Note: For all of you who want me to review your flash, PM me. I'm not a top-class reviewer, but if you want, then just pm me.

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This is a story I wrote for my english test (as a first language) in school, and I'm pleased to say I got a very pleasant score indeed, considering I was in the top (with another person in my class with the same mark).
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/* Task: Write a story or an episode of suspense in which a character is facing a problem relating to time running out. */
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Opening my eyes, I looked around my surroundings. There was a lot of sand around my ankles and I could have sworn everything was a lot fatter than it should have been; I even saw some light from a nearby light source shine in my direction, only to be scattered everywhere.

"Have you woken up yet, sleepy-eyes? Good." boomed a deep voice from nowhere in particular. "There is sand falling from the top compartment of your glass cabin; when it runs out, the sprinklers atop the shelf near the lid will start, pouring water on you. You won't be able to swim away because the sand will contract, sticking to anything it touches -- in this case, your feet -- when it comes in contact with the water, effectively anchoring you to the bottom of the very hourglass trap I use for people like you."

"Wh-what did I do?" I stammered, almost falling asleep every now and then.
"Oh, you know what you did, Mark, if that's your real name!" shouted the voice, obviously exhibiting an obvious tinge of angriness in its voice, and continued, "You were an assasin! Your famous method of killing all those innocent" -- now it sounded as if it was next to crying out loud -- "people was by drowning them, of course! I'd like you to have a taste of your own medicine!" sobered up the voice, now recovering.

"By the way, did I tell you that your timer had already started ten minutes ago? You had only 50 minutes, and you've blown 1/5th that time.", cackled the voice, now getting entertained by this -- which meant he could see me.

That last comment frightened me awake -- I knew I had to get out of this trap, and quickly; it seemed that I had two options at hand which I thought up of while the voice jabbered away: i) Try jumping, catching hold of the middle constriction and use that to my advantage and hop out, fighting the pressure of the falling sand; or the safer but more idiotic option ii) where I try to stick to the walls of the hourglass and climb out, spider-man style.

Since it was more than obvious I couldn't do the second option, I decided to think up of more ideas and wait for the majority of the sand to fall to the bottom compartment; I blew about half of my original time, just thinking (to no avail) when I decided it was safe enough to execute the first, last and only good enough plan.

The sand pile had grown considerably while I was thinking, and it was up to my stomach -- I pushed away as much sand as I could into a pile, and stepped on it, using it as an impromptu platform to aid me with the jumping. I made sure to squint, lest the sand enter my eyes and foil my plan, and rub my hands with sand, so they wouldn't slip when grabbing the glass.

I jumped and reached out for the constriction, which I failed. Trying again and again, I jumped as high as I could each time, and went on long after I was tired, my main source of energy being adrenaline from the fear of death, panicking more each second, as time ran out.

I knew I was too late.

//Teacher's comments: [Attach the following sentences to the end:] I was soon about to face my doom and in the same manner as ....
//Teacher's comments: Well done, (name)! Very imaginative -- unusual storyline! Content and structure: Band 1 - 11/13. Style: 11/12. Total: 22/25.
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To tell you guys the truth, I was mainly inspired by the good ol' guys at the BBS, what with their create your own Saw traps thread. That was the main source of inspiration -- maybe even the plot -- that I got. I'm so lucky to be on Newgrounds, else I'd have not got this.

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My current projects:
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» Lemmings Remake (A flash remake of the original game Lemmings, with robots)
» Bots from the future (A defence game)
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My favorite users (although I guess this is useless; no particular order):
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» 4urentertainment
» Asandir
» MintPaw
» Bilalz
» Letiger
» Quicksmasher
» Addict
» Suprememessage
» Narcissy
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/* */
And to end it all, here's a picture I got on my hard drive, from the net:
Don't forget, you can also ask me questions! I'll give you any info you want that I control.

So...if you want me to create a short story, then request below. Just mention the topic and I'll stack then in a queue, first-come-first serve style.

Pending requests:
Bilalz - Related to a "kung fu rabbit"
Daethdrain - A nameless person who wakes up in purgatory
TokeCat (I heard he wanted his name changed like that, I'll call him that in advance) - A person who "builds his own house" and is basically aloof

Started pieces:
Daethdrain - Under way

Well.....I guess I'll be free this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so you can request things until the 24th of July, 2011!

It was raining, small droplets of water pouring down on my body. I tiptoed on my newly-bought leather shoes, trying to avoid adding any more noise to the already noise-drenched environment. I stooped low, fumbling for the key to the door under the ragged mat which held the only passage to my safe haven.
Reaching for the key, I struck something. It was most definitely not a key.

It was something slimy. Something wet and was pulling my hand in. I shrieked, attracting a small crowd of onlookers who seemed engaged by my shouts. I tried to jerk my arm, only to fail. I peeked under the mat...and it was an unidentified being.

Embarassed at the crowd which was ever-largening, I kicked the creature three times and it slid away...leaving a small bunch of round white dots -- which I presumed were eggs, which I later crushed so as to not have any more incidences like that -- and the key buried under them.

As I opened the door, imagine the horror as I noticed the whole room was filled with them.

Prior to the release of UFOTC, I'll have to play through to test that the levels can be passed..
..and in other news the redesign is in "late June or early July" which means that "early" is the first half of July, else it can't be "early".
IOW, the redesign's coming today or tomorrow.

Well...so I've PMed Asandir to discuss whether I should prolong the gestation period of UFOTC:DOTC or submit it as soon as possible, I've changed my user icon and profile picture, and planned many other projects. Not bad, not bad. Here's a small, low-quality screencap of the game:

So....not much to say here, just a tidy little to-do list.

[] Release UFO Tree Cutters: Dawn of the Chainsaw (not yet, going to)
[X] Start work on UFO Tree Cutters: Rise of The Trees
[] Use a microphone to try and voice act in some games
[X] Work on Platform Sandbox 5
[] Submit Platform Sandbox 5 to the flash portal
[X] Gather 5500+ posts
[] Gather 10000 posts
[X] Collaborate with pranjalmaithani
[] Post on BBS a lot.

Well....it'll either be coming out today or tomorrow. It turned out that one simple change was all that was required to fix the star system; now I just have to fix the underlying bugs.
PM me for a beta sample.
In the meantime, here's a quickie logo I fixed up for this and future games:

How much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck can chuck wood?

Yesterday in English we had to construct a story titled "A matter of life and death" based on a plot we made day before yesterday.
The word limit was 500 to 600 words, but since you all know what I did, I "just extended" it to a minimum of 1000.
I've to rewrite it but I thought of posting it so that I can submit it to the Writing forum when I get unbanned...also TL;DR warning.

A matter of life and death

"Hey, Peter", I asked, "why not we go skydiving? It's currently on my bucket list, and from what I've heard it's pretty fun."
"Well....okay, I guess, seeing how dull our lives are, skydiving would be a good change; I'll be renting an airplane. See me at the CliffHanger airport at 4:30pm. Don't ask any questions."
I accepted reluctantly, as I wanted to ask Peter where he had learnt to fly a plane, but I knew one thing: We were going skydiving!
At 4:30, I saw Peter at the CliffHanger airport, and he motioned to me a deserted strip of runway a half-kilometer away from the airport; I didn't even know it existed! Anyhow, we boarded the small plane just a few metres from the strip; I figured this was the plane Peter had rented.
As I pulled up our supplies (including one parachute), I noticed there was a small tear on the lower right-hand side of the parachute holder (a big bag). Me being the optimistic person I was, I shook it off and ignored Peter's remarks about it.
Peter started the engines, increased the power on the plane, and we took off.

Chapter 1.5 :: Jay

The feeling of flying is surreal and rare; it is what Man has always dreamed of. This was not possible until recently. While people think they may fall down and plummet to the ground, it is a wonderful experience: It's not about the flying.

It's never about the flying.

Chapter 2 :: Jay

My time had come. It was my duty to jump, and since Peter was the only one out of the two of us who knew how to fly the plane, I had no choice either way. Maybe I'll fly the plane next time.
As I yanked the lever on the door, Peter tightened his seat belt and handed to me the parachute holder. I calmed myself and waited for the signal, at which point...
...I jumped. It felt lovely: The wind tearing through my face, the whooshing noise of the wind, and the sense of altitude.

Except I wasn't going down.
Then it struck me: Remember the tear on the bag? That must've let some wire loose, which may have attached itself to the plane. The problem is, if I tugged too hard at the wire, I'd strain it too much...and the secondary parachute (for emergencies) would open...pulling my head off with it. So here I was, hanging by a wire, no way of knowing whether it was flimsy or not, about to be killed.

My only help was Peter.

Chapter 3 :: Peter

I noticed that, despite me going forward and leaning out, Jay's parachute wasn't visible.
Then it struck me.

The tear on the bag he gave to me. It must've let some wire loose, and that must've attached to the plane. I looked around, scanning every nook and cranny with my eyes while stationed in the cockpit of the plane I flew.
And I found it. It was on the wing.
I frowned. If I flew any faster, I'd strain the wire too much and kill Jay in the process. If I flew too slow, the plane would stall and take both of us down with it.
Not wanting to endanger the life of my friend, I slowed down the plane slightly, accounted for the slight increase of pitch due to my weight, and searched for an instrument that would be able to cut the wire. And I found it. It was at the back of the plane, in a cupboard.
Now knowing where the instrument was, I slowly stepped -- the plane was in a slight nosedive -- and tried to grab the instrument.
Before I could open the cupboard, the plane's nose shot up. I scampered back to the cockpit, and the plane's nose stabilized. I tried again.
And again, each time failing; eventually I realised that I didn't account for the change in pitch because of Jay's weight! I set the plane into a firm nosedive, and ran to the back, opened the cupboard, grabbed the instrument, and scurried back to the cockpit.

Now I had to go to the wing and cut the wire.

Chapter 3.5 :: Jay

During the course of the flight, I rapidly swung to and fro, the only thing holding me a wire which was indeed getting strained a lot; I thought to myself, dear God, cut this thing already and let me fall!
As I peered over the edge of the wing, I noticed Peter was not in the cockpit. Was he going to cut the wire? Did he even know I was here? Or had he ditched the plane? My mind was flooded with thoughts, of fear and understanding; of concentration and worry.
I feared this was the last breath I may breather, and closed my eyes tightly, waiting for the unknown to catch me.

Chapter 4 :: Peter

As I secured the safety-catch over my stomach, I stepped out onto the wing, clutching tightly the edges. That's when I thought I was going to pass out: Not only was the plane too high, there was almost no oxygen! I wonder whether Jay had died.
I scrambled back to the cockpit where I set the nose to a mild nosedive, and waited.
Soon after, when we reached 8000 feet (where I guess there was enough oxygen to breathe) I brought a hook connected to a wire, apart from my safety-catch, so I could pull Jay back up easier than pulling it with my arms and hoping I was strong enough.

Teeth clenched, I attached the hook to Jay's rogue wire and cut the wire with the instrument ever so deftly, not wanting to stress the wire -- it was already strained a lot -- any more.
After cutting the wire, I pulled the hook slowly -- by this time the plane was turning and could thus potentially crash -- at which point I realised the effort was fruitless. I had to jump with him, and pull the wire -- for him -- and hope the parachute would deploy.

I jumped.

Chapter 4.5 :: Jay

The swell feeling of falling through the sky. The wind in your face, tears streaming down your eyes, not out of fear, but out of joy.
My eyes started flickering, and opened after 2 seconds, only to be closed by the gushing wind. I had't felt this before, I thought. I was in a state of euphoria. To the side of me, I saw Peter, who merely waved.
Then I thought about it. Was I dead? What was Peter doing here? Was I dreaming? Did I finally snap?

Chapter 5 :: Peter

After I saw Jay become conscious, I waved to him: the air whooshing past us was too loud, so speaking wouldn't work.
I counted down to 50, and tugged at the ripcord. Hard.
The parachute deployed, and we drastically slowed down in seconds, but something was not right.
We were going too fast, and it was because the parachute supported only one person.
As we reached 5000 feet, I decided whether I had to jump away or Jay had to. I wanted neither, but only one of us could stay.

Chapter 5.5 :: Jay

I was like a lightbulb. Always either conscious, or unconscious. I was hanging by a thread, and a flimsy one at that. I had the willpower, just not the strength. My heart was slowing down, each beat loosening that very thread.
I saw a white light in the distance, headed towards me. Far away, it became brighter and closer every second.
It was the last I saw of Peter, and the last breath I breathed on this planet before heading to my unknown destination.

My soul was free at last.

Chapter 6 :: Peter

Trying to fight back tears, I watched Jay breathe his last, at which point I realised I was the only one left. I pulled all the wires connecting Jay to the backpack, and strapped them onto me. I pushed Jay aside, and he just flew high up in the air. It was the last I saw of Jay's remains, and his location will be forever unknown to me.

As I touched ground, I realized what an exhilarating experience that was, and how I managed to save a person from the clutches of death, yet watch him die at the mercy of the winds.

The end.

Alternate ending (for those of you who like happy endings)

Chapter 0 :: Jay

My heart surged back into action. Blood surging through me, I was able to open my eyes.
The white light.

That's what it meant. I saw a roof in front of me, enlarging as I fell, and since I had no equipment, I could only watch as I tore through the roof.
After I tore through the roof, I landed hard on a white bed. The springs on the bed broke, and I could feel many, if not all the bones in my body crunch, snapping like twigs from the impact.
But who cares? I was alive. I was ALIVE!

Criticism is always welcome.