Part 2 by Christine Fagan
Desperate for a way through, he decided to try a new approach. He swallowed all that was left of his pride and leaned his whole body into the bricks. He simply leaned, and with that he could feel movement. The wall ebbed and flowed as if controlled by breath. This wall works remarkably like a lung, he thought as he continued his leaning. In almost an instant he felt swallowed. The wall consumed him in his entirety and he clumsily fell through the bricks. Given the chance he would have screamed, but a contradictory mix of pride and shameless fear overtook him, and he remained silent. After a few seconds of eternity, he was on the other side. Once he regained his balance he stood ready to face the council. He was going to win, if only because he was not ready to die.
Part 3 by John Cirilli
He did not know of what he was accused, only that he had done it. The starkly cold eyes (or he thought they might be eyes) of those sitting in council followed his every move with unrelenting focus. The minds behind those eyes, hard and sharp and twisted, would never have trifled to accuse the innocent. They saw further into him than he himself, but he knew one thing that they did not.
Want to write the next paragraph to the story? Submit your paragraph to NDLFshortstory@gmail.com before 4 p.m. Limit of 200 words. Title it Part Four. This story will continue until Nov. 16. If your paragraph is selected, it will be published in Viewpoint and you will get to read it at the NDLF panel discussion Nov. 19. The visiting authors will write the ending paragraphs. Take advantage of the opportunity to write a story along with three New York Times bestselling authors!
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
