Best Original Short Story: 1 Month Zune Pass/RS Premium (Ends 5/19)

[Dizzy]

I don't know about you, but I think it's time for another contest! This time there will be flexibility in the prizes. Unfortunately, you won't get both, but you have the opportunity to get either a:

• 1 Month Zune Pass
• RapidShare Premium Account

Either way, you get unlimited downloads!

Here's How:
I nixed the video because, quite honestly, I don't think many people will have the initiative to go out an make one. Instead, I've seen a few people interested in writing short stories. We'll make that the contest instead.

The story can be any type of genre: fiction/nonfiction/biographical/et al. Let's keep these fairly short... less reading for everyone else. I think anything under 2,000 words will do nicely. Keep in mind, people tend to enjoy funny stories, but it takes a serious kind of talent to write a serious one. Let's see what you've got.

You've got a month from the date I submit this.
Go!

[Volpe Sinatra]

You should up it to 2,000 words.
Gow wouldn't be able to submit
his The Man of Healing as
it's around 1,900 or so words
unless he wouldn't mind writing
something else, should he decide
to enter.

[Dizzy]

I'll bump it up.
I just don't want people to see the amount of words and think it too much.

[Volpe Sinatra]

I think maybe there should
also be a minimum, as well,
so each entry is the same
general length, rather than
one or two being good and
lengthy, and others being
short and substanceless.

[Scrapz616]

Heres one i did for English class...

Zombies
We’ve had a hard journey to get here in Mexico. We were just leaving New York City on a train to get to Mexico. The train was pretty empty, but we though nothing of it. While we were waiting we noticed the train was acting funny, but before we could do anything, it fell of the tracks. The train skid down a hill and we crashed into an abandoned town. The driver seemed to be gone, so we went walking through the town to look for help. The town was destroyed, we couldn’t see anyone in sight. Though we thought no one was there, we soon saw someone in a house. We went to ask for help. It was a woman who just came back from vacation yesterday. She couldn’t tell us much, except that it was like this when she returned here. She offered us to stay for the night, and we accepted. After we ate dinner, she left to put out the trash and call for help. Then we heard a scream from outside. We quickly looked out the window and saw zombies trying to rip a person apart and trying to eat her. We realized it was the lady who helped us. We thought we could still help her and grabbed a couple of baseball bats and went outside and began attacking the zombies, but we were too late. She was ripped apart and was half eaten. We went back inside and saw more zombies coming toward the house. They broke in and we ran upstairs and from there struck the ones that tried to come up. There were too many so we jumped through the window and began running away. On our way we saw a gun store and went inside to grab some guns to protect ourselves. We ran away from the abandoned town to another town. We saw people running from zombies and dead police officers who tried to protect the people. We decided to go help and we began shooting them. They began attacking us and there were to many there to fight off. They eventually got the guns from us and knocked us out. Before we were knocked out, we saw them attacking the other people, they killed them and then took them with them, including us. We awoke in a dark cave. From what we could see, there were piles of dead people. They must’ve thought we were dead too because we were in one of the piles. While looking around, we saw a big zombie come to one of the piles. He did something, but it was too dark to see what, and in seconds the people transformed to zombies too. They followed him away from the piles and then we couldn’t see them anymore. We didn’t know how to get out the cave because it was very dark. After wandering around we were able to make a torch out of a couple bones we found. Now we were able to see and eventually got out, but at that same time, the zombies were coming back probably to make more zombies. They saw us, so we began to run away. They chased after us but we were able to out run them. We went back to kill the big zombies because he could make more and we had to stop this. We found him alone by the cave about to go in and make more zombies. We attacked him. And he attacked back, using anything he could, his hands, sticks, stones, but we were able to take him down. We took the torch and began to burn him. He seemed to be gone for good. We went to look for a town and crossed a river where we saw more dead people and some people just dying there. We found another town which was also abandoned. While we were there we saw a soldier and a police man fighting off some zombies. We went to go help them but they had already killed them. They were also lost, and we decided to work together to find a way out. As we were walking we saw some people running. We went to go help them but, then it turned out they were zombies. They attacked us but, we were able to fight them off. We noticed the police officer on the floor bleeding. The zombies tore off his leg. We hid him somewhere safe and went to look for a hospital. We couldn’t find one and returned to the police man. The soldier tried to call his base before, but didn’t get an answer till now. They were sending a chopper to a mountain to rescue us. We took a car from a parking lot that still had the keys inside. We started driving to the mountain. We saw more zombies and they ran in front of the car and we ran over them. They seemed to be trying to catch anybody they can. We also saw more people in need of help, but we couldn’t because then the zombies would get us. The night got darker and foggier with every minute passing by. We could barely see but we made it to the mountain. They weren’t there yet, so we had to wait. We heard something coming up the path of the mountain. They were zombies, and we fought them off. We eventually heard the sound of a chopper and saw bullets flying into the zombies. The chopper landed and we got inside as quick as possible. The zombies tried hard to stop us but, the few soldiers in the chopper were able to stop them. Looking through the windows of the choppers, we saw tanks and other army vehicles heading to the infected towns. We were relieved. They took us down to Texas and we took another train down to Mexico. We were a bit scared, but the train seemed full. We got to Mexico safely, but still, this will be a trip I will never forget. We still never found out where those zombie infected towns were, but it doesn’t matter, because we’re safe for the moment....
FIN
Hope you liked it....

[BobtheWalrus]

I liked it^

It's better than mine, from English class,

Sancho was afraid of poodles. He had good reason to be so. When he was younger, a vicious poodle had stolen his sack lunch, when Sancho was on his way to school. Sancho decided that he would take revenge against all poodles. Sancho went to Wal-Mart, where he found the supplies he would need. He then went to search for poodles. He jumped his backyard fence in hopes of finding one. He never got the chance however, because the American police asked him to go back to Mexico.
One day Sancho was walking to school, on his way however, he ran into a poodle. This was no ordinary poodle, it was a vicious poodle. Sancho hoped that it was nice dog, besides that fact that it was growling ferociously. “Nice doggy, good boy” Sancho tried to calm the vicious dog, he then reached out his hand to pet the dog, and it attacked him. The dog leaped towards him and took his sack lunch, and ran off down the street. “Not my ham on rye!” Sancho wailed. “I will avenge you my sandwich!” 47 years later, Sancho was walking down the same street; he had walked down on that day so many years ago. Remembering his vow to his lunch Sancho decided that he would take revenge against the poodles. Sancho then went to Wal-Mart to gather the supplies that he would need. Standing in the middle of the produce section, he had found what he was looking for. “I have found what I am looking for!” shouted Sancho in the middle of the crowded store. He then looked down at the price and began to laugh diabolically, “And it’s only 2 pesos!” After leaving Wal-Mart, Sancho decided what to do next. “What should I do next, go home and cook this wonderful kumquat, or use it against the poodles?” he asked himself, as a person walking by looked him like he was nuts. “I shall avenge my lunch against the poodles!” Sancho shouted to no one in particular. He jumped a nearby fence, with his kumquat safely protected and continued walking. After about three hours of walking, with no signs of a poodle, he ran into the police. Only these police didn’t look like him, they were American police. “What you got thar sir?” one of them asked him. Not wanting to cause any trouble, Sancho showed him the kumquat. “It’s for the poodles” Sancho said. “Well, um, sir, that thar sounds fantastic, but why should you go and gonna waste a wonderful kumquat.” Sancho then told them thank you, and went back to Mexico

-It sounds like it was written by a 4th grader

[Dizzy]

We've got some talent here! 3 stories in two days!
Keep it up people

[Darren]

I am no writer, and this story came to me while I tried to sleep, which kept me from sleeping, and so I write this..."short story" , quite short but i think it is ok...

Redemption

The gate creaked open slowly, and a small man hurried through and closed it as quickly as he could. It was not safe to roam the streets after dark, ever since the dark lord Acheronian had revealed himself and destroyed many of those who fought against him. Beyond the gate was a dark path leading up to an old wooden manor, and a thick set of bushes behind it. He scurried around the manor and through the bushes, which led to a large but very dark clearing. He had to walk for a bit to get to where he was destined to go, but stumbled over a rock, forcing him to the ground. In an instant, they were all over him, sucking his soul out until he was no more but an empty shell. They were of shadow, creatures summoned from the void by Acheronian. A half-mile away was a boy and a girl, the boy wielding a sleek sword with a deep red jewel set in the pommel. The girl cowered by his shoulder, afraid of the shadow beings, which were visible in the distance. He stood there, hair billowing in the wind, while he waited for them to come. He didn't have to wait for long, for they approached him with surprising speed. He swung his sword and struck one in the mid-section of its transparent body. Black mist escaped from it, rising into the air until it was no more. The other shadow beings swirled around him, realizing the damage the sword could give but attacked all at once. Many times the sword struck, but when all but one had disappeared, the last had let out an ear-piercing cry. It started raining, and the couple hurried as fast as they could to the old wooden manor that rose in the distance, for that cry was to summon Acheronian, lord of evil and dark. Once inside, they barricaded the doors and blocked all the windows, because he knew that this was not over, but was just beginning. A loud blast was heard nearby, and the two attempted to open the trapdoor that would lead them down into the earth. Violent shaking caused them to fall as the manor was blasted apart. Acheronian had come, and was determined to destroy his downfall, the boy with the sword. He did not know it, running down flights of stairs with her, but he was destined to save what was good and pure in this world. The ground shook even harder when Acheronian had started to obliterate the ground. The girl ran one way, in the confusion of falling debris and shaking of the ground, and he ran the other. Many people had been down this tunnel, which led to the graveyard where many have ceremonies to remember those who had passed on. Those who were there felt the shaking ground, but then it was clear; Acheronian was here in this land, destroying everything to kill the boy. An elderly lady saw the 17 year old boy with his sword, yelling at her to run, but she had fallen over an exposed root. Black streaks of darkness hit her, sent by Acheronian and began to turn her into a shadow being. It was there where the Battle of Lianfael would be fought, amongst the graves and the headstones. He lifted his sword, running towards the evil Lord...

~ one year later ~

She went to the memorial, which was dedicated to her love with his sword, who defeated Acheronian but was also killed from fatal wounds. She layed flowers on her deceased lover's grave, tears falling from her face as she wept for him. She was not alone, as today was a day of remembrance, while the whole village came to respect and honor for the great deeds he had performed. His sword was stood on the memorial, a constant reminder of why they were still there today. It would not be long, though, that she would join him in the next adventure of life after death. Singing could be heard from the local church, and the rustle of feathers as birds took off into the evening sky.

[pfcreed]

my grammar is to bad to post but i do have something

My birthday is in the beginning of December; amidst all the high hopes that Christmas brings and the long depression that the comes with winter. My presents had to contend with the hoards of gifts expected on Christmas day, and the unrelenting heating bill. After you through in the fact that my brothers birthday is 2 days after thanksgiving, and my ma was left to the generosity of the buffalo welfare program, the prospects of my gifts were slim and limited to what ever the corner store sold as toys. As a result of this, at a young age I learned to appreciate family gatherings. December 6th 1997 on a Saturday, I had my 15th birthday. My ma, my brother Damone and myself had just moved out of the apartment that emborided the marriage between her and my step father. My aunt saw the opportunity to get help with the rent so she offered for us to live with her not far from our old apartment. My aunt Cindy and her son Donnell lived in a two bedroom apartment, in which half the living room was dedicated to plants, and various other things that one finds stimulating when faced with the boredom of having nothing to do. That morning I woke up and counted what ever change I could find in my pockets from the day before, which amounted to something like 35 cents, and I went to the store to get a huggie juice so I could have it with my breakfast. On the way home I saw Tony, the little boy who lived downstairs from us walking home from the church on the corner. His parents was deep into the church thing, which I still find confusing to this day because early on in my adult life I would learn that while at a party Tony and two of his friends beat up a boy, drug him into the bathroom and sodomized him with a broom stick, I heard this on the news after the cops found a dumpster burning in back of a church and discovered the boys body. Me and Tony walked to the house engaged in conversations about nothing, and parted ways at the hall way. I went upstairs and into my house where my ma was sleeping on a mattress in the middle of the dining room. I stood over her for a moment allowing myself to be transfixed with how beautiful the notion of her was, lying there, silent with her hair exploding out of the covers. After breakfast me and Mone stood on the porch so he could sneak a cigarette. He started the conversation by making fun of how fat donnell was and how he ate almost all of the macaroni and cheese that we had for dinner the night before. So that set the tone for the day. later on my ma made a cake, my aunt made dinner and from 12:30 pm till around 10:30 pm it was just like any other birthday I had ever had before. I was in the living room lulled half to sleep by the orange tint of the street light outside the window and the boring rerun of living color when I heard my ma go downstairs which wasn't uncommon because we had a washing machine in the basement but when she came back up I heard two people coming up the stairs in place of just one. So naturally out of curiosity I started for the kitchen where I saw my ma escort tall man with a black scarf that draped over a black wool trench coat into the back room, where my aunt and herself had been sitting. Of course I thought this was strange because two single women living with their kids usually don't frequent with men at their homes, but being 15 was more of a status then it was a reality and I felt it would be more groan up for me to not say anything or beckon my ma's attention. So I went back to watch TV and after an hour or so had past I went to the bathroom which was adjacent to the room they were in. that's when I first heard the small tapping noise of my mother and aunt chopping crack, I had no ideal what it was. Soon after I went to sleep not knowing the milestone I had passed in my life. When I woke the next morning I went to the kitchen to get a drink and my ma sat at the table with the man that was a stranger to me at the time. She looked at me and said " Greg you hungry cause I was gunna make some eggs" and before I could answer the stranger looked at me and said " hey boy you don't speak" so embarrassed I gave a half hearted wave and accepted my ma's offer for breakfast. It was Sunday so in a big way I didn't want the day to end because I didn't want to go to school the next day.
For the first time in my childhood I started feeling the effects of being raised by a single parent. My mother suddenly had to adjust from relying on the over powering nature of my stepfather, to taking on the full responsibility of heading a family. I blamed my mother, in a very heated way, for the life we had to live. I felt she choose to live like this, she choose welfare over work, drugs and booze over food, I even felt that she made my step dad choose to leave us, but I was naive. She didn't choose her life any more then I choose mine. However, she did choose to accept the circumstances she was in and that's why things were how they were. She also choose to take on the role as an observer instead of a parent.
As a teenager I was calling my own shots, a free agent if you will, and the only thing that I had going for me was deciding that I was on the ground floor. Every morning I choose to go school, and it was choices like those that turned me into a man. I absolutely hated school, every day was a battle between my Kmart or hand me down jeans, and the other students crisp, clean, non faded name brand jeans. I went to Leonardo Davinci High school, which was tucked away on the fourth and fifth floor of Dyouville college. My high school was supposedly a college prep high school and my class size consisted of only 58 students. We didn't have our own cafeteria so we were bussed over to Grover Cleveland High School for Lunch, Gym and misc. classes. Grover was a district high school; so the difference would be equivalent to mixing the high-class society of the Hamptons with the rowdy more earthly class of people in the Bronx.
My first day back to school from Christmas vacation, I sat in home room amongst the empty minded ramblings of all my peers, and caught pieces of conversations. The main topic of course was all the great stuff every body got for Christmas. I was sitting next to my man Gerald and I could feel the question pulling away from his lungs, however, when faced with it, instead of telling to truth I choose to lie. I told him I got a play station, the new wyclef cd, a new TV for my room and a couple outfits. I didn't want to tell him how my ma went into my aunts closet and wrapped miscellaneous things, like shoeboxes, and old plaques that my aunt got from work, and put them under the tree hoping that by the big day she would be able to replace them with real gifts. I didn't want to tell him about how she spent every dime she had, drowning away the looks on me and my brothers face when my cuz opened his gifts, with booze. So as I sat their, eves dropping on every ones happiness, I quietly painted my face, and folded up my emotions and put them in my pocket.
The night before my ma had went to the corner store wearing my coat. She must have had it on for a while because I could still smell the parliament lights all over the sleeves. When the radiators came on and began to heat up I could smell the legions of bubble gum colonies that cloaked them. As the room started to heat up I stood and pulled of my coat and something fell out of my pockets. I could tell it was made of glass because when it hit the ground I heard another piece shoot off into the distance. Before I could look down and grab it mike roddam already had it in his hand examining it. " Taylor what's this", I looked at him confused and said "hell if I know let me see" he handed it to me for me to examine, but since others had heard It fall we all leeched on to the task of figuring out what it was. Then from the far left Jesse, a Rican from the west side, said " it's a ****in pipe" I said "what, get the **** out here". He said " no look this stuff near the top is where they put the brillow pad in and hold the flame to it and this clean part in the back is where they smoke it from". my life stopped, I took a brief reprieve from realty, because I needed to make something up quickly, I didn't have any time to hurt, but strangely enough the gravity of what it was sunk into me instantly. My eyes were soft and defeated. Without dignity, nor refrain I said as clear as I could " my cuz hustles so it must be from someone he hit off last night, cause he wore my coat ". Jesse must of seen the desperation in my face because he said " Greg c'mon we know you smoke crack" which caused every one to laugh, the first class bell rung and I was free to fall through the clouds, and past the trees that give breath to the world and into the **** hole life afforded to me by god himself. When I got home that day, I stood in the bathroom looking in the mirror. mentally I was there naked and raw. Silently crying, trading my dignity for tears.

[Trogdor]

so the 1 hour of work I put into my video is now worthless?

[Dizzy]

7 more days on this people!

[SilentWalrus]

I'd do this but I already have a zune pass.
Also I'm too lazy to make a story.

[sharkfinblues]

*****EXTREME WARNING*****
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR MENTAL WELLBEING BEFORE, DURING OR AFTER YOU READ THIS STORY. THE CONTENTS OF THIS STORY ARE DISGUSTING, LEWD AND VERY VERY WIERD. HOWEVER, I AM SOMEWHAT PROUD OF IT, SO I CHOOSE TO POST I HERE CAUSE I'M BROKE. AND I LIKE SONGZ AND STUFF. YOU WERE WARNED...







The Christmas Gift
a Christmas story

Salvador finished up, and looked longingly around the room. His delicate fingers caressed his formidable moustache. It was one wacky ’stache, he thought. He pulled up his pants, fearing that Gala could walk in on him—then he remembered that she was still away. She wouldn’t be back until the new year, which was still just under a week from now. Salvador thought about painting something to pass the time, something Christmas-related. He wanted to start on it, but just felt no motivation. Defeated, he trudged into the kitchen.

The clock read 10:49pm. Children would be dreaming of tomorrow morning, waiting to see what they would receive. Sal sighed… there was no Christmas cheer for him. He began cooking up some Stroganoff and egg rolls, just to pass the time. Delicious, creamy mayonnaise went into the eggs because he liked the taste.