Thanks to everybody who entered!
Voting is very simple:

Simply choose your favourite story and vote for it in the poll above.
Do not vote for your own story.
Do not tell anybody which story is yours.
Voting will close in 3 days and I will post the winner in a new thread. The winner gets to choose the theme for the next challenge, which will be a sig banner graphics challenge.

I have had to split the post into 2 due to a character limit - please read all the stories together and then vote for one out of all four.



Untitled #1:

As the plane soared through the clouds, through the tiny windows all Jim could see was the misty fog, masking the panoramic view of the mountains and landscape below.
“Flight approaching Venice airport, prepare for landing,” the flight attendant announced.
Jim couldn’t wait to get to Venice as although he loved his sisters dearly, they got in the way sometimes and he badly needed a break.

Walking into the Italian sunshine was a treat. Jim worshipped the change from the lousy weather Dublin had been getting recently. He decided the first thing he would do was pay the hotel a visit, have a rest and unpack his suitcases.

The hotel was luxury, with a comfortable bed he thought, as he was trying it out. The room had a large window, which looked out upon the outdoor pool and the trees surrounding it. He stayed round the hotel for the rest of the day, as he was tired and had had a long day.

“Excuse me; could I have directions to the nearest beach please?” Jim asked at reception.
“I’ll show you on a map,” said the man in partial English, whilst pointing to the map.
Once he had an idea of where the beach was he headed down there, with a towel and sunglasses in hand. As he approached, the golden sands were in sight and Jim could smell the lovely sea breeze. He could hear the birds flapping in the sky as they fought for the nearest crumbs of food lying around. He could feel the hot sand as it crept between his toes and the sea was a clear turquoise blue. He took some holiday snaps to show his sisters as he knew they’d be jealous.
“Is anybody using this deckchair?” he asked a lady who was about to sit down.
“No, take a seat,” she replied as she reached to undo her bikini top, “Lovely beach isn’t it?”
“It’s beautiful! I’m Jim by the way,” he replied as he laid down his spotty pink and yellow towel.
“I’m Rachel; I love the beach, love to get an all-over tan!”
“You on holiday?” Jim asked in a bit of a fluster as he glanced at her chest and then quickly diverted his eyes.
“Here for a week,” Rachel replied.
They exchanged pleasantries for some time, until a lady passed with a coffee in hand.
“Excuse me, where did you get that coffee?” Jim asked the lady.
She looked blankly at him, clearly not understanding.
“There’s a coffee shop over there,” Rachel informed him, pointing to the shop.
“Thanks, must go and get one, it smells so good,”
“Nothing like Italian coffee, nice talking to you!”

During his stay Jim visited the rivers in Venice. When he arrived, he was a bit grumpy as he had walked and it was further than it looked, but it didn’t help that he had got a bit lost! His mood lightened when he saw the gorgeous river, with the sunlight shimmering off the water and creating an elegant look. He took photos for the girls to see and travelled on a Gondola boat, if only to make Sharon jealous!

He went in the pool many times and visited the towns. He went shopping, as he knew he wouldn’t survive if he didn’t take back a holiday present for his sisters. He also took photos everywhere he went, so his sisters could see them.

When it was time to leave, he trudged back to the airport and boarded the plane.
“Flight is approaching Dublin,” the flight attendant announced.
As the plane touched down, Jim sighed as his life went back to normality.



A change of plan:

”I don’t believe it!” Sharon burst and glared at the snow whirling outside the airport window.
“Keep it down Sharon,” Caroline nodded towards Andrea who was asleep on the floor with her head on her hand luggage.
“Oh what does it matter, she’s going to have to get up soon anyway,” Sharon snarled and continued to glare at the snow with a vicious look on her face. A few moments later Jim walked into the VIP lounge with a glooming look on his face.
“Please tell me there’s a way of this arctic ice cube!” Sharon pleaded but Jim shook his head.
“No way, we’re stuck until tomorrow at least.”
“ARRGH!”
“Wha- what’s going on?” Andrea sat up looking confused and tired and Caroline supported her back automatically as her younger sister was sitting up.
“There’s too much snow, we’re stuck here.”
“But-“ Andrea began and then stopped to rethink her sentence,” does that mean I can sleep in a bed tonight?”
“I guess.” Jim said dully.
“Let’s go then.” Andrea said and got off the floor and led the way out of the airport. The limousine drove slowly through the snow. A massive snow storm had struck the capital of Sweden and forced the whole city to a slow down. The four siblings, tired and moody from show and the disruption of their plans turned in quickly.

“Come Sharon, come and see!” Andrea bounced on Sharon’s bed and her sister grunted something incomprehensible in response.
“Cazz, come on!”
“I’m up Andy, what is it?” Caroline asked calmly, a bit more tolerant after a night’s sleep.
“Snow, snow, there’s snow everywhere!” Andrea twitted and rushed to the window and pulled the curtains aside. Caroline had to blink for a few moments before her eyes could focus on the scenery spreading out before her eyes.
“Umh, Sharon.”
“What?!” Sharon growled from under her pillow.
“I think you should come and see this.”
“Oh fine, fine, fine, fin-“ Sharon stopped her rant when she came to the window. Outside, the world was covered in white, Stockholm was a city on water and now it was cold enough for it to freeze and the snow had settled on everything. The sky was a spectacular pale blue and the sun was glistening in the snow crystals. People were walking by outside and their breaths stood as little clouds of smoke around them.
“Wow!”
“Let’s go outside!” Andrea grinned and started to pull out their coats, Caroline laughed, her sister reminded her of her middle child, Gina who was just as energetic and spontaneous. After some persuasion Sharon agreed and as soon as she had breakfast and walked outside where the air was cold and crisp her mood improved.

“Look at this, let’s go down here.” Jim suggested and peered down an alley that was full with people, shops and little cozy café’s and pubs.
“God, I haven’t been a tourist in a city for months.” Sharon smiled when they stepped down the alley.
“This is actually the oldest part of Stockholm, know as The Old town.” Caroline informed from a brochure she was holding and Andrea stopped to stare incredulously at her.
“You’re kidding?”
“No, not at all, this place is almost older then the oldest parts of Dublin though when Stockholm was first founded it was called Birka.” Caroline continued to read and Andrea giggled helplessly.
“Spending my time, in the old town!” She sung between her fits of laughter and the others laughed.



Don't forget the other two stories below!

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Untitled #2:

I flew from London to New York on the red-eye and arrived feeling queasy with nothing in my stomach except coffee that was too strong and bitter. It was blustery and cold when I arrived, but the sky was high and clear. The sun was weak. I walked though Central Park with my hands shoved deep into my pockets, shifting busy pigeons which cluttered around my feet.
I was alone – and a little afraid to be alone – but I felt fine, then. New York was amazing. Nobody looked at one another – they were all so busy living their own lives and doing their own things. I watched everybody from a bench under a towering oak tree that spread its branches wide over the path, dropping acorns and dry leaves everywhere.
I thought about him a lot, though. In fact when I couldn’t be distracted by strutting pigeons or giant pretzels – or the hundreds of yellow taxi cabs cluttering the streets – I was thinking about him. I saw shows on Broadway – lots of them. During the ones which couldn’t hold my interest, I was watching the audience. The third time I saw Rent I sat next to a woman who managed to knit an impressive length of a scarf without ever taking her eyes away from the stage. The man two seats in front and three to the left of me had hands like Shaun.
I didn’t go to the theatre again after that.
I walked. Everywhere. I went to museums and gazed at things without really taking them in. I stood in front of paintings that took up entire walls, and walked circles around sculptures that didn’t really look like anything to me.
I saw the Statue of Liberty and marvelled at her size and all of the people who massed around her feet. I took ferries and crossed bridges and sat in taxi cabs until it got to the point where I realised I had nothing left to do. This enormous city and its millions of people could no longer hold the job of distracting me from the fact I would still be alone when I went home. Just like when I first arrived, I began to feel queasy – only this time it went deeper than too many cups of coffee.
I went back to the places which had held so much curiosity for me when I’d first landed. Central Park was bare of leaves and looked dismal. I wandered along a maze of paths, crunching rotting acorns under my shoes and squelching through slushy puddles of ice. People jogged past me in pairs and I grew so weary of it I retired to my hotel and didn’t leave my room for three days.
I called Caroline and she told me to come home if I was miserable.
“I’ll be miserable at home, too. Shaun isn’t there.”
“I am,” she said softly.
I flew out from JFK and my last glimpse of New York was the sun dipping between the sky-high buildings. I had photographs and pamphlets and the obligatory “I ♥ NY” t-shirt. I didn’t have Shaun. And I wasn’t fine with that yet, either. But it was no use trying to distract myself from how melancholy I felt without him. But time would march on and eventually the cloud around me would lift.
When I left New York, spring was starting to break through the clouds, and I tucked a little piece of it away to keep with me. Just in case I needed a little help.


Traveling in heels...

Andrea’s plane had just landed and she was waiting for her luggage to arrive praying that it didn’t get lost like the last time she traveled alone. It was a sunny Monday afternoon and she couldn’t wait to settle in her room and search around this beautiful new city she had never been in.
Only this marvelous sun and warm spring temperatures of Lisbon could make her forget her breakup up with her boyfriend.
That night, Andrea was too tired to do much so she decided to stay in the hotel and have a nice dinner followed by a nice movie and popcorn in her room before going to sleep.
The next morning she woke up surprisingly early. She picked her camera and sunglasses and got ready to go and find out more about this lovely city. She was staying in a fancy downtown hotel so it took only 15 minutes to get to Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. She was amazed with the sight of this huge and beautiful monastery and instantly picked her camera and started photographing it around like a true tourist.
She was trying to get a full picture of the monument’s facade but it was too big to fit the camera screen so she started to walk backwards when she suddenly stepped on someone’s foot with her very sharp heels.
“Ahh… mas que raio!?!?” a young man started cursing the pain away, in Portuguese and Andrea couldn’t understand a single word.
“Oh my, I’m so sorry. I don’t understand what you’re saying but I’m really sorry for hurting you” she kept apologizing, hopeful that he would understand her.
Luckily for Andrea, the guy knew how to speak English and with no accent “Ok, fine. Don’t worry, I’m ok.” He said with a huge smile on her face but she could still notice the look of pain on his expression “But damn… what mean heels you have on, lady…”
The both laughed and Andrea kept embarrassed. “I’m Rui, it’s nice to meet you.” He held out his hand and Andrea instantly shook it.
“I’m Andrea.”
“So, traveling around Lisbon?” he asked, and for the first time, Andrea noticed that he was actually really cute. Dark hair and eyes and very nice short beard…
“Yeah… I just got here yesterday afternoon. This is as much as I’ve seen so far.” She pointed out the monastery and for the look in her eyes he could really see she was impressed with it.
“Well, you chose a pretty good start.”
“Yeah… but I’m a bit lost…”
“Need any help? I’m free right now so if you need a guide…” he offered to help
“Oh no, I’m fine. I already stepped on your foot I can’t make you my guide.”
“Yeah well, auch to that. I’m no professional guide but at least I can help with what I know…”
Soon afterwards she was with him in a cab, on her way to some garden he mentioned. On the way there, he pointed out a few things to visit later and told her a bit of the city’s history and she could help but be amazed at everything around her. At the Gulbenkian’s garden he showed her everything there and, being a biologist, explained a lot about plants.
Back in Dublin, she had just finished her shower and let herself fall on the bed. She picked a paper from her purse and it was Rui’s number. He had been really nice to her and turned out to be a nice memory of the city, along with the many things she visited and loved.

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Now reading...

maybe I'll vote tommorow I'm getting sleepy

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lol fair enough Paul, thanks

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Voted. Nice job everyone!!

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Great job everyone,,

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Untitled #2 for me. I love the way it shows all the great things Andrea's seeing but how she can't appreciate them because of the loss of Shaun. And also the bit about Central Park being bare and desolate is an amzing referance to her life In short I LOVE IT!!!!!!!! If it was on a shelf with that as the blurb I'd buy it

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Well done everybody!! Great stories!

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Well done everyone! Was fun to read

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S.P.E.W. supporter

I've finally voted Great job eveyone

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