Current Contest Runs: June 15th until June 19th
Winners to be Announced: June 21st
Firstly, thank you so much for voting! Below, you will find all the submissions for the current week, no names attached, numbered. When you have selected the one story that you like the best, please send an NMail to Kiyoji with the number. I need the votes in by June 21st at 5pm EST. You will receive participation credit for having voted.
Be sure to keep this week's story topic in mind when you read through these. And thank you again. Happy reading. :)
#1
( A mangled parchment looking crumpled beyond hope, smelling strangely of a mix of seaweed and bitter mountain herbs.
The text inside is surprisingly preserved and written in such a meticulous manner to ensure each and every letter were equal shape and size, completely contrasting its outer appearance. )
Her voice was the fairest thing he could remember, blinded with butterfly kisses and sweet caress that left him satisfied seemingly for an eternity; yet he became starved without it the moment it was stripped away from him.
The vivid memories left a man broken and hung with the bottle in his hand and his eyes casted to the ground with nothing but a murky emptiness left in its wake.
He could remember her touch upon his skin as if she had lingered by his side, her voice still fresh in his mind as if she had been murmuring the very words by his side at that moment.
Yet all he could find no comfort in, only a shaking dread that left him reaching for another drink. His eyes lay wide and his lips would twitch between a wicked wide grin to quickly a deranged frown and back.
His words were no more coherent than whimpers and a string of noises garbled in her name with worries and praise.
"I-I... lov... v...? Ah... n....nnhhgh..."
The situation was strange as bystanders could recall. He would be often found smiling one day without a hair out of place and the hollows of his eyes lifted, then soon fallen back into sorrow and misery the next, looking like he had crept from the graves themselves.
He'd cackle a bit into the night before shaking his head venomously trying, fighting a battle with himself and reality.
A woman took curious note to this man and had taken it upon herself to follow him in the shadows, feeling both pity and sadness for him.
She watched him vanish into the shadows every evening to return a smiling a joyous man an hour later, then a broken man again by dawn.
Every day and every night this daily ritual would repeat itself endlessly... until he left one night and she snuck into the very shadows that he so often visited.
Within she found a cavern where a pool delicately lay dug in the center with glowing warmth, the torches aside had been extinguished leaving nary a speck of light for the eyes.
She could hear nothing but the trickle of water and could not help but wonder at what made the man so happy, what was the secret to his brief renewal?
As she stumbled she fell into the depths of a watery pool, one that was very shallow and left her by the shins had she been standing. Unfortunately for her, she was submerged face first.
The immensely salty taste of the waters mixed with bitter concoctions of some sort left her tongue stung with pain and distaste. What was that ghastly liquid?!
Before she knew it, the room had been lit by a single torch held by the broken man she had followed so many nights.
He frowned at her with wide eyes and wicked grin, and in the depths of the watery pool beneath her eyes did see...
A woman perserved beneath its waves strange liquid, her eyes still open and looking up with warm fabricated smile as her body lay in death, yet he refused to let it wither.
Such beloved secrets to warm the heart again... and only one left the cave that night... to return again and again as always.
#2
-you notice a tightly-rolled scroll sitting at your feet and wonder if it had been there when you first took rest against the wide tree trunk...-
[A Dark Secret]
Ae-cha, a tall girl with a forgettable face, brushed her hair back and fastened the dark tresses at the nape of her neck. Glancing briefly into a dusty mirror hanging by the door -she didn't look suspicious at all, she told herself- she entered the main section of the tavern. The sound of raucous laughter and high-pitched giggles met her ears, and she winced slightly before taking her place beside Pepper. The old hag had hired her only hours before after one of her serving women had conveniently disappeared.
Pepper thrust a large jug into Ae-cha's hands.
"Make the rounds," she growled, "and make sure you collect their coin."
Ae-cha bobbed her head in the slightest of bows and made her way around the room, offering more wine to the patrons. She would rather not be here -she would rather be anywhere else- but she needed a way to disguise the true reason she was at the tavern that night. She bit her lip and quickly thrust her hand into the pocket of her apron, wrapping her fingers around the small, slim glass bottle within. It was still there.
Her overbearing eldest sister, Eunae, had given her the poison days ago with orders to slip it into Mi-sun's wine. Tears threatened to spill down Ae-cha's cheeks as she thought about the dark secret she was keeping.
"It's not my fault," she whispered softly to herself as her eyes focused on Mi-sun's table across the room. "I'm just following orders..."
Mi-sun's sparkling laugh echoed above the din. She was sitting with Eunae's betrothed, a delicate hand stroking his arm. Jin's cheeks were flushed with color, but it was obvious he was enjoying the attention.
With one hand on the glass bottle in her pocket and one grasping the jug tightly, Ae-cha headed towards the harlot and the man who had broken her sister's heart.
Nobody noticed the dowdy serving woman refilling glasses at the table. The patrons were loud, yelling to be heard on top of one another. Ae-cha counted four stories being told at the same time and three men trying their luck with the ladies sitting beside them. Even Mi-sun was too busy fluttering her eyelashes at Jin to pay attention to a maid. All other eyes were focused on a game of cards being played at the end of the table. It was too easy.
In one quick movement Ae-cha emptied the contents of the glass bottle into Mi-sun's glass and returned it to her pocket. She gave the table one unnoticed bow before walking slowly but steadily towards the exit.
"It's not my fault, it's not my fault, it's not my fault," she muttered over and over again. She pushed through the door and into the night, and she had only taken three steps from the tavern before she heard a heavy thud and a blood-curdling scream.
The tears Ae-cha had been trying to supress all night began to flow freely as she picked up her pace and started to run as fast as she could. It wasn't her fault.
"Don't be so shy, handsome," Mi-sun cooed. She pasted a smile on her face, but inside she was fuming. When would this dolt succumb to her advances? Jin mumbled something and the tip of his ears turned a nasty shade of pink. Mi-sun choked back a laugh. How pathetic.
"Here," she said, reaching for her glass, "this will loosen you up!"
Thank you for your time!
June 8 - June 12 "Sacred Vows"
