Welcome to the Steemit Story Chain

I hope this post finds all you Steemers out there well. It is time for another Steemit Story Chain contest where I ask you all to continue writing a story that I start. This week's story is entitled Not Quite Pleasantville.

I want to say thank you to all those who contributed to the last story chain. We had a huge response and it was a story that had a record twelve writers. So thank you to @kingernie, @yassine, @jorlauski, @camilus, @barge, @bless-b, @viraythewitch, @sarahbjones, @choicewilliam, @geoffreydemars, @thot2word and @utomobong. You all contributed some very engaging parts of the story. However, unfortunately the chain became muddled and was not easy to read because some of you didn't number your parts and others didn't continue the story on from the last part. Anyway after a lot of deliberation I have now decided on a winner.

@jorlauski

You took an already established story and built on it very effectively, creating a new dimension to the narrative and adding a nice twist. You even changed the genre to a more lighthearted and humourous one, while simultaneously incorporating a Steemit promotion.

You have won 100 Whaleshares. Please reply with your Bitshares account information and I will send the Whaleshares to your account immediately. Enjoy! If you don't have an account don't worry it's very simple and completely free to set one up here - https://bitshares.openledger.info/?r=akrid-1.

A reminder of the winning part is detailed below:

#13

A cold sweat broke as I sighed in relief at how silly I felt. Looking closer at the picture , I turned it around to look at the back of it . It had some scribbled writing on it that was mostly intact, but had some ink runs from being in a bottle in the lake. Though some moisture had seeped into the bottle -the message was still legible. I read the words and paused for a moment to try to understand what it meant - What would this message be doing here in this lake? - and who would have sent it?

The message was short and to the point - it had very clear instructions and there was a part of my curiosity that simply had to know more. I wanted to follow the instructions to see what would happen. With the crinkled picture in my sweaty hand, I tossed the bottle back to depth that it came from and turned away from the lake, and hurriedly made my way back to my house.

Just a few doors down from my house, old man Jack stepped outside to pick his cat up and noticed me. His eyes caught mine and suddenly, I was anxious the get past him with out all the niceties of having to make conversation. This mysterious note was burning a hole in my head and I could not think about anything else other than getting home to try it.

" Hi Jack .. good to see you .. gotta go!" I huffed at him as I put my head down and soldiered forward, fumbling for my keys. Finally reaching my doorstep, I slide the key into the lock and opened the door.I closed it quickly, took a deep breath and let it out as I leaned up against the closed door. Peace. Quite. My note!

I ran to my computer and sat down in front of it - it was already alive - silently blinking lights on the keyboard awaiting my commands. I took the picture and looked at it one time - hoping for some kind of further clues. Nothing - so I looked at the back again - ready to give it a shot.

Reading very carefully to make sure I understood what it meant , I read aloud the following words:

Want to change your life? Try Steemit.com

I furiously typed the address into my browser - suddenly the screen lit up with opportunity and wonder....wide eyed and full of excitement, I settled into my chair and grabbed my warmed over coffee mug ......

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Let's now move onto this week's new story chain called Not Quite Pleasantville. If you want to enter the contest then make sure you upvote and resteem this post. I have already written the first part of the story below. All you need to now do is use the comment box to move the story on in your own unique style. Be as creative and original as possible. And of course have fun with it! You only need to write a short paragraph or two and remember to number which part of the story you are writing.

This contest is sponsored by Whaleshares and I owe a big thank you to @akrid and @officialfuzzy. There are 100 Whaleshares for the winning entry. If you would like to learn more about Whaleshares and how they can increase your post rewards please visit https://steemit.com/whaleshares/@eirik/guide-on-how-to-use-whaleshares-updated-version where @eirik will gladly explain more to you.

What I am looking for in order to determine the winning entry is as follows:

• A strong sense of imagination
• Creative intelligence
• Originality
• Narrative fluidity (ensuring the story chain links smoothly)
• Use of language, grammar and syntax (we need to understand what you're saying!)

The winner will be announced in a week's time. A new post will be published then announcing the winner along with a new story chain.

Part One of Not Quite Pleasantville

My town was my whole world. It was small and pleasant with good people. If ever you wanted to find an ideal place to live then Macklefield was it. Small and friendly it had a modesty about it. We were a close community, which I admit could be a little overbearing at times. There was little anonymity in Macklefield, but for most of us that worked fine. In fact it was important that this closeness was maintained. After all it was in all our interests to make sure no one knew. That no one ever found out. We had guarded our past very effectively for many decades, and while there was the occasional awkward question from rare visitors to the town, generally we had done a good job at protecting Macklefield and its residents. One dull rainy Wednesday afternoon a young woman turned up in the town. She was looking for Clarissa. The simple mention of this name sparked alarm in all of us. We knew that we now had to pull together. If we were to survive this stranger to our town, steps would have to be taken.