My 24-Hour Short Story Contest Submission

Posted by Jen on Sunday, January 27th, 2008 @ 4:27 pm

Yesterday at 1pm EST, I received the topic and word count for the Writers Weekly 24-Hour Short Story Contest. The max word count turned out to be 1,000 and the subject was:

“She always kept the object safe and close to her. Mama made her repeat the promise over and over again during those last days. “I will never show it to a living soul. I will never show it to a living soul.”

She cried about Mama less now, not as much as she had before. She was missing Mama now as she did each night when she removed her scuffed shoes. She then carefully peeled the gray sock off her foot, and waited for the familiar object to fall out. Nothing happened. Panicked, she quickly turned her sock inside-out. It was gone.”

We did not have to quote the above paragraphs word-for-word. It was only necessary for our stories to touch on the subject in some way obvious enough to the judges that we based our story on the topic.

For the first time, I am going to post my fiction on this blog. Please keep in mind that this is my exact submission and have done no editing since the deadline. I did not have much time to write this so there are sure to be clumsy spots and typos. I had to let the topic marinate in my brain for a few hours before coming up with a story, and then I did not even complete it until a few moments before the deadline today. So, proceed with caution in clicking the link below.

Change is Bad

As I strolled down the sidewalk on my way home from work, I glanced up at the sky. I breathed in the scent of a clear winter night that mingled with the stench of trash and exhaust emanating from the passing taxis. It was a bright night even for the city with a full moon lighting up the sky. I could even see a star or two twinkling in the distance.

I jogged up the stairs of my apartment building, a four-story, red-brick walkup. I was practically humming as I unlocked the building door and strode over to the entrance to my first floor dwelling. The end of a work week always put in me in chipper mood. Even better than the fact it was Friday, I had a dinner date with my Michael, my wonderful boyfriend of a year and a half.

Once inside, I began the process of preparing for my date. Sometimes I felt a little silly for getting all excited for a “date” since we had been seeing each other for awhile and the newness had begun to wear off. But I found it important that we went out on occasion rather than spend all our time huddled on the couch watching sitcom reruns.

I quickly slid out of my shoes and black dress slacks and into my favorite pair of dark hip hugging jeans. At 28 years old and 115 pounds, I was still able to pull off that look. I switched my dark grey dress shirt with a hunter green scoop neck sweater that matched my eyes and ran a brush through my thick auburn hair.

I was reaching for my makeup case when an eerily familiar itch overcame me. I stared in shock at my reflection while my lip twitched nervously.

Quickly, I reached down and shrugged off my sock. An uncomfortable feeling of dread washed over me as I turned the sock upside down to rid it of its contents. It was empty.

Panic immediately flooded through me. My hands started to twitch. I didn’t have much time. I glanced at the clock. It was almost 7pm. Michael would be here soon. I stood there transfixed. My brow furrowed with indecision.

Look first. I could have sworn I had put the dime-sized talisman in my sock that morning. I had known it would be a full moon. I tracked the moon’s status obsessively, not to mention the fact that I could even smell it in the air.

I frantically scurried over to my nightstand and opened my little cedar box where I usually store the talisman for safekeeping. The talisman my mother gave me to prevent me from changing. I almost screamed in agony when I saw that the box was empty. Where was it? How could I have lost it! I needed to find it. Not just because I was frightened for Michael’s life, but I was frightened for the lives of many others. I couldn’t imagine what would happen if I changed in the middle of a tightly knit city swarming with people.

I took a deep breath, ran back over to my bag and snatched up my cell phone. I had to call Michael. Then, I would look some more. Just in case I couldn’t find it…well, I couldn’t think about that right now. I flipped open the phone and dialed Michael. I stood, twitching, as the phone rang and rang. His voicemail picked up. No! Come, on Michael!

“Michael, listen. I have to cancel. I can’t go out tonight. If you’re on your way over, go back home. I, I can’t go out tonight. I’m sorry. I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t come over. I have something to take care of, and I won’t be here.” I gasped. The twitching was getting worse.

I slammed the phone down on my coffee table and looked around my apartment with a wild look in my eyes. Oh, what was I going to do!

I ran back over to the nightstand and got down on my hands and knees to search for the talisman. It had to be there somewhere. I didn’t see it. I thought of my bed as my body started to shiver in spasms. I was changing. Oh God! I gasped as the hair began to grow on my hands. My legs started to expand, muscles enlarging and lengthening. I touched my face to feel the hair. My teeth were starting to sharpen. I was losing control. I stuck my face under the bed. There it was! Oh blessed talisman. It had fallen under the bed. I stretched out my hand just as my entire body was wracked with pain. I roared. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold on to the human inside of me. I grimaced as I grew and the hair sprouted out all over my body. I needed to get the talisman!

I heard a knock and the lock turn as Michael used his set of keys to enter the apartment.

I screamed in pain as the last of my human consciousness left me and the werewolf took over my body.

Michael stood shocked and frightened as he took in the sight of the beast in front of him.

The werewolf turned to look at the human and roared in hunger.