When Two Authors Collide

This is a short story written by, my great friend and fellow author, Mason Bushell and I.

As a fun writing exercise, the both of us had decided to do our first collaboration story together. Using google docs, each of us took turns writing a little and then switching back and forth. Using ‘Routine’ as our prompt word, our little tale came together in an afternoon (evening for mason :P).

With only some changes in spelling and punctuation, this is our story as a first draft. We didn’t want to change anything about our story itself so that others can see how fun it can be to play off of another authors ideas and vise versa.

We hope that you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it.

Routine an MC Sheridan and MBushell Collab:

He was bored of routine, it was time for a big change.

Every day he would wake at 6am and have a cup of coffee. The same bland no sugar, no cream, granulated at the bottom, instant coffee, that tasted bitter to the last mouthful. He began this special day, spending two hundred dollars on a cup of Kopi Luwac, coffee. It wasn’t such a special cup - that blew his mind.

After this new and not so delicious brew, he decided to spend his new found energy, and lust for life, on a hike in the wilds. He’d always said he’d go on a nature hike one day, and today was perfect weather for it. Taking a route he’d never followed, he emerged from the woods into the hills. There on an escarpment, he spotted the paragliding club. That was his next extreme challenge. However, he was afraid of heights. How was he to overcome this long time fear in just a few short minutes? He remembered when he was a teenager, where the fear had first manifested, that fall from the ladder, which broke his arm. A chill ran down his spine at the memory. He felt his heartbeat rising, but pushed his feet on up the hill to the group. Five people stood preparing their brightly coloured, engineless, flying machines.

“H-hello,” he stammered as he called out to the, soon-to-be airborne, group of people.

They turned to him, each giving him a cheery wave.

“Hi, stranger,” answered one of the girls. He liked her flowing blonde locks and freckles immensely. His feet took him her way, his smile betraying his feelings.

“Is this a closed group, or can anybody- er, take a flight?”

A young man stepped forward “Anyone with $150 bucks, and the guts to give it a try can join.” he said with a laugh. “You interested?” he asked with a wide smile. It was then, his feet went cold, and he almost turned and ran away. Instead he surprised himself by nodding and forcing his new adventurous streak, to the forefront.
“I’m game. Shall I pay you now?”

The young man walked closer to him. “You sign the waiver now, then pay when you land. Y’know,” he said playfully, patting him on the back. “Just in case!”

“What’d you mean. You aren’t going to drop me on my head are you?”

“You ignore Christian, come tandem flying, with me,” answered the blonde putting a protective arm around him. She gave him a confident wink.

“O-okay.” He stammered again. “My name’s, Hank, by the way. What’s yours?”

“I’m Emmy, nice to meet you, Hank. Come on over here, I’ll get you rigged up.”  

Hank followed Emmy over to the rigging equipment. “First.” she said pulling on her harness. “I set myself up, and then. She said clasping straps around his chest, and around the inseam of his legs, “Then, I attach your harness, to mine.” she turned him so that her chest was to his back, clipped in and attached them to the big gliding assembly lying out behind them, ready to fly. That done, she put her hands into the control lines. “Ready?” she asked.
“That’s it, no parachutes?” Hank asked, his fear rising again.

“Nope, the wing will stop us falling, don’t worry, just run!”

“Run?” he echoed, his voice an octave higher than he’d intended. He raised himself on his tiptoes, looking ahead at the edge of the cliff. “You want me to run? Towards that?”

Emmy gave a small chuckle, “If you wanna fly, you gotta jump first, Hank.” she leaned aside to look into his eyes, and flashed a beaming smile. Hank felt his current fear of heights being replaced by a sudden, and more dangerous fear. ‘looking scared in front of pretty blond Emmy’ He dismissed them with a bright smile, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

“Okay,” he said with resolve. “I’m ready.”

“Have fun you two.” Christian gave a wave. “Oh, and, Hanky buddy. Bring my girlfriend back safe, won’t you.” he added.  

Emmy rolled her eyes, “Don’t worry about me.” she called back to Christian, “Don’t forget, my overall hang time is longer than yours.”

Christian, chuckled, “I had a cold that day, and you know it! Anyways, goodluck you two, Safe landing.” Christian pulled down his goggles with a smirk. Crossed his heart and set off running toward the edge of the cliff. Hank watched him drop into midair, dip, and then rise high into the air. Before he could say anything he and Emmy were running toward the massive drop that yawned before them. Wind whipped across his face and he shouted,

“I wasn’t ready yet!”

“What?” Shouted back Emmy as they ran straight toward the edge of the cliff.

“I wasn’t ready!” Hank shut his eyes, his legs carrying him, farther, until he felt his feet levitating. He was flying, actually flying. Then screaming, as he they came clear of the clifftop, and nothing but terrifying space, lay below him.
“Woohoo! This is so much fun!” Emmy shrieked, her laugh infectious, as she lightly controlled the sail with tugs of her guide ropes, Directing them away from the cliffs.

“Yeah I guess so!” Hank called back. His stomach felt as though it would turn inside out as he opened one eye. Looking down at the forest below, he felt gigantic compared to the tiny dollhouse sized trees, far under his feet. The speckling of many shades of green looked beautiful and, as terrifying as his height was, there was also something calming about being this high above it all, in the stunning, windy silence of the blue sky. Hanging above the world that he lived in, his whole life, and that was all he did, exist. He never really lived, really enjoyed life, he only existed, survived each day, until today. Today he was living, and with a yell, he knew life would be awesome from now on.

The two sailed in the blissful serenity that surrounded them for a good few minutes, before a gust caught the canopy, an updraft that whipped them up hundreds of miles, in moments.

“Whoops, sorry about that. That was a thermal, we’ll come back down a bit, in a few moments.”  

“I have no idea what a thermal is.” replied Hank, “And, I don’t wanna know. Just as long as we get to land safely.” he smiled looking back down at the ground, far below his feet. The view was becoming easier for him to take in now.   

“Then, you don’t want to know that we have another problem.” Emmy reached for her walkie talkie button. “Christian, we’re not going to make landing on the clifftop. The thermal tore the sail. I’m going to put us down by the river, if I can.”

“Roger that, Emmy. We’ll land, and bring the car to you there.” Christians voice came back.

“Thanks sweetheart.” Emmy tightened her grip, took a breath and focused on her landing site.

“Er, can we land down there?” Hank could see the smallest spit of land beside the rushing white water of the river. To him landing upon it was impossible, more so with a broken sail.

“Sure, you might get your feet wet, though,” Emmy winked, and pulled her cords hard to force the broken glider to descend.

Hank bit his lip and closed his eyes. Oh god, oh god oh god. He thought to himself. Please get me out of this, and let us land safely. I swear, if you get me out of this, I’ll never do anything this stupid, ever again. He prayed over and over.

Emmy’s voice broke through his thoughts, “Okay Hank, we’ll be landing shortly. Whatever you do, don’t tense up. Plant your feet as soon as you can, and be prepared to-” her speech cut off by the sail jerking around violently. A grunting sound came from deep in her chest. “Agh -.” she grunted again.

Hank opened his eyes. “What happened? What’s the- Oh dear!”

The two weren’t flying anymore, they were falling. They blasted through the canopy of trees, splintering limbs, causing leaves and birds to explode in clouds around them. Hank felt his arm bounce off a thick branch and swore. Then quite suddenly, he came to a stop, hanging ten feet above the ground. The stillness lasted a split second, a tearing sound ended the paraglider, and they fell. Hank threw his body over, landing on his front. In a second of heroics, he’d allowed Emmy to land on his back, cushioning her fall. He howled as his back caught her. Something in him felt crushed, pressed, broken, maybe all three.

Emmy uncliped herself, turned, and rolled off of him, with a thud,

“H-hank,” she said trying to catch her breath. “Hank, are you alright.”

Hank tried to roll himself over, a flash of pain split through his chest. He sucked air through his teeth, and breathed it down. “I’m fine.” He cursed. “Just fine.”

Emmy’s mouth curved downward into a frown as she reached for him. “I don’t believe you. I do know you saved me, which was so sweet of you.” she pressed Hanks chest causing him to grimace, and groan in pain. “You have at least one broken rib in that chest of yours, I know it. We have to find the river, and meet Christian, as quickly as we can.”  

Hank nodded in agreement. Emmy reached out her hand to help him up. As Hank moved his arm forward, the blinding flash of pain returned, causing him to recoil, while wrapping his arm back around his wounded ribs.

“Argh! I can’t,” he said through gritted teeth. “I just can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” said Emmy with a stern tone. “You can, and you have to. There’s no way, the car can make it through the dense trees here, so, you’re going to have to walk for me.”

Hank’s eyebrows knitted as he tried to catch his breath. He sucked in air once more, pushing his pain barrier, with all his might. He groaned through a one arm push up, lifting himself from the ground. He could hear his teeth grinding together, tight in his jaw, not caring if he broke them all, as they clenched. He forced himself to his knees, then using a tree, made it to his feet with a flurry of curses. Emmy watched on with admiration, catching him around the waist, as he staggered about for a moment.
“Good work, soldier. I think the river and pain relief, is this way.”

“Oh good, tell Christian, I’m not paying him. I’ll need the money for two dozen boxes of paracetamol now.” Hank gave her a nod, and they set off. It was then he noticed that as much as she was holding him up, she was also holding his hand. Hank looked down at her hand holding tightly onto his, and he squeezed back tighter. Noticing this, Emmy looked back to him with a smile.

“You know, even though we took quite the tumble, I have to say, that was one of the softest landings, I ever had,” she let a smirk cross, her features.

Hank grunted through a laugh, “Oh, I see. You’re saying, I’m soft, are you?”

Emmy shrugged as best as she could, with one arm around him holding him up.

“Soft isn’t exactly a bad thing,” she said with a playful grin. She squeezed his hand back tighter. Hank lowered his eyes to their entangles fingers. For the briefest of moments, he had almost forgotten about the pain. Almost. In all his twenty five years, he’d never come close to a relationship, was this … His foot twisted over a tree root, jerking him against a tree. His face grew red with the pain, he couldn’t help but swear again.

“Careful, soldier. Don’t hurt yourself further. Come on, we’re almost there.” Emmy steadied him again. “We were only maybe fifty yards off the river, when we hit the treetops.”
“We’ve covered half that already then.” Hank wished he could go slower. He knew once they regained the car, Emmy would go back to Christian, and forget he existed. He felt the pain would be worth it, to be in her presence for a little bit longer, if he could only have more time with her. Unfortunately, his body was not complying with his head. The thought of relieving his pain was battling with the want to be by her side, pushing him forward as fast as he could.

To keep his mind off the pain, Emmy had decided to talk about random things. The weather, the beautiful scenery around them, that awful haircut her mother made her get, when she was in the fifth grade. All of it was a delightful distraction from the growing pain in his side.

“-A half mullet, half bowl cut,” said Emmy with venom in her voice, “I mean, can you believe it? She said, it was the style but I hated it, I got picked on every day at school until it grew out. I always keep my hair long now, because of that. Still haven’t really forgiven her for it.”

Hank chuckled despite the pain. “At least you didn’t have a side buzz cut, with a rattail.”

Emmy’s mouth came open, “You didn’t!”

Hank nodded, “And, I asked for it too. One of those, young hip kids from those famous boy bands, had it, so of course, I just had to have one, too. God, how silly I looked back then.”

The left side of Emmy’s lips lifted into a smile, “So, If you don’t mind me asking, how did you end up on the hiking trail today, anyhow? I mean…” She looked down at his khaki pants, and golf shirt. “Well, you’re not exactly dressed for a hike, are you?”

“You wouldn’t believe me, if I told you,” he said.

“Go on, tell me.” Emmy gave a begging look, and a cute chuckle.

“Oh alright, I woke up bored of life, and decided to spend a fortune, and change my existence, I bought an expensive coffee, came for a walk and …” Hank gave her a sideways look. “And, well I think you drew me in.” he finished as they pushed through a thicket, into a problem.

“Aw, that’s sweet of you.” Emmy looked up and down the river. “Bugger! We’re on the wrong, bloody, side!” she told him.

“Oh boy, this is a raging rapid too. We can’t swim across it, not that I could, if I wanted to, right now.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get us out. The track’s south of us. Let’s head that way, and see what we can come up with.” Emmy gave a game smile, and led on again.

Hank sighed as they pressed forward. “As much as I’m enjoying this time with you, I don’t know how much further I can go.”

Emmy gave a small nod, “I know, this can’t be easy, for you. I’m so sorry, myself and Christian, pulled you into this. I can’t help, but feel it’s kinda our fault, you’re in this mess.”

Hank shook his head, “No it’s not. Trust me, none of this was anyone's plan for today, but at least I got out of the house.”

Emmy laughed with him, but could see the sweat starting to build on his forehead. She tried to conceal her worry, with a half-assed attempt at a smile. As they continued along the path, it was then, a small rustling of leaves caught their attention from a nearby bush.   

“I’m more concerned about getting you back to your house, just now.” Emmy’s eyes flicked from him to the bush, something was definitely there. The branches twitched and shook, as it moved through the underbrush. Then she heard a low growl.

“I could do with, the bottle of whisky, I have at home, just now,” Hank replied. The growl came again louder, more catlike this time. “And that’s a bloody mountain lion!”

“I know, Hank, let’s not be on the menu, come on.” Emmy urged him forward. But not fast enough, the sandy coloured cat leapt from the bush, landing lightly before them.  

“Oh God!” Hank shook with fear. Emmy clutched onto him tightly, at the sight of the large mountain cat. Hank ignored his pain, holding onto her, with equal fervour.

The mountain lion stared them both down. Her cold eyes were calm, calculated, as menacing as any in the natural world. They shone like dark amber, never breaking their gaze from the two humans, invading her territory.

“Hank,” said Emmy as she trembled in his arms, “I’m scared.”
“Me too,” he swallowed.

“What do we do?” She asked.

He sighed. With all his strength, Hank stepped forward putting himself between Emmy and the beautiful beast before them.

“Go, hellcat!” he yelled coldly. “Run away!”

“The cat snarled, pawing the ground. Hank saw it shift a hind paw back. It leapt for him like a furry ballistic missile. He rolled to the side, snatching up a branch. Pain ripped through his chest, as he blasted the cat in the head with the branch, and crashed to the earth in agony.      

Everything swirled in his vision. The pain causing him to go in, and out of focus. Then Emmy was looking down upon him.

“That’s the second time you’ve saved me, soldier.” she reached down and kissed him on the cheek. Her gentle touch seemed charged with electricity. It flashed through him invigorating, and leaving him feeling hot under the collar.

“I’ll do it all day, if I get more of those kisses.” he said.  

“We’ll see about that.” Emmy took a breath. “We need to get going again.” she added as she helped him stand once more. This time he kept his branch as a weapon, and a crutch. Today was becoming quite the dangerous adventure.

“You know,” said Hank as he hobbled along the river bank, with Emmy’s arm still around him, “I thought the scariest thing about my day, was going to be drinking coffee that came from animal feces.”

“You what?” Emmy gave him a look of disgust.

Hank laughed, “I know. It’s a thing. I just found out about too. It’s supposed to be what classy people drink - I think.”

Emmy twisted her face, “Ah, well then, that’s explains the bad breath.”

Hank gave her a crooked smile. “Well, anyway, I’m glad I came here today.”

“Really?” Emmy sounded incredulous, “Even with the sore rib, the mountain lion, the stick for a crutch, and the mountain lion poop, on your shoe?”

“The what!” Hank lifted the sole of his shoe, to inspect it.

Emmy giggled, “Made you look.”

The sound of trickling water, that had disappeared as they veered off on another trail, had come gurgling back.
“We’re back at the water!” Emmy remarked, “It sounds calmer over here. I think we’ve made it to a crossable place,” she said with a small hop in her step.

Hank gave her a half-hearted smile. I should be happy to be close to getting out of the woods and proper medical care. He thought, as he watched the beautiful blonde smiling, excited to be almost out. So, why do I feel sad that this is ending?

“Oh, good,” he managed.

“Come on, Hank,” she said grinning. “Let’s get you home.”

“Great.” Hank dropped to a knee on the bank, and splashed his face with the deliciously cold water. He drank a little, then watched Emmy doing the same. Even in drinking, she was beautifully demure. Groaning to his feet again, he looked about and pointed, the car is way up there look. We can cross the rocks before us, to reach it, I think,” he said.

“Perfect.” Emmy stepped on to the first two rocks, and held a hand out to him. Hank grinned and took it.

“I’m supposed to do that for you.”

“I know. But you’re injured, remember?”

“How could I forget. Every agonising step, reminds me.” Hank teetered and stepped into the centre of the river. Emmy just ahead of him. “You leaving your paraglider out here, then?” he asked.

“Well, I’ll have to come and retrieve it, at some point. You health is most important, now though.” Emmy looked back. “You okay?”

“I’m managing.” Hank felt the water trying to knock him from the rocks. Took a breath and leapt on to the next. He groaned in pain, and felt Emmy’s hand slip from his. All at once she landed on the far bank, him on top of her.

“Ah there you two are!” yelled a voice. “Hey, Hanky! That’s not what I meant when I said bring my girlfriend back safe.”

Hank looked up, and saw Christian striding toward him while he was still sat astride Emmy. Here comes another beating he thought.  

He chuckled nervously. “S-sorry.” he apologized, more to Emmy, than Christian. Hank pushed off of Emmy with a grunt, and hauled himself to his feet, wobbling from walking for so long, in pain. Emmy stood, and held onto his good side, helping him to steady himself.

“It’s fine, sweetheart,” she said giving Christian the eye, “He was just joking, right?”

Christian gave a hearty laugh, “Ha, ha, of course. I’m only joshing ya,” he smiled a big toothy smile, and strode over to them. “You look pretty rough, friend,” he said to Hank patting him on the back, hard. Hank groaned. Emmy shot Christian a dirty look. “I guess you won’t be doing this again, anytime soon, eh?”

Hank gritted his teeth from the slap. “Heh, yeah. I guess not.”

Emmy gave a small smile, “That’s too bad. With the exception of almost falling to our deaths, breaking your ribs, and fighting off a mountain lion, I’d say you did pretty good, for your first time.”

“A mountain lion?” Christian’s eyes grew wide. Emmy nodded. “Oh man, that’s crazy. What was that like?” he asked.

Emmy screwed up her face, “Yeah, I’m fine by the way,” she said with a scowl.

Christian chuckled, “Of course, you are. You’re a tough nut. C’mon Hanky, let’s get you to the car so we can get you patched up, and on your way home.”

“‘Appreciate it.” Hank could tell he wanted him out of his life fast now. Truth was Hank wanted to keep paragliding, just to stay with Emmy. He said nothing as he struggled up to the car. Every step agonisingly painful. Within a few steps he felt light headed, and collapsed into the grasses.

Waking up he found a bright light in his eyes. As it cleared, he realised he was in hospital.

“Take it easy fellow, you’ve had a rough day.” said the doctor holding his torch over his eyes again.

“Aw, you’re telling me.” Hank tried to sit up, and swore.

“Easy, you have two broken ribs, in there. We’ve medicated you, but the pain will still be severe.” the doctor grinned. “I’ll be back to check on you, in a few minutes. I’ll leave you two, to it.” he nodded and left. Hank looked about the white walled room. There was Emmy sat in the chair beside him.

“Hi, er ... I didn’t expect to see you again I … Er … Where’s Christian?” he spluttered.

“Oh,” said Emmy with a blush to her face, “Well, the author(s) decided he wasn’t the right guy for me, so they made him into a really big jealous jerk, we got into this huge fight, and then he said, I had chubby ankles. He knows how insecure I am about my ankles! Anyways,” she sighed, “We--we’re not together anymore.”

Hank blinked, “Oh,” he said trying hard to digest everything, she’d just sputtered out to his disbelieving ears, “Um, I’m sorry?”

Emmy smirked “Are you?”

“Not really,” Hank said, surprising himself.

Emmy stood and walked over to his bed. There she gently sat beside him. Hank winced from the pain as he shuffled over to make room for her.

Emmy took his hand, “You were really brave today. Not just with the mountain lion, or walking through all that pain. You tried something new today, and scary. I think that takes a lot of guts. I’m proud of you, Hank,” she said brushing her blonde hair, out of her face.

“I had a good - bloody painful, but, good day. I want to keep doing new things, sailing, climbing, archery, windsurfing, as much as I can. I want to really enjoy life from now on. I do have a problem though.” Hank looked at Emmy, linking his fingers in hers.
“Really, what problem?” she asked.

“Well, you see, I won’t enjoy all those things, now.”

“Why?”  

“I only had all this fun today, because I was with you. So, unless you do all those things with me, they won’t be any fun.” Hank swallowed, and took a breath. “Will you do them with me?” he asked.  

Emmy’s face flushed, as she went coy under his gaze. She blinked, looked down at her hand held tight by his again, then focussed on him with a cute smile.

“How about coffee, first?” she offered through a sigh. “I think, I’ve had enough great adventures. At least for a little bit.”

Hank chuckled, “Okay. Coffee, I can do.”

Emmy pursed her lips for a moment in thought.

“What is it?” asked Hank.

She tilted her head to him and replied, “Just as long as it hasn’t been pooped out by anything, before I drink it.”

The End     

Thank you so much for reading. Now, please head over to https://theworkhousemysteries.wordpress.com/ to meet Mason and check out his short stories, gallery, and celebrate his upcoming book ‘The Positivity Kitchen’ due to come out end of June.

Big thanks to Mason for this fun exercise and to you for joining us.