Picture a guest book. The kind you might find in a rental vacation house. The first few entries seem normal, then you come to the scrawled writing of a very pregnant woman who appears to be trapped in the bathroom after something awful has happened.

That’s where my first contribution to the story will end, and where your opportunity to add to it begins.

Submissions should be emailed to karinfuller@cnpapers.com. In order to have our story sound as though it’s all being told in the same voice, submissions will be edited (and occasionally elaborated upon) by Karin Fuller.

Although all entries submitted may not be used, everyone who submits an entry in the Round Robin will be eligible for a random drawing to win a gift certificate entitling the winner to take one of Geoff Fuller’s writing classes (their choice of any of the one- to four-week courses, or the equivalent discount from a longer course–a $135 value). Class schedule can be seen at evergreensyndicate.com.

BASIC INFORMATION. It’s easy to miss new details as they’re added, so we’ll try to keep a running list of the basics that can be viewed at a glance without having to read through the story time and again. The story is told in the trapped woman’s point of view. While there may be other characters, in order not to overcomplicate the story, let’s keep her as the only one telling the story.

• The cabin is remote and isolated, at the very top of the mountain with no other houses nearby.
• It’s early November—too soon for snow, so there are few tourists and little chance of someone just happening by.
• Her husband’s name is Steve.
• One of the women with her is her sister, the others are friends. (One friend is named Joan.)
• There’s a propane grill outside. Not sure if that’ll come into play, but it could.
• She’s been eating nothing but paper for several days. There’s plenty of water.
• The floor is ceramic tile.
• The cabin is made of logs and is extremely sturdy.
• She’s in the master bathroom so there’s a full-sized tub.
• On 11/08/06, the phone rang and rang, but no one would answer.
• Her husband has never felt the baby kick and admitted to feeling as though it isn’t real.
• She expected her husband not to want her to travel, but he practically shoved her out the door.
• Her younger sister, Fritz, arranged for the trip and Steve paid for it.
• Joan and Sue, her roommates from college, are along on the trip, as well as Carmelita, her old best friend from high school who she hasn’t seen in ages.
• She heard something that sounded like a Christmas tree being dragged across the floor.
• Smells meat cooking.
• Dreams about an incident from her childhood, where she was taunting her sister and then ended up riding into the back of a parked van. In the dream, her sister says to her, “That’s what you get for being selfish,” except it isn’t her sister’s voice she hears, it’s her husband’s.
• Hears a mechanical, rhythmic sound, like clothes in a dryer. (Or maybe that creature from LOST?)
• The baby still isn’t moving. She’s becoming obsessed about getting it (a girl) to move.
• She uses a mirror she slides under the door to see what’s on the other side and sees there’s a plate of food left there on the floor.
• She’s trying to come up with a safe way to get it.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER WHEN WRITING. These aren’t for you to answer, but more to serve as jumping off points or building blocks.

• Why is she traveling when she’s eight months pregnant?
• What items might she have with her in that bathroom? (Remember it’s a rental property and she only planned to be there for a week. She just arrived so she probably wouldn’t have anything more with her than her purse and an overnight case.)
• Does she channel her inner MacGuyver and rig the bathroom somehow?
• What does she see from her window?
• What are some possible complications? Does she go into labor? Does she begin to hallucinate?
• If she writes letters to family members and loved ones, what does she say?
• If she’s locked herself in the bathroom, why can’t she get out?
• There’s a hidden bottle of Crown Royal somewhere in the cabin. Does this somehow come into play?

Is there cell service nearby? Most pregnant women carry phones, so if she doesn’t have one, why not?