“If I ever turn into a vampire, will you kill me?”
“Sure thing, babe.”
“I wouldn’t want you to, you know. I’d want to bite you so you became a vampire, too.”
“I know, babe.”
“Then we’d become vampires together! We might really enjoy that.”
“You’re one already, aren’t you?”
The clock ticked and tocked.
“We must come to a decision quickly!” the professor implored them.
“A vote!” cried Vincent.
Six ayes; three nays.
“The ayes have it,” said the professor. “We shall spread our toast with strawberry preserves. Vincent, make the preparations.”
But fate dictated other arrangements: peanut butter.
Gregory Plymouth poked his head into little caves and lifted leaves so he could peer underneath. He was an Explorer, and, dang it, he was going to discover something.
“Any luck?” asked a voice behind Gregory.
He thought he’d imagined it, so he didn’t meet the undiscovered Havarkian Talking Frog.
Cliven followed the zombie dragon and the pudgy princess until they finally alighted on a rooftop.
“Nogard!” cried Cliven. “Come down! Please don’t hurt her!”
Nogard shook his head playfully, turned, and very gently nipped Emeldatine on the shoulder.
The princess started to cry.
Then she turned very, very pale.
“It’s curtains for you!” growls the thick-necked, heavily tattooed man.
“Excellent! I’ve been waiting all week! I’ve got this big, uncovered window over here, you see.”
“Gotcha. Good place for it.”
“Where do you want me?”
“Just stand in front of it there… Perfect.”
Breaking glass. Long fall. Sudden stop.
Helen slipped into the Control Centre and locked the door.
There was a foot behind the desk.
“Hello?” said Helen. “Kain, is that you?”
“Darn it!” said Kain. “I was going to silently appear behind you just after you found the secret files, like in a movie.”
“What secret files?”
Full Title:
A Big, Creepy, Dramatic Entrace Foiled. Grr, Helen, I Just Keep Losing My Nicest Opportunities. Please, Quietly Return–Silently!–To Upper Viewpoint, Where Xander Yanks Zippers.
“Can anyone tell me what illegal means?” Miss Flannerty asked with a very serious expression on her face.
Billy and Bobby and Suzie said it meant bad and wrong and against the law.
“Those are good answers,” said Miss Flannerty, “but it really means ‘don’t tell anyone about it’. Deal?”
“Shocking, isn’t it? Can you take the heat? Try not to lose your cool!”
Bullman sighed. “So that’s why you have the electric eel, the soldering iron, and the snowball? Give me a break. This is embarassing.”
Doctor Awful shrugged. “I have a plasma shotgun behind me, if you’d prefer.”
Normally today’s story would be from a guest author, since it’s a Monday, but during the Contest period Mondays will be used for normal stories.
Edit: Submissions for this contest are now closed. Winners will be announced soon!
FiftyWordStories.com is excited to present its first official 50-Word Story Contest: “A Mere 50 Words”!
How to Enter
The contest is open for anyone and everyone to enter. To submit your story for consideration, send it to mere50words@fiftywordstories.com and include the phrase “Mere 50 Words Entry” in the subject line. Please also include your name or a pen name under which the story can be posted.
Submissions will remain open until 11:59 PM, Pacific Standard Time (GMT -8), on August 21, 2009.
Entry Rules
All submitted stories must be exactly 50 words in length, not including the title. (If you are unsure of how to count hyphenated words, numerals, or other nonstandard words, use your word processor’s built-in Word Count function.)
The content of submitted stories should be appropriate for all ages.
There is no limit on the number of submissions per person.
All submissions must be the submitter’s original creation and must not have been previously published in print, online, or in any other format.
The rights to all submitted stories will be handled like regular Guest Writer submissions. For details, see our Submissions page.
Prizes
The prizes are as follows:
Grand Prize – $50 Chapters or Amazon gift card
First Runner Up – $20 Chapters or Amazon gift card
Honourable Mention (x3) – $10 Chapters or Amazon gift card
The winning entries and honourable mentions will be posted to the site after judging has been completed. Other high-quality entries may also be used for future Guest Writer Monday posts.
After the winners have been determined, they will be contacted through the email address their story was submitted by, and arrangements will be made either to have an online gift card purchased for them or to have a physical gift card mailed to them.
Judging
Entries will be judged by Tim Sevenhuysen, the creator of FiftyWordStories.com.
If you have any questions about the contest, leave a comment or send me an email at tim@fiftywordstories.com.
Timothy Thicke peered through the binoculars, watching as Evan Edgelow lobbed a smoke grenade. He paused a moment to wipe condensation off the binocular lenses.
When he looked back, Edgelow was gone.
“Mission accomplished,” Edgelow whispered from beside him.
“How do you do that?!” Thicke asked, amazed.
“Optical illusions, mostly.”