It was a dark and dreary night …But not for Diego Sylvester, the winner of the third round of our fiction writing contest.We’ve repeated the beginning of the story by Cayci Luiten here, continuing with the second and latest entries.It was a dark and dreary night in the sleepy town of Falcon, Colorado, a town known for its beautiful horse ranches and western scenery. There was a young girl peacefully sleeping safe and sound in one of those ranches known as the Sidney Horse Ranch.This young girl’s name was Judy, Judy Domage. Judy was a 10-year-old girl whose big sister was the world famous explorer, Sidney Domage. Judy did not like big crowds and did not like anything besides dogs, horses, French Toast and going on new adventures like her sister. Judy got her name after her sister explored the treacherous abandoned mine called Judy’s mine.It was about midnight at the Sidney Horse Ranch when Judy was awakened by the sound of twigs being trampled on out in the breezy night. Judy was sure it was some sort of animal. As she kicked off her horse covered sheets, she quickly strolled across the old ranch bedroom floor to the window, making sure that she didn’t wake anybody. The hallway was as dark as night, except for the plugged in nightlight at the end of the hallway.When Judy opened the frost covered window, she couldn’t see what kind of hideous creature awaited her eyes as soon as they focused. Soon as her eyes focused, she collapsed in terror of what creature stood outside her window, ready to attack.Continued by Alexis Harrison …A monster in the dark light looked pale green. Its teeth were so yellow it looked like it ate 400 yellow crayons. He looked so slimy and she could see the slimy dark green trail behind it.But its eyes were the scariest, they were blood red. They weren’t like regular eyes, they didn’t have pupils, just red balls in the eye sockets. As soon as she saw it, she froze. She didn’t shut the window, she didn’t move, she didn’t even run. She just stood there in terror. Her eyes met with the monster’s, and it attacked.Luckily, Judy had time to get to the front door, but she knew it wouldn’t hold for very long. Its claws were already in the door. Judy ran to her bedroom, got under her bed and hoped the monster wouldn’t find her. Then she heard a bam and footsteps. She knew the monster was on its way up. She thought maybe she could get the scissors from her desk and attack the monster with it. Hopefully, kill it too. When she got up the monster was right there. She screamed and then she realized that’s not a monster …Continued by Josie Fuller …“Chewy!” she exclaimed falling back against her pillows. The overgrown Saint Bernard’s bloodshot eyes looked at her eagerly in anticipation of its breakfast. Judy tensed as his claws dug into her leg and a long drip of slobber fell on her shoulder. Judy sighed. She knew her recent nightmares and restless sleep were caused by stress. It had been two months since she had heard from Sidney, and Judy was at a loss as to what to do about the ranch.The last correspondence she received from Sidney detailed her journey through Peru. Their contact was sporadic, and it was not unusual to have long periods of time escape before they reconnected. But there was a growing anxiety Judy couldn’t shake.Judy struggled to peel away the sheets from under Chewy’s grasp. She awkwardly twisted out of bed. As Judy pulled back the blue calico curtains a rush of sunlight attacked her eyes. The sunlight reminded her of the wasted morning. There was so much to do. Judy absently got dressed and began down the wooden stairs with Chewy trailing behind.The ranch. Its future depended on her. Judy knew she needed help, but who could she turn to? Sidney, it had to be Sidney.Continued by Diego Sylvester …Judy started to make breakfast, but not even French toast could curb her discontent over the state of the ranch. She stared at her plate as the butter slipped off the top of her triple stack, as if it held the answer to all of her questions. She decided she would write a letter to Sidney after breakfast. As much as it pained her to ask Sidney to walk away from her dreams to help with the ranch, she was desperate and didn’t know where else to turn.As she was washing her plate in the sink, she looked out the window and saw Lucas, one of the ranch hands … Lucas was 13 years old and in middle school. Her father let Lucas help out around the ranch because he was the son of one of his friends from high school. Lucas was saving up money to buy his own dirt bike so he could race with his friends.Judy walked outside to greet Lucas. They didn’t know each other very well, but Judy always made a point to be cordial to anyone who was willing to help with the ranch. “Howdy!” said Lucas. As she looked at him, Sidney, her monster ordeal and the ranch suddenly disappeared from her mind.To be continued…Do you have an imaginative mind and consider yourself a fine wordsmith? Submit the next 200 words of the story started above to enter our 2011 writing contest. If your prose is selected, win a gift card to a local business and your word finery will be published in the next month of the NFH. The story will go on for six months, so confine your paragraphs to the logical next part of the story line. Submit your words to deb@newfalconherald.com by May 20. Questions? E-mail deb@newfalconherald or call 719-487-8037.
