This is a collaborative story in which you write the next page of the story. Fill out the form below and I’ll publish the best response each week. Please send in page 4 by SUNDAY JUNE 30th at 7pm ET
Page 1 by Sean Sandulak
Gillian pulled another plate from the cardboard box and frowned at the chip and crack along its edge. This was the third thing that was broken and she’d barely even begun to unpack. She hoped it would be the last time that she would have to move for a long time. It was as hard on her and the kids as it was on the dishes.
Thinking about her son and daughter made her realize that the house had become too quiet. She dropped the plate into the soapy water in the sink and called out, “Tom! Where is your sister?” When there was no answer, she became equal parts worried and irritated. “Tom!” she called again, louder this time.
A sulking twelve-year-old boy shuffled into the kitchen and whined, “You don’t have to yell.”
“Where’s your sister?” she asked.
“I dunno,” he mumbled.
“I told you to watch her,” she said, “so you had better go find her.”
“But mom,” he said, “I was watching TV.”
“Go and find her right now or there will be no TV for a week,” she said. With that threat the boy stomped off without another word. Gillian kept pulling her dishes from out of the boxes and putting them in the sink to wash them.
After a few minutes, Tom returned and said, “I couldn’t find her anywhere.”
“Well, she couldn’t have gone outside or I would have heard the door,” she said. “Did you try looking in the basement?”
He went the door that stood off to the side of the kitchen, opened it, and made his way down the creaky, wooden stairs. Tom was only gone a few seconds before he came racing back up. He slammed the door and braced his body against it. His face was pale and he was breathing like he had just run a mile.
Gillian ran to him, crouched down, and gripped him by the shoulders to steady him. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Where’s Amelia?”
“There’s something in the basement,” he answered. “I think it took her.”
Page 2 by Lauren Jokl (misskzebra)
Gillian hoped that Tom couldn’t hear her heart begin to pound against her chest. “Don’t be ridiculous.” she told him. “Stay up here and don’t move.” This was his idea of a joke, she thought.
Gillian moved him aside and opened the door. The lights didn’t turn on when she pulled the cord by the door. Advancing down the steps, she listened out for Amelia. There was a slight breeze down here. Gillian didn’t know where it was coming from, but it was cold. Despite the chill, sweat started to form on her upper lip.
“Amelia? Where are you?” A hard block of anxiety was starting to form in Gillian’s chest. “Amelia!” She scanned the darkness and couldn’t see a thing.
“Amelia, is that her name? It’s such a pretty name, for such a pretty girl.” Gillian spun around to see a dwarfish woman with a pale face.
“Who are you?! Where’s my daughter?” Gillian yelled.
“Your daughter is in the place where the cockerels crow all of the time, where the sun always reigns but the moon never dies. The Land of Orange Skies. She belongs there. She’s a child of the Gods, which you know very well.”
“No. No. Did her father put you up to this? He spouted this crap too, when he’d lost his mind. Give me back my daughter!” Gillian commanded, her chest heaving with panic.
“He did, but he’s not lost his mind. We’ll give her back if you come to collect her.” The woman smiled and held out her hand.
Page 3 by AJ Muller
“Mom, who’s that?” Tom asked, skirting the wall of the kitchen to get closer to his mother.
“Stay there baby.”
“He’s free to come too. He’s not as special as his sister, but a similar face may help her adjust.”
“No! My son is going nowhere and neither am I.” Gillian proclaimed keeping her voice more level than she thought possible.
The mystery women withdrew her hand and stared at the taller women. Her blonde hair was pulled up in bun and strays of her uncombed hair were sticking out. The pale women tilted her head and spoke again. “I have delivered my message and now I must go.” She turned and went to walk out of the back door.
“What about my daughter!” Gillian shrieked, paranoia seeping into her mind. What if she never saw Amelia again?
“If you change your mind flip this and say gods of harvest gods of the sky, bring me to the world where life never dies.” the short women said handing over a coin before she vanished through a blurry wall of light leaving Gillian and Tom standing their baffled.
“That was awesome! Can we go mom, can we?” Tom asked grabbing Gillian’s arm tugging on it adding extra strain to her elbow joint.
“Enough!” she snapped, “No, we are not going.”
“Amelia gets all the fun.” Tom sulked as Gillian grabbed the phone and dialed 9-1-1. The operator started off friendly, asking what the emergency was, but as Gillian described the ordeal the operator grew restless and hung up.
“Mom, what’s going on?” Tom asked. Gillian didn’t answer at first. She stared at the golden coin in her hand, turning it in her fingers. “Mom?” instead of answering Tom she began muttering. As she said the pale women’s words the coin flew from her thumb into the air and hit the floor. A blurry circle of light, grew beneath her feet. Before she could catch her breath she was falling.
“Mom!” Tom called leaping for her hand, grasping it as the light pulled both of them in.
Page 4 by ???
What happens next? You decide! Together we’ll write a story – one page at a time. Send me the next 200 – 300 words of this story using the form below.
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Crazed recluse and sociophobe who has taken up writing after failing at everything else. Send pizza.
Foil & Phaser 
Reblogged this on Verbatim Gibberish and commented:
This is just something to keep you busy while I’m editing stories. Feel free to join in if you fancy yourself a writer. I will be launching another collaboration and a workshop soon so subscribe!
imdb.com the celler door.
I know movies and books have had the same title, and on occasion completely different stories wind up with the same name. However that is mostly an artifact of work done before the information age.
I will usually Google titles and character names before using them, but since this was just a writing exercise, I didn’t bother. It’s a common enough term that goes back before cinema. Frankly, I think the whole thing has been blown out of proportion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellar_door
When will page 4 be available? I just stumbled here and am very interested in participating!
Oh, jeez. Never mind. I found it.
Deadline extended to Saturday. You can always find One Day at a Time posts under the Workshop menu at the top.