forum Writing Competition!

Started April 22, 2018 by Deleted user

tune

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This story is called The Living Garden it comes from a prompt by Luna
There's more to it but it was over 1000 pages :(

 Once you set foot in the living garden, you were never coming back out. The Living Garden was an experiment they couldn’t control. When it rebelled, they evacuated the city and never looked back. Or at least that’s what the stories say. I wouldn’t know.  In my world we stay safe, we stay in our bubble of pure air and controlled population. We were all happy in our little town of fake flora, synthetic food, and the auto generated sunrises and sunsets. It was all a lie, but is was a good one and it worked for years. Life was pretty good. People rarely got sick.  We had plenty of supplies, and space. That all came crashing down around us 5 years ago. The scientists messed up.  We have too many people and not enough resources. So what did we do?  We stooped low and followed human nature … every man for himself and sacrifice. Oh, but, “it’s all for the greater good.  You should be honored to be chosen. You are saving us all.” That's what they tell them before the raffle that sends them to their deaths. 
 It was my eighteenth birthday and I was in the raffle with the rest of my age group. We were old enough to survive out on our own, but too young to truly contribute to society. So they sent us off with hope that we would find a so called promise land that would be able to accommodate all of us, and we could continue life as it was. But after a few years of no one returning all hope disappeared.   It became clear that this was a death sentence and everyone knew it; but did anyone stop the murder of 10 eighteen year olds a year. No!  As long as it wasn’t them, or their kids, it didn’t matter. We sat down as they started calling the numbers. “23, 41, 67”. I could feel sweat on my upper lip.  The cold type that happens when your nervous.  The kind that sends chills down your spine. “89, 45, 62”. We were in the final stretch.   Just 4 more numbers to go.  I was starting to have hope. “13, 26, 58, and … 34”. That was it!  That was me!  Number 34. What shocked me the most was that there was no crying, no screaming, no parents crying for their children … just silence. The silence that threatened to choke you, to drag you down into the depths. The inescapable kind. “The chosen 10. You will have 24 hours to pack what you think you will need and to get a crash course on the outside environment.” The announcer's voice that crackled over the loudspeaker was so monotone and lifeless. We were just a job to him, just numbers on a ticket.
  “No one survives the living gardens, Marcus. No one.” That's what my best friend Elli told me, with tears in her eyes. I thought on that for a moment. Death.  Thoughts of death are so commonplace you forget how truly uncommon such a state is. “No. I will, Elli. I will survive, and I will make it back to you. I refuse to be weak and to let them think that they can control the lives of others because they screwed up! I will make it back one day! I promise.” “You always make promises. But I don’t think you can keep this one. I know that your going to say that you will because you want to make me feel better.   You always do, but, there are some things that you can’t do and I don’t think you can win this time. I’m sorry, I don’t think I can do this anymore.” As she started to walk away I grabbed her arm and looked at her in the eyes. “Don’t say that. I know it looks bad, but I have never broken a promise, and I intend to keep it that way.”That was the last thing I ever said to her. I felt my throat constrict and my eyes start to water as her face and everything else I knew got farther and farther out of reach. 
 They dropped us off at the edge of the City. As we watched the Rover drive away, realization sunk in.   This was it. A girl crumpled to the ground and started crying.  Another cursed. We started walking. There was no logical way to do this, so we just picked a direction and went. By nightfall the Living Garden came into view. It was everywhere, with no rhyme or reason, it abandoned all the rules of nature that we thought we knew. The lawlessness of it was almost beautiful. We stopped at the entrance for a moment, just a moment, and time paused as we stood in the moonlight. Staring at what, to us, were the Gates of Hell.  

Noooo it posted weird!

Fix it by pressing enter/return at the very beginning of the text

Thank you sooooo much! @Jensen-rs

Once you set foot in the living garden, you were never coming back out. The Living Garden was an experiment they couldn’t control. When it rebelled, they evacuated the city and never looked back. Or at least that’s what the stories say. I wouldn’t know. In my world we stay safe, we stay in our bubble of pure air and controlled population. We were all happy in our little town of fake flora, synthetic food, and the auto generated sunrises and sunsets. It was all a lie, but is was a good one and it worked for years. Life was pretty good. People rarely got sick. We had plenty of supplies, and space. That all came crashing down around us 5 years ago. The scientists messed up. We have too many people and not enough resources. So what did we do? We stooped low and followed human nature … every man for himself and sacrifice. Oh, but, “it’s all for the greater good. You should be honored to be chosen. You are saving us all.” That's what they tell them before the raffle that sends them to their deaths.
It was my eighteenth birthday and I was in the raffle with the rest of my age group. We were old enough to survive out on our own, but too young to truly contribute to society. So they sent us off with hope that we would find a so called promise land that would be able to accommodate all of us, and we could continue life as it was. But after a few years of no one returning all hope disappeared. It became clear that this was a death sentence and everyone knew it; but did anyone stop the murder of 10 eighteen year olds a year. No! As long as it wasn’t them, or their kids, it didn’t matter. We sat down as they started calling the numbers. “23, 41, 67”. I could feel sweat on my upper lip. The cold type that happens when your nervous. The kind that sends chills down your spine. “89, 45, 62”. We were in the final stretch. Just 4 more numbers to go. I was starting to have hope. “13, 26, 58, and … 34”. That was it! That was me! Number 34. What shocked me the most was that there was no crying, no screaming, no parents crying for their children … just silence. The silence that threatened to choke you, to drag you down into the depths. The inescapable kind. “The chosen 10. You will have 24 hours to pack what you think you will need and to get a crash course on the outside environment.” The announcer's voice that crackled over the loudspeaker was so monotone and lifeless. We were just a job to him, just numbers on a ticket.
“No one survives the living gardens, Marcus. No one.” That's what my best friend Elli told me, with tears in her eyes. I thought on that for a moment. Death. Thoughts of death are so commonplace you forget how truly uncommon such a state is. “No. I will,Elli. I will survive, and I will make it back to you. I refuse to be weak and to let them think that they can control the lives of others because they screwed up! I will make it back one day! I promise.” “You always make promises. But I don’t think you can keep this one. I know that your going to say that you will because you want to make me feel better. You always do, but, there are some things that you can’t do and I don’t think you can win this time. I’m sorry, I don’t think I can do this anymore.” As she started to walk away I grabbed her arm and looked at her in the eyes. “Don’t say that. I know it looks bad, but I have never broken a promise, and I intend to keep it that way.”That was the last thing I ever said to her. I felt my throat constrict and my eyes start to water as her face and everything else I knew got farther and farther out of reach.
They dropped us off at the edge of the City. As we watched the Rover drive away, realization sunk in. This was it. A girl crumpled to the ground and started crying. Another cursed. We started walking. There was no logical way to do this, so we just picked a direction and went. By nightfall the Living Garden came into view. It was everywhere, with no rhyme or reason, it abandoned all the rules of nature that we thought we knew. The lawlessness of it was almost beautiful. We stopped at the entrance for a moment, just a moment, and time paused as we stood in the moonlight. Staring at what, to us, were the Gates of Hell.

Almost done with mine, lol. I just wrote it today so it's not going to be that great.

I'm not gonna be able to do it after all :(

That's okay! If you can't make it or don't have time to judge, that's fine. I understand. I'm glad some people could put in their entries, though. Don't forget that they're due in about two hours!

I'll judge then, what's the deadline?

Alright, this is probably the worst short story I've ever written lol. But I'm going to submit it anyway because I don't have anything else to enter lmao.

“Come on, Turtle, it’ll be fun,” Annie said, shoving the box of pink hair dye toward him. The nine-year-old boy looked up at her with wide, frightened eyes. His sister smiled warmly down at him, strands of soft golden hair framing her pale face. Freckles lightly dusted her nose and cheekbones, making her look younger than she was.

“Ma and pa will be mad,” he mumbled, fiddling with strands of his dark brown hair.

“No they won’t. They let me dye my hair all of the time,” she argued, pushing him toward the bathroom. “C’mon, please? Make your sister happy.” The boy huffed, making a face and letting his sister guide him to the sink.

“Fine.”

“Yay!” She said, jumping a bit. Her blue eyes were lit up with excitement, and the child tried to hide a smile. He loved seeing his sister like that. These days, she rarely let a smile touch her lips.

He stared at his reflection in the mirror. His mop of wavy hair fell in front of his tired blue eyes. Turtle blinked, confused. He looked far too exhausted for his age. He looked stretched thin and broken, years of pain staring back at him through the piece of glass.

With a sigh, he turned away from the mirror and reached for the bottle of pink hair dye, but it was gone. The boy’s eyes widened, and he whirled around.

Annie was gone, too.

“No,” he said quietly, eyes filling with tears. The lights flickered. “No, you can’t leave me like this. Not again.” His voice echoed in the empty room. The temperature dropped, and he shivered, falling to his knees. “Not again.”

Even though the room was filled with the sound of his ragged breathing and mumbled words, it was too silent to him without Annie’s soft voice. Too dark without her warm smile, too cold without her comforting presence, too empty without her there. He curled up on the floor, hugging himself and sniffling.

“Ty,” a voice suddenly said. His head snapped up, searching for its source, but it was too dark to see. “Ty, get up.”

Tyler woke up with a gasp. It was just a dream, but the empty, longing feeling lingered, just like it always had. It was there from the time he was a 9-year-old boy, when his sister ran away from home and ended up dead.
Tyler glanced up, noticing a slender young woman was leaning over him, brow scrunched. Her long, pale, blonde hair brushed the skin on his shoulders. She looked like she was 16, the same age as him. Tyler’s eyes traveled down her body, and he realized what she was wearing. He averted his eyes, face turning red in shame as he remembered what he had done last night. He really needed to stop drinking.

“Are you alright?” She asked, running a hand through his hair. Tyler nodded and sat up. His head spun, and his vision went white with pain.

“Shit!” He yelled, eyes closing shut tight. He felt the girl’s hands on his shoulders, and he shrugged her off, turning away. His head throbbed, and he felt like his body was made of cement. He was definitely hungover.

“Are you alright?” She asked him. He opened his eyes and glared at her.

“No, I’m not. How much did I drink last night?”

“Not much,” she said, sitting back. “At least, not enough to give you that bad of a hangover.”

Tyler opened his mouth to respond, but ended up hissing in pain instead. His body felt like it had been set on fire and tazed, searing heat and cold rushing through his skin. His body began to convulse, and the noise around him fading into static. The world seemed to fold and combust, then fold again. White light flashed over and over again. If Tyler could scream, he would, but the noise got caught in his throat. He sat there in silence, pain overtaking him until darkness finally washed over him and pulled him into unconsciousness.

He woke up with a groan, feeling groggy. Unfocused blurs of gold color swam in his vision. He sat, up, rubbing his eyes and blinking at the figure in front of him. A voice soft as velvet filled his ears.

“I’m sorry,” it said.

Tyler recognized the voice instantly. His eyes widened and he scrambled to his feet, squinting at the figure. It was a young girl with golden hair that brushed the tops of her shoulders. She was wearing an old band t-shirt with faded jeans that were ripped at the knees, and combat boots with frayed laces. The girl smiled sadly at Tyler.

“A-Annie,” he stuttered. His voice was much higher pitched than normal. Her smile widened. “Wait-but you’re-you can’t be-you’re not-”

“I know. I’m supposed to be dead,” she whispered, providing the words for him. “And I am, but… I couldn’t leave you the way you were.” Annie stepped forward, and Tyler stepped back, not sure what to think. “I know that I told you that I ran away. Looking back, that might not have been the best idea, but I didn’t know what else to say. You were only nine years old at the time, I didn’t think that you could’ve handled it if you knew that I had…” Her voice trailed off, and she looked down at her boots. Tyler scowled.

“What, you thought it was a better idea for me to think you were still out there?” He snapped. His fists clenched at his sides. Her smile fell, and she stepped back. “I spent six years hoping you were alive, looking forward to seeing you someday. Two years I looked for you, only to find out that you were dead the whole time.” Tears fell down his face.

“I’m sorry,” Annie said, frowning. “I never should’ve done that to you. I never wanted to be one of the people that hurt you.” Her words made Tyler feel bitter, anger stirring in his core as he scowled at Annie.
“Maybe you should’ve thought things through before killing yourself and letting me think that you were still alive.”

They fell silent. The seconds that stretched between them felt like hours as they stared at each other, not knowing what to say next. Finally, Tyler spoke.

“Why did you come to see me?” He asked, looking down.

“Because, Turtle, I didn’t want those two years you spent looking for me to go to waste.” Tyler looked up suddenly, wide-eyed and startled that she had used his old nickname. “You wanted to find me. Here I am.” She smiled at him warmly, stepping away from him. He just stared at her, not sure what to think.

The room filled with bright light. The feeling of painful heat filled his body again and he yelled in surprise, rushing toward his sister. “Wait, no, not yet!” He cried. His arms reached out toward her, but then stopped as his body began to shiver again, the universe folding and unfolding, pressing and stretching his body in painful ways for what felt like an eternity.

Moments later, Annie was gone, and Tyler was in a hospital bed. He blinked, confused and astonished at what had just happened. A steady beeping sound filled the room as he was lulled to sleep.

A warm feeling blossomed in his chest, filling up the empty space that was once there. The silence in his life was finally broken, and his life was filled with a comforting warmth. Before he slipped away into a peaceful dream, he thought, ‘I got to see my sister again.’

That story made me both happy and sad at the same time. It was great!

Thank you! Also, when will the results be out?

Hello! This is a notice for other judges, too, so please pay attention!
We will be doing the actual judging Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. The results will be posted sometime on Saturday. I apologize for the wait, but I'm kind of tired 😅 Sorry!

Alright, I'll look forward to it!

Okay :)

Take your time. :)

Sounds good!

Well I thoroughly missed the deadline……. since I see judging has been postponed I can try to post my story before Friday……. I totally understand that I'm REALLY late

Oh, uh… I guess that's alright?

You don't have to say yes I was just wondering…. I hate even asking that because it's quite annoying to hear that question

I mean, you can still post it, but next time please try to watch the deadline :)

End of semester stress……. I'm so sorry

are we still alive? (if not i totally get it lol)

YES

Need to confirm when the deadline for entries and judging is?

Eek! Hey! I was actually kind of busy for most of Saturday, but judging is going to be today. I need all of the judges to contact me as soon as possible so we can start.

Ok, make a private message for all the judges and we can do it there?