jbacardi

I was tagged to participate by the lovely Becca
in a viral story meme that started with Splotchy...here are the rules from the man himself:

"This has probably been done before, but that is not stopping me, oh no.

Here's what I would like to do. I want to create a story that branches out in a variety of different, unexpected ways. I don't know how realistic it is, but that's what I'm aiming for. Hopefully, at least one thread of the story can make a decent number of hops before it dies out.

If you are one of the carriers of this story virus (i.e. you have been tagged and choose to contribute to it), you will have one responsibility, in addition to contributing your own piece of the story: you will have to tag at least one person that continues your story thread. So, say you tag five people. If four people decide to not participate, it's okay, as long as the fifth one does. And if all five participate, well that's five interesting threads the story spins off into.

Not a requirement, but something your readers would appreciate: to help people trace your own particular thread of the narrative, it will be helpful if you include links to the chapters preceding yours."

I woke up hungry. I pulled my bedroom curtain to the side and looked out on a hazy morning. I dragged myself into the kitchen, in search of something to eat. I reached for a jar of applesauce sitting next to the sink, and found it very cold to the touch. I opened the jar and realized it was frozen. Splotchy

I was used to the house being quite cold in the mornings, as the night log usually burns out around one AM when I am dreaming cozily under my covers, not normally waking to put a new one on until morning. I was surprised because on the rare occasions that it actually had reached sub-freezing temperatures in the house, I had awakened in the night to restart the fire. I would have been worried about the pipes before P-Day, but there hadn’t been running water in two years and that was one of the few advantages to being dependent on rainwater, no pipes. Freida Bee

Shivering, I moved through the cloud of my nearly-crystallizing breath over to the frost-encrusted window. Unable to see outside, I feebly attempted to brush the flakes away with my sleeve. I sighed, the warm exhalation upon the upper panes only further decreasing visibility. I thoughtlessly tried my fingernails, having forgotten that I continuously bite them when nervous. I've recently been nervous a lot. I didn't know why, and failed to give it a second thought. Shuffling across the well-worn wooden planks, strangely as cold as the jar, I opened a drawer to grab a spoon and begin the task at hand, chipping away at the frost. After some moments, I stopped to peek outside, managing to see only white. The window was again frozen.

There's no way it can be that cold, I thought to myself. I began to chip once more, with the same result. Frustrated, I sprinted the ten feet back to the drawer, taking a larger soup spoon and returned to my assault on the ice. Harder and harder I pushed the spoon into the wintry glaze, intermittently stopping to wipe the chill sweat from my brow, pushing harder, my arms flailing upwards, now coming down as if wielding an axe, ignoring the stinging salt of perspiration in my eyes, the ice growing along with my anger, overcome by a violence, a berserker rage, up and down I swung that makeshift blade into the white, into the red, grunting, screaming, my hands sliced open as the spoon blasted through the broken glass.

I didn't see anything but the dew-haunted lawn before I slumped down, fainting on the cold wooden floor. Randal Graves

When I woke it hit me like a ton of bricks and in a wave I remembered just what happened last night. I couldn't believe I hadn't remembered sooner, sure I was exhausted when I finally fell asleep but it's not everyday you are attacked in your home so it should have come to me sooner. I jumped to my feet...perhaps a bit too fast, my head was spinning...was my hand still bleeding? I rushed to the basement door. Still locked. Thank god...or at least whatever deity might be listening. I slumped to the floor again hoping the sudden pounding in my head might go away. It probably wouldn't as long as I let my hand bleed like this, how long had I been passed out anyway? I tore a piece of my robe and wrapped my hand hoping it would be enough to stop the bleeding, the cut looked deep, I needed stitches I was sure but I wasn't about to leave my house with that thing in the basement. Becca

Minutes passed, then hours as I did what I could to think and stay warm. I looked again at my hand, and noticed that the bleeding had finally stopped. It still needs attention, but I think it will last long enough for me to carry out the other plan which has occurred to me. I recall, out in my garage, that I have three cans of kerosene and two of gasoline. I go out the back door, enter the garage, and there are the fuel containers. I go back inside, toss two cans down in the basement, then take the rest and douse everything in the house. I toss a lit match into the basement, and two more in the living room and kitchen, and drive down to the end of the street and watch it burn, all (in the words of Tom Waits, whose "Frank's Wild Years" I couldn't help but recall) Halloween orange and chimney red. I pull out onto the highway, just ahead of the approaching police cars and fire trucks. First, to the hospital, then I'll drive all night to Aunt Eloises' where I'll stay and try to figure out a way to put my life back together and get past this.