IN IS EASIER THAN OUT

So I'm a "Newbie", only been on WDC since last month, then I get the email about a Contest, with a spooky dark picture as the prompt. Ooh, that looks like fun ! I ought to be able to come up with a short story for this one, no problem !

That afternoon ( easy-peasy ! ) I got started on Idea Number One - Yeah ! !

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A young woman finds a picture sticking out of a garbage can as she's walking home from work. She and her cousin are renting a 2-bedroom bungalow just outside the main part of their little town, and when they were kids there used to be an old abandoned mansion not far from Grandpa Otis's farm, that you could just barely see through the overgrowth and brush. So of course they were wonderfully intrigued, and heart-poundingly sure it was haunted.

But this picture she'd found, which was actually a small painting, seriously looked like THAT mansion would have been when it was in its prime, before it was abandoned and starting to fall apart.

It looked VERY elegant, with magnificent gardens and brick pathways, little beautifully crafted bridges, and sculptures. In the painting, the day was magnificently sunny, and you could almost imagine lovers walking around hand-in-hand, and then relaxing on stone benches somewhere among the fragrant gardens.

So, she dusted off the little gem, and carried it home to give to Meggie, who had always been fascinated with the house when they were kids, so Kate was excited to have found it.

Meggie's car wasn't in the driveway when she got home, so Kate figured she had decided to go out with some girls from her office - they were always inviting Kate, but she was usually doing something with Justin, her boyfriend since high school.

So she set up the painting in the little rocking chair that Meggie had gotten from Grandma Bertie, to make sure she'd see it when she got home. She'd know who had put it there for her.

Kate started to call Justin, but remembered he was at his brother Steve's house to help install the new water heater - he and his brother were always doing their projects together - so nice.

So, instead, she nuked a ( frozen, of course ) Healthy Choice POWER BOWL of "Roasted Red Pepper Romesco Chicken Pasta", whose outer box boasted that unlike other certainly LESS noteworthy brands, Healthy Choice offered a Culinary Masterpiece, because ITS pasta was made from "Ancient Grains" ! !

Suitably impressed, she inhaled it.

Then she went to her bedroom to put on the new fleecy PJ's Aunt Sarah had sent, and read herself to sleep. Actually, it had been a rough week, so she didn't even get her book open or the bedlamp off before she was OUT !

Next thing she knew, she was being rudely awakened from her much-treasured slumber by somebody crashing through the door and screaming at the top of her lungs : "Kate, get up ! We gotta get out of here ! Kate ! COME ON ! Hurry ! KATE !"

Meggie was grabbing at Kate's arm and trying to drag her out of the bed, which kinda pissed her off, so she gave a tremendous backwards jerk that made Meggie fall onto the bed, and Kate bellowed, "STOP THAT RIGHT NOW, MEGGIE PORTER ! Now tell me what this is all about ! Too many tequilas, or what ?"

Meggie took a deep breath, stood up unsteadily, and in a raspy and shaky whisper, said : "Just come here and see what I found in my room."

Kate knew she had put the mansion painting on the rocker, but there was nothing scary about that, and she really didn't appreciate all this hubbub in the middle of ...

Oh My God ! Meggie hadn't even turned on the lights in her room, and there was this foggy, eerie mist floating all around the rocker, and ... the mansion picture looked bigger than before, and now it was showing a dark purple sky around the house, and a full moon, and no gardens or sculptures, and scariest of all, there was a bright light shining out of every single window in the house !

"We gotta get outa here!" Kate blurted, pulling Meggie along towards her car. "Come on ! We're going over to get Steve and Justin ! Oh My God !"

******

Good start to a scary story, yeah ?

Only problem was ... the deadline was fast approaching, and this Newbie writer hadn't a clue what to do next !

So, OK, maybe I'll come up with something that I CAN finish, if I go with an entirely different idea. We can only hope, yeah ?

Idea Number Two :

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So Max and Gunner were out driving around one night, doing the "Virgin Ramble" as Gunner had named it, of Max's new/old Camaro, that his Grandpa Martin had just given him. They wanted the girls to go riding with them, but there was a slumber party at Meredith's house, which just meant the boys could do all the running around they wanted, and boy ! were they planning to put some miles on this baby !

"Let's go over and check out that new bar over in Hoovertown, want to ?"

"Are you crazy, Max ? We're not old enough, and anyhow, don't you remember ? I threw up all over everything that time you made me try the Vodka you stole from your uncle's liquor cabinet ! "

" Well, we can at least see how it looks, and talk big, can't we ? Let's go ! "

Needless to say, they got lost a couple of times, and just as they were turning around in yet another field, Gunner yelled out : "Max, look ! There's a big old boarded-up house way back there. Can't you see it ? On the other side of what looks like a creek. Turn off the car, Max ! Let's go check it out ! "

"Good thing the girls DIDN'T come," said Max. "They'd be scared out of their minds ! We'd never even get to PARK the car, much less go back there and explore."

Finally they found a spot in the creek with enough flat rocks that Gunner was about to hop across on, when Max said "Aw, Gunner, we'll have to come back tomorrow - Mom will start worrying if we're not back by 7:30, and I'm not even really sure where we are. Sorry, bud. "

Max took Gunner home, and next day at school told him he had an idea. They wouldn't tell Susan and Ava about the house. Then the two of them would go out there this afternoon after school and Max would rig a light inside that could be operated by remote control.

Then, this weekend they'd take the girls along, and get there just when it turned dark, and they'd convince the girls to come along and explore. Just then, Max would use his remote control to make the light come on, which would scare the girls so much they'd run into their arms ! Bingo ! They'd be the Big Brave Protectors !

Gunner just grinned knowingly, and agreed.

With that as "The Plan", they drove out there after school and parked. They managed to cross the creek, Max carrying his gear for the light, Gunner carrying a pry bar.

Gunner started looking for a window he could get the plywood off of. Beginner's luck, there was one by the front door with the corner half rotted, so it was easy to pull IN off. He was hoisting himself up on the sill, with Max standing by, when all of a sudden he let out a yell and jerked backwards, knocking Max down, and falling on top of him !

"What the hell ? " yelled Max, scrambling to his feet.

"We gotta get outta here, Max ! There's something monstrous inside there ! I saw it move and I saw its eyes glowing. They were BIG ! "

"Come on, we're getting out of here, NOW ! "

******

Hmm ... not half bad for a Newbie, if I just knew where to go with it now that I got it this far !

Well, maybe I'll just rename it as ...
" THE NEWBIE WHO DISCOVERED
THAT IN IS EASIER THAN OUT ! "

That's a story in itself !



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