Challenge 002: Drabble+: Death

[strangetomato]

Here's my response to the current challenge over at simstorytellers . I thought I would post this now, since it's based on the Strangetown, Here We Come, and I won't be able to post the next chapter until Sunday at the earliest. I'm heading out of town tomorrow evening for a long weekend. This drabble+ (slightly longer than a regular drabble, which is exactly 100 words) is related to the next couple of chapters in the story, and is thus a slight spoiler, but I like to think of it as more of an appetizer. I hope the next installment will follow by early next week.

This week's challenge was to create a 150-200 word drabble+, using a maximum of two in-game pics, with "death" as the prompt.





CHALLENGE 002:  Drabble+: Death

Prompt: death
Pic max: 2
Word count: 150-200
Expires: 4/16/08

Nervous Subject looked around the cemetery.

He was surrounded by death. This was his legacy. This is what his mother had left him with: a collection of dead people, each of them hand-picked to suit her various whims.

It was also his father's work. He performed his task thoroughly and carefully, leaving nobody behind. Death touched everyone.

Nervous didn't have to look far for examples of the impact that his parents had made on this little desert town. There was Ophelia, his cousin, who had lost her entire family to death at an early age. There was Ripp Grunt, whose parents had also been brutally murdered, though he didn't know that yet. There was Johnny Smith, who had, so far, been lucky, but his troubles would come. Death didn't spare anyone. Nervous knew that his father had an appointment with Johnny's family, and sooner than any of them expected.

There was Pascal.




Nervous hoped that somehow, despite logic, Death might decide to grant Pascal some special privilege to walk untouched and happy throughout his long life.

If Nervous asked, he could make it so, but asking favours of Death always came with a price. 





 

Comments

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yes, the last line does hint at the troubles that might ultimately arise from asking favours of Death, which is something that Nervous has already done. Also, it refers to the fact that you can't even speak to him unless someone dies, which is the other meaning of "comes with a price". Someone pays with their life to grant another the opportunity to speak with Death. That's just how it works in this story (and the game, since you can't normally conjure up Grimmy in any other way). Even Nervous can't just call him up on the phone... at least not yet (and I'm not really sure if I plan to involve that Grim phone in the story at all).

Well, maybe they'll discover the secret to eternal youth. I think that some scientist (or maybe even more than one) might have been working on a way to beat death (and Death too). It's not the focus of Pascal's studies, but he'd surely know if a discovery was made.

It might be P.T. That would make sense, but I'm not going to give it away just yet.

Thank you! You too.