Inner Race

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and is getting ready to celebrate a joyous year. For those who wish the year should have been better, may the new year bring you many, you many joys. Despite the flurry of activity for the holidays, when I pulled the results for the month’s genre poll, I was nervous and excited about tackling another fairy tale. Unfortunately, the nerves were because of the lack of ideas. Fortunately, the White Elephant gift I received last year came to the rescue. My Rory’s Story Cubes have provided me with many concepts to use as the building blocks for my tales.

Once more, they came up big for December. The first trio I rolled was a tree, a building, and a pair of theater masks, one smiling, the other frowning. While this combination intrigued me, it took me a few minutes to work out a way to weave these patterns into a complete story. While the first two were easy to incorporate, the last entry proved more difficult. Ultimately, the masks appear for a single purpose in the story, but given how I embedded them into the narrative, I’m eager to bring back in future installments.

So, find a comfortable chair and curl up as I guide you through a tale of mystery and mischief.

Once upon a time a young man stared out his window, consumed by the falling snow’s majesty waiting for his chance to leave…

Once upon a time, a young man dragged his fingertip across a windowsill as he watched the tumbling snowflakes fall. After a few quickening heartbeats, a grin bloomed across his face when his eyes fell upon his watch. He fled his office, slipping into his coat as he rushed toward the elevator. As the doors parted, he stepped in, pressing the lobby’s button.

The moment the journey ceased, and the car opened, he snaked through the hallways to the building’s side exit. Upon reaching it, he gasped, rocking on his heels. He extended an arm and traced the strange addition of twin dramatic masks. One bearing a grin while the other scowled, but both were intensely exaggerated. He shook his head and pushed through the doorway, but instead of crunching the fallen snow, he crushed several blades of grass.

“Hello, my young sir.”

The man spun, discovering an odd being floating above him. “Who are you?”

“Sebastian, you were chosen to join the thrill,” the mysterious figure said, spreading his arms wide as he drifted around the young man, his mouth curling into a wicked grin. “Therefore, I brought you here in accordance with my master’s will.”

Trembling, the young man inched away from the mischievous stranger. “What’s going on? What did you do? Where am I?”