Rock on.
Who's doing it? I'd love to see how it turns out!
Woohoo!
The script is up and voting for Stage Two has started!
You can find it here...
Obviously I can't, at the moment, say who adapted your story...
Super Summer Contest Stage One!
- Thread starter NickClapper
- Start date
The script is up and voting for Stage Two has started!
You can find it here...
Obviously I can't, at the moment, say who adapted your story...
So, who wrote topiaries? That was a close 2nd.
That would be me.
It's actually only the first half of the story. I finished it after the deadline.
If anyone wants to film it or just read the rest, I'll post it.
It's actually only the first half of the story. I finished it after the deadline.
If anyone wants to film it or just read the rest, I'll post it.
Super Summer Contest Entry--
stage 1 story
Day of the Topiaries-
Chapter 1: The Orange Stone
It was the height of summer, and their laughter echoed across the rolling green hillsides as they descended the last hill into the forests edge. Susan, 10, and Jeremy,8 had been playing in the woods all summer long while their parents stayed at the palacial vacation home atop a nearby hill.
On the previous day, the monotony of their regular forest exploration had been broken by an unusual discovery. Well off of the path, a half mile into the forest, they had found an old abandoned church. Night had been falling, and the two were forced to return home afterjust a few minutes inside.
They had talked about it most of the evening before, and came equipped this time, with flashlights, and Susan with a rag doll for extra security.
The two walked quitely through the woods, a little scared, but mostly exited. The previous day they had left a marker where they had come back to the path from the church, a bright red scarf tied to a branch. A cold wind was whipping the scarf about when they arrived, with grey clouds moving unusually quick above the forest canopy.
"It'll let up" Jeremy says, not relishing the long walk back with no treasure.
"We should probably go back, this place isn't going anywhere" Susan replies, looking concerned at the massing clouds, and gripping the doll more tightly.
But Jeremy was running ahead already, flashlight in hand.
He slowed as he approached the doorway, it was four times his hieght. Moss covered the entire structure turning brown around the rust of the huge metal door. It was still cracked open from their visit yesterday, and he swung it open.
Within the church was a wide open room. Walking in, he began to notice some unusual things that had not been clear in the previous days waning light. It was less like a church, and more like a cathedral. There was a great deal of intricate work across the building's cieling and walls. But not the usual christian symbolism he was familiar with. Odd Chandeliers made of rocks in the shape of the stonehenge 3d pictures he had seen in his viewmaster. There were eroded paintings on the walls, telling some kind of story depicted in a scene of what appeared to be hundreds of strange looking angels hovering around a box with a glow coming out of it.
Down the center isle of the church, there was a very strange stone podium, which looked more like an alter than anything. Susan came up behind him, jolting him for a moment out of his fixation with the large stone.
"What is this place" She said, shining her flashlight around the room to light up the darker corners. "It's creepy"
He walked past the stone alter and up to the elevated stage behind it. Something was odd here. While most of the vines and foiliage that covered the room was half dead, he noticed that it became very green in a radius surrounding an old rotting rug that covered the center of the stages floor.
When he stepped on the area at the very center of the green, he heard a creak, just loud enough to echo through the old stone building. Susan had been nosing around the various paintings, and had gotten around to where he was now.
"Come over here"
"Did you find something?"
"Maybe, step right here" Jeremy motioned with his foot towards the center of the green.
She cautiously extended her foot forward and applied pressure. The creak sounded again. The two looked at each other, and then quickly moved to grab the two back corners of the rug. They rolled the rug back with great effort, it was hideously dirty and a number of insects began to scuttle from the rug as it was rolled.
When it was halfway across the floor, a wooden trapdoor became visible, inset into the stone floor. Atop the door was a small brass ring. The two crouched beside the small door, maybe just 2 feet square. Jeremy pulled on the ring, and for a moment, the door appeared to be stuck, then groaned open. Inside the hole was a ladder, going down into the darkness. They looked at each other again, this time in trepidation. Outside the clouds had become even darker, and though only mid afternoon, it appeared dark in the church.
"I'm not going down there" susan said, shinig her flashlight into the hole. There was only blackness and the ladder going down as far as the flashlight could penetrate.
"I'm going" Jeremy replied, "There could be a million dollars down there!"
She held the door as he began to descend, Watching anxiously and keeping the flashlihght on him. As he climbed down far enough that the flashlight beam didn't reach him, she heard his voice from deep in the shaft. "I can see the bottom" a moment later, there was a small crashing sound, and for a moment she was as tense as she had ever been. Then a quick "i'm ok" came from the shaft, and she relaxed, realizing she was unconsciously strangling her doll.
In the cave below, the flashlight beam shone about the jagged edges of a narrow rock tunnel. He came to a room where the passageway split into five more tunnels. he paused for a moment, and noticed a thin orange light flickering from one of the tunnels. It was thinner than the others, almost a fissure in the rock. It wove for a few dozen yards but as he walked the orange light became stronger. The tunnel emptied out into a large natural cave, lit with a shadowy caustics by a large pool in the center of the room that glowed the brightest orange he had ever seen.
He approached the waters edge, eyes wide, and stared into the pond.
The light seemed to be coming from some sort of round object at the bottom of the pool. As the room was well lit, he sat down the flashlight, and swam out to the middle of the pool. The glow was only about 12 feet under the surface, and he dived down into the water to retrieve it. Upon reaching the bottom, the light was almost blinding, even through the murky water. He reached out and grabbed the light stone, and shielding his own eyes from it with his hand, he could see again. There were large snakes in the water, and one was moving toward him. He began to swim furiously towards the surface, but the rock slowed him considerably. The black shape of the snake was whipping through the water faster now, and straight towards him.
He reached the edge of the pool gasping, and climbed onto the rock edge of the pool. Pulling himself up, he stood for a moment by the rim of the pool and cupped the cool slick rock in his hands. It's shade was like the orange in fire opals, lit by the fusion of the surface of the sun.
Without warning, the snake leapt from the water, sinking it's fangs deep into the boy's leg. His scream echoed through the cavern as he flailed his leg to shake off the beast. The snake flew across the rock floor and struck the wall hard, falling inert on the floor.
He felt a little dizzy, then a lot. He was running towards the ladder, the cave around him blurring and morphing in a cacophany of orange and black. He was weak, but reached the ladder and began climbing. She saw the light first, at the bottom of the shaft, and soon, her brother appeared in the flashlight beam. He looked grey, ghostly. With great effort he pulled himself up to the trapdoor, and sue reached down to grab his hand and pull him out.
"What Happened?" she cried out, seeing the blood on his leg, her eyes then travelling to the glowing stone.
"And what is that" she said, in a more hushed tone"
"I've been bitten, we have to get home" he said, his voice weak. They wove through the woods in the fading light, her supporting him as he limped quickly down the path. They were still a hundred yards from the house when he fell unconscoius. Tucking the stone into the bag she carried, she began dragging him across the field, crying.
Her father saw them from a distance, and ran across the field to meet them. He was a large man, at least six foot and he scooped up the boy off of the ground.
"What happened, where did you go?"he shouted, both angry and scared at the same time.
She tried to tell him, but was crying to hard to talk. He ran with the boy towards the large house on the hill.
Chapter 2: Death's Door
Later that night, after both of her parents had questioned her relentlessly for hours about what happened, the county doctor arrived. His black car pulled up in the circular drive at 9pm or so, amidst a severe downpour, and the flash of distant lightning.
Jeremy had been fading in and out of conciousness for the last few hours, cought in a high fever, and tossing violently from time to time in his bed. She had sat beside his bed the entire evening, trying to talk to him in his brief moments of consciousness.
The doctor was an older man, who wore a great black coat and had a variety of medical devices hanging from his neck. He examined the boy with a stethiscope, and took a long look at the wound. His face became more and more serious as he checked the pulse and temrerature several times. Susan was excused from the room and from outside in the hallway, she could hear feverish whispering.
A half hour later, her parents sat her down on the large couch in the sitting room, to have a talk.
"You need to be strong, because we have to tell you something very difficult" Her father said,his eyes grave. Her mother had begun to cry softly.
"your brother has been bitten by a very poisonous snake" He paused, staying in complete controll, only his eyes conveying the terrible strain he was under.
"But He's going to be OK, right" She said, tears welling up in her eyes.
"The poison from water snakes is very bad, and the doctor says your brother won't survive the night. I'm sorry."
She ran from the room and up the stairs, to her brothers bedside. For a moment, he was lucid, suddenly grabbing her arm and looking at her confused. He still looked very weak.
"Did you save the stone?" he asked trembling.
"Yes" she said, crying even harder.
"I want to hold it" he said, and then as quickly as he came, he was gone again, his body falling limp back into the bed.
She looked at him for a moment, then walked across the room to get the stone from the pack in her corner. The light flared brightly in the night, and she quickly buried it deep beneath the many layers of bedcovers to dim the light, placing her brothers hand around the stone.
Her mother knocked lightly at the door and then came in. "you need to go to bed, the best chance we have is to let him rest" she said softly, taking Susan's hand and leading her from the room.
Chapter 3: Day of the Topiaries
The dawn was spectacular that morning, with orange and red beams filtering across the misty hillsides and illuminating the summer house. Susan awoke as the light crossed her room, and then stiffened, as she remembered the circumstances.
She rushed down the hallway and flung open the door of Jeremy's room. He was sitting up on the edge of his bed, eating a bowl of oatmeal as though he hadn't eaten in days. She looked on in shock, which quickly turned to joy.
"I feel great" he said, his mouth still full of oatmeal. "I gotta show you something"
But before he could go further, their parents came in.
"Isn't it amazing" her father said, his hands on her mothers shoulders.
"a miracle" her mother said, shaking her head in disbelief, but smiling.
That night, he told her about the stone, and the fly in his room, but it would be some time before he could show her.
For a few days, they made Jeremy stay in bed. The doctor came back twice running various tests, shaking his head in amazement each time, but eventually, the concerns that he might relapse faded away.
One day, weeks later, they were allowed to go out and play again, within sight of the house. They walked out to the south lawn of the estate, and into the topiaries that adorned the property. Great looming rabits and lions made of trimmed hedges. Looking to make sure no one could see them, he removed the glowing stone from his bag.
In the midday sun, the bright light was hardly visible. He took the stone, and placed it at the foot of the rabbit topiary. For a moment, it seemed nothing was happening.
"What, I don't see anything" Sue said, dissapointed.
"Just wait a second", jeremy breathed, quiet, focused on the topiary.
It was gradual, but over the next few minutes, the topiary began to grow visibly. Loosing some of it's shape, the hedge that formed it was growing within, distorting the shape of the rabbit into something still rabbit-like but with some strange alterations appearing. The mouth of the rabbit was slowly opening from it's former closed position, and eye holes were forming on the previously flat surface of the sculpted head.
Strangest of all, the rabbits head seemed to be turning slowly towards Susan. It's friendly ambiguity was dissapearing, and in a few minutes, it seemed to be looking straight at her.
"See, It's magic, it brings things to life" Jeremy said, exited.
"That shrub is looking at me" Sue said, not liking where this was going.
"Don't worry, if it kills you, I'll just use the stone to bring you back to life" he joked.
Susan was not amused, the strange eyes of the sculture seemed to follow her, and she could swear the look was gradually becoming angry, more menacing.
They were both snapped out of it by the sound of their mother calling, and Jeremy quickly snatched up the stone, and tossed it back into the pack.
That night after dinner, the two met in Jeremy's room to look at the rock again. Over the past few weeks, he had told her about the fly he smashed that first night in his room, the fly that came unsmashed and flew away. They had come up with many theories as to what the stone was doing, but had no ideas. The only thing they had both agreed on was that their parents would surely take it away if they knew about it.
Tonight though, Susan had brought a book from the library, where she had found some of the symbols they had seen at the old church. It was an old and heavy book, entitled "Legends of the Druidic People". For hours they looked through the pages, and finally, they came upon the painting that they had seen on the walls of the church.
On the opposite page was another hand drawn black and white illustration. It was of a shining stone, being buried by what appeared to be a group of hooded monks.
Jeremy read aloud from the book in a whisper.
"The Gatestone of the mad priest"
Susan read aloud in the light of the kerosene lanterns that lit the room. "In the year 1143, the druidic high priest Mehizelek was said to have performed a forbidden right, creating a stone of great magic and power. Scholars believe the original intent was to revive dying crops in the starving lands of the time. During the casting of the incantation, the priest had misspoken a single word of the lengthy spell, and the ceremony had gone terribly wrong, creating an item that would breathe life back into dying organisms via necromancy, rather than having the pure blessing effect the priest had desired. At first, the stone was used at a safe distance from crops, and appeared to be working. A few days later, the plants in the area became animated, by the spirits of the dead. Due to the mistake in the original incantation, the stone was not providing the plants with new life, but with old."
"What do you think it means" Jeremy asked, puzzled.
"It doesn't sound good, if you ask me" Susan quipped back, still remembering the distorting face of the hedge sculpture, and handing the book to Jeremy.
He read on. "Before they knew what had happened, many of the townspeople started to dissapear, and the priest himself began to go mad, growing more strange in his behaviour." He turned the page. There was another drawing, this time, it was of a man being burned at the stake by a circle of hooded figures. Through the flames, dozens of souls could be seen escaping his body and flying into the air.
"In the late summer of that year, the priest was discovered dragging an unconscious farmer from the village out to the edge of a wheat field. The locals grabbed the priest, then followed the set of tracks he was following to the edge of the field. There they found many personal items from the villagers that had gone missing over the previous months. The next day he was tried as a warlock, and burned alive by the villagers. Once he was dead, a search was made for the stone, but to no avail. It's whereabouts are still unknown to this very day."
"So this book is saying that the stone isn't bringing new life at all, it's bringing lost souls back from the afterlife, and using them to heal plants?" Susan looked unsettled.
"Didn't you use that to bring yourself back to life?" she asked.
He looked back up at her, but the expression on his face had changed. There was an emotional deadness in his eyes that she had never seen before.
"It doesn't matter now" he said, in a voice lower than his normal one. He looked straight at her, and now his eyes were strange, dark, almost recessed.
He began picking up the stone, and held it up above her head, and in a sudden motion tried to bring it down hard onto her forehead. She dodged at the last second, and heard a loud snap as the blow broke her shoulder.
She began to scream, running from the room and into her parents bedroom. She found them both lying in pools of blood on the floor. She could hear him walking slowly down the hallway, his steps weighted by the heavy stone.
She ran down the stairs, running at full speed toward the front door, and flinging it open.
It was dark outside, but by the light of the front porch, the yard was dimly illuminated. Just outside of the light, she saw a circle of silhouettes, closing in on the house, moving in slow motion.
The moon came out from behind a cloud, and for a moment, the entire field was lit by a ghostly illumination. In that moment, the 12 foot silhouettes became fully visible. The last thing she saw before the stone came down on the back of her head, were the giant rabbit ears, above twisted green faces of writhing vines.
stage 1 story
Day of the Topiaries-
Chapter 1: The Orange Stone
It was the height of summer, and their laughter echoed across the rolling green hillsides as they descended the last hill into the forests edge. Susan, 10, and Jeremy,8 had been playing in the woods all summer long while their parents stayed at the palacial vacation home atop a nearby hill.
On the previous day, the monotony of their regular forest exploration had been broken by an unusual discovery. Well off of the path, a half mile into the forest, they had found an old abandoned church. Night had been falling, and the two were forced to return home afterjust a few minutes inside.
They had talked about it most of the evening before, and came equipped this time, with flashlights, and Susan with a rag doll for extra security.
The two walked quitely through the woods, a little scared, but mostly exited. The previous day they had left a marker where they had come back to the path from the church, a bright red scarf tied to a branch. A cold wind was whipping the scarf about when they arrived, with grey clouds moving unusually quick above the forest canopy.
"It'll let up" Jeremy says, not relishing the long walk back with no treasure.
"We should probably go back, this place isn't going anywhere" Susan replies, looking concerned at the massing clouds, and gripping the doll more tightly.
But Jeremy was running ahead already, flashlight in hand.
He slowed as he approached the doorway, it was four times his hieght. Moss covered the entire structure turning brown around the rust of the huge metal door. It was still cracked open from their visit yesterday, and he swung it open.
Within the church was a wide open room. Walking in, he began to notice some unusual things that had not been clear in the previous days waning light. It was less like a church, and more like a cathedral. There was a great deal of intricate work across the building's cieling and walls. But not the usual christian symbolism he was familiar with. Odd Chandeliers made of rocks in the shape of the stonehenge 3d pictures he had seen in his viewmaster. There were eroded paintings on the walls, telling some kind of story depicted in a scene of what appeared to be hundreds of strange looking angels hovering around a box with a glow coming out of it.
Down the center isle of the church, there was a very strange stone podium, which looked more like an alter than anything. Susan came up behind him, jolting him for a moment out of his fixation with the large stone.
"What is this place" She said, shining her flashlight around the room to light up the darker corners. "It's creepy"
He walked past the stone alter and up to the elevated stage behind it. Something was odd here. While most of the vines and foiliage that covered the room was half dead, he noticed that it became very green in a radius surrounding an old rotting rug that covered the center of the stages floor.
When he stepped on the area at the very center of the green, he heard a creak, just loud enough to echo through the old stone building. Susan had been nosing around the various paintings, and had gotten around to where he was now.
"Come over here"
"Did you find something?"
"Maybe, step right here" Jeremy motioned with his foot towards the center of the green.
She cautiously extended her foot forward and applied pressure. The creak sounded again. The two looked at each other, and then quickly moved to grab the two back corners of the rug. They rolled the rug back with great effort, it was hideously dirty and a number of insects began to scuttle from the rug as it was rolled.
When it was halfway across the floor, a wooden trapdoor became visible, inset into the stone floor. Atop the door was a small brass ring. The two crouched beside the small door, maybe just 2 feet square. Jeremy pulled on the ring, and for a moment, the door appeared to be stuck, then groaned open. Inside the hole was a ladder, going down into the darkness. They looked at each other again, this time in trepidation. Outside the clouds had become even darker, and though only mid afternoon, it appeared dark in the church.
"I'm not going down there" susan said, shinig her flashlight into the hole. There was only blackness and the ladder going down as far as the flashlight could penetrate.
"I'm going" Jeremy replied, "There could be a million dollars down there!"
She held the door as he began to descend, Watching anxiously and keeping the flashlihght on him. As he climbed down far enough that the flashlight beam didn't reach him, she heard his voice from deep in the shaft. "I can see the bottom" a moment later, there was a small crashing sound, and for a moment she was as tense as she had ever been. Then a quick "i'm ok" came from the shaft, and she relaxed, realizing she was unconsciously strangling her doll.
In the cave below, the flashlight beam shone about the jagged edges of a narrow rock tunnel. He came to a room where the passageway split into five more tunnels. he paused for a moment, and noticed a thin orange light flickering from one of the tunnels. It was thinner than the others, almost a fissure in the rock. It wove for a few dozen yards but as he walked the orange light became stronger. The tunnel emptied out into a large natural cave, lit with a shadowy caustics by a large pool in the center of the room that glowed the brightest orange he had ever seen.
He approached the waters edge, eyes wide, and stared into the pond.
The light seemed to be coming from some sort of round object at the bottom of the pool. As the room was well lit, he sat down the flashlight, and swam out to the middle of the pool. The glow was only about 12 feet under the surface, and he dived down into the water to retrieve it. Upon reaching the bottom, the light was almost blinding, even through the murky water. He reached out and grabbed the light stone, and shielding his own eyes from it with his hand, he could see again. There were large snakes in the water, and one was moving toward him. He began to swim furiously towards the surface, but the rock slowed him considerably. The black shape of the snake was whipping through the water faster now, and straight towards him.
He reached the edge of the pool gasping, and climbed onto the rock edge of the pool. Pulling himself up, he stood for a moment by the rim of the pool and cupped the cool slick rock in his hands. It's shade was like the orange in fire opals, lit by the fusion of the surface of the sun.
Without warning, the snake leapt from the water, sinking it's fangs deep into the boy's leg. His scream echoed through the cavern as he flailed his leg to shake off the beast. The snake flew across the rock floor and struck the wall hard, falling inert on the floor.
He felt a little dizzy, then a lot. He was running towards the ladder, the cave around him blurring and morphing in a cacophany of orange and black. He was weak, but reached the ladder and began climbing. She saw the light first, at the bottom of the shaft, and soon, her brother appeared in the flashlight beam. He looked grey, ghostly. With great effort he pulled himself up to the trapdoor, and sue reached down to grab his hand and pull him out.
"What Happened?" she cried out, seeing the blood on his leg, her eyes then travelling to the glowing stone.
"And what is that" she said, in a more hushed tone"
"I've been bitten, we have to get home" he said, his voice weak. They wove through the woods in the fading light, her supporting him as he limped quickly down the path. They were still a hundred yards from the house when he fell unconscoius. Tucking the stone into the bag she carried, she began dragging him across the field, crying.
Her father saw them from a distance, and ran across the field to meet them. He was a large man, at least six foot and he scooped up the boy off of the ground.
"What happened, where did you go?"he shouted, both angry and scared at the same time.
She tried to tell him, but was crying to hard to talk. He ran with the boy towards the large house on the hill.
Chapter 2: Death's Door
Later that night, after both of her parents had questioned her relentlessly for hours about what happened, the county doctor arrived. His black car pulled up in the circular drive at 9pm or so, amidst a severe downpour, and the flash of distant lightning.
Jeremy had been fading in and out of conciousness for the last few hours, cought in a high fever, and tossing violently from time to time in his bed. She had sat beside his bed the entire evening, trying to talk to him in his brief moments of consciousness.
The doctor was an older man, who wore a great black coat and had a variety of medical devices hanging from his neck. He examined the boy with a stethiscope, and took a long look at the wound. His face became more and more serious as he checked the pulse and temrerature several times. Susan was excused from the room and from outside in the hallway, she could hear feverish whispering.
A half hour later, her parents sat her down on the large couch in the sitting room, to have a talk.
"You need to be strong, because we have to tell you something very difficult" Her father said,his eyes grave. Her mother had begun to cry softly.
"your brother has been bitten by a very poisonous snake" He paused, staying in complete controll, only his eyes conveying the terrible strain he was under.
"But He's going to be OK, right" She said, tears welling up in her eyes.
"The poison from water snakes is very bad, and the doctor says your brother won't survive the night. I'm sorry."
She ran from the room and up the stairs, to her brothers bedside. For a moment, he was lucid, suddenly grabbing her arm and looking at her confused. He still looked very weak.
"Did you save the stone?" he asked trembling.
"Yes" she said, crying even harder.
"I want to hold it" he said, and then as quickly as he came, he was gone again, his body falling limp back into the bed.
She looked at him for a moment, then walked across the room to get the stone from the pack in her corner. The light flared brightly in the night, and she quickly buried it deep beneath the many layers of bedcovers to dim the light, placing her brothers hand around the stone.
Her mother knocked lightly at the door and then came in. "you need to go to bed, the best chance we have is to let him rest" she said softly, taking Susan's hand and leading her from the room.
Chapter 3: Day of the Topiaries
The dawn was spectacular that morning, with orange and red beams filtering across the misty hillsides and illuminating the summer house. Susan awoke as the light crossed her room, and then stiffened, as she remembered the circumstances.
She rushed down the hallway and flung open the door of Jeremy's room. He was sitting up on the edge of his bed, eating a bowl of oatmeal as though he hadn't eaten in days. She looked on in shock, which quickly turned to joy.
"I feel great" he said, his mouth still full of oatmeal. "I gotta show you something"
But before he could go further, their parents came in.
"Isn't it amazing" her father said, his hands on her mothers shoulders.
"a miracle" her mother said, shaking her head in disbelief, but smiling.
That night, he told her about the stone, and the fly in his room, but it would be some time before he could show her.
For a few days, they made Jeremy stay in bed. The doctor came back twice running various tests, shaking his head in amazement each time, but eventually, the concerns that he might relapse faded away.
One day, weeks later, they were allowed to go out and play again, within sight of the house. They walked out to the south lawn of the estate, and into the topiaries that adorned the property. Great looming rabits and lions made of trimmed hedges. Looking to make sure no one could see them, he removed the glowing stone from his bag.
In the midday sun, the bright light was hardly visible. He took the stone, and placed it at the foot of the rabbit topiary. For a moment, it seemed nothing was happening.
"What, I don't see anything" Sue said, dissapointed.
"Just wait a second", jeremy breathed, quiet, focused on the topiary.
It was gradual, but over the next few minutes, the topiary began to grow visibly. Loosing some of it's shape, the hedge that formed it was growing within, distorting the shape of the rabbit into something still rabbit-like but with some strange alterations appearing. The mouth of the rabbit was slowly opening from it's former closed position, and eye holes were forming on the previously flat surface of the sculpted head.
Strangest of all, the rabbits head seemed to be turning slowly towards Susan. It's friendly ambiguity was dissapearing, and in a few minutes, it seemed to be looking straight at her.
"See, It's magic, it brings things to life" Jeremy said, exited.
"That shrub is looking at me" Sue said, not liking where this was going.
"Don't worry, if it kills you, I'll just use the stone to bring you back to life" he joked.
Susan was not amused, the strange eyes of the sculture seemed to follow her, and she could swear the look was gradually becoming angry, more menacing.
They were both snapped out of it by the sound of their mother calling, and Jeremy quickly snatched up the stone, and tossed it back into the pack.
That night after dinner, the two met in Jeremy's room to look at the rock again. Over the past few weeks, he had told her about the fly he smashed that first night in his room, the fly that came unsmashed and flew away. They had come up with many theories as to what the stone was doing, but had no ideas. The only thing they had both agreed on was that their parents would surely take it away if they knew about it.
Tonight though, Susan had brought a book from the library, where she had found some of the symbols they had seen at the old church. It was an old and heavy book, entitled "Legends of the Druidic People". For hours they looked through the pages, and finally, they came upon the painting that they had seen on the walls of the church.
On the opposite page was another hand drawn black and white illustration. It was of a shining stone, being buried by what appeared to be a group of hooded monks.
Jeremy read aloud from the book in a whisper.
"The Gatestone of the mad priest"
Susan read aloud in the light of the kerosene lanterns that lit the room. "In the year 1143, the druidic high priest Mehizelek was said to have performed a forbidden right, creating a stone of great magic and power. Scholars believe the original intent was to revive dying crops in the starving lands of the time. During the casting of the incantation, the priest had misspoken a single word of the lengthy spell, and the ceremony had gone terribly wrong, creating an item that would breathe life back into dying organisms via necromancy, rather than having the pure blessing effect the priest had desired. At first, the stone was used at a safe distance from crops, and appeared to be working. A few days later, the plants in the area became animated, by the spirits of the dead. Due to the mistake in the original incantation, the stone was not providing the plants with new life, but with old."
"What do you think it means" Jeremy asked, puzzled.
"It doesn't sound good, if you ask me" Susan quipped back, still remembering the distorting face of the hedge sculpture, and handing the book to Jeremy.
He read on. "Before they knew what had happened, many of the townspeople started to dissapear, and the priest himself began to go mad, growing more strange in his behaviour." He turned the page. There was another drawing, this time, it was of a man being burned at the stake by a circle of hooded figures. Through the flames, dozens of souls could be seen escaping his body and flying into the air.
"In the late summer of that year, the priest was discovered dragging an unconscious farmer from the village out to the edge of a wheat field. The locals grabbed the priest, then followed the set of tracks he was following to the edge of the field. There they found many personal items from the villagers that had gone missing over the previous months. The next day he was tried as a warlock, and burned alive by the villagers. Once he was dead, a search was made for the stone, but to no avail. It's whereabouts are still unknown to this very day."
"So this book is saying that the stone isn't bringing new life at all, it's bringing lost souls back from the afterlife, and using them to heal plants?" Susan looked unsettled.
"Didn't you use that to bring yourself back to life?" she asked.
He looked back up at her, but the expression on his face had changed. There was an emotional deadness in his eyes that she had never seen before.
"It doesn't matter now" he said, in a voice lower than his normal one. He looked straight at her, and now his eyes were strange, dark, almost recessed.
He began picking up the stone, and held it up above her head, and in a sudden motion tried to bring it down hard onto her forehead. She dodged at the last second, and heard a loud snap as the blow broke her shoulder.
She began to scream, running from the room and into her parents bedroom. She found them both lying in pools of blood on the floor. She could hear him walking slowly down the hallway, his steps weighted by the heavy stone.
She ran down the stairs, running at full speed toward the front door, and flinging it open.
It was dark outside, but by the light of the front porch, the yard was dimly illuminated. Just outside of the light, she saw a circle of silhouettes, closing in on the house, moving in slow motion.
The moon came out from behind a cloud, and for a moment, the entire field was lit by a ghostly illumination. In that moment, the 12 foot silhouettes became fully visible. The last thing she saw before the stone came down on the back of her head, were the giant rabbit ears, above twisted green faces of writhing vines.
Chapter 4: Epilouge
It was the fall of the following year, and the trees about the manner were unusually green and bright, their branches swaying slowly in the cool of the afternoon sun. The Doctor's old car made it's way around the large circle drive, and parked in front of the manor, it's engine sputtering to a stop. The old man walked with a cane up the front steps, and pressed the doorbell for a brief moment. Almost before the ringing ended, the door sprung open, and Harry and Jean greeted him warmly.
"Please come in" Harry said in a jovial tone, his face lit by a bright, healthy smile.
"I'll go get Jeremy, I'm sure he'll want to see the man that saved his life." Jean Chirped happily.
Behing them Jeremy was running down the stairs.
"Who is it" he called out, pushing between his two parents too see.
"Hi doc" He exclaimed. Then a worried look crossed his face. "I don't have to get a shot do I?" he asked, looking up at his dad.
The doctor smiled at him, and winked, "just a social call today, no shots"
Jeremy relaxed again and said "so I can go play?" His mom nodded, and he was off like a bolt into the green fields.
The three adults went inside, and sat down in the great room.
"So, what's this mysterioius business you want to involve me in" he said jokingly, settling into a large chair.
"Well, we didn't want to say much over the phone, you know how nosy the operators are around here, always listening in for gossip after they connect calls" Jean said, smiling.
"Care for a drink?" Harry said, already pouring an amber liquid from a bottle into two ornate shot glasses.
"Dont mind if I do" the doctor quipped "Good for the Lymphatic system"
The two men picked up the shot glasses and drank.
"So let's talk business. What would you think about becoming the worlds greatest physician?"
The Doctor lauged, "Well, at my age I never thought I'd go much past country doctor. Why, what do you have in mind?"
Harry walked over to the fireplace, and picked up one of the long iron pokers. The Doctor looked at him puzzled but was distracted for a moment by Sue, who was walking down the stairs.
"Hey Doc" she said, smiling the same bright smile as her dad. At that moment Harry stepped over to the doctor's chair, and drove the poker through his chest. His face contorted with suprise and pain, his hand grabbing the poker extending from his chest tightly.
"Sue honey, can you go get the stone please" Jean asked. Sue looked at the Doctor, still smiling, and turned to run up the stairs.
"She'll be back in just a second" Jean said cheerfully, turning back to the doctor. Then, the smile faded from her face, and her eyes darkened. He was struggling to breathe, and blood was running from the wound.
With his lips the doctor formed the word "why" but it only came out as a tiny whisper.
Then Sue was back, her eyes dark as well, walking towards him with the stone. Hank stood over the man, his hand still on the grip of the poker. He was not looking at the doctor at all, but instead, out of the window at the sprawling green lawn. In a quick jerk, he pulled the poker out of the man's chest, and then carefully replaced it on the fireplace mantle.
Sue placed the stone on the table in front of them and the room was lit with the surreal orange glow. Harry and Jean watched expressionless, their eyes now pitch black. Sue sat down next to them.
It was evening a few hours later, and the four had not moved. The doctor's eyes, now the same deep black as the others, sprung open.
"You'll bring the dying ones here" Harry said, after noting the doctor had recovered.
"To be healed" Jean said, her face a mask of nothingness.
"Yes" the doctor replied in a monotone voice. "We'll build a hospital here"
The dark eyed Sue looked distant for a moment, then her eyes turned to her parents "They say to call it Queens Medical Centre"
Out of the window where she had been looking, Jeremy was standing next to the one of the great topiary rabbits, watching them through the window. They were very still in the fading light. Their long shadows falling across the sloping hill of the lawn.
It was the fall of the following year, and the trees about the manner were unusually green and bright, their branches swaying slowly in the cool of the afternoon sun. The Doctor's old car made it's way around the large circle drive, and parked in front of the manor, it's engine sputtering to a stop. The old man walked with a cane up the front steps, and pressed the doorbell for a brief moment. Almost before the ringing ended, the door sprung open, and Harry and Jean greeted him warmly.
"Please come in" Harry said in a jovial tone, his face lit by a bright, healthy smile.
"I'll go get Jeremy, I'm sure he'll want to see the man that saved his life." Jean Chirped happily.
Behing them Jeremy was running down the stairs.
"Who is it" he called out, pushing between his two parents too see.
"Hi doc" He exclaimed. Then a worried look crossed his face. "I don't have to get a shot do I?" he asked, looking up at his dad.
The doctor smiled at him, and winked, "just a social call today, no shots"
Jeremy relaxed again and said "so I can go play?" His mom nodded, and he was off like a bolt into the green fields.
The three adults went inside, and sat down in the great room.
"So, what's this mysterioius business you want to involve me in" he said jokingly, settling into a large chair.
"Well, we didn't want to say much over the phone, you know how nosy the operators are around here, always listening in for gossip after they connect calls" Jean said, smiling.
"Care for a drink?" Harry said, already pouring an amber liquid from a bottle into two ornate shot glasses.
"Dont mind if I do" the doctor quipped "Good for the Lymphatic system"
The two men picked up the shot glasses and drank.
"So let's talk business. What would you think about becoming the worlds greatest physician?"
The Doctor lauged, "Well, at my age I never thought I'd go much past country doctor. Why, what do you have in mind?"
Harry walked over to the fireplace, and picked up one of the long iron pokers. The Doctor looked at him puzzled but was distracted for a moment by Sue, who was walking down the stairs.
"Hey Doc" she said, smiling the same bright smile as her dad. At that moment Harry stepped over to the doctor's chair, and drove the poker through his chest. His face contorted with suprise and pain, his hand grabbing the poker extending from his chest tightly.
"Sue honey, can you go get the stone please" Jean asked. Sue looked at the Doctor, still smiling, and turned to run up the stairs.
"She'll be back in just a second" Jean said cheerfully, turning back to the doctor. Then, the smile faded from her face, and her eyes darkened. He was struggling to breathe, and blood was running from the wound.
With his lips the doctor formed the word "why" but it only came out as a tiny whisper.
Then Sue was back, her eyes dark as well, walking towards him with the stone. Hank stood over the man, his hand still on the grip of the poker. He was not looking at the doctor at all, but instead, out of the window at the sprawling green lawn. In a quick jerk, he pulled the poker out of the man's chest, and then carefully replaced it on the fireplace mantle.
Sue placed the stone on the table in front of them and the room was lit with the surreal orange glow. Harry and Jean watched expressionless, their eyes now pitch black. Sue sat down next to them.
It was evening a few hours later, and the four had not moved. The doctor's eyes, now the same deep black as the others, sprung open.
"You'll bring the dying ones here" Harry said, after noting the doctor had recovered.
"To be healed" Jean said, her face a mask of nothingness.
"Yes" the doctor replied in a monotone voice. "We'll build a hospital here"
The dark eyed Sue looked distant for a moment, then her eyes turned to her parents "They say to call it Queens Medical Centre"
Out of the window where she had been looking, Jeremy was standing next to the one of the great topiary rabbits, watching them through the window. They were very still in the fading light. Their long shadows falling across the sloping hill of the lawn.
I actually thought it needed to be a lot longer, and wish I'd had time to build suspense properly between the events.
Who knows, maybe someone is looking for a tough challenge.
Who knows, maybe someone is looking for a tough challenge.
@Nate
Thanks for posting the ending. That's a great story. I would never have guessed the dark ending from the 1st half. It starts like some inspirational tale in the Disney or Pixar style and ends like a horror movie.
You sure can write. I hope you extensively enriched to Alex Cox' script for Deathworld.
Thanks for posting the ending. That's a great story. I would never have guessed the dark ending from the 1st half. It starts like some inspirational tale in the Disney or Pixar style and ends like a horror movie.
You sure can write. I hope you extensively enriched to Alex Cox' script for Deathworld.
Alright, now that this stage is long behind us... I wrote "a few" of these premises.
These were a test of my "Two Challenge+Two Constraint" architecture based on the Syd Field 3 Act Structure paradigm.
I looked over a few movies I've recently seen and thought I'd adapt their basic story to those I submitted.
I think it kinda worked.
Only one was flagged, although erroneous.
Thanks for the votes, everyone.
These were a test of my "Two Challenge+Two Constraint" architecture based on the Syd Field 3 Act Structure paradigm.
I looked over a few movies I've recently seen and thought I'd adapt their basic story to those I submitted.
I think it kinda worked.
Only one was flagged, although erroneous.
Battle: Anthony's Lawn - based on Battle: Los Angeles
Elroy's Bread - based on... H3ll. I done forgot and didn't write it down. Whatever.
Top Mom - based on Top Gun
Swann Clean - based on Black Swan
(I was sure someone was going to nail me on this one)!
Stopcock - based in 127 Hours
Bert's Bubbles - The King's Speech.
CF, you guys really should trust Nick when he discretely coughs and hints at something.
Goth District - District 9
Humiliation/Insertion/Conception - variants of Inception
Elroy's Bread - based on... H3ll. I done forgot and didn't write it down. Whatever.
Top Mom - based on Top Gun
Swann Clean - based on Black Swan
(I was sure someone was going to nail me on this one)!
Stopcock - based in 127 Hours
Bert's Bubbles - The King's Speech.
CF, you guys really should trust Nick when he discretely coughs and hints at something.
Goth District - District 9
Humiliation/Insertion/Conception - variants of Inception
Thanks for the votes, everyone.