The Storage Room
May. 17th, 2014 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clare_dragonflyTitle: The Storage Room
World: other
Word count: 574
Rating: G
Prompt: A prompt stolen fromaldersprig, who got it from K Orion Fray: Write for ten minutes, and describe something. It can be a person, a place, or and object - but just describe it. Use as many of the senses as you can, and don't skimp!
Notes: Still not sure what he's looking for. But I'll figure it out as I go through the prompts!
The storage room was disgusting. Zane couldn’t believe he had to be in such a filthy place, let alone touch things in it.
Still, he had no choice. For the sake of his own life—and, more importantly, his daughter Kelsey’s—he had to start looking. He knew it was in here somewhere. If only he had a better idea of where exactly it was, he would probably have to touch fewer things.
He took a deep breath to steel himself—a mistake, he realized once it was in. It smelled like something had died in there. Something probably had. Coughing, he pulled his sleeve over his mouth and took a breath through that. It smelled like his own sweat, but that was better than the dead-rat smell.
Zane took two steps forward until he reached the edge of the clutter. The first thing that he saw when he looked down was a box; large, white, and sturdy, with two handles. It looked like the sort of box people would use for moving. He knelt down on the cold concrete floor, braced his shoulders, and lifted the dusty lid.
To his relief, it was filled with books. They were mildewy and there appeared to be spots of mold on the cover of the nearest one, but they were definitely books. He stuck his hand in and felt around, but all he encountered was the dry sensation of book pages and spines. Nothing disgusting was hiding in this box.
As soon as he thought that, his fingers encountered something that wriggled away. He yanked his hand out of the box with a shriek, then looked around wildly, hoping no one had heard him. But of course, there was no one around to hear him. That was half the point of this place.
It’s just a bug, he told himself. Get a grip on yourself, Zane. He shook his head, put the lid back on the box, and turned to the next item. This was a duffel bag—slightly sticky to the touch. He shivered, opened it, and looked inside. A stench wafted out, but it was actually just gym clothes. He hoped that was the source of the dead-rat smell. Deciding that it was too late to keep his hands clean, he rummaged around inside, checking that nothing was hidden under the shorts and tennis socks. All he found was a padlock and an empty plastic water bottle.
With a sigh, Zane levered himself up and moved on to the next pile of items. And this was just a jumbled pile. With a rotten banana peel next to it. Disgusting. The rest of the pile consisted of kids’ toys, sticky with years of spilled juice and the accumulated dust of however long they had been sitting in this place.
Who would hide a powerful magic object in a place like this, anyway? Zane wondered this as he kicked aside a half-deflated basketball and moved on to a tangled stack of furniture. If they were counting on the disgustingness of the storage room to protect it, well, they’d sure failed. He wished he could stop looking, but he couldn’t.
The furniture seemed to be in good shape—dusty, but solid—and though he tried knocking on various parts of the desk and the table, he couldn’t find any hollow places that might be hiding it. He was going to have to move on.
World: other
Word count: 574
Rating: G
Prompt: A prompt stolen from
aldersprig, who got it from K Orion Fray: Write for ten minutes, and describe something. It can be a person, a place, or and object - but just describe it. Use as many of the senses as you can, and don't skimp!Notes: Still not sure what he's looking for. But I'll figure it out as I go through the prompts!
The storage room was disgusting. Zane couldn’t believe he had to be in such a filthy place, let alone touch things in it.
Still, he had no choice. For the sake of his own life—and, more importantly, his daughter Kelsey’s—he had to start looking. He knew it was in here somewhere. If only he had a better idea of where exactly it was, he would probably have to touch fewer things.
He took a deep breath to steel himself—a mistake, he realized once it was in. It smelled like something had died in there. Something probably had. Coughing, he pulled his sleeve over his mouth and took a breath through that. It smelled like his own sweat, but that was better than the dead-rat smell.
Zane took two steps forward until he reached the edge of the clutter. The first thing that he saw when he looked down was a box; large, white, and sturdy, with two handles. It looked like the sort of box people would use for moving. He knelt down on the cold concrete floor, braced his shoulders, and lifted the dusty lid.
To his relief, it was filled with books. They were mildewy and there appeared to be spots of mold on the cover of the nearest one, but they were definitely books. He stuck his hand in and felt around, but all he encountered was the dry sensation of book pages and spines. Nothing disgusting was hiding in this box.
As soon as he thought that, his fingers encountered something that wriggled away. He yanked his hand out of the box with a shriek, then looked around wildly, hoping no one had heard him. But of course, there was no one around to hear him. That was half the point of this place.
It’s just a bug, he told himself. Get a grip on yourself, Zane. He shook his head, put the lid back on the box, and turned to the next item. This was a duffel bag—slightly sticky to the touch. He shivered, opened it, and looked inside. A stench wafted out, but it was actually just gym clothes. He hoped that was the source of the dead-rat smell. Deciding that it was too late to keep his hands clean, he rummaged around inside, checking that nothing was hidden under the shorts and tennis socks. All he found was a padlock and an empty plastic water bottle.
With a sigh, Zane levered himself up and moved on to the next pile of items. And this was just a jumbled pile. With a rotten banana peel next to it. Disgusting. The rest of the pile consisted of kids’ toys, sticky with years of spilled juice and the accumulated dust of however long they had been sitting in this place.
Who would hide a powerful magic object in a place like this, anyway? Zane wondered this as he kicked aside a half-deflated basketball and moved on to a tangled stack of furniture. If they were counting on the disgustingness of the storage room to protect it, well, they’d sure failed. He wished he could stop looking, but he couldn’t.
The furniture seemed to be in good shape—dusty, but solid—and though he tried knocking on various parts of the desk and the table, he couldn’t find any hollow places that might be hiding it. He was going to have to move on.
no subject
Date: 2014-05-18 04:47 pm (UTC)I liked the way he shrieked then looked around all self-conscious and, "No one heard that, right?" That is me. Often in the aforementioned basement. *chuckles*
no subject
Date: 2014-05-18 04:50 pm (UTC)Glad you liked it! :D