User blog comment:HumboldtLycanthrope/The 666 word pasta write off!/@comment-24234841-20160412224223

Writing something good in 666 words is hard, but I gave it my best shot. Here goes:

Strawberry Jam

He had come to the library every day to eat his lunch. His parents had stopped packing it, so from now on it was PB&J’s, all day, every day. He didn’t believe in lunchboxes, so it had become lunch hour after lunch hour of the same flattened bag of peanut butter and bread.

 One day, the bag had exploded, leaving a twisted slime of grape running down the side of his backpack.

 “Fuck.” He whispered to himself, looking around for something to wipe it with.

 As his eyes darted frantically around the room, they found themselves locking with a girl’s. Brown hair and thick glasses. Big eyes. Staring right at him.

 For a second he forgot about the jelly, he forgot where he was, and he just looked at her. She looked away for a second, but then brought her gaze back to him. She giggled, her face turning red.

 He looked around to see if there was anyone else she could possibly be looking at other than him. This made her giggle even more. He grinned at her, and she returned it with a sweet smile, turning to talk to her friends again, running her hands through her hair.



 One in the chamber.



 <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">After spending two minutes deciding on what he’d say to her once the bell rang, he finally chose “That was some nice prolonged eye contact we had back there.”

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">After saying it a couple of times in his head, it sounded like he enjoyed staring into her eyes for longer-than-usual periods of time. Not that he didn’t, of course.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">After running through a few more options, sitting at the table by himself like an idiot, he decided that he wanted to draw her instead. He took out a spiral bound notebook and clicked on his mechanical pencil, looking up only when necessary. She’d think it was creepy if she knew he was doing this. But he wanted to capture her in this moment. He laughed at himself, and how it only took 10 seconds of nonverbal contact to be completely infatuated with this girl.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">A hunk of jelly slipped off of his backpack, landing silently on the linoleum.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;">

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">Four in the magazine.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;">

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">She got up to throw away some trash, and he tried as hard as he could to not let anyone see his eyes follow her backside.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">He spent the next few minutes sketching her meticulously. The way her cheekbones sunk into her face, making her look like she had constant dimples. The way her nose curved up like a ski slope. The way her long lashes fluttered whenever she blinked. His focus stayed on her, tunnel visioned around his object of affection. This was his hormone-driven idea of romance,

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">She looked at him again and smiled.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">He smiled back.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">He was shading the streaks of blonde in her hair when he lost his hearing. A sharp, exploding noise that felt like it destroyed his eardrums. He dropped the pencil and looked up.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">There was a hole where her face should have been.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">There was someone standing behind her with a Remington 870.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">Her friends screamed, although he heard no noise come from them. They got up and ran, and the person swung around and pumped the shotgun, smoke pouring out of the chamber. The person fired, and one of the girls’ backs exploded.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">Suddenly, he felt his legs begin to move. Fight or flight.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">Three guesses as to which one he chose.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">He stumbled behind a bookcase, getting on his hands and knees.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">He peered from in between nonfiction books on the old west, looking at her. Blood sopped out of her face, fluctuating in and out. As if she were breathing.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">Jelly leaking out of a backpack.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">He should of been thinking about his parents.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">He should have been trying to make peace with whatever god he believed in.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-indent:36pt;"> <span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">But for some reason, all he could think about was his unfinished drawing.

<span style="font-size:13.3333px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">And the linoleum footsteps grew closer.