Well, that run was over. Apparently three good nights of sleep in a row are my limit. Or what the story making part of my brain needs to recharge up to full blast. I lay down to sleep, started to drift off and then BAM an hour later, full blown Plot bunny attack. Usually when I get up and sketch things out I can be done with it and get back to sleep. this time, I got up, wrote things down went back to bed, began to drift off and about an hour later, another attack. It was sort of the rhythm of the night. And all parts of the same story. And its a good one. I can’t complain I really want to write out the full story. I would have just liked to sleep as well. At least I had three good days. Oh well, morning prompt anyone? Good, lets kick this Friday off right then.
Okay this may be my favorite timed writing of the week. Don’t get me wrong, Earnestine was hard to beat. But I really like this story. So much to tinker with.
Friday, January 28th: He loosened the chains just enough.
He loosened the chains just enough. While Bols appreciated the ability to move into more than one position and, when the need arose, to actually reach the chamber pot stationed in the corner of the room, he wasn’t sure it was much of an improvement. He was still chained in a dungeon he hadn’t known existed three weeks prior with a non-communicative jailer and no clear reason why he was actually imprisoned in the first place.
It wasn’t the first time he had been locked up with no clear idea why. Bols just thought he was probably that sort of person. He was beginning to think that despite his best efforts to seem non-threatening and likable, something about him was threatening and not likeable.
He just wished he knew what it was.
It was on the growing list of concerns. Thus far, he had done a lot to add to his list of concerns and questions but hadn’t actually been able to eliminate any of them. At the moment a new one was rising and as usual, he wasn’t sure what to think of it.
After spending the last three weeks chained to the wall in this dank dungeon with barely more than a few inches of movement available to him, today he was taken out of his cell. He was taken to a room at the end of the corridor, stripped of all of his filthy garments, scrubbed down and dressed in clean garments before being led back to his cell.
In his absence the cell too had been scrubbed down, the chamber pot added and the chains loosened just enough to make using it possible.
“So did you just get tired of the stink?” he asked his jailor.
He didn’t really expect an answer and was unsurprised when none came. His jailor barely twitched an eye in his direction when he spoke. While Bols appreciated the cleaned state of his skin and the clean garments, even if they were of rougher material than he was accustomed, he knew there had to be a reason. He doubted the jailor was bothered by the smell and he knew that his thoughts and feelings weren’t taken into consideration.
Bols settled down and tried to think of reasons for the change in treatment. The only thing he could think of was that there was someone who might mind the smell coming for a visit. While Bols doubted that he would become friends with whoever was holding him captive, a visit from someone other than the tight-lipped guard might give him a chance to get some answers.
‘Answers would be nice,’ Bols thought.
As far as he knew, he didn’t have any. He woke up six months prior in a small cottage in the woods. He was naked and had no memory of anything prior. It was clear that the cottage had been abandoned for a long time before his arrival. There was nothing of use inside and where his body lay was the only cleared spot on the floor. The accumulated dust from that spot on the floor was now on his bare skin and he had a tender spot on his ribs where he lay on part of a broken chunk of wood. He suspected that if laying down on his own he would have moved the wood to give himself a cleared space on which to sleep. Since it wasn’t moved it argued well for someone else helping him into the cottage. Unfortunately there was no sign of anyone else around.
Ten til Midnight 