#ThursThreads - Week 13 - Winners

Week Thirteen of #ThursThreads had some great tales! Thanks to all who entered this week. I'm honored to see all of you and read your stories. And it was great to have some returning "faces" join us again. Huge thank you to judge Jeffrey Hollar for reading through all of them.

Entries:

• Kimberly Gould | @Kimmydonn
• @LupusAnthropos
• Maureen | @Emyrldlady
• Nancy Porter | @ModernBard1024
• Sheilagh Lee | @SweetSheil
• Toni Wyatt | @Toni1777
• Ryan Strohman | @rastrohman
• Jen DeSantis | @JenD_Author
• Charles W Jones | @ChuckWesJ
• Robert Mahone | @Computilizer
• David A Ludwig | @DavidALudwig
• Jeffrey Hollar | @Klingorengi
• Wakefield Mahon | @WakefieldMahon
• Nellie Batz | @solimond
• Siobhan Muir | @SiobhanMuir
• Cara Michaels | @caramichaels
• Jalisa Blackman | @J_M_Blackman
• Aurora Lee | @AuroraLee

Winners Announcement:

Honorable Mentions

LupusAnthropos

Jeffrey says: This was a nice, tightly-woven tale with good pacing and a nice surprise of an ending. It does, however, depend on the knowing how P.G. Wodehouse was for it to make its full impact appreciated.

Cara Michaels | @caramichaels

Jeffrey says: I read this story several times and it seemed to keep drawing me back to it. It had vivid imagery and palpable conflict. Call me obtuse , but this one didn't get the top honor simply because I'm still not quite sure I understood it.

Aurora Lee | @AuroraLee

Jeffrey says: This was a poignant story with strong emotional impact. I liked how the tale would not have lost any of its impact if the prompt phrase were removed entirely. This one did have a few structural problems that too it out of the top honor.

Week Thirteen Winner

Jen DeSantis | @JenD_Author

Jeffrey says: Having been the little boy with the very big imagination, this story, definitely, grabbed me. Tommy's dreamscape is painted with big, scary brushstrokes of phrasing that provide a solid stage for all of the more subtle scariness to be paraded out to the reader. Well done indeed!

His eyes droop as he turns the page, but Tommy fights sleep and the dreams that will come with it. There, the monsters lay in wait.

The monsters can be patient, because they know that Tommy can’t resist forever. He comes every night, tumbling away from consciousness into their dark lair to play dangerous games. Tommy shivers as he thinks of the cold, rusted steel and pointy edges of the monsters’ playground. A fragile boy could lose his life playing with them, but they give him no choice.

Tommy furrows his brow and concentrates on little Alice and her White Hare. First she’s tumbling down the hole and then Tommy feels his stomach lurch within him. He wants to give a little shout to wake himself up, but he’s pushed too long and can’t fight any longer.

The darkness surrounds him as he touches down on something fetid and soft, like gone-over fruit. It puffs up a rank smell and he knows instinctively that it’s the smell of death. In sleep-slow movements, Tommy scrambles away from the too-soft thing as it starts to move. Glowing green eyes open and Tommy opens his mouth to scream.

The monster puckers his lips and shushes Tommy before he can make sound. The air from the thing’s maw is hot and sour. Behind it, Tommy can hear the others coming to play.

Were they preparing a surprise for him?

Oh, he feared that they were.

Congratulations Jen, Lupus, Cara, and Aurora! Claim your badges and display them with pride. You certainly earned it! :) And thanks, Cara, for the HM! ;)

Pass on the great news on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, shiny mirrors, Morse Code, and signal flags. Check out all the stories here and I hope to see you all back next week for #ThursThreads. :)