[Issue 54] [Contest] Continue the Story III, Part III.

[GoldRock 6,165]

Am I allowed to continue my own story?

Yep, you can. Sorry for taking a while to respond, didn't see your post at first! If I don't respond to stuff in topics, feel free to shoot me a PM to bring it to my attention ^_^

[Ninja 10,468]

Yep, you can. Sorry for taking a while to respond, didn't see your post at first! If I don't respond to stuff in topics, feel free to shoot me a PM to bring it to my attention ^_^

Continuing your own story is allowed.  :blink:  :o

[GoldRock 6,165]

^Indeed.

 

I knew that but decided to change it as the judges are probably more used to American English.

Well, this particular judge uses British English - sorry to disappoint you :P Not that it matters either way!

[Ninja 10,468]

^Indeed.

 

 

Well, this particular judge uses British English - sorry to disappoint you :P Not that it matters either way!

Lol, now you've told me who one of the judges are, they were faceless men to me before!  :D

[NewbieCake 3,067]

Not that it matters but why do we have two chapter ones?  :ph34r:

Edited July 7, 2016 by NewbieCake

[Metaphor 538]

Not that it matters but why do we have two chapter ones?  :ph34r:

It's a conspiracy :ph34r:

[GoldRock 6,165]

Not that it matters but why do we have two chapter ones?  :ph34r:

I have no idea what you're talking about  :rolleyes:

[Ninja 10,468]

I have no idea what you're talking about  :rolleyes:

 

Not that it matters but why do we have two chapter ones?  :ph34r:

Actually it's two chapter twos.

[BlackPanther101_XXX 2]

Bloodshed

Chapter Three: Evanescent Memory

655 Words (Sorry GoldRock  :D hope its ok with you, its super long and i tried cutting it down)

 

                My heart pounded hard against my splintered ribs as the answer slowly sank in. How could Liam be the accomplice? I had known him for at least 6 years, and we had bonded like brothers.

                I held a hand against my chest to staunch the bleeding. “Commander, I think you have made a mistake, Liam would never do such a thing! You have it wrong!”

                My commander looked at me with a strange light in his eyes. He hesitated briefly, and then spoke. “There is sufficient evidence pointing toward Liam, and also, there is support that you are suspect number two.”

                My wrecked body and mind could no longer function as these two blows, like Stefan’s brute force, hit me like a tidal wave. The infirmary bed once again swallowed me, and unconsciousness took me.

 

                When I opened my eyes, I knew that again I was still dreaming, because instead of Stefan in front of me this time, it was Liam.

                I tried to moved, eager to talk to him again, thinking that he still might be alive. I looked at his face, and he seemed oddly calm, quite the opposite of Stefan.

                 “Liam, I know that you know something about what happened with Stefan. Can you help me get the answers I need so his deed will not destroy both of our names?”

                Liam walked forward. “You have the answers inside you, but yet you fail to comprehend. Do you not remember? We three were there at the time of Juniper’s death.”

                I frowned at him. “Liam, we were not! All we were doing was…” To my surprise, I did not know what had happened at that time, or even where we were at.

                A gentle smile broke over Liam’s face. He looked me in the eyes, and said five powerful words, “Your memory has been modified.”

                Before my mind could react, he spoke one last time, “ I will give you one word, and you must do the rest: poison”

                My mind jolted. “What?! What do you mean about my memory? Poison?!” I shouted at him, perplexed. Suddenly, my chains vanished, and for one horrible second, everything became clear.

                Terror gripped me and clawed at my heart. Anguish and grief swam through my mind. Then I fell into a deep cavern of my own thoughts, falling, falling, falling…

 

                “You have been in a coma for the last three days.” My commander said dryly, looking at me as I opened my eyes groggily.

                I leaped up like a thunderbolt, ignoring the fire-hot pain in my ribs. Purpose burned in me; I had to tell him what had really happened.

                I struggled to sit up, blurting out words as they came, “Commander, I gave Juniper the cup of coffee that contained cyanide! I did not know, but Stefan handed it to me and told to give it to her. I did not remember beforehand; Stefan wiped me and Liam’s memory with a drugged needle, and then his own to hide the evidence! Comm-“

                “Captain”, my commander said calmly. “This we already know. Stefan was captured and under the influence of Sodium Pentothal confessed and revealed everything. Do to much of the confusion and deaths, you and Liam have been determined not guilty, and Stefan has been charged with multiple accounts of manslaughter and battery and has been placed on life sentence.”

                I laid myself back down on the cool white sheets again, feeling a quite relieved, but sad. Everything made sense now, Stefan had been caught, my name had been cleared… but Juniper and Liam were gone.

                “Do not grieve Captain. Juniper and Liam will receive full honors, and Stefan is now jailed. Justice has been served, and as your commanding officer, I now order you to rest and heal properly. You need to move on.” Saying this, he left the room, leaving me with a new day, grief, and finally, the truth at last.

 

 

 

(Please leave you opinions guys, I don't know how I did  ;) , I'm also rather a noob at contests)

[ethanisme 1,115]

Well there goes my chances at this contest hhh. Gl everyone :)

[ismadjou 7]

i already know my chapter is way too long a total of over 700 words, but the second chapter was kind of left in an awkward place, and if i had tried to write any less words, the story would have come out strange. so if Goldrock allows more words as an exception, since it is the last chapter, then i might stand a chance of winning. otherwise, people can take ideas (if they want).

 

 

 

“NO!”

I cried, pulling my head away from the pillow. The same instant bolt of energy coursed through my body, but I swallowed the pain and looked my commanding officer in the eye.

“That’s impossible. I know Liam! There’s no way he would have dreamt about going behind the authorities back!”

“Well…”, He said, hesitating, seeming to take time to think about what to say.

“I guess you didn’t know Liam as well as you would have liked to”.

“Listen to me!” I exclaimed, before remembering who I was addressing.

“Sir”, I hastily followed.

“He was my best friend. You really think he would have gone through with this without telling me?”

“I have no idea and now we’ll never know”, replied the commander.

“But what I am aware of, is that significant evidence points towards Liam working with the fugitive in order to break him out. Why Stefan killed the poor man, we can’t be sure. But for now it doesn’t hurt to suspect him anyway.”

Reluctantly, I agreed to the commanding officer’s firm logic and laid my head back on the pillow.

When I wake up again, I’m in a dazzlingly white room with the distinct smell of disinfectant that I had always associated with hospitals. As the memories of the previous night, (or was it the night before?), come flooding back, I squeeze my eyes shut and force myself to drift back into sub-consciousness.

Ten days later;

Minutes after my discharge from the hospital and still with a dull throb around my abdomen reminding me of that fateful night, I accessed a public telephone and phoned up my commanding officer to hear any updates he had on Liam, Max and Stefan. His short, tense reply filled me with a sense of despair and helplessness.

“Stefan is still at large and Liam is still a prime suspect I’m afraid. Maximus has a couple of breaks but is slowly recovering. He should be fine.”

I placed the phone slowly back onto the receiver, and wondered on what had happened and what to do about it. The moment my mind passed over the body of Liam, unmoving, with a pool of blood thickening around a gaping hole in his chest, I struck an instant resolve and decided to bring Stefan down myself and prove that Liam was never on the wrong side of the law.

As I went to bed that night, my previous resolve had all but vanished and a niggling doubt at the back of my mind kept telling me it wasn’t possible. If the police and the Special Forces couldn’t track him down, then how could I even have a remote chance of getting near him.

My answer came in those next few seconds, as the door burst open and a shadowy silhouette blocked any street light from getting in. My heart skipped a dozen beats as I jumped up and turned on the bedside lamp. From the limited light coming from inside the lampshade, I managed to make out the unforgettable facial features of Stefan, the fugitive who killed my best friend and an innocent woman.

The second the light turned on, I found myself looking down the steel barrel of a sawn-off shotgun. My first instinct was to run for cover, but I forced myself to stay where I was; there was no way I could find somewhere to hide in my room before Stefan took the killing shot. And besides, I wanted to know what this ‘Memory’ of mine, or lack of it, actually was.

“Stefan”, I said flatly, trying my best to sound braver than I felt.

“We meet again, friend”, Stefan replied, an evil grin splitting his face.

“We are not friends”, I threw back at him.

“Wait…”, I hesitated, as Stefan’s grin faded away and his grip on the shotgun suddenly firmed up.

“I need to know about this memory you mentioned” I begged.

“Memory? What memory?”, he asked, a look of confusion clouding his face.

“Th- The memory you told me about in the interrogation room”, I stammered.

Out of nowhere, Stefan burst out laughing, with me still wondering what the hell was going on.

“There was no memory, you fool; I just needed you distracted. Now I’ve come back to clean up the mess I left behind”, he crowed, raising the gun for the last time.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the bullets shrieking bang to pierce the silence, as would the sharp metal do for my body.

I flinched as I heard the bang, but the searing pain never came.

As I hesitantly opened one eye, I found an officer wrestling the gun off of Stefan.

I jumped up to assist the officer, noticing that my front door was hanging off its hinges (that must have been the bang I heard), and held Stefan down as the officer prised the gun off him. In a couple of seconds, the house was full of police, assisting with the arrest. One officer took me aside and informed me of why they were here. It turned out a neighbour had called them to report a character that carried what looked to be suspiciously like a gun. “You were lucky we came when we did. One second more and you wouldn’t have made it.” He said solemnly.

Some ten minutes later, the house was empty of police and Stefan was dragged out, leaving me in peace, finally. I got back into my bed, still slightly shaken and slept away my newfound nightmare of reality.

 

[Ninja 10,468]

Hmm, just read @ismadjou's chapter. i mean thats good writing, but obviously it being quite a bit more than  five hundred words,it might just be dismissed. GoldRock, i would seriously ask you to consider @ismadjou's story, even if it might not completely meet your requirements. i personally would love to see this chapter in the next issue of the newspaper. i agree with ismadjou that the previous chapter was left quite far from what would be the end of the story, considering Stefan just escaped. i also think that this chapter has touched on everything mentioned in the last two chapters, and so far has been the only one to discuss the 'memory'. i think in over 700 words, ismadjou has finished up the story beatifully.obviously this is just an opinion, but yeah, i would like to see this chapter in the next issue....unless of course a better one comes along  ;) . thnx for reading

Did you read my entry? 

[150010836 77]

Chapter III: Vows

 

"Our primary suspect is your friend Liam," said Detective Leech. Those were the exact words I did not want to hear.

 

"You guys, you have it all wrong! How, just, how could it possibly Liam?!" I took my hands to my eyes in an effort to stop the tears.

 

"We're just as bamboozled as you are. If not, more," he sat, spinning in his chair. He continued on, "Have you seen any suspicious activity from Liam recently? Like something that was unorthodox to his usual work schedule?" he asked.

 

"He.. he's been going through a divorce with his wife, Juniper."

 

"Juniper... the one in the morgue?" the detective was surpised.

 

"Yes, been drinking a lot at  a bar named Rex Mortis , otherwise known as.. 'King of Death'."

 

"You see, I believe Liam hired Stefan to kill Juniper so he wouldn't have to go pay money for the divorce... do you believe he would be at this bar right, at this moment?" 

 

"I would not be surprised if he was, where he'd go if he was under pressure," I said.

 

The detective and I went to the bar. It was old - sticks of moldy wood held the feeble structure together, dust plastered the floor and tables everywhere. We looked to the bar, and there was Liam. Sitting all by his lonesome self. We preceded to walk to him. 

 

"Liam, why? Why did you hire Stefan to kill your wife, Juniper?"

 

"For many reasons. Primarily my lack of sufficient funds, so I decided to hire Stefan to eliminate Juniper," he continued on, " I know you guys are here to arrest me. Which is why I have some leverage over you guys. Undoubtedly. Bring her out boys!" Liam's crew dragged a woman out, she was wearing a bomb vest. "You see, it's either arrest me and have her blow up, or save her but let me go. You can only choose one.. but make it quick.. bomb's set for 5 minutes, save her, but let me go.. or get me... but blow yourselves down to hell," he said, smirking.

 

"You know, I really wish I could wipe that smirk off your face, Liam," I said, "I thought we were friends, but I guess we really weren't."

 

"Times change, and as they do, you must too," he continued on, "maybe we'll meet again, but next time, I suspect it will be under less amicable terms, correct?"

 

"The next time I see you will be the last time you'll see the light of day, I vow it," I said firmly. But when I looked over to see if Liam was still there, he was already gone with the wind.

 

I turned and looked at Detective Leech, "So, any idea on how to defuse a bomb?"

 

 

Words: 459

Edited July 15, 2016 by 150010836

[LOLKILLERTOTHEDEATH 1,921]

I'm done trying to in a contest, I've wasted many an hour on contests, when I could have studied. Yes I lack quality, so if you want to mock me by saying that "well try harder" I did, and ya' know what? It yielded no result.

[Night-Sisters 2,139]

:excl: The deadline for this contest is now the 20th of July. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

[Destrod 2,634]

My entry.

 

 

Story

Revelation

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was all certain now. I had to do it. I don’t care what happens, I must bring him to justice. But why do I feel this chill of guilt? Why do I feel responsible? Aah. I must stop pondering. All this precious time is wilting away like leaves in autumn.

"You do know we have no idea of finding him, correct?"

"We don’t need to find him. Juniper was just a piece in the puzzle."

"What do you think he wants then?"

" Us."

But why? I didn’t understand. It was almost like a prophecy to me, his arrival. I knew there was something he wanted, something which is here. What is it?

I wondered, and wondered. I couldn’t figure it out. But I must be ready.

" Did you not think I would come back?"

"No. Your arrival is of no surprise to me Stefan. What do you want?"

"What indeed. You shall find out soon enough."

A sudden twitch in his arm, and the place was surrounded by men. Pointing rifles at him. To my surprise, his reaction was somewhat unpredictable. As if he wanted this to happen. Stefan was hand-cuffed and put in seclusion. That look, on his face. A look of victory.

" I've been waiting for this moment for a long, long time."

"So have I."

I slapped him hard on his face, not aware that my emotions got the best of me.

"Why? Why all this madness?"

" You.. You don’t know, what we did to you…"

His words were fuel for my wrath. I punched him again, to the extent that his face was bleeding. But he was still smiling.

"Answer me, filth! Why all this? What do you mean I was there?"

"You still don’t remember, you fool. But of course, we wanted this to happen."

He made no sense. I did not feel any dictatorship over him. It was as if I was the one, tied up, being hammered with confusing words.

" You are desperate to know, good. Good! But let me tell you this. You should wish that you don’t find out. "

" You are trying my patience. Answer me, or I promise you, the death you will get will make you squeal like a rat!"

The doors burst open, and Maximus burst in with a group of men.

"Its time to sort this out."

"Indeed it is." I blurted. I was still enraged after what Stefan was saying to me.

"Grab Stefan and bring him here."

I moved to see, but Maximus motioned me to stay here. Strange, I thought. I could here whispering. Stefan's heavy and low pitched voice echoed in my ears. All I could hear, was " Yes, it was him."

Maximus moved into the room and thrust me against the wall.

"You move and I will crack your neck like a broom!"

"Wha.. What are you doing?"

" Stop playing innocent! You knew the whole time!"

I could see Stefan smiling and enjoying the sight, even thought it was not as different as his.

What is happening?

" Are you sure it was him?"

" Yes. Our reports have proved that he was the one to assist Stefan in Juniper's murder."

"But we found a bottle of an unknown drug lying close to Juniper's body!"

"He was there."

 

Word count: 556

Edited July 20, 2016 by Destrod

[KillerGnat 3,135]

I'm done trying to in a contest, I've wasted many an hour on contests, when I could have studied. Yes I lack quality, so if you want to mock me by saying that "well try harder" I did, and ya' know what? It yielded no result.

Well, that mentality ain't gonna get you nowhere. You win some, you lose some, but you always learn some. Best to keep trying, and sooner or later, you'll get it :). My work is by no means great, but I try because I enjoy it. If you're just trying for the crystals then you probably won't do as well.

 

 

And no, I'm not mocking you.... 

[Ninja 10,468]

I'm done trying to in a contest, I've wasted many an hour on contests, when I could have studied. Yes I lack quality, so if you want to mock me by saying that "well try harder" I did, and ya' know what? It yielded no result.

As Churchill said, "Never give up".

[Night-Sisters 2,139]

Deadline has expired, contest closed.