Monday, August 13, 2012

Touch Me Not: Snapshot Reveal

I am writing a bit late today because I re-prioritized exercise before blogging. Yes, I write almost all my blogs the day of posting. The exception would be my toddler tales series, and the family field trip post I may turn into a series if we do enough of them. ;)

This week's prompt post can be found a few posts back if you would like to see it, or you can submit your own and be entered in our contest. If you win, you get a month's free advertising here and on The World of My Imagination blog.

I, of course, cannot win as a blog host, but I still love to submit my stories. :) Here's this week's.

------------------------

Touch Me Not

It grew between one day and the next. The depths were green, fading out to a pale yellow and pointed tips sharper than glass. It was unlike any plant my parents had ever seen. When Grandpa saw it he glared.

"Don't go looking too hard at that, Jules."

"Mama and Daddy are looking," I snipped back.

"They ain't young. Now reform that attitude."

"So you know what it is?" Grandpa scowled at the thing in the middle of our field.

"It's a Skyscraper," he said. "It's best if we just stay away."

Before the afternoon was through, neighbors and travelers had come to see the Skyscraper that was now twice as tall as a man.

"I bet it will grow up to the clouds." I say, hanging out the kitchen window. Grandpa didn't look up from his whittling.

"I suppose it may."

"Has it grown here before?"

"When I was about your age," he answered reluctantly. "Now get back in here. That ain't no balcony to be hanging over." I huffed and continued cleaning dishes.

I was in bed when Mama and Papa came in, exhausted and upset about the damage done to the crops by all the people wanting to see the Skyscraper.

"Don't you worry about that field," Grandpa's voice rumbled so deep I could feel it in my chest. "You worry about that girl. Make sure she stays in bed."

"I'm sure she will," Mama replied.

Grandpa harrumphed. A chair scraped closer to my door and I heard the whisper of knife over wood.

Outside never really got dark. I watched the sun go down through my window. but a soft yellow light kept the air glowing. The moon must be out, reflecting off the Skyscraper. I had to see it.

I got up, easing the casement open, listening to Grandpa's snores as I slipped out the window. I walked through the tall grass around the house, gasping when I saw the light was coming from the Skyscraper. It was tall, reaching all the way to the heavy clouds covering the sky.

Each step took me closer, each blade of grass bending out of my way. I walked reverently around the Skyscraper, studying each pointed leaf. Only the ends looked sharp. If I was careful, I should be able to feel the surface of the smooth blade without hurting myself.

The strange leaves parted, giving me more room to explore. The leaf I was tracing began to curl back, changing from a sharp edge to a hand. I looked up in surprise, meeting a pair of green eyes, a face framed with spiky yellow hair. His hand wrapped around mine, pulling me in. The Skyscraper cracked, each leaf fracturing, crinkling and falling like broken glass. I had to get away, to get out from under the falling shards, but my eyes were trapped in his.

He pulled me in as the Skyscraper fell around me.

6 comments:

  1. That was an excellent story. Great job. Woot1

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good story, the ending gave me shivers thinking about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :) Thank you. My husband told me it was a bit scary. I definitely intended the suspense. The 'scary' bit was an added bonus.

      Delete
  3. Well done! It's a cool picture and all, but thinking up a story was tough for that one (at least, for me...). I loved where you went with it...unexpected.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, it was a tough photo - and I even picked it. As beautiful as a lot of photos are, they don't necessarily scream story (at least to me), despite the 'thousand words' saying.

      Delete

I <3 Comments