The story game

[KarenNWendyn]

After calling the police, Roger tentatively made his way back to Mildred’s old mansion. The lightening continued to crash. From up in the bedroom, he heard a scream.

 

[KevinM]

“Mildred, are you okay?” Roger hissed through clenched teeth as he slowly climbed the stairs. Nearing the top, he shone the light down the long, wood paneled hallway and was shocked to see Rose, standing at the far end, a finger to her pursed lips signaling for her father to keep quiet.

 

[KarenNWendyn]

(Time out.... how did Roger and Rose get into the house? I guess that’s part of the mystery)

 

[KevinM]

(Time out.... how did Roger and Rose get into the house? I guess that’s part of the mystery)

Roger found a back window open, and Rose is the mystery. How long has she been there...and why?

 

[KimT]

Roger noticed that Rose looked scared and confused. He heard a noise behind him, then blacked out. Rose let out a piercing, bloodcurdling scream, ran into Mildred's room and pushed a heavy dresser against the door.

 

[KarenNWendyn]

Rose now found herself in Mildred’s room. Her dad was blacked out in the hallway, and Mildred was nowhere to be seen. Rose shuddered against the dresser as she heard heavy footsteps upon creaky floorboards, making their way up the staircase.

 

[KimT]

As the footsteps grew closer, Rose slowly backed up against the bed and heard the faint whimper of something or someone. It sounded like it was under the bed. Suddenly, a hand shot out from under the bed and grabbed her by the ankle.

 

[KevinM]

From his hiding place in the basement, Robbie tried to process the sounds above...the heavy think of someone hitting the floor (he guessed it was his father since he thought he heard his voice, then nothing); the raw, primal scream of his sister; and the sound of a very distant police siren. How could this simple prank have gone so wrong, he wondered? And why would a gaudy, worthless (he thought) rhinestone-encrusted gardening spade be so important to this “intruder?”

 

[KarenNWendyn]

First, a brief summary: Robbie’s in the basement. Roger (the dad) is presumably passed out somewhere in the hallway. Rose is barricaded in Mildred’s room with someone’s hand wrapped around her ankle. Mildred’s whereabouts are unclear. The police have been called.

******

From his hiding place in the basement, Robbie became aware of a wet sticky substance hitting his face. He looked up and noticed thick red liquid seeping through the floorboards above him. Drip, drip, drip...

 

[KimT]

"Thank goodness, it's you" Mildred whispered as her grip on Rose's ankle loosened. As she started crawling out from under the bed, Mildred wondered how and why Rose was in her bedroom and who else was in her home. She also smelled smoke.

 

[KevinM]

Robbie knew he had to do something. It only took a moment for him to realize that the thick liquid dripping through the floorboard was blood, and he feared the worst for his father. Making his way slowly up the stairs, he caught a whiff of smoke, and the sound of at least two sets of footsteps directly above him.

With a sharp pang of bitterness and regret, he wondered why he and his sister picked this night to take the jewel-encrusted spade. They had heard the stories like all the kids in town, but why did things spiral so out of control? And who else wanted this seemingly innocent gift besides them...and might be willing to kill for it?

 

[KarenNWendyn]

Robbie rushed upstairs to find his father on the floor, leg bleeding, after tripping over an electrical cord. He panicked when he realized that his sister Rose was trapped in the bedroom with Mildred, and he could see flames beneath the closed bedroom door.

 

[KimT]

Robbie's dad, barely coherent, tried to tell Robbie he called the police and he knew someone else was in the house.....then he passed out. Robbie took off his father's belt and tried to slow down the bleeding using a makeshift tourniquet. Why had the police not arrived? Should he open the door to the room or carry his father downstairs to safety? Were his sister and Mildred together? Then he heard a huge crash from behind the closed door. It sounded like glass shattering.

 

[KevinM]

Before Robbie could yell for his sister, the bedroom door opened and Robbie saw that both Mildred and Rose, hugging each other, were safe for the moment. The huge oak tree outside the bedroom window took a direct lightning strike, had caught fire, and a large limb had crashed through the window.

With the room quickly filling with smoke, Robbie, Mildred and Rose headed downstairs to tend to Roger, who was now sitting up. Out of the corner of his eye, Robbie caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure disappearing quickly into the night, as the police finally turned into the long driveway.

(Note: if this were a novel, this feels like the end of Chapter 1!)

 

[KarenNWendyn]

CHAPTER 2

The police arrived and called the fire department. Meanwhile, Mildred, Rose, Robbie and Roger all made it safely out of the house. As Mildred and Rose made their hasty exit, they realized the rhinestone-encrusted spade was nowhere to be found.