stillsostrange

So tonight in chat,

jmeadows gave me a pony. And of course, being chat, it was a carnivorous pony. And then the pony started talking. And then I ended up in skeeery parts of the internet, with too much information and the vestiges of a story idea.

And because I need a short story in the next two months, here's the first line meme again.

"Bridle"
No first line yet.

"Needlepoint"
You wake crumpled on the floor, legs folded awkwardly and one arm twisted behind your back. The room is dark and still, except for the green blink of the timer behind your right eyelid.

"Red is the Color"
I wake with the taste of storms in my mouth and screams echoing down the hall. Slow and dream-sticky, and for a second I don't know where I am, but I'm still on my feet with my gun in my hand before my eyes are all the way open.

"Serpentskirt"
All Souls Night and the gutters still brim with shed Hallows skin. Broken glass crunches under Jane's boots as she carries an amp to the van, glittering beside limp feathers and cracked sequins, tattered black and orange fliers. One hell of a party, she heard--Sixth Street is still subdued and sleepy. But even for the day after Halloween and a Monday to boot, the crowd is still better than last night's in Dallas.

"Shoggoth with Grace Notes"
Tuesdays are music lessons.

"Snakebit"
The horses were restless. Lanie woke with a start, the sound of snorts and hooves all tangled around her nightmares, dreams of fire and smoke. Sweat clung sticky to her neck, pasted her shirt to her back, even with breeze from the open window. Beside her, Merle stirred with a muffled curse as one of the horses whinnied.

"Summer-Colored Where the Bones Shine Through"
No first line yet.

"Waiting For the Train"
When it's raining here, you hear the trains. You can hear them other times too, with the tracks so close, but the dusty heat of summer bakes the sound out of the air, till it gets buried under cars and trucks and TVs and voices and all the other small-town noises. But when the rain comes, and the trains come, the whistles carry all over, low and mournful and rumbling in my chest.

Hear that, brain? It's the meme. That means you have to start working now!