Challenge 2: 10 Word Challenge #1

[IsabellaRose]

Today's challenge is a 10-Word Challenge. In about 500 words, write a short story that includes the following 10 words:

1. cabinet
2. compose
3. cutting
4. scratch
5. integrity
6. utter
7. obstacle
8. announcement
9. pony
10. umbrella

If it doesn't feel challenging enough, try including the words in order. 

Deadline is 02 Sep 2020, when this thread will be closed and voting will commence. Good writing!

[Cash Money Chad]

David closed the medicine cabinet and took a good look at him self in the mirror. He splashed some water on his face trying to compose him self, but the feeling of exhaustion still remained. Once he shook his head he grabbed a pair of baby scissors and started cutting off any scraggily ends on his beard. Examining his beard he saw a little scratch on his cheek, he looked him self in the eyes and remembered where that  scratch came from. Coming to his senses he went back out into his living room, plopping down on the couch caused it to sink the creaking of it sounded like it was about to loose it's integrity. It didn't bother him too much though, he just aid around with an utter lack of care. 

suddenly he heard someone shouting from the ground floor in front of his window, the voice sounded familiar, it was his friend Mike. so to see what he wanted he got off the couch and jumped over the coffee table, easily clearing the obstacle. The announcement could be heard loud and clear by everyone within ear shot. "WE ARE GOING TO THE PONY TO GET BLOW AND HOOKERS, ARE YOU IN!!!?"  Mike opened his umbrella when the rain started to fall. "Isn't the idea to get blow frooom the hookers?!" David asked kind of curious as to why he would be so dumb as to announce all this out in the middle of the street, but hey is no one else cares why should he.

David said fuck it and threw a shirt on and went down to the street to meet Mike. Mike pulled out his phone and started dialing the number for one of his connections. They both walked down the street huddled together around the phone listening for the dealer to tell them how much product he still has left. They let him know they need one hundred and thirty dollars worth and start walking that way. "You said there would be hookers to, why not do get some blow go to the glory hole  and do it in the bathroom like proper delinquents?" Mike looked up and showed him a picture of a girl" Who the fuck is that?" David asked "A fine ass hooker , she's hooking now and she said to hit her up if we are looking!"
 

Edited September 2, 2020 by MultiChara69

[IsabellaRose]

As the only submission before the deadline, MultiChara69 is the winner!

[IsabellaRose]

Now here's what I would have submitted. It's a little over 650 words, so probably not ideal for this contest, but it's what came out.

__________________________________________________

 

Sara couldn't believe what she'd just read. The words on the page had shocked her so thoroughly that she did nothing but stare blankly for long moments. Anyone could have come in and found her in the bedroom, and she would have no excuse for being here. She stood slowly from the edge of the bed, crossed the room, and placed the diary carefully back into the cabinet where she had found it. She closed the door, turned the key in the lock, then pulled it out and hid it back in the drawer beneath the frilly satin and lace undergarments.

She hurried out of the bedroom and back across the hall into the bathroom, the place to which she had excused herself far too long ago. She leaned heavily on the sink, hands on either side of the small basin, staring at her own reflection in the oval mirror. The mind that could compose such entries in a diary as if talking about common daily events was dangerous indeed. Did she dare return to the others? She ran through her options. The plan was to return to the dinner party, let the night play out, then head home like everyone else, leaving their target none the wiser. But if half of what she read was true, she was in a far more dangerous situation than she'd imagined.

She could cut and run now. She ran through a scenario in her head: Rebecca cutting the power, Kat getting rope up to the bedroom window, a quick escape while the security system was down. No, scratch that. The target would know she had done something, discovered something. They may not know what, but her cover would be completely blown, and they still needed to maintain the integrity of the Countess cover for the next part of the plan.

She could call in an attack, play herself off as a victim, seek to escape alongside their target during the utter confusion of an apparent raid. But that would pose its own risks. She would be alone with the target, cutoff from support, and likely unable to report in as she dropped even deeper into her cover. No, none of these ideas were good enough. She would need to stick to the original plan and overcome her trepidation as she had overcome so many obstacles in order to get here.

She straightened her back, lifted her chin, and allowed herself to settle back into the Countess persona. She could do this. She had to. It was more than just her own life on the line.

As she returned to the dinner party hosted by the most debased human she had ever met, she saw the guests were all rising and filing through a door in the far wall. She had no idea what was beyond the door; it wasn't where they had come in.

"Countess," said one of the guests, "you’re just in time. Our hostess just made the announcement." The over-eager young woman took Sara's arm and nearly pulled her through the door. “Tonight’s entertainment promises to be something the likes of which we have never seen."

Sara found herself ushered through a set of double doors and into a garden of some sort, surrounded on all sides by towering hedgerows. The guests were lining up along one side of the open space, holding drinks and chatting quietly. She couldn't see her hostess anywhere, and fear rose within her as she remembered the things she had read, the plans this devious woman had made. Was this another of her dog and pony shows designed to pull the wealthy and powerful under her control?

As Sara's eyes cast about the area for their target, the hostess of this event, the woman in question strode out into the opening. She was naked as the day she was born, only an open umbrella concealing her nudity from the crowd gathered in the small space. What the hell was this?