Threaded Tales: Final

Hello, readers and writers! Hopefully, you're all doing well and are rested.

Was that as cheesy to you as it was to me? 🤔

As some of you know, I've hosted my first ever writing challenge, Threaded Tales, and I have come to tell you how it went.

Six brave writers answered the call and made this amazing story! I wrote the first two starter paragraphs and then sent the last two sentences of my second paragraph to the first person on the list, where they picked up the story and continued. The story took a few wild turns that made me laugh.

Each participant wrote two paragraphs, and I'll list them below in chronological order. These writers deserve recognition for their hard work in making this challenge happen.

Thank you, everyone, for ing me on this crazy ride.

Obviously the first two paragraphs are mine, followed by the great sunseeker Miku.

I know you're all curious what the heck we wrote and how well this worked out, so without further ado, let's get to the story.

    The door stood eerily alone in the middle of the vast, snow-covered field, completely detached from any structure, or anything at all for that matter. Its presence was so absurdly out of place that my mind struggled to process it. It was like reality had glitched, leaving behind this inexplicable abnormality. It was old, weathered, and slightly crooked, as if time had tried to reclaim it but failed. No signs marked its presence, no footprints in the untouched snow led to or from it, and no conceivable reason existed for it to be there at all. It stood in absolute isolation, as if it had simply materialized out of nowhere, defying all logic and explanation. And yet, here it stood, silent and unwavering, beckoning me forward, daring me to cross the threshold between the known and the impossible, to push beyond the fragile boundaries of reality itself. The brass handle gleamed in the afternoon light like a whispered serenade, a siren’s call weaving its spell around me, luring me closer with an irresistible pull, as if it knew I couldn’t resist.

    I knew better, every instinct in me screamed to turn and run, to get as far away as possible, to ignore the questions racing around my imagination, my mind a frantic voice of reason against the magnetic pull of the unknown. A lone door standing in the middle of nowhere was never a good omen. It was a warning, a tear in the fabric of reality where logic had no place. ‘Walk away. Just walk away.’ The thought twisted and turned in my head, begging me, no demanding that I listen. Against my better judgment, I reached for the handle. The metal was unnervingly warm against my freezing fingers, as if someone, or something, had grasped it just moments before. The warning bells inside my skull reached a fever pitch, a deafening chorus of dread screaming at me to stop, to turn back before it was too late. I hesitated, but then, curiosity won over reason. I turned the handle and stepped through the impossible door.

     A moment ed, where everything seemed to stand still; there was no wind, no sound, and the air felt thick. I almost changed my mind and went back through the door, when I heard the softest of sighs, barely there and audible - suddenly, the ground beneath me was gone, the darkness replaced by the blinding light, and I was falling through the air as if I was light as a feather. Panic rose in my throat, threatening to spill over. My hands tried to hold onto something, but they were only met with empty air; I tried to scream, but my lungs remained frozen, and my eyes stayed tightly shut against the light that had been shining against my closed eyelids. I braced myself for the impact, praying to every deity I know out there for the land to be soft when I fall onto it.

    Seconds turned into minutes, but the ground never came. With all the strength in me, I fought against the fear and slowly opened my eyes, blinking against the flickering lights as my vision went from blurry to normal. I couldn’t stop the gasp from leaving my lips as my eyes finally took in the scene before me - I was floating in the middle of the night sky. The stars were shining shyly all around me, their soft hum reaching my ears every time I moved my head. The nebulas stretched far to my left and right, their vibrant colors illuminating the dark, but never reaching me or reflecting off of me. In the corner of my eye, I saw a shooting star dash across the space, and it felt like it was looking at me, greeting me. In fact, everything around me, every asteroid and nebula and collapsing star seem to be observing me. Out of nowhere, I hear that soft sigh again, followed by a gentle voice that echoes through the starry space.

    I turned around to locate where the soft-sighs were coming from, but I couldn't. I looked back at the starry space I was surrounded with, I shrugged, if there was someone, they can come to me, otherwise, I was gonna explore alone. I was not going to lose the opportunity to explore the space because of someone sighing at my back. The planet was collapsing, then why was I getting so thrilled was beyond me. I started jumping on the plateaus like I used to jump on the stones while crossing the small canal ing near our street. It felt like I was walking towards the ends of the world but at the same time it felt like it was a new beginning. When I jumped on one particular plateau, I felt it come to life, maybe this is where my adventure would begin and maybe when I wake up from this awesome dream or say make out of this reality, I can write and let the world know about this place, it's like a hidden gem, though it seems crashing it is fascinating at the same time. The plateau started flying forward and soon I got a hang of it, it was like I had the remote to control its direction, all I had to do was to just move to where I wanted it to go and it turned that way, easy, right? I opened my arms and embraced the gushing air in the chaos, I felt fresh and free.

    It was then that I heard the sighs again followed by some heavy groans, it scared me a bit so instead of looking back, I commanded aka moved my plateau forward at full speed, right then I felt like I was a part of my favourite video game where I was doing a chase sequence, all it needed more, was some obstacles and someone actually chasing me. As if someone was listening and granting my wishes it came true, I heard a thunderclap, asteroids and meteorites who were just observing my exploration till then, came to life too and many more started falling from the sky, forcing me to sit on my plateau, like I was driving some race car and moving my hands like I was driving it with my unreal driving talent but the sounds of groans was increasing and it bothered me. You know what they say, if you are climbing on a steep hill and have made half way through, never look down, if you are walking through a haunted island and hear a sound, never turn back, so when I was driving through the falling meteorites I should not have turned back even when I heard the groans, but unfortunately, I was not patient enough and I looked back. You won't believe what I saw, till then I was not scared, if anything I was enjoying my little adventure but what I saw made me think that I was either in a horrible dream or was losing my sanity. There was a big brown bear on my trail, he too was sitting on a plateau and flying forward just like me, gliding through the obstacle, and if anything, he was catching up on to me and groaning loudly or was that their laugh? I made eye when he crossed me, yep! Definitely smirking and laughing. I am so not losing from a bear.

    I hear a vague sentence. “… me?!”. I can’t believe it, I am indeed losing from that bear.

I hear that sentence again. More clearly.

“… hitting me?!”

     Who am I hitting apart from the beast? I receive a massive hit in my face and wake up. My brother was angry and looked at me like I had killed someone.

     - “What?”

    - “I said, could you stop hitting me?! It hurts!”

    I thought I was fighting a bear, not my brother.

    The blows weren't heavy or especially threatening, but each and every one of them was precise and cruel, aimed at maximising pain, perfectly encapsulating how big of a bully my brother was.

     Sometimes I wondered if this jacked up, muscular meathead brother of mine was even human in the first place, given his affinity to cause and thrive on pain.

    I find that even though I want to believe in him as a person, I can never truly trust him. Maybe I'm overthinking? Stumbling from one step to another. Maybe the world will let me know, but it feels I'll never come down to the truth. I feel crazy; borderline quizzical.

     The pain one can cause may lead to what you look for, but in the end, you'll never be happy with that. I want to dance along the lines of good and bad looking for you in the sunset of the past. I see my brothers smile in what I can only explain as a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.

    And that’s the last memory I had of him before humanity lost and crumbled before the enemy. The person whom I called brother wasn’t my brother anymore. Where his sparkling caramel chocolate colored eyes glimmered with so much life laid dead and was now filled with a dull look. All joy and happiness completely drained from them. They were foggy and glazed over, the eyes of a predator that constantly searches for their next victim. His tan skin was now covered in cuts and wounds.The person who stood before me was an empty shell of the person I once loved , once treasured, once cared for. I couldn’t help the hot and fresh tears that stained my cheek as my hand began to tremble and my body started to shake.

     “What are you waiting for! Shoot the damn thing!” My commanding officer ordered, his patience growing thin while shouts and screams echoed around me. It was hell on earth. “I ordered you to shoot or I’ll do it myself!” But how could I shoot my only family? He was my brother! My blood! My protector! He was my best friend and someone I could count on. It was just me and him when our parents died and then our grandfather. He was all I had. All the shouting, the screaming that happened around me slowly started to fade away. The pain I felt on my right shoulder as teeth tore at my flesh and the burning sensation in my head was the last thing I felt as we embraced each other one last time. If love meant to surrender, then I would lay down my soul without fear for you and leave this world behind.

I hope you enjoyed reading our story as much as we loved writing it. I thank everyone for their part in this and for doing such an amazing job. I love how this took so many different turns.

For those of you who participated in this challenge, go ahead and comment below or pm me with your title requests and hues. I've also added a secret prize for all your hard work. You may link any of your posts along with the title requests, and I'll feature said titles. Please only link one post per participant.

Thank you all again for ing me on this wild ride. I appreciate each and every one of you.

Until next time :v:

Pic credits:

Landscape 4 door

Istock

Door

Etsy