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I'm forcing myself to submit my work; Prompt; "Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it."

Title: Can you feel it, too?


When I think of you
My heart beats wild
This is nothing new
I feel as energized as a young child

I feel free
I cry tears of joy
I'm so happy we both see
More joyful than an infant with a new toy

The way we share
How we feel
How much we care
This is for real

I thought this feeling
Was just a fantasy
As I look upon our ceiling
I know we're both free

Not from being together
But free because our love
Will last forever
Soaring through the sky like a dove

And when we touch
There's another world, can you feel it too?
I want more, much
I have this feeling we'll never be through

I need you at my side
I'd cry for you, until I can no more
We'll match eachothers stride
You take the single bed; I the floor

Do you see how I feel, now?
The need to be with you in reach
This is truly how I feel, I vow
You want me to tell you all; I have a speech

I never had the confidence
To say this all the way through
Something blocking me, a fence?
But; I love you

Prompt: They say the grass is greener on the other side, but have you ever flipped it over?

Though its an abstraction of the prompt.... this takes place in 1930's prison. Think dust bowl. Better yet... think Grapes of Wrath; the inter-calorie chapters.

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At night, lights could be seen for miles, and during the day the gray and brown of the concrete sat strong and imposing. A gate, colored gray and brown like the rest of the building, jutted forth onto the desolate field the prison called its home. In the light hours groups and lines of people in earth colored clothes would be led out of the earth colored gate and into the field where they would work endlessly for the sky colored guards.
Sometimes the gate would open for an armored car to enter, but closed ravenously on it as soon as it passed. Sometimes the gate would open for the sky colored guards to free an earth colored soul into the world. And sometimes the gate would open to let food and earth colored clothing into its confines. Mostly though, it opened for the prisoners to go work the brown and gray field under the blue sky.
The prisoners plowed and planted to a rhythm of loneliness and regret. One man however, plowed to his own song, his own rhythm.
What do ya think yer doin’? Said the sky colored man to the earth colored man.
Plowin’ sir.
Git in line with the others, ya don’t wanna mess with the land. Its gettin’ sick, and we need it to be healthy, or you’ll be the ones that suffer from it.
Allright sir. And once again the harmony and beat of the workers returned to normal: bowed eyes and broken souls digging at the sick earth.
When the bloody sun set, and sky turned form blue to purple the prisoners were once again chained and led into the cold and desolate building. The lights were turned on outside and silence took power, using the wind to blow the sounds into the sand that covered the work of the earth colored men.

The next morning the sun didn’t rise, and night held power so the winds could ravage the sick earth. But still the earth colored men went to work.
That’s the devil’s doin’.
It’d be suicide, don’ send us workin’ today.
Can’t ya see the sky’s sick today, we can’t go out there. The earth colored men protested, but the sky colored men had the batons and guns, so the workers were sent to the fields. And they worked again with the rhythm and pace that dictated their souls. Except for the man who danced to his own music. He wasn’t with the earth colored men that day.
That morning the brown and gray gates opened once again onto the windy and dark day, and sky colored men led a single man to the end of the road where a brown and gray wall encased the brown and gray prison, its fields, and its workers.
You’re free so git outta here and don’ do anything to get back.
Allright sir.
And a free man walked out of the brown and gray gates, away from the earth colored men, and sky colored men, and the concrete loneliness they lived in. And he walked down the road to his own rhythm and song.

Prompt:
Experience is something you don't get until after you need it.

20/20

What did they call it? Oh yeah, 20/20 hindsight. Why, oh why, couldn't you have 20/20 foresight? Dreugan sighed as he looked around his jail cell. This was one of those times that he wished he could learn something without going through the actual experience. To think, just this morning he had been reasonably well off and happy. Who would have thought that by nightfall he would be in jail charged with murder just because he answered the early morning call from his best friend?

Looking back over the past month he could see all the little clues that should have tipped him off. Of course experience was a great teacher when it came to knowing who to trust but it was only when you had been severely burned that you really remembered not to touch the hot stove. Depressingly he lay on the simple cot that served as his bed and reflected on the day. There had to be some clue, some mistake that his ex-friend had made that would prove Dreugan's innocence.

It had been about five-fifteen that morning when the insistent ringing of the phone had finally woken Dreugan from a sound sleep. Half asleep, he fumbled his way out of the bedroom and into the living room, where he picked up the receiver and mumbled, "Hello?"

On the other end Tyrel sounded scared as he almost shouted across the line, "You've got to help me Dreugan! I'm in really big trouble, I need Rs 6 crores before noon or my fiancée is dead."

"Since when do you have a fiancée?" Dreugan asked before the rest of what his friend had said finally hit his tired brain, "No, never mind. Don't worry; I'll get it for you once the banks open this morning. I'll bring it to your house around eleven. Ok?"

"Thank you, thank you my friend. May Allah bless you, but that's a little to close to the time limit for my well-being. How about you meet me at the old horse stable? It's closer to where I need to deliver the money."

"Ok Tyrel, I'll meet you there." Dreugan hung up the phone now fully awake.

Running a shaky hand through his black hair he wondered who exactly had his friend's fiancée. Not once did it occur to him that Rs 6 crores was exactly the same amount that Tyrel had asked for three weeks ago, money Tyrel had wanted to help pay for his gambling and drug habit. At that point in time all Dreugan could think of was saving his friend's fiancée. Taking only enough time to grab a quick bite to eat and to shower before pulling on his business suit, Dreugan was soon in his car and on his way to the bank. Of course it was only about seven-thirty when he got there, so after parking he paced the parking lot impatiently for the next two and a half hours. At ten the doors were finally unlocked and he rushed in to withdraw the funds from his trust account.

Stuffing the packs of crores into the briefcase he had brought Dreugan couldn't help but smile just a little. This was almost too cliché, ransom money in a briefcase and a meeting in the middle of nowhere what more could you ask for in a murder mystery. Starting his car, Dreugan peeled out of the bank's parking lot and impatiently made his way slowly through town until he hit the highway. Once on the highway he was able to speed up to a more reasonable speed of 80 kms per hour. Forty-five minutes later he was pulling off the highway and shortly thereafter onto a hidden dirt road that led to the old horse stable that his friend had mentioned. Stopping he turned off the engine, grabbed the briefcase, and stepped out of the car. As soon as he slammed the door shut Tyrel emerged from the shadows of the crumbling stables.

"You're early, as always Dreugan. Well, I guess this once I should be thankful; here give me that, and the keys to your car. I'll return with my fiancée as soon as I can, I know you'll love her when you meet her."

"I don't know, Tyrel..." Dreugan said even as he reluctantly handed over his keys and the briefcase.

"Don't worry pal, I've got it all covered. See you in about two hours." Tyrel assured Dreugan as he climbed into the car.

Worried, Dreugan watched as Tyrel disappeared back down the dirt road. This whole thing was too surreal, almost as if borrowed from some Bollywood mystery movie. Shaking his head at the sense of unease he felt, Dreugan looked around at the vast, overgrown field he found himself standing in. Not quite trusting his safety inside the unstable looking horse stable Dreugan decided that he would fill the time casually walking the boundaries of his old property.

Two and a half hours later Dreugan was frantic with worry as he peered anxiously down the dirt road for any sign of his friend. Frustrated, he decided that his best course of action right now would be to start walking back up to the highway and try to get some help. However, just as he reached the midpoint between the stables and the exit road off the highway about a dozen police cars came roaring up the dirt road towards him. Stumbling off to one side in shock Dreugan was further surprised when the first few cars screeched to a halt in front of him and policemen jumped out with their guns pointed straight at him.

"Hands behind your head and slowly lay down on the ground." One of them demanded.

Dreugan slowly placed his hands behind his head and cautiously lay face down on the ground without a word. Two policemen came forward and proceeded to handcuff him before dragging him up onto his feet. Dreugan barely heard the drone of one of the officer's voice as he was read his rights, for just beyond he could see that the other officers had found something in the old stables. Something they had been expecting to find and it had to do with why they were arresting him. It wasn't until after he had been stuffed into a patrol car and taken for interrogation that he had found out that his childhood pal, his ex- fiancée, his business partner, Kajal had been found murdered in the stable.

Apparently they also had found a plane ticket had been booked in his name to Switzerland for later that evening and his fingerprints were all over the sickle that had been used to murder Kajal. Once he had found out how the evidence was so stacked against him Dreugan refused to talk until his attorney arrived. So now he lay in a dank, smelly jail, waiting and wondering just how his best friend could be so desperate as to set him up like this. If he got out of this alive he had learned his lesson well. Never again would he ignore that slight sense of impending doom or that constant feeling of wrongness.

{Yes, it ends with a lot of questions unanswered. Kind of like an old Dr. Who show.}

Wow there are alot of amazing entries here! Its so hard to choose!!!! I think all of you deserve to win....but unfortunately only two can...I'll suggest some honorable mentions to the Capitan along with my vote. Great Job Guys!!!!!