Brenda Drake’s First 250 Words Contest — you in?

The following 252 words are the first … ‘250 words’ (to end of sentence) … of After Dark. I’ve been instructed, by my fabuloso writer buddy Claire Gillian, to post these here so others may weigh in with their opinions.

Once those opinions have been provided, I shall tweak and submit back to Brenda for her contest (along with the 100+ others already involved!). All the rules and such are online in Brenda’s blog … should YOU want to participate.

Now … on to those words! (comments may/should be offered in the comments section of this post).

After Dark

Chapter 1

Balanced on top of Samuel L. Wilson, someone’s ‘beloved father and son resting in peace’, should have given me the solitude I craved. Good ole ‘Sam’ decomposed underneath the largest oak in Primrose Cemetery, just not far enough away from civilization.

Endless screams of ‘Trick ‘o’ Treat’, doorbell rings and slaps of feet against pavement reached me. Leaves swirled with each blast of wind, whipping debris between Sam and his neighbor of thirteen decades, Dan. A new flare-up, ruffled the corners of my sketchpad.

An owl hooted.

More dings filled the air.

A dog yipped.

I covered my ears with my hands, as if that would block the sounds, but the papers started a slow slide down my lap. Another gust pushed them to my knees, flung hair against my cheeks and sent my pencils tumbling.

“Come on already! I’m workin’ here.”

A swipe of my hand brought the drawing tools back up. I yanked my hair into a tail, twisted the strands around a Cerulean blue and stabbed random colors into the knot for safe keeping.

The pointy end of something way larger than a pencil pierced my neck.

I straightened with one intake of breath, dropping the yellow, number-two from my lips. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” My hand reached toward the uninvited object.

It pressed deeper into my flesh.

“Oh, no, Mackenzie. In this game, I have already won.” His deep bass resonated with confidence.

He wouldn’t see my smile. “I’d think twice about that.”

And, there you go. Comment away! 🙂