That isn't really the name of the story.. I think it has no name.
This might be the piece we are currently the most proud of.
The idea: Someone writes a paragraph (or whatever) and sends it off list to
the next person. That person writes their share and sends it off.
It didn't matter if they wrote one sentence or one paragraph. Everyone
had input.. It was sort of like the old Child's game of Telephone- hence
the title.
Here it is..
Untitled Telephone Story
By: Susan, Melissa, Doghouse, D.A., J. Elizabeth, Brian, Misty, Anne, Colleen, Jo, Sue, & Garvis
When he heard the car pull in the driveway, his first
instinct was to turn off the lights and act like he
wasn't home. Maybe if he was lucky it was just a car
caught going the wrong direction and needing to turn
around.
Unfortunately, he didn't hear it pull out or see the
headlights do so. That meant that she was here. After
all he had called her. It was time to deal with it
all. Of course it would be easy for her as she lived
for confrontation. He tended to want to flee as fast
as he could at the thought of confrontation.
It was too late, as he heard footsteps on the walk.
The click click click of her high heeled shoes. When
the knock came to the door, he froze. When the second
knock came he stood up slowly…
So what if she was an attorney…and his wife…make that
soon to be ex-wife. He was a man who could take care
of himself, contrary to popular belief. Of course,
that didn't explain his sudden urge to run, or find a
blankie to clutch, or scream for his mommy.
The third knock sounded louder, more impatient…a rapid
series of tap, tap, taps against the wood. "I know
you're in there! Now open this door!"
Taking a deep breath, he reached for the knob and
turned it slowly. Not wanting to appear as timid as he
felt, Wesley swung the door open wide and put on his
best fake smile. "Hello Lilah, your bellow never
ceases in brightening my day."
______________________________
_______________________________
"Shut up, Wesley, you know why I'm here so save your
smarmy little smile for your girlfriends and let's
just get to the point, shall we?"
Wesley felt the blood rush from his head to his lower
extremities as panic welled inside him. My
girlfriends? Did she know, or was she just being smug
in that special way of hers, he wondered. No, she
couldn't know, no one could know because he was too
careful.
He'd always been careful. Even when he was courting
Lilah he was always careful. He dropped his smile,
suddenly more concerned with standing upright and
stopping the shaking in his knees than trying to put
on a good face. "What do you want, Lilah? I was just
getting ready to go out and run some errands.
"Yes, I'm sure you have "errands", Wesley, you ALWAYS
have errands, don't you?"
"What?"
"Don't give me that, Wesley. You know exactly what I'm
talking about."
She knew. She had to know. Oh God, it couldn't be
happening like this. The planning, the careful
planning, it was impossible for her to know, so what
was going on here? Wait, it WAS impossible, wasn't it?
Wesley suddenly didn't know anything anymore. His
heart was beating a hard, steady rhythm in his chest
and he felt a cold line of sweat start to develop on
his brow. Indecision welled within him as he turned
and slowly stepped toward the end table next to the
couch, the couch he and Lilah had made love on so many
times after watching a particularly good episode of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
"Where are you going, Wesley?"
His body started to calm as he made his decision.
"W...what?"
"I said where are you going?"
"I'm not going anywhere. It's you who's going
somewhere, Lilah dear."
With those ominous words Wesley reached for the end
table, and Lilah reached into her purse...
Meanwhile, across town a seemingly unrelated incident
was beginning to take place.
"You are one damaged goods sister!" Meredith shrieked
as she dove across the table, lunging for Jessica's
throat. Jessica threw herself backwards to avoid the
enraged woman.
"Stop it and listen to reason"
"I'll show you reason you harpy!"
"I'm not the enemy. I'm not the one that...hurt you."
Meredith let out an enraged shriek and charged again.
How much longer could Jessica hold out?
She was beginning to grow weary of this game. All of
the women she was forced to tell that it was over with
Wesley, they all reacted the same way. No amount of
money was worth this. Jessica needed to get out of
this. But how?
As Meredith charged at her again, Jessica knew. She
side-stepped Meredith, letting her go face first into
the wall. Meredith turned around with pure hatred in
her face.
Jessica just smiled.
Meredith had never felt rage like this, and she wasn't
sure if it was the anger, or the head injury from her
collision with the wall, or even the liter of vodka
she just drank, but black spots started to form before
her eyes, and she began to lose consciousness.
When she awoke, she was in bed in an unfamiliar room.
She tried to sit up, but quickly realized that she was
tied to the bed with what appeared to be leather
straps. Deep down, she knew she should probably panic,
but her body simply wouldn't respond. From
this position, all she could move was her head, which
slowly turned around at the sound of the door
unlatching, and a man in a white coat entered.
"Who the hell are you?", she screamed, or at least
tried to scream, but the words simply drooled out the
side of her mouth lethargically, "Did Jessica put you
up to this?"
The man spoke calmly in what could only be a very
practiced comforting tone, "I'm Doctor Horowitz,
Meredith, and you've been brought here so that I can
help you."
"Let me go!" she slurred, "If Jessica finds me here,
I'm done for!"
"Meredith," he said in that same calm, patient voice,
"Jessica doesn't exist."
______________
"So why am I here and who brought me here", Meredith
inquired.
"You were brought here by Wesley", Dr. Horowitz
replied. "He noticed your mental state was
deteriorating and was fearful you would reveal your
affair with him to Lilah." "He is plotting to inherit
quite a large sum of money from Lilah's life insurance
after her untimely and unfortunate death and he did
not want you to get in his way".
Meredith began to shake uncontrollably in fear for
what was about to happen. "What do you intend to do to
me", Meredith quivered.
"I have given you a very powerful amnesiac drug. You
will not remember this conversation or any of your
past from this moment on". "Oh, and we also harvested
your
left kidney."
"Why does my mouth hurt so bad?" Meredith inquired.
"We also planted a microchip in your back molar and it
will track your whereabouts. If you come with 50 feet
of Wesley, you will be shocked by a defibrillator type
of device planted in your brain".
Without another word, the doctor turned and left the
room, locking the door gain. Meredith struggled to get
free from the restraints, but felt the blackness
overtake her again.
_____________________________________________
She was moving through a fog. She heard voices, but
couldn't make out what they were saying. She turned
her head, trying to discern the direction. Her whole
body felt heavy like it was made of lead. As the fog
started to clear, the voices got closer.
"And she doesn't remember *anything*?" one voice said,
male with a soft timber and a British accent.
"Nothing. It's all gone," another male voice answered.
She fought her way through the fog, trying to find the
men, needing to know what was happening.
"Doctor, I think she's waking up," a soft female voice
said.
She felt a hand on her face. "Mara, darling. Can you
hear me?" the British voice pleaded. "Please open your
eyes."
"Who's Mara?" she asked, groggily. Her mouth felt like
it was full of cotton. She started to open her eyes
but the light hurt too much.
"You're Mara," British voice answered. "I'm William
and you're my wife."
Bright light or not, she needed to see his face. She
opened her eyes again and discovered she was lying on
a hospital bed. There was a man sitting on the edge of
the bed, stroking her cheek. He was attractive...if
you like librarians. He did look familiar, but...
"Are you sure?" she asked him. "I don't feel married."
Meanwhile, back on the other side of town, Lilah took
an envelope from her purse. No matter how hard she
denied it, she really was sorry to see her
relationship with Wesley disintegrating. She wished
that they could have a normal life together, although
that would never happen. But sometimes, in the middle
of the night, when she woke up sad and alone, she
dreamed. She dreamed at times when the heavens were
dark and her hopes were high, but every time, light
broke the illusion.
He knew the gang was horrified at his relationship
with Lilah, but they weren't his group anymore, so why
did they care? Why did he care? Oh, but he did care.
Cared so much. They had been his friends, his
partners. He wanted to be back with them...especially
with Fred. He supposed that psychologically, Lilah was
a replacement for her, not like he couldn't have
chosen a woman more opposite from Fred. He really
needed to get over Fred, the only woman he ever truly
loved, but he just couldn't. She was unlike the
others, especially Meredith, who he just could not get
rid of no matter how hard he tried. He pushed her out
of his mind because at this very moment, she was being
taken care of. His interest in Fred had dwindled,
until the other day when she had come to him asking
for help. Reminded him of everything he had loved
about her. No matter how convincing Lilah thought she
was, Wesley could tell she was jealous. It was sort of
funny, in a twisted sort of way.
"It's time we ended this, Lilah," Wesley says, picking
up a file from his desk.
"I agree," Lilah says.
Fred was raised as a boy. Fred's Dad wanted to have
the all American kid who was the star baseball player.
But as long as Fred could remember he felt like he
wanted to be a little girl. Sugar and spice and
everything nice.
After the trauma of growing up a boy Fred met Wesley
at a bar. They became good friends, very good friends.
Wesley helped Fred discover his real self. The woman
named Fred was out of the shell and ready to discover
the world as a woman. Wesley and Fred developed a very
deep and personal relationship.
--
---------------------------
Mara looked up at William. She tried to place his
face. If he was her husband she should be able to
remember him. She concentrated as best she could.
The lights were still amazingly bright. And the pings
and beeps and whistles seemed to keep her off balance.
She looked around at the walls of her hospital room.
They were white, bright white, plain white. She
sniffed the air. Fresh white. These walls had just
been painted. But if the walls had just been painted,
why did they have patients in here?
Mara stared back at William’s face. It did look
familiar, but not in the husbandly way. She tried to
remember him placing a ring on her finger or handing
her a rose or over top of her as they made love.
Wait. Something clicked. She could remember his face
over top of her. His jaw thrust out as he pressed in.
She could see the sweat and the concentration on his
face and she could feel the pressure. The pressure of
his body on hers, his hands pressing in tight on her
throat trying to kill her. A light finally broke in
Meredith’s brain. She wasn’t Mara, this man wasn’t
her husband and this was most definitely not a real
hospital.
Across town another revelation was taking place as
Wesley stared at the file in his hands. He began
smoothing out his fingernails with it and staring at
the envelope in Lilah’s hand. “So, what’s in the
envelope?”
“It’s the divorce papers, Wesley. You need to sign
them,” Lilah said as she opened the envelope and
removed the papers. “In the settlement you admit to
having numerous mistresses, infidelity and mental
cruelty. With the terms of our pre-nup, that means
you get nothing, but out of the kindness of my heart,
I will allow you to keep this.” Lilah motioned at the
house they were currently inhabiting.
“Now Lilah dear, why would I ever consent to that?”
Wesley asked nervously, the file zipping side to side
as he continued to work on his nails. “Mistresses?
Infidelity? That’s all in your mind. You grew bored
with me and started looking for darker thrills.
You’re the one that began sleeping around and not very
discreetly I might add. You have no proof that I’ve
ever been unfaithful to you, but I have photos of you.
And video. I can show multiple instances of
infidelity and many of them occurring all at the same
time.” Wesley stopped filing his nails and looked
straight at Lilah’s eyes. “You know, Lilah, I really
didn’t realize how limber a person had to be to take
on four men and another woman all at the same time.
And I didn’t even know you were ambidextrous.”
Lilah stared at Wesley, unsure of what he was talking
about. She had never stepped out of the bonds of
their marriage and she wasn’t ambidextrous either.
Her sister had been the lucky one there. She stared
at Wesley. Suddenly she understood his gamut. Her
sister. Her identical twin sister. That had to be
the answer. Wesley had found out she was planning to
divorce him, leave him with nothing, and he had conned
her estranged and unbalanced sister into helping him.
“You bastard.” she hissed at him. “You don’t have
pictures of me. You have pictures of my sister! You
have pictures of Jessica!”
Wesley sat the nail file down on the desk. “Now Lilah
dear, that would be impossible. It’s like Dr.
Horowitz explained to you. You don’t have a sister.
Jessica doesn’t exist.”
