This is what i entered in the twilight short short story competition. It had to be less than 350 words, and contain the words:
Red Carpet
Forks
A Swan
It was quiet, so quiet that each rock dislodged beneath my feet was like a crime against nature. The lake lay there so peacefully; it felt so wrong to disturb the calm.
I stopped; I knew that I was here, that I had reached my final destination.
With regret I walked to the lake. Using every ounce of courage that I held in my body, slowly dipping my biggest toe into the bitter waters, deliberately taking my time, persuading myself that I could acclimatize to its icy temperature.
I quickly withdrew the point of my toe, startled by the screams that were suddenly upon me.
They had caught up with me, after all this time.
I strained my eyes to search through the fog, shocked by the sight; the still waters were no more.
Gasps of terror clung to me, while I located the disturbance.
Waves cut through the dark water, rippling until they lapped against the shore.
A small girl - no more than 6 - struggled in a fight against death itself.
I had heard this before; too many times I had woken to the sound of these screams. There was no time to hesitate, no time to back down now. It was time to face the nightmare. With one desperate gulp of air, I threw myself into the water, diving into that black body that had terrified me for so long. The water engulfed me, and I fought hard not to let the panic take hold. I hurriedly swam to the girl, with forks of water trailing in my wake.
I was shocked upon reaching my destination to find it was but a hallucination, just a swan quickly leaving the vicinity, disrupted by my violent attempts to fight the past. I watched with awe as the white swan faded into the mist, like blood disappears into red carpet. I stayed where I was, treading water and breathing heavily as the feeling of achievement flooded through my veins. Today I had done it! Twenty years ago I had nearly drowned. My nightmare was over.
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