Blind Jump Into... We Have Arrived!

LEA11

Here ends this trip we’ve started at the beginning of June. Today is the last post for Avatar Blogger Month.
Throughout the month, I visited many sims in Second Life that have inspired a large collection of stories, some happy, others sad. It was quite a marathon, but a lot of fun!
The first half of the month featured a short-story called “It Takes a Village” filled with suspense, mystery, murder and a lot of friendship, curiously enough!
The second half of the month was dedicated to flash-fiction. “Blind Jump Into…” proposed to write a story triggered by what a picture evoked, no preparation, just a keyboard, a picture and a plunge into the unknown of fiction!
This marathon also brought to life a fantastic collaboration with the artist Tabitha Raincloud. A few more
projects together are in the works and they promise to be very interesting.
A special word of thank you to Vanessa Blaylock for her support, patience and more support, and to London Junkers for encouraging my writing madness!
To all who read my posts, thank you for crossing the seas of stories with me. I hope you’ve enjoyed the trip!

This post is part of the Avatar Blogger Month event and was originally posted at iRez.

Blind Jump Into... Electrifying

DaD Design

The open field offered no protection. A low sea of golden wheat surrounded the dance floor placed between two overhead power line poles. Patty would be there, for sure, and Robert had no place to hide.
Paul, his friend, was determined to have a birthday party in an unusual place, so instead of the habitual club, he chose his uncle’s property. The problem was that, at the club, Robert had found a few strategic hiding places, in the DJ booth, closed to the public, but open to him, because the DJ was his brother, in the storage room, closed to the public, but open to him, because the club owner was his school mate, and in the locker-room, closed to the public, but open to him, for the reason mentioned before.
Robert decided to sit as far away from the dance floor as possible. A few sofas had been placed around the planked area and he sunk in one of them, hoping to become invisible.
Patty arrived several hours later with a group of girlfriends, her entourage. The noisy group took over the party completely, becoming the center of attention.
Theirs had been an electrifying and intense relationship at first; however it turned into a bitter agonizing torture for him.
When she spotted Robert she darted over to him and, as usual, threw a string of accusation at him, that he was selfish, that he had cheated on her, that he wasn’t trustworthy.
As her screaming increased, still muffled by the loud music, a single ray of lightning struck the power lines, cutting one of them loose. The wire slashed the air dangerously, starting a complete chaos among the party guests.
Paul still tried to drag Robert away from her claws, but it was too late. The former couple met an ironically electrifying demise.

This story is part of the Avatar Blogger Month event and was originally posted at iRez.

Blind Jump Into... Bus Stop

Inaka

A  man and a woman, two strangers, sat side by side at the bus stop. Both checked their phones multiple times, as if waiting for a call, a text message, any sign of life.
The woman had a date with a stranger, against the alarmed warnings of her friends. She met this man online. The world of chatrooms and online dating was new to her and she tried to keep a low profile for the first couple of days. Some men were extremely aggressive in their efforts to set up a date, but she was adamant and always turned them down.
Until one day a man took the time to actually talk and get to know her, so she accepted his invitation for a cup of coffee. “1211 bus stop at 4pm,” they agreed. Whoever got there first would wait for the other. Their buses were scheduled to arrive approximately at the same time, so they anticipated no waiting at all. Besides, they had each other’s cell numbers.
Her bus got there on time, but his was late. She checked her watch nervously. Perhaps he gave up… She checked her watch again. Yes, it was still working and only 2 seconds went by. She wondered how he looked. It was the first time she had done anything like this and she was extremely anxious.
After waiting for an hour, she decided to call him. Much to her amazement, a phone rang close by. It was him, sitting next to her all this time. His bus wasn’t late, it was early!
Now, every time they catch the bus at the 1211 bus stop, they can’t help but laugh with the recollection of having spent a whole hour in silence sitting side by side and since then they have been trying to catch up, not wasting a single minute!

This story is part of the Avatar Blogger Month event and was originally posted at iRez.
 

Blind Jump Into... Live on TV!

Betelgeuse 5

The gigantic proportion of the enterprise made all participants, investors, sponsors and silent partners anticipate an enormous success. Unique in its rules, the format gave way to an even more blunt approach to reality television. Simple and crude, the show featured a group of men and women, young and old who, after being dropped in a contained but vast area, tried to survive by killing the others.
John was a bit suspicious though. As a matter of fact, he was vehemently against the whole idea. Although he was a top producer, he had no power to make final decisions at an executive level.
After long and highly secretive meetings to coordinate every detail of the show, the day of the première finally came.
The monitors buzzed with activity. An exaggerated number of people hurried back and forth to get things ready, most of them simply wasting time. John stood at the door of the production-control room.
When the show started, the presenter detailed the rules, the audience in the studio roared. The players were dropped, one by one, in the survival area. “Let the game begin!”
John frowned, waiting.
The first death occurred almost immediately. The ratings skyrocketed. A second death sent everyone in the room into a deep silence. This was worrying. It was going too fast. A third death happened when one of the players tripped and got his foot stuck between a rock and a heavy trunk, making him an easy target.
The phones started ringing. “Here we go,” thought John. “We are going to be butchered for letting people kill one another live on TV.”
A fourth death topped the first 15 minutes of the show. One third of the contestants were now dead. The show was supposed to last a week.
Callers from around the world complained violently. It was unacceptable, a true scandal. John knew this would happen. He knew that this money-making show would have catastrophic consequences, probably even an array of lawsuits and jail time.
“What are they saying?” he asked.
The production-assistant took the phone off the hook for a few seconds. “They say this is not new.”
Much to John’s surprise, spectators were not calling about the extreme violence, the useless deaths or the totally pathetic presenter, screaming his lungs out in an ecstatic crescendo. They were calling, because this format had been inspired in a book that ended up becoming a film a few years back. They wanted something new, fresh, not a remake of a book/film idea turned into a TV show.
That afternoon, John handed in his resignation. He packed a backpack and went up to the mountains with his dog, never to come back to the glittering world of live television.

This story is part of the Avatar Blogger Month event and was originally posted at iRez.
 

Blind Jump Into... A Night to Remember

Drawing by Tabitha Raincloud

The red dress and matching red shoes sat on the bed, neatly placed, side by side. She wore them as perfectly as they looked. The red lipstick was the final touch of a two-hour long build-up of expectation and thrill. It would be a night to remember.

At the club, she danced, flowing elegantly. She touched his face trying to memorize all its details, the slightly uneven curve of his eyebrows, the scar under his chin, his deep brown eyes. A torrid night of sensuality followed. He would be a man to remember.

The next day, she packed her bag, grabbed her ticket and travelled far away, to a foreign country.
“Welcome,” said the older woman who opened the heavy wooden door. “”Today is the beginning of your new life.”
She knew and she was happy, but she would never forget her other life, the one she was leaving behind, her house, her car, her clothes.
How she would explain the red shoes to the Mother Superior, she didn’t know, but she was most definitely keeping them!

***

This story is the result of the first collaboration between Tabitha Raincloud and myself.

Tabitha's amazing drawing was the first step. It evokes so many different scenarios; it's just the perfect picture to trigger many writing ideas. Then came my story!

It's a secret, pshhh... but Tabs and I are preparing a few projects together. Fun, fun, fun! More soon!

A final word of thank you to Vanessa Blaylock, our fearless leader at iRez, for facilitating the first contact between Tabs and me. :)

For more about  Tabitha Raincloud's artwork, click the link.

This story is part of the Avatar Blogger Month event and was originally posted at iRez.