TASK: Write a story with the beginning: "I could hardly believe my ears..."
I could hardly believe my ears as they announced me as the winner for the world’s most prestigious essay writing’s competition, the Writer’s International Guild Challenge 2008. I’m officially the most envied person amongst all the writers and authors out there in the world. I had joined this essay competition for fun and partially for the sake of pleasing my girlfriend, and much to my amazement, out of the 1.763 million entries, I won the award!!
For a moment, time just stopped and that exact moment that the host announced me as the winner was replaying in my head over and over again. The host went, “And the moment we’ve all been waiting for. And the winner is... *drum roll* Mr. Arthur Pond!!!!” Time started moving again and the crowd went wild. The spotlights circled the hall and then gradually focused on me. The entire hall was dimmed, and all that could be heard was the screams of delights, the cheers and the applause of the people. I was dumbfounded. It just was not possible. I worked out 77 mathematical formulas to calculate all the possibilities of this being just a dream, but no, it was real! I think I sat there stunned for 35 hours with my mouth opened wide. Okay, maybe not. As the saying goes, the show must go on. I quickly regained my composure to look good in front of the cameras. Flashes from the cameras blinded me as journalist, reporters and busybodies swarmed over the area around me to get the best possible angle to take pictures of me. Yes. Me. The one and only handsome me.
I arched my lips upwards to please the cameras. Just slightly, I thought. I don’t want to look like an idiot on tomorrow’s headlines. Just think, not everyone would get their chance of gracing the headlines, but oh well, every dog has his day. I stood up from my seat, dusted my tuxedo arrogantly, adjusted my tie, and then proceeded down the aisle towards the stage to claim my award. My 2 minute walk was accompanied with the sounds of applause, whistling and the music played by the ‘sound guy’. As I walked down the red carpet, a gazillion amount of thoughts ran through my head, like the moment immediately after the gun shot is sounded, signalling the start of a marathon. I remembered my girlfriend, Jenny who was always there to support me. Regardless how fat she was, she was my true love. That brought a smile to my face, and the twinkle from my exposed front tooth must have blinded those who were looking at my juicy lips. I thought of my school life arch-rival, Bobby who often said my essays were not fit for reading. Hah! Now I’ve proved him wrong. Who’s the loser now? A menacing laugh cried out in my heart.
As I walked up those few steps leading to the stage, I knew the world was looking at me. I have never felt so proud in my life before. I have proved all my critics wrong. Then something bad just had to happen. I was so caught up with my thoughts that I missed a step and fell flat on my face. My lips tasted the dust on the carpet. My goodness, that carpet must have been last vacuumed during Stone Age. My thick nerdy spectacles flew off in slow circular motion and I hurt my knee on the edge of the step. At that moment, I wished the stage would just open up and swallow me in. It was so embarrassing. My face must have turned into a tomato. But of course, the stage stayed as it was and didn’t consume me. I could hear the gasps of the crowd behind me. Then, I remembered something I read over the internet, and immediately got up into a martial art pose. I acted as though I was in a trance, and carried out some basic martial art moves that wouldn’t cause my pants to tear and after a while, assured the crowd that the ghost was gone. There was a loud gasp, followed by silence, and then a huge round of applause rang out from the crowd. I gave a crooked smile. “Phew,” I thought. “That was a close shave.” My brilliant acting skill saves the day once again.
I picked up my specs and proceeded to the rostrum. Adjusting my specs like those professors, I started my speech.
“Ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening to all of you. Don’t worry about what happened just now. What’s important is, everyone is fine and in good condition.
First and foremost, I would like to thank the organisers for presenting me with this award. It is of great joy and pleasure that I stand here before you to receive this award. Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think I would win this award. I joined this competition only because my girlfriend ‘forced’ me to do it. Having said that, I would like to express my deepest heartfelt gratitude to her. Jenny, this is for you!
To satisfy your curiosity, and also cause I’m required to do so, it is my honour to be read out my first few paragraphs of my ‘What Would You Do If You Woke up Turning into a Millionaire Overnight’ composition. To find out more, you can visit my blog at ArthurtriX.com/blog or check out the organisers’ official website. It goes something like this.
‘A million is not a small amount. Likewise, a million dollars isn’t a small amount of money. Sure, money cannot buy everything, but it can buy a lot of other things. With a million dollars, regardless what you may think or say, it can impact one’s life in an instance, for the better or worse.
I know that many people, as they write this topic, would be the same old stuff, like charitable deeds and how they’ll repay their parents and all, but let’s face it. It’s pure horsefeathers. Frankly, how many of us would actually do all that sort of things? If you have any doubts, give one that amount of money after he writes those sorts of cliché things and see the change in him. It’s a dog eat dog world, and it’s every man for himself indeed. If I woke up being a millionaire, all that money would be in my account for my personal, selfish use.’
That’s all. Thank you.”
A journalist from the crowd yelled out, “At least tell us your last paragraph!” I paused for a moment in front of the microphone that stood lifelessly in front of me. I duly obliged. “If.” I said. Satisfied with the laconic reply, I took my trophy and took a bow, much to the delight of the crowd.
Word Count:
1136 words
13 paragraphs