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herzog
06-26-2010, 07:24 AM
I would appreciate any feedback whatsoever, thankyou.

The decrepit door opened into the progressively unkempt room. The mother led her daughter into the apartment by the hand. There was a distinct resemblance between them, but it wasn’t due to their common genes. Bleary eyes, filthy hair and a general sense of disarray enforced the relation between them.

Come on, baby. Come to your room, ok? Mummy needs a little time alone. I’ll give you a bath afterwards, promise.

They exchanged a familiar interlocking of little fingers before the mother closed the door and slid the bolt forward.

In the child’s bedroom, the young girl lay on the unmade bed. Her silent tantrum was the reason for the scant number of bedclothes being strewn over the dusty floorboards. Tears had streamed down her cheeks as she lay on her side. They left a damp pool on the bare mattress.

Mummy, she repeatedly mouthed in silence; don’t forget you promised.

Outside the morning was bright. The kind of warm, careless day that epitomises spring. The kind you are grateful for after the bitter months of winter. The city was vibrant and alive outside the cracked glass that entailed her window.

The afternoon sun through the window awoke her. She blinked heavily several times, bidding farewell to the colourful shapes behind her eyelids. Glancing at the unmoved door, she felt a pang of distress in her stomach.

Mummy. You never came.

She got up and tried opening the door. There was enough play in the door to allow her to manoeuvre the bolt out of its shallow hole in the doorframe. It swung open with a long creak. Outside her room, the rest of the small inhabitance was quiet.

Crossing the living room, named so due to the shell of a malfunctioning television sitting in front of a third or fourth hand couch. She entered the bathroom.

She found her mother sitting limp on the toilet with her head resting against the adjacent wall, eyes rolled to the back of her head. The needle still protruded from a withered vein in her arm. The bath next to her had been run, the tap still leaking slowly into the body of water.

Oh mummy. You did keep your promise, she said exiting her clothes and lowering herself into the now cold water.

hillwalker
06-26-2010, 02:25 PM
It's a gripping story - and all the time I knew there was going to be an unpleasant sting in the tail. You have a real ability in creating effective tension as the tale unfolds.

My only real gripe is that you over-elaborate in a couple of places (in style and content) when a simpler use of language would be much more effective.

In particular that opening paragraph doesn't do the story many favours. It can be cut without losing any impact or sense :

underlined bits unecessary - bold type suggested additions


The decrepit door opened into the progressively unkempt room. The mother led her daughter into the progressively unkempt apartment by the hand. There was a distinct resemblance between them, but it wasn’t not only due to their common genes. Bleary eyes, filthy hair and a general sense of disarray enforced the relation between them.

Also there are a couple of awkward phrases :

'the small inhabitance'
and
'named so due to the shell of a malfunctioning television'

Other than that a really intriguing tale, with an original twist on what could have been a clicheed parable.

H

Thinking
06-28-2010, 02:21 PM
Well...I am not expert on telling people about their stories...but I am just a reader and I found your stroy very gripping...the way you started it...keeps one intact...

So I think you have written a very good piece.

Well Done !

Delta40
11-07-2010, 06:41 AM
a good story. I agree that some language is bumpy. I sort of felt the predictability of the story. That may be due to its shortness, which I am confident you can expand on especially by detailing the child and her surrounds, activities and thoughts a bit more which would make the impact of finding her mother more forceful.

Post in the short story section so you get more reviews.

Maryd.
12-01-2010, 07:21 AM
Yes Herzog... I felt as Delta did. But I liked it. I almost felt as though I was the young girl. Well done young man. Keep them coming. :)