Monday 7 February 2011

Icicles of Death and other prompts

I'm bored today (mentally), I have little time because it's been REAL busy today (physically), so when I stumbled over this writing promt on Amy's blog, I felt that tell-tale cribble in my fingertips, that ache at the back of my head that foreshadows the coming of an idea... and yea I'm feeling a bit dramatic today.

So, Amy asks how one would use a ginormous icicle in a story...

The light flickered twice before it came back on. 
The blanket of silence that covered the room was so thick you could have cut it into neat little slices with a good, sharp knife, bleeding no more than a sigh or a gasp here and there, perhaps a brief whistle of wind from the storm that raged outside. Ten figures stood frozen around a dinner table laden with enough food to for an army of half-starved urchins. There was everything there from the traditional stuffed turkey to fois gras on tiny, crisp little bits of toast, glistening mounds of black pearls heaped on uneven circles of home-made blinis, crowned with just a touch of sour cream. Platters and bowls of butter-soaked vegetables and various incarnations of potatoe crowded the space between the two parade-lines of plates on either side of the table. Everything glittered and glowed in turn as the lights flickered and the light of the candles gained importance and lost it again.  
Not one of the perfectly-turned out figures surrounding the table spared the food a glance, though. Ten pairs of eyes were fixed on an eleventh form, slumped in its chair, cheeks still ruddy from too many toast of red wine, a stain that looked like wine but was not slowly spreading on his bleached and starched shirt like a demented Rorschach test. There was a hole there, right in the middle of all that red, but nothing in the vincinity that fit it. 
A single scream ripped apart the silence, breaking the spell. 
Hours later, little numbered plaquets grazed between congealing, graying food. The ten live figures and the one dead one had vanished, along with the herd of policemen that heeded their call. The only movement in the room was a single drop of condensation meandering its way down the outside of a vase of crimson roses.  
There! That's what I came up with. A mini who-done-it (or maybe what-done-it?). Like?
 Those of you who like Whodunits, go check out DL Hammons' fantastic Contest!!! 
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6 comments:

amy said...

Awesome!!! I like the creep factor at the end. *shivers* You're descriptions of the food on the table were delightful by the way. Really enjoyed the vivid imagery in the whole scene. Two thumbs up!

Wendy Lu said...

This is such good writing, Tessa! I absolutely love the first and second lines...excellent piece.

You are really great at creating imagery in your work. :)

~TRA

http://xtheredangelx.blogspot.com

Mary@GigglesandGuns said...

I really enjoyed the icicle murder -- so appropriate for the weather here.

New site design is great! So fresh!

Sangu Mandanna said...

Oooh, this was great, Tessa! Love the atmosphere - and what a fun prompt!

Anonymous said...

Ha! Nice--those nasty icicles!

Nighfala said...

Agatha Christie would be proud.

Reminds me of a Lord Peter story in which a wife killed her husband with a blunt instrument (a frozen ham) then baked it in the oven, thus destroying the evidence.

so what is the answer to the haiku? You are torturing me here.

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