Day 1.

Day 1 —Select a book at random in the room. Find a novel or short story, copy down the last sentence and use this line as the first line of your new story.

I got my hands on "The Lollipop Shoes" and it's last line was this: For a time, then we stay - for a time. Until the wind changes again...

This whole thing is VERY VERY lame... but....yeah.

**

"For a time, then we stay - for a time. Until the wind changes again and blows us into a world entirely different." She had that same mystical whisper, and then, she smiled. It was creepy.

My mom had been a complete mystery to me. For one, she wasn't really my 'Mom'. Just a stranger that had picked us from the orphanage, and I'd known little about her ever since because I could see that she was practically insane. She left all of us in huge dilemmas, but ofcourse, I've come to love every bit of that. Don't get me wrong. She makes me think. I like her. Alot.

Us. I haven't really defined that, have I? Us basically means Carter, Rose and Me. Carter is my twin. She thinks I'm a weirdo. It's because I always have my face buried in a book, and I'm always the loner at school. Carter, on the other hand is 'all that'. Carter doesn't spend her nights reading, she goes out and does stuff I have a pretty good idea about. Even in her insanity, I really do think Mom gets worried. You'd think she'd be more thankful, since Mom took us in and all, but Carter doesn't care. Carter doesn't care for anyone. But she's been with me, so when I occasionally get along with her, I like her. I can't help it.

Rose has been with us since forever. She met Mom at college and has been with her ever since. If it hadn't been for Rose I don't think we would've grown up at all. She works at a coffee shop, so she has busy evenings, but she always comes home with a great big smile. Sometimes I find her crying alone, but I don't intrude. Always smiling must be really, really tiring. I think she 'gets' Mom. I don't know why she likes being with us when she's got a whole world out there to venture into. We're strange people and somehow she likes being part of the strangeness. Rose is in her mid forties, so all she has is us, and all we have is her. I honestly don't know what I would have done without her. I'd probably be a midget or something.

And then there was me. I'm Sam, short for Samantha. I'm 16 and I'm just as strange as the people I live with. That's really all I can say.

Anyway, like I was telling you - it was creepy.

"Where do we 'stay' Mom?"

It was a pretty relevant question, considering we'd been living here in this rusty, dusty apartment for as long as Carter & I had been living.

Mom spaced out. Like always. Rose hushed me away. Like always. So I shrugged, sighed and decided to find something else to do - like always.

The Window. It had always been my refuge. I liked to capitalize it with bold letters in my diary because I liked it so much. It was beautiful, with a great big arch and a glass panel that had been scratched and damaged through passing years. But still it was beautiful. I liked imagining stories about all the people that passed by and wondered about what their lives were like. It was simply my refuge and I can't explain it otherwise. I told that to Carter once, and she thought it was really weird of me. I may be weird, but I guess I like it.

"To the Window!" I thought to myself and smiled. The Window was my friend. I'd decided that everything that made me think a good thought was my friend - and that I loved it.

Rose had made the window sill more comfortable for me. It was quite wide, so she'd laid down two thick woolen sheets, and a cushion on either side. It was lovely, really.

The majestic green curtains seemed welcoming. They always did. I liked to think they were huge drapes, the ones you see in movies, hinting and welcoming the beholder to the beautiful sights beyond.

I smiled again. The curtains were my friend, too. They made me smile.

I drew them very slowly, and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, my eyes beheld that hustling bustling view of the neighborhood that I'd come to know and love immensely.

I smiled again.

I sat myself on the window sill, adjusting the cushions behind me, then lay back and took it all in. My eyes instantly fell upon an old lady, coughing and wheezing, slowly making her way through the stoned footpath. The people passing by took no notice, everyone was too busy with their own lives, but there the old woman was. I don't think she had much more to live - or much to live for anyway.

I found myself whispering, "Stay strong.."

At that point, Mom's words came back to me. For a time, then we stay - for a time. Until the wind changes again and blows us into a world entirely different. I sat up, and looked at the old woman more intensely. She was only halfway through the footpath.

"For a time, then, you stay - for a time. Until the wind changes and blows you into a world entirely different," I whispered again.

She shouldn't worry, I told myself. Her time will come. Her wind will change soon. She's just got to keep holding on until then. I traced my finger at the point on the window where I saw here shuffling through the crowd. At that moment, somehow, she vanished into the next corner of the street.

I lay back again, and found a tear rolling down my cheek.

My Mom wasn't so insane after all.