(SunWe) A Spark of Understanding II, description, Gather Writing Essentials

I stood for a few minutes in front of the door, staring at the ancient round knob and the key hole below. The black enamel had faded from its surface, worn off from the years and endless turns. The blonde wood was faded now; and the heavy scratch just above the knob marred it’s surface, but made me smile. My finger touched it lightly… A memory popped fresh into my mind, Jack had run into the room screaming “Arrrrrg! You can’t catch me- I’m Blackbeard!” and he slammed the door shut just as my wooden pirate sword had come down. We’d been swash-buckling in the old boat in the back yard when it started to rain… ran inside as soon as ma called- but the game had not ended. We were relentless, we’d ran through the house battling sword against sword, and I had to win! Oh man, that was 30 years ago, but it felt like yesterday.

The world had kept on going, but this door, this knob, this room- damned! This entire house…just… Stopped. Like a time capsule in an old 50’s horror movie. Jack died. And Ma stopped.

I reached down and turned the knob. I held my breath for a second – I don’t know why…and the old wood creaked and slowly swung open. The musty smell of unused linen and mothballs rose up and hit my nose. Jack?

Addition to an Original post: A spark of understanding: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981753957

The Prompt*

Choose a character you 1) want to write about, or 2) have already created in a piece of yours.

The curtain goes up.  We see the stage set; it’s your character’s living room or bedroom or apartment or similarly revealing living space.  Write a one- or two-paragraph objective description of the room or space. Describe the furniture, knick-knacks, décor, age, state of (dis)orderliness or (dis)repair, pictures, even smells.  Without going into exhaustive detail down to the last dust-bunny, give us a specific and comprehensive enough description that we feel like we know who your character is before she enters.