After falling a little behind (I was doing a story every second day; it was six days since the previous one) I sat down and did up a new story last night. The generator gave me The theme of this story: tragic mystery. The main characters: confused cab driver and pious rogue. The start of the story: dream. The end of the story: discovery.
Here’s the start of the story:
“I don’t get it,” said Sammy. Mist rolled away from him in all directions, pale and formless.
“There’s nothing to get,” the woman said. “Please, I need silence.” She knelt, her body taking on a perfect stillness, the breathless waiting of a stone being worn away by the sea. The mist climbed her body like a thing alive, tendrils coiling snakelike across her shoulders, her back, the tattooed nape of her neck. Sammy felt a scream crawling up his throat, watching the only other person in this dreamscape being eaten by fog, like something out of a horror movie.
He swallowed, hard, and looked away, his gaze searching for a horizon that wasn’t there. Grey sky, grey mist, and it all met at the vanishing point, a roiling nothingness that had overwhelmed sense and knowledge.
This is a dream, he told himself. This is a dream, and I can wake up anytime I want–
Only he couldn’t. The formless scream was clawing its way back up his throat. With an effort that was enough to put sweat on his brow, he forced it back down.
For more: The complete story (password-protected: the password is abigail <– highlight to read.
The last sequence is very powerful. I have to tell you, though, I’m biased against the use of dreams in fiction. (Not so biased as to avoid it altogether myself!) Nevertheless, that last scene with Joanne, and your conclusion post-waking, were excellent.
Well, I was kind of forced to use the dream set-up by the generator, and I decided to fiddle with it a little bit (ie, it’s not Sammy’s dream but someone else’s). I’m glad you liked the ending, too.
Very Jungian. The imagery especially. But what else would a dream contain? I liked it. Especially that you never know for sure if it was really a psycic contact or just his unconcious mind playing on old fantacies and insecurities.
The only thing I decided on before starting the story (before even going to the generator page) was that I wanted there to be a grove of bones. It seems to fit, IMHO.