 Lorendiac 2006-10-19 . chapter 1I admit I didn't think anything she found in the mysterious room would be quite so ugly as all that. Although I had noticed a certain parallel to the old fairy tale about "Bluebeard," who solemnly gave his wife keys to everything and then told her not to open a certain door. When she did, she found the corpses of his previous wives. But although I noticed a rough parallel, I didn't guess you'd actually take the parallel that far!
One potential weakness in this story stems from its being so short. There's real suspense when the narrator enters that room, real shock when she realizes there are dead bodies in it . . . and then that's the high point of the story right there (from my viewpoint, anyway). Until then, we had no real reason to think Brenda was a serial killer. And we never find out any reasons for her to be a killer after we learn she is, either. Things end very abruptly.
Two other minor questions that nag at me, come to think of it:
1. Is the narrator, Alex, female? I tended to assume that, because Alex had another girl as a room mate in the apartment, but I can't recall anything you specifically said that told us Alex was female.
2. How did Brenda know Alex had merely touched the doorknob? When that happened, I was thinking the question would be addressed later. It wasn't.
Now for a few nitpicks about spelling and stuff like that.
In your summary for the story listing, it should be "coincidence" instead of "coinsadence."
* But as I reached for the handle, I stared awingly at Brenda's closed door. *
Awingly? I don't think that's a word. There is the word "awe," and something that inspires awe can be "awing," but I don't think that really fits in this context either. Perhaps "I stared longingly"?
* And other than that horrifying scene, it was mostly pretty peaceful inour appartment. *
The space between "in" and "our" somehow disappeared. Also, it should be "apartment" with one P. You make the same mistake in the following paragraph, for some reason. |