Great Incantations Bracket Challenge

Great Incantations members faced off in two separate bracket challenges. The rules were simple, read the other stories in your bracket and pick your favorites. It was a friendly competition, with only bragging rights on the line.

In the first competition, the winners of each bracket were:

Bait and Hook by Lena

I ducked just in time to hear the bat smash into the car above my head, and I twisted sideways, grabbing the bat out of Jim's hands and knocking him to the ground.

"Sorry, Jim. Not today."

Graffiti. by Caroline Jane

Frankie stared out of her bedsit window and watched the hustles of people below her rage through the remains of the day. Each of them spurred on by capitalist propaganda disguised as wisdom.

Make Kindness Boss Again!!!! by Tiffany Gordon

The billboard ad, located on the left side of Dirkstone Boulevard, featured a young couple standing in front of a cotton candy stand at an amusement park, holding up matching peace signs, while posing hard with their tongues hanging out.

Un-vax by Rugergirl22

Jani walked the deserted streets with an eye to the empty windows above. She still hadn't gotten used to the feeling of silence. She longed for the busy buzz of life; empty chatter, horns honking, even sirens. Instead, the cars were gravestones scattered through the streets, the windows quiet mourners watching over them. Cinder let out a yip and nosed her loose hand. The blue heeler was her only friend since the world had become this quiet tomb.

The Overall Winner Was:

Katy's List by KT Marie

I feel a twinge of guilt about my ploddin but I don't get up. I rock my chair and I sip my coffee and enjoy my smoke just like I do every evenin. I take a long hard drag til the tip glows orange and I think how every inhale is a clock tick. There's peace in that clock. Peace in the dusk and the call of cicadas that drowns all but my childhood– the accompaniment of days spent runnin barefoot through the woods, swimmin in the river and catchin crayfish with my cousins while the South Carolina sun scorched our backs and kissed our chests til they sprouted hair and we donned our shirts and left it all without a backwards glance.

Congratulations to KT Marie (Tera Marie) for a wonderful story. Make sure to read this story and all our winners.

With a robust response to the first challenge, a second bracket challenge was held to make sure everyone had a chance to participate.

The winners in the second challenge were:

The Cleansing by Kevin Slimmer

Three weeks later, I met someone. Not like that. Romance hasn't been part of my life in a very long time and is something that doesn't interest me. I struggle to lift my heavy body out of bed every day. Caring for another person is something I just can't fathom. This, someone, was just a stranger. I was sitting at a table at a local coffee shop, drinking a coffee, like I do every morning, trying to jumpstart my will to move. I was staring into the blackness of the caffeine-filled liquid when I heard a voice.

Getting Back Up by Jennifer Christiansen

She was beautiful. With her white puffer jacket and pale pink angora sweater complimenting her lip gloss, my sister looked like she just stepped out of Teen magazine. I chugged along behind her on the ice, trying to keep up, but she was faster and more graceful. One long swan-like glide across the frozen pond was worth at least four of my short, choppy strides.

Man of the Mountain by Joshua Mason

Lightning crashed and thunder roared across the landscape. I sat in a cave watching the rain pour down while I held my hands over a small fire. I had found this cave twenty minutes before the rain came and had decided to hunker down for the night.

The Package by Dawn Salois

Memory unlocked the door, being careful not to drop the bags of food and supplies she had picked up in town. As she opened the door she caught her reflection in the window and noticed her dark curly hair was frizzy and her green eyes looked tired and worn out.

The Overall Winner Was:

The Fire at Freedom Pond Park by Gerald Holmes

The plan was to get the fire started, then escape back the way he’d come; across the frozen pond to the small park, which opened onto Water street, and then three blocks south to the small side street where he'd left the car. But as he got to the edge of the pond, he turned back to look at the fire and couldn't leave. He needed to watch it burn, but most of all, he wanted to hear their screams.

Congratulations to Gerald Holmes. Make sure to read this story and all our winners.