a riddle and whoever solves
the riddle can open the door for us.”
“Whatever.”
Doug shrugged and twisted the handle. Click, click, but the door
didn't open.
“How can you be
ruled by what is around you?” Flo scowled at the sign. “What's
around us? Darkness, I'm not afraid of the dark.”
Helen looked at her
and smiled. “How can you see what's around you when it's dark?”
Stan looked at the
words, light dawning in his eyes. “It's me.” He smiled at his
friends.
“Who is?”
“I'm the one that
can open the door.” He reached for the knob with a new strength in
his hand and confidence in his eyes. “I can see the world around
me and not allow their lousy opinions of me to keep me trapped any
longer because I have friends to lean on and keep me strong when I
need them to.”
Doug, Flo and Helen
gasped in unison. “Stan!”
“It’s like
you've been telling me for years,” he looked Doug in the eye,
“don't let the idiot's get you down.” He grinned broadly. “I
see it all so clearly now. I can see the idiots that make fun of me
and cut me down but I don't have to let them decide who I am anymore.
I can let my friends do that with me.” He chuckled. “I should
have seen it so much sooner.” Reaching for the door he paused at
Doug's inquiry.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why should you
have seen it so much sooner?” Doug held him back with his hand on
his forearm.
“Because it's
been staring me in the face since our cell opened.” He smiled
confidently up at his lifetime friend. “When we worked as a team
our prison opened. When I stop looking to the world for who I am and
instead look to my friends the cell opened, I trusted you to be there
with me when things went wrong. It's time for me to stop being ruled
by the bullies and start living.” He crowed like a rooster. “Here
I come world, watch out!” He gripped the handle of the door and
twisted it.
Light poured in and
washed over them as they tumbled through the doorway into Flo's
backyard.
“I don't get it.
This is where the shortcut through the woods brings us.” Flo
looked around them in surprise. “Hey, where's the door?” She
was looking behind them in disbelief.
Stan put his arm
around her shoulder and shook his head gently. “It's all in my
mind, Flo, all in my mind.”
