Okay, more data entry.
Shall we start a #ChainStory today? Something with a spooky theme, perhaps?
I'm thinking one line at a time, with each person adding more chaos, intrigue, adventure, and shivers to the last.
This opener is inspired by M.R. James and @JGSchaeffer ❤️:
"After my last visit to the coast, where we cast my grandfather's ashes into the wind atop a cliff he'd walked every day for half a century, the ocean followed me wherever I would roam."
#WritersOfCoSo #WritingCommunity
You folks are menaces! 🙃 We have four chains going, and some very clear rule-breakers (but all in good fun).
If you want to see how the stories are progressing, here's the flowchart so far.
Check the thread if you want to add more! Each vein is going in a very different direction!
#ChainStory #WritingCommunity #WritersOfCoSo
@JGSchaeffer @AskTheDevil @corlin @Christmas_Snow @cassandra17lina @EileenKCarpenter @AverageCitizen @misterfive
@MLClark @JGSchaeffer “At first, I welcomed the spiritual connection to my beloved grandfather but soon, I began feeling something far more sinister.”
The soothing lull of waves had given way to a terrible crashing at my skull, and the screams of shorebirds haunted dreams in which I saw a figure in shadow cutting across the beach below grandfather's cliff.
@MLClark A dark creature accompanied this spectral figure, its spine hunched, its eyes an eerie gold, saliva dripping from its jaws: the unmistakeable chupacabra.
I'd feel the tickle of water lapping at my heels, and occasionally the briny scent of salt water, but if I looked down, there was nothing there.
@misterfive @MLClark @JGSchaeffer
I had had this experience once before, years ago.
I'd been a child then, and my parents never believed me when I said I'd waded with my grandfather into the water by his home, in my dreams.
@MLClark @EileenKCarpenter @misterfive
Back then the experience had been--if not comforting--at least comfortable; now the ocean was hungry, the salt stinging my skin as the waves tasted my ankles.
(Edit: sorry didn't see the one line requirement earlier)
@MLClark @EileenKCarpenter @misterfive
Its appetite mirrored my own as I sat, contemplating the usefulness of the spare pelvic bone I held in my left hand.
@arthurpendragon @MLClark @EileenKCarpenter
The waves and the beach sand had tumbled the pelvic bone until it was as polished and smooth as any piece of beach glass.
@misterfive @arthurpendragon @MLClark
I gazed out over the water, to the river's mouth, disgorging from its estuary into the area of the sea the district attorney often called, "Mako Alley" in his closing statements when he was trying a murder trial without a body.
@EileenKCarpenter @misterfive @MLClark
When the ocean claims me at last, when it fulfills the curse Grandfather uttered with his last breath, I will be taken into its depths; my bones will tumble and merge with those of my victims and one day be found, polished and smooth as beach glass.
@MLClark @EileenKCarpenter @misterfive Meanwhile, Grandma was packing for her trip to Vegas with a "gentleman friend" she'd met in an online casino. She really liked him and besides, he never asked to "borrow" more than $50.00 when he was down on his luck. And, he had a nice smile in his profile pic.
@misterfive @MLClark @JGSchaeffer
Yes the brine smell was grandfathers smell, as he was a merchant marine, that spent a lot of time both on the water, and under the spell of not so primitive shamans.
@corlin @misterfive @MLClark #chainstory
Shamans who were now pulling me through the briny rice-scape of the shoreline down into the underwater bamboo kelp forest.
@JGSchaeffer @corlin @misterfive
More and more, I'd spend my days between worlds, trying to complete my project pitches for work and drifting into that underwater kingdom where the drumbeats of ancient ancestors seemed to be calling me home.
I told my friends it was work stress, but the strain of resisting that call, of forcing myself back to the workaday world, was taking its toll on my mind.
@MLClark @JGSchaeffer @corlin @misterfive
I sat on my couch, trying to read the book in front of me, but was distracted by the pulling of waves as though water were running over by body.
@tyghebright @MLClark @corlin @misterfive #chainstory
So I left the house and ran over the seagrass dunes to the water’s edge.
Yes! After all the guff I got for introducing the word "ekphrasis" to many on CoSo, I decided to go for the simpler description here, but I do love the original term very much. :)
It wasn't guff, it was bemused appreciation.
I love the term too now :)
@MLClark @JGSchaeffer At first, I thought it was a hallucination, so I tried to ignore it. But the ocean would not be satisfied. And you can't win against the ocean. I tried to ignore it, but it followed me all the way home, much to the consternation of the neighbors.
(😅 I was going to protest your use of four sentences, but then I realized it's Luce! Who among us can keep the Devil contained?)
@MLClark I missed the one line part. Sorry.
We have four different story starts now, so I'll nudge along any that have gone quiet in an hour or so. :) All good! Good to get some play into the day!
@AskTheDevil @MLClark @JGSchaeffer **Can this version of the entries be the slightly rule bendy version that allows a couple sentences? ::pleading look:: 👀 ** {If not, i'll delete this}
It started out small. I awoke one morning to wet footprints across my bedroom floor, seemingly made by someone after taking a shower, but i live alone.
Another evening, i began to fill my enormous bathtub, leaving the room for only a couple of minutes, only to see it overflowing upon my return to the room.
(I was just teasing Luce! All creativity is welcome! Keep this going! 🥳)
@Christmas_Snow @AskTheDevil @MLClark @JGSchaeffer After that incident, I began to scour the internet to see if there was anyone who could help explain what was going on.
@AverageCitizen @AskTheDevil @MLClark @JGSchaeffer It led me to a post on Reddit made by a guy who was mentioning occurances in the post that were all too familiar to me.
@AverageCitizen @AskTheDevil @MLClark @JGSchaeffer While other responders were questioning his sanity, i really felt for the guy. I mean, how in the hell does a 'normal' mind process water pouring down a wall, filling you with complete and utter terror at the speed that it fills the room, when in the blink of the eye it can just as swiftly disappear?
@AverageCitizen @AskTheDevil @MLClark @JGSchaeffer You explain it away by reasoning you're losing your grip on reality, that's how. Except your shoes and the bottom 4 inches of your pants are wet, and there's nothing to explain that.
So i reached out and sent him a DM.
@Christmas_Snow @AverageCitizen @AskTheDevil
He answered with a cryptic rhyme about a lighthouse, and an address, which wasn't far from where my grandfather had spent over half his life, much of it a guarded secret to the rest of our family.
@MLClark My brother and I used to do “fold over stories” on long car trips… each person could only see the last line of a paragraph from the other. I instituted this tradition on a college geology trip and the results were epic (but not entirely G-rated!)
@MLClark @JGSchaeffer @AskTheDevil @corlin @cassandra17lina @EileenKCarpenter @AverageCitizen @misterfive
We used to do stories like this on the Marilyn Manson BBS late at night, circa 2001 (or maybe 2?). I love them. I will help continue the one i stepped in to do, but tonight is a busy night so i'll be back for it tomorrow. ❤️ From now on, if i'm drawing a blank (or just busy and have to leave for awhile), i'll add a '*' to the end of my post so y'all know. 🙂
And yes, inevitably the story will fork as people try to post at the same time. :) That'll be part of the fun, to see how many different tales emerge in the end!