I recently purchased “Rory’s Story Cubes“. Wanting to give it a try, I rolled the nine story cubes, studied them for a moment, and then just started writing. This is what I came up with. The cubes are pictured above. I tried to include every cube in the story, which I think I succeeded in doing. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think in the comments.

Why is this categorized under “Other Video Games”? Because there are apps for iOS and Android too!

“Shoot,” I said aloud to no one.

You blockhead, I thought, once again, you’ve locked yourself out of your apartment.

I could’ve easily gone to the landlord and asked him to open my door again. It would’ve been a simple knock, a simple question, and back in the apartment to retrieve my keys I go. However, I have my pride to think about. I’ve only just moved in to this apartment—two weeks ago—and what would asking to unlock my apartment look like? Like I’m a blockhead who would lose his left kneecap if it wasn’t attached to his leg.

No, I decided, I had better save my pride and find another way into my apartment.

I remembered that I’d left my east-facing window open, but that wouldn’t do me a whole lot of good, because I live on the third floor. Ground floor, I could’ve just crawled inside through the window. Third floor, and I would need a ladder, and a tall one at that.

A ladder. Wait a minute… That’s right! There were painters here just yesterday to paint around the windows they’d replaced. Did they finish? No, they didn’t. Did they leave their ladder here? Yes, they did. BINGO.

I had hoped that most people wouldn’t be home in the middle of the morning on a Saturday, or at the very least, they would have their shades pulled, sleeping off their hangovers after the drinking games from the Friday night before. Why avoid sacrificing my pride to my landlord, just to have it taken from me by one of my new neighbors? Neighbors, I should mention, that I haven’t had the opportunity to meet yet.

Why again did I decide that this morning would be a great morning to start a “morning jogging routine”? And besides, people who have “morning jogging routines” typically don’t start them at 9:30.

I was sure I looked absolutely ridiculous in my brand-new jogging shorts and brand-new jogging shirt. Like a wannabe who doesn’t have a clue. Like someone who genuinely thinks a “morning jogging routine” starts at 9:30 on a Saturday morning.

Right. Ladder. Here I go.

I checked windows for movement, and seeing none, I took hold of the ladder. On the east side of the apartment complex was a courtyard. A courtyard with a pool of goldfish. Not the Japanese carp koi goldfish look-alike, but regular, run-of-the-mill goldfish.

I propped the ladder against the building, the bottom secure against the rim of the pool. With nothing but a narrow sidewalk beneath the ladder, the angle was fairly steep, but climbable. And so, I began to climb. One rung after another. Up. Up. Up.

I look ahead, and that’s when I see her. Red hair, falling in layers over her shoulders. Nestled in a bean-bag chair under a floor lamp that was turned off because of the morning rays flooding her apartment from the open window. Curled up with a worn copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that had obviously seen the worse for wear—that had obviously been re-read several times.

I stopped climbing and smiled. And in mid-smile, she looked up.

And that’s when I fell…

Not in love. No, not then. Not yet.

I fell, backward, into the goldfish pool.