Sorry, sorry! I got distracted with other tasks and forgot to check in on the forums for a couple days there. I'll read and vote by tomorrow, I promise!
EditOK. After some due consideration I vote in the following manner:
Favourite: Sinitrena. I most liked how both characters (the dreamer and the painter) were developed as the story unfolded. It was an interesting concept, although by the halfway point I already had a good idea of where everything was going. Which brings me to my only real criticism: the story kind of ends. I mean, obviously there will be fallout for both the dreamer and the painter, but the main important idea of any larger story (the painter snapping, or at least breaking out of white cubicle prison of his mind) is effectively over.
Second Favourite: KyriakosCH. You can't disqualify your entry! Only Mandle can do that!
I agree with Sinitrena that mentioning the apparition would have made the story make a lot more sense. However, leaving the reader questioning what was happening was a good way to make the story seem incomplete, so in that regard I think you succeeded more than anyone else in this competition. I think just a few more details (maybe not even describing the apparition but hinting at its presence) would have clinched you first place in my books.
Mandle. Yeah, that's right. No vote unless I hear an audio recording of you singing those lyrics. And by singing I mean screaming at the top of your lungs, preferably to heavy metal music that is also just vocals that you pre-recorded. DAH DAH DA-DA-DAAAAAAAH! DAH DAH DA-DA-DAAAAAAAH! DAH DAH DA-DA-DAAAAAAAH!
