The 24-Hour Challenge #1
Offered by NotTasha - the Bulwer-Lytton challenge:
I'm asking you to write ONLY ONE SENTENCE!! Try your hand at the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Details on the actual contest can be found here: http://www.bulwer-lytton.com. The gist of it is.. .write the most outrageous opening line possible for an M7 Fic. Just an opening line -- one sentence... nothing more.
Here's the classic example: "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."
By AngelaB
(AceofSpades)
The
florescent lights flickered with dizzying irregularity as the slender brown
haired figure with his normal mask slipped into place, hiding the humiliation,
strode down the hallway of the Federal Building, ignoring the snickers, gawking,
finger pointing and not-so-quiet whispers that his appearance of the red and
blue bowling shoes, purple striped pants with matching shirt, orange plaid
jacket and luminescent green bowtie that twirled when a hidden string was pulled
garnered him, completing the attire was the small beanie cap with a propeller
attached on top, he muttered under his breath for the hundred time, "I'll
get you for this Mr. Larabee."
By Enola
(jennytork)
"What
the hell is going on here?" he wondered as he looked around at his friends
-- Buck moustacheless, looking like Conan in nothing but a loincloth... Nathan
in cutoffs....Josiah sitting braiding Vin's hair while Vin slept.... Ezra and JD
playing chess while working their way through wine -- JD in a
dress...."That does it," he decided, "I'm going back to bed and
when I wake up things had BETTER be normal!" as he stomped back to his bed,
falling and knocking himself unconscious --- mercifully.
By Heather F
Josiah
cinched his arms tighter around the silently weeping form, resting his cheek on
the dark brown hair, closing his eyes he softly mumbled, “Let it go son…dear
God, just let it go.”
By Katherine
Long,
elegant fingers held the shot glass in a light, almost delicate grip, swirling
the amber liquid, while sharp green eyes contemplated the play of light and
shadow that could be found in the depth of a good single malt, not to mention
the fortifying nature such a good drink could give a man when about to face the
wrath of one, Chris Larabee.
By
Libby (mmrrph)
Ezra
stood, dazed, trying to take in the chaos around him: clouds of dust kicking in
the street as bullets barely missed him; horses wheeling and fighting their
riders in protest; his sudden remembered panic at trying to locate Vin; Chris’
mouth moving in slow motion as he yelled something – none of which penetrated
Ezra’s muddled brain, for he found he could not hear a single thing.
By Tipper
Bullets
ejected all around them, splintering wood, shattering mirrors, exploding glasses
and whiskey bottles, drumming into the bar and the tables, splitting the
banisters on the stairs to the second floor in two, turning chairs into
kindling, sending the terrified customers diving under the tables, screaming and
praying for salvation, until, finally, it came to an abrupt stop, and Buck's
words echoed across the ruined saloon: "God dang it, JD, that's it -- I'm
cutting you off!"
By Phyllis
(maxbobabe)
JD
and Vin sat open-mouthed, watching as Chris Larabee, feared gunslinger, moved
deliberately up the street in pursuit of Buck, a totally naked Buck, except for
the worn towel he clutched, the one barely covering his manhood, as Buck backed
away declaring adamantly, "Chris, I didn't know you had a sister."
By Rowan
Josiah
closed his eyes against the onslaught of water raining down, and slowly
stretching his body this way and that, moaned with satisfaction, as the pressure
of the water blasting out from the four wall-mounted shower heads attacked the
tired, over-worked muscles encased in his taut bronzed flesh.
By Tess
Once
upon a time there were seven little mice, actually rats, although mice has
always had a nice ring to it considering the alternative, which could be rats;
but rats don't really have quite the image that these magnificent mice were
projecting on good days or bad days seeing as they were really not mice but
gunslingers with such attitudes that folks liked to refer to them as the bad
element, or elements, not to be confused with thunderstorms or other forces of
nature as we are wont to do as there were really seven of them at a time, all at
once.
#1 By
TexasAries
Groaning
Chris sat down and put his head in his hands wondering if there was anyway he
could disappear from this destiny the goddess had plan for him and realizing
that his honor and his love for his beloved would prevent him from doing so.
#2 By
TexasAries
Icy
blue eyes and snarling lips promise Larabee a long painful death, while the
sharpshooter's whole body shook in rage as he growled out the single word,
"No!"
#3 By
TexasAries
"Vin, just think about it while I'm out of town this month," pleaded
Alexandra Styles, Vin Tanner's fiancée of six months.
#4 By
TexasAries
Chris
looked over at his six friends - brothers - that were traveling this train with
him before turning back to the window to view the twilight fog cover mountains
of California only to shudder when an eerie feeling of danger touched him.
#5 By
TexasAries
The
others have dismounted to start forward to offer apologies when Ezra stepped
back from them fear and anger reflected in his emerald green eyes; his gun never
wavering from his former friends that were in front of him.
Another Typical Day:
By NotTasha
John
(JD) Dunne, young sheriff of the Wild West town of Four Corners and unofficial
younger brother of William (Buck) Wilmington, stood on the boardwalk of the
aforementioned town and gazed across the road dotted with horse manure, bits of
paper that floated in the easy breeze (most likely the latest edition of the
Clarion – provided by the town’s own newswoman, Mary Travis --- possible
paramour of the man in black, also known as Chris Larabee -- a one time
gunslinger and current lawman who was dealing with some unruly saloon patrons at
that moment), a few discarded tin cans (that might have once held peaches),
liquor bottles that had been emptied the previous night, a hammer (dropped from
the church’s rooftop by the town’s preacher – Josiah Sanchez, who had just
asked his friend, Nathan Jackson – the town’s healer – to retrieve it for
him) an old boot (owned by a man named Vincent [Vin] Tanner who was at that
moment searching his wagon for said item, not knowing that one overdressed and
fast-talking gambler by the name of Ezra Standish [possibly an alias] had
absconded with it and then abandoned it mid-street) , a little fluffy white dog
(attended by a woman in a red skirt, white blouse and a wide-brimmed blue hat
decorated with tiny white flowers) and one rather ruffled looking ladies’ man
who sat on his ass in the midst of it all, rubbing his cheek, before that
previously mentioned sheriff finally opened his mouth and stated, loud enough to
be heard by poor Mr. Wilmington and most of the town, “Buck, you shouldn’t
have aught to 'ave said that to a lady.”
Dust to Dust:
By Flavia
The
dust was everywhere; stinging his eyes, creeping into his clothes (and his
bedroll) and slowly turning his horse into a palomino, endangering them all by
hiding him from his friends (only a few feet away), seeping in in every breath
he took....and worst of all, ground between his teeth .
The Black Horse:
By Setcheti
The
gunslinger's black horse stood atop the rocky ridge with the hot desert sun
beating a blue sheen into his sweaty coat, looking down in puzzled equine
unconcern on a scene of such carnage that even the buzzards wanted no part of it
and the droning of the hungry flies carried a worried note as they tentatively
sampled the feast spread before them - a banquet of remains both human and
animal so intermingled as to be indistinguishable to even the most discerning
eye.
Darkness:
By Bernadette (egor the muse)
Ezra
Standish rode through the town within the darkness of a cold and rainy night in
the middle of June only to find that the man he was supposed to meet was no
longer at the pre-designated meeting place, (he had left an hour earlier to grab
a meal and catch up on twelve hours of much needed sleep) so Ezra was forced to
dismount his horse and search the man out in the number of rooms in the hotel,
(he'd forgotten what room he was staying in) and found him in room 101 where he
was sleeping under a shroud of thick blankets, (the man was snoring so loud that
Ezra was surprised he could sleep with that noise surrounding him) so he decided
that the best thing to do was to let him sleep; he looked like he needed it and
there was no way in hell he was going to wake that ornery bastard.
The Kingdom of
Augerbrine:
By Michele
Park (CelestaSunStar)
The
Kingdom of Augerbrine was about as normal as a kingdom could get, which meant
that Evil was abolished and Good reigned, and the weather was perfect, and
people were all extremely nice and polite to everyone; which resulted in
Prince/(Princess) {insert M7 character here}, who was extremely bored living
there, deciding to go off and find some adventure.
One Day in ER:
By Katy
It
was a bright and breezy day in Denver, but in Four Corner Mercy Hospital, it was
dark and stormy; a dark storm named Larabee prowled the corridors and exam
rooms, terrorizing little old ladies who had burnt themselves on the iron,
scaring small children with saucepans stuck on their heads, sending shivers of
fear through the man who had severed a finger with their new super deluxe hedge
trimmers and intimidating staff, who thought they were tougher than any of the
wimps on the 'ER'; his mutterings could be heard in every corner of the
department, "damn scruffy, no account, raggedy assed, cocky, scrawny Texan,
gonna shoot a hole in his other leg when I find him."
The Road To...
By ch1diva
“The
road to hell is paved with good intentions,” Nathan said aloud, closing his
thick textbook on the anatomy and physiology of the human body, purchased on
sale from the nearby enormous bookstore, and placing it on the cheap,
mass-produced, and bulk-bought slate gray government desk, while addressing his
teammate Vin Tanner, currently deep in the doldrums about his attempt to cheer
up Ezra Standish, the team’s undercover operative, by throwing a surprise –
and unwelcome – birthday party, resulting in the normally dapper Southerner
with impeccable taste and grooming giving a spectacular display of temper
directed against and at the unsuspecting, and in Nathan’s esteemed opinion,
undeserving, friend, and the undeserving part he would address momentarily, but
he wanted to open the conversation with a familiar adage.
Please
let us know if you have any comments or suggestions in regard to this site, or
if you have a challenge story that you'd like to have listed (I think we're
missing a few of the earlier stories). Let us know if you find any broken
links or anything else that's wonky. Thanks for stopping by!