Writing Contest

Due to my recent ill health, the posting of my contest entries was delayed. I received ten submissions for the competition, and I will post three today, three tomorrow and the remaining four on Wednesday. There will be a poll on the right hand side on Friday for you to cast your vote. The winner will receive a $25.00 Amazon gift certificate for their effort. I have omitted the names and instead will use entry numbers, but I will announce the name of the winner on Friday, May 29th.

Remember, the following items have to be used in the "storyline in some fashion."

hero
dog
fog
tracking
crime
water

Also try to judge based on the presentation, tenses, and showing rather than telling.

ENTRY #1

Wispy white fog teased between the trees lining the path through the park. A perfect night for a crime, Tom Sheldon thought hopefully as he walked towards the car park. Not much chance of that, he answered himself. 'Noooooo,' a loud cry cut through the fog and a figure emerged from the mist and onto the path some distance away, looking towards Tom, then in the other direction. Coming closer he saw it was a woman, holding something. A dog. A wet, bedraggled dog which sneezed loudly and wetly as stopped next to them.

'You've got to help me,' the dog's owner tried to clutch at Tom's hand from under her pooch's rump. 'Someone grabbed Peaches and ran off into the fog then threw her into the pond after they took her collar.' Tom knew dog owners could get hysterical on occasion, but over a collar? 'Please,' she clutched his wrist harder. 'We've got to track them down.

ENTRY #2

The fog was thicker than pea soup. Randall really didn’t want to be a hero but the thrill of the hunt ran in his blood. He’d often wondered why he had become a crime scene detective when in actuality he would rather be in the canine unit with his dog Rufus, tracking killers through swamps and hell hole bogs down in the Louisiana Bayou country. He stopped and listened. He heard the trickle of water as it ran down the path a few yards away. He had to be careful. One slip and he’d be lost to the night forever.

ENTRY #3

The sound of a dog's frantic barking split the quiet night air as Cameron crept stealthily through the bayou. Squinting through the thick fog surrounding the area, his eyes slowly adjusts to the murky darkness and his gaze lands on the source of the dog's agitation. Moving closer to inspect the form he sees floating atop the water, our hero finds it is the prone body of the crime lord he had been tracking.