Contest #9: Writing challenge

[Taniaetc]

24th of April today, just two days left. Where are your entries? A few more would really be nice. Or is there anyone who would write something if we extended the deadline a few days?

Me. I'm in the contest. So please, please please (x100) extend the deadline!
Yes, I'm atm writing my story now... using word.
Sorry, haven't noticed this ago... must have missed it.

[The Lost Global Mod]

*coughs* deadline will be extended, wise cat just decided soo.. i mean even if magnamancy is not able to finish his one and i haven't even started, bp's/ramond's entries are nowhere to be seen..
That's a sign. A sign to extend the deadline.But how long do you guys need? 2-3 days? one week? a month?

[Silverthorn]

Give us a week. Albeit the shortage of time this upcoming week on my side, I should be able to squish it inbetween. 1 week is a good compromise in general

[Ascor]

Damn you wise cat!
I thought i'd have a chance with my current one if noone else will have time to polish theirs
but now i'll have to makover my one >.<

[The Lost Global Mod]

kayz extended by something like a week..
oh and hacker why damn me? it just gives you a higher percentage of winning :P

[Taniaetc]

I'M READY FOR THE WRITING COMPETITION!
I DUNNO WHY, BUT THE STORY'S TOTALLY HUGE, 1188 WORDS FTW!

I think that you'll die reading it (Click to View)

The cry of a single raven broke the silence of the night. The light of the moon threw nightmarish shadows, one of them being close to a human shape. For a few seconds the shadow laid on the wet grass of a park, then he began to move towards an old Victorian estate. As the raven cried a second time, the head of the shadow turned around and finally light fell onto the face of the man the shadow was belonging to. It was the face of an old man who had already seen too much in his life, but his eyes still radiated power and a strong will.
After some more seconds he came to the great wooden door and took out a pack of picklocks. He tried the first one, but it didn't fit. A silent curse escaped from his mouth. Hectically he took out the next one and almost dropped it.
'Stay calm' he told himself. 'There is no need to rush.'
Finally he managed to open the lock. He slowly moved the door. With a long and painful scream it swung open. He was there. Just one last step to go...
The door was left open to bring light. He sighed as he watched his family’s old, enormous mansion. A pitch-black carpet fashioned this mansion. A dusty picture of the old man’s family with their piano on the back was hanging on the wall. Those were the only things visible at the mansion. There were many empty spaces. The old man’s family had moved without him, but fortunately they left a picture and their piano to show their love and attention to him. Slowly he walked in and then got close to the picture.
‘Years and years have passed, and now I’ve my sweetie old piano back,’ he whispered to himself while his hands were busy wiping out the dust.
The old man’s name was Philippe. While looking at the picture, his past slowly but steadily came back to him. When he was young, his father used to teach him how to play the piano. He often hid in the garden or elsewhere safe to ‘delay’ his weekly piano lesson, but instead of delaying it, the hiding made the lesson even less entertaining and more boring. To his amazement, as he remembered his past, his father never gave up teaching him, showing that Philippe could make it as a great pianist.
‘Yes, I have learned that my future would be like this. Father, I will show you that I can be a great pianist like you too,’ he told himself. Then he took an old, plain white clothing used to clean the piano, now still lying in its usual place, a table next to the piano. The old clothing was never replaced, only carefully washed and gently cleaned, making it the only fabric able to delicately touch the black, large instrument to wipe out its dust and clean it up.
‘It has been a long time already, isn’t it?’ Philippe told the piano. A few minutes later he finished cleaning his family’s, or now his piano. It had been a long time since he left his home to study architecture, which was now not interest him anymore. It seemed that music is in his blood, and not anything else. He started getting interested in constructing when he saw builders building another mansion next to his family’s. They were working together, one painting, one bringing bricks when others do what they could. Even the neighbours helped if they were idle. He helped too while sneaking out from his music lesson.
‘I thought constructing was my interest, but no,’ he laughed nervously. Then he sat on the chair in front of the piano.
‘My place and future is you, my precious treasure.’ He took a music book filled with basic musical notes to complex ones. Then he opened the book, hands wiping the dust out. It seemed that everything in the mansion were dirty with dust except for the old clothing. It’s always clean, or is it cleaned by someone recently visiting or staying in the mansion? He thought. But nobody entered this mansion anymore. Father gave the keys to me. He said that he never trusted anyone else.
‘Why hello!’ a voice greeted, breaking the peaceful silence of the night. An old yet mysterious man suddenly entered Philippe’s mansion. He was wearing a black tuxedo with a black tie.
‘Who are you?’ replied Philippe, confusion and fear all mixed up on his face.
‘I am the estate’s new owner. Who are you to dare trespass this mansion?’
‘Don’t you remember? I’m the owner’s son. My family left a long time ago, and I was given this mansion to stay in.’
‘Oh. I’m sorry. Shame on myself I do not remember my own friend. I’m just checking around,’ he laughed as he walked in.
‘So why did you drop out from your study? What a shame,’ he continued.
‘I’m no longer interested in construction. My life depends on this,’ Philippe stood and delicately touched his old piano.
‘It’s good to have your sweet piano back isn’t it? I need your help.’ Thomas, the estate’s new owner said. His eyes felt sore, but he felt compelled to meet his old friend.
‘Really? You’d ask me for help? That would be a great honour.’
‘Yes. And by helping me, I could help you of becoming a great pianist too,’ offered Thomas.
‘But how?’
‘Firstly you can practice playing your piano for me to prove that you’re good enough. Then we’ll set up a gathering at the park tomorrow. The guests are this estate’s buyer. They are looking for a peaceful and quiet location like here. If you play nice, they would approve and buy the houses. They would come to your mansion every month and listen to your plays. Good deal? I get the money, you get your skill back,’ he explained. Philippe thought for a while, and then nodded in agreement. He sat back to the piano’s seat and started playing ‘Greensleeves’.
‘Hmm, hmm, it’s a quite relaxing music. I love that. They would be happy about this,’ laughed Thomas approvingly, smiling at his best friend.
‘Do you have some more? Soothing music would throw off this nightmarish night,’ he said. Philippe turned the music book’s page, now showing ‘Canon’. He stopped for a while and then gently landed his fingers on the ivory keys, eyes still focusing on the page. As he played, Thomas sometimes closed his eyes, imagining how his guests would say about this.
‘I’ll leave you alone to practice. See you tomorrow, meet me at the park. There’ll be a piano placed there, so the guests won’t get in your house,’ he walked out and waved goodbye to his friend. Philippe waved back and then played more music until he felt drowsy. As he walked to his bedroom he imagined what would happen next, hoping that he would be like his father, the great pianist.
He managed to sleep for a few hours. It was morning now. Then he walked outside to the park. The sun was shining dimly, radiating hope that he would achieve his goal.
‘Welcome, Phil! Come! Let me introduce you to the others,’ Thomas greeted. Philippe wanted to smile, but something in his voice made it impossible to.
‘My fellow guests, this is Philippe. He is a pianist who is doing quite well. He’ll play the piano monthly for us,’ he announced when the guests were gathering near him.
‘And today, he will play quite nice music for us.’ Phil walked to the new piano, almost identical to his, and sat on the seat next to it. He placed his fingers on the keys, hardly remembering the musical notes. He could barely remember them, but his strong will forced him to, and finally he started to play ‘Fur Elise’ as the guests sat on the seats. He managed to remember all of them. Applauses broke the silence after he finished. Then he played ‘Canon’ in a soft, slow pace.
‘This would be a great day to me. Everyone smiled, making me full of happiness. Father, now I’ve proven that I worth to be a pianist,’ he told himself as he continued to concentrate playing.

Hope that would make sense to everyone...

[Ascor]

Where are the Creative Minds?

They're sleeping!
Do not disturb! >.<

so
i guess i am not able to read anyones story so i don't know on which rank i am currently
will try to make a better one

[Taniaetc]

@Hacker: +1 & what do you mean by "reading others' stories"? You can read anyone's to inspire you. (Just one thing, don't copy others' ideas)
@Topic: Ehm, just want to know, is there any other rules? (Italic font usage, word limit etc)
You know, I think I use some italic font and too many words >.<...

[Reaper]

There is no problem with italic font. In fact I wouldn't have problems with any kind of font as long as it's readable. There is no wordlimit, either. Only think you have to take care of is that you write more than 200 words, which shouldn't be a problem. However, some people might not read the entire story if it's too long. I think I got around 950 words (beginning included).
Btw@Tania: I haven't read your entire story yet (will do when voting starts), but though it's detailed and fluent, I'd like to state that you tend to use the same words/ phrases quite often. If you read through it, you'll see that some sentences directly following each other start or end with the same words which sounds a bit strange. Not everytime, but just have a look at it while rereading the story. Other than that you seemingly have done a pretty great job (as I said, haven't read all of it yet)

[Elias]

I only hate one thing about this contest, you have a small choice and that you have to pick them. In my opinion I like when there are more freedom in your writing or at least the only thing is that there is a specific genre that you have to write your story. The beginnings are good just there only two of them and they sound depressing. WHEN WILL THERE BE FUN.
I had no clue why I wrote that (probably my excuse of writing bad). But yeah the beginnings are good just that.
Back to contest topic.
PEOPLE READ OTHERS WRITERS WRITING AND MAKE BETTER, LOOK WHAT THEY DID GOOD AND GET AN IDEA OR TRY TO MAKE YOUR LOOK SIMILAR BUT BETTER. THAT IS ALL I'M GOING TO SAY.
@Hacker/not so much in writing like me people: Read others, this is like a sprite contest, just you write instead of drawing. So yeah read others if you have time and your not lazy like Kay. Reread yours check mistakes and rewrite to make it look better.
P.S. I'm going to fail this because I had put horrible effort into the end and this contest.