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[WWYP4] Music Box

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Jazzy Jinx

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Music Box

It has been a while now since that day. It was as scary as it was wonderful and I’ll never forget it until the day I die. It was raining hard for days, and I had been confined in my own home due to flood waters. My house was on a hill so I didn’t have to worry but I couldn’t leave since the flood covered the roads. If you really could be bored to death, then I think I would have died had I been there for another three days. Oh, but something interesting did happen huh? In some ways I wish it didn’t but for the most part, I’m glad it did.

To think that I would experience such a weird and wonderful phenomena on such a dreadful day. As I have said, it was raining like hell and I was all alone…

---

I complained about how bored I was and how nothing good was happening. The T.V. wouldn’t work and every time I turned it on I would met with the annoying message of “Searching for Satellite Signal” to which my response would be a prompt click of the power button, I couldn’t call anyone since the phone lines were down, and I couldn’t read a book since I thought of myself as “too cool” to do so.

I find the arrogance in my youth funny nowadays. After the events that transpired that night I became a huge Edgar Allan Poe fan. Then again, what should I have expected it to be like at the still ripe age of 27? I was a party animal and any free time used to read simple words on paper was considered a waste of time. Oh, how arrogant I was…

---

After enough shifting and shuffling about the house I decided to spend my time organizing things. I guess you could say I was developing an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Well, even organizing things didn’t last long as I had eventually organized everything in the house and was still unable to leave my home as the flood waters developed into a moat.

Without the ability to organize things anymore I slowly became shaky and even questioned if I was going crazy. Desperate to take my mind off of things I decided to make a sandwich and then just go to sleep but as I rose from the sofa, I noticed the attic’s wire hanging from the ceiling. I had completely forgotten about the attic so I decided to check it out having nothing better to do.

---

I recalled that all of my grandmother’s possessions were in the attic. She used to own a music box that was painted a lovely shade of gold and was encrypted with beautiful decorations of human portraits and flowers in between the gaps of the faces. She left it in her will and gave it to my mother. For some reason or another, my mother absolutely hated anything and everything associated with her. She put all of my grandmother’s belongings in the attic and promptly told me at the age of 9:

“Mary Tai, never ever go up into the attic or you will be punished strictly! I am serious! Don’t you ever go up there!”

I knew she was serious since she used my full name and she only did that when she wanted to stress something.

I often wonder what happened that could have caused my mother to be so surly towards my grandmother especially since she treated my mother with nothing but love and respect. The fact of the matter was that she never really interacted with her too often. She even became extremely angry when I snuck off to visit her.

I searched for an answer and asked my grandmother why my mother had to be so angry, so unloving, to not even associate herself with her.

Ah, but my grandmother never gave me an answer. Instead she told me not to worry about it and that I would learn one day.

Not too long afterwards, she was murdered in cold blood within her own home, but an interesting thing to note is that the murderer was found dead as well and the strange music box lay near them covered in blood.

I was only 9 at the time so I didn’t quite understand everything about death. I wanted so hard to believe she could come back but slowly realized that would never happen. I thought about her every time I was laying down, trying to sleep. So many restless nights…

That music box was such a mystery as well. Why was it covered in blood? Why did it lie near them? Why did the murderer die as well? Strange things indeed. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. I longed to figure it all out and make sense of it. I needed closure.

After many failed attempts at finding the truth, I finally gave up. Why bother? If I figured out what happened, it wouldn’t bring her back to me. She would still be dead. That was the truth of the matter. Figuring this, I just closed it away into the confines of my mind, locked deep away in my subconscious.

---

Time doesn’t stand still for those in sorrow, however. After many years, I decided to go to college. I studied up on health care and related subjects because I wanted to become a doctor. My dream to become a doctor was fueled by the suffering I have had to watch people endure. My studies were difficult though. I couldn’t concentrate, I couldn’t learn. Becoming a doctor proved to be an impossible position for me to obtain.

I realized how useless I was when my mother fell ill. I dropped out of school to care for her. She didn’t have insurance. She couldn’t receive good enough treatment. I struggled to make her comfortable and tried to save her but… she completely hated me.

Trying to find out about my grandmother in my youth, had made her come to resent me. She thought I was dishonorable in her eyes. Her cold judgment burned in my soul, tearing a hole in my being. All I wanted was to know more about her. Surely this was not dishonorable?

But she expressed hate that I went against her authority. She believed I had no place in learning about my grandmother and when I tried to, I was disobeying her. She looked down on this and never forgave me, not even in death. She had taken her hate of me to her grave. I could never remove that pain. It still burns in my heart to this day.

---

I didn’t have a father as he had left the family when I was still only 3 years old and my grandmother was dead. I didn’t have any aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, anything. The only good thing was that I didn’t have to go to a foster home since I was old enough to make it on my own.

That isn’t to say it was easy, however. I struggled to find a job but was turned down almost everywhere. I was in severe debt and actually picked up drinking. I thought that women could hold their composure a lot better than men ever could so I thought I would never drink, I thought I was above it. Oh how wrong I was…

I slowly became an alcoholic but after meeting Jonathan I was able to slowly break off of drinking. We met at a bar and it was clear I had, had one too many. He stopped me from continuing my drinking marathon and took me home.

He was so nice to me. He treated me with total respect and considered me his equal. In my honest opinion, I believe I am far from being his equal. I was had become such a pathetic human being. To think that any other individual on the planet would even group themselves in the same category as me was unbelievable.

For this I had complete respect for him, I wanted him to be happy, I was in love with him. I still drank here and there but I was not longer an alcoholic and Jonathan had given me my life back. He gave me a job, a home, and best of all, the chance to experience what true love was. Times were not great forever though, Jon had caught a strange virus that didn’t have a cure.

I stayed by his side certain that he would live because he looked so healthy and fine. But looks can be deceiving. He died three weeks later.

I was seriously thinking about committing suicide but I never could pull the trigger. Time passed and I slowly accepted the way things were.

---

After a stunning revelation of things that had passed, I was curious to learn more about my grandmother. I made up my mind and decided to look around the attic for the music box. Pulling on the string, the attic door opened and crashed on the floor.

I jumped nervously but then shook it off. After a short breath, I began climbing the ladder up into the dark abyss. I thought I was being reckless going up there. What right did I have to search for the music box? Was it really my place to look at it?

My mother’s hatred for my grandmother must have rubbed off of me in some way or another. I didn’t know if I should have trusted her or not for a while. But I shook this off and just kept climbing.

---

When I reached the top of the ladder and climbed into the attic, I looked around. I saw some dusty old boxes covered in blankets worn and torn from the several years of lonely solitude. While scanning the area, the golden glimmer of a shiny object among the dusty boxes caught my eye.

I walked over to where I saw the glimmer and looked down to see the music box in all of its glory, perfectly intact and unhindered by time. The box was painted a shade of gold and had portraits of people on the side.

In between these portraits were flower decorations. I hesitated to touch the box. The desire to touch it was as strong as my desire to leave immediately and forget it all. My desires collided and forced me to stand there and just stare at the box as if it was hypnotizing me.

I felt my hand slowly come down upon the box without consciously making myself do so and before I knew it, it was in my hands. I stared at it without doing anything else for a long time. Slowly, the urge to just open it started to overpower me.

In the process of opening it, I think I felt ever emotion in my body explode in a course of under three seconds and my mind drew a blank. I heard a tune slowly take over my mind as I soared through a series of past memories and thoughts. They surged through my soul and I was in a daze.

All of a sudden I saw my grandmother walking towards me as the memories continued to soar by. It was as if the memories were televisions rapidly switching channels while my grandmother was the only solid being. She kept walking until we were face to face. I didn’t know what to think.

Was this a dream? Was this reality? Did I die some how and is this the afterlife?

I didn’t know what to think. I wanted to just hug here, but I also wanted to run. Before I could think it through, she slowly rose her hand and handed me a single white flower. I held it in my hands and looked at it. It was almost as hypnotizing as the music box.

When I looked up, she was gone and everything returned to normal. But I still held the flower in my hand. The most unbelievable thing had just happened to me and I just stood there. After a few seconds, I felt a tear roll down my eye.

---

Yeah this story sucked. I wanted to flesh this out more and make it longer and more detailed but then I would FAR exceed the word limit. I don't expect to get a high score in the contest but I will move this to Creative Minds and make a fleshed out version so you always have that to look forward to. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this story regardless.
 

Kitten

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Maybe I shouldn't be critiquing this, 'cause I rarely write when I'm not forced to, but I figure it can't hurt.

Hate to use this stereotype critique but 'show not tell (unless it is more suited to the moment to simply tell)'. You don't go wrong with this too often, but, for example:

“Ah! I’m so bored! Being in this house is total hell! I want to go out and do something! If even for one second!”
doesn't seem to fit right. It would flow better to show that she's looking for something to do. Perhaps just leaving it at 'Being in this house is total hell!', as she is already obviously frustrated by the T.V. not working and the floods keeping her confined to her house.

Another thing I'd like to say is that your sentence structure sometimes clashes. Again, it's not a big problem, but FOR EXAMPLE (again :p):

She pulled herself together and got up. She then proceeded to tug on the wire
That doesn't flow. It just kinda threw me off when I read it. Maybe something like:

She pulled herself together and got up, pulling on the wire above her
or something. Hey, I don't know, you're the writer. Also, don't ask me how to do this, but I think you should create more of an atmosphere around the box, because I like the way you've set it up in the attic, and I bet you could do more with that.

Probably the last thing I have to say is that your character is a bit weird. I know it's hard to define her in the short amount that you have done so far, but for example, she seems to be a tpyical girl-girl (shopping as a hobby!) and scared of rats and bugs and stuff, but when she gets the music box, she doesn't have any qualms about it being dusty. Now it could be that she's not actually a girly-girl, but just acts that way because or peer pressure and doesn't really mind dust and rats as much as she lets on, because, like I said, you'll be fleshing out the character a lot more as you complete more of the story.

And some minor nitpicking! 'She did own this house before she gave it too me'? Double O! And not of the seven variety, because THAT WAS NOT SMOOTH. And all lameness (on my part) aside, that 'before she gave it to me in her will' did seem like you just wanted to include how she acquired the house. I don't think you need to include that, really. I assumed it had been left to her when she thought it was her grandma's, anyway.

Now, this may seem like I hated it or something, but believe me, I didn't. I am interested in the music box, and the fact that I even read it (I'm a very apathetic person) proves that! I know this seems like a very small proportion of positive to negative, but I did like it and hope you continue it soon.
 

Jazzy Jinx

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D*** that was a lot of critiquing for just a taste of story. Not that I'm complaining (actually I wanted it) but I didn't see it coming. I'm testing out a new style of writing very different from my usual style, hence the only thing I said before I started the story.

As for the "grandma owned this house" thing was foreshadowing for what is to come in the story. It pretty much just tells you that the music box will be the magical item and explains why the protaganist doesn't know it was. I won't spoil the story for you though.

I deeply appreciate your critiques as this is going to go forward and help my story. The too was a typo. Even the best writers can't avoid that...

Hope you stick around for when I am finished with this.

P.S. Scav! I saw you looking at my story! You know judges aren't allowed to look until it is finished! My eye is on you!
 

Kitten

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Haha, yeah. The 'too' thing was just me being annoying. I know that the 'grandma owned this house' thing was just showing that the protagonist doesn't know what it was, but it seems a bit weird for someone to actually think that. I can make the inference that it was the grandmother's house from the line before it, so it just seemed a bit redundant or something.

Looking forward to the update.
 

Jazzy Jinx

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I suppose... The style of the story, do you find anything wrong with it. I mean just the style in general. You should tell me now before I continue the story in this format.
 

Evil Eye

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Well, your style isn't exactly breaking new ground in fiction. It's not Diary by Chuck Palahniuk or Puttering About in a Small Land by PKD. It's a pretty traditional style. Description and dialogue, spiced with a bit of internal dialogue.

I don't have time to go into your execution of it, but the style itself is hardly jarring.
 

Jazzy Jinx

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I'm just shooting for "doesn't suck". Eventually, I will try to creat my own unique style. (The one I had before apparently sucked). If it sucks though, I can go back and correct it. That's what revisions are for.

Did it at least hold your interest? That's the most crucial element of literature and it would help if you tell me if it did or not.
 

sheepyman

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Well, I think one thing you should consider is not using metaphor where it isn't needed. The word 'unnecessary' yelled at me in the very first line.

Try to use figurative language only when it's natural. When it feels right. Don't just pritter it away on meaningless lines that basically give away a setting that wasn't intended to be all too visceral to begin with.
 

Jazzy Jinx

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I see what you're saying. I'm going to do a massive edit and round the story up this weekend. One of the major things changing will be the fact that I am placing it in a first person perspective. Brainstorming is going to be a b**** this weekend and I still need to study for my DWYP debate. Tis going to be busy... Anyway, good luck on your entry and if you are not going to participate then good luck... exisisting?

Edit: @sheepyman: The edit might not be up THIS immediate weekend but I will be working on it carefully. I might as well just take the first post down until I get the edit but I'm lazy so I won't...
 

sheepyman

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YEAH THIS WEEKEND RIGHT???

Well, I'm doing this so people will know when the edit has been made without you having to dubba post. :)

Also, fix those typos! That's how they getcha.
 

Jazzy Jinx

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Old style terminated, new style drafted.

I am only about 1/3 finished with this mamajama but tell me what you guys think about the new style.
 

sheepyman

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You have typos all up in this muthaphukka.

Also, there are a few parts that don't really... move all that nicely. The part where you introduce the mother -> grandmother relationship seems hastily put together, and the portion concerning the husband especially. Not so much hastily put together, but it seems like Jonathon meant more than 4 paragraphs to her. I wouldn't know just how much he comes into play seeing as I don't have the whole story, but you should definitely add more to his effect on her life.
 

Jazzy Jinx

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I am watching the 8000 word limit but you are right, I need to be more descriptive. Typos? I freaking hate Word's spell check. It sucks so much...
 

Eor

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I haven't read it, but you don't need to make it completely italicized.
 

Ami

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My grandmother used to own a music box that was painted a lovely shade of gold and was encrypted with beautiful decorations of human faces and flowers in between the gaps of the faces.
This line kind of bothers me because of the repetition of the word "faces", and the sentence is a little bit wordy. That's just my opinion, though.

Good start on the story, but I agree with Eorlingas about the italics. Again, my opinion.
Can't wait to see what you do the with the rest of the story.
 

Jazzy Jinx

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That's why I said not to read it. I already changed that part before your critism but thanks regardless. Hopefully I will be able to see and critic your entry but I am so busy right now so don't take it offensively if I don't. Good luck!
 

Jazzy Jinx

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THIS STORY SUCKED!

Eh, I tried. But no worries, I will add this story to Creative Minds and it will be more fleshed out and definitely better. So at least you have that to look forward to.
 

Ami

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Oh, you're being too hard on yourself.

It wasn't that bad. Probably not your best, but it's all right. You tried, and that's all you can do!
 

Jazzy Jinx

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I don't expect to win this contest but I decided to enter it just to see how the judges would react. Regardless of their opinions, I am still going to add this to Creative Minds in a more fleshed out sytle.

It will be A LOT longer in my fleshed out version. Oh, and thanks for the kind words. ;)
 
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