That's all She Wrote

[Richard Stone]

Richard Stone smiled as he carried a box full of fortune cookies down to his classroom. He had left a note on the bulletin board letting the students know he was running a creative writing workshop that day, and if they wished to attend, all they needed to bring was a pen, notebook and creativity.

Arriving in his classroom, he placed the box on his desk and perched on the corner as he waited for any students to start trickling in. If it turned out that he'd bought too many cookies, they could take one on their way out as well as the one they would be using for the workshop.

When it was time to start, he smiled to the students who were seated and picking up the box, he walked around the tables and placed a wrapped cookie on each used table before walking back to his spot at the front of the room. "Good morning. This isn't a test, nor is this going to be graded." He started with a smile. "The idea of the cookie is to break it open and the fortune inside is the first line of your story. There is no required length of time that you have to write for, but I ask that you give it at least half an hour, and you are free to leave whenever you feel you are finished." He raised his eyebrows as he took out his own cookie and sat down behind his desk.

Fortune Cookies!!!!

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara held the blue glittery spiral bound notebook in her hand, black and blue gel pens were attached to the binding, and she walked through to the English class. Fictional creativity, had never been a strong point for Cara, so she hoped that attending the workshop would help her with her setbacks.

Bowing her head to Mr Stone, she walked over to the table against the wall, front row, and sat down. She pulled the pens off the binding and opened the book to the first blank page, turning the cover back so that it was against the back cover, and place the book in the centre of the table.

She jumped as something was placed on the notebook and she frowned at the wrapped cookie, but didn't touch it until further instructions. She opened the wrapper when the instructions were given and she broke the cookie in half. Pulling the paper free, she pushed the cookie back into the bag and put it at the top of the desk. She then looked at the paper and arched an eyebrow. Picking up the black pen she wrote:

'Strength is built upon inner character.'

Returning the black pen to the desk, she picked up the blue pen and wondered how she was supposed to start a story with that.

[Lucy Woodhaven]

Lucy had heared about a creative writing workshop,and she knew that would be good for her. It would be a chance to meet a teacher and maybe met some other like minded students. Lucy carried a back over her shoulders it was a black draw string bag. Lucy went into the room and with a nod to the teacher found a seat.

She pulled out a pen and a notebook.Lucy watched as the teacher set the cookies on the desk. Lucy listened and nodded as he finished talking. She opened the cookie and read it Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Lucy smiled as she started to write.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

'Strength is built upon inner character.' The words her grandmother used to say echoed in her ears as Dulcea Yansa stood by the closed doors. She looked around, wishing she could see the wizened elder, but sadly she stood by herself, save the handmaidens who were busying themselves by making sure that her hunter green velvet dress was free of any lint and that the gold panels hung perfectly and the pleats were even.

"It gives me, my greatest pleasure, to introduce to the court; Her Royal Highness, Queen Dulcea Yansa, the jewel of Inlibia.”

The girl's back straightened as she held the scepter in her right hand, and then with a deep breath, pasted a smile on her lips and stepped into the grand meeting hall, trying to ignore the number of people standing there. Her back straightened even more as the crowd seemed to bow or curtsy respectively as one as she approached the huge dais.

She had been preparing for this day since her birth, though the child in her screamed that she was too young for this much responsibility. Her mother should still be sitting here, but the woman had been assassinated a month earlier, and while Dulcea knew that she could have abdicated her title, there was a chance that it could have set the planet into riots and she couldn't do that to the people who had been so loyal to the Yansa line since the beginning of time, and she would eventually hand her title to her daughter, when she had one. As the Inlibian throne was always handed down to the females, though it would be her luck to only have a son.

With a confident smile, she seated herself in the throne, a large seat that she would need to grow into, and smiled at the people gathered to see if she would actually sit in the throne, and she listened as the chancellor continued to go on and on about the royal line and what her duties to the people would be.^©

Cara placed her pen down above the notebook and read through her neat precise handwriting, surprised that she had written so much in such a short amount of time. Her cheeks heated up when she relaised that she had used her mother's name for the character of her story, but she wasn't going to change it, as then she'd have to write it all out again.