S.M. Carrière . com

Hi everyone!

So, I wanted to make this blog a little more interactive for you.  I've been wanting to do this for a while now, but I'm not sure I have enough members who regularly read and interact on my blog to make this work, so it's really just an experiement for now.

And the experiment is this:

I want to take you on an adventure.  A choose your own adventure.  I'm not sure yet how the story will end.  That, dear readers, is up to you.  

This is how it works:

I will write a story in which YOU decide what will happen.  You, after all, will be the one having this adventure.

I will write out the beginning of the story and leave you, dear readers, with a choice of actions you can take, objects to find or decisions to make.  Based on what gets the most votes in the comments, I will write out the next piece of action with the next decision the following Friday.  I would like to have one story finished by the end of the year, at which point I'll make it available free for everyone to download on Smashwords (if you feel you want to read it all again in one sitting).  Sounds like fun?

Of course, this won't work if no one votes, and it'll be more fun the more people vote, so share these posts around as much as possible, please!  I might as well start today.  So here it is:

Your Very Own Adventure

You awake feeling groggy on a broad plain, surrounded by tall, golden grasses.  Insects buzz and sing to one another in the hazy afternoon heat.  You're tired.  Your limbs feel like lead, and the muscles ache when you try to move.  Your mouth is dry - chalky, like you haven't had a drink in over a year.

Gazing up at the sun, you realise that you have no memory of your life before this moment. Lost memories loom like trees in the mist; obscured and obfuscated, never becoming clear.  The strong sun beats on your bare head.  It's hot.  Too hot.  You need to find shade.

Struggling against the weight of your own limbs, you stagger to your feet and look around.  Waist-high grass stretches as far as the eye can see.  It dances in your swimming vision.  Raising your hand to your head in an effort to relieve the pounding, you touch something wet.  You pull it away and look.

Blood.  How did that happen?  You can't remember.

Turning around you spy one lone tree.  Its stunted limbs have few leaves.  The shade it provides will be minimal.  Still, where a tree grows, there must be water.  Lurching forward, you make your unsteady way to the tree and collapse.

It is late afternoon when you wake up again.  Long shadows make the area cooler, if only a little.  Placing your hand against the smooth, white bark of the tree, you haul yourself upright.  Other than the angle of the sun, not much has changed.  It is still hot, the insects still buzz and you feel like you were in a fight with a raging  bull.

There is a small patch of green in the otherwise golden expanse of grass near the base of the tree.  Green flowering tufts of long grass sprout around a rock.  Curious and desperate, you lift the rock slightly.

Brown water glistens underneath as dark insects scurry from underneath the disturbed rock.  You never really liked bugs, but you can't care about that now.  You toss the rock aside and kneel.  Brushing the thin layer of film away from the top of the water, you cup the life-saving liquid in your hands and drink.

It tastes like dirt.

You drink your fill.  The pounding in your head eases slightly and your stomach settles a little.  Your mouth still feels chalky, but at least you're salivating again.  Deciding that preserving your water supply is important, you replace the rock and turn to climb the tree.  Scouting the terrain couldn't hurt now, could it?

Upon turning, you're stopped dead in your tracks.  You spy:

a) A dark-skinned woman leaning on a spear.

b) A dead horse, still saddled.

c) The ruined foundations of a small village.

Alrighty!  Cast your votes!