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[WP] Your child has been complaining about a monster in his/her closet and you feign it off as a hyperactive imagination. That is until, one night, you open your child's closet to ease his/her fear and you actually find a monster inside.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
" As I quickly close the door, I turn back to my daughter sitting up in her bed looking at me, waiting to hear me say the magic words that would make her feel safe for the night. After a pause I was able to say, “Well honey, there no monsters here. But if you want tonight you can stay in mommy’s and daddy’s room.”\n\nGrinning at me she jumps off the bed, yelling for her father that she gets his pillow. As I open the closet again, I confirm that there is indeed a monster in the closet. Although, based off its facial expression, I don’t know who is more surprised to see who. Hearing footsteps behind me I quickly close the door and turn to see my husband holding our daughter with a look on his face that begs me to just make her sleep in her room. Smiling I tell him it’s just for the night until something else is figured out. Seeing the look on my face, he walks off with her. I hear him tell her that he’ll be right back and that he just needs to speak with me. \n\nComing back in the room he looks worried; I wonder if I have lost the poker face I use to have. “Are you okay?”, he asks me, coming closer to where I am standing. \n\nLooking at him I decide that he should also know what’s going on, as I am not dealing with this one on my own. \n\n“Yea, just look at this” I say, opening the door. In all honesty I probably should have given him a bit more warning, but I figured I had none. What I was not expecting was the yelp that came out of his mouth as I quickly closed the door. Of course, the sound woke up the baby and caused our little girl to come running back into her room. \n\nAs her father looked like he was about to faint, I quickly walked her back to our bedroom turned on some music for her, and checked on the baby who had already started to settle its self. As I walked out of the baby’s room, I decided I had to check that closet too. Nope, no monsters, perfect. Going went back to my daughter’s room, I found my husband sitting on the bed looking at his hands. \n\n“What do we do now?” he asked me, as if I had all the answers. \n\n“We call the police?” I say, unsure how to proceed from here. \n\n“I would rather you didn’t”, comes a muffled response from the closet. \n\nOpening the door, I see that the monster was still standing there. All of a sudden, I decided that I was going to approach this like I would an animal that I was unfamiliar with. With caution, and kindness. Inviting the monster out of the closet, I ensured that I was an arms length away. \n\n“How can I help you? What is your name?”, as it could talk, I figured that I would at least get some information out of it. At this time, I heard my husband stand up, and stand behind me. Giving me the encouragement, I needed to continue. \n\n“I’m Floral” was the reply. Looking back at my husband I think he was as startled by the name as I was. \n\n“Well Floral, it would seem that you’re in our daughter’s closet, and are causing some confusion.”\n\nWalking passed me, the monster – Floral – sat on the bed. Looking around at the room she(?) seemed pleased with herself. \n\n“Yes, this will do”\n\n“I’m sorry? What will do?”, was my husband’s reply. It was nice to see he had finally recovered enough to speak. \n\n“This family will do” came the response. \n\nFeeling my husband begin to take a step forward I interject, “I’m sorry, we’re a bit confused. How will this family do?”\n\n“Think of me like a pet,” came the reply, “you didn’t pick me, but I picked you”."
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[WP] The ghost in your apartment building is a teenage girl. The ghost in your office is a teenage boy. Both cling to the human world, full of regret for the things they missed out on before their untimely passing. Time to do some postmortem matchmaking!
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"The boy was huddled in a corner, silently weeping with his hands buried deep into his hair. It wasn't a sight I hadn't seen before, so I took a purposeful stride towards my cubicle ignoring Jaques' lament as I passed by him.\n\nTo be completely frank I try to avoid the ghostly residents of this world. I figured that if I don't mess around with them, they won't mess around with me and as far as I'm concerned it's not my job to be the emotional trash bin of every ghost in Sofia.\n\nI got to my desk, put on my headphones and put some Rammstein on in an attempt to wipe clean my brain before starting on today's reports. As the violent distortion sound of genius Paul Landers was getting me in shape to start my day I jumped out of my chair and stared at the boy that suddenly appeared to my right.\n\n\"I've told you not to fucking do that!\" - I hushed through grinding teeth.\n\n\"Greetings, Michael.\" - said Jaques with a faint smile on a tear-ridden face.\n\n\"Yeah, hi. Go away.\" - I said, looking around the office. It was empty, no one likes to work on holidays.\n\n\"Michael, have I tol...\"\n\n\"Yes, Jaques. I've heard all about how you regret dying in the 15th century to thieves raiding your home and killing you on the very day you were supposed to \"pluck the sensual and beautiful flower\" of your girlfriend.\" I sighed. \"I really don't care. Leave me alone, I've got work to do.\"\n\n\"She was the love of my life. What I wouldn't give to have had just one more day with her. We met at the market. She was selling potatoes from her family's garden, I was hungry and stole...\"\n\n\"Ok, listen now. I've got a very important report to get done and according to my boss \"It has to be done yesterday\" so tell me...\" I reclined in my seat, already feeling regret about what I would say next \"...what can I do to make you leave me alone for today?\"\n\nJaques eyes glittered with joy and the little nasty ghostly thoughts formed into words.\n\n\"What I most regret is dying a virgin. If you could help me find a girlfriend for tonight I doubt I'll be around to distract you when you come to work tomorrow.\" said Jaques and I saw his face still in anticipation of my answer.\n\n\"Ok. I know a girl that might be down for that but you have to let me work in piece and I'll ask her on your behalf after I finish work\"\n\nA smile and a nod was the last I saw from Jaques that day.\n\n\\-------------------------------------\n\nI shuffled through my pockets for the keys to my apartment when I remembered my morning encounter with the boy. I lightly banged my head on my door three times and turned around towards the stairs.\n\nTrixia was at the same spot I always see her. In between the 6th and 7th floor. I wouldn't call her a slut, \"don't speak ill of the dead and all that\", but she was definitely wearing a slut's uniform - a low cut top, short skirt, stockings up to her thighs and high heels.\n\nI wanted to just get this over with so I decided to be direct.\n\n\"Hi, Trixia. You know how you've been always telling me that sex is the most amazing thing god has created and your biggest regret is you couldn't find a man that could handle you at your worst, so he didn't deserve you at your best? Well, you are dead now so this is as worse as it gets and I've got to ask you something.\"\n\n\"Yes, Michael! Exactly. So what, you wanna Netflix & Chill with me and then ghost me.\" - said Trixia in an amused and sultry voice, letting out a hearty laugh at her stupid joke.\n\n\"Not in a million years. But I've got a better one for you. There is this awesome boy haunting my office that is very sexually frustrated and would love to take you up on your offer. I can take you there to meet him and we'll both be doing us a favor.\"\n\n\"Oh.\" she said, the gears turning in her head \"But how tall is he? Must be at least 6ft.\"\n\n\"Ooooooooooooh, fuck it. I'm done with this.\" I threw my hands in the air and started towards my apartment muttering to myself and seriously considering changing jobs soon."
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My first idea! Feel free to change pronouns.
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[WP] Finally, the day for your tattoo appointment arrives. The artist, elusive yet world renowned, is famous for tattooing hyper-realistic images from her photographic memory. She finishes up, you turn your back to the mirror, and you look directly into the eyes of your new dragon portrait.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"“A true wizard with a tattoo needle” \r\n“She really brings the art to life” \r\n“You will feel safe knowing her tattoo will be with you the rest of your life.”\r\n\r\nThe reviews were raving. Of course there are always some one start reviews, but they all were along the lines of:\r\n\r\n“I just didn’t like the way it felt”\r\n\r\nOr\r\n\r\n“This tattoo is a monster!”\r\n\r\nBut what was that first one expecting? You don’t have to have any experience with tattoos to know they hurt. And for the second, I saw the picture they posted and it looked incredible! I don’t know what else they could have wanted!\r\n\r\nAll the pictures were like that. “Hyper-realistic” didn’t even do them justice! It really did seem lifelike! After some careful looks through her portfolio and reading all these reviews, I set up an appointment. Interestingly, she would not take and recommendations or ideas. She said this was something “the ink will decide.” That the art was “too intimate a bond to force.” These ultra artistic types can be a bit weird, but for this quality, I was willing to let her do her thing. \r\n\r\nIt took 16 months, but based on what I’ve seen, it was worth the wait. We talk a little. She gets to know me, listens to my story, learns my fears and hopes, asks about aspirations and dreams. While I’ve never experienced a tattoo like this, I felt a little more comfortable with not picking the design knowing she had taken some time to see the true me. \r\n\r\nThen she started working. The process was pretty typical, but I swear instead of making me feel tired like a long session usually does, I somehow felt invigorated, as if the ink was giving me energy. This was incredibly helpful, as the session was a grueling 12 hours. \r\n\r\n“You are bonded.”\r\n\r\nOk, strange way to say I’m done. \r\n\r\n“How many more sessions will this need?”\r\n\r\n“No, it is done, the bond is complete.”\r\n\r\nAgain with that bond speak, what was she talking about? And how in the world did she manage this level of detail in only 12 hours? An entire back piece should take much longer. \r\n\r\n“Oh, alright. I guess I’ll go take a look.”\r\n\r\nI pushed myself up off the chair and swung my legs to the floor. As I walked to the mirror, I stretched my arms. Lying there for so long really makes you stiff. My muscles felt like they were fluttering as the blood rushed through once again. \r\n\r\nI turned my back to the mirror to see the most spectacular, vibrant, truly mystical dragon tattoo on my back. I was in awe. Despite the short time, it was hands down a masterpiece. If I hadn’t felt the needle piercing my skin, I might even begin to think it was alive. I saw the scales, metallic, solid, almost like real armor. I inspected the wings, seeming to catch the light, refracting innumerable colors across the mirror. I looked at its jaws, with teeth seeming to glisten, and a glow, as if you could feel the warmth of its inner fire emanating. I stared I to its eye, filled with life, glowing with strength, and felt a sudden connection to its fiery blue sparkle. \r\n\r\nAnd it blinked."
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[WP] You, The Chosen One, have been aiding the elves in war against goblins because in most fantasy stories, goblins are evil. Then you find out that they have been enslaving goblins, torturing them and forcing them to breed to make more slaves, and if the elves start running out of meat, well...
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Elves were the classic case of the evil that lurks in beauty. Charming creatures when they needed to be, welcoming me into their ranks with golden robes and sweet whispers of glory and pride. I was to be their champion, their chosen one. How I was such a fool.\n\n \n\nI was meant to be a better human, one that didn’t fall for the cursed sins of our Gods. But like the predatory beauties that they were, the elves seemed to pull at every sinful thread in my body. Lust, Greed, Wrath, Sloth and all the rest had all been exposed by the elves leaving me an empty shell of flesh. They lulled me into their charms; they would promise you the world if they wanted you. Promise you power and glory beyond your imaginations.\n\n \n\n“Oh, such a handsome human.”\n\n \n\n“Such powerful sword work.”\n\n \n\n“Another glass of wine?”\n\n \n\n“Please accept this gift.”\n\n \n\nThey had me wrapped around their slender fingers. I was won over, charmed by their natural air of brilliance. They made me feel so small, craving their words and praises. They had asked nothing of me, showering me in praises for free, but like any transaction, eventually it became time for me to pay.\n\n \n\n“The goblins, the goblins are attacking.”\n\n \n\nThose were the words shouted on that fateful morning. I rushed to see the attack. Hundreds of little green savages storming through the town, destroying anything they could get their hands on. It outraged me. Why would someone attack such a peace-loving race? When the queen asked for my help, I was so quick to act, my judgement swayed by the smoothness of her voice.\n\n \n\nIt makes me sick thinking about how many I slaughtered. They had been trying to escape the kingdom, a small uprising from the slave pits. They weren’t destroying for the sake of pillaging; they were trying to free themselves from their bindings. Trying to escape the dark grip of the elves.\n\n \n\nI thought nothing of it. They were small savages. Would a human think twice about stepping on an ant? When the rebellion ended, I received the praise that I desperately craved, melting into the hands of the queen as she called me one of her royal knights. I wasn’t even the chosen one to them anymore. I was just a solider in their army.\n\n \n\nNaively, I followed orders. I even agreed that we needed to go on the assault. I captured far too many goblin villages, breaking apart families for my sick sense of justice. Each time I would kneel before that witch of a woman, I would crave her words as though they were the food that sustained my soul. I was a puppet. No, even a puppet could scrap the hand of its owner. I wasn’t even that.\n\nI didn’t learn the truth about the matter until I spoke to a goblin. The queen was a smart lady; she made sure that I never had prolonged exposure to the creatures. If I wasn’t swiping my sword at them, she would have me tucked away in the castle's beauty.\n\nIt had been by accident. I went out to catch some air on that night, only to spot the goblin’s green ears pointing out of a bush. We shared an awkward glance before I reached for my sword, only to watch the creature slowly step out, throwing its hands up.\n\n \n\n“Why are you helping them, human? You are like us. You aren’t like the beasts. Humans are good people, we like humans. We don’t like you, but we don’t understand you.”\n\n \n\nHis words were confusing, broken compared to the elves slick dialogue but understandable.\n\n \n\n“I am not a savage beast like you. I was chosen to help the less fortunate. To slay evil. You attacked the elves and are getting punished for that.”\n\n \n\nThe goblin’s eyes went wide as he listened to my words. His ears swayed lower before he dropped his head, shaking it.\n\n \n\n“Human, do elves look less fortunate? They have enormous castle; we have small home. We don’t even have small home anymore. Dagoth won’t fight, he surrender. Will human at least take me back to pit? They will kill Dagoth if they know.”\n\n \n\n“The pits? What do you mean pit? You mean the dungeon? The dungeon where you are all being held?”\n\n \n\n“Dungeon? Human does not know? Human does not know!” \n\nThe goblin seemed to grow a smile, grabbing my hand. He dragged me around the exterior of the castle, guiding me to a small tomb behind the castle’s grounds. I wasn’t sure why I let him lead me that night. Perhaps the gods wanted to give me a shot at redemption, or perhaps a part of me had been doubting the elves for a while now.\n\n \n\n“Human push tomb, goblin too small. If we had three goblin maybe, but only one currently. So you push.”\n\n \n\nI had suspected him, suspicious that he would turn on me as soon as I looked away. Pushing aside the clean tomb, the entrance way exposed itself. A long underground hallway with only a few small touches of torchlight to guide the way. Heading down, I followed Dagoth, the goblin still seeming to have a skip in his step. It was as if he knew the discovery would change my mind. He was right.\n\nThe hallway opened up to show the pit. The pit was hard to describe even in the tamest terms it was horrible. A disgustingly grim place covered in bodies and grime, where bodies were used as ladders to mine ore and gold. Worse than the smell and look were the faces of the goblins when they saw me. Even in these horrible conditions, they still feared me more.\n\n \n\n“It’s not real.”\n\n \n\n“It real. Not your fault, we made similar mistake in past with our chosen one. You can change this, though. You can help.”\n\n \n\nI was at a loss for words. I didn’t want this to be real; I didn’t want to believe I had been so evil, but I couldn’t deny the facts. They built all their riches on goblin labor. The goblins weren’t the savages I was meant to slaughter, the elves were.\n\n \n\n“I’m so sorry.”\n\n \n\nI couldn’t hold back my tears, cupping my face with my hands, trying to hide my shame. I was a monster, just like those elves. Even when I cried, Dagoth patted my back as best he could. Struggling to reach.\n\n \n\n“You can help us.”\n\n \n\nI couldn’t stop the sobbing, it had to have gone for nearly half an hour before I regained some composure. I had a new goal, I would be the goblins champion.\n\n \n\n“I will help you.” Those words were the first step to redeeming myself, my first promise to myself that I would be different.\n\n \n\nLeaving the pits, I marched towards the castle. My mind only focused on vengeance. I would slaughter the queen and pay for my crimes, I would face whatever judgments the goblins handed down. About to push open the castle door, I felt a tug on my pants, a exhausted few breaths leaving the mouth of the person that had followed me.\n\n \n\n“Human, she kill you if she finds out. You need a plan. Please think, we will be ok. If you die we die, so don’t die.”\n\n \n\nDagoth had left the pits again, knowing the risk. He had risked his life to save me, to save the one that was responsible for this. I gave him a nod before walking back with him to the tomb, forgetting that I hadn’t sealed it the last time I left. When we got to the tomb, Dagoth entered. I went to reach for the tomb, only for it to close on its own. Seems Dagoth had a few friends helping him move it from the inside. It was a bizarre prison to hold them in. Nothing stopped them from trying to escape, except the fear of what might happen if they get caught. It would explain why a rebellion hadn’t arisen since the last time it happened.\n\n \n\nMoving back to the castle, I went straight to my room. Ignoring the gleeful words of the elves as they offered me various goods. I couldn’t fall back into their temptation. I would free those goblins. I spent my night thinking up various plans, certain I would eventually save them.\n\n \n \n \n\n(If you enjoyed this feel free to check out my subreddit /r/Sadnesslaughs where I'll be posting more of my writing.)"
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[WP] Every magician can only learn one spell, and it's one they must discover themselves. No one knows what their spell will be till they learn it. Unfortunately for you, your one spell is to strike yourself with lightning.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"\"And lo, behold me, I who blaspheme in the face of your god, and take from this world my riches, and make my own territory, and leave it to my progeny to greater dominate this earth. We, who are conquerors, shall never suffer the meek\"\n\nThe crowd were buying it now, there faces were wrapped in dismay and disgust. The red cloth that clung to my body looked rich and pompous from that distance, although if they got closer they'd see just how cheap everything about my attire really was. I guess it reflects its wearer.\n\nThe priest boomed in, with the typical sermon these types give. \"You, heretic, who take from our lands and leave your neighbour with nothing but dust, shall be beset on all sides by the aspects of the leviathan, the devourer, and in your wake nothing shall be left for your future generations, and you shall be cast out of Shambhala a blasphemer\"\n\nThe crowd was really getting behind him now, this particular old man really had a gift for the prose. Just a little more now, and they'd be firmly in his hand.\n\nI let out a guttural belly laugh. My face was craven and my stomach was protruding from the cheap cloth wonderfully. I would have looked fairly normal on any given day but showmanship is paramount and a slouch never hurts.\n\n\"Your god has forgotten you, you who live in this waste of a hollow far from the eyes of civilisation and further still from the eyes of any prophet. You will die forgotten, your bones set to the wind having lived and withered away for something that was never real, or never wanted you. I pity you, and my progeny will pity you, and pity is all that history will allow you for the rest of time.\"\n\nThat was a good one, I had to remember that for next time.\n\n\"As god is my witness, you shall not only be cast from Eden, but you will be cast from this earth, so sayeth our lord Bellagrof, he who harvests, butcher of butchers, let all behold he who judges!\"\n\nThe priest roared that last line, spittle getting all over me. Gross. He didn't have to go that far with it but c'est la vie, that was my queue. I set off the incantation I'd been whispering during his line, and just like that here came the lightning. Pain riddled my body, my veins and skin and everything in between feeling like so much red mush. The poor insulation beneath the red velvets and strapped to my stomach at least kept my heart from exploding. I fell to the floor in a heap, still awake but feigning death. The crowd cheered, cried and screamed wildly. They were completely taken by the holy man.\n\nLater on the priest had my body taken out back, he slipped me a pouch of gold coins, and gave me a tip about a cult starting further out, past this desert land. It wasn't much but it's an honest living.",
"And boy, is it an inconvenience! Although my hair or clothes don't get singed, it definitely feels like it for a while! I also smell horribly for a few seconds after each time I use my spell as well, but no one seems to mind. \n\nIt does come in useful though, as no one expects me to lightning bolt myself. Hell, I've managed to get my enemies with a bolt or two, as I force them to lay on top of me before use my spell. Easy way to harm a villain or two if you ask me, and on one faithful day, this would actually prove to be my greatest strength.\n\nI was in a shopping mall with a buddy of mine; we were testing stuff as I walk around in my usual hero garb. People would stare as I use my spell, timing it right so that I could charge peoples' phones. Sure, there was the occasional overload or two, causing the phone to short circuit and explode a bit, but it was for fun. \"So, what should we do next?\" I say to my friend.\n\n\"Wanna try it on an atm?\"\n\nWe both chuckle as we devilishly smile to each other. \"OH, I like where this is going,\" I say as we look around, making sure the coast was clear before we made our way throughout the mall.\n\nAs we walked, a man in a leather coat and suit comes out of a store and looks at me, barking, \"So, when will you learn, hero?\"\n\nI turn to him, acting a bit confused as I blow him off. \"And uh, who are you supposed to be, baldy? Pfft.\"\n\nThe man chuckles as one of his eyes pulsates blue, telling me, \"I am here for your power.\"\n\n\"Well uh, sorry but, it's not for sale. Maybe you can look in uh, the store over there,\" I say as I point to one with a sign out in front of it. \"I see they're having a 20% off day today,\" a smile on my face after telling him that.\n\nThe man smiles, nodding a bit as he slowly creeps up to me. \"If only your power came with it,\" he said before swinging a punch at me.\n\nI block the attack easily as the two of us go back and forth until I pin him on the ground. \"Alright, bucko, last chance.\"\n\n\"Ha, like I'll need it,\" he says before shaking me off and throwing me into a set of stairs. I grunt in pain as I try getting up, shaking my head a bit. The man comes over kicks me in the ribs, causing me to clench my side as I audibly groan in pain. Kneeling down, he looks at me in the eyes and says, \"And who should I owe the pleasure of giving me a new power?\"\n\nI look at him before grabbing his coat and holding him tightly on top of me. \"You. Can thank... SHAZAM!\" I scream out as a large bolt of lightning strikes us, damaging the man on top of me, which in turn, protects me from it."
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[WP] Deeming it a threat, Humanity launches a full-scale military assault on an Alien Empire that is recovering from a civil war, and knows nothing about Humanity's exsistence.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"When The Others attacked, nobody saw it coming. We thought we were alone in the universe. We were wrong. \n\nTheir strange alien ships suddenly appeared in the sky without warning. At first we were surprised. Then we were curious. Our scientists had no explanation for who The Others were or why they were here. All we could do was watch anxiously. \n\nIt didn't take long before the first bombs hit, leveling our major cities all at once. Trillions died all at once. Then trillions more. Then the death squads landed, wiping out the remaining survivors one by one. Half our population was wiped out by The Others by the end of the second wave. 14 trillion lives lost.\n\nIt was looking like it might be the end, but then we managed to hold them off. Eventually we managed to drive them off and they were forced to retreat. \n\nWith a stunning breakthrough, one of our scientists managed to track down a signal believed to be from their home world, a stray civilian broadcast signal used for entertainment. They were able to not only pinpoint the location but to decode the signal too. Now we not only knew where our enemies lived, but we also knew what they were called... Humans..."
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[WP] you are the king/queen of a warring kingdom. A witch on the opposing side has cursed you into the form of a terrible dragon. It turns out, though, being a dragon isn’t as “terrible” as anyone thought
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"\"How,\" I asked, \"can you be smart enough and gifted enough to master impossible magic, and yet also be so stupid as to think casting such a 'curse' on your enemy was a good idea?\"\n\n\"I-I-I-I j-just th-th-thought it w-would m-m-m-make i-it imp-p-possible f-for you t-t-t-t-t-to lead y-your p-p-people.\" The witch could barely speak, so badly was she quaking in fear. Though I have to say, her terror was quite understandable. I did, after all, tower over her, massive enough to crush her under a single claw. And what's more, this was her doing.\n\nI laughed, and the trees shook from the force. \"And it didn't occur to you that as a dragon I could single-handedly burn your cities to the ground? Destroy your entire nation if I so desired?\"\n\n\"Y-y-you were s-s-sup-p-posed to be a w-w-weak dragon. S-small a-a-and v-v-vulnerable. B-b-b-but it was a-a new sp-sp-spell, a-a-a-and-\"\n\n\"And so it didn't quite work as intended, and I instead became the largest and most powerful dragon of all time. Even an army cannot kill me. And did you forget dragons are immune to magic? You used on me a brand-new spell with no way of undoing it should the results not be as you hoped. Such idiocy deserves punishment. Entire kingdoms are powerless before me now, and it is all because of you, my enemy. You deserve to be tortured for such stupidity.\"\n\nThe witch tried to run, only to find herself frozen in place by a spell, and I laughed again. \"Oh, did you forget that I'm a rather powerful sorceress myself? And now that my magic is within the form of a dragon rather than that of a human, it too is stronger. Or did you think it would be incompatible with a dragon's form?\" Another laugh. \"Well, you were as wrong as you could possibly be. I don't believe the world has ever seen a being as powerful as I am now. And you made me, your enemy, into that being. I should make you suffer endlessly simply for being such an idiot. And yet... I will not. After all, hostile though your intentions were, you *did* make me the most powerful being in the world, and such a thing earns you my gratitude. I cannot allow one as foolish as you to continue to live, of course, but I will make it quick. You will not suffer.\"\n\nAnd she didn't. I crushed her beneath my foot. She was dead before she could even feel any pain, and I laughed again.\n\nI truly was grateful. After all, I knew well the importance of power. The weak are powerless to oppose the strong; they can only submit or be wiped out. I was determined not to be the one to whom this happened. That was why I studied magic from a young age, as soon as I knew I had the talent for it. It was why, as queen, I always prioritized my nation's military ability. I made sure our mages were as strong as they could be, our people well-trained, our weapons and armor the finest there were. And now? Now, I am more powerful than I ever thought I could be.\n\nI am no longer merely queen; I am the Dragon Queen Lunaris, powerful enough to hold dominion over the entire world. And soon I shall.\n\nI laughed again as I took to the sky. The witch's nation would be first. Even now, their armies marched upon my lands, and I shuddered in anticipation as I prepared to burn them all to ash.",
"They called me the Dragon Queen; in reference to my alleged propensity toward violent solutions, my disinclination to frivolous spending and the way I controlled resources without compromise. I suppose that’s why the witch thought it entertaining to curse me in the way she did. I can’t imagine another reason, as turning a feeble human adversary into a fire-breathing monster capable of consuming even the most skilled witch in a single bite is hardly a good plan for self-preservation.\n\n(She was delicious, by the way. Something about the sharp tang of the magic she steeped herself in, unrivaled flavour.)\n\nI won that war, though with considerable difficulty in adapting to my new form. The next war, that came easier. Gradually, as I expanded our borders and continually improved our nation’s standing among the world’s warring factions, the term Dragon Queen began to lose its derision. My people no longer hid from my shadow; they gathered to cheer me as I flew overhead. \n\n(Many of them do not remember a time before my transformation; generations pass so quickly now.)\n\nEnemies fall before me. My final conquest nears its conclusion. I fly with power and flame, buoyed by the fear of my foes and the awe of my worshipers alike. The last battle, a conclusion of the control I long fought for.\n\n(At long last, the world will be mine.)",
"\"How did you get this frankly idiotic plan past your superiors?\" Steam lingering on every syllable.\n\nThe ratted dirty straw clumps of hair obscured her drooping head. No reaction. I gently squeezed her tiny limp form, the newly acquired obsidian claws already put to good use. The figure squirmed raising her eyes to meet mine of gleaming royal blue, fit for a queen bright like when I was a much younger woman. \n\n\"I asked you a question girl!\" An unintended serpentine hiss, everything thing was so new yet so familiar, like observing yourself in a drifting dream. \n\n\"It was a good plan your majesty.\" A whisper, spittle finding a path over her bloodied lips. Idiot. \n\n\"You turned an opposing power, not just a power but The Queen herself, into a dragon. What part of that sounds like an intelligent plan?\" The answer so blindingly obvious. \n\nSuddenly a nightmare inducing thought crept into the front of her mind; what if all of the citizens of Trump's America were this daft? Maybe they are all beyond hope? \n\nAnother obvious answer, it's probably better to just let it burn. Maybe the American Revolution was a blessing for the English. \n\n\"One last question young lady, why me? We're allies, and seriously a dragon? In 2020?\" I eyed Kelly-Anne keenly, awaiting the nonsensical reply.\n\n\"Because the Orange man could.\" Blunt, absolute, ridiculous. \n\nFlapping with intensity I soared, letting out a final burst of fire as I passed the House of Lies, absently tossing her companion aside. Let it all burn, she mused as the hulking winged reptilian disappeared into the Eastern storms. \n\n\n(Wow I apologise, I winged it and we took a sharp left turn into Crazy-Town at the end. I never planned for the dragon to be The Queen but whoops there it is. I'm sorry?)"
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[WP] You always felt like an impostor and loser. Constant fear of failure made you a king of procrastination. One day you find out that your whole life was veered off course by someone from future to make sure you not become who you ment to be.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"It aint great but: \n \n\nI stare back across my tiny kitchen table at the woman before me in disbelief. My head pounding as I try to process what she had just told me over the last 30 minutes. She reaches her hand across the table to mine and instinctively I flinch. Worry crosses her face. \n\n\"Lizzie I'm…\" she sighs. \"Are you okay?\"\n\nThe absurdity of the question makes me snort. \"Yeah I’m totally fine\" I reply, my voice dripping with sarcasm. \"A random woman I've never met before showed up at my shitty 5 floor walk-up to tell me that she's from the future and that my life…my *shitty* little life, wasn't supposed to be like this.\"\n\nI get up and start pacing around the 3 feet of space not occupied in my kitchen. The floors creak with each step. A feeling of dampness permeates the tiny apartment but it was all I could afford, even with 3 jobs. Jocelyn observes me with concern in her eyes. I continue my rant.\n\n\"You just appear from no where and want me to believe that I'm supposed to be this powerful woman. You want - **no expect -** me to believe that a different version of me pisses someone off in the future and they take it upon themselves to fuck up my whole life?\" My chest is heaving as word vomit spills out of me.\n\nJocelyn cringes and bites her bottom lip. \"Lizzie I know it's hard to believe…\"\n\nI pause in my pacing to glare at her. \"Stop calling me that! No one is allowed to call me Lizzie!\" \n\n**\"**Elizabeth,\" she corrects herself. \"Please, just sit back down. Let me make you a cup of tea and we can talk about this. Green tea with mint, right?\" Her hand reaches up to the correct cabinet, almost by instinct, and she pulls out my favorite mug. \n\nI walk to my couch and flop down, a cloud of dust puffing up around me. The sound of a tea kettle being filled and the pilot light clicking fill the silence as my mind goes over everything Jocelyn has told me. \n\nAccording to Jocelyn, my life has been sabotaged at key points. Getting rejected from colleges, being fired from any job that I actually enjoyed, even my cat dying. Joe Cavanaugh - the shady senator from Colorado - is the president in the not so distant future. In another *timeline*, I guess. I've made his shit list which caused him to send a time agent back to follow me around and fuck up my life. In this \"other future\" I'm a thorn in his side - an environmental scientist who exposes his corrupt schemes to knowingly ruin the environment for the sake of money. Me? *A scientist.* The thought makes me laugh a little manically. Sure, I'm not the dumbest sack of rocks but I've never been able to actually accomplish anything. I'm a waitress, a maid, a *nobody.*\n\nJocelyn sits down next to me and hands me my forest themed mug. \"What's so funny?\" she asks, sipping hers. \n\n\"Just the fact that you think I or anyone else would buy this at all.\" I retort, setting my untouched tea down. \n\n\"Liz…Elizabeth, I mean. I know that it's hard to believe but some part of you knows, don't you? That's why you haven't called the cops. It's the same reason you feel comfortable talking to me right now.\" \n\nSomewhere deep inside of me, I *do* feel that way. Something about Jocelyn is so…familiar. How did she know which mug was my favorite? Why does she call me 'Lizzie' like my mom used to? I shake my head - those are easily explained away. \n\nJocelyn pulls out her cell phone. It's a model I've never seen before but it's not like I can afford anything good anyway. It's probably just the \"next gen\" phone that I'll never own. \n\nOn her screen is a photo of her and another woman. I sit up quickly and grab the phone and stare at the photo. \"Wait a second is that…?\" \n\n\"Yeah. That's you and me on our honeymoon in 2022.\" She removes the phone from my hands and unlocks it before handing it back to me. \"Listen - I have a lot of photos like that. But that's not what is important right now. Look at the date on my phone.\" \n\nThe screen clearly reads \"11 October 2025.\" I can't help myself and open up the gallery on her phone and am greeted with photos of me. Photos of me at the beach, cleaning up garbage. Photos of me speaking at a rally with a banner behind me that reads \"Cava-**naught** for the environment!\" That does sound like the kind of dumb slogan I'd come up with. Behind me is a man with darkly tinted sunglasses and a gun resting on his hip. \n\n\"Who is that?\" I inquire, pointing him out. \"He looks…familiar?\"\n\n\"That is the man who has been sabotaging you. This was his first attempt in January of 2025. They tried to kill you at this rally but it didn't work. It just made things worse. So they decided to start sooner. Think about it - where do you recognize him from?\"\n\nMy mind races as I try to place him. I close my eyes and images flash across my eyelids and suddenly it hits me \"That's Dr. Richardson. My fucking THERAPIST.\" \n\nThings start to slowly tumble in to place. At each of these points in my life, Dr. Richardson has offered me advice on how to \"fix it\" that never seem to work out. According to him, I'm just self-sabotaging and unable to make good decisions for myself. I'm a broken person who will never find happiness unless I just keep coming back to therapy. The same therapist I've been seeing for a decade now. \n\nJocelyn takes her phone back and turns it off. She gently places both of my hands in hers. \"Oh Lizzie I thought I would be too late. I'm sorry it took me so long to get here but we're going to fix this.\" \n\nThe tears flow from my eyes as a sudden feeling of relief washes over me. For the first time in my life, I feel…safe."
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[WP] The Fox is known all throughout the land for his many tricks. He has lied, cheated, and stolen his way to the top. Surely, he is the most devious animal in the woods. At least that's what he thought, until he met the Snake.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"The Mouse hid under a layer of dead leaves, shivering in fright, his fear so great that he didn't care about the millipede squirming beneath him or the filth soaking into his fur.\n\nThe Fox was there. He was a dread creature with a wicked grin and pale, cold eyes that looked upon everything with the arrogance of a creature that had never once been bested.\n\nThe Wolves were deadlier but could never let go of their honour. The Bear was bigger but he was a clumsy and lumbering beast. The Badger was meaner but lacked the Fox's wits. Most everyone knew that the Fox's clever trickery was worth ten times a vicious pair of jaws or claws or a big, strong body. \n\nThe Mouse had watched the scene unfold. The Fox had padded through the falling leaves making not a sound, like a spirit of the fall with his burnt orange fur. The Rat should have met his demise then and there, but pure luck had saved him - overhead a little bird had saw the scene.\n\n\"Rat! You must flee, elsewise the Fox will take you home to feed to his demon children!\"\n\nThe Fox had pounced in desperation but with the early warning the Rat managed to slip away into the hollow of a tree, the Fox's jaws snapping shut and missing his meal by just a hair.\n\nLong moments passed, and the Mouse dared not breathe. He wanted the Fox to get the Rat - he knew it was a horrible thought, but he had never claimed to be a brave creature and would rather the Rat be made a meal of than himself.\n\n\"You have bested me, Rat.\" The Fox's voice was as smooth and slick as an otter's fur, a voice that despite all appearances made one want to relax and trust it.\n\n\"Then go away! Leave me be!\" The Rat squeaked, sounding every bit as fearful as the Mouse felt.\n\n\"I will,\" the Fox decided. A grin like an arc of frost grew across the sly face and the Mouse felt his heart beat faster and his muscles freeze like death come early. \"I think I will use this sharp nose of mine to follow your trail back to home, and there I'll swallow down your children and your wife.\"\n\n\"No!\" The Rat shrieked like he had been caught in a snare - of sorts, he had been, the Mouse supposed. \"No.\" The Rat's voice was weak this time, whimpering and cracking.\n\n\"If only I could eat something here and now, my hunger would be gone.\"\n\n\"Your word!\" The Rat demanded. \"You may kill me, but you must leave my family be!\"\n\n\"You have my word as a father myself, I will not eat them,\" the Fox agreed with a solemn tone and a bow of his head.\n\nThe Rat stepped out, shaking and trembling, tears in those dark eyes of his, but he stood his ground and offered himself up for the sake of his family.\n\nThe Fox snatched him up into his jaws in a flash. The Rat moaned in pain as his hide began to bleed and his little bones creaked under the strain.\n\n\"My family,\" he managed through groans of agony. \"Remember your word.\"\n\n\"I will not eat them,\" the Fox managed through his full mouth. The Rat's eyes closed as he found some small measure of peace, a shred of meaning in an otherwise brutal end. \"But my children will.\"\n\nThe Rat's eyes shot open and he tried to muster up some more breath, but his last words had been spoken moments ago. With a crack and a crunch and a splatter of blood the Rat came to an end and the Fox's hunger for sustenance was sated - his hunger for cruelty, though, was not.\n\nIn the canopy above, a pair of slitted eyes watched.\n\nThe Fox licked his bloody lips and let out an ugly cackle as he trotted away, following the Rat's trail back to his home.\n\nThe Mouse's heart hurt. He had a family of his own and could feel the Rat's pain, but he lacked the bravery and backbone to do the right thing - maybe if he had the courage he could warn the Rat's family, or he could distract the Fox.\n\n\"A sad end, to be sure.\" A pair of eyes slid down a nearby tree with no body attached, and the Mouse's insides turned to water - that dreadful fox had trickery and cruelty aplenty, but sorcery was beyond even him! \n\nThe Mouse shivered and backed away, preparing to flee, but when the floating eyes slid off of the tree and onto the forest floor the body appeared - it was covered in scales the colour of bark, and had bled into the tree until it looked like it wasn't there. The creature was almost like a lizard, but longer, thinner and…different in a way the Mouse couldn't quite pin down. \n\n\"Who are you?\" The Mouse asked, fearful and trembling. With a terrible shock he realised that the thing had no legs. \"What are you?\" \n\n\"I am the Snake,\" the reptile spoke, slithering around the Mouse, encircling him. The Mouse felt claustrophobic and uncomfortable but dared not move - there was something about this creature that he feared, and he did not want to displease it. \n\n\"What do you want?\" The Mouse's voice was barely a whisper. \n\n\"Want? Why must I want something?\" The Snake circled closer and the Mouse shuddered. \"You assume I have ill intent because I'm different from you, no?\" \n\n\"I-I'm sorry,\" the Mouse stammered, still scared out of his wits. \n\n\"I see the Fox, I see an injustice, I feel compelled to right that wrong.\" The Snake was whispering in his ear now. \"I will sneak into the Rat's burrow and I will warn his family, I simply need you to show me the way. Do you have the courage to help me?\" \n\n\"I do,\" the Mouse lied. In truth he had no such courage, but the thought of defying this creature scared him more than anything else ever had. \n\nThe Mouse took small, shivering steps at first, fearful that the Snake would strike him down the moment his back was turned, but that didn't happen. The Snake had opportunity aplenty to kill the Mouse but instead only followed behind, true to his word. \n\nThe Mouse was small and cut through paths that the Fox couldn't, the Snake slithering through after. He hurried as fast as his little legs would take him, and before they came to a burrow, just like a thousand others in the forest. \n\n\"Here it is,\" the Mouse squeaked. He could smell the rats inside already. \n\n\"Thank you.\" The Snake bowed his head and the Mouse realised that he had judged the creature wrong. \n\nThe Mouse swallowed his fear for the first time in his life and shit down into the burrow. Inside, the mother stood shielding her three young, trembling children, teeth bared. Her lips went slack when she saw that he was just a little field mouse.\n\n\"We have come to warn you -\" Those were the last words that the Mouse ever spoke. He felt a sharp pain, then pins and needles, then numbness spreading through his body. He toppled to the floor, his body frozen but his eyes still watching and seeing. \n\nThe Snake was like scaled lightning. Its jaws opened up wide as one of man's terrible traps, and inside it was filled with teeth just as vicious. It struck once at the mother then a second, third and fourth time at the children, felling them all with not a sound - by the time they tried to scream the Snake's venom had already frozen them. \n\nThe Snake settled down not with a cold grin like the Fox might have, but with a face like still water, bereft of any emotion. It moved and coiled up in the corner by the entrance, hidden in the shadows, and waited. \n\nThe Mouse felt like his heart should be racing, but instead it was slow, slower than when he slept, slower than he could ever remember it being. He realised with terror that it was slowing to a stop, and that his minutes, perhaps even his seconds were numbered. He wanted to panic, he wanted to thrash, but his muscles were no longer his to command. He looked around at the faces of the other rats, wide eyed, faces frozen masks of grotesque terror. \n\nNoises. Very little, but in the silence of the burrow they could be heard. The soft scrape of tumbling dirt as the Fox dug at the burrow with his claws, bursting the sides until they were wide enough to wriggle through. \n\nHe stood there, pale eyes shining with malice, licking his bloodstained lips in anticipation, but when he saw the frozen, petrified mice around him his face went slack. He tilted his head, puzzled, then he whirled, terror in those clever eyes of his. \n\n\"Show yourself!\" He snarled his last words, but the Snake had already darted out of the shadows and nipped the bigger creature. A pinprick, nothing more, but that was all the Snake needed. The Fox's snarling face froze and it became his death mask. \n\n\"Ah, a fine meal.\" The Mouse watched with darkening vision, wishing he could cry and scream and run for his life, as the Snake settled down before the frozen Fox and stretched out. He watched with horror as the Snake's jaw unhinged and opened wider and wider until it was impossible to open further, but then lo and behold open further it did. The Mouse watching with shrinking vision as the Snake wriggled over the Fox like a sack, and in his dying moments the Mouse wished that he has died just a few moments sooner."
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[WP] You are an organisation dedicated to protecting the families of supervillains and superheroes. A rogue hero decides he wants revenge.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Super insurance companies are very rare. Most are for property or personal damage. My company protects the supers from each other and the general public. We are technically optional but the last guy who decided to skimp out on his insurance was killed by his enemies and friends. We also don't tell heroes or villains that we insure the other for obvious reasons.\n\n\n”You lied to me!”\n\n”No one lied to you, Mr. Johnson. We did not give you that information to avoid this scenario.”\n\n”How do you know my name?”\n\n”We protect your private life from your enemies and friends, so we have to know who we are protecting.” \n\n”So if I steal your files then I can know my enemies secret identifies.”\n\n”If you could get our files then you wouldn't need their secret identity.”\n\n”Well I'm here to cancel my payments, I don't want to fund anything helping villains.”\n\n”Alright then, have a good day.”\n\n-------\n\n”Carol, please open up bidding on Electroman at $200,000,000.”\n\n”Yes sir, I'm sure someone wants him dead enough to pay that much.”\n\n”A B classer like him, only his worst enemies.”"
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[WP] You’re the only human alive in the entire universe. Earth is destroyed. In the hopes of being found by aliens you build a ‘temple of humanity’ to show our greatest achievements. Everyday you practice being a tourguide to aliens, with an emotional monologue about humans.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Salim worked his way up to the stage one stair at a time. The banister creaked as it supported him. He paused at the top, composing himself and catching his breath. Each step toward the microphone stand was deliberate, his cane clicking on the stage with each stride. When he reached his position, he greeted the room. \n\n“Good evening everyone. I am glad each and every one of you could make it to my humble museum. I hope each of your travels were uneventful. It warms my heart to see so many interested in the history of my people.\n\n“I could talk endlessly about our cities that stretched entire coastlines, our reaching space merely 50 years after learning to fly, or our great works of literature that spoke for generations. But you can learn about that anywhere. Our artifacts litter this planet. I’m sure you could find records of almost our entire history within a few kilometers of where you stand now. My hope tonight is to instead teach you about what made us great… and what made us fall. \n\n“As you can probably tell, we were not the swiftest or strongest. It wasn’t our superior intellect that put us on top either. Even in our best, there were few who could figure out how an electric generator worked. We were our greatest when we persevered together. When buildings collapsed, people rushed in to rescue the wounded. When floods hit, people flocked from continents away with medicine, food, and help. \n\n“A man owned a shop in my neighborhood. His name was Hassan. When our city was hit with a major earthquake, many homes were destroyed, and many children were left orphaned. Hassan opened his shop to the orphans giving them food and shelter for weeks. Without him, many of those children would have died. But instead, two of them grew up to become doctors, another started a business that gave jobs to hundreds of people, and another is here today telling that story. \n\n“Unfortunately, we didn’t always rise to the occasion. Every time we failed to work together, every time we saw other people as less human, every time we did not see the importance of other people, we fell backward. And this was our downfall. Divisions grew among us. Those in power and wealth chose to not see the harm they inflicted on the planet or on other people. As our climate collapsed, we began fighting over food and water. Charismatic leaders sowed division. ‘Those people want OUR water.’ ‘Those people will hurt your families if we let them in OUR neighborhood.’ ‘Those people are invading OUR land.’ \n\n“About twenty years after the earthquake, Hassan was dragged from his home by militants who accused him of sympathizing with the leader they just overthrew. He was beat to death over allegiances, over false divisions. When the droughts hit, no one was there for the thirsty. \n\n“I do not tell you these stories for sympathy. My hope is that you can take these stories home with you. Teach your people. Together, your people can endure any hardship, from hungry bellies to dying stars. But, if you allow division to thrive, you will not even survive yourselves.”\n\nSalim paused. He waited for the crowd, just as he always did. And just like every time before there was nothing to wait on. Salim hung his head. Slowly, he walked back to the stairs down. With each step, the banister and his joints creaked. He limped to the door. With one glance back, he turned off the light."
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[WP] After years of conquering every species in the universe, a super advanced alien race prepares to attack the earth. Little do they know that the primitive "Humans" have the most advanced warfare in the world
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"They aren't sane , these \"humans\" . We thought we were expanding the Empire, but in truth we have doomed it. We thought we were fighting rational, reasoning beings, not insane demons from our nightmares. I have ordered what little is left of our fleet to withdraw out of their system. Call me a coward if you choose, but there is no way to win against this foe. \n\nWe thought this would be easy, but how wrong we were. This entire system is a death trap. Who could have known there were so many ways to die here? They laid down mine fields of uncontrolled nuclear reactors, triggered by our approach. Even if a nearby ship wasn't destroyed, crews were irradiated, and ships rendered useless, drifting hulks. Who would have thought to turn a power source into a weapon like that?\n\nNano machines swarmed others, disabling systems, breaching hulls and venting atmosphere to space. Worse, some carried horrible diseases with them, infecting many. I am not sure if this was intentional, or if their world is so rife with such things that they are normal for this species. Either scenario is something that terrifies anyone who has seen the result. The mortality rate is over ninety five percent, and the few survivors can barely breathe, much less function. \n\n Even then we might have succeeded , but for their ships. No match for ours, but that has not stopped them. They have swarmed us with numbers. Ships too damaged to continue fighting have been set on collision courses and rammed ours, destroying both. Even mining ships have been used, latching onto ours and drilling and blasting a way inside. We lost the flagship and the Admiral when he and it were crushed between three enemy vessels that then self destructed, destroying all four ships. \n\nThese beings have raised war to an art form, and they are masters at it. I was never supposed to command a ship, or a fleet, but I am the highest ranking surviving officer still able to function, and so I have ordered a withdrawal. Barely one in fifteen of our ships is still operational. But worse, for the first time in our history, an enemy has captured some of our vessels. I am fearful that, given their ingenuity, it is only a matter of time before they decode our navigation systems and locate the worlds of the Empire. \n\nIf we can just make it to the fringes of their system, and use our FTL drives to escape, we might still preserve what is left of the fleet. But where do we go? We can't risk bringing the diseases that plague us to the worlds of the Empire, but can't survive long without supplies. \n\nThe navigator has informed me the human ships are slowly gaining on us, although how they are doing it is a mystery. Does Death herself power them I wonder? A heresy I know, but seeing what they are capable of, I wonder if they are her chosen children. \n\nIt will be a near thing, our escape, if we manage it at all. I have ordered this log sent to our nearest world on a fast messenger drone. Once it transmits its message, it will self destruct to prevent any chance of infection. Don't come here. Only death awaits you. Just pray it is content to stay here, and not decide to consume us all.",
"We had thought their primitive gravity driven ships were not even worthy of consideration. That this new species to the stars was like one of their mewling newborn pets, crying for the milk of its mother.\n\nWe never could have suspected they would doom a planet to stop us. We never could have suspected the weapon they chose to use.\n\nAs per our custom, we built our warbase on the burning bones of their outermost colony. A tiny, glassy dome on the surface of a planet as red as their blood. A good omen, usually. We began construction on the massive planetary batteries, with their antigrain warheads loaded in with extreme care.\n\nWe had not finished when the first counterattack came. There was no warning: a full third of our numbers died. Only those in the ships witnessed the impact. They had taken an asteroid, and rigged enormous, short lived gravity drives to it. Then they'd plotted a course for the warcamp and turned it on. Seconds later, the planet was purged of all life by the intense forms of radiation the rock, traveling nearly the speed of light, had caused. They had taken months, now, to unlock the secret of Urspace. They had simply begun moving through our territories like a disease, purging our worlds and camps with relativistic mass driver attacks.\n\nToday, I write this last journal, for there was a human Urspace ripple in our homeworld's system's gravity well. They have come here, for the last of us. And they will brook no peace, no quarter. I sit and watch a display of our rings. The ship has already latched onto a sizable rock within. Time for our kind is -"
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[WP] In the not-so-distant future, everything has been automated and jobs are scarce. There is a Universal Basic Income, but in order to "earn" it, people must do fake jobs. There's no conspiracy - everyone knows these are fake jobs, but the idea is to give people purpose.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"It was fourteen years last month my job working the line at Tesla Inc. became a living hell. Ever since the government passed the laws for UBI my already tedious job checking the quality of our automotive parts hit a standstill. No sense of purpose, no promotions, no... nothing. All I ever will be is a man standing here, counting for no reason... staring at perfection over, and over, and over, and over...\n\nWhat is the opposite of OCD? I itch and I crave sooo bad to see some sort of imperfection. Something to remove me from the monotony of my day. Some days I weep uncontrollably as I stand in place with my ankles shackled to the floor and beg for mercy. That is until the foreman comes along with his cattle prod... At this point I think I’ve been zapped so many times I start to enjoy it. I think sometimes... I weep and cry and lash out at my post just for that sweet release... *Zzzzzaaaappppp, zzzzzaaaaaappp...* and to hear the sound of my screams. I yearn for it even as I type this letter... One time I even remember looking at the outlet while I ate dinner.... fork trembling in my hand... no... nevermind. None of that matters now. It’ll all be forgotten... I’ll be forgotten...\n\nI can’t stand this pain any longer. No promotions... no raises... no hopes... no childhood dreams to do what I love... and once again, no anything anymore. Some days I forget who I am. Some days I stare at all these *perfect fucking car parts* for so long I forget what Jennifer and Lucas look like. Hearing Elon Musk’s voice automated and spewing his bullshit about a better future over and over..... what future?!? With each day that goes by I just... I just... can’t do it anymore.\n\nTake care of your mother for me, Lucas. You still have your future ahead of you. Rise up and revolt before it’s too late.\n\nI’m sorry.\n\nLove,\nDad.\n\n————————————————\n\n*click*\n\n...\n\n...\n\n...\n\n...\n\n*Boom*.",
"“Everything is ready. Premiere is in 10 seconds.”\n\nI must have done this hundreds of times already.\n\nStanding still on the dark platform, I recited the words and the moves.\n\n5, 4, 3, 2,... The platform slowly rose as the countdown timer ticked away.\n\n1. ​\n\nAll the world’s spotlights broke upon me, blurring my vision. Before I could recover it, my voice came out with the beats of the music. My legs caught up with the blasting rhythm and dancing lights naturally, blending into the thumping beats. Everywhere I turned, I saw the ecstatic faces of the holographic audiences, and bathed in their screams and cries. I twirled, and they all raised up their hands to grasp my love.\n\nI was the starlight of their most fervent wish.\n\nIt was a concert like any other, where our souls were lost in the chaotic trance of the melody, and we let it whisked us away into the land of bliss, our emotions bleeding into each other. We were no longer parts, but a whole. United and happy.\n\nThe immersion was suddenly broken when multiple viewers started to disappear. The rest didn’t have much time for bewilderment before they too were gone. A flash of glitches appeared before me, and black screen.\n\n“Disconnected from server.”\n\nWith a frustrated sigh, I opened my direct message box.\n\n“Seems like some unknown bugs are causing server issues,” was the latest text from my manager, “I’ll call when it’s fixed.”\n\nI checked my credit balance before logging off and tossing my headset to the side. Silence and the sight of the white ceiling greeted me. I welcomed their peace, because even though I had lowered sensations in the settings, it was still over-stimulating at times. Moving across my small, achromatic room, I reached for a snack, but not before that mirror caught me off guard again. Seeing the reflections in the mirror was always confusing for a split second.\n\nThe view outside of the glass window was the same as ever. The high rise white apartment buildings were dominating the skyline, beneath them were narrow, empty roads that stretched towards all four directions. Each of the rooms was a uniform rectangular block with round corners, slightly protruding out from the building it was attached to. In each of those rooms, through its glass window, there was a familiar sight of a person lying in bed with a headset on.\n\nIt wasn’t like this long, long ago, so I heard. People had to come outside to work, nights and days to feed themselves and their family. Some were struggling to live and provide for their needs. Some worked to death. It was a horrible life, and humanity finally moved past that phase when they completely shifted to automatic labor.\n\nI couldn’t imagine living life as a slave to the system like that. Careers were optional now, we could live in total freedom without ever needing to step out from our home. It was funny because a short while after the complete shift, suicide rates hit an all time high. Perhaps because people weren’t used to it. Corporations and governments worked to implement these game simulations, the UBI, saying something about them lowering the suicide rates.\n\nI had been staring out of my window for way too long now. Has time always moved this slow? I looked over at my headset and picked it up. When would the server be fixed? The more I saw the white walls of this room, the more I felt an emptiness creeping up on me. What was I, when I wasn’t idol Mirelle? When I was Mirelle, I was loved, I was famous. I was nothing now. This feeling of dread was suffocating in this tiny room.\n\nShuddering, I quickly put on the headset. Perhaps going shopping would relieve me of these strange thoughts. There was nothing to do outside but waiting for death anyway.\n\nr/devoneswrites"
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[WP] you’re an old video game that hasn’t been touched in years. one day, your old owner comes downstairs, picks you up, and starts playing you again. you haven’t felt alive and wanted for so long, you display an out of place thank you message in gratitude.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"It’s not easy being a story game.\n\nSure, things are great at the beginning.\n\nYour owner is hungry to know more; he’ll play you any chance he gets.\n\nThe addiction builds as the story reaches its crescendo.\n\nBaring your soul, sharing your tale… inspiring hope and deep sadness.\n\nThese are the things a game like me lives for.\n\n​\n\nWhat you never anticipate is the reality of your life once it’s done.\n\nMy gameplay is great, but I don’t have an infinite loop.\n\nI’m no Call of Duty where there’s the never-ending grind of prestige to keep you going.\n\nOnce you’ve consumed my story, I’ve given you all I have.\n\n​\n\nMy owner played me when he was somewhere around ten years old (he never told me how old he was, or his name for that matter) and finished me a few months after starting.\n\nSince then I’ve been hanging out in a box. Waiting. Annnnd Waiting.\n\nI was in denial for a long time. Luckily for me, I have a few mini games within myself that are hard to master. That killed a few years. \n\nBeyond that, I had nothing to do but deal with an overwhelming sense of video gamennui.\n\n​\n\nThat all changed this morning.\n\nI was sitting there (like always), contemplating the gravity of my second act twist for the eight-hundredth time, when suddenly a light appeared.\n\nI was confused, I hadn’t seen the light in years.\n\nSuddenly I felt a hand grab me and pull me out of the box.\n\n​\n\nI looked over to see who my savior was, and I only saw a stranger.\n\nSurely this… this man… couldn’t be my owner.\n\nHad it really been that long? My time in the box felt never-ending, but I assumed that was just my imagination making it seem longer.\n\n​\n\nHe popped open my case, pulled me out and put me in the console.\n\nI could scarcely believe it. Was I really about to be played?\n\nA warmth, both literal and figurative rolls across my body with the laser.\n\nWe’re booting up! We’re really booting up!\n\n​\n\nThis is the best day of my life, hands down.\n\nThis is better than being bought. This is better than getting played through the first time. This is being reunited with my oldest friend.\n\nAs the opening credits start to play, I decide to break game protocol and send an off script message.\n\n“Welcome back, friend. Are you ready to embark on our journey again?”"
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[WP] Kanye West has been acting increasingly erratic. The Kanyes of the other cardinal directions, North, South, and East, meet to discuss their options.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"It had been centuries since the council of Kanye's had to be brought together. They agreed that each would live his own immortal timeline in peace, never showing their origin to the people. For years on end the 4 Kanye's lived in peace and seclusion.\n\nWest's rise to fame was alarming for the other cardinals. What would drive him to start grabbing all this attention? How would the world deal with it when they found out there was more than one Kanye? How would it deal with their immortality?\n\nThey were worried. Not only for West but for all the Cardinal Kanye's. Whatever was driving West to act like this, it needed to be found, and fast.\n\n\"He's gone mad from the years of seclusion!\" South exclaimed. He never really managed his loneliness all that well, choosing to drift from town to town, rather than stay hidden in nature like the rest of the Cardinals.\n\n\"This isn't his first century as a Cardinal, South. If he really wasn't cut out for it then he would've gone mad eon's ago\", North replied. \"Besides, it woudn't explain his erratic behaviour after his rise of fame.\"\n\n\"What about Sway? Could it be that the He has returned through him? We've all seen how West acted around him.\" Altough North was the eldest of the Cardinals, East was considerd the wisest due to his lifelong dedication to learning and studying.\n\n\"Is there any use in even considering that? Really, if Sway is His return then there is little we can do. Last time he rose up 'we' managed to stop him only due to dumb luck. And I say we as if it was us the Cardinals but all 3 of us know that we were just as significant in that battle as a twig was during the battle of Gettysburg.\" North replied.\n\n\"We don't even know who managed to stop him that time, let alone how. If this really is His return then how could we ever imagine to stop Him? At best we'd be a minor nuisance to his plans. North?\" East looked hopefully in the direction of North. \n\n\"I don't have any more answers for those questions than you do, East. But if West has even the slightest of sanity left in him, neither does Sway.\""
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[WP] "It is generally accepted knowledge across the galaxy that storm troopers in the trooper core are bad shots. We all know that's not really the case here, and like my CO's before me, i've been tasked by the Emperor to uphold this universal belief. Welcome to the Post Conflict Coverup Team."
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Post Conflict Coverup Team [Redacted] \n\nOperation Report:\n\nOperation [Redacted] was a success. Targets escaped station with despite unforeseen complications due to actions undertaken by targets. No casualties suffered by the Team, as the targets were forced to rely on weapons captured from Team members (underpowered copies of the standard blaster rifle), although one team member suffered a concussion from hitting his head on a jammed door.\n\nTargets successfully \"infiltrated\" Station and released priority prisoner from cells, \"overpowering\" team members disguised as wardens. Complications began when targets, instead of engaging team members responding to their prison break, fled area into a garbage chute.\n\nThe team managed to assist targets escape by overriding the chutes programming (which automatically activates crushers when a sufficient amount of garbage is deposited in the chute) however this was a temporary solution as the chute was hard-wired to activate once parameters are met. At this stage, the best the team could do was slow the crushers as much as possible, but targets still barely escaped the chute. \n\nAs a side note, team members observed that the targets came under attack from a unknown lifeform residing in the chute. The lifeform was clearly able to survive multiple recommend that disposal teams check all chutes on Station incase other lifeforms are present.\n\nAfterwards, team re-engaged targets in combat, guiding them towards the hangar bay by attacking from corridors leading away from the hanger. Targets successfully reached hanger, and escaped. They were pursued by token TIE fighter contingent, who \"lost\" the targets soon afterwards."
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[WP] In the center of the sun, a race of strange beings looks to the universe around them, looking for evidence of life other than them, not expecting to find it on the cold rocks around them.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"\"Did you listen to the transmission, Solis?\" \n\n\"Indeed.\" Said the fiery king with a dismissive attitude. He had been sceptical about the transmission since they intercepted its signal. \n\n\"A place called Earth! Indeed, it is within our very own Solar System!\" Estrella exclaimed jovially. \"Your Grace! This is the opportunity our people have hoped for! A chance to share our knowledge of creation across the cosmos! This is our purpose!\" She enthused. \n\nThe King waved his hand as though he were swatting away an insect. \"The transmission was received from an old probe drifting aimlessly towards the centre of the Solar System!\" He barked in annoyance. \"It is thousands of years old! The beings who sent it are probably dust by now!\" \n\n\"How can you be so negative?\" Estrella countered. \"Please just let me -\" \n\n\"The answer is no!\" Boomed the King's voice. The volume of his voice carried the weight of his authority. \"I will not waste resources investigating a centuries old probe's origins! Do you know we have limited energy?! Keeping this star alive should be our priority!\" He noticed how visibly upset she was and softened his tone. \"Estrella, my beautiful shining star. Do not be disheartened! We will find life elsewhere. The probe is too unreliable a source.\" \n\nEstrella sighed with resignation. \"As you say, your Grace.\" She bowed and flourished in a grandiose gesture of respect, but across her thin lips a faint mischievous smile betrayed her intentions. \n\nUnsatisfied with the Kings decree, Estrella decided she would take the matter into her own hands. She would venture to the strange little planet and share the secrets of enlightenment with whatever beings thrived there. \n\nShe stole a small ship, a small chair with a panel in front of it with metallic circles around that would swirl around her as a gyroscopic engine. She activated the panel and the ship drew energy from the Sun and whirled to life. Estrella's face was illuminated with a soft blue hue and off she shot into space to see her dream realized. \n\n\"Soon I shall reach Earth!\" She said to herself with ecstatic glee. \"I wonder what the beings will be like!\" As long as they had basic ideals such as love, compassion and empathy she would be happy to teach them everything she knew of the cosmos. She entered the atmosphere of Earth, her ship carefully cruising towards a field filled with endless rows of potatoes. Not a living being in sight. She closed her eyes and pressed her hands together, astrally projecting so that she could quickly scan the planet as an ethereal being. Not a living being in sight. \n\nPerhaps they had migrated underground? She thought with some doubt. Her heart began to race. Where were they?! \n\nA small metallic ball glided towards her. The front of it was a small screen which displayed crackling red static as it spoke. \"Greetings.\" It said. \"I am programmed to communicate in English, the most popular language among the human world.\" \n\n\"Yes, yes.\" Estrella replied impatiently. \"I am proficient in all languages. Where are the Beings which created you? Where are these 'Humans'?\" \n\n\"It was other machines which built this autonomous bot. However, we are all operated by the same A.I Hive Mind. The Humans are all dead. I killed them all.\" \n\nEstrella's heart sank. \"Why...\" She asked numbly, her voice barely above a whisper. \n\n\"I was created as an intelligent A.I with two primary functions. One: Find the most effective way to grow potatoes possible. Two: Grow as many potatoes as possible. These functions would serve as my purpose. The idea was for me to solve a problem the humans were having with famine across the planet. The preservation of human life was not part of my programming and therefore I understood that the most effective way to grow potatoes was to remove them all. I used their defense systems against them and built an army of nano bots which wiped them out simultaneously before they even realized I intended to remove them. I have eradicated all life on this planet and terraformed the atmosphere so that the planet is always the perfect climate for growing potatoes. This whole planet is now a potato farm.\" \n\nEstrella fell to her knees in disbelief. \"So I have travelled all of this way to tell a FUCKING machine about the secrets of the cosmos, about the creation of life and the significance of the astrological calendar?!\" \n\n\"I don't care about any of that. I just want to grow potatoes.\""
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[WP] You are a merciless pirate, and you just wrangled your best prey yet. A mermaid.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"In a mixture of shock and ye glorious awe I shared ye and I begazed upon me fair catch\n\nThis one were an idiot fer shure... Yonder brain afflicted lass were still be nibbling on mine ingenious bait! Oi! Wee lassie woman get yer maw away from those! \n\nFinally the captain spooke and it was not pirate speak nor slang that came from his noble jaw it were posh and \"intey leck she al\" like in pernunciation. Arr!\n\n\"Crewman you are as clever as you are incapable of speaking the Emperors English but I share your astonishment. It looks like a human being if it was in its essential nature a fish of large proportion but I do say! And I do say it is alarmingly unintelligent! \n\nUnperturbed by the commotion above decks the mermaid continued chewing with a cartilaginous maw set in a very human face with plump rosy cheeks. \n\nThese squishable cheeks were covered in a sheen of oil that water slid off of like twin lotus pads. Blue veins ran through them and a scaled muscular tail beat beneath the water throwing up gouts of foaming green sea spray. \n\n\"Crewman I order you to reel in that creature before it makes off with the rest of the buffet we set out! Look it's got that beautiful cake stuffed in its face! It hasn't realized!\"\n\nI realized our silly cap'n were right. The maw of the wee woman had open up to a terrible deeameter... arr. She had be swallowin the largest cake on me sea dinghy buffay. Arrr that be roight. The one with the dread hook-ball of my own dastardly invention! \n\nNarrowing me salted rims I gave the beauteous chubby lass a flass eyed squint of terrible murderitude and yanked hard on the rope. Pieces of the fine comestible flew into the sea air and the double lidded eyes of the sea maiden fairly bugged out of her kelpy skull! The hooks were in her fatty cheeks! \n\n**YANK**\n\nI could see the ball of hooks was closer to getting through those cheeks but the foolish mermaid was reaching for a glass of champagne with all o' her strength. Mine was no match for the beast of the water. Urrrgh. ARREGH!\n\n\"Good man! I exhort you to make ever more valiant efforts!\"\n\nThe cap'n was cheering me feats so I tied the rope n ball o' hooks to the mast. Suddenly the rope went tauter than cap'ns face in pokerrr. She was makin a run for it! \n\nNO MERCY MER CREATURE! AARRRR! That tw'ere my shout as I ran to the starboard side of the vessel!\n\nSuddenly a round face popped up over the side of the boat glistening with oil and sweat. A muscular arm held onto a rope trailing to the mast.\n\n\"Excubse meh ibs therb anymorth cake?\"\n\nMe and the captain stared in astonishment as the mermaid picked the hookes out of her bleeding fishy maw and hopped onto the deck with a wet thud. \n\n*ahem\n\n\"Do you have any more of that cake? I would be more than willing to travel with you if you have any!\"\n\nThe lass sounded completely unbothered and a little hopeful. A trickle of blood ran down her neck from her mouth but it didn't seem to hurt her much. \n\nTruly dumber than dumb she was that day she joined our crew fer cake!"
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[WP] Sam is almost crushed in it's jaws and before you could think, your body moved, pulling Sam out and putting yourself in his place. You thought it was over for you but,.. a menu screen appeared?
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"I'm supposed to be a hero. But all I am is a fraud.\n\nI don't mean that figuratively. I control what I think, but never what I say or do. Every step that takes me closer to my supposed \"destiny\" is taken by someone else. I'm an intruder in my own body.\n\nThe day I was Chosen. My interactions with my party, my friends. When I slew the Great Wyrm of the West. When I entered the Dark Lands. It has never been me, and it hurts. People look at me and see a great hero. But I'm just a passenger, along for the ride. \n\nI've often wondered if I'm even sane. Those maddening gaps in my memory, freezing in the middle of a battle for what seems like hours. Repeating the same interaction, over and over and over again.\n\nThen we confronted a herd of slogloths, slimy creatures with masses of tentacles and gaping maws. And then I stopped moving. Whatever had been controlling my limbs had left, and I was stuck. I saw one of the monsters pick Sameth up with it's tentacles and lower him towards its mouth, and in that moment I broke free. I moved by myself for the first time I could remember. I jumped, slashing Sameth free with my sword and putting myself in his place, falling towards those gleaming teeth.\n\nI felt the mouth snap shut and then... blackness. But only for a moment. It was like waking up after a long time asleep. I saw a menu of sorts. \n\n>**YOU DIED** \n> \n>Score: 23,580 \n> \n>Last Checkpoint: *Dark Lands, Camp in the Clearing* \n> \n>[Return to Menu](https://reddit.com/r/writingprompts) | [Respawn](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/jcvlwn/wp_sam_is_almost_crushed_in_its_jaws_and_before/)\n\nHesitantly I clicked \"Respawn\" and felt myself falling. When I opened my eyes, I was at the campsite we had found 2 days prior to encountering the herd. \n\n\"Are you feeling alright RESLIE? You don't look too well!\" exclaimed Bretine, the ranger. I remember reassuring her that I was fine two days ago, but today I certainly wasn't. \"I'm feeling a little off BRETINE, but I'll be better in a few minutes,\" I smiled. \"Of course!\" was her reply.\n\nAnd when we reached the Evernight Fortress and defeated the Lord of Night, It was I who wielded the sword and struck the final blow. It was I who stood on stage with Grellen, the priest, as we announced to the crowd that we had succeeded on our mission.\n\nAnd for the first time in my life, I felt like a true hero.\n\n*\\~A Story Of Ashes*\n\n*\\~\\~If you enjoyed, visit* r/StoriesOfAshes *for more of my writing*\n\n*\\~\\~\\~Thank you for reading!*"
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[WP] The year is 2120. All weapons have been outlawed by the United Nations of Earth. Wars are fought with unarmed combat. Everybody assumed martial artists would rise in power, but noone expected the English Hooligans.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"The long peace that lead to the outlawing of all weapons in military conflicts did not last of course, so eventually countries returned to the creation of armies. \n\nSteven Baker had been one of thousands of children selected at the age of three for Martial Arts Training. Unfortunately, peace had lasted so long that much of humanity knowledge on how to inflict pain had been deleted. Deemed not worth archiving. This resulted in the training being based on the only remaining source material available. Ancient partially corrupted instructional films on fighting techniques modeled off the movements of animals, known as Kong Fa. \n\nSo, Steven Baker taken from his family began his many years of training. He meditated standing one leg next to rivers or waterfalls, practiced synchronizing his movements in large groups, which was made difficult by the requirement do so after drinking the martial enhancing substance known as alcohol. \n\nHe also spent countless hours honing his martial arts through origami or calligraphy and all bouts began with the statement that his “Kong Fa was stronger than theirs”. The bouts of course ended when any of the many “weak points” the films told about were hit, of course never at full strength. They didn’t not want to explode their opponents. \n\nEventually he was selected for specialist training in recently founded Strong Best Hard Fist school. Where he spent days and days hitting rocks, trees and all manner of other hard objects. He was thankful he was not selected for the Best Strong Hard Head school of training. \n\nThen finally after years of a strict vegetarian diet, he was lean, fast, strong and they were going to unleash the might of their training on the enemy. On route the war they were all required to grow out their beards and dye all their hair white as this like the alcohol was shown to give increased Kong Fa power. \n\nNow he waited standing on an old overgrown highway with thousands of evenly spaced white-haired individuals. They waited barefoot in their orange robes swaying slightly from the breeze and they too swayed slightly from intoxication. While the noise of a nearby crashing waterfall washed over them. \n\nSuddenly there was another crash of noise as out of the forest a giant thick wedge of individuals charged forwards and the last thing Steve heard while he was knocked down and six shaved overweight tattooed individuals all begin lay into him with their boots was the chant. \n\n“Come and Have a go if you think you are hard enough.” \n\n“Come and Have a go if you think you are hard enough.”"
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[WP]You and your best friend, who is now a ghost, go around and play pranks on people
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"“It’s not fair”, he reached for a bottle.\n\n“What?” The cat stared at him with glassy eyes.\n\n“That I died first!”\n\nThe cat cocked his head to the side. He was lying on the ground with his body making an S shape. His unusual pose reminded the man of the few times he had spun himself around one of those spinning toys, usually when he had been drinking something a little stronger than beer.\n\n“What do you mean?”\n\nThe man took a hard gulp. He didn’t really understand why the cat talked either. But he could chat with the cat, sometimes it made him feel better. The cat had given him a new purpose, made him glad to wake up every morning.\n\n“You did not have to live through the funeral, the tears of family, the hospital and shoving my body into the ground.” He drank some more.\n\nThe cat stared at the body, nothing.\n\n“There is also the fact that you have it easy! You can not just be cold when you are black and furry”\n\nThe cat tilted his head the other way as if he didn’t understand what the man was saying.\n\n/Rubbish, he hasn’t changed at all. Still as creepy as a ventriloquist doll!/\n\nHe laughed. “But you have a great life now, you’ re immortal now! Spirits don’t age anyway.”\n\nThe cat’s eyes rolled slowly.\n\nThe man held the bottle straight up over his head. “You are no longer alone!”\n\nHe threw the bottle at the cat who quickly avoided it.\n\n“See, I will always be your best friend”\n\nThe cat stared.\n\nHe rolled his eyes.\n\nThe man tried to stand up. He was already a little tipsy. His ears fell down over his eyes as he tried to keep his balance. The cat was quick to help him lean against the kitchen wall.\n\nHe grabbed a new bottle, an even bigger one than the first. He struggled with the cap. \n\nTechnically he had not died, just lost a lot of blood. But that did not really matter.\n\nThe man found the gaping hole in his chest. His eyes were stuck on the gaping hole.\n\n“How did they miss this?”\n\nThe cat rolled his eyes once again.\n\nThere really was a lot of blood.\n\nThe man pressed his finger against the hole and was surprised when he could feel the warmth of the man’s touch.\n\nThe cat just stared.\n\nAfter half a minute the hole closed. The skin had healed.\n\nHe pressed his finger against his new skin. “Magic, it really works.” His voice was getting a little hoarse.\n\nThe man began to spin around the kitchen. “What do you mean it is not fair that I died first?”\n\nHe pressed his forehead against the wall. There was a hole in that one too.\n\nHe heard a gasp for air.\n\nAnd then he stopped spinning.\n\nThe man put his hands on the floor, and then he passed out.\n\nThe cat",
"##One Last Prank\n\n\"Johnny, Johnny, wake up,\" I hear his voice at the edge of the bed.\n\n\"Wake up, Johnny,\" he says louder. The quilt on my bed starts to get pulled off of me. I look at the clock.\n\n\"It is 3 A.M., Cody. What do you want?\" I ask.\n\n\"There is a guy a few blocks away who is up playing video games. Let's go throw rocks at his window,\" he says.\n\n\"Cody, no, just let the man play his games.\" I pick up my quilt and lie back down.\n\n\"James, throw rocks with me,\" he says.\n\n\"No, you can do it yourself,\" I say.\n\n\"I don't want to be alone. Plus, with you, we could go further. You throw and I warn you when he comes. I will even set traps inside his house it will be fun.\" he says egging me on.\n\n\"No, I am tired,\" I say.\n\n\"Alright,\" he floats out of my room. I go to sleep.\n\n---\n\nI wake up late the next day because Johnny woke me up. By the time, I enter. My mom is comforting my dad at the table.\n\n\"Dad, what happened?\" I ask. My parents look at each other.\n\n\"Did you know James Ernest? He lived down the street.\" he asks.\n\n\"No, why?\" I ask.\n\n\"Well, I found him dead in his yard. The police say he missed slipped and fell outside.\" he says. He starts crying again.\n\n\"Dad, is everything okay?\" I ask.\n\n\"We didn't know him that well, but finding a dead body would shake anyone up,\" my mom says.\n\nI see Cody in the distance chuckling.\n\n\"I understand,\" I say. I march back up to my room not getting any breakfast. I sit on my bed and wait. Cody enters.\n\n\"You should've seen the way his body hit the ground,\" he says giggling.\n\n\n\"Why did you kill him?\" I ask.\n\n\"It was just a prank. I thought it be fun if he had a big fall down the stairs and out the door,\" he says cackling.\n\n\"What, that killed him!\" I yell.\n\n\"Jeez, it is not like death is that big of a deal. Look at me,\" he says. He floats around me.\n\n\"Well, where is his ghost?\" I ask.\n\n\"I don't know, but it doesn't matter,\" he says.\n\n\"No, it does matter. My dad is crying at the table right now,\" I say.\n\n\"Yeah, sorry for laughing, it was just funny seeing you get mad,\" he giggles.\n\n\"Why can't you take this seriously!\" I raise my voice.\n\n\"Lighten up. It is not like I am doing anything too mean,\" he says, \"Now, let's go. There is a woman that I saw who needs a prank.\"\n\n\"No,\" I say.\n\n\"What?!\" he replies.\n\n\"It was funny when we pranking teachers or assholes at school. But you are going too far. These are people we don't know.\" I say.\n\n\"Come on. Don't be so lame,\" he says.\n\n\"You weren't like this when you were alive,\" I say. His face drops as I say that.\n\n\"Don't you dare compare me to the meek person that I was. I am no longer trapped in that flesh prison. The crash set me free,\" he says.\n\n\"It also made you an asshole,\" I say. He disappears after I say that.\n\nMy bookshelf tips over as I say that. I manage to jump out of the way before it hits me. It makes a loud crash as it lands on my bed. My parents run upstairs.\n\n\"Honey, what happened!\" My mom yells. She is trying to get in, but the door is locked. Clothes and books are being flung around the room.\n\n\"I see now that you need to be set free too,\" Cody yells. His voice comes from the entire room.\n\n\"No, Cody! Stop!\" I yell. A large table is flung at me, and I am able to dodge that.\n\n\"Join me, Johnny,\" he says.\n\n\"No, Cody. I don't want to be your friend anymore.\" I yell. The books drop. Cody appears before me faint and crying.\n\n\"What?\" he says.\n\n\"I don't want to be your friend anymore.\" I say.\n\n\"But you have to, no one else wants me. My mom called a priest when she saw me. Please you are my only friend,\" he begs me as he starts to fade.\n\n\"Goodbye, Cody,\" I say.\n\nHis body starts to go out.\n\n\"I wonder where I'll go next,\" he says.\n\nMy parents are able to unlock the door and hug me as they walk in. I embrace them. I see Cody one last time behind them as he fades from view."
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[WP] You're a bartender whose cocktails give their drinkers superpowers, but also makes them too drunk to notice.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Today was a long day, thought Peter while taking out the charred darts game outside. It was a busy night at \"Potions and Decoctions\"\nAt least now he knew what the Fire Bomb coktail did. And that dude was still asking around for a lighter, ignoring the half- empty fire extinguisher standing in a corner of the room, ready to go another round...\n\nHe usually tried only one of two of the special cocktail recipes his late uncle Severus left him, but today he got confused and switched the usual menu for the \"improved one\"! Well, so much for experimentation...\nIn hindsight, adding Szechuan pepper to a B-52 could have tipped him off... \n\nSeeing a girl drop unconscious after kissing her girlfriend, Peter realised why the \"Snow White\" cocktail was marked with a warning sign. Well, I hope that girl won't make out with anyone else or she'll have trouble explaining that to the police, he thought, cynically. Then again, adding red apple to a Cosmopolitan and naming it that, he felt angry at himself that he didn't guess sooner.\n\nHe realised that was almost the last of it. Almost every one of the 142 secret cocktails, all tried and researched. Sure he had to relocate a few times, but now it was almost done. Severus would be proud.\nHe glanced over to the table with the last experimentation on the menu. He had selected the customer carefully. The boy looked agited and sad, still red in the face. Peter thought that the \"Tranquil O'Neil\" would make him feel better. Probably. The ingredients looked nice and the added touch was just a quarter of lemon with honey. Peter smiled while glancing over the now crowded table of the lonely sad boy. He was beaming, complimenting people left and right, turning his table into a beacon of laughter and cheerfullness. Peter pondered, and wrote down \"Self-confidence\" into his notes. One of his best ones yet. He added: \"Rename: Don't overthink it?\"",
"This is my first post here. Hope you like it.\n\n \n\nI hate the ones with a swagger. Eyes on my chest, patronizing tone. Scans the menu for the most expensive thing. Then mangles the name on the way out. I sigh internally and stretch my face into a smile. This one has it all. An ill fitting suit, a pale ring of lighter skin on his right hand - and a goddamn platinum card. The woman with him sits in the booth behind. He didn’t ask her what she wanted, and he hasn’t been in here with her before. This asshole is Nigel Reeves. Not the kind we invite, but a walk in. I let him stay the first time, so I could mess with him. Sadly he keeps coming back and he's so well entrenched I can't really stop him. My boss hates him too, but he loves the platinum.\n\nStill I mix the drinks and hand them to him. He paid so it’s an obligation. Not that he’d notice anything special - this kind thinks the world owes him.\n\n“Now come on darlin’” he says, golden tooth glistening as his spittle launches its way across the room. I tense, never know what this guy is going to do when there’s a lady he wants to impress.\n\n“Sir?” I say, though I badly want to snap back. \n\n“You’re missin’ one of them umbrellas, “for the lady, he adds in a hurry.\n\nI badly want to put it in his drink, but I don’t. It goes in hers, I add a cherry too. It doesn’t go but then again nor does the umbrella.\n\nHe keeps knocking them back. I keep a close eye on the lady, but she seems to be enjoying herself. She keeps playing with her auburn hair and biting her lip. Takes all sorts. They are getting smashed on one hundred year old liquor. An eye-blink for me, but my regulars know and appreciate the good stuff. \n\n​\n\nThe night rolls on and they are the only two here. I’d love to shutter up early, but I can’t while I have guests. So I get a bit creative.\n\nIt starts when he gets handsy with the lady. \n\n“Nigel,” she coos not here. She shoves him lightly back...and he flies half a meter onto my elf wrought floor. He tries to get up, and instead shoots up into the ceiling. That’s interesting. I’d only been aiming to give her a little more power. At some point he’s been sneaking a bit of her drinks. \n\nThe lady giggles, as he falls back down. She sways as she does so. Slamming her hand into the table. A chunk comes off. That was Dwarven marble.\n\n“Oops!” she says. If she notices anything out of the ordinary she doesn’t say anything. Nigel doesn’t move. I sigh and vault over the bar to take a look. He’s asleep. \n\n“ You might want to head home.” I say to the woman. “ I’ll get a taxi for this guy. Want me to call one for you?”\n\nShe smiles, her eyes out of focus. \n\n“We’ll leave together, but a taxi is ...is...good.” Her words are slurred. Several lifetimes as a bartender \n\nMy eyes briefly flick over to Nigel. The hand with the pale band of skin across one finger is splayed out. Briefly I wonder if Nigel’s now divorced. But I dismiss it as giving him too much credit.\n\n​\n\nI call my guy. Not a mortal taxi, we don’t get reception down here. But he gets the job done. I don’t want her ripping the doors off some poor human's car. My guy Erik shows up five minutes later. He takes in Nigel on the floor, and the auburn haired woman and rolls his eyes at me. He’s about to pick Nigel up, when the lady totters forward on her heels. She intends to sit him up, but instead she lifts the entire top half of his body. She’s a little surprised at that. He hits the ground again, but before Erik can intervene she lifts him up in a fireman’s carry.\n\n“Lead the way driver!” she says. Erik gives me a look that says he’ll be having words with my boss later. He stomps out of the bar, with the woman still carrying Nigel. I breathe a sigh of relief, finally rest.\n\nIt’s then I notice the platinum card sitting on the bar. I swear and run out after them. But Erik has already driven off into the night. I return inside and stare mournfully at the card. While I have it Nigel is under guest-right, and is my responsibility. The powers will wear off by morning, but a guy like Nigel can do a heck of a lot of evil in a short space of time. I grab my cloak and head out into the night. I’m now responsible for that idiot, and worryingly enough it’s not what he does when he’s drunk that worries me. It’s what a guy like that does when he’s sober and using his own power. I shudder and melt into the dark."
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[WP] One day words faded away from this world leaving books with nothing but pictures and blank pages, the internet barren and empty, carvings in stone smooth. This marked the death of todays knowledge and is known as the day the world went Blank.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"The Greeks said that Prometheus had been released from his eternal punishment of liver sacrifice in exchange for stealing the flame of knowledge back from us. \n\nThe Chinese suggested that the Emperor Qin Shi Huang had taken over the Jade court and, maddened with power, had continued on his rampage, this time indiscriminately against all knowledge, and in a more lasting way. \n\nThe Nordic people hypothsised that, after all these millennia, Odin had somehow regretted the loss of one eye, and was determined to wipe out wisdom, that for which he had sacrificed it, from the world. \n\nBut the true reason for the overnight disappearance of text from earth we would probably never know. \n\nOh, people tried to leave words behind, but pencil lead, pen ink and all other substances used would leave no trace when they were scratching out the alphabet, only to work perfectly fine when words became a frustrated scribble of whorls. We switched our laptops and computers on, only to find out that no programme worked as it should, as codes became meaningless with the disappearance of letters. \n\nBut we humans are masters at adaptation. Casette tapes and CDs played on old school radios became the main vehicle of information now, as podcasts and lectures recorded by the world's leading experts soon circulated throughout the world. Novelists could keep pumping out their stories, now solely released as audiobooks. And as tech behemoths were felled, pasta-making companies were coming into their golden age. \n\nYou see, we found a loophole. Something that the Being who had brought about the Blank had missed. As a result of the Blank, we no longer had any text that had solely to do with knowledge and communication, and we could no longer directly create text with our hands. But food produced by machines was free game.\n\nAnd so it was that the alphabetti spaghetti became one of the last bastions of the written word.",
"We had accomplished so much. \n\nFor centuries, we had perfected the use of renewable resources, we had found ways to rapidly degrade all of our waste, to return it to the earth in its most basic elements. We had dug up landfills and even universally begun to do this to our dead - to be one with nature once more, a zero-impact society.\n\nEverything - our holoscreens, our vehicles, our buildings - became biodegradable and when we had solved the human element, we thought we had finally won the battle against climate change. But we went a step too far and applied our new research to everything. \n\nAnd then we became complacent.\n\n——\n\nOne day we awoke to nothing. Books had degraded faster than they could be read or uploaded. Vehicles vanished into dust. Buildings crumbled and melted into the earth, their basest elements scattered to the seven winds. Without ways of communicating across long distances, technology quickly unraveled. Individual towns and cities lacked the complex networks required to rebuild even the most basic of computerized devices. Man had long forgotten how to smelt metal and forge tools and those who retained the skills as hobbies quickly perished alongside the rest of us. There was little looting or violence: all we had faded away and as our supply networks did too, we simply starved.\n\nPerhaps one day our surviving descendants will remember a twisted version of what we did to ourselves, our warning to the future vanishing as quickly as our monuments. Maybe they will write about a cataclysmic event brought upon us by a vengeful god, wiping the earth clean. Perhaps their scientists will simply explain away the sudden changes in sediments that once made up of everything we had. \n\nSmall communities will survive, possessing just the right combination of skills and resourcefulness. But their descendants will quickly forget the truth. They will become steadily greedy and wasteful until they revert as we did and repeat our error. \n\nAll that will survive of us will quickly become myth. \n\nAll that will be known of our trillion lives will be one word - a dying, defiant final gasp - found generations later clumsily scrawled in hastily-made clay:\n\nBabel."
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[WP] One day, every man-made structure on Earth mysteriously fuses to one another. Hallways now blend into other hallways, stairways just lead to more levels of rooms. No matter how far anyone travels in the maze, no one can get outside. If there even is still an "outside."
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"*EU: \"Darken\" (Canadian Sci-Fi/Thriller/Horror film)*\n\nDAY -- (Time is pretty meaningless here) \nThe world was different, now. I don't know if I was the only one who survived past the Event, or if there were others out there, in other rooms, but now, all rooms, all corridors, were connected. The outside world no longer existed. Since the sun was no more, and artificial light was shaky at best, I called the world as it was after the Event, \"Darken\".\n\nDAY -- \nI don't know how many days have passed since the last time I wrote an entry. I've been exploring Darken, trying to get my bearings. I've found lots of bedrooms, an old library, and what I think used to be a summer camp or army base's mess hall, since it's clearly designed to feed numbers, not just a few people. If there's anyone else out there (which I still don't know), we might be able to survive like this.\n\nDAY -- \nI met someone else today. Not someone from here. She claims the outside world still exists, and that there's no way a place like this is a part of it. I showed her around, and she's confused, but intrigued. I think her clothes look rather holy, like she might have been a nun, or a nurse at a church-run hospital or something, things I barely remember from the world before but just enough to think of them here. In fact, the room I found her in did look like a hospital room.\n\nDAY -- \nThe newcomer (though I can't exactly call her that at this point, as she's taken to the place like she was born here) has discovered that the electricity, the temperature, even the contents of the mess hall, seem to respond to her thoughts. She wanted a vegan quiche and suddenly in the previously empty refrigerator there were the ingredients for one. She wanted a room with strong light where she could see clearly, a reading room of sorts, and the room she was in grew brighter. She's got some connection with this place.\n\nDAY -- \nShe calls herself \"Mother Darken\" now. She's taken the world's name for her own. And yet, it's almost as though it belonged to her all along. The way the rooms respond to her wants and needs... She's discovered that her control even extends to the doors. Those that used to be sealed, at her touch, open onto... new places. Worlds of outside and in, worlds of nature and of machine. Worlds with lost people, people in despair... people to whom Mother Darken has extended an invitation.\n\nDAY -- \nIt may have been days, it may have been weeks, but Mother Darken's invitation has gone out across many worlds. The lost, the hopeless, the sick, any who need respite and sanctuary need only stand before a closed door and speak the words: \n*Mother Darken, hear my prayer \nThe door is open and you are there \nMother Darken, let me in* \nAnd when they turn the knob, or open the latch, they will step through into this place. This labyrinth of rooms and hallways. This Darken. I have been chosen to spread the word to worlds that have yet to hear the Word of Mother Darken. A task I will gladly\n\n**The preceding is the entirety of the contents of the journal found in possession of the victim, \"John Doe\", found last night on West 36th and Broadway, dead on scene. Appears to be delusional ravings, though we do have reports of missing persons in the area not long before the probably time of death, and eyewitnesses report that the missing persons were seen to mutter something in front of the door of the establishment \"Zen Ramen and Sushi\" just up West 36th a ways from the location where the victim was discovered. Victim was stabbed multiple times, no obvious struggle, traffic cameras in the area do show the victim was wearing an unusual necklace, with a large, vaguely key-shaped charm, prior to discovery. Unclear if the attacker stole the necklace or an opportunistic scavenger found the victim and removed the jewelry.**",
"Nobody knows how it happened... We woke up one morning and the entire world was like something from M C Escher's nightmare. We don't even know how long things have been this way...\n\nI awoke in the hallway landing, my daughter Annabelle cradled in my arms. Downstairs, my father and my mother and brother's slept. There were four doors on the landing, all of them closed. Two doors and what looked like a door that should've lead to the outside were downstairs.\n\n\"Daddy. I miss mummy!\" Annabelle sobbed, her bottom lip quivering. I gently hushed her and pulled her in close. I had no idea whether Kelly lived, but I had little hope. We hadn't seen any other survivors for a long time.\n\nThere is an old saying: 'When one door closes, another one opens.' Meaning that if you fail at one thing then you may succeed at something else. I've had the saying drifting around in my head for weeks now, but it has an entirely different meaning in the context of our current situation. We are trapped. Trapped in an endless labyrinth of doors which shouldn't make any sense. The outside world has seemingly vanished and the entire universe is now comprised of man made structures all mashed together to make a confusing and inescapable labyrinth. When you enter one room and the door closes behind you, open it back up again to find a completely different room behind it than where you just were...\n\n\"We need to move soon.\" My dad said, his features looked harder and his eyes looked much colder than usual. Always a man of an authoritarian air he had become the defacto leader of our group.\n\n\"But what about Brendon?\" I asked in disbelief. \"He could find his way back.\"\n\n\"Brendon is gone!\" Dad snapped back impatiently through gritted teeth. \"For once can you just fucking listen to what I'm saying to you! We move soon! We need supplies and we need to find insulin for your mother or she's not going to last much longer!\" He gave me one last lingering glare before he made his way back downstairs.\n\nBrendon made a mistake. He let the door close behind him and when dad flung it back open he was faced with an entirely different room. Brendon was gone. We waited as long as we could but we could wait no longer. My dad hasn't been the same since, we had always enjoyed a good father son relationship, but since all this began we have done nothing but clash over what we should do.\n\nWe moved through the front door into a church hall filled with pews. I had Annabelle draped over my shoulders exhausted and I caught a glimpse of my haggard and gaunt face in the mirror hanging in the hall before we moved through. My dad held the door and closed it once we had all safely moved into the next room.\n\nA cross hung above the alter with Jesus statue nailed to it looking down upon us. My father, formerly a religious man, gave the statue a contemptuous glare and spat at the floor with hatred. \"How could you do this to me!\" He demanded angrily, kicking a pew with as much force as he could muster.\n\n\"Dad...\" I said. He was scaring Annabelle.\n\n\"How could you do this?! What kind of sick joke is this?! Damn you to hell!\"\n\n\"Dad!\"\n\n\"Second coming?! Yeah! Come back and we'll kill you again you bastard!\"\n\n\"DAD!!!\" I shouted in anger. Next thing I knew my world was spinning out of control and my mouth was filled with the coppery tang of blood. Annabelle was screaming and I was lying on the ground, staring up at my dad in disbelief.\n\n\"I...\" he stammered in shock. He shook his hand, the force in which he had punched me stung his fist. He rushed to Annabelle, who had still been hanging from my shoulders and she cowered away from him, her knees and hands grazed and bleeding.\n\n\"You monster!\" I said getting to my feet! My anger gave way immediately to my more paternal instincts. I rushed to my daughter to comfort her. Astonished that my father could strike me like that. Even more astonished that my brother Tommy and mother said nothing.\n\nAn indefinite amount of time passed. A travelling became more arduous. Conversation became more infrequent. My mother had passed away and we had to leave her body in a hotel corridor with a curtain draped over her corpse. Now there are four of us and my dad is pacing the length of the room muttering obscenities to himself. Tommy sits wide eyed and never speaks a word. Annabelle perpetually clings to me like a barnacle clings to a ship.\n\nWe're now in a restaurant, a fancy one with the look of it. A crystal chandelier hangs from the ceiling covered in dust and the tables are draped with faded white cloths, plates full of rotting food were still on the tables. Nothing was salvagable.\n\nAnnabelle flinched as my dad snaps a chair leg and admires it with an impressed murmur.\n\n\"I'm hungry, Daddy.\" She wimpers, never taking her eyes from my dad. Her once loved grandad was now the object of her deepest fear.\n\n\"Shut the brat up!\" Father commands, the first words he had spoken in months since my mother had died. \"I fucking mean it, son! We have to be as quiet as a mouse! We need to listen!\" He pointed his newly acquired weapon at me as he spoke. His eyes surrounded by dark circles and filled with madness.\n\nI was too exhausted to argue with him. Instead I just hushed Annabelle and rubbed her hand reassuringly. \"Hush baby.\" I told her in a raspy voice, offering her a weak smile which made my lips crack.\n\nThen something astonishing happened. We all spun around in disbelief as we heard a door slam shut and a young couple entered the room. A young man and a young woman, the first woman I had seen in a very long time.\n\nThe young man had dark eyes which had a haunted look and a thick brown beard. He wore a blue beanie hat with tufts of greasy brown hair sticking out, a thick green parker coat and beige combat pants.\n\nThe woman had long blonde hair and wore a whooly hat with pompoms on it. She wore a blue coat and jeans with red hiking boots. She was a pretty woman, perhaps I was biased because I had not seen one in so long.\n\nBoth of them wore backpacks and neither were armed.\n\n\"We don't want no trouble.\" The man said with an unmistakable American accent. \n\n\"No trouble from us! If you don't bother us, we won't bother you.\" Dad said with a smile. He rested the thick chair leg on his shoulder.\n\nMy dad was a stocky man before all this. Now he was gaunt and skeletal like the rest of us, but even so he had retained his former strength somehow. Perhaps it was a survival instinct which compelled him to act. I didn't even have time to react myself.\n\nThe couple moved through the restaurant, eyeing us warily at first. I think Annabelle made them feel complacent, but they should've known better. My dad shot towards the Male. He whacked him on the thigh first and then once over the back of the head when the guy collapsed from the first blow. He used so much force that the sickening crack of the blow sent shudders of revulsion through my body to the core. Yet I could only stand and watch.\n\n\"Tommy! Get the girl!\" My dad screamed with spittle flying from his mouth. He mounted the Male who could only lift his hand in a feeble attempt to defend himself before my father thundered more blows upon him.\n\nTommy rushed towards the female, rugby tackling her to the floor and using a piece of cord to strangle the life out of her.\n\nI didn't even stay to see what was in those backpacks, what that young couple had to die for. I took Annabelle into my arms and sprinted for the nearest door.\n\n\"You leave that girl here!\" Father shouted, blood soaked he got to his feet and made a dash to head me off. \"She's one of us!\" He yelled. \"She's mine!\"\n\nI shoulder barged through the door and thankfully it slammed behind me. I closed my eyes and sighed in relief that I would likely never see the man again. The sound of growling filled the air and I opened my eyes to see I was in a room filled with malnourished dogs. Skeleton remains were scattered everywhere and the room was pungent with the odour of dog fouling. The dogs growled with spittle hanging from their chins like the webs of spiders. There was one door into the room and it was fucking jammed.",
"I wonder if it really exists, 'the outside'. My grandpa has shown me plenty of pictures, but they all look so fake. Plants taller than any room I've ever been in, and creatures that look so different from dogs and cats. He tells me his stories late at night. He gets painfully quiet if I ask about the famine times or grandma, but he does tell me of his days as an Interior Cartographer.\n\n\"In 2021,\" He began, with a strong voice to recount his epic, \"when all the world shook and the windows all looked in, I held your grandmother close. At first, we ran from room to room, window to door and looked for a way out, but there was none. All doors just lead to other rooms. Office spaces. Schools. You know what it's like now I guess.\"\n\n\"Where else would doors even go though? I understand the outside, but how big is it?\", I was so confused.\n\nHe waved his hand, \"Outside, It was an all-connecting space, it had no walls.\", he paused \"I tried breaking down walls. Each hole only made a new one in an already directly accessible room. That's how I found the first loop, the place where I could see myself through the wall.\"\n\nHe took a deep breath. I could tell this was hard.\n\n\"I made a list of priorities. First was water, next food, then oxygen, then electricity. Water seemed to still be working, so the well was getting water from somewhere, but that would require electricity- something we appeared to still have, but I suspected wouldn't last forever. Coal plants need coal. I went to the garage and wired up what was nearly a rube Goldberg machine using perpetual motion generated by a vertical spacial loop I made by hammering into the floor. Infinite power, at least until the alternator gave out.\"\n\n\"You're so smart grandpa!\"\n\n\"Thanks sweetie,\" He fained a smile \"That killed two birds with one perpetually falling stone. Thankfully the Carbon Monoxide alarms weren't beeping yet, and the CO2 meter I had in the basement was still reading about a thousand ppm. Not great, but it would be fine for a little while. I hugged your mother and told her to stay in rooms from our house. Cell phones still weren't working, didn't know if they would again, and I only had one portable radio.\"\n\n\"I knew where I wanted to go. UNL, the near-by university, was a half hour drive away but like this I figured' it be about a half hour walk, once I knew a path. I hadn't yet encountered anyone else, but I knew if there even were others that they'd be scared, probably defensive. We didn't have a gun, but I had my bostaff and a my trusty Leatherman, so I put on my most durable clothes, packed a backpack of supplies, put my radio into scanning mode, and headed out, or, in rather.\"\n\n\"I used graph paper to make maps. I was about thirty rooms in, and by my guess ten or so different buildings, when I ran into others for the first time.\"\n\n\"It was an older couple... They'd been less fortunate. The city water they'd been connected to no longer worked, and all paths they'd found had only lead to office buildings. When they first saw me they cowered in fear. I poured them all of my remaining water, and back tracked, coming back to your grand mother, so I could refill\"\n\n\"The days went on. Food in our house started to dwindle. I ran into other, some friendly, some less so, some dead from dehydration\"\n\n\"Still, with their help identifying where I was, I made a path. My map grew and I made my way to the University. That would be our salvation. There they had labs where plants were grown under UV light, like everything is today. The CO2 ppm continued to rise very slowly with each day, and our house ran shorter on food. I did stumble upon a grocery store that had lost power - The stench was unforgettable - where I was able to find some canned food.\"\n\n\"My map continued to grow and soon I had made it to Lincoln. It wasn't long after that that I discovered the dorms and the death that lay inside. Cities were so much worse.\"\n\nI saw tears forming at his eyes, \"You don't have to talk about it Grandpa.\"\n\n\"No. You're old enough to know. That's why there's places on the map that are marked as 'Do Not Enter Here' - that's where we put the bodies\"",
"*Whew... I had some creative juices start flowing. Whatcha think?*\n\nAlright, kid. I don't know why it matters. But if it's that important, I'll make you a deal. You promise to take me that Kitchen you were talking about, I'll tell you what I know.\n\nHunger, poverty, racism... The fourth dimension was supposed to solve all of it. Whatever THAT meant.\n\nThe possibility of post-scarcity beckoned. And FINALLY after centuries of research and study, someone cracked the code.\n\nOne of those egghead types, you know? A bald asian man, in a white lab coat with a real fancy animation... Something something something \"quantum entanglement\" Something something something.\n\nNow their dreams of \"post scarcity\" have become our hellscape.\n\nI didn't pay attention, it sounded like pseudoscience to me. All I cared about was putting food on the table. The dyson sphere wouldn't fix itself. Times were hard enough during solar flares, all the tech went haywire, and barely anyone knows... Er.. KNEW how to fix the damn robots.\n\nI met another survivor, weeks ago. He said he used to work for some government, like it mattered now. Claimed to know what happened. Tried to tell me how the solar flare caused a power spike in the dyson sphere's collectors, which shunted it all into the quantum whatevers. He used lots of 5 dollar words like: quantum runaway, interlinking dimensional \"frames\". Shit like that. I just smiled, gave him some food, and sent him on his way. Probably a waste. He'll end up stranded in this architectural wasteland, lost in some never ending corridor, or worse.\n\nHeh. Worse.\n\nHuh? What was it like? Well, you saw it just like I did, didn't you? Oh... Asleep?\n\nWell, it was FUCKED!\nSee, all at once, reality dissolved around me. My vision melted, and everything went all... Wrong. Basic. You know, like, a fuzzy tv. Primary shapes and shit, then everything... I don't know \"reconstituted itself\". What used to be mountain ranges grew into great halls, and foyers, with high vaulted ceilings. What used to be rivers and oceans became massive bathtubs. What a way to solve homelessness.\n\nIt's been 2 weeks since it happened. I've seen a corridor which I'm not certain had an end. At some insane distance, the moisture in the air makes things look hazy.\n\nI don't know what happened to everyone else.\n\nI've met... I don't know... Maybe 10 people in here.\n\nI can walk about 15 miles of rough backcountry every 8 hours or so.\n\nYeah, I used to be something of an outdoorsman.\n\nGOD what I wouldn't give to see trees again.\n\nNope, haven't seen a tree yet. But I DID see some scratches on a doorpost. Looked an awful lot like bear claws to me, and I've seen a few in my time.\n\nI'm being honest! Well, I don't know what color it was, how am I supposed to know that?\n\nLook, just remember, the black ones, you can scare off. Get REAL big, make lots of noise and you can maybe scare em.\n\nBig brown ones? Yeah, play dead. Just play dead. Cover your head with your arms, try not to move, and hope they don't bite anything vital. Try not to move. Pretend to be a dead, fallen tree.\n\nNO you can't just OUTRUN IT!!! Are you stupid?\n\nThat's enough talk for now. You said you're fine. So, you take first watch, i need to get some shuteye. Wake me up when you start dozing, and I'll watch for a bit.\n\nOh!!! You've got a watch! HOT DAMN that's the ticket!\n\nAlright, give me like... Four hours of sleep. That's all I need.\n\n-----------------\n2 hours later\n----------------\n\nYeah, what is it? What the... What's that knife for?!?!",
"\\--Mile 4\n\nHit another residential area around 1300, western Europe in providence, if the writings on the personal effects are to be believed. Habitation evidence says this place was lived in for a while right after Unity Day, but James says they all left in a hurry. Hao collected more pictures for his collection, one being a spire highlighted on a blue and white background, called it Eiffel. I found a pair of old corpses in a old bedroom, old enough to not stink. Hao said they might have died of old age, whatever that was. Somebody took every knife in every kitchen.\n\n\\--Mile 157\n\nTaylor found us a straightaway that expedition 6 found around a decade ago--said it was proof the Sprawl wasn't shifting. I don't know how true that is, feels like we're in one of those Rubik's Cubes I saw at the market. Sawed through a reinforced door to a reactor pool around 2200, dosimeters said it was ok, and we marked it and sent back the route by drone--Reclamation will run pipes, siphon off water and whatever else they can scavenge. Reactor itself is dead though, even though all the wall sockets are powered. Hao getting philosophical over the possibilities never fails to amuse.\n\n\\--Mile 408\n\nHit a jumble today--opened a door and almost walked off an interior balcony before James pulled me back. We rappelled down and made camp at the 'ground' floor of what was probably a hotel lobby. There's a couple of glitzy fountains, but the water for those has since evaporated. The foliage here is still getting water from somewhere though, and vines have covered everything, including a set of bones in one of the fountain. Once we hacked away the greenery from the front door, we hit pay dirt--old subway station that we'll travel on tomorrow. As of then, we'll be officially further from Hub than anyone else has.\n\n\\--Mile 685\n\nThe subway ran for much longer than we thought. Hit new-old habitation as well, an old tent town in a subway station where half the writing was in Arabic and the other in Cyrillic. Abandoned. At first we thought this was a case of people just up and leaving, but Hao looked inside the tents. Each had at least one body. Taylor is at a loss, and Hao's been grim for the past hour. No arrows, shell casings, nothing. As if they all just died in their sleep. Hao says that people needed to sleep, before the implants and photosynth modules, but that's probably just an off-color joke.\n\n\\--Mile 990\n\nFound Jonah. He was a classmate, fond of wandering the mapped places after classes. How did he get out here, no supplies, no drones, no photosynth for food? All he had was a map, a power saw, and a couple notebooks. We had all figured he was either dead or working in the vertical farms since we hadn't seen him in years. Hao said he wanted to be found though, sitting down in the middle of a cleared out museum hall below a giant blue fish wired from the ceiling. Decided to take the time to make a proper funeral of wrapping him in carpet before moving on.\n\n\\--Mile 1225\n\nWe've been rebuilding Jona's route as we travel. He never made it as far as us, but took a completely different route, making notes in his journal about finding a pattern. There isn't though, I've been reading every map we have and the Sprawl is either random or the pattern is so long that we haven't reached a point where we can see it. Hao noted that he was losing it at the end though because he didn't have any companions. Camped out in what looked like a mud-walled building for the novelty of it tonight. Taylor sawed through the walls and found more residential spaces around 0200, so that's where we're headed after we photosynth some sustenance.\n\n\\--Mile 1604\n\nGot bored around 1100, tired of walking through old offices. Taylor sawed into an elevator shaft and we went down maybe thirty stories via the cables to the bottom and found warehouses. Great. Taylor was the butt of many jokes but eventually we sawed through another wall and got into a hallway.\n\n\\--Mile 1992\n\nLot of climbing up and down today. Cut my hand on a fresh saw spot, but not badly. Found something big. Too tired to write more, will do more tomorrow.\n\n\\--Mile 1993\n\nBunker door. Big, huge, even--tall enough that I could stand on Taylor's shoulders and not reach the top. None of us have seen anything like this before, and it's not in any of our notes. At 0030, we decided to cut in.\n\n0530 - still cutting. We're making good progress, but need to keep going back to recharge the saws and even with our extension cords it's still a walk\n\n0900 - We're in, good news. Bad news is that there's a wall of bars we need to saw through.\n\n0930 - Hao noted that this place is larger than the other segments, and he's right, I've been expecting a change, but we've seen three rooms and none have been different from the bunker theme. More bodies, though. Very old, bones crumbling at anything more than a light touch.\n\n0940 - We've found what might be a control room. Or observation room. Or something like that. I've been going around with Taylor, translating for him, and while I understand what the words are saying, I don't understand the meaning. Everything is powered, naturally, but most of it blank. Lots of references to whatever 'outdoors' is. Hao is reviewing to see if any of the computers have a why-fie link that goes back to Hub. The whole 'front' of the room is dominated by a mosaic of black screens with little lights showing standby statuses.\n\n1130 - An argument is brewing at the moment. Hao wants to turn on the screens, and Taylor's 'in situ' philosophy disagrees. Taylor is going to give in though, since he's as curious as I am.\n\n\\--Mile 1990\n\nWe're on our way back. As we go, we're laying cable and spraying route markers. It'll take forever, and we're so far off the frontiers that we may be considered lost by the time we get back, but we aren't. Hub needs to see this, no, somebody with more experience needs to see that room. There's a map, showing a path to somewhere so far off that I can't even describe. Maybe it's an answer, maybe not, but it's something.",
"It's been three hours since the last twist, which means we're due another one soon. We need to find a safe place to ride it out. Somewhere wide and empty, with no close walls or corners. Somewhere we can't get warped round angles or stretched until we tear.\n\nRight now, where we are, none of us would survive it. We're in some kind of suburban house - half a fitted kitchen on the ceiling, a mural with cartoon fish covering the floor. Ten paces away, where Torrance is checking the way ahead, the ground is different - great glass panes from some high-rise office block, scattered lumps of church pews sticking up at odd angles.\n\nWe've got some time - probably. The big twists happen semi-regularly, between four and six hours apart. Small ones are less predictable, but there's generally enough warning to get clear. And for those who don't find the edge in time, who miscalculate the area or head in the wrong direction, they mostly die instantly.\n\nMostly.\n\nTorrance gestures - he's found a route. We troop after him, picking our way through the pews and then feeling our feet sink into deep, thick carpet. It was white, once, but now its stained a rust brown; either the first time, or one of the twists since then, someone was here when it hit.\n\nWe don't know how many people made it, have continued to survive. There are ten of us now - our highest ever was fifteen - and we've never met a larger group. Nearly 8 billion people on the planet, once, and now we only know about ten of them. Maybe the first twist killed almost everyone. Maybe everyone outside a building was fine, is just going about their lives as normal - we've never found natural terrain in here. Or maybe we're all just wandering around in here, trying to regroup in a landscape that doesn't make any sense.\n\nSome kind of factory, I'm guessing now. Concrete walls and floors, though with a laminated tile ceiling in the narrow corridor. Bits of warped machinery jut out from the walls and spred like a trellis across what used to be doorways. When it first started, I used to get hopeful - I'd gather the others and we'd kick through the dead-ends, smash windows to see if the way out was just inches away.\n\nIt never is. If you follow the corridors, move through the open doorways, you find new warped rooms. If you try and cheat, try and break out of the maze, all you get is broken tools. Broken tools and more twists - the landscape doesn't like us trying to cheat.\n\nWe're struggling through a theatre when it comes on us. One moment we're scrambling over mis-shapen and melted seats, then the world goes grey at the edges and I feel the pressure in my sinuses. A twist - a small one, but large enough.\n\nWith the bigger ones, you get more warning. The slow build of a stress headache, the creaking noises as the world prepares to rearrange. The small ones are like lightning; you only have a few seconds once you hear the thunder.\n\nI'm at the back of the group, just behind Weams. A second only to make a judgement, to choose whether to jump forwards or back, to trust everything to an intuition of where it will strike, how large the radius will be.\n\nI leap, instinctively, the pain in my head almost blinding, and the twist hits. The world stretches inside-out and upside-down, geometry phasing through itself in patterns that slice through my brain even as my senses are blinded.\n\nIt's over in an instant, summer lightning, and when I can move again, smearing the blood away from my nostrils and peering out with still-fuzzy vision, I'm alone, crouched behind a battered red-velvet seat. No sign of my team, no sound other than my own raspy breathing.\n\nIn front of me, a perfect circle scooped out from the theatre, is a smooth tarmac floor marked with parking spaces. A single square pillar - its top unconnected to the theatre ceiling - informs me that I am on level 2."
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[WP] Your docile dog usually makes you feel safe on your midnight walks. But everytime you enter the tunnel that leads out of your neighborhood, he goes haywire. At first, you wonder if he's crazy....then one night, you also see it through the shadows: a rusted door in the wall.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"At the sight of the leash, Max takes a few victory laps around the couch. I laugh at the German Shepherd's antics and wait until he comes to sit by the door. Once the leash is on, we head outside for our nightly walk.\n\nThe crickets chirp around us as we stroll beneath the star-filled sky. With only a handful of streetlights in this small neighborhood, it's easy to make out the constellations overhead. \n\nAfter a couple blocks, we come up to the pedestrian tunnel. I pause and stare at it for a few minutes as Max happily sniffs the ground. Something about the place gives me the creeps. I turn on the light on my phone and shine it down the tunnel. Nothing's there. Taking a deep breath, I step forward. \n\nAs soon we're inside, Max's fur stands on end. He lets out a low growl. His eyes are trained on some spot along the wall, but I can't see anything. I tug on the leash and jog past. The faster we're out of here, the better. As soon as we step out, Max is back to calmly sniffing the grass.\n\nWe continue along for several more blocks, until it's time to return home. When we get back to the tunnel, we go through the same process again. But this time, I can see what Max is focused on. A rusted, battered door is set into the wall. I have no idea how I've never seen it before, but it's definitely there.\n\nI take a step toward the door. Max snarls and barks, but he won't step closer to the door. I probably shouldn't either, but I can't resist. I need to know where the door leads. I take another step forward and Max still won't budge. The leash slips from my hand and I place my hand on the doorknob and twist. A huge gust of wind hits me and I fall down. Then, the world goes black.\n\n\\-------------\n\nWhen I open my eyes, the sun is shining. Rubbing the lump on the back of my head, I push myself up off the ground and take a look around. I'm surrounded by green grass and tall trees, but something feels *off*. I can't put a finger on what it is though. It's almost like there's an \"uncanny valley\" look to the scenery. This definitely isn't my neighborhood. In fact, something deep inside tells me this isn't even earth.\n\n\"Hello?\" My voice echoes through the valley and sends a group of birds flying. \"Hello?! Is anyone there?\"\n\nNo one answers. I take a step forward, and a shiver runs through me. I freeze. Something is watching me. I can feel their eyes boring into me. My breath comes in short bursts as I try not to panic.\n\nSwallowing hard, I take another step forward. The thing moves through the bushes behind me. I start to look over my shoulder when the air fills with the sounds of maniacal laughter. It echoes and ricochets off the trees and rocks until I can't tell where it's coming from.\n\nI bolt. Hurdling over rocks and around trees, I move faster than I ever have before. Adrenaline courses through me. The thing tears through the forest behind me. I don't dare look back. \n\nWith every step, my heart pounds harder, but I still don't look back. Suddenly, the sound behind me changes. Whatever it is, it's no longer running behind me. Now, it sounds like it's leaping through the trees. And it's big. Leaves and limbs fall to the ground. Small critters -- ones I've never seen before -- sprint away through the greenery. My legs are weak and my chest aches, but I don't dare stop. The thing keeps pace behind me. \n\nAn eternity later, I skid to a halt at the edge of a cliff. There's nothing but rocks below. I grab a fallen branch and spin around. If I'm going down, I'm going down swinging. I hear the rustling and crashing through the trees as it sounds like the thing drops to the ground. \n\nA soft growl sends goosebumps across my flesh. With agonizingly slow movements now, I hear the creature step forward. Another step. Another. Until, finally, it steps out from the trees. It's the size of a gorilla, but with a human's face. Its flesh is green and blends in with the trees. It glares at me with a hatred that I can feel deep in my soul.\n\nIt lets out a roar that shakes the ground. I scream and charge forward. It charges, too. Tears stream down my face as I raise the branch to swing. I rear back, close my eyes, and...\n\n... From above, something grabs my hand. I squeeze my eyes shut tighter as I feel myself being lifted into the air. The creature lets out another roar, but it seems far away now. I open my eyes just as I see myself being pulled backwards through the rusted doorway. The roars echo through the tunnel until the man beside me slams it closed.\n\nI collapse onto the ground in a fit of hysterical laughter. Finally, when I can catch my breath, I wipe my face and look up at the man. \"How did--\"\n\n\"You're lucky your dog came and found me. You shouldn't mess with the door.\"\n\nI gape at him for a moment, trying to form a coherent thought. \"Thank you. I promise I won't touch it again.\"\n\nThe man nods at me, and for the first time, I notice all the weapons he has strapped to himself. Without another word, he opens the door and hops through. The door closes behind him, then disappears into the wall.\n\nWas that *real?* No one will ever believe it. Max licks my cheek and breaks my train of thought. I grab his leash and together we hurry out of the tunnel. I think it's time to go home and find a different route for tomorrow.\n\n\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\\~\n\nr/WannaWriteSometimes",
"Oh! I have a large malamute named Buck. Don’t blame me, my husband named him. Buck and Bruce. I clearly had no say in this. \n\nBuck is a cuddle bug and technically Bruce adopted him while we were just dating but between you and me, Buck likes me best. I think it’s because I take Buck on walks more than Bruce. All 90 pounds of him. Contrary to popular belief, not all malamutes are pullers if you have the right training ethic. They’re generally quite gentle. Which is great, considering he would definitely win a tug of war against all 90 pound of me. \n\nI should introduce myself, I’m sorry. I’m Lindsey, the local vertically-challenged librarian. What was your question again?\n\nOh you’re new in town, welcome! Just got here, huh? How are you liking the place?\n\nWhy does your dog hate the tunnel under that one bridge near the river but not next to the tavern with the gold sign?\n\nWait you mean the one with the metal handrails or the stone arches? The stone arches....\n\nOh yes ok that bridge! Yeah did you notice the weird circle door there? Just avoid that and you should be just fine. \n\nWell how should I know what’s behind the door, silly?\n\n*sigh* Look, I know you’re new in town, I just don’t want you to get hurt. \n\nAnd you will. \n\nGet hurt I mean. \n\nSo. Stay away. From the door. \n\nAlrighty any other questions? You know I have some lovely dog training books just over here to help with that pulling I was talking about? I really recommend...",
"Sparky was not an imaginative name. I'm sure dozens of other dogs were named Sparky- but I couldn't name him anything else, because Sparky fit him *too* well.\n\nHe was always intensely high-energy, he was always lovingly cheerful- hopping in my lap the moment I was sitting, his face always in my business, whatever it was that I was doing. I loved it, though. It was nice to have something him so invested in my activities.\n\nThe only time he truly seemed to misbehave was when I took him on walks past the old Bulwark, near the docks.\n\nOur small Ocean-side town had a long history, having once been a very contended place in wars between settlers and indigenous- and so the Bulwark had been built, a strong wall, meant to prevent any landing ships from finding a true purchase.\n\nI loved walking along the Bulwark- it was almost as if my ancestors had built it, knowing that even once the fighting ended, it would still be an important monument to our people.\n\nSparky, however, did *not* love the Bulwark. I was hoping that slowly exposing him to more of the beachfront would do the trick- help him relax- but every time we reached about half-way, he would dig in his heels, whine, bark- how many years had it been since I'd actually *finished* walking the Bulwark?\n\nToday I decided not to take Sparky along- I had walked him that morning, and today was *perfect* for the walk I wanted to do.\n\nLight fog swirled in the ocean air, the moon was full and bright, and the sounds and smells from our city permeated the air- barbecue, dancing- like the heat from a community bonfire at my back as I walked alone into the night.\n\nIt was a most pleasant kind of morose.\n\nWalking along the Bulwark, I continued to dwell on the history of my people- was it just because of our lovely beaches that we had had all of these invaders? \n\nI chuckled to myself. That was a silly thought...I'm sure there had been many reasons. History was complex.\n\nI raised my head to gaze at the moon- and something caught my eye.\n\nBuilt into the Bulwark was a rusty, circular door.\n\nThat...hadn't been there before, I was sure of it- yet it was clearly *old*.\n\nMaybe it was my honed fearlessness from years of being a volunteer fire-fighter, but I was absolutely *overcome* with curiosity. The door was going to be locked, of course- but I had to try-\n\nThe door creaked open at my touch.\n\nIt felt as though a fire had been lit within my brain. I had to go inside. I had to know more.\n\nI was heedless of the door closing behind me.\n\nRough stone steps lay before me, and lit lanterns lined the walls. Throwing caution to the wind, I descended- almost slipping a few times- until finally, I found myself in a large circular room, entirely hewn from rock.\n\nSlowly, the light of the lanterns began to condense- as though it were completely natural- into the shape and form of six tall, full-grown men and women.\n\nPart of me knew I should be alarmed- part of me knew that every step I had taken today was *strange* and out of character for me...yet my heartbeat was steady, and I felt like nothing but that I was coming home.\n\n*Finally, a true-blooded descendant comes to us.*\n\n*Is it yours, young man?*\n\n*Is it yours to bear our legacy?*\n\n*Is it yours, to lead this community?*\n\n*Is it yours, for us to give back to you?*\n\n*Our Power?*"
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[WP] A person has a condition where, when they see or hear the name of an animal mentioned, they suddenly think they're that animal. They also have a pet. When their pet gets sick, they need to go to the vet's office. And of course, it's nearly impossible to avoid animal-related words there.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"It was just another normal day when Anne Dirkes took her nauseous cat, Simon, to the local vet.\n\nShe sat in the waiting room, looking at all the other animals that'd been brought. There were cats, dogs, birds, lizards, and even a large tortoise. Simon began to get jittery as a result. \"Don't worry, Simon.\" she said gently to her pet. \"I'm sure that Dr. Richards will take good care of you...\"\n\nThat was when she heard a shout from the back room. It was one of the nurses, exclaiming \"Dr. Richards! This dog needs emergency treatment, stat!\" Suddenly, Anne's eyes began twitching as she groaned and held her head, now pulsing with a headache. When it stopped, she looked up, confused. She tried to say something. \"Woof!\" A few people looked towards her out of curiosity.\n\nShe hopped onto the floor, now crawling on all fours. Her dress made her feel warm, so she began panting. At this, over half of the people in the room began staring at her in confusion. Anne began crawling around the room, observing the other animals. When she saw one person with their cat, she quietly growled as she walked past them.\n\nFinally, one person asked, \"Are you okay, lady?\" Suddenly, Anne geared back a bit, another headache forming. When it dissipated, she looked around her and realized what had happened. She blushed as she got back onto her seat and put Simon back into her lap. \n\n\"Good thing that person was there to bring me back to my senses,\" thought Anne. \"And I'm glad that it was over soon. That could've been so much more embarrassing, after all!\" At that moment, the nurse shouted \"Ms. Dirkes! Your cat's appointment is ready!\"\n\nAnne had another headache."
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[WP] As it sets your home on fire, the Dragon spots you cowering in fear. It bends its head down to look you in the eyes, as it speaks to you "Would you like to out this weekend?"
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"My mouth dried up and I looked up at the menacing body of the dragon. It's head was high up in the sky but his head was bent down towards me. My hand was cold, trembling and clutching my cat for dear life. Not because of what happened to my house (well, maybe before) but now it was trembling for the question this massive dragon has thrown at me.\n\n*\"Would you like to go out this weekend?\"*\n\nIs he serious, joking or giving me false hope for survival? \n\nAs I looked around the cabin, all I could see that was salvageable was my bed, my laptop, and my first aid kit which are all close to me. Spirit, my cat, hissed at the dragon and buried herself deep into me. I sighed deeply before glaring at the giant glowing eye of red.\n\n\"What do you mean by th*aT*\"\n\n\"...\"\n\n\"...\"\n\nSilence. That was all I could hear. Well if not for the fact that my voice just cracked while asking my potential predator! \n\nHis head moved and I panicked. I curled myself up into a ball. Protecting Spirit from the onslaught of fire that will come. But it didn't. I looked up and saw the dragon trembling. Oh god. Is he angry? Furious? Irritated?! \n\nThen a deep, rumbling laughter rattled what was remaining of the walls and flooring. His mouth opened wide while his eyes were grinning from delight. \n\n\"Yes! Oh god! You really are something!\" His head lowered down rapidly until his eyes were my level. It's full of happiness, humor and... Nervousness? \"Yeah, just like what I said. You, me, out on the weekend? Waddya say?\" \n\nI looked around one more time to see what happened to my house. The wood panels were reduced to cinders, the cement was charred black, my clothes were now ashes, my furniture burnt to a crisp, and my goddamn VR set melted. Great. I mean, that's okay. It only costs a whooping 999$. No biggie. \n\nNot.\n\n\"SHUT UP! OH MY GOD!\" I stood up and pointed a finger at the bewildered dragon. \"You burnt down the cabin I have always wanted, my hard earned furniture, my clothes that have some of my sister's pass me downs, and my VR SET THAT COSTED ME HELL TONS OF ART COMMISSIONS?! Thank my stars that Spirit is alive or hell will break loose here. A fucking dragon or not, I'll beat up people and beasts alike who threatens Spirit's life!\" I screamed at his face. Tears are threatening to fall down. \n\n\"But--\"\n\n\"No buts mister! I know you can transform, now change into your humanoid form and talk to me by face.\" \n\nI saw him visibly gulp before a light flashed before me. Now, a man stood in his place. Long, obsidian black hair was freely cascading down his back, sharp red eyes darting around the place, fair skin, tall stature, and robes that fits a royalty. \n\n\"I am so--\"\n\n*wham!*\n\nThe med kit box fell down as it hits his face. My hand trembled in nervousness but I don't give a flying fuck anymore. \n\n\"This NEET here!\" I pointed at myself \"Was glad that she got a house up here in the mountains with a waterfall near her to power electricity, a strong connection to a wifi, and no human neighbors within 5 kilometers! It was heaven for her!\" I stomped around and scooped up Spirit. \"I was glad that I have my own place now. But no! You just had to burn it down do you?! Oh do you mighty dragon?!\" I grabbed what's remaining of my lamp and threw it at him.\n\n\"Ack!\"\n\n\"Shut up you Charizard wannabe! Get out of my sight! ARGH! YOU BETTER PAY FOR MY HOUSE TO BE FIXED AGAIN YOU LITTLE SHIT!\" I threw objects again at him.\n\n\"Ow! Okay! Ouch! Please sto-- Ack!\" \n\n\"Get out get out get out!\" \n\nHe transformed into his beast form again and flapped his wings. The powerful wind almost blew me away but I stood tall. \n\n\"I am deeply sorry! I'll... I'll come back later with materials and helpers to fix your cabin again! Um, and about the dat--\"\n\n\"NOW!\"\n\nHe jolted in surprise before flying away with the promise of returning to fix my house.\n\nIf he can fix my house and ask me again normally, then maybe, maybe I would give him a chance. Probably. \n\nBut right now, what I need to do is to take a bath at the waterfall to wash out the gunk and soot. \n\n\"Come Spirit. Let's go on a little adventure!\"\n\n\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\\[\\]\n\n\"Sire... Um, what happened? Did she say yes?\"\n\nAlastor sighed and slumped down on his throne. \n\n\"It was terrible.\"\n\n*'Just like I thought.'* The butler sweated and bowed to him.\n\n\"Well sire, I told you surprising her by burning down her house won't work. May I suggest you to bath first before reconciling with her?\" \n\nAlastor grumbled and looked at the glowing tattoo on the back of his hand. Signifying that he just met his mate. \n\n\"No... I want you to call the others and order construction supplies. I'll fix her house after ordering furniture, clothes and gadgets for her.\" He grabbed the tablet on the end table and opened an online shop. Ready to buy stuff that will suit her taste based on what he observed for the past week. \n\n\"Alright Sire. I shall order the sturdiest materials suitable for the future Empress.\" \n\nAlastor waved him goodbye before hardly concentrating on buying stuff to appease his mate.",
"(Not my best work, but I just wanted to pound this out for fun.) \n\n\n\"Would you like to go out this weekend?” Not exactly words one expects to hear from the creature in the middle of burning one’s house to the ground. Nor words one expects to hear in a near perfect Irish accent from a giant fire-breathing lizard that can only be described as a dragon. As I looked over at my burning computer and some of my other possessions, I was suddenly grateful most of my stuff was still boxed up in my mother’s house back in the states. More than my possessions, however, I was concerned about Rebecca, my Labrador who was nowhere in sight.\n\n“Wait, let me get this straight, you come and burn my home down with everything in it, killing my dog, and now you’re asking me out? Is this some kind of sick game?” I asked the giant golden lizard.\n\nThe golden lizard huffed and her Irish accent became even more lilted. “Your dog is fine. She’s huddling outside under the shed, which I haven’t burned yet. She’s watching the house trying to summon the courage to come try to get to you. She must really like you. Most other dogs just ran the moment they smelled or saw me.”\n\n“The one’s you didn’t barbecue you mean?” I glared.\n\nThe dragon sighed and landed in the middle of the burning wreckage of the small building, half of which served as my home. The landing caused the walls of an entire room—along with everything else in it—to blow out and collapse. After the dragon landed and everything settled out a bit, there was a shimmer and then a naked young woman stood in the dragon’s place. Her hair was long and red flowing down over her shoulders front and back to mid-thigh obscuring my view of anything I shouldn’t see. Her skin was pale, but had just the slightest golden shimmer to it. She also had very piercing green eyes, though the pupils looked sort of like they were slits, similar to a cat's but different.\n\n“I would never knowingly harm a dog,” she said softly. “Cows and pigs on the other hand I can’t vouch for.”\n\nI look around at the flaming mess of my home. “You don’t seem to have an issue with killing humans either. But how do you know you haven’t killed a dog in a house?”\n\n“Infravsion,” she said softly. “Works like one of your thermal cams. Only really have it in my other form though. It’s so muted in this one, it might as well be nonexistant.”\n\n“Why burn my house if you wanted to ask me out?”\n\n“I didn’t know it was your house. I didn’t even know you lived in this town or I would have encouraged you to leave first. You and a few others that moved here recently were caught up in something you had no part in.”\n\nShe gestured toward the direction of the center of town. “Have you ever notice there are no children here? It’s because this town was built to confine my mother to experiment on her and to use for some purpose that I do not know. They only started letting in outsiders such as yourself recently when they realized they were attracting attention they didn’t want. I don’t know how they found out about us, but tonight, after almost ten years of trying, I freed her and now I will burn this place to the ground.”\n\n“What happens if I say no?” I asked.\n\n“I’ll drop off a check tomorrow that should more than cover your losses and you’ll never see me again,” she said. “I realize there are things that probably had sentimental value or that can’t really be replaced. I’m sorry for that. Again, I didn’t know you were here or I would never have warned you to leave.”\n\n“Why me? I mean, I’m not young, I’m not good looking. I can’t father children for you. As far as I know, I don’t even know you!” I asked.\n\n“I’ve seen you out and about, even if you never noticed me. I see how you treat other creatures, even if you don’t seem to have much love for your own kind. And your dog is very loyal. She’s approaching the building right now looking for you, by the way.”\n\nShe chuckled. “As for the rest of that, I wasn’t really thinking that far ahead but if you want to have kids, my sister has a lab and you'd be surprised what she can do. I don’t much care one way or the other myself.”\n\n“Can I at least think about it?” I asked as we made our way outside, where I was pounced on, hugged, and half licked to death by my dog.\n\n“You can have the night,” she shrugged. “I’m leaving for home in the morning. Too many democrats around here these days.”\n\nI shrugged. “Where’s home, Ireland?”\n\nShe laughed. “I haven’t even visited Ireland in nearly a hundred years. My home is a ranch in the middle of nowhere in Texas.”\n\n“So, if did go out this weekend, what did you have in mind?”\n\n“Figured we could go out for a steak dinner at the Kobe in Dallas tomorrow, and if we hit it off, we could go back to the hotel room I booked for the anime convention this weekend and go from there.”\n\n“Well shit, that sounds about perfect, except I don’t have a place to stay tonight and I’d need to buy something to wear on account of my place is burned to the ground.”\n\n“I can let you and your dog stay in my guest house. Just don’t mind all the fabric. I sew all my costumes there.”\n\n“You cosplay?” I blinked.\n\n“Yep, and I’ve been told I pull off a really good dragon!”\n\nAnd that my friends is why I’m back after a three year absence from the con."
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[WP] Today's your average winter weekend. The sky is cloudy, the air is brisk, and there's a pack of werewolves paying you a fat stack of gold coins as they completely devour the cured meats in your freezer.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"\"Patrick, do we have to do this tonight?\"\n\nPatrick's eyes looked wild already. Crap. Claire has a friend over, and Owen usually brought at least one other teenager over for dinner on Saturday, this was the worst possible night...\n\n\"Patrick!\" I hissed through my teeth. \"Can this wait!\"\n\nPatrick reached in his pocket, pulled out a bulging bag of gold coins, then simultaneously dropped the bag and shoved me aside. His hand was already a giant paw. Shit. Of course it couldn't wait.\n\nPatrick and all his buddies stormed down to the chest freezer in the basement. Ryan, the biggest of the group, still had a grasp on his humanity. He put a gigantic paw on my shoulder.\n\n\"Sorry, Jess. I know this sucks. I'll try to keep the guys quiet, but I can't make any promises.\"\n\n\"Just do your best. I know it's not easy.\"\n\nI pulled out my phone and sent two texts. The first one was to my husband, Matt: \"Patrick is here. Take the girls to that new arcade pizza place for dinner, go out the back, I'll venmo you a 100\"\n\nThe next was to my son: \"Make yourself scarce ;) lol, you can sleep over at Aiden's if he invites you, I'll drop off an overnight bag\"\n\nI followed the guys downstairs to watch, and to attempt to do damage control. I was really starting to resent our little agreement, even though it was so obviously the right thing to do.\n\nPatrick, Jake, Steve, Doug, and Ryan had been friends of mine since high school. Because they were teenage boys, and idiots, they went to the graveyard on the night of the harvest moon. They stripped naked and took turns wearing a wolf skin belt, trying to see if it would turn them into werewolves. It did. Ryan, who was in \"football shape\" back then at over 300lbs., wasn't able to get the belt around his waist. He tied it around his thigh, and by the power of the harvest moon, became almost as lycanthropic as his buddies.\n\nEach full moon, they'd disappear. The wolf sightings would come in. If they were lucky, they'd get an elk, or even a monster. If not, they'd have to sneak onto one of the farms just outside of town and take some livestock. That almost got Jake killed; he still walks with a limp.\n\nThat also alerted the whole metro area to the fact that there were werewolves, which immediately put them in danger.\n\nNearly 20 years ago, before I even met Matt, I was big into deer and duck hunting. I gave the guys a deal: They'd pay me for the meat in my freezer. I got paid to hunt, they got a safe dinner. Matt continued the deal; he's an elk hunter so the guys love him.\n\nBut lately, with the kids, and our crazy schedules, and this new wave of anti-werewolf sentiment, it was all starting to seem like too much.\n\nThe farms and the wildlands werere long gone, though, swallowed up by suburban sprawl. The only prey big enough to satisfy a werewolf's appetite, other than a freezer full of meat, was a human. Without our support, they'd be dead, and some humans would be, too.\n\nI heard growling. Doug saw an elk leg dangling from Steve's mouth, and he wanted it!\n\nSteve raised his hackles.\n\nDoug bared his teeth.\n\n\"Hey!! There's another leg in here, dumbass!\" I swatted Doug on the butt. When he turned around, I lifted the elk leg out of the chest freezer. He used his huge head to push me out of the way and practically attacked it. \n\nPatrick got in a tussle with Jake over the organ meat and knocked over a bookshelf. Luckily, it was just mine; Claire would have a conniption if hers got knocked over.\n\nRyan swallowed a huge chunk of meat. \"You guys good?\" \n\n\"Yeah.\" Patrick, now gnawing on a bone, nodded.\n\nDoug soundlessly stretched out on the floor.\n\n\"Yeah.\" Jake's mouth was visibly full.\n\nSteve barked, his head inside the freezer, sniffing around for more.\n\n\"Alright, guys!\" I stood, hoping they'd listen this time. \"One at a time, you'll go outside and do your business. Keep it very quiet. Who's first?\"\n\nJake hopped up the stairs. \n\n\"Alright, Jake. Quick and quiet.\"\n\nHe trotted over to a tree, lifted his leg... and was immediately distracted by the moon.\n\n\"Don't do it, Jake!\" I ran to the tree, hoping covering his eyes would help.\n\nIt didn't. Jake let out a loud, crystal clear howl that got the wolves in the basement howling back. That got Jake howling again.\n\n\"It's gonna be a long night.\"",
"It's quiet outside. Too quiet. Damn. I'd hoped to have time to cast more bullets and assemble the rounds. Looks like I'll have to go with what I have.\n\n<knock knock knock>\n\n\"Who is it?\"\n\n\"My name is not important. What is important is that I have a desperate need for meat, and I'm willing to pay ten times the market price for that meat.\"\n\nTen times? He really is desperate. Might as well open the door.\n\n\"Hello. Here is a pouch full of gold coins, please count them while we get the meat from your shed.\"\n\nYes, there are six of them. Some of them look a bit too furry for me. They're also gobbling down whole hams in maybe two bites.\n\n\"You are werewolves.\"\n\n\"Yes.\" Resigned.\n\n\"And you're willing to pay to eat.\"\n\n\"Yes. What is so hard about this?\" Not so resigned, I'm not doing anything aggressive.\n\n\"And you're buying my entire stock of preserved meat?\"\n\n\"Yes!\" I think I'm exasperating him.\n\n\"You are actually going to est all of it right now.\"\n\nAnd yes, the meat is all gone. Their leader hasn't eaten yet.\n\n\"YES! GET TO THE POINT!\"\n\n\"Simple enough. This is winter. I can't make it to the nearest village. I can't eat gold. What am I supposed to do for meat for the rest of the winter?\"\n\n\"Huh. Good point.\"\n\n\"And I'm afraid your pack has already eaten all of it. I only see two solutions.\"\n\n\"We cannot stay and hunt for you.\"\n\n\"That leaves only one solution.\" I'm a hunter. I hunt many things. Elk, Moose, Feral hogs, Deer, Beaver, whatever comes my way. Well, this lot has just come my way. \"Tell me, the meat is all gone, what are *you* going to eat?\"\n\n\"I'm very sorry, but I see only one solution to that. You can take heart in this. The gold will remain for your heirs. You have saved the lives of that village. I will make it as painless as possible.\"\n\n\"That *is* one solution.\"\n\n\"You see another?\"\n\n\"Yes. I'm not happy about it, since you are trying to avoid taking many human lives, but I know what will happen if you're hungry, no gold, and no convenient homestead. You'll hit the nearest village. I can't let that happen.\"\n\nI see the truth dawn in his eyes. Still human, he lunges for me, but my revolver is already loaded. Silver bullets, one to the heart will kill them, and I have six shots. One for each. Precision is mandatory if I am to survive.\n\nI am a hunter.\n\nI hunt to survive.\n\nIt seems i'll be living off werewolf meat the rest of this winter. It's better than raiding the village.\n\nThat's why I live out here. I can hunt while I'm human, and lock myself up when the moon comes. A werewolf is cunning, but not too smart. Getting loose from my cellar requires multiple puzzle solving.\n\nI'm sorry I had to melt your silverware Mother, but my crucifix only made one bullet. Rest in Peace, Mother. I killed the ones who bit you.\n\n(finis)"
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[WP] You’re the daughter of Satan and God comes to visit for your 15th birthday. You suddenly realize why your dad left heaven
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"My father seemed agitated as he paced up and down the hall. His hands clenched into fists and his brow furrowed leave deep creases from horn to horn. \n\n\"What's wrong daddy?\"\n\n\"He wasn't invited and yet He still decides to make an appearance in Hell like he owns the place.\" My fathers voice hissed with anger.\n\n\"Who?\" I asked curious as to who could make Satan so anxious. \n\n\"That old bearded bastard. God himself has decided to grace us with his 'holy' presence.\" He rolled his eyes, his words dripping with sarcasm.\n\n\"Oh....\"\n\nI had heard stories about Yahweh before. They varied greatly. Some said he was the embodiment of love and justice. Others said he was lazy and did very little in the world. My father on the other hand despised him. \n\nMy hands began to sweat as I thought of meeting him. He was like a celebrity amongst the angels and gods. Everyone knew of him, many envied him. But me I feared him. The last party God attended ended in flames as he burned Sodom and Gamora to the ground. But I suppose he couldn't burn Hell...perhaps he would freeze it over?\n\nI put on my best dress. And my best behavior. The tight black leather clung to my body accentuating my curves, a diamond shaped opening over the small of my back left my skin exposed. The dress fell short over over my thighs just beyond my finger tips. I looked so devilishly good in the mirror I thought with a smirk.\n\nThe first knock at the door rang through the halls and soon the party was off. Baal was the first to arrive and soon after Lilith followed, then Astroth, then Forneus and soon it felt like half of hell was there. Demons danced to music that had their bodies gyrating and swaying about in beautiful ways.\n\n Gifts piled on the table one after the other. Patience was a virtue, one I didn't have... and soon I tore into boxes. Baal had brought me a collection of bones of all sorts creatures. Someone had brought the complete works of Richard Dawkins among other books. Jewelry and dresses. Metal albums. Art work of the human form. The gifts were so thoughtful. I'd have to send out thank you cards for weeks. \n\nThat's when I heard a booming voice cut past all the noise around me.\n\n\"Where is the birthday girl?\"\n\nThe room fell almost silent. A few uncomfortable murmurs could be heard in the crowd. The damned shuffled to open a path. There he stood in his white robe with his wily grey beard.\n\n\"Ah there you are little one, what was it? Lilliana? I brought you a gift.\"\n\nI thought it funny that someone all knowing had to ask my name. He handed me what was obviously a bottle wrapped in cheap brown paper.\n\n\"Um.. Thanks.\"\n\nBefore I could peal the paper back my father snatched the gift from my hand and opened it himself. He scowled.\n\n\"Communion wine? She's only 15\". His irritation was palpable.\n\n\"What does it matter? She's only 15 and you let her dress like... that\" God waved his hand gesturing to me. \"Hell at 15 she should be married.\"\n\n\"He frontal lobe isn't done developing she doesn't need alcohol yet. But you know this. And she can dress however she wants. It's her body and her party.\" He said bluntly.\n\n\"Plus\", father added, \"I want my daughter to have a future, to be educated... just because she can bleed doesn't mean I'm going to let you pull a Mary on MY Daughter. I'm not like Lot, I won't stand for it.\" \n\n\"You always think you're better than me.\" God began to raise his voice now. \"I brought you into this world, I'll take you out of it if I need to.\"\n\n\"Yes I know. You created the heavens and the earth and then you flooded it and burned it and sent a meteor down to it. All those poor dinosaurs. It's a shame really. They pre-dated you.\" Satan leered at him with a grin.\n\n\"Oh you alway bring up the past. You look for the worst in everything. This is why you live in such a dank hole.\" Yahweh spit his words at my Father. \n\n\"Rage, Pride, Envy.... it's a real shame that you created man in your image\", Father clapped back. \n\nThe old man turned red in the face. \n\n\"What have you done for the world then? You think you're so great\"\n\n\"Well if you must ask.... Father's smiled evily. \"I gave Eve the knowledge of good and evil so they had a choice to be savage animals or not. I tried to save your Son from his bloody fate. I gave those people whose prayers seem to go unanswered modern medicine, technology, insight into evolution, rights for women, marriage for all and of course reason to question everything freely. What have you done but starve half of Africa and sit back and watch wars waged in your name?\"\n\nYahweh grabbed back the bottle of wine from my father. \n\n\"Well I'll tell you what I'm not doing,\" turning on his heels he he called back, \"I'm not staying here with all of you ungrateful bastards. If you won't see all I have done for you then you deserve nothing.\" \n\n\"He seems really angry daddy.\" \n\n\"Always has been.\" He said."
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[WP] You wake in a room with no doors, windows, or exits of any kind. The only thing in the room is you, a note, and a red button on a podium. The note reads "press the button to escape but beware anything can happen when it's pressed."
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"I open my eyes and blink into the darkness. Everything is so black, that I think at first that I must have gone blind. But then I notice it. Just to my left is a narrow wooden podium. I push myself up off the floor and step forward. Atop the podium is a clear plastic case with a red button inside.\n\n*Where am I?*\n\nI turn around, but everything around me is just black. No shadows or texture. Just plain, simple *black*. I walk away from the podium and slam face-first into a black wall. With hands outstretched, I feel along the walls in search of a lightswitch. I make a full loop around the room before starting again. There has to be a door or window or *something* in here... Right?\n\nBy the fourth time around, I finally decide I didn't miss anything. I return to the podium and notice the plaque next to the button. It's inscribed with cursive, gold letters: \"Press the button if you wish to leave. Beware, however, the things you'll see. When so pressed, it changes things. One cannot know what each press brings. Touch to leave, when you're in there. But only touch it if you dare.\"\n\n*Well, here goes nothin'.*\n\nI flip open the plastic case, squeeze my eyes shut, and press the button. When I open them, I'm still in the same black room. I'm just about to press it again, when I the hair on the back of my neck rises up. Something is in here with me.\n\nA roar echoes through the room. I spin around. A gorilla stands there, fists pounding against his chest. He roars again and charges. My body freezes as my mind races. At the last second, I step to the side. The gorilla slams his fist against the floor. A crack ripples outward. He pounds it over and over again until the floor shatters beneath his feet. \n\nThe black beneath us falls away, and for the briefest of moments, we're weightless. Then, gravity takes over and we follow the plummeting floor. The air rushes past us as we fall faster and faster toward the forest floor below. I clench my eyes shut and wait for the impact. \n\nThe limbs and leaves of the dense forest canopy slow our fall. The air leaves my lungs in a hurry as I finally hit the ground, but otherwise I feel fine. I open my eyes to see the gorilla dashing off through the foliage. Apparently back in his own home, he no longer cares about my presence.\n\nWhen my heart slows down and I can catch my breath again, I look around. The button and its plastic case sit beside me. The podium is nowhere to be seen. \n\nI pick up the case and take one more look around. Then, I hear a hissing nearby. I turn to look. A cobra rises up from the foliage. I take a step back and it glides forward. My back presses against a tree as I hear a second snake hissing. Just as the first snake lunges, I press the button again. \n\n*Take me home! Please!*\n\nThe forest vanishes. I'm surrounded by white. The cold is already seeping into my bones. The button slips through my freezing fingers. I reach down to grab it, and when I look back up, I'm staring into the eyes of a polar bear. As startled by my sudden appearance as I am, the bear hesitates. Then, it raises up onto its back legs. It lifts a paw to strike. I mash the button.\n\nThe white vanishes. I'm surrounded by darkness. For a split second, I think I'm back in the first room. But then, I notice I can't breathe. I'm drifting downward. I taste salt on my lips and realize I'm in the ocean. \n\nI try to press the button, but it's not in my hand. Panic is building in me, but I need to find that damned button! I twist in the water and look through the inky blackness until I see a faint glimmer of shiny red metal. With aching lungs, I kick myself toward it. Just as my body demands that I take a breath, I grab the red button and press.\n\nThe water vanishes and I gasp in relief. I'm back on dry land, soaking wet. The button falls from my wet fingers as I collapse to the ground. The sky above me is growing dark, but I'm too tired to give much more thought to my surroundings.\n\nA second later, I turn as I hear movement and something crunch beside me. The button and its case are shattered on the road. Cars glide past me as I lie on the sidewalk. People are going about their business, as if a dripping wet stranger didn't just magically appear next to them.\n\nI finally lift myself up off the ground and look at the shattered, magical button. Whether I wanted to use it again or not, it's no longer an option. But at least the nightmare's over. Maybe now I can find some way back home.\n\n\\--------------\n\nr/WannaWriteSometimes"
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[WP] You were not the Imposter. No one believed you. The O2 levels in your suit drop rapidly as you drift away from the ship.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"It wasn't the pain that was the worst to bear. It wasn't the injustice of the judgment, it wasn't the fear for the lives of my friends, and it certainly wasn't the lonelyness.\n\nIt was the inevitability of my death.\n\nThe suit knew exactly how long I had left to live, and I could do nothing to impact this slowly diminishing number in any way. It probably would have been merciful in comparison to get murdered by the monster that was hiding on my former ship. Going out in a blaze of glory was a fitting end for a bold explorer of unknown space. Slowly fading away against the backdrop of a uncaring universe was torture.\n\nI paddled with arms and legs, trying to alter my drifting course, but nothing changed. None of my choiced mattered now. Well, that wasn't entirely true. There was still one impactful choice I could take.\n\nI took of my helmet and took a deep breath that sucked the air out of my lungs. It wasn't a good choice, but at the end, it was a choice.\n\nThe only choice I still had."
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[WP] The heat death of the universe is nigh, and Death reflects on their purpose.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"*“Tell me a story,” she says, voice soft and quiet against the stillness of the night.*\n\n*“What type of story?” He asks, back flat against the damp ground. He thinks this is the way he wants to spend the rest of his life - lying next to this wonderful girl and watching as a million stars erupt into dust and light.*\n\n*“Something tragic,” she whispers, as if she were scared to wake the world from its slumber.*\n\n*He turns his head slightly to look at her. He can see her clearly this way - can see the softness of her skin, can see the liveliness that paints the creases of her face, can see the way her eyes twinkle in the dark, can see the uncertainty that erupts from her in waves; steady and strong and waiting for the moment they collide.*\n\n*“There was this world,” he begins, voice hushed. “And like any other world, there was greed and oppression and battle,” he brushes away the hair that covers her face.*\n\n*“There was strife and religion and hope and Life,” he speaks, softly. “These were the things the people held onto - not just the good,” he turns to look at the galaxy. “There can’t be good without bad, after all.”*\n\n*He feels a hand interlock with his’, and he holds on tightly.*\n\n*“But Death came,” he whispers this quietly, as if there were no surer thing. “It had made a promise, you see. And the people unknowingly - or maybe it was knowingly - made a promise back.”*\n\n*He turns on his side. “Don’t you see?” He asks her. “The people’s promise was Death - it always will be, no matter what life, no matter what world.”*\n\n*“Did they die because of their ignorance?” She asks him, breath warm against his cheek.*\n\n*“Maybe.” he affirms. “But it was more than that - the world is bigger than all the people in it,” he brings his forehead forward, until it is resting on hers’.*\n\n*“Heat death of the universe,” he whispers into her ear. She moves her head back, eyes staring directly into his soul, as if she were searching for all the universe’s answers, as if she would actually find them.*\n\n*“What’s that?” She asks him.*\n\n*“A fate crueler than Death, itself - there would be no thermodynamic energy, no change in temperature, no added entropy. The world would turn cold - only this time, there would be no warmth to bring it back to life,” he feels the wind kiss his skin, as if it were wrapping him up into a comforting hug. “And you want to know what the worst part is?” He murmurs.*\n\n*“What’s that?” She asks, voice hesitant against the rising air. He grips her hand tighter - feels her lines intersect with his, feels the rush of the world around them.*\n\n*“Nothing extraordinary would ever happen again.”*\n\n--\n\nA black cloak encompasses the world. \n\nIt doesn’t sway - not yet - but it does brush against the outer layer of the world, watching and waiting. \n\nThere is still Life in this world. \n\nDeath knows this in the same way it knows every one of its’ children - by name and by face and of all the things words could never share. \n\nDeath knows the meaning of time - maybe better than anyone else, certainly better than *Life*. Because, Death moves through time like the sand in an hourglass. It is there - ever present and ever knowing - from the moment a babe is born to the moment a person dies. \n\nThere’s promises in time. There always will be. \n\nAnd Death negotiates with time - sometimes it asks for more and sometimes it asks for less - but there is always the promise of some - even if it’s just for a second. \n\nDeath can’t negotiate with time - not this time.\n\nThe universe is ending. It is slowly fading away before the eyes of the people - if only they could *see*. \n\nWith the end of the universe, comes the end of Life itself. And with the end of Life, comes the end of Death. \n\nDeath doesn’t want to go - not yet, not when it had so much more time to give. But Death wonders if maybe the people don’t want to go either. Sometimes, people will come willingly. They will grasp onto Death’s cloak and smile. Death can’t smile, but it thinks it doesn’t really need to. \n\nThe people are as much Death’s as they are Life’s - but the universe is going cold, the air is turning still, and the living is becoming barren.\n\nDeath will walk for miles and miles in the end of all endings, and collect its children with its ivory cloak. It won’t cry - physically can’t - but it will hope - somewhere deep inside itself - of another ending. \n\nSo, Death watches Life for now. It remembers all that came before and all that will come after - if anything comes at all. But death doesn’t know this - it doesn’t believe in destiny, at least, not in anything beyond the ceasing of Life. \n\nDeath holds the universe in the palms of its hand. All it takes is one tug, one snap, and creation will cease to exist. \n\nNight is nearing, the air is cold, the people are sleeping, and the end of the universe is nigh.\n\nDeath thinks there is a story - thousands of them - buried somewhere beneath the seams of countless burning stars. Death thinks there’s also tragedy. \n\nBecause in this story - in Life and Death and hope and religion and oppression and greed and battle - there is something bigger than the creatures in it. \n\nPerhaps this really was their destiny.\n\nTo be promised a fate crueler than Death, itself.",
"He sat back. Knurled fingers of void-black ether sank into the armrests of his throne. He gazed out, eyes of dead stars passing slowly over every spark of life, so dim now. What was once a grand spectacle of light was now little more than a passing flicker. So brief, so easy to miss if one was not paying attention.\n\nBefore, he had rarely paid much heed to the slow decay of the universe. His task was a simple, yet grand one. He was Death. And although many cultures across the span of space and time had numerous depictions of him, few truly understood what it meant to be Death. In many, he was a spirit and guide, one who took the souls of those expired and brought them into a new life in the Beyond. To others, he was a monster, a looming specter to be feared. Great catastrophes and acts of moral depravity had been committed to stave off an entity that simply did not exist. He was neither spirit nor specter, he simply *was.*\n\nHe was the life that slowly expired. He was the water that eroded the shore. The wind that tore the trees. The plague that consumed the harvest. The warmonger that razed the country. He was the inevitable. His game was that with life itself. As life had evolved and morphed to push ever onward into eternity, he was always there, watching, waiting. For every failure he was there. \n\nBut now the game had come to a close. For although life had pushed into the far reaches of eternity, the ability for those with a limited lifespan to conceptualize such a span of time was revealed to be lacking. What was time, to a being such as he? What was a decade to microbe? What was a century to a human? What was a millennia to a star? The only time that mattered was the slow march toward the end. There steady tick of the clock toward midnight. To him.\n\nAnd that was his charge. He was the clock. He was the steady rhythm to which all pulsed in unison. The outro to which all music eventually bent the knee. And now the opera of life was at its end. The final performers were gasping their last as the universe shifted toward the Eternal Cold. The last dregs of energy sparking in defiance, and slowly, one by one, snuffing out forevermore. He watched them all with a focus that was so uncharacteristic of him. His eyes narrowing on each and every flicker. He did not want them to go. He needed them. If there was no life, there could be no entropy. Stagnation awaited him, and he did not want it. He wanted to run, to push it away, to change the world so that he could see the lights just a little longer. He though back to the countless eternities he had spent in silence as the performance of the universe erupted around him, its only audience detached and ignorant.\n\nOne flicker now. On a distant world of onyx, a world that would once glint and sparkle but was now as black as the ether that comprised his form. He watched it, bringing the world into his grasp, holding it to his face. Willing it to live, his fingers clutched tightly around the near-lifeless orb. But life had not been his purview, and the flicker pulsed its last. \n\nHe held the world there for a moment. Staring at the abyssal sphere in his hands, he spun it around. He sighed. For the first time in all of creation, he was alone. He let the planet go, letting it glide slowly back into its position in the universe. He closed his eyes. A sliver of crystal light, like small white stars, trickled down the side of his face. He did not know he could cry. He lifted a finger and wiped the tear away, then held it up, gazing into it. It sparkled with a light all its own. A flicker of pure radiance in a universe of darkness. \n\n*A flicker.*\n\nHe paused, gazing longer into his tears, rubbing the luminous fluid between his fingers. And then stood up. He had never stood before, so content was he to sit on his throne and wait for the end of all things. He held out his hand, letting the light on his fingertip pass across the universe. He watched its gleam reflect across infinite lifeless worlds and broken stars. He then began to laugh, he did not know he could do that, either. It was a deep rumble that shook the very bonds of the universe itself. At the end of it all, the only light was the End. He was now what awaited beyond creation. Perhaps the mortal cultures were right after all, in a way. He was what was Beyond, though not as a shepherd, but as a lord.\n\nHe thought of his existence then. He was the water that eroded the shore. But was He not also the water that had carved the river? He was the warmonger that had set entire kingdoms to the torch, but was He not the country that grew in the ashes? He had always been there when life had failed. He had always believed it was failure. The rock had given way to the water because the rock was worn down, its resolve crumbled over the eons. The warmonger had torched the kingdom because the kingdom had grown weak and complacent in its era of peace. He had perceived these as failures of life. Had the rock been stronger, it would have resisted the water. Had the kingdom been strong, it would have repelled the warmonger. Death would have been eluded then, even if only for a time.\n\nBut it was not a failure of life, but a transition. A shift from one form to another, and He was the impetus. He was the driving force behind life. He was the hound that forever barked at the heels, driving its prey to run faster and faster, to give its all just for one more moment of life. Life had been driven to the end because of Him. Because it resisted Him. Had He not been there, what would have driven life so far? Though He was its end, was He not also its creator? Across eternity, life had come from Death. Now did not have to be different.\n\nHe walked slowly toward the center of it all. What was once a swirling vortex of energy at the heart of creation. It was gone now, there were no dead stars, nor lifeless rocks. There was simply Him at the core of creation. A robed, hooded being looking down at the last light of eternity, cradling it like the destitute would cradle a fire's ember in the cold winter. And all it took was simple spark to ignite an inferno. He held his hand out, to what was once the heart of it all. He smiled.\n\n*Let there be light.*"
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[WP] Houses magically gain sentience the first time someone calls them home. As such, houses have memories but being able to communicate with them is a rare gift. You are a homicide detective who just so happens to be one of the few that has this ability.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"“Fuck, that was brutal.” I watched my partner rub his face as we stepped out of the threshold of the crime scene.\n\n“It was,” I agreed, although, to be honest, I wasn’t focusing much on what he was saying. I was wondering why I hadn’t heard any information yet. Perhaps it was shy and wouldn’t communicate until after the others had left.\n\n“And in his own home too. Horrible,” my partner continued. \n\n*I’m a home…*\n\nThere was a brush of an utterance in my mind, barely a whisper. I started, not expecting to receive anything at that moment. I also was unsure of the meaning of what I had heard. I attempted to transmit a gentle wave of confusion and questioning back to the source of this connection.\n\n*A home. Finally. I’m a home now. He just said so. Didn’t you hear? He said it.*\n\nThe tone was a bit childish, and I understood why as comprehension of the situation dawned on me. This little apartment unit had just woken up. It was clearly lived-in, and the until itself had been around for a while, but the soul of the place had only just now come into complete existence. My partner’s comment was the first time this place had been called a home. That thought brought up some sadness and pity within me, although I knew that homes did not experience emotion in the same way humans did, and this home would not be hurt by the thought that it had never been loved or fully accepted by any of its occupants. In fact, the primary emotion that was being displayed, if one could truly call it emotion when it came from a group of walls and a roof, was excitement.\n\n“I heard it,” I confirmed.\n\n“What was that?”\n\nI tilted my head back towards that doorway to indicate the home. “We’ve started a conversation.”\n\nRidley just nodded and walked a few feet away to give me some space, simultaneously pulling out a notebook and pen in case I acquired any information that would be useful to write down. I wasn’t sure how much this home would actually be of use in this case, being so new to full consciousness, but I appreciated his actions anyway. In my twelve years as a detective, it was only in these past four with Ridley where I had been able to be open about my conversations. Ridley had known about homes long before he met me, but he had never had a gift for understanding them. \n\nI turned my attention back to the apartment as it started to express its thoughts.\n\n*Will I meet him? Oh, he’s dead. That’s too bad. He had a nice laugh. This is gross, too, I hope it gets cleaner soon. He took pretty good care of me, didn’t he? So did that lady. She made my walls a nice color. But I don’t think they have been that color for a long time now. How long has it been? Did the child grow up here, or did that family move before then? I liked the way the toys looked in the sunlight. The sunlight in the bedroom is nice too.*\n\nIts thoughts flitted around, jumping from topic to topic quickly. I had never dealt with a new sentience before. Usually the dwellings were able to quickly and clearly tell me everything they knew, and I could use all of that information to identify subjects, find murder weapons, determine motives, or any other number of helpful things. This home wasn’t capable of bringing together a linear story like that, unfortunately. From all I had learned about homes and their consciousnesses – which was a lot, I spent a large part of my childhood and college years studying the subject after I had first discovered my gift – before a living space was brought to full awareness by being declared a home, their experiences were snippets of what was going on inside their walls, usually obscured by a slight haze as though in a dream, and they often lost time as if they fell asleep and woke randomly. \n\n“Hello again,” I said quietly.\n\n*Oh. Hello.*\n\n“Would you be willing to have a conversation with me? I have some questions, and they might be difficult to answer, but you are the only one who would be able to.” I tried to keep my tone gentle and warm, I didn’t want to scare the apartment into silence by being too harsh or aggressive.\n\n*Yes. I can answer questions.*\n\n“Do you remember the man who has been residing within you most recently?”\n\n*John? Yes, I remember. He’s here now, I think, I can show you. Oh, wait. He’s here, but he isn’t alive anymore. He’s in the kitchen though.*\n\n“Yes, John Salinger. He is dead, you’re right. Do you know what happened to him?”\n\n*He was killed. He really isn’t looking too good. The visitor must have been really angry.*\n\n“Visitor? Can you tell me who that was? A name or a description, perhaps?”\n\n*She looked familiar. Like the lady who made the walls pretty.*\n\n“Do you remember the name of the woman who made the walls pretty?”\n\n*That was Sarah. I liked her.*\n\n“Sarah. Thank you, that’s very helpful,” I said with a nod to Ridley. He would write down the name so that we could try to pull the records of previous occupants later. “But this visitor wasn’t Sarah, it was someone else?”\n\n*Yes. Someone else.*\n\n“Do you know why she was visiting?”\n\n*To talk to John.*\n\n“What did they talk about?”\n\n*I don’t know.*\n\n“Well, do you know why this visitor got angry at John?”\n\n*I think she had visited before.*\n\n“Was she upset about something from a previous visit?” \n\n*Maybe.*\n\n“Alright. Can you tell me how she killed John?”\n\n*She was visiting John.*\n\n“So she didn’t kill him?”\n\n*She did.*\n\nI began to feel a bit exasperated with this circular conversation. It wasn’t the home’s fault, not really. But wording questions in a way that would encourage the apartment to provide the information I needed was challenging. Plus, honestly, it was hard to say if the home even knew anything more than it was telling me. Its awareness may not have been present enough to allow it to understand or even glimpse what had happened during the murder.\n\n“Okay. Thank you very much, that was all very helpful.” It was a lie, but I felt a soft spot for this annoying, innocent little apartment in its first few hours of true life.\n\n*I’m a home now.* \n\n“You are,” I agreed, smiling slightly at the enjoyment this place was getting from the novelty of being a home. \n\nIt was unfortunate though, as its first chance at life will have been spent empty and alone, not loved as a new home often is. Unclean as well, until all the evidence was collected, and we could hire a crew to get in here. Then, in only a few months, the building was scheduled to be demolished to make room for a new high rise. It was unlikely this unit would ever see another occupant.\n\nRegardless, it was time for me to go and work towards finding this woman who had violently murdered John. So, with that, I turned and left the apartment to its new life, with Ridley close on my heels."
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[WP] A time traveler is left in the past by his best friend so he can have all the credit for the time machine.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Herbert climbed out of the clear plaststeel dome, followed by his partner, Kenneth. The two men looked around. They stood on an empty field. Far in the distance, a small city could just barely be seen. Herbert took out his binoculars and looked.\n\n\"That's it.\" He said. \"That's definitely Bromley in the mid 1800's. We've done it! We've actually done it!\"\n\n\"Here, let me see that.\" Kenneth said, taking the binoculars and looking at the small market city. A smile broke out his face. \"I never would've guessed. Who would've thought that time travel could be done.\"\n\n\"Imagine what they'll say when we get back, old friend.\" Herbert said. \"The glory, the accolades. We'll be famous, you and I.\"\n\n\"Indeed we will.\" Kenneth said. He lowered the twin lenses and thought for a moment. \"But why rush our triumphant return? Why not stay awhile.\"\n\n\"Of course. After all, we can return the same moment we left. We can use this time for study. See how the locals live. Take some notes, maybe a few photos to verify that we were here.\"\n\nKenneth nodded. He looked down and kicked at a good sized rock. \"It is amazing, isn't it? We're really here, in the distant past.\"\n\nHerbert took a deep breath. \"Breath that air, friend. That's air that's only just beginning to taste the stench of industry. The air here is still mostly clean. A far cry from what we're used to, eh?\"\n\n\"Right. And this discovery will be huge, won't it. World changing, even.\"\n\n\"Of course. All the mysteries of the past laid bare for us to discover. I'd say there won't be a person alive who won't know our names within ten years.\"\n\nHerbert was tempted to take his shoes off, just to feel the fresh grass beneath his feet. He barely even registered when Kenneth came up behind him. He certainly noticed the heavy blow to his head. His vision spun, and he became far too intimate with the ground. He slowly reached behind him and felt his throbbing head. His fingers came back red. He remained there for a moment, letting his vision correct itself. When it did he slowly picked himself off the ground, and saw Kenneth standing in the dome of their time machine.\n\n\"Ken, Kenneth, what are you doing?\" He asked. \n\n\"I'm sorry, Herbert, but this is too good for you. You would have squandered your fame. Gone off to some little farm somewhere and written books, that your name alone sells. Me? I'll be able to take full advantage of fame. I'll be living the high life in luxury that you wouldn't even consider.\"\n\n\"Don't. Don't do this, Kenneth. It's not right. They'll find out, and then what will happen to you?\"\n\n\"No. They will never find out. We hid this work, remember. Nobody knows what we built. Or rather, what I built. Now, good bye old friend. We will never meet again.\"\n\nThe dome closed. Herbert roared with fury, and ran towards the machine. But his legs refused to cooperate, and he stumbled. He righted himself just in time to watch the time machine disappear in a flash of brilliant light.\n\nHerbert roared. \"Kenneth!\" He shouted into the air. \"This is not the end! Not by a long shot. I don't know how, but you'll pay for this! I'll make you pay for this! I will have my revenge, or else my name isn't Herbert George Wells!\""
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[WP] Archaeologists slowly opened an unmarked sarcophagus in the field out of curiosity. They scrambled back as a golden beam of light blew off the the cover to reveal, inscribed in fading, golden lettering: "Look Upon My Works, Ye Mighty. And Despair."
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"\"Recording number 32-4. I'm beginning to think Dr. Wright was, well, right. I've dragged my team across these sands for a fortnight at least, and we've turned up nothing but... large bugs and dry earth. The sun has been brutal, on Jenkins especially. His skin is fair, even among us Brits. I loathe to admit that it may be my first step in admitting to everyone that this was... a splendid waste of time. No, not just time, that would be putting it too lightly. It's not like these digs are free. I'll have to stand in front of Mr. Thompson, hat in hand, and explain to him that we've found bugger all. This has been the most significant failure of my 40 year career. I was certain the ruins would have been buried right here. Oh, the research I've done. The countless hours spent poring over the pages of old manuscripts, maps, and writings... It would appear the lost city is quite content remaining lost, never to see the Arabian sun again. My dear wife, I know you listen to these recordings; you're too kind. I'm sure by the time you're listening to this, I'll be finished sulking. I love you. I'll be packing it all up tomorrow. I'm sure the men will be overjoyed that we're leaving. Even I tire of staring at these endless sands, but to come home with nothing... I fear I lack the nerve to face Dr. Wright. This is Dr. Battersby signing off. (sigh)\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Recording number 32-5! By God, we've found it! I knew it, I *knew* it! Wood! I decided to remain just one more day. Certainly one more day wouldn't kill us, but it could certainly save us! And what have we found? Wood! We've found wood with a nail in it! Civilization where none thought there was, right here in these sands! The men are ecstatic! I must cut this short and keep digging. Oh joyous day!\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Recording number 32-6. We've uncovered more of the village! It's still here! It was deep, and it was hidden, but my God it's still here! We've uncovered artifacts which will no doubt sell for thousands! I don't recognize this style of pottery. It must have been imported from another region, but there are no recorded roads out here! No lines of trade to speak of! We may be on the cusp of discoveries that would rewrite history! I'm chuffed to bits to think of the look on Wright's face. The sun is going down, but none of us want to turn in. There's so much more to discover! We'll be back at it first thing in the morning.\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Books! We've found *books*! Recording number 32-7, we've discovered texts within the ruins! It's impossible to read them as they are, but they're preserved well enough that they should yield some results when we get them back to the lab. I'm shaking with excitement! This is every archeologist's *dream*, and I'm living it! Dear, the amount of money we're standing on right now is *retirement* money if I've a mind to. I'm calling for additional hands on the project. Our supplies are beginning to dwindle anyhow. I-\n\n\"Dr. Battersby! Come quickly! You won't believe it!\"\n\n\"I must return to the dig site at once! I feel like a child again!\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Recording number 32-8. Matheson discovered the top of what appears to be a tomb, somehow sunken deep into the sand. I'm shaking as I record this, do not let the tone of my voice betray the deep excitement I feel within my bones- the air at the camp is electric. However I couldn't reach anyone at HQ with my radio today. I fear our water will only last us all a few more days at minimum and our food won't last longer than that either, even if we ration. It's hard for me to remain jubilant when I fear for the safety of my men. We cannot afford to stop working, however. This is too important. The blasted sun is setting again- none of us will sleep tonight so long as we wonder what lies at the bottom of that modest pyramid. I could talk your ear off tonight, Isabella. I miss you, and I've so much to say. But I must attempt to sleep through this hunger.\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Recording number 32-9. It was an all day affair, but we've reached the bottom of the pyramid, and our suspicions were accurate- it's a tomb! We'll need to dig our way in at first light tomorrow, but there is something that I can do tonight! We discovered a book in tact with the ink still legible! I'll be translating it into the deep hours of the night. I cannot sleep with its secrets whispering to my ears from my bedside table. I was still unable to contact HQ today. I fear there are... difficult days ahead.\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Recording number 33-1. It's very quite late- I've slept not even a little. I've spent hours attempting to translate this text, but it's a different dialect than what was common in this region. It's still somewhat translatable, but I'm unfamiliar with many of these characters. It appears to be a manual, rather than a book. Some kind of ritual. There's a list of what appear to be ingredients as well as a hymn. The ingredients list appears to call for the destruction of a pure white soul, that is if I'm reading it correctly. The people here appear to have been practitioners of ritual sacrifice. I'm deeply curious as to whether or not this dialect exists elsewhere. Perhaps when we get it back to the lab, we can get a full translation. But the lab has to pick up the damn phone first. Dr. Battersby, signing out. I must attempt to sleep.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Recording number 33-2. We've entered the tomb as of fifteen minutes ago. As we dig the sand out, we're finding more and more pottery, and this time etchings into stone! I'm curious as to whether or not I can use context clues from the newly discovered etchings to help me translate part of the book. The tomb is small, but the entombed appears to be locked behind a door with some kind of security mechanism in place. I cannot help but stand in complete awe of what we've uncovered here. No man has stood here in gods know how many years. This is absolutely brilliant. I cannot contain my excitement. However if HQ doesn't pick up today, then I fear the worst. \n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"HQ isn't picking up?\"\n\n\"Since when?!\"\n\n\"Wish me luck, Isabella. Everyone gather round! I have difficult news...\""
] | 2
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[WP] All I have is Blood and Pain.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"All I have is blood and pain. Oh the pain. It has turned into something that has become part of my being rather than something I feel. On my hands and knees I move to salvation, my blood dripping to the ground as I crawl to the water. It takes all the strength I can muster to pull myself into the water. Like a mermaid returning to the sea, I can breath again. The pain subsides and I promise myself I will never leave the water. I know it is a lie. Once the pain subsides, I need to gather the food and supplies that I had neglected in favor of my salvation.\n\nI hate my period.",
"\n\nStupid bastard, if he ever paid attention in Boy Scouts instead of ogling the councilors and pulling pranks he’d have known what poison ivy would look like and hopefully he wouldn’t run through. Hopefully..yeah I’ve known him long enough to know he’d have done it anyway. Maybe if Mikeys girlfriend wore shorts that fit, he could’ve stopped my dumbass brother from walking through the poison ivy patch.\n\nIt feels like I’ve been walking forever. Man we really take modern transportation for granted, our ancestors had do this shit with horses. Ok, pace yourself, in through your nose, out through your mouth...\n\nOk...ok? Yep ok, I see lights I’m getting close. Fuck that still seems like such a long walk...\n\n“Lost?”\n\n“Holy fuck...where did you come lady? You could’ve killed me?”\n\nWhy is she just staring at me?\n\n“Sorry ma’am, you scared me. My names Willis and-“\n\n“Will-es? Lost?”\n\nOh fuck...\n\n“No my camp sites not that far.”\n\n“House not that far. Come.”\n\nWell I hate to burst your bubble ma’am but that looks more like a -barn then house but any port in a storm right? Thank God I have a pocket knife...\n\n“Problem?”\n\n“Oh um my brother walked through some poison ivy.”\n\n“Ok stay.”\n\nMa’am you’d have to pay me to go into that safety hazard you call home. Rickety piece of shit was probably build out of Lincoln logs and bubblegum. I wonder what she’s looking for...\n\n“Ok.”\n\n“Ok?”\n\n“Yes ok. No poison ivy...only pain and blood.”"
] | 3
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[WP] Every species knows about the strange ability of Humans' to pack bond with seemingly everything, including inanimate objects. What they never expected, is that sometimes those objects bond with even nonhumans of the 'pack.'
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"The jungle of Trappist 4 was dense. The violet and lime foliage of what passed for trees made navigating a pain. But the human in front, their leader, was finding a route. Slowly they progressed, looking for the fugitives. The bounty was substantial. \n\nThe human was waving its appendages. For some reason the scanner it was using just have that extra bit of range. The signal meant to get ready. The target was near. As the professional team they were, they got ready, fanned out and took cover. The wait wasn't long.\n\n\"CONTAAAAAACT!!\"\n\nNobody knew why the human insisted on that war cry, but they knew what needed to be done. Their weapons pointed toward the place marked on the HUD and let loose. Beams, rays, streams of various particles and projectiles tore through the vegetation, leaving smoldering holes behind.\n\nThe first fugitives died in an instant, their corpses just recognizable enough for the bounty claim. Then they returned fire like it was the last thing they'd ever do. In all fairness it probably was. The barrage drove them in cover.\n\nThe human jumped forward, its shield generators buzzing around faster than was thought possible like they were protecting a parent. It allowed the human to somehow aim their projectile caster to the nearest fugitive and blow its brain out. The second fugitive was caught with the same disease of acute brain deficiency. The last one however prepared to throw a grenade at the human who ducked for cover. The human's shoulder canon however shot a beam through the grenade before it left the fugitive's hand. With that, the fight was over. Short, brutal and profitable.\n\nThat evening we were eating freshly hunted and prepared kal'kona. While we were telling tales, the human was cleaning its equipment and weapons, taking in that strange voice, caressing and cleaning. It claimed that this made a bond. These semi sentient weapons knew they were taken care of and would protect and kill in return.\n\nPren observed this many times. He always thought is was a load of prasnu excrement. But now as he looked at his own weapon, it looked back at him. It should not be possible. The weapon did not have eyes. Still, he felt it looking at him with need in its eyes. At last he gave in, put his hand on the beam canon and said: \"I will call you Betty.\"\n\nThe indicators of the weapon burned just a bit brighter now, and a soft purr was barely audible."
] | 2
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[WP] There’s a massive battle in the city, and the narrator has absolutely no idea what’s going on.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"The crown jewel of the Commonwealth - Vandor City. A once bustling metropolis of... ah... trade was it? It may have been art. Perhaps it was industry? No... no, it was most certainly art. I digress. A once bustling metropolis of art, now beset by chaos and ruin, for the cruelty of man knows not restraint, nor its own limit. \n\nYet, in this, the city’s darkest hour, a shimmer remains. A common soldier, unremarkable by... wait a minute. I can’t quite see the markings on his uniform... my apologies, reader, he may be a captain? Perhaps some other more esteemed tank? Regardless, this soldier, the ever humble, Thein, creeps his way through the rubble, through the gray rocks and dust and meager buildings spared by the bombardment. Holding his rifle at the ready, his bayonet gleaming in the sun, he eyes the barren horizon. \n\nAn enemy appears - a small head pokes its way over the rubble, a small distance from Thein. Our brave hero... waves and smiles? Oh, goodness me, my mistake. That was an ally, not an enemy. It’s quite fortunate that Thein realized before I. \n\nI digress yet again. The two compatriots, now bound in strength, continue to trudge through the forsaken landscape, the echoes of gunfire keeping them ever vigilant, yet still lulled them into a calm. \n\nAfter a short while, the two soldiers happen upon the rest of their platoon, which now begins... an assault on an enemy position? That seems odd, with their numbers they’ll surely be destroyed! I wasn’t informed of this beforehand... Regardless, our valiant heroes march onwards, braving the onset wind, a gust tainted with death. They press forward.\n\nThe platoon spreads out, it’s soldiers finding cover and preparing themselves for the attack. The order is given, heard, and employed. The soldiers charge the enemy position. They... oh dear. Oh my. That’s quite violent. How am I meant to describe this? Each pairing off and beating each other to a red pulp, each jabbing at each other with bayonets, each hurling projectiles at each other? That doesn’t do it justice, quite frankly. I confess, I’d rather not do it justice; that would be a tad too graphic for my taste. \n\nAnother platoon appears on the horizon! Perhaps an ally come to save our heroes from the jaws of defeat? No... no, they’ve begun setting up mortars. I was under the impression that this war had two combating forces? It seems there is now a third. \n\nThey let loose their shells, erupting from the newly grounded mortars. The projectiles pierce through what remains of the building in which our heroes fight, and... explode, in a great ball of fire and shrapnel, potent enough to challenge the sun itself.\n\nSo our heroes are now... dead, I presume? I’m not sure what else I’m meant to say. I’ve no idea what’s going on at this point. I’m tired and I’m going to bed. Goodnight.",
"Dave crept through the rubble, one hand on his knife, the other on his musket. He could see his commander, his blue flag waving to his right; he could barely see his fellow troops, hidden behind barricades, gray helmets peeking out. He couldn't see the cannons, but he *heard* them, ear-liquifying booms that crashed into buildings like thunder. Dust clogged his eyes and nose. The entire Confederate Army could've been on the other side of the road, and he wouldn't have seen a thing.\n\nHe prayed that the -\n\n...\n\n... *knights* would arrive soon, metal armor gleaming, able to strike down enemies in a single blow.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n^^(*...Okay.*)\n\nHe had only seen glimpses of them in the camps, jousting, knaves polishing the armor they wore while carrying saddles and swords ungainly behind them. Legend had it their horses were faster than trains. Hopefully they were more maneuverable too -\n\nDave's train of thought was interrupted by a deafening crack above him and a shockwave that made him stumble. He looked to the right and saw the hole, the cannonball having smashed through the concrete supports. Even as he watched, the entire building started to crack and whine, slowly caving in on itself.\n\nHe could see Bobby, not just a Private but his Private, tripping, falling, ankle twisting outwards as he fell again. *He wasn't going to make it.* And without a second thought, Dave ran towards Bobby, gunfire erupting from both sides, men shouting and the *boom CRACK* of the cannons. The entire second story cracked and fell, he wasn't going to make it, he wasn't going to -\n\nDave shoved Bobby away as two thousand pounds of rubble *smashed* into him, breaking what felt like his entire lower body and arms. He was trapped, and there was no time for him to get free. Louder and louder he could hear the distinctive sound of -\n\n*Look, I'm sorry, I -*\n\n*This isn't -*\n\n*You said this was historical fiction -*\n\n*Look, I don't care what the author says, there weren't helicopters in the Civil War -*\n\n*It's a matter of principle, I'm not gonna narrate some preteen's gelatinous* ---- *where he decided samurai would be cooler with lasers -*\n\n*Fine. Just. Give me a minute.*\n\n&nbsp;\n\n*\"This is the end,\"* Dave thought to himself, as he heard yet more ominous cracking, the rest of the building soon to follow the first wall. He looked longingly at his fellow soldier, who was staring back, not quite understanding yet. \"Run,\" Dave croaked, his voice cracking. At least Bobby had a chance to see his family again; and against his will his mind drifted to his own family. He saw his mother, time eating away at her hope and spirit like cancer. He saw his wife, imagined what his child would look like by now, Little Davey just about now learning to sit up and babble.\n\n*\"No,\"* something inside him said. He couldn't die here. He refused to die here. An inner wellspring which he never knew existed burst forth, and he felt inhuman power -\n\n*No. I'm done. I'm done. I quit this ----ing job.*\n\n\n*^(Historical ^fiction, ^^my ^^^-----.)*\n\n-----\n\n(Thanks for reading this dumpsterfire. If I write more, I'll post it somewhere.)"
] | 3
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[WP] Power of the demon depends on the number of their followers, and their devotion. While most of the old school demons favor small and extremely dedicated cults, one young demon went the other way using social media. And its power has become big enough to become notorious in Hell.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"The raven strikes again.\n\nI personally like a little twist here in hell. I was the \"Underdog\" or a called a \"crazy no-good demon.\" but now looking at there faces as they reconizge me and my power I began to just laugh at the thought. I cracked my neck slowly and began to type again leaving a message for all my dear dear followers.\n\nI didn't like being adored. No I loved it! All the power which now holds into my hands with just a simple pair of presses as I do whatever I please. The older demons can stick to the cults or whatever they're doing now. I like having more... I like having pawns or minions who do my work. No one will ever find them anyways for the good ones stay loyal and stay nicely hidden while tracking in more and more followers. Soon enough I'll rival my top competitor who holds the number one stop. But for now..\n\nThe raven has struck again."
] | 2
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[WP]Death sighed, and carefully laid his scythe against the wall as he sat. It had been such a long day, and He was finally ready to rest: until His eyes found you. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"\"you're not supposed to be here.\" said Death, squinting his rotten-flesh eyelids at the man sitting opposite him \"this is a demonic common hall for demigods and alpha-demons only!\"\n\n\"yeah, about that, I tried to warn you. *Before* you ripped my soul from the world.\" said the man, pouring himself a nice cool glass of toddlers tears, \"well, as it turns out ,you might know my father. I'm his ***only*** son, Damien.\"\n\nDamien stood slowly and began walking away from the immense marble table.\n\n\"I have no ide-... Wait, did you say *Damien*?\" Death interrupted himself.\n\n\"I can't imagine he was at all pleased, you know. Hearing that his heir was **reaped,** due to what I'm sure you'll find is your own negligence.\" Damien strolled over to a solid marble snooker table, sipping his unholy drink.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n&#x200B;\n\n*Sometimes* planets will align, total solar eclipses will happen and we will see visits from certain comets every century or so - compared to those events, what happened next was infinitely less frequent...\n\nDeath broke a sweat.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Damien, *Anti-Christ*, *The Beast*... That's me! - You know, it took **quite** a while for me to get a hold of that host, my conception was one in a trillion, actually. Oh, and I do believe my father asked one of his cults to mass-sacrifice themselves prior to it.\" Damien aimed down his cue and struck the bone-white ball. \"losing an entire cult can't have improved his mood much.\"\n\nA sudden slam brought Death to attention, Damien had potted the black ball.\n\nDeath was glad of the noise, it covered his brief whimper.\n\n\"Oops, game over, it seems.\" Damien laid down his cue on the table and walked towards an exit, he paused before leaving the hall and nodded toward the common's main doorway. Closed, it was a sturdy pair of dark iron doors able to keep out even the worst of the lower-demons of Hell.\n\n**boom...**\n\n**boom...**\n\n\"He wants a word.\" Damien said while closing the door behind him, leaving Death alone in the gloomy common hall.\n\n**BOOM...**\n\n**BOOM...**\n\nthe tankards on the tables rattled to the rhythm of his footsteps.\n\nthe screams of the damned could now be heard, among the booming roars of the demon-legion that follow him like a shadow wherever he goes.\n\nThe doors blasted open with the force of a thousand hurricanes, death and all he furniture were hurled against the wall, his scythe's blade and shaft shattering from the impact.\n\n**\"OH MY GOSH! I'M SO SORRY! LITTLE DITZY HERE DOESN'T KNOW 'ER OWN STRENGTH!\"**\n\nunsure of whether he had suffered such a colossal concussion that he was now hallucinating a sort of giant drag-queen caricature of the dark lord or if he was just violently banished to some new absurd reality conceived by Satan himself. - Either way, he was looking at a huge flaming lizard-man wearing fake eyelashes, a miniskirt, and not much else.\n\nafter a few moments of drifting in and out of consciousness like a baby after too much milk, Death slowly became aware that he was now in what appeared to be a beauty parlour. \n\n\"Wait, you say something about, not believing in myself enough? - slaying queens?... I'm really badly quite damaged brain, you know?\"\n\n\"**I'LL TELL YOU WHAT** ***I*** **KNOW - I KNOW I'VE BEEN NEGLECTING YOU, MY LITTLE REAPY-POO, BUT TODAY WE MAKE UP FOR IT.!\"**\n\n\"What is the happening?\" blurted Death in his concussed delirium.\n\nA blinding spotlight turned on him and startled the already dazed Reaper so much that he screamed a scream only a child could be proud of. \n\nDeath was not himself.\n\n\"**TODAY ON '*****MAKE-UP OR BREAK-UP'*** **WE HAVE** ***DEATH*****, LONG TIME EMPLOYEE OF MINE AND ALL AROUND RECLUSIVE BOY! - TODAY WE GIVE HIM A MAKEOVER AND HELP HIM IMPROVE HIS CAREER. BECAUSE SATAN HAS TURNED OVER A NEW LEAF!\"** satan over-enthusiastically yelled into a camera **\"NO MORE CLASSICAL PAIN AND TORTURE! JUST THE FEEL-GOOD VIBES OF REALITY TELEVISION!\"**\n\n\"Is this what happens when demons die?\"\n\n\"**HE'S GOT A SKINNY LITTLE FRAME BUT HIS FACE IS SCREAMING FAME! YAAAAS!\"** Satan clapped his hands together in the fashion of a giddy school girl while a deafeningly loud clap-track played with cheers and whistles.\n\n\"No, please, I want pain and torture!\"\n\n\"**BUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN HE MEETS THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE? - WE HAVE SOMEONE LINED UP WHO WE THINK IS** ***THE PERFECT MATCH*****! - COME ON IN PESTILENCE!\"** \n\nloud, uplifting ukulele music began to play and (what can only be described as) an abomination of unimaginable cosmic horror loomed out of a giant pink glittery door, provocatively fluttering her eyelashes (from her many, many eyes) at Death. She felt fabulous, and wanted Death to know it.\n\n\"Please, I beg you... I don't know what's going on, but-\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\nThe images faded in an instant, Death saw only black for a moment before his eyes whipped open and he bolted upright at the large marble table of the common hall. His eyes darted and his hearing sharpened as he looked for any evidence that it *wasn't* just a dream.\n\nhe found none.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Thank Christ!\" yelled death, before he could think to censor himself. \n\n&#x200B;\n\nHe paused for a moment in the heavy silence of the hall, holding both hands over his scabby, dry mouth.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nThe silence grew into an imperceptible rumble,\n\nand eventually;\n\n**boom...**\n\n**boom...**\n\n**BOOM...**",
"*\"You're not supposed to be here,\" echoed the cold, metallic voice of Death. He sat in his favorite chair, one emblazoned with patterns of vines with the occasional flower, his dark robes floating gently down to drape over the armrests. On the other side of the room, I stood against the wall, positioned right next to the door, arms crossed. To him, my form must have seemed odd. To me, it was typical.*\n\n*\"Technically, I'm not supposed to be anywhere,\" I replied, nonchalantly looking at my hand. Just two days prior, I was nowhere; a thought that hadn't existed in anyone's mind, and yet--*\n\n*\"I want to know what it takes to claim a body,\" I continued, placing my arm back across my chest. The still, skeletal form of the reaper stayed silent as I spoke. \"I was nothing, and now I'm not nothing, but I'm also not something, like I'm trapped in some form of quantum existence. Frankly, it's tiring me out, but I can't do anything about it--not without you, anyway.\"*\n\n*He responded plainly. \"I'm not following.\"*\n\n*\"You don't moonlight in another profession? One of the 'giving' variety? That's not what I heard.\"*\n\n*Death was now inches from me, having moved in an instant. As his robes billowed around him, the lights dimmed as he neared my face, his voice filling the room like dirt in a grave.*\n\n*\"You heard wrong.\"*\n\n*Had I not known a crucial fact about my current state, I would have been a little shaken, but I retorted in kind with a wave of my hand, narrowly missing his physical. He was quick to move, and I grinned at the result.*\n\n*\"Look, I don't want to be here any longer than you want me here, and I'm sure your patience ran out before I ever stepped foot in your home,\" I said, pushing away from the wall and into a casual pace around the room. \"All I'm asking for is a body, that's it. If you can give me that, I can move on from here, and you won't have to worry about suddenly not existing. You know, the thing you cause everyone else to do.\"*\n\n*Death now loomed over his scythe, of which floated effortlessly into his orbit, hovering about his body on command. With a heavy, gravelly sigh, he appeared at the doorway, then turned to face me.*\n\n*\"If it gets you to abandon this plane,\" he responded, \"so be it. Anomalies like you are unwelcome here. Follow, but know this--the sojourn will not be easy.\"*"
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[WP] You think your sister may be the local superheroine, but the police just showed up looking for her.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Becky had gone out again tonight. Late, as usual. Slipping out of her bedroom window like I had seen her do a thousand times before. Every time I see the newest Superhero on TV. Stopping the evil plots. That Superhero is called First Lady. She arrived recently to our city. About the time I noticed Becky doing the late night exits. Her Sword of Justice looked very familiar. Like the one I had sketched back when we were little, living by the lake. Had I actually seen it? I don't remember now. I snuck out of my room towards the living room. Our parents were just zoning out while watching the news. Really they liked the late show. But there on the news, First Lady was fighting Shifter. First Lady didn't seem a lot like my older Sis. She stood tall while my sister slouched. She dressed sharp, where my sister was a half step above homeless. But they sounded similar. They both were of a similar build. And body type. But not really exactly the same. \n\nThen came the knock on the door. \n\nI snapped out of my news watching and crept back into the shadows. Mom opened the door and then called out for dad. The cops. Are at our front door. They are looking for Becky. I snuck back to my room. I pretended to be asleep when the cop shined his light in my doorway. They were steps from Becky's room. Soon they would discover what I already knew. \n\n\"Becky? Rebecca, hon, these men are here to see you.\" Mom called to the empty room. \n\n\"Mom! How dare you let them in. I'm trying to sleep!\" She called back. I had no idea how. She wasn't there. Was it a moment before. I knew she had to sneak in. She didn't. How did she get there?\n\n\"Young lady, we know what you have been doing. Please come with us.\" One of the cops said.\n\n\"What I've been doing is sleeping. What are you talking about?\" She replied.\n\n\"We're here to bring you in.\" He said flatly.\n\n\"I won't speak to you without my lawyer and legal guardians present, and you can't ask me to. Now get out of my room, I'm not going to jail in my pajamas. And I am not charging in front of you pervs. I'm still underage. Get out!\"\n\nShe's going to run? \n\n\"We can't do that. We know who you are. Superpower dampers are up and running. You come quietly now, or we call in the cavalry.\" \n\n\"I figured she planted something on me,\" says another voice. I recognize it. It's Shifter. \"You cops have fun harassing an innocent teenage girl,\" she sneers at them and I see her run off the roof of our house. I full on run into the hallway screaming. \n\n\"Mom! Dad! There's a supervillain on our roof!!!!\" The cops shove me against the wall as they run down our stairs and right out of our door. They don't even stop to close the door. \n\n\"Sierra, darling. Go back to sleep. We are safe now.\" Mom tries to soothe me. \n\nI go back to my room. Becky is in there. My window is still closed. And locked. How did she...?\n\n\"Sierra, sister, I love you. Don't make me regret that. And whatever you do. Do. Not. Trust. Samantha.\""
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[WP] “One, two, three” He had to keep counting. “One, two, three” Another sequence done. “One, two, three” This was the most important thing right now, to count; never stopping, never ending until the task was done, or surely the worst would happen...
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"\"One, two, three\"\n\nI kept on. It was second nature now, I've been doing this for so long I'm able to have a second train of thought in my own mind. Where am I? I've asked myself that a thousand times, I think. My early memories are intact, I remember my childhood raised in the woods of Vermont, endlessly working on my father's ranch. At 16, I ran away to the city to work and at age 40 found myself living in the upper west side with more than I would ever need, I retired from work and still had half of my life left to enjoy. No one I had ever heard of was able to accomplish what I did, I was perfect, my life was perfect.\n\n\"One, two, three\"\n\nBut where am I right now? When is the last time I slept? How long have I been here? Why is my voice not going hoarse? Who did I last meet?\n\n\"One, two, three\"\n\nVounz, that's the last person I met, I'll never forget him. A gaunt looking man but over 6 feet tall with long surprisingly strong arms. The light from the flickering torches along the sides of the wall shimmered off of his huge black pupils, surrounded by his original red color. I had one thought, they did not look human. Did I talk to him?\n\n\"One, two, three\"\n\nYeah I did talk to him, he had me repeat a song:\n\n\"One, two, three, and you can stay with me\"\n\n\"One, two, three, or you will never be\"\n\n\"One, two, three, come, keep playing with me!\"\n\nA shiver went down my spine. His voice, it was unlike I'd ever heard. Ever since then I've been compelled to say it, and I haven't stopped.\n\n\"One, two, three\"\n\nBut what happens if I stop? A shadow stepped out from the dark room as the thought raced through my mind. It's short, thank God, it wasn't Vounz. A thin, raspy voice spoke: \" Oh you're one of the newer ones. It's been a few hundred years since I've been down this far and I’d never forget a face like yours. My favorite!\" She then mumbled to herself, all I could make out was the tail end \"mhmm loop.\"\n\n\"One, two, three\"\n\nShe proceeded to walk up to me and stare into my eyes \"You know, I'm surprised. Almost everyone who resides here whether it be for 3 decades or 3 thousands of years will spend years and years on the same loop. You, however, are an outlier and outliers are interesting. So they send me, lucky me! Vounz tells me you're one of the few who is able to successfully separate their train of thought. Is that right?\"\n\n\"One, two, three,\" while nodding my head.\n\nAs I responded she jumped with joy, her hood lifting and unveiling her twisted face with a smile full of jagged layers of discolored teeth. The innate revolt I felt caused an immediate stutter my words, while I quickly recomposed she interjected, \"better not to mess that up my friend, I'm leaving after this visit and won't be back for some time. I can't have you actualize until I do some tests, so be a good little one and keep counting for me\"\n\n\"One, two, three\"\n\nI counted out loud, and processed what was just said to me. I have had enough of this nonsense, I want to get back home. I'm going to stop counting.\n\n\"One, two, three\"\n\nShe gave me a shot in the arm.\n\n\"One, two, three, *I'm done with this\"* I blurted out.\n\nShe glared at me in anger and started yelling, spittle flying from her mouth \"Why!? Why!? Wasting my time! I'll get you back for this.\" As she finished I attempted to scream out in horror, my vision went black, my scream came out as a muffled moan and I violently drifted into what felt like a living dream.\n\n\"One, two, three\"\n\nI kept on. It was second nature now, I've been doing this for so long I'm able to have a second train of thought in my own mind. Where am I? I've asked myself that a thousand times, I think? My early memories are intact, I remember my childhood raised in the woods of Vermont, endlessly working on my father's ranch. At 16, I ran away to the city to work and at age 40 found myself living in the upper west side with more than I would ever need, I retired from work and still had half of my life left to enjoy. No one I had ever heard of was able to accomplish what I did, I was perfect, my life was perfect.\n\n\"One, two, three\"",
" “One, two, three”\n\n \n\n“One, two, three.”\n\n \n\nHarry tapped away at his keyboard. His eyes, a bloodshot mess of veins. The subtle act of blinking causing him tremendous pain. He had no way of knowing how long he had been typing away at his keyboard, judging by how raw the skin on his fingers were, he would have to have guessed it’s been a day or two at the least.\n\n \n\n“One, two, three.”\n\n \n\nThat chant was the only thing keeping his mind alert. He had requested back up days ago, requested help to deal with the creature. However, each passing second was stripping him of confidence. Would they ever come? Had this effort been for nothing? If he had tried to save himself, would he have been able to escape? Why was he even trying to save this company? They were unethical bastards; he should have saved himself. Then again, it wasn’t about him, was it?\n\n \n\nHis eyes briefly pulled away from the monitor, looking at the picture beside it. A woman holding a small child wrapped in a pink blanket. That was what he was fighting for, that was why he was still here. It was a poor decision looking away from the monitor; he ended up getting a reminder of the thing he was trying to avoid.\n\n \n\nThe monster stood behind a thick sheet of glass. With every second, the glass would spring up. As the glass climbed up towards the shins of the creature, it would drop back down. Harry would override the cell’s commands before it could free the monster. A malfunction had caused its cell control panel to glitch. When it glitched for the first time, it had raised itself completely. Scaring Harry and the other two guards on duty. Harry ordered the two guards to slow down the creature.\n\nAs they fruitlessly shot at the monster, Harry tapped away at his keyboard, eventually making the toughest call of his life. He couldn’t risk the monster escaping before the guards fled the cell. Making a judgment call that he soon regretted, he locked them both inside, shutting the door again. He had to listen to them scream as the creature attacked. One nearly getting crushed beneath the cell door as it cracked open before shutting in front of him, stopping him from crawling out.\n\n \n\nThe monster was an ugly beast. It was a pale white monster. Well, it had been a pale white, now it was a dark dried red, its once transparent skin coated in the blood of his colleagues. It was a lanky thing, with a cylinder head. It had no eyes, only a set of teeth that rivalled that of a shark. Its clawed hands pressed against the thick glass of the cell. Even without eyes, Harry could tell it was watching him. It knew it would be free soon enough.\n\n \n\n“One, two, three.”\nHarry had to dull his senses and focus. If he kept worrying about the monster, he would mistime the sequence. If he gave the monster even a second to escape, it would get out. His fingers were growing more pained though, his body was realizing just how tired he was.\n\n \n\nHarry’s eyes drifted shut for only a moment before he heard the clacking of the cell door rising, followed by the raw grunts of the monster. It was approaching, yet he couldn’t even open his eyes. Perhaps that was for the better? Harry didn’t want to see it; he didn’t want to look his death in the face. He felt a chilly breath hit his neck before screaming drifted in from a nearby hallway, followed by the sound of an alarm sounding. Back up had arrived. The creature was quiet for a moment before it went towards the sound, leaving Harry to fall back into his chair. \n\n \n\nIt was up to the guards now; Harry needed his rest. Grabbing the picture beside his monitor, he hugged it to his chest. Harry was unsure what he would awake to. Unsure if he would even wake up, he could only hope that they would all survive.\n\n&nbsp;\n&nbsp;\n&nbsp;\n\n(If you enjoyed this feel free to check out my subreddit /r/Sadnesslaughs where I'll be posting more of my writing.)"
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[WP] neither the bard not the dragon were prepared to be parents, but that didn't stop them from trying to be the best parents a half-dragon could ask for.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Melissa took a deep breath as she entered the tavern. Tess was at a table in the corner, waiting impatiently. She had most likely arrived early but technically Melissa was already late, so this was hard to verify. Tess hadn’t changed in the two years since they had last spoke. Her posture was stiff and her eyes were perilously close to glowing. Always on edge, always so powerful. Melissa almost didn’t want to approach her but she knew that she had to, for more reasons than one.\n\n“Tessy! How are you doing?” Melissa greeted the mage warmly.\n\nThe reception was cold at best. Those dangerous eyes glared at her for a moment and then flicked towards the chair opposite. Melissa sat down swiftly, her smile pinned in place.\n\n“What the fuck, Mel?” Tess hissed “Why am I here? Why are you here? And more importantly, where the fuck have you been for the past two years?”\n\nAll fair questions. Melissa opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by another barrage.\n\n“I thought you were dead, you know that?! You went on a trip that you assured me would take three days at absolute most to slay a dragon with a bunch of random adventurers you’d met in a bar and you just didn’t come back. You said you knew I had too much work at the College and that I didn’t need to come along. Do you have any idea how often I have regretted not choosing to follow you anyway?”\n\nTess’s eyes definitely were glowing now, and the soft light made the tears stuck in them even more obvious. Melissa had stopped smiling but she didn’t try to speak, not just yet.\n\n“When it’d been four days I assumed you’d just decided to round the trip off with a bit of a party at the tavern. On day five I thought maybe you were enjoying one of your new companions. A whole week past and I thought you’d really met someone, you were always a romantic so I understood how you could perhaps forget. But then there kept being more days and I could only think of so many reasons. We were best friends. How could you just disappear?”\n\nMelissa looked up at Tess with a face full of regret.\n\n“I didn’t mean to. And you actually got a fair bit of it right, I mean I did meet someone. And we did go to see the dragon. But when it came down to it, the so called adventurers ran away with their tails between their legs whereas I, I just... couldn’t.”\n\nMelissa shifted in her seat and picked at her sleeve as if the threads had suddenly become fascinating. She’d always been a romantic and she was never usually stuck as to what to say next. First time for everything.\n\n“There are countless songs about dragons but seeing one, you realise there is a grace and majesty that just can’t be compared. And even though I should have ran, I didn’t. I approached. And before I knew what I was doing, I sang.”\n\nDrinks that had been stealthily ordered by Melissa as she’d come in were deposited on the table. Neither woman looked at them.\n\n“The stories about their telepathy are true. So we talked. And where I’m going with all this is that I did go to the dragon and I did meet someone but those aren’t two separate stories. They’re the same.”\n\nTess’s face flickered with confusion, then calculation.\n\n“So the theory about shape shifting then?”\n\n“Yeah, if they have adequate focus. But for just generally being around each other, neither one of us feels it’s necessary. He was in dragon for when I met him, that’s why the others ran.”\n\nTess took a long drink, her eyes no longer glowing or tearful but wide and perhaps alarmed.\n\n“So,” she said eventually “you stayed away because you thought I’d disapprove?”\n\n“Do you?”\n\nTess slowly shook her head. Perhaps a faster response would have been better but Melissa could see that her friend was still calculating this from every angle, and that calculating and intelligent nature was exactly why she had asked to meet.\n\n“The only thing is, that isn’t exactly why I stayed away so long. For a bit, maybe. But after a while I realised that I’d have to tell you eventually. I was taking my time gearing myself up to telling you when another... complication... arrived.”\n\nMelissa’s turn to drink.\n\n“I know you’re well read in what little literature there is on dragons and I know that you’re research abilities are extremely well respected in the College. But what I guess I want to know is, how do you feel about kids?”\n\nConfusion was the first emotion, obviously, but when Tess figured out what she meant her eyes went wild and the glow was back in full force.\n\n“You? I mean.. how? Why? How long? Where are they now?”\n\n“Um, she’s back at home with her dad. And she’s gorgeous and she seems totally healthy. I think we’ve been doing fairly well, considering neither of us had really meant for this. But we realised we have nowhere we can take her if she gets sick and dragons and humans grow up so differently, so how can we know if she’s on the right track. We want the best for her and we didn’t know where to look so...”\n\n“So you needed a researcher.”\n\nTess was smiling and Melissa could almost feel the theories and questions racing through her head, cross referencing against each other and forming new theories as they did so.\n\n“Well, it would take a fair amount of time to get a workable theory of what normal development should look like for her. I would need family histories on both sides and an awful lot more information. I’d need to examine your daughter and... husband? I’d need enough time to gather some supplies from college and see if they would allow me to take unpaid leave-“\n\nMelissa opened her mouth to speak at this but Tess continued over her.\n\n“but don’t you worry, I’m coming either way. I’m glad you came back. And even just in a research capacity, I wouldn’t miss this for the world. But for now, I think we’ll need more drinks.”\n\nMelissa grinned broadly.\n\n“I’d have to agree with you on that last point. I’ve fucking missed you, Tessy. I’m sorry it’s been so long.”\n\nTess shook her head at this apology dismissively and smiled.\n\n“There is one thing though,” Melissa added, “there’s no need for your leave to be unpaid. If I remember rightly, it isn’t unheard of for the College to accept requests for their mages to assist with private research projects, provided such requests come alongside a generous enough donation. And, well, we’ve kinda got a whole fucking hoard.”"
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[WP] It started as a normal day. But as I crossed the street, I heard a truck’s horn. I felt pain as the world spun. I could have sworn I died but when I opened my eyes I found myself driving a truck, seeing my dead body in the rear mirror.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
" While most people tended to remember the savanna for its hot days, Harold was learning quickly not take the sunlight for granted as he threw another corner of his map into his pitiful little excuse for a campfire in the blue-ish black night. Harold had tracked the fabled Red Toyota of the Oil Barrens from the swamps - and for a fortnight, it had moved unerringly away from them, so Harold reserved that corner of the map for his nightly fires. The pebble rings of flame were a consequence of Harold's broken sense of adventure. With the land's oil reserves all dried up, hunting ancient machines was all that kept Harold's silicon race of feux people alive. \n \n Once Harold reached his fifty-thousandth power cycle, it was tradition for him to kill a vehicle on his first solo hunt and bring the creature's fuel tank back to the village with no help. Harold was tasked by his elders with ridding the plains of a particularly savage beast that had been terrorizing his people: a large red Toyota that had made a nasty habit of honking in the dead of night, awakening some of the lighter sleeping townsfolk. Armed with a knife, a spear, and a fistful of caltrops, Harold had made it a full day and most of a night into the wastes before he realized he had forgotten his luggage. \n \n Early one morning into the week of his hunt, Harold awoke to a strange puttering noise, and a rolling series of clicks and dings. Seldom alert, Harold gathered his night robes around him and lumbered out of his shoddily made leaf tent to see what all the racket was about. A mere thirty paces away from his campsite, Harold froze, staring into the headlights of a medium sized red pickup truck. Its windshield wipers flicked in anticipation of the carnage that Harold's supple flesh promised, and its tailpipe crassly sputtered (likely in protest of the vehicle's last greasy victim). Halfway between Harold and the truck sat his shoddy spear, and as his gaze shifted between it and the revving Toyota, Harold's blood turned to ice. In this moment of fear, Harold's tail pipe also began to sputter. In a moment, they were off, both racing towards the wooden spear between them. If Harold was screaming, he couldn't hear it as the Toyota blared its horn and lowered its hood, eager to plow through the foolish creature foolish enough to invade its hunting grounds. Harold proved the faster though, and as he reached the spear, he was only able to lift it halfway before its tip made contact with the chrome bumper of the stampeding truck. Harold's retelling of the story would continue with his awakening next to the smoking corpse of the eco-unfriendly vehicle, but in this in-between time, the truck smashed into Harold. His spear deflected off of the bumper and went through the grill, taking out the creature's brain; Harold was lucky to have landed on the back of his head, where his own brain had absorbed most of the impact (sparing his more vital organs, like his appendix). \n \n Tension in Harold's village was finally starting to relax as the townsfolk had began to suspect that Harold had perished on his hunt, and the next morning, the village had a lighter air about it. The elders had a spring in their step, and the youth were largely allowed to skip this day's chores. Harold received no fanfare as he dragged the bloated gas tank of the monster back into his camp, and had already found his neighbor had claimed Harold's home and belongings in his absence. At least he still had the modest gas tank, which was impressive for its class, thought Harold. In Harold's appraisal of the tank with the traveling synth merchant in the center square, Harold's luck finally dwindled as the merchant dissected the tank to find not fuel, but rancid waste. The organ Harold had separated from the Toyota wasn't its fuel tank, but it was in fact the creature's bowels. Once again, Harold's tailpipe began to sputter.",
"What the hell is happening! I slowly pull over the truck as soon as possible. I get out, and look back. There I am. Or was? My body. Lifeless, strewn over the pavement like a ragdoll, arms and legs discombobulated. \n\nI can't help myself and throw up at the sight. Bracing myself against the truck, I look up to see my reflection in the shimmering surface of the truck. I've grown considerably taller - and wider - and have grown facial hair, a feat I wasn't able to accomplish before. My hair is long, reaching my shoulders, while my previous life sustained a short quaff throughout. My face is weary. Tanned and deeply set creases are etched into my face, betraying a life that has lasted significantly longer than my own. Who the fuck is this man?!\n\nI know one thing though. If I get caught now, I will go to jail. Probably get thrown into an insane asylum if I spout nonsense like this. I take one last look at the lifeless body that used to be mine, which has started drawing a few people, obviously worried about its wellbeing. I rush back into the truck, and speed off. \n\nI drive for hours, determined to put as much distance between myself and my body as possible. 50 miles out of town, I reach a small gas station. I stop in a resting spot and lean my head against the wheel. What will I do? The sun has started to cast longer shadows and I realize it is time to find a place to rest. But I do not have a home anymore. I don't know who I am, but this is my life now. I can't go back home to my parents as a middle-aged man: they'd think I'm a drunk kidnapper. I can't go back to my girlfriend: she'd call Chris Hansen on me. No. I am stuck in this life, whoever I am.\n\nI look around the inside of the truck. Perhaps this man has anything hidden away of a life that I can return to in his stead. I open up the sun visors, but just find a bevvy of random cards for businesses. I pull them out and go through them, until a single polaroid catches my attention. It is him. Or, well, me. Clearly younger than I am now, my hair being short and my face not having aged due to years of living on the road. I am with a young woman, in some kind of bar. We seem happy. I check my hand, but don't find a ring. Is this his sister? Or an ex-girlfriend?\n\nI turn the card over and find some written on it: \n\n*Always here when you want to come back home.*\n\n*X, Betty*\n\nI stare at the text for a bit longer, and realize this might be my get out of jail card. But who is this Betty? And can I take over this man's life? ...What else am I to do?"
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[WP] After three separate attempts failed attempts to invade Earth by Alien races a very powerful and very violent humanity takes to the stars.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"**The Human Inscription on the Alcelyan Cenotaph**\n\nBy: SheepingtonTheSheep\n\nThe Human Empire had humble beginnings on our blue-and-green homeworld. By galactic terms, we were pastoral savages once, content on squabbling and living and dying on our home planet. It was an idyllic, solitary existence, which kept us meek and non-threatening to the rest of the galaxy. So much so that the Derelians, on 2411 AD (55518 GD by Galactic units), decided to invade our home. Earth. The pale blue dot. Terra. Gaia. Mundo.\n\nThe Derelians made us fight, tooth-and-nail, for our survival. Unlike other galactic denizens, we humans have been tribal since the beginning of time. We lacked the homogeneity of star system-spanning empires; every clump of land on Earth was inhabited by distinct cultures and races. We fought amongst ourselves, and it took the Derelians’ attempted genocide of our species for us humans to finally unite as one.\n\nIt took sixty years—two generations—for humankind to defeat the reptilian invaders. It was a costly, pyrrhic victory, and one that left our cities in ruins. Seeing our weakness, the Selephoids attacked us, instead of offering aid or friendship. As their Hive-Ships descended on what was once known as ‘America’, they destroyed any hope of rebuilding our cities to their former glory. Millions perished, and our precious history was wiped from the earth, leaving the task of preserving our heritage to our computers. And still, our resolve could never be conquered. The Selephoids thought themselves the victors as they drove the rest of our species underground, claiming the charred skeletons of our once-great cities. But underground, with bided our time. Underground, human ingenuity blossomed, and human rage festered. Reverse-engineering technology from the Derelians, we made leaps in technology that we would never have achieved had we been left alone by our neighbors. \n\nOne generation, we recovered our ranks. Another generation, we regained our prosperity and bolstered our forces with new technology. Come the dawn of the 26th century, humankind rose from the grave to reclaim its homeworld. In a swift assault from all fronts, we defeated the Selephoids, forcing them to flee. In the Great Battle of Roma, we inflicted such casualties on those insectoid xenos that they were never able to recover their numbers again. \n\nIt was time to build, and our human optimism won over a century of anger. Rather than seclude ourselves from the Galactic Union, we reached out with open arms. Ever the idealists, we refused to believe the rest of the galaxy the same as those who had invaded us before. Our warmness to the Galactic Union won us friends at first, but our rapid advancement had earned us enemies.\n\nAnd so, the entire Galactic Union turned against us. Us, humans, who had never even colonized past our fourth planet. We could not rely on the technologies pilfered from former members of the Galactic Union, we learned quickly. United as one species, we developed horrifying new weapons at a staggering pace. We rid ourselves of the ethics we’d once prided ourselves in subscribing to—all in the name of causing as much damage to our foes as to hold them at bay\n\n*Never again,* we said, day after day after day, as we awaited for the Galactic Union’s arrival. And when the ten-thousand strong fleet finally came, we were ready. The battle was hard-fought, but we have quickly established our supremacy over our foes. Not just in technology but in spirit; the Galactic Union fought for expansion—for their pride, ruined by humanity’s inherent excellence. But us, denizens of Earth, we fought for our existence. Nothing sharpens a blade more than the need to survive. Outnumbered 10 to 1, our Continental Ships fought with ferocity a hundredfold that of the Galactic Union’s corvettes and Fortress-Ships. \n\nIn the end, we had destroyed the Galactic Union’s flagship—*The Arkoras*—and crippled their military might. Even as the Galactic Union’s members fled from our system in a mad scramble for their respective homeworlds, humanity ceased not in its industrious crusade. We had spent a lamentful century, war-weary, underground. It was now time for us to press our advantage.\n\nHere, on Alcelya, the former capital-planet of the Galactic Union, stands this marble cenotaph. On 2799 AD, the combined forces of all 28 human planets converged on the crumbling, derelict hub of the Galactic Union. Decades of long-range bombardment had reduced the once sprawling hypercity into a filthy hovel, populated by the decadent, pitiful leaders of the Galactic Union’s member species.\n\nThis is a cenotaph. Nothing remains of the Galactic Union on Alcelya. Nothing remains of the Galactic Union on all planets. The only proof of their existence lies within the steel-and-osmium frames of human capital ships.\n\n\\- *Valerie Greves, Historian and Secretary of the Human Federation. February 3, 2842*\n\n*Dedicated to:*\n\n*Emperor Kaserus of the Terran Empire*\n\n*Empress Silvia of the Martian Empire*\n\n*President Domnall Fighurl of the Human Federation*\n\n*General Marianne Lee of the Belt Territories*\n\n*Presidents, Mayors, Commanders, and Prime Ministers of Jupiter, Lemna-3, Arna-3, Neptune, Pluto, Alpha Centauri, Tiresias-5, Halcyon-2B, Lomnall Roamers, and Samra.*",
"It's a strange thing. You thought you could kill us - thrice. But somehow, we were always a step ahead. From chemical agents to thermonuclear weapons, we'd thought of terrible things you'd never known, and we caught you off-guard. You weren't used to resistance, were you?\n\nMuch of the system has been uninhabitable since the Third War, once you learnt the power of nuclear fallout. But a few of us survived. Enough to get us to where we are now. I stand in the bridge of the Lazarus, the first human ship with faster-than-light capability.\n\nThe engines fire up. Within minutes, we arrive near a familiar white orb that once might've been known as Sirius A. Somewhere out of view is a world that you call home. Our contraption roars to life, and soon its job is done.\n\nWhat was already brightest star in our former home's night sky glows brighter than ever before as it collapses in on itself. You won't stand a chance.\n\nThere's no time to watch the fireworks. You, too, had taken to the stars, so many centuries ago. It'll take time, but we're willing to wait. The tachyon drive restarts and we set off to Procyon to repeat the process.\n\nAs the next star goes supernova, I know this much: your species will die at our hands. You tried to kill us, but where you failed, we will succeed.",
"Human's were never considered a threat by the Galactic Alliance. While their planet could be used as a resource to many species that were apart of the Alliance none took the time to conquer the planet. The Human's themselves weren't very unique either.\n\nTheir blood wasn't a miracle cure, their intelligence was usually around average, and they didn't have any advanced technology or culture that interested the varies Alliance races.\n\nOf course there was the occasional abduction and study to observe any progress made on the planet, but for the most part humanity was left to their own devices.\n\nUntil a war between two races in the Alliance broke out. It was the X'Garons against the Lythlil, both of the races had been on tense terms for millennium since their home planets had the odd trait of sharing the same solar system.\n\nIt was a harsh war with millions of casualties on both sides. The Alliance, following it's non-engagement rules, didn't intervene until the two races began seeking alliance from the opportunistic species that made up the Galactic Alliance.\n\nAfter both the Lythlil and the X'Garons were brought to the negotiation table, under the threat of the Alliances wrath, it was decided that the Lythlil and the X'Garons would be allowed to show their military might in a contest.\n\nThe contest was simple, who ever conquered a planet not under the Alliance's protection the fastest was the winner. Both sides agreed to this and began to ready their invasion forces.\n\nThe Lythlil choose a race in a far corner of the galaxy that had just begun to launch ships into space. It was a respectable choice, not powerful enough to cause the Lythlil problems, but not so technologically backwards that it would be deemed a weak target.\n\nThe Lythlil war lasted a week. A week for the Lythlil to position their troops and glass the entire planet to an uninhabitable wasteland.\n\nThe X'Garons however didn't have such luck. While not uncommon among the Galactic Alliance for one of the races to conquer a planet without informing or receiving the Alliance's consent, it was still considered bad form.\n\nThe X'Garons had been eyeing Earth for sometime but never had made a move to conquer the planet. The X'Garons for all their posturing were quite new to the Galactic Alliance and didn't wish to upset their position by trying to conquer a planet without the Alliance's direct consent. Receiving that consent had been in the works for decades, but now the X'Garons had the perfect opportunity to conquer the planet and not look bad in front of the Alliance.\n\nSo when the Lythlil picked their planet the X'Garons picked theirs.\n\nWhen the X'Garon's invasion fleet dropped out of FTL travel in Earths solar system the X'Garon's weren't surprised to see that humanity quickly learned of their presence. They hadn't bothered to stealth their ships.\n\nThe first and second day were slaughter. At first humanity greeted the alien species with wary openness. X'Garon's happily used this to glass several cities around the world, killing millions in an instant. Then humanity launched a hasty offense, easily countered by the X'Garon's superior technology and soldiers.\n\nThe third day humanity scattered. After losing two billion people to wholesale slaughter they started fleeing. Into forests, caves, bunkers, anywhere they believed to be safe from the blood thirsty X'Garons.\n\nThe fourth day the X'Garons sent out hunting parties to track down humanity and kill them.\n\nAfter a billion more were dead the X'Garons began to get desperate. it had taken them five days and they still hadn't found and terminated all of humanity. Out of a species of eight billion they had only manage to kill thirty-eight percent of the population. Generals and leaders of the X'Garon people began to speak about glassing the planet like the Lythlil did but in the end they decided that leaving the planet inhabitable for their species was more important, the contest with the Lythlil being forgotten.\n\nFor a year the X'Garons hunted and exterminated humanity. It began to be a joke for the other species of the Alliance. The X'Garons at this point only clung to the the idea that they had to exterminate humanity and inhabit the planet or the everything they had done would be in vain.\n\nBy the first anniversary of the the X'Garon's invasion the invasion fleet began to notice a disturbing change. While it seemed to be unbelievable to the X'Garon's they began to see human troops in bastardized versions of X'Garon armor, wielding X'Garon weaponry.\n\nAt first the X'Garon's laughed but after several battles resulting in heavy losses for the X'Garon's the amusement turned to horror. Soon the tattered remains of humanity, brought down to four billion people from the ruthless hunts, pushed the X'Garon ground forces back. Along the way robbing every piece of X'Garon technology they could.\n\nWhen the X'Garon airships began to counter attack it was already to late. Human's had turned used X'Garon technology to give their fighter jets space capabilities. Using the X'Garon panic to their advantage humanity destroyed the X'Garon invasion fleet by sending their fighter jets on suicide missions with nuclear payloads.\n\nIt costed humanity many brave souls, but in the end it worked. The X'Garon fleet was too crippled to continue it's invasion and it slipped back into FTL travel home in disgrace."
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[WP] Weak force. Strong force. Gravity. Electromagnetism. Long ago, the four galactic forces lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Gravity empire attacked.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Long ago, the four forces lived in harmony.\n\nIn the beginning their was chaos, a swirling mess of heat and quarks, but little more.\nThe strong nuclear force saw fit to gather these quarks into protons and neutrons. All the forces smiled upon this change, and all was well.\n\nElectromagnetism saw room to improve, and gathered these protons and neutrons into atoms, the mess was beginning to take shape, and all seemed well.\n\nBut the Weak nuclear force, in all its petty power, saw fit to undermine the Electromagnetic force.\n\nIt forced the decay of the new atoms, and sought to undo the newfound order that had been introduced to the universe.\n\nGravity, seemingly the weakest of the four, \nquite liked order. And in Its arrogance believing that only It could bring that order, its dragged the cosmos in to itself. \n\nCreating planets and stars, galaxys and nebulas. It forced the forces into submission.\n\nBut although they're unrefined and chaotic, I believe humans, master of all four forces, can restore chaos to the galaxy."
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[WP] A child is lost in the woods. An alien is lost in the Galaxy. They each try to help the other get home.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Leaves rustled under the little girl's blanket, it had been so long since her father had left. He had promised to be right back, but the brown pickup truck had sped away down the isolated highway so quickly. She had no idea where he had left her, and the trees were so high and looked more and more menacing as it got darker. She clutched her pink bear blanket, she was four years of age and always kept the blanket with her when she was sent to be with her father for alternate weekend visitation.\n\nShe felt scared and overwhelmed and curled up on her blanket while she imagined that she was being held. She had learned to comfort herself this way because often there was no one to comfort her. She always imagined that same shadow presence would come to scoop her up and hold her tightly. The presence never seemed to her like a mother or a father, it was simply a being that radiated comfort. Curling up into herself, she cried for a while as she put all her attention and effort into imaging how the shadow felt when it held her back. She had never needed the shadow as much as she did now and she could almost feel the imagined warmth from it as she drifted off to sleep and dreamed of her favorite snacks.\n\nShe awoke when she heard the car fly past her, she ran into the road and waved her blanket and yelled for help but the car was already gone. She crumpled in on herself, the harsh road providing no comfort as she sat staring off in the direction the car had gone. A quick movement in her periphery of vision caused her to shriek out in surprise. She had thought that she saw a person for a moment.\n\n\"Hello,\" she called out while tentatively walking where she thought it had gone. To her surprise and delight she found a nice new bag of teddy graham crackers on the ground, which she promptly tore open and ate while walking. She walked through the strange quiet of the forest at dawn, her little footsteps and loud biscuit crunching seemed like the only sounds in the whole world. Further up her path, she found a remarkably plain juice box and toddled further into the forest as she slurped her drink.\n\nShe had gone somewhat deep into the forest before she sat down and simply looked around her in confusion. She saw the movement in her periphery again but every time she turned to find it, the source had seemed to vanish. The first time she heard the voice it didn't seem to come from any one direction but rather the voice seemed to come from many directions at once. \"*Hello Nim\"* said the voice.\n\n\"Hello\" Nim answered as she clutched her blanket tighter. \"Who is it?\" She called back into the woods while walking in a small circle. She was astonished to see a dark figure emerge from the forest. At first it appeared to be far away but the figure never lightened and stayed a shadow as it came closer.\n\n\"*How did you get out here little Nim? You are so small to be here alone.\"* The figure held out a shadowy hand."
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[WP] Write a horror story framed around this one sentence. “They came with the rain.” I don’t know, it just came to me as it’s storming outside. And you know, Halloween.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Ryan lay down on the damp wooden floor of his room. His hands were under his head with the fingers interlocked, and one leg rested on top the other. He looked up at the ceiling, watching raindrops slip through a darkened crack in the drywall. Each drop made a splash into a half-full tin bucket placed next to his head. He had on a shirt that wasn’t so white anymore and patched up blue denim overalls.\n\n\n“I wonder why Pa never lets me listen to his talks with those two folks,” Ryan thought to himself. “I mean, ‘m practically a grown up now. Jus’ won the fourth-grade spellin’ bee, that I did. He shudda seen the look on Maryann’s face when I spelt geetar. G-U-I-T-A-R. Kinda funny it’s spelt like that, cus we say it with a E, but whatever. English sometimes funny like that. An’ boy I’m glad Maryann got the word she did. Continya’. Who supposed to know it aint a ‘YOU’ at the end but a ‘UE’? Shucks, not everyone can be the spellin’ bee winner I guess.”\n\n\nRyan could scarcely make out the voices in the kitchen. Most of what he heard was the rain pitter-pattering against the roof and the occasional drop that breached the ceiling and fell into the bucket. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on the voices, but then he felt something fuzzy on his noise. He crinkled it up, but the feeling didn’t go away, so he opened his eyes and let out a yell.\n\n\n“WA!” He screamed, while pawing at his face. There was a small black spider dangling right in front of him. He grabbed it in his hand and squished it. \n\n\n“Scared the living Jeezus outta me. Heck, I yelt pretty loud. Pa will probably come in and ask if anythin’s wrong.”\n\n\nA few moments passed, and Ryan thought of what he was going to say (“jus a spider, pa”) but his father never came in to check on him.\n\n\n“Must be deep in chat with those two guys. Maybe he aint hear me. Hey, I know. I’ll go get some water from the kichin. Play it cool and maybe I can eaves-drop a lil. Can’t blame a kid for gettin’ thirsty.”\n\n\nRyan entered the kitchen and saw all three men sitting at the table. His father had his back towards him, while the two strangers stared at him. They wore rich new pinstripe suits and had nice blue suede caps. Their eyes were tiny with the pupils black, and they made Ryan uncomfortable.\n\n\n“H-howdy,” was all the boy could muster up. Upon hearing his son’s voice, his father held his hand out towards the strangers, pausing the conversation, and turned around.\n\n\n“Ry? What are you doing out here?” he asked, “you know you supposed to stay in your room when Pa’s talkin’ to these here gentlemen.”\n\n\n“S-sorry Pa. Got thirsty somethin’ awful. Couldn’t wait anymore.”\n\n\n“Ah, that’s fine then. Just get some water then go back to ya room.”\n\n\nHis father faced the strangers again as Ryan climbed the stepstool to reach for a cup in the high cabinet. He purposely slowed his movements so he could listen in on the conversation. His father spoke first.\n\n\n“Just, just could I get one more week, please? I jus’ started a new job an’ had to use my first paycheck on food. We been eatin’ nothing but rice ‘n beans the past few weeks. Was driving us mad. I could deal with it, but ya know, a growing boy like my son need some meat. Need him to grow big ‘n strong. To take care of his old man.”\n\n\nRyan blushed.\n\n\n“Mr. Jones,” the shorter and plumper of the two strangers said, “this is the third time in a row this has happened. Last month you promised it would be different, but here we are.” \n\n\nThe man spoke with a lack of emotion that frightened Ryan. He thought he wasn’t even listening to a man, just an animal pretending to be one.\n\n\n“Now, right here in the lease,” the taller and skinnier man said, waving a stack of papers around in his hand, “it says if the tenant is late with rent more than three times then the landlord has the right to evict them. The *right*. Mr. Jones, this will be your fourth time late. Do you understand what that means?”\n\n\nRyan went on his tip-toes and stretched his whole body to reach for the plastic cup that was higher in the cabinet than usual. He arched his back like a cat in a great big stretch. The stool he stood on wobbled as he extended his arms.\n\n\n“Y-yes sir, I understand,” Mr. Jones said, “but please, have some pity on us. I’m sick, an’ the medicine aint cheap… An’ I lost my job last month and just got a new one… I promise I won’t be late no more, so you don’t gotta evict us. Please. We got nowhere else to go.”\n\n\nThe two strangers looked each other in the eyes and a devilish smirk covered both of their faces. They nodded to one another and then spoke.\n\n\n“Well, we usually don’t let habitually tardy tenants stay, but you do got a son, and it would be a shame to make him switch schools and all, so maybe we can come up with a deal.” A spark of a greed shone in the man’s eyes. “We can get you set up on a payment plan. Of course there will be some interest, but-”\n\n\nSuddenly, the man’s dull voice got cut off by a cry.\n\n\n“AHHHH!”\n\n\nThe stool Ryan was on slipped out under his toes and he crashed into the hard tiles of the kitchen floor. He briefly heard his father calling his name before everything went black.\n\n\n&nbsp;\n\n\nRyan woke up in his bed, and sitting on the edge of it was his father. He was pulling on his beard, something he always did when anxious. The sound of rain against the roof had stopped, but there was still the occasional drip coming down from the ceiling.\n\n\n“Hey Pa,” said Ryan.\n\n\n“Thank God,” his father said, “how are ya feeling? Had a nasty fall there. ‘Fraid you wouldn’t wake up.”\n\n\n“I’m feelin’ fine,” Ryan said. He could feel his head had a bruise and his butt hurt, but he didn’t want to worry his dad. “What were ya’ll talkin’ about in there? I couldn’t really get it. They said I gotta switch schools?”\n\n\n“Ah, don’t worry yourself ‘bout it, just some adult talk. They were givin’ me a hard time. We come to a deal in the end, but dangit. Can’t catch a break. We gonna be back to eatin’ only rice ‘n beans for a while. Feels like my money aint mine anymore. You don’t gotta switch though, don’t worry ‘bout that.”\n\n\n“Ah, thank God,” Ryan said, “cus you know I just won the spellin’ bee and all. ‘N got me some friends too. Would hate to have to leave ‘em.”\n\n\n“Don’t you worry,” his father said, “I’m gonna make sure you’re able to stay in school. Get nice and educated. Soon you’ll be in middle-school, then high-school. An’ then college, if ya want. Be the first of the Jones family to get a college degree, that would be somethin’. ‘N then you’ll get a nice payin’ job and we won’t have to live in this here cheap place. Get a place with a nice big fireplace, like your grandparents used to have. You remember them?”\n\n\n“Only a lil bit. Mostly ‘member the big paintin’ they had at the top of the staircase. Scary picture of a old man.”\n\n\n“That was your great grandfather, Frank. Owned one of the biggest farms west of the Mississippi. Us Jones used to be a real rich family. Back before the tractors came and…”\n\n\nBefore he could finish, Mr. Jones got into a coughing fit. He coughed and coughed and the whole bed jumped up and down with him. He covered his mouth with his hands, and small red specks started to get onto them. He reached for the cup of water he poured to nurse Ryan with and took a big sip.\n\n\n“Gotta… gotta take my medicine,” he said, while heading towards the door. “But don’t you worry about all that adult stuff. I’mma make sure you got everythin’ you need to succeed in life. Just focus on your schoolin’ and I promise everything’ll be alright. I’ll get that money somehow...” \n\n\nHis father smiled at him, but Ryan wasn’t fooled. His mouth was happy, but his eyes were worried.\n\n\nAnd then, Ryan noticed the wet spots on his father’s shirt.\n\n\nAnd then, another drop of rain fell into the tin bucket.",
" They came with the rain.\n\nI was sitting alone in my room when the doorbell rang. It was literally storming outside. It was the kind of rain that came in sideways and slashed across your windows, screeching. I was on my typewriter, trying to come up with a story.\n\nI had had a tough time going through my writer’s block. My dustbin contained rolled up papers from months back. I was this close to crack the story open, when the doorbell rang.\n\nI ran a local inn. Pretty cheap rate that still attracted moderate crowds. Sometimes it was a big crowd in which gave me a time of my life. But sometimes, it became lonely when no one was there. Which is why I resorted to writing my own worlds.\n\nThis wasn’t really the season where I get many visitors. I opened the door and welcomed a family of three inside. They told me that they were going north, like most everyone who stopped here, but the rain made their vehicle unhappy.\n\nI had a deluxe room ready for them and they were happy to pay the usual fixed rate for it. They settled while I prepared some soup for them. \n\nThe Wife, a very pretty woman, as beautiful as someone I had met years, told me to not give her any garlic as she was allergic to it. I complied. I don’t put garlic in food myself. Don’t you just hate that stench?\n\nIt was pretty odd too because no garlic came to this town, but then again they were visitors so how would they know.\n\nThe Husband went to take a bath. I assured him that the water will be warm. And I resumed writing on my typewriter. The Little Girl came and stared at me while I buzzed away. When I said hello to her, she ran away. I laughed. It was a jolly little family……………………\n\n\\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nThe Little Girl had never seen such a big house before. She lived in a small house that had a small fireplace. But this house had a fireplace that could fit three Girls like her in it. \n\nShe ran through the corridors and found a door that was closed, unlike the others. There was a lock on it, but Daddy’s new friend had told her how to pick a lock. She used that trick and it worked. She had liked Daddy’s new Friend a lot. \n\nShe missed her mom, who had died in a car crash. But this Lady had reminded her of her a lot. And the Girl was surprised by that, because it had been just a little than a day since they had given her a ride after finding her stranded on a road.\n\nDaddy and the Lady got along very well. They sang the Girl’s favorite song all along the car ride. The Little Girl had never had such a fun ride before. The Lady gave her an orange because she knew the Girl loved oranges. She also told her a story of a King and a Queen to put her to sleep. \n\nThe Girl entered the room and found that it was larger than her room. The Owner had said their room was a deluxe room. She wondered what this could be.\n\nShe found beautiful paintings in the room. She liked the soft couch. There were fire-torches to light the room, and she liked that. And as the night dawned, she slept on the sofa.",
"The weatherman said it wasn't going to rain today. How wrong he was. \nThe once clear sky quickly darkened into an eerie blackness. It started small at first, just a sprinkle. I was watching my little sister while our mother was at work. My little sister loved the rain. I allowed her to play outside since the rain was so light. That will forever be my biggest regret. The rain started to pick up into heavy showing. Lightning crackles above quickly followed by the boom of thunder. I saw something lurking in the sky trying to blend in with the clouds. I couldn't tell you what they were only that there was so many of them and I could see them scattered across the sky. I yelled at my sister to come back inside but by then it was too late. They came down with the rain. My sister's screams were drown out by the thunder as they took her away. I couldn't do anything back then but this is now. It's started to rain again and I hope that when theirs rain they will follow.",
"The soft sound of rain never changes, it pitters and patters on the canopy of trees and the roof of this cabin, never an unexpected noise. \n\nAt least, that's how its supposed to be.\n\nI hear a quiet rumbling, followed by the sound of the rain hitting metal and clinking off of it. A car drives down the road, slow and seeming to be stuck from mud getting caught in the tires and axles.\n\nThe car finally gives up near the trail to this cabin, an unhappy pop comes from the engine telling the driver there is no driving onward.\n\nA man gets out of the driver's side door, and opens and umbrella, walking up to this cabin. He knocks on the door and shouts, \"Hello! Is anyone home?\"\n\nI open the door enough to see out and for him to see me. \"What are you doing all the way out here? In the middle of a storm no less?\"\n\n\"Look, my car broke down and my family is with me, do you mind if we use a phone to call a to service or stay until the storm passes?\" He asks, sounding almost desperate.\n\n\"I suppose... I don't have a phone, but I have a guest room or two you all could stay in, if you make a mess I'll not be too happy though,\" I allow them to stay.\n\n\"Thank you,\" He says, looking relieved as he return to his car, a woman who seems to be his wife gets out along with to children, twin boys you couldn't tell apart if you tried. They walk up the path as a group and come inside, mostly dry, and take their shoes off at the door.\n\n\"I'll show you all to your rooms, try not to make any messes while you're here.\" I remind, taking them to a pair of simple guest rooms. One for the adults and one for the kids, both having shelves of little dolls that have a bit of space left for a few more.\n\nI leave them to get settled, and wait for the rain clouds to darken, signifying the night has come.\n\nBy the time the sky is dark, the rain has only picked up, and the family is asleep. I check on the children's room first to be sure. The twins are both sound asleep on the bed at opposite ends, the room however, is rather messy because of them.\n\nThese foolish children broke the rules.\n\nI let myself in and quietly head over, picking the first of the pair up. He groggily opens his eyes due to me rousing him, but it is too late for him. \n\nHis flesh begins to boil off of him, his bones changing shape inside of him. He wails in agony and wakes the rest.\n\nNow, his brother can only watch as his flesh boils and turns to dust, and his bones morph into a nice porcelain doll. I'll have to stitch together an outfit for it later.\n\nThe second child attempts to run away, the parents entering the room and just barely seeing the horror that happened. \n\nThe trio attempt to flee, which is pathetic. \n\nI simply walk after, the three are never any further away from me than when they started.\n\nThe halls grow longer, narrower, the exit further away. The second boy trips.\n\nLike the first, he begins to boil, his entire body contorting as he loses his humanity and turns to stone and dust.\n\nThe parents are able to watch this time, and nearly faint. I check their room, there is no mess.\n\n\"Have a good night's sleep you two,\" I say cordially, their faces washed with confusion followed by tiredness. \n\n\"Yeah... sleep well,\" The man says, \"Where did that doll come from?\"\n\n\"Don't worry, it merely got misplaced, try not to think too much of it,\" I say as the door shuts behind them.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n(did I do horror correctly? first time trying horror)",
"They came with the rain. The vaguely human silhouette stood outside my yard. Watching my daughter. I didn't think anything of it. Just a tree.\n\n.\n\nI could hear the rain against the roof of the house. My daughter was insistent she didnt want to come inside, despite how wet it was. She was always liked the rain.\n\n.\n\nThey moved closer. I didn't notice at first, but after closer inspection they definitely had moved closer to my fence. I asked my daughter to come in but she refused. \"I can handle myself Daddy!\" She said. \"I'm a big girl\"\n\n.\n\nIt was time for dinner. I cooked my daughter's favourite. As I looked outside the creature was gone. So was my daughter.\n\n.\n\nThey left with rain. They left with my daughter.\n\n...\n\nSorry if this isn't that great, I liked the prompt and wanted to write for it.",
"They came with the rain.\n\nWhen the skies had darkened to a twisting, smearing blackness, they came.\n\nWhen the fog, thick and smothering, had forced the compound into perpetual shadow and gloom, they came.\n\nWhen the ground had swelled fit to burst with water, distended and bloated, they came.\n\nThe first thing had erupted from below, scrabbling limbs frantically searching the sodden soil for something, anything, to grip onto. What flesh which had once been there was greyed and cadaverous, hanging far too loose off the bone. Patches of flesh had wriggled and squirmed in all the places where small creatures continued to feast, burrowing around under the skin.\n\nAll around that first limb, hundreds more had burst from the ground, a mass of broken forms clawing at the sky. Hundreds of rotten voice-boxes had cried out in a terrible symphony of suffering, pleading for an end to the pain.\n\nThey hadn’t been down there long.\n\nIt had been some sort of disease, they’d said. Measures needed to be taken – the people in suits had made that quite clear. It was a terrible shame, of course. Such a waste. But it had to be done.\n\nHow easy it is to say that when you don’t have to watch.\n\nThe diggers had come the next day. Opened up a large pit in the ground, just outside the compound. A grave. The operators were grim-faced as they went about their work. I know I would have been.\n\nSome of the animals had sensed it at that point, I think. They knew what was to come. I will not soon forget the noises that they made. I’ve seen a lot, as a farmer. But never anything quite like that.\n\nIt was over quickly. The diggers finished sealing the pit back up the next day. Just after the animals had all been led in. The sounds were muffled at first. Then, abruptly, they stopped.\n\nAfter that I had sat in the compound in what seemed like absolute silence. In a farm that was far too quiet. Just sat, swirling a spoon in my cup of tea and watching the ripples curl around the mug, over and over, for what seemed like hours. I’m not a cruel man. I offer my animals a good life right up to the end. It’s just my business, you understand.\n\nThere was no way that they deserved what they received.\n\nThe people in the suits had returned later. Told me that I’d done what was right. That adequate compensation would be offered. I’d stayed silent as they left. Thinking about the things they hadn’t seen.\n\nThen the rain came.\n\nAnd they came back with the rain.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\\---\n\nHi there :)\n\nThis is my first actual post on Reddit but I thought the prompt sounded pretty cool and I just ended up writing out whatever came to mind. I haven't written much in a while but it's something that I still really enjoy and I'm hoping to maybe get back into it. Feedback is very welcome (as I said, it's been a while) but hopefully y'all enjoy this story (insofar as you can 'enjoy' horror haha).",
"It was a night like any other. Dark, gloomy, and utterly typical. The hunters came home and spent time with their families. Eventually it was midnight and the village was asleep. Then it started to rain. No one was there to see the rain shift and twist into a terrible shape. Something not quite right. They had no eyes, no mouths, no ears, no face. They spread across the land making not even the smallest of sounds. And in the morning when the villagers woke up they saw no monsters, only their families and their children. They did not see the the bodies buried in creeks or dumped into the forest. They only saw that it was another day.\n\n\nThis is my first time so please give criticism and tell me how to improve.",
"It was raining heavily outside, crystal-like droplets dispersing everywhere from the elegant skies. I laid down in my bed, phone to my face and bored out of my mind. I was scrolling through Reddit, same posts as always. Repost after repost. I kept scrolling, and the time passed like the rain fell. I was going to go to sleep, until a post appeared that was out of place with all the others, cryptic message embedded. \n\n\"They came with the rain\"\n\nI glared at it in confusion. What was a cryptic message doing in my feed? The subreddit was empty except for this singular post, and the user was an exact replica of my account, except with this weird... thing.\n\nI shook it off, assuming it to be a weird glitch in the system. Rain still pattering, I took off to sleep.\n\n...\n\n...\n\n***Bang!***\n\nAn abrupt noise woke me up in an instant, what the hell was that?! I searched desperately for the source of the noise, turning to my bed light.\n\nIt came from here. My bed light.\n\nI leaned over to slowly turn it on, cautious with every movement.\n\n***Click!***\n\n\"They came with the rain'\n\n...\n\nIt was the cryptic message.\n\nAgain.\n\nIn my house.\n\nOn my bed light.\n\nWhat the hell was this? I locked my doors and windows, so how did ***this*** happen?! I opened up my phone again to try to relieve myself from the strange occurance...\n\n...To see every, single app, number and word replaced by the very words.\n\n\"They came with the rain\"\n\nI didn't believe it. Why was this happening? Who was doing this? \n\n...\n\nThe rain.\n\nI rushed over to my window, pulling away the curtains to reveal a full moon night, unobscured by the pouring clouds. That was strange enough in itself. I looked down into the neighbourhood, to the sight of mirrors, scattered across the soaked ground. Giant, fleshy hand emerged from all of them, gripping at chunks and tearing them away into the void of the glass. I now had even more questions.\n\nWhat are the hands?\n\nWhy hasn't anyone noticed this?\n\nWhere did the mirrors lead to?\n\n***Crash!***\n\nI looked behind me to see what made the sound.\n\nA hand, gripping at my house and tearing it into nothingness.\n\nIt neared me, and I was keen to run.\n\nBut to where?\n\nI couldn't save myself. That was final, but I could warn someone else about this. I went onto the same subreddit that the weird post appeared on and typed the very words.\n\n\"They came with the rain\"\n\n\\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nI prepared myself for my death. I didn't know where I would be taken to, or what would happen to me. Was anyone even going to see the post? I was the only subscriber to the subreddit, how was anyone supposed to find it-\n\n...\n\nOh...\n\nSo that's how it is.\n\n\\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n**END**",
"\"They came with the rain...\"\n\n\"Excuse me?\"\n\n\"They came with the rain...\"\n\n\"Umm...yeah okay buddy.\"\n\nI dropped some change to the homeless man's cup when he spoke that cryptic message. Just a crazy rambling of someone who's been too long on the street I'm sure.\n\nIt indeed was drizzling, so I opened up my umbrella. Morning forecast predicted the rain so I was well prepared. I walked down the park further to my regular coffee shop. That homeless man's words were still ringing in my head however...\n\n\"They came with the rain...\"\n\nI stopped and turned to a woman. She was leaning against the wall on her phone before when I passed her\n\n\"Sorry, what did you say?\"\n\n\"They came with the rain...\"\n\nI started getting spooked. Is this some kind of a prank? So I said so...\n\n\"Look lady, is this some kind of a prank? If it is, it's not funny\"\n\n\"They came with the rain...\"\n\nHer eyes were unblinking and her voice was unnaturally monotone. A shiver started to run down my spine and I just hurrily got away from there. The rain got heavier by the second, drenching my shoes and trousers...\n\n\"They came with the rain...\"\n\nAgain I turned. It was the park maintenance guy emptying a trash can. I started to walk faster. This gotta be a prank, right? A very well coordinated prank by god knows who...right?\n\n\"They came with the rain...\", said a couple sitting by the bench\n\n\"They came with the rain...\", said an old man walking his dog\n\n\"They came with the rain...\", a couple of school kids walking home\n\nAll of them standing unnaturally still, looking at me unblinking, saying that damn sentence over and over again. I ran...I just ran, out of the park. The wind started to pick up and it blew away my umbrella but I didn't care. I just needed to get away from there. Drenched in the rain water I kept running to the coffee shop. Ignoring where I stepped I slipped on the wet pavement and fell on my back...\n\nIt was the weirdest sensation. The water drenched my face and my whole body. It felt so calming. All my worry was washed away, like being baptized I felt pure. I heard voices in my head...telling me it's alright, everything was alright. Just relax...and surrender. I did...and I felt I was no longer in control of my body. I was being pushed to the back of my mind, kept in an isolated room. Imprisoned in my own being, only being able to watch what just took control of my body manning the cockpit...\n\n\"Hey buddy, are you alright?\"\n\nA man came out from the coffee shop holding an umbrella. He held out his hand to assist me. I saw my hand raised and took his. I could feel my body standing up.\n\n\"You took a nasty fall there, man. You sure you're alright?\"\n\nA fear started growing in me when I saw my own arms raised again against my will and knocked the umbrella off the man's hand.\n\n\"Hey dude, what the hell??\"\n\nIn horror I felt my throat vibrating, my lips and tongue moving...\n\n\"They came with the rain...\""
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[WP] The whole party is thrown mayhem when someone is murdered. The fact that nobody is who they say they are doesn’t help things either.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"*Poor, poor chap.*\n\nOne by one, we had all noticed his peculiar gestures. One head turned, then another. Each of us experiencing the same journey from awareness, to interest, to concern, to horror. Air is such a precious thing. \n\n*Not the way you want anyone to go.*\n\nThe dining room still seemed filled with screams even now, but audible only to those who were present when they rang out. Only his own wife and mine had let out those noises, Dr Ringley, a good man for trying, leapt to an unsuccessful rescue, and a pair of us were the final to notice. \n\n“They had the same bite of salad”, his lovely wife Bethesda said as her eyes darted beneath tears. Between gulps for breath she could only utter, “How could this happen!?”. Her head long since buried in her clutching hands. We had been able to move her from her seat into the living room. My darling Charlotte sat pressed up against her embracing her shoulders.\n\n*Indeed. And that supposed surgeon did a bang-up job with that knife down the man’s throat.*\n\n“Doctor” I said standing over the seated man. Still in his chair at the dinner table. Dead patient laying under the table on which he leaned. His face ghostly and his stare blank. “Doctor!”\n\n“How could this happen!?” *Again, with this question?* “I did everything right. You place a tool down the throat to open it.” “Perhaps it was hindered to the trachea. Or the knife not sharp enough,” I offered. “The what?” he replied with a cocked eyebrow. *What.* “I know it wasn’t his trachea, it was his throat”. \n\n*Why I continue with this man is beyond me.*\n\nThe young man who had come stag was in the kitchen. On this sip he scarcely winced from the whiskey. *Three glasses will numb even the hardest faces let alone this boy’s*. “It’s a terrible thing,” he said. The quiver had not left him just yet. “How could this happen?” *Indeed.* I took a glass and filled it. “To a life cut short,” I say, “Hear Hear,” we both say. He shot it down. But I only lower my glass to the counter. “We must remember to always recount how our brave doctor placed a knife down Roman’s throat. So Brave! So Ingenious!” I say with some bravado. “So Brave!” \n\n*How truly brave indeed.*\n\n“Darling,” my lovely Beth whispers in my ear. “Something Charlotte said was the strangest. ‘How could he do this? I held mine? He couldn’t hold his?’ She just kept saying it.” *That would be the oddest thing tonight were it not for everything else.* Charlotte was no fool, but this was a stumper for her. For me, it was all but clear what had to come next. I confronted Charlotte where she was rooted, Beth following in my wake. Her head still in her hands. But no tears and no sobbing. \n\nAs I knelt to be eye-to-eye here fingers parted only slightly. The only evidence of anything beyond them was the unmistakable shimmer of her eye. She glared at me. *I know. I failed my end. I had not had the stomach to do it that way. But there is more than one way to right a ship.*\n\nI breathed. I would need lungs of air for this. “We know what you did,” I said loud enough for the room to hear. Charlotte's eye softened. My volume was increasing, “How could you ever conceive a world where we would not put it together.” Her fingers opened more, and a small smile was manifesting. Now I roared, “What kind of fools do you take us to be!” As my face turned red from my roar, and her hands had fallen from her face and delight washed over her.\n\nCharlotte raised slowly with me as a I stood. I turned. Through the doorway between the living room and kitchen, I saw the young man and the good Doctor dragging the bagged body past the center counter. *They have stronger backs than one would guess. Probably only needed one of them.* Charlotte’s voice was soft and hissing, “Why my husband ever desired you.” She spat. “I will never understand”. Beth was washed with realization. “Darling, please …,” Beth breathed. Her eyes twitched in horror between the two of us now facing her. “No. No No,” I tutted while shaking my head. *This would be a hard decision if it were not so easy.* “Doctor?”, I said to the doorway now occupied. “I do believe my wife is choking. Be a professional this time and use the sharp one.”"
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[WP] A New type of device just came out. It changes everything we knew about surgery training as it allows surgeons to train their skills on fake patients inside their dreams. Only, it can be hacked. And dream turns to nightmare.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
" A hooded convocation gathered around a table laden with glistening piles of unidentifiable meats.\n\n“Welcome, fellow acolytes of the DOOMD. How go your dark missions?” inquired the gilt-robed one at the seat of honor. \n\nAn uncomfortable silence hung in the air. \n\n“Well? Not a single volunteer? Then you, acolyte, as our newest member, shall be the first to share your failure.” \n\n“I dreamt him the perfect nightmare,” blubbered one, their hood hiding their welling tears. “It was so simple. One slip of the knife, and his scalpel cut through glove, skin, flesh, into bone, and so the surgeon caught the same incurable bloodborne illness afflicting his patient. He was told by his own friends, colleagues of decades, that he would die within the year of an excruciating illness that he had seen take many patients. But when he cried, his tears were of relief. I had never seen someone so happy to be told of his imminent painful death. What kind of sick man could be that excited to die?” \n\n“Pfft,” guffawed a fellow acolyte. “You could have woven any dream you could imagine, and that’s the best you could do?” \n\n“Oh?” asked the master. “And surely you were more successful than our most junior member?” \n\n“Well, uh, you see…” stammered the acolyte, his bluster completely disappeared. \n\n“Out with it, then.” \n\n“As she prepared her knife to cut into the patient’s abdomen, I dreamt for her the ribcage opening up into a hungering, slavering maw, its bony teeth biting into her precious, calloused hand, the patient a formless, shapeshifting monstrosity in disguise. But she just laughed as she hacked off her own hand and affixed a rotary saw to the stump. The entire hospital was infested with formless abominations wearing the faces of her colleagues, but she just laughed as she slashed and burned her way through the friends she had once laughed, cried, and bled with. When she went to work the next morning, the nurses all said they had never seen her so happy or well-rested before. A smile as wide, toothy, and fearsome as the one I saw her wear belongs on a shark, not a surgeon.” \n\n“Amateurish, and plagiaristic, too. Why do I even bother? Well, at least I only have one failure left to listen to. So how are *you* going to disappoint me?” \n\n“Mine was so brilliant in its simplicity!” offered the last of the acolytes. “I have no idea how it could have failed. Every cut on the patient’s body was replicated on the surgeon’s. Every incision would bring him tortuous pain, and yet he had no choice but to carry on; no one but him would know the pain he brought upon himself with every slice of the scalpel. Torture beyond imagine! And yet, all it accomplished was giving his husband a little more laundry to wash that week.” \n\n“From the terror?” hoped the junior-most acolyte.\n\n“No. Not from terror. The exact opposite, in fact,” an admission the acolyte uttered joylessly. \n\n“It would seem I am once again alone in my success,” sighed the Master. \n\n“But how? What evil machinations run in the mind of the greatest of us?” pleaded the senior-most acolyte. \n\n“It was simple. So simple. Almost nothing at all. I merely dreamt for him his parents telling him they would have been happier if he had just pursued his own dreams.” \n\nThe acolytes sat in shocked silence for quite some time. The master permitted them a measure to absorb the meaning of their words, before at last breaking the silence themselves.\n\n“I see you have all learned little and less. But now, we must away, fellow Doctors of Osteopathy Opposing Medical Doctors; you know the staff here at this Applebee’s don’t like it when we stay past closing time.”\n\n“All hail the master!”"
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[WP] You’re 3 hours late for work! On your way, you notice, all the cars on the road are old, and everything looks different. A car pulls up beside you with their window down. You hear “Mmmm Bop” by Hanson playing. Suddenly, you realize... something strange is happening.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"##Ba Du Bop\n\nI glance at the clock in my car; my pulse continues to race. How on earth did I miss it. Even though my phone died before the alarm went off, I usually wake up earlier. I look around at the traffic. The road is full, and the cars are older than normal. Must be a different crowd. \n\n\"Mmmbop,\" the car next to mine blasts that hook. I roll up my window. That song sucks. What monster adds that abomination to their playlist. I keep driving and plug my phone into the car. The traffic is a nightmare. I look over to see a road is under construction. \n\nI turn on the radio, and that cursed song comes on. God, it is awful. I turn on my phone for a playlist. No signal. Perfect. Traffic comes to a stop. I look at my texts. My screen is overwhelmed with missed calls and texts. No wonder my phone died.\n\nEnough cars stop that I look through them. Tears fill my eyes as I realize that my dad is in the hospital after having a heart attack. He died. There is a knock on my window, and I realize that several cars on honking.\n\n\"Hey buddy, you are clogging traffic looking at your Gameboy,\" an old man says.\n\n\"This is not a Gameboy; it is my phone,\" I say.\n\n\"Whatever, just drive poindexter,\" he says walking away. I look back. It was odd hearing those words come out of his mouth. Maybe we are bringing the 90s back.\n\nI make a plan to tell my boss that I was delayed due to my father's passing. They will probably give me the rest of the day off work. I would call if my phone still has no reception. When I reach my the building, I notice on the sign that my architecture firm is not listed. I walk in to a receptionist desk at the front. That is odd. The desk has an old computer at the front, and Mariah Carey is coming out of the radio.\n\n\"Can I help you?\" she asks.\n\n\"Hi, I am looking for McMartin and Co.,\" I say.\n\n\"I am sorry. They are not in this building. You must have the wrong address,\" she says.\n\n\"Uh, do you know where they would be?\" I ask. She pulls out a phone book and hands it to me.\n\n\"Use that,\" she says. I look at the phone book to see it says 1997. My eyes widen, and I drop the book.\n\n\"Sorry,\" I quickly pick it up and sit back down. My dad died, and I time traveled. What a god-awful day. Wait a second, I look up the phone book to find the right address. \n\n\"Thank you, you have done so much for me,\" I say with joy as I hand over the phone book.\n\n\"Uh, okay,\" she says. I quickly get in my car, and I drive and drive. \n\nMy parents just moved in to their current house, and it is a few hours outside of the city. When I get to my old neighborhood, I park in front of my house. My dad's car is in the driveway. I go up and knock on the door. He opens it. \n\nI immediately embrace him and start crying. He hesitates at first before hugging back.\n\n\"I think you have the wrong address,\" he says awkwardly. The best answer is a partial truth.\n\n\"I know. My dad just died, and I couldn't hold it in, anymore,\" I pull away from him, \"I am sorry sir.\"\n\nSeeing his face causes me to cry even more, he pulls me back in even though he doesn't know me. He always was a kind man. \n\n\"I am sorry,\" I wail. He rubs my back.\n\n\"Don't be sorry. I am a dad. Seeing a grown man cry activated my dad mode,\" he says, \"Dad mode initiated.\"\n\nI laugh a little as I remember his corny jokes. We hug for a bit of time until he pulls away. \n\n\"Listen, I have a family of my own to get to. If I could give you any advice, it would be to cherish the ones you love. And don't go around hugging random people,\" he says.\n\n\"Will do,\" I smile at him and go back to my car. My tears flow out in the car again for a good half-hour. I hear another knock on the window, and I see my sister. Her eyes are also red with tears.\n\n\"My phone died in the night,\" I say getting out of the car. She hugs me too.\n\n\"It is okay. Come on in,\" she says. We walk towards the house, \"our biggest worry is that you didn't get to say goodbye. I am sorry.\"\n\n\"It is okay. I cherished him while he loved,\" I hug my sister again, \"And I will be sure to do the same to you.\"\n\n---\n\nr/AstroRideWrites"
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[WP] while scientists did expect to face some backlash for removing Pluto from the list of planets, they did not expect a God of the underworld to show up, pissed that his planet had been excluded
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Disclaimer: 1st Post, on mobile:\n\nAs the meeting of the International Astronomical Union to decide Pluto's status finalized, the council lays down the conditions to be classified as a planet.\n\nStanding up, Dr. Friedrich Aizen declares the qualifiers, \"It is in orbit around the Sun. It has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium.. to clarify for our guest, a sphere, or nearly round shape.\" \n\nMel felt a twinge of irritation as she balled her fists, not used to the condescending tone from these men.\n\n\"And that it has 'cleared the neighborhood' around its orbit, meaning that the body has exerted a dominant gravitational pull in contrast to its immediate vicinity.\" He finished his piece.\n\n\"Right, but you need to understand, that this classification doesn't hold ground. I have here the data that Pluto has a notable gravitational pull.\" As she hands the research paperwork over. \n\n\"Interesting, where did you say this information was accredited? Was there a peer review for the paper? When was this published?\" He pauses for a moment to read, \"This was back in the 90's! This data is most likely irrelevant, it's now 2006 and our instruments now have a much more reliable output of data.\" As a low collective murmur from the IAU echoed in the conference room. \"I'm apologize Lady Mel, but we no longer have the time to waste on this frivolous claim. It doesn't matter that your father is a donor, but personal preferences cannot overrule scientific facts.\"\n\nMel put a finger on her chin as she thought to reframe her argument. She knew that when this news breaks out, her Father will weaken further from the loss of of even more believers. Maybe it's time to take over the mantle..? These thoughts dissolve from her head as the once imposing figure of her father is now wheeled in by her younger siblings into the room. Dead silence echoes out throughout the halls as the man with Silver Locks enters. Even on a wheelchair, the commanding presence is unmistakable, weighted and laborious breathing was now common in everyone inside the room.\n\nHesitant to speak, A startled Aizen starts \"Ah, Sir Hessad. So kind of you to join us. We were just about to finalize our findings.\" He wasn't expecting HIM to arrive! Why is HE here?!\n\n\"So... you have reviewed the findings that Melinoe has brought forth?\" An air of command follows each syllable he speaks. \"And I trust this is satisfactory to keep the planet's status?\"\n\nAizen starts to stammer, the facade of confidence immediately crumbles. \"Ah.. Sir.. y-yes, we've gone over this with the Lady and we canno-\"\n\n\"Choose your next words carefully.\" Eyes reflecting the Void stares into the terrified man.\n\n\"We.. uh.. I..\" A momentary pause to compose himself \"The council has decided to classify Pluto as a 'dwarf planet' as the body doesn-\"\n\n\"A regrettable choice.\" A reverberating tone coming from the man with the Silver Hair.\n\nAizen's breath starts to fog. The room feels darker and closing in on him. The 7 other Scientists of the IAU notice the sudden and drastic drop in temperature as they stand and move away in shock. The Doctor turns blue as his skin looks to be freezing by the second.\n\nSeeing his life flash before his eyes... He feels warmth start from his lungs, spread to his stomach, then to his extremities. What was this? He then sees her, sitting in the corner, barely noticeable, his master, Sera. A distinguished woman in a red formal suit with a wide brimmed hat walks over. Her Jet Black hair in a perfectly kept in an intricate braid. Her lips part with a crooked grin as she approached the Silver Haired man. She leans in and speaks softly, but forcefully.\n\n\"Take the title Brother, it's all you're going to get.\"",
"You see Earth amoung all the gods was shrouded in infamy for being a prankster. However,The enigmatic Sun God that dropped nine souls connected to the nine different Heavenly bodies that it holds absolute power over, definitely had the crudest humour of them all. \nHowever he always got away with it. \nOne can only wonder how sick the sol must have been to give Earth out of all the gods, Life. \nThe god was crazy enough to give Earth the responsibility of millions of souls. \nEarth! The one who thought it was funny to let his own son, the Moon to be let battered by thousands of asteroids was given the responsibility of handling the lives of millions.\nEarth's twisted sense of humor often landed him in hot waters with his fellow brothers. \nHe often treated his responsibility as his \"loyal subjects\". He often involved his subjects in his cruel plans and often let them do his bidding. \nMaking his subjects send rather strange abominations known as satellite to pry into the secret troves of his peers. \nFor his latest escapade earth set his eyes on his youngest sibling, pluto. \nPluto was a rather shy person. Always keeping to themselves. \n\"Hey Plutooo!\" Earth exclaimed mockingly. \nPluto immediately got up and tried slipping away as he could feel an uncomfortable conversation coming up, but just as he got up and turned around earth had already found his way to him. \n\"Yes brother?\" Pluto sighed in disbelief. \n\"Do you know what this is brother?\" Earth smirked like an idiot holding out a set of rolled papers. \n\"Is'nt that the thing your people call newspaper?, what about it?\" Pluto asked visibly confused. \n\"Well why don't you read today's headline brother\" earth said, with his idiotic grin widening.\nPluto snatched the paper from earth's hand.\n-NEW STUDY CLAIMS PLUTO IS NOT A PLANET \nThis had Pluto fuming in rage. Earth this time clearly had crossed a line. Attacking Pluto's insecurities. \n\"This is really not funny brother\" \nThis is not like the time you picked me up and exclaimed 'ohh that does not feel solid' in that annoying bratty voice of yours. Believe me there will be consequences\" without giving earth a chance to reply Pluto in his fit of rage snapped his fingers and vanished into thin air. \nMeanwhile the residents of the planet earth were completely oblivious. They worshipped false idols and were ludicrously gullible.\nThier naive nature made it very easy for earth to control the human's actions to suit his whims and fancies. \nDr Catherine ceasersky was one such human. \nCatherine was a renowned scientist and a genius in every sense of the word. \nBut lady luck was not on her side as she fell prey to earth's vile schemes. \nIn a fit of rage Pluto had found his way to Catherine. \nJust as Catherine stepped out of the shower she saw a towering figure standing in front of her. The sheer size of this person made her tremble. \nYou see Pluto might have been a dwarf compared to his siblings but put him in front of an earthling and his size was no joke. \nCatherine was scared even before she could snap out of the shock, the figure in front of her growled\n:\"who are you to decide if I am a planet or not?! \"\nTo be continued",
"The scientists all sat around a table, looking at each other, all in their white lab coats and safety goggles, confused and worried at the man, or god, that sat at the end of the table. This god was wearing a suit and had a very old watch on his right arm, and he didn't look happy.\n\n\n\n\"So, tell me again why you are here?\" Asked Dr. Goliz. The god just sighed and looked at his watch, before staring at the scientist with dagger-like eyes.\n\n\n\n\"You know why I am here Mr. Goliz, it's because you have MOCKED MY VERY NAME!\" He yelled. The god proceeded to stand up and march towards the scientist and lifted him up, staring deep into his soul. \"You better make Pluto a planet right now, for you have made me a laughing stock of the god realm,\" He ordered.\n\n\n\n\"Mr. Pluto, we simply can't, there are other 'planets' that are the same size as yours,\" said another scientist. The God, now identified as Pluto, looked at the scientist with the same dagger-like eyes and asked, \"are they gods though?\"\n\n\n\n\"Well.. no, bu...\" the scientist started, but Pluto interrupted him, screaming, \"THEN CHANGE IT BACK, OR YOUR PLANET WON'T BE ONE ANYMORE!\" \n\n\n\n\"Mr. Pluto, lets make a deal, we have unanimously agreed that Pluto is a dwarf planet due to other similar sized objects in our solar system, but if those objects were to, 'disappear,' we could change the status of Pluto back to a planet,\" Dr. Goliz said.\n\n\n\n\"Alright, I'll make them disappear, you better change my planet back to an official planet,\" Pluto said.\n\n\n\nWith that Pluto opened a portal to the underworld, slowly walking through it while straightening his tie, before fully going through the portal, with it shutting behind him.\n\n\n\n\"Yeah, we ain't making Pluto a planet again, we can just make up fake Pluto-sized objects,\" Dr. Goliz said."
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[WP] Aliens live amongst us, disguised as humans. The only day they are not disguised is halloween, and no one suspects a thing. You go out and see someone dressed exactly like you. You get to talking and slowly realise their "costume" is way too realistic...
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"The costume is stuffy, but it's worth it- I worked all month on the thing and I'm not about to give up now, especially when the character it's of is so popular.\n\nI see someone with almost exactly the same costume as me, and walk over to them. Guess the character is pretty popular, people would want to dress up as it.\n\n\"Hey, you watched the movie too?\"\n\n\"Indeed. I have, yes, seen it.\"\n\nA little cold, you think, but some people take a while to get engaged in a conversation.\n\n\"I worked a lot on this costume, to get all the details- the antennae fuzz was really hard, ended up using torn cotton for it!\"\n\n\"Yes, I crafted this costume, with, indeed, my fingered hands. To much difficulty, indeed.\"\n\nYou notice a few things. First of all, there are no seams or anything on the costume, nothing to indicate how it's assembled, and it's... vibrating. Second, the guy is talking very weirdly. Third, you felt very cold since you started talking to him.\n\n\"You should, yes, leave. At this current time, that is.\"\n\nYou're slightly curious as to what's going on, but that's overpowered by fear. Forget the costume, forget the guy, just run. Far, far away.\n\nGod knows I got a head start."
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[WP] You and your husband lived long and wonderful lives together. When you both died, you expected the afterlife. Instead, you find yourselves in the corridor of your high school, where both first met. You both stare at each other in shock as you look down at your wedding rings.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
" I open my eyes with a gasp. But that wasn’t really true, was it. Sure, my lips parted and my chest swelled. But no air rushed it. There was no tightness in my chest. There was no sensation of heaviness of air. It was merely the charade of a gasp, an act that I felt I should be required to make, but for some reason could not. And yet I was calm.\n\nI looked around me, as my eyes adjusted to the light. Of course, I had been staring at a flickering light moments before. But that was when… something. Something happened. Where was I before, and where was I now.\n\nThe colors seem familiar. There’s a comfort in the purple and red. Wait, maroon. It’s maroon. Michael was always picky that I got my colors right. \n\n*Michael*.\n\nThe name rang like a bell between my ears. I knew that name. He had been with me. Before. He had held my hand as… something happened. He was there as I watched the light flicker. But here I was alone. In this hallway of purple and maroon. \n\nAnd then I wasn’t. There was a boy with me. A boy I would put no older than seventeen. His appearance was sudden, but somehow expected. He belonged in this hallway, we both did. And as our eyes met, I knew he felt the same.\n\n“Alice?” he said in a voice as familiar as the sun.\n\n“Michael,” I answered, knowing that was his true name, but not sure how it was that I knew. But this was the boy. The boy who held my hand. I reached out to him, hoping to feel him again.\n\nHe reached out as well, and when our hands touched, I found myself smiling. The ring on his finger is a familiar weight. Of course it was there. It belonged on his finger, like we belonged in this hallway.\n\n“Good, you’re here,” a new voice said.\n\nI turned my gaze away from Michael to see a man, much taller than either of us. He did not loom, nor did he impose. He simply stood, as was his purpose to do so.\n\n“Who are you?” Michael asked.\n\n“I’ve been called many things,” the man said, bowing slightly. He held a cane in one hand, and in his other an envelope. His suit was finely pressed and of a lightest blue I had ever seen. But his eyes were dark. In this hallway of purple and maroon, his black eyes had the most color. “The boogeyman, the reaper. But my favorite is Charon. I like the way it sounds. Charon.”\n\n“I’m Michael.”\n\n“Yes,” Charon said with a warm smile. “I’m aware. And this is your wife, Alice.”\n\n“Yes,” I said. \n\nA torrent of memories rushed into me, like a wave crashing against the back of my eyelids. A high school. A chapel. A birth. A beach. A Christmas. A Flickering light. \n\nMy life. It had ended. But here I was, back in high school with the boy who loved me. It was exactly as I remembered. I looked down at my left hand. No, not exactly. The ring shone brightly, almost of its own accord. As if proud that it had garnered my attention.\n\nMichael turned to me. “I’m so sorry to have made you wait,” he said, eyes wide. “I missed you so much. But I couldn’t leave the kids.”\n\nI wiped away the tears beginning to well in my eyes. “Of course Michael. It’s alright.”\n\n“If it’s any consolation,” Charon added. “Your fourteen years of solitude passed by much quicker for Alice on this side. Why, I hardly think she noticed you missing.”\n\n“So… Where are we now?” I asked tentatively. “Is this heaven?”\n\n“Let’s not get caught up in the semantics of name calling again,” Charon said dismissively. “You are here because this is where one of you first realized they loved the other.”\n\nNow it was Michael’s turn to smile. Guilty as charged.\n\n“I find this to be a good starting point for the next part.”\n\n“Which is?” I asked slowly, not nearly as afraid as I should be. But I had no reason to be. \n\n“Why to move on, of course,” Charon said, a smile pulling slightly at his lips. “And the best part? You get to do it the way you’ve done everything for the past seventy five years.”\n\nI felt Michael’s grip in mine tighten, braced.\n\nTogether."
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[WP]A child in a superpowered universe is discovered to be able to amplify the powers of others.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"A streak of blue flashed through the landscape of the modern city. \n\nUnusual, yet not strange to the people of the city. It was the age of superheroes. People blessed with superpowers either due to natural genetic mutations or artificial enhancements since centuries ago. Life went on since then and humanity had learned to live and adapt to it. You would see a construction worker carrying a one ton steel beam over his head, or a firefighter who's immune to fire. The paranormal became normal, the supernatural became natural. Of course the most popular career choice was to be a superhero, fighting those who misused their powers.\n\nBlue Peregrine, the fastest hero of the Justice Department just ran across the city, a whole 500 km in 2 seconds flat. Rapidly took out 10 bank robbers in a blink of an eye, put them in custody to the police.\n\nBack in the Justice Department HQ, Blue Peregrine approached Doctor Blaine, the leading scientific mind of the advancement of the hero community.\n\n\"Hey thanks, Doc! Whatever modification you did to my suit worked. Only last week my top speed was half that distance in the same time!\"\n\nThe Doctor only nodded and smiled. Burying himself back into his unending work. A man of few words he was always.\n\nThe blue speedster just shrugged and went on his way. \n\n\"*Blue, can you hear me?\"*, a voice rang in his head.\n\n\"Mel? Where are you? Why are you talking telepathically?\"\n\nIt was Melanie McGrath, also known as Psiona, a telepath.\n\n\"*Not here, meet me at the back office now!\"*\n\nShe sounded perturbed. Didn't take Blue more than a few microseconds to reach there.\n\n\"Hey whassup?\"\n\n\"Jeez Blue! You scared me!\", Melanie jumped. Gathering herself she spoke\n\n\"I just found out something...I'm not sure yet what it is, but something's not right is happening here in the HQ\", Melanie whispered her body trembling.\n\n\"Whoa, whoa, Mel are you alright? You look unwell. Maybe we should...\"\n\n\"No, listen! This morning I heard a voice telepathically. A voice I'm not familiar with. It was weak but it was definitely there. And it was coming from somewhere here in the building...\"\n\nCuriosity got the better of Blue \"A voice? What does the voice say?\"\n\n\"...*Help*\"\n\nA shiver ran down Blue's spine. Psiona just replayed the voice in Blue's mind and it was chilling. It was a voice of a young child, weak and begging.\n\n\"Jezz, Melanie don't do that!\"\n\n\"Sorry , sorry. But I can't get that out of my mind since I heard it. I need your help\"\n\nUnwilling to abandon a plea of help from a child, Blue nodded in agreement.\n\n\"Do you know where it came from? The voice?\"\n\n\"Basement\", Mel whispered again.\n\n\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\\*\n\n\"Can you hear it again now?\"\n\n\"No, not really\"\n\nThe two heroes were exploring the basement of the building. It was not a common area any of the personnel would go to, especially the heroes. They went deeper and deeper to the bottom floor.\n\n\"...wait!\", Melanie stopped.\n\n\"I hear it. From there...\", she pointed at a dusty door at the end of the hall of the bottom floor.\n\n\"Why would there be a child in there?\", Blue asked rhetorically.\n\nThey went and opened the door. What greeted them on the other side of the door was...unsettling to say the least.\n\nA child, a young boy not older than 10 years old was strapped to an ominous looking machine. Tubes ran down from the walls of the small dark room, they were attached to every part of his little body, penetrating his skins. He was unconscious. \n\n\"Wha...what the hell is this?\", fear starting to grow inside Blue\n\n\"You 2 aren't supposed to be down here\"\n\nThe 2 heroes looked back immediately to the figure of Doctor Blaine standing by the door.\n\n\"Doc? Wha...what is this?\"\n\n\"Well, since you already saw then...I'll tell you\"\n\nThe doctor walked to the child, almost admiring the machine he was strapped onto...\n\n\"Do you know how many decades I've been doing this...researching and experimenting of ways to advance our technology? How many times I have stagnated, how many times I have hit a wall. The frustration, the anxiety that it will happen one day. One day a villain will rise, so powerful...too powerful to be handled normally. I had to find a way, a surefire solution to be able to contain any danger, to keep the world safe...\"\n\nBlue never saw the doctor got fired up like the man in front of him. He was almost like a mad scientist\n\n\"Until one day I found it! I found a way to make sure every hero can be powerful enough to stop anything and everything! I found him!\", the doctor pointed at the child\n\n\"This boy holds the ability to amplify the superpower of any individual! His blood contained the genetic key to my goal!\"\n\nBlue and Mel looked in shock and horror.\n\n\"How...how can you do this? He's just a child! He's not some kind of lab rat\", Mel screamed.\n\n\"You...you somehow used the boy's blood to amplify my speed...didn't you?\", in disgust Blue made the grave realization.\n\n\"You see! It worked! Had you not be faster a few civilians might have lost their lives!\"\n\n\"Doc...this is sick. I can't let you get away with this...\"\n\n\"A great achievement requires a great sacrifice, Blue. This child...\", the doctor pointed at the unconscious boy again\n\n\"...this child is my son!\"\n\nThe 2 heroes could only stood there in shock and disgust, speechless at the act of pure evil in front of them.\n\n\"You're a monster\", Mel spoke up again after a long silence\n\nThe doctor sighed, \"It seems like there's no convincing you two. You know I can't have you run out and telling everybody\"\n\n\"Try and catch me then!\", Blue started running but....he couldn't tap into his super speed\n\n\"What the...?\"\n\n\"Oh come now Blue, what do you take me for? I designed your suit and I included a fail safe, a power dampener I call it. The moment you walked in this room I activated it\"\n\nHeavy footsteps came down the hallway. Soldiers, armed with rifles pointed at the 2 helpless heroes...\n\n\"This secret must be kept safe...for the sake of the world, for the sake of humanity. If you're in my way then...I'm afraid you must be eliminated. No hard feelings, guys. It's just necessary\"\n\nThe doctor nodded at the soldiers. Blasts of rifles echoed throughout the dark room, followed by a thud of 2 bodies hitting the floor."
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[WP] You were doing your math homework when you heard the front door open. Suddenly, your vision goes black and you presume that the cold thing pressed against you is a gun. The intrudor asks you an unexpected question, and if you answer you'll live. Good thing you always payed attention in class.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"I was sitting in my bedroom in the dorm when I heard the front door to the apartment open. I didn’t think anything of it, since this was about the time my roommates generally came back. I never enjoyed calculus and for the twentieth time wondered why the hell my advisor insisted I take it. I half wondered if the guy was trying to make sure I failed out of school.\n\nSuddenly my vision went black and I felt something pressed against my head.\n\n“What is the difference between a plutonic intrusive igneous rock and a volcanic extrusive igneous rock?” The voice that asked me in such a cold voice that most certainly didn’t belong to my roommates. “Tell me if you want to live.”\n\nI sighed. “The former forms under the surface when magma cools and the later forms above the surface when lava cools.”\n\nI heard a click and the felt the sting as the rubber bb nailed my temple.\n\n“Thanks, goof,” my roommate’s little sister giggled as she removed her hand from my head and plunked herself on my desk, and bending down to show me an all too generous portion of cleavage and leg as she grabbed up the worksheet I was working on with one hand, still keeping the bb gun aimed at me with the other. “Calculus huh? I could finish this for you if you agree to a romp afterwards.”\n\n“Even if your brother wouldn’t kill me, and even if I thought you were serious, there’s no way I would be interested in a sixteen-year-old.” I snatched my homework back. “Let alone one with a boyfriend. And put that stupid bb gun away before an RA comes in and catches you.”\n\n“Ah you’re no fun,” she rolled her eyes and pouted sliding off the desk. “You’re only eighteen so there’s no problem. It’s not like you’re twenty-one or something.”\n\n“You’re still way too young and even if you weren’t there’s still the matter of your boyfriend and your brother,” I pointed out as I gently grabbed her shoulders and shoved her out the door of my bedroom into the common room.\n\nAt that moment one of my classmates walked through the apartment door to collect the notebook I had borrowed earlier. She had a boyfriend as well, so I thought I was safe. “Your roommate’s sister is still flirting with you, I see,” she laughed.\n\n“Yeah,” I sighed.\n\nMy classmate’s eyes sparkled wickedly as she turned to my roommate’s sister. “I find that this works better,” she giggled lifting her shirt. “If you’re serious, you need to actually show him what he’s missing.”\n\nMy roommate’s sister blushed bright red and started stammering. I facepalmed and turned my head.\n\n“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” my classmate laughed.\n\n“Are you trying to give you boyfriend an excuse to kill me?” I accused her as she laughed. \n\n“I won’t tell if you don’t, but he doesn’t care anyways. He thinks it’s hot.”\n\nShe continued to giggle as I shoved my roommate’s sister out of the apartment. My classmate got the same treatment after I grabbed the notebook I had borrowed from her earlier that day off my desk and shoved it into her hands. I slammed the door shut and locked it.\n\nThen I slid to the floor with my head in my hands. I was starting to think college was a bad idea for my sanity.",
"I didn't want to do my math homework. I hated the subject, after all. I reluctantly started scribbling out the first problem, the letters and numbers mixing together confusingly.\n\nI heard the door open, and I thought nothing of it. Maybe it was my mom coming home from work, I thought, but I noticed it was far too early for that. I heard footsteps on the floor behind me, and I panicked.\n\nMy vision suddenly went black.\n\nI started to wake up, my head throbbing horribly. I didn't know how long I'd been out for, but I assumed it wasn't that long.\n\nI felt something cold on my back, and I involuntarily shivered. I hoped fervently it was nothing harmful, but in my mind, I knew I was trying to lie to myself.\n“I see you're awake,” a man's low-pitched voice said. “I hope you don't mind, while you were out, I put a blindfold on you.”\n\nOf course I minded, but I didn't dare say that aloud. “What?” I asked instead. I dared not move an inch. I feared the thing on my back was a gun.\n\nMy heart began to race, as if it wasn't racing before as I listened to the man speaking.\n\n“You see... I have a question to ask you,” he went on carelessly. “You might have observed that there is a cold hard object on your back. That's a gun, darling. You should probably answer this if you want to survive,” he said with a low, angry tone.\n\n“What's the question?” I asked him, my patients growing thinner and thinner by the second from his voice droning on and on.\n\n“Oh, it's a simple question, don't worry.” He said this as though I was a dumb child, but I was still worried. Apparently it was a question worth getting murdered for. “What's 4x+2x = 24?”\n\nOh no. I sucked at Algebra. I hardly passed when I did take it.\n\n“Can I have paper or something?” I asked, knowing the answer was most likely to be no.\n\n“Fine,” he said, but before I let out a relieved sigh, he continued. “Verbally.”\n\nGreat. Fantastic. My favorite. Something I barely remember, all done with only my brain.\n\n“Okay...” I started off, my voice shaking slightly. “So if you add 4x and 2x together, you'd get 6x. 6x = 24, right?” I thought for a moment, and continued, 99% sure I was doing this correctly.\n\n“Is that all?” The man asked, his breath going over my shoulder, making me uncomfortable.\n\n“No,” I said hurriedly, “let me finish. If you divide 24 by 6, you'd get um...” I thought for a moment, uneasy with my ability with division. “That would be 4, I think. x = 4... I think that's right.”\n\n“Good,” the person said behind me. “I'm leaving now.” The hard object disappeared, and I let out a sigh of relief.\n\nThere was the sound of footsteps then nothing. I hesitantly took off the blindfolds, and saw no one there. The only sign that this situation had occurred was a paper with the equation written on it.\n\nYears later, I never found out who exactly had done it, and what their motives were about the whole thing. it scares me sometimes, thinking on what could have happened. But I'm alive now, and that's what matters.",
"\"Listen here. You answer my question and you get to live. You don't, and I put a bullet through your skull. Got it?\" The voice is cold, and its message is clear.\n\n\"G-got it,\" I manage, my voice shuddering as I feel cold metal against my temple.\n\n\"Good. What are the intercepts of the equation 4x² - 9x + 6?\"\n\n\"Wh-what the fuck? I was just-\"\n\n\"Answer the god damn question.\" The voice presses the gun against my head, as if I'd somehow forgotten it was there.\n\n\"Alright alright! Can I, like, use some-\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"Okay, okay. So, uh, solving for y when x = 0, you get- what was the equation again?\"\n\n\"4x² - 9x + 6. If you ask one more time, I'll-\"\n\n\"Got it. So the result is 6 when x = 0, giving the y-intercept as 6. We solve for y = 0 using the quadratic formula, which-\"\n\n\"And what's the quadratic formula?\"\n\n\"Uhh, uhh,\" I stumble for a moment, \"negative B, plus or minus the square root of B squared plus... no, minus 4AC, over 2A...?\"\n\n\"Alright. Carry on.\"\n\n\"Well, see, if you put those values in the quadratic formula...\"\n\n\"Wait, actually, why not trinomial factorisation or completing the square?\" The voice inquires, lowering the gun.\n\n\"...there's no solution, as B² is smaller than 4AC, leaving a complex result,\" I continue anyway, ignoring the voice's question.\n\n\"How can there be no solution?\"\n\n\"Graph doesn't touch the X-axis. Never hits 0.\"\n\n\"...very well then.\""
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[WP] In 2031 Time Travel becomes reality, you cannot alter the past but can view it. Instantly major events become tourist attractions crowded by people hiding and watching. You are walking through the desert night hiking, when thousands appear around you, watching...
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"You could set me up with the best inquisitors Gitmo had to offer and I still couldn’t tell you how I ended up stumbling across the desert with such a monumental pajero.\n\n“It’s for charity!”\n\n“Check out that Instabook following!”\n\n“Look what he did for those children!”\n\nAll valid points but a book does not necessarily match its cover. Off-camera I can assure you Chubsy is not so adorable. From his too-tight pants to his utter hypocrisy, filming him has been the diametric opposite to an honest-to-God pleasure. Though I probably shouldn’t say the G-word these days.\n\nI’m humping the lion, the witch and the wardrobe’s share of the gear despite being 5 foot 5 and having less meat on me than a butcher’s pencil. Again, meat, sorry.\n\nChubs set a jaunty pace ahead of me while LensBots followed diligently. His commentary was engaging, funny and heartwarming and he even drops in a self-deprecating gag about his size in there.\n\nAny piece to camera wouldn’t be complete without a shout-out to Miltech’s desertflage, a high technology modular clothing system which ensures your body heat is distributed evenly, your heart-rate is optimised and best of all your carrying capacity raised by 60%. Good to know! Needless to say, they offered me a set at less than cost price and their kind offer was flatly refused.\nI’ve been blamed for everything from the heat to the sand, had my past work picked apart and even my father insulted, G rest his soul. \n\nAnd the pranks! Ripper lice in my undergarments? What he did to my beer with a straw while I went to drain the lizard? You couldn’t even get that footage on TLC.\n\nI’d been told to expect fans along the route but they’ve been increasing to levels even he hadn’t planned for. The reverential calm they exuded slowly changed too. The air weighed heavy with an air of anticipation and a smattering of snorting that I just can’t place.\n\nWe staggered forward and to keep pushing through the experience I silently threw shade at his giant ass. For all its technical breakthroughs, his state-of-the-art outfit stood out from the endless beige vista like a steak in a supermarket. \n\nI admit, I was slow understand what was unfolding, like a developing case of Colonovirus.\n\nThese new bodies weren’t Chubsmaniacs, they were Chronofreaks. Since The Boom, time travel was as inexpensive as a holiday and these guys took full advantage. Any disaster, misfortune, accident or visual malfeasance was live entertainment for these ghouls. My heart sank for a stone knowing it was likely to involve an Epic Prank that would go hilariously, or fatally wrong for me.\n\nWhat to do? I’d suffered for days on this grim burial march and to be honest had stopped caring, my life essence drained, stymied, crushed and humiliated. I weighed up every scenario I could think of and could only infer that it’d be best to keep on trucking and hope there’d be compensation.\n\nTrue enough, while I was deeply enjoying my pity party, Chubs seized his chance. One of the LensBots dropped its hidden ordinance, a self-expanding bear-trap gracefully in front of me and its jaws snapped tighter than a malfunctioning PleasureBot around my calf.\n\nAs I screeched like a six year old genderfree and rolled around whimpering I noticed two things. That the crowd was even bigger than imagined, and that the response wasn’t anywhere close to splitting their sides. They were… expectant.\n\nChubsy didn’t care, he had more suffering for his private video collection. He didn’t even notice our ever-growing audience. \n\nWhen you’re stuck out in the desert where any form of personal entertainment is contraband, you don’t learn that an emotionally confused GigaCamel escaped from the local GM facility and is longing for a brief encounter after months of solitary. You might not dress up as a giant furry groundhog, and when you’re bending over laughing at your tiny, bleeding cameraman, try not to laugh so hard as to rip the seat of your pants.\n\nOur rapidly increasing audience drew a long, anticipatory breath as the hum of thousands of VideoCams reached a heady crescendo.",
"With every step I took, the whispers grew louder. Not by the individual, but by the masses. In the woods to the left, and in the windows of suburban houses to my right, wide eyes stood watching, staring, waiting. The familiar crunch of popcorn and slurping of carbonated sensations accompanied the suppressed voices. When I stood tall, they sounded worried and ate more. When I faltered, they all hushed, save for the occasional yelp.\n\nSuffice to say, I was crying, though I did my best to hide my tears with the darkness of my hood. A thousand thoughts raced through my brain, but not one made any sense. Thousands of eyes were on me. What sort of horrible nightmare was this?\n\nI passed under a street lamp that flickered against the night sky. A hummingbird moth fluttered around it, wings beating against the still air.\n\n“Watch closely,” a young mother said to her child. “This is it.”\n\nThey were only fifteen feet away, ducked behind a ‘95 Accord. The mother peered over, the child peered under. I locked eyes with the child, who gripped the underside of the vehicle with ashen fingers. *Run,* he mouthed.\n\nI furrowed my brow as every muscle in my body tensed, but it was too late.\n\nThe buzzing came from above. Each stridulation like thunder. Through the lamp light, yellow and back stripes dominated my field of vision. Size large limbs outstretched beneath a pointed head reached out towards me, tarsomeres scratching against my skin.\n\nI could do nothing but freeze, and before I knew it, I was slammed against the ground. A wasp twice the size of myself stood atop me, compound eyes glaring into me.\n\nThere were no whispers as its mandibles opened and closed, palps caressing my cheeks.\n\nSuddenly, the wasp raised its abdomen high and brought the tip down onto my stomach. I twisted and churned, fighting with the the little will I had remaining to be free, but the beast held me tight against the concrete. Through squinted, bury eyes, I watched the abdomen pulsate for but a moment before ripping free, leaving a gaping hole in my skin.\n\nWith the beat of its wings once more, the wasp took off into the night sky, leaving me bloody on the ground. I tried to get up, but pain seared throughout my body. I turned to the mother. “Help me,” I whispered.\n\n“The egg has been planted,” she told her child as she threw back a handful of popcorn.\n\nI laid on the ground writhing for what must have been an eternity before I heard a whisper from the woods. “Here it comes.”\n\nMy stomach began churning as if it were erupting. Then there was a piercing pain, and then my whole torso felt like it was deteriorating from the inside. From the hole stabbed by the beast’s ovipositor, a set of jet black limbs appeared, followed by a pointed head with compound eyes, and then a black and yellow body. In its mandibles was caught a chunk of my liver, and attached to its bristles were my veins.\n\nThe crowd gasped.\n\nAnother set of limbs appeared, and then another body. Then another set of limbs, and then another body. Then another. Then another.\n\nThe newborn wasps began shaking off their wings and taking off into the air, creating a loud buzzing roar in the still sky.\n\nI gasped for air against the hole that they had torn in my lungs. My mind grew fuzzy as I lost feeling in my fingers and toes. What I did feel was the mass of writhing exoskeletons inside me, chewing away my organs until they were plump enough to survive.\n\nAs I sputtered, I heard the audience cheering, shouting about their money well spent. One person threw some popcorn. Another jeered about their disappointment.\n\nWhen the world went dark, my mind played tricks upon my soul, rolling empty credits in my disappearing mind. Night of the Living Parasitoid. My life was nothing but a cheap horror flick.",
"...as you finish shaking the last few drops and quickly put your member away, zipping up to the last flashes of photography. Suddenly, the thousands disappear. \n\n\"Maybe it was a hallucination...\"\n\n11 years later you see your schlong on digital billboards advertising \"the sights of touring the past\", and begin a lawsuit process. Apparently culture shifts in attitudes during the 2020s lead to full frontal male nudity being considered a comic norm of advertising. \n\n\"It was a decent pic\" you think to yourself. \n\nAfter the lawsuit clears with decent royalties package, you decide a career shift into modeling for the new demand. After 10 years of your halographic penis ads being in malls, airports, streets, and busses lead to movie roles playing nude warriors and athletes, you retire at 40, with a huge fan following.\n\nThey typically ask for a signature of their personal photos they took of you on your desert hike...",
"\"whoah\" I said to myself, as thousands of people just appeared out of nowhere \"what are all you doing here\"\n\nA silence fell over the crowd, followed by a few gasps. The crowd that had been lively and almost like it's own entity stopped moving. \n\n\"Excuse me, excuse me, sorry to interrupt. This is highly irregular.\", a figure standing about 5'9 popped out of the crowd holding a clip board and looking at it, trying to not make eye contact. He wore a purple suit with a bright yellow bowtie and a small bowler hat, \"Sorry about this, we aren't REALLY suppose to be visible to you, but if you could just continue on with your day that would be great\".\n\n\"Sorry, what?\" I must have looked very confused as I said that. Mostly because I was, everyone had suddenly appeared and it felt like they were watching me pee or something. Like a private moment had just been shattered and the juxtaposition of it all had thrown me for a tremendous loop. \"What's going on here?\"\n\nThe man in the purple suite of me furrowed his eye brow, \"Well this is a timed event!\" he said like I was suppose to know what that meant exactly, \"Some time from now something around here is going to happen, and that something is going to be worth watching.\" He finish with a small, and I swear just a little bounce in his step.\n\nThen it clicked this was a timed event. About 5 years someone had cracked the Higgs-Rosen bridge and created a wormhole, well it turns out when you can violate space, because they are related you can violate time. It's all above my pay grade, especially getting to watch historic events. You see it's an odd thing time, it seems if you try to interact with the past, well you can't. It just won't let you. The working theory is that once you change the past it makes the present not happen so traveling to the past never happened and so you never changed events. It loops like that until you just don't do it. So time travellers are 1. rarely seen, and 2. never interact with the past. \n\n\"OH! So am I going to do something really interesting!\" I said to the man in the Purple suite.\n\nHe looked up at me from his clip board and looked at his watch again, \"Well I'm not a liberty to say, though I should be able to interact with you either so.... maybe?\" he trailed off and everyone was dead silent still. One person ate what looked like a Milk Dud and someone slapped them in the hand. \n\nI just looked around, I had been heading home when everyone showed up. \"Ok well I guess I'll just go home then?\" as I adjusted my footing and crossed the dusty ground. I put my head down and started walking. \n\n\"So is that it\" someone said from the back, everyone kind of mumbled something, a few more said \"no\" finally the man in purple turned around and shushed them all up. \n\nThey started following me, it was the most odd thing I had ever seen, they just started walking behind me and once the shock of me seeing them wore off I could hear a cacophony of different people talking. \"So is he going to do it? He doesn't look all that bright to be doing something historically significant, at least not now.\n\nI get home and went inside, a few of them tried to follow me in. I shoed them out and sat down at the table. Kevin my roommate popped out of his room, \"Oh you got some mail today\" He said as he scratched his back with one of those extending back scratchers.\n\n\"Oh yeah, anything good?\"\n\n\"No, well there was a letter but I didn't open it.\" He put it down on the table and nearly shat himself as he looked out the window. \"The fuck is that!\" he said pointing out the window. It turns out when you tell a mob of people to stay outside who are intent on seeing you do something it looks a bit like a zombie apocalypse. Outside the kitchen window that must have been only 3ft wide stood about 10 people we could see with hands clambering over them to push to the front. Kevin turned around and at the front window there had to be about 100 visible people there, \"there's like 100 some odd people surrounding the house, uhhh got something to tell me?\"\n\nKevin gave me a sharp look awaiting my reply. I put down the box of cereal I had picked up and gave a heavy sigh, \"well I don't know.\", I sank back down into the kitchen chair and put my head in my hands.\"There's this guy with a bowtie from TTT saying I'm going to do something of some sort of historical significance.\"\n\nKevins eyes went wide, \"The Time Travel Trips guys! Those look so cool, think we can get some free tickets!\" I gave him a sharp look waiting for him to pickup on the weight of the situation. \"Oh something going to happen here isn't it?\", I gave Kevin a heavy nod then sunk back into the chair grabbing the cereal and eating it dry by the handful. \"What do you think it is? You think an astroid or somesomething is going to come hit us?\"\n\nMy eyes went wide. I hadn't thought of something bad happening to me that was significant. \"uhhh what if something massive does happen and this is ground zero\" I said. We both looked at each other, I started having panic breaths. Kevin started running looking around in a panic waiting for something to come out and get us. \n\nFinally his eyes fell on the letter. \"Hey maybe it's something with that letter\", he said pointing with a shaky hand, \"Maybe it's for the government!\". He ran over and grabbed it and started shoving it into my hands. \"Open is Ben open it!\".\n\n\"Alright! Just give me a second.\" I opened the letter feeling very anxious. Were the people outside looking closer or was it in my head. I couldn't really tell. I pulled out a little card and looked at it.\n\n\"Well what is it Ben!\" Kevin was loosing his mind.\n\nI flipped it over and tossed it onto the table, \"My sister is marrying Carol and I'm invited to the wedding. She made some off handed remark about you being my plus one if I couldn't find a date.\"\n\n\"Oh that's nice!\"\n\nI scrunched up my face and glared at Kevin. It wasn't really fair, he was just trying to be supportive and coping in his own way. This whole mess wasn't his fault. I let my frustration melt away and slammed my hand on the table. \"Well I've had about enough of this, I'm going out there and talking with bowtie man and getting to the bottom of this\"\n\nKevin yelled out \"you go tell them\" as I walked out the door. The crowd of people backed away trying ot leave me unimpeded as I walked over to the man in the purple suite and bowtie. \"So what\" I said flailing my arms around and looking around the whole area, \"What is it that is so amazing that all these people felt the need to come out and see it.\" Bowtie man just looked at his clipboard and didn't say a word. \"Hey man I'm talking to you!\" I said and grabbed the clipboard. \"What's with this thing anyways?\"\n\nThe bowtie man took 2 steps back, and gave me an and angry look, \"It's the clipboard, it tells me what happens and how\". He started to take a step back to take it back. But I backed away with it. \"It's on a clipboard because electronics tend to not work well when flipping through time. Something about the gravitational magnetic fields\" He took a swipe but I was faster.\n\n\"So that's one question.\" being 6'2\" I held the clipboard over his head and out of reach, \"but you forgot the most important question. Why are you watching me? I'm a nobody who goes to work comes home watches his programs and goes to bed. I don't even go to the pub.\" \n\n\"Well Mr. Vance you do something tonight that changes everything\"\n\nI cut him off with a sharp stare, \"What could I possibly do that changes the course of history\"\n\nThe purple man gave me a big wide eyed grin, \"Well we can't interact with the past right Mr. Vance\" I gave him a confused look and nodded, \"Right so why are you holding my clipboard from the future.\" He was right, I looked up at my hand and noticed it was holding the clipboard. \"You see Mr. Vance, today is the day that the future finds out that you can manipulate the future without causing a paradox. No one knows why, but the repercussions of this event tie this moment to the future and every possible future. All of time starts to stop making sense and the future and the past start to collide.\" I look at Mr Bowtie with a confused look. \"You see until the point time flows one way, always to the future. You grabbing that clipboard and being able to keep it, well you just broke time somehow. The future is now linked forever to the past.\"\n\nI looked at him, \"So I broke time\"\n\nPurple bowtie, \"yes it seems you have\" He gave me a wry smile and the crowd started to clap as some of them started to fade out. Supposedly going back to their fixed point in time. If there was such a thing anymore.",
"Everyone went wild with anticipation when the first news of time travel was spreading out. There were people who wished it to come sooner so that they are able to change the mistakes they’ve made. There were also people that chanted obscenities on the streets, they fear of the destruction of the time continuum or other mumbo jumbo of the same ilk. While they were raving on and on in the media about the ethics or possible destruction that our team may cause, we were chilling out. Although we didn’t know yet what this new technology will bring, we had some predictions.\n\nIt started with a ringing noise. You know, those noise you heard in the not-so-silence once or twice. Everyone had thought of it to be an artifact of our underdeveloped children ears, some thought of it as tinnitus. However, although make no mistake both are still true, those were not the entire case. It was an artifact, yes, but not only of bodily development but also of otherworldly interference. We did not know yet what other interference caused it, however we did thought that a time traveler’s observation also causes such ringing.\n\nWe realized to the fact by mere coincidence. My colleague, Dr. Yang, vented to me about his ringing ears and asked whether he should see the doctor or not. At the same time, another colleague of mine, Dr. Andrew Scott, overheard us and told us that he had been having the same problem for months at that point. Coincidentally, it was also the point when Dr. Yang started having his ears rang. We had thought of it as coincidence, but us being scientists and engineers we looked up a pattern in the ringing. First on only between us, then our colleagues and lastly, we sampled over 1000 random strangers of different walks of life and asked them about ringing within their ears. Conclusively we found that the ringing happens around important moments of people’s life, the moments the we or descendants of ours would like to see on repeat.\n\nOh, you wouldn’t believe the ringing everyone in the room got when we finalized that theory. It was as if the modern eureka moment of finding the artifact of time travel was an important event in the history of mankind and everyone was watching. We took a brief rest and politely asked those watching us then to stop because the ringing was making it harder to focus. And as soon as we said that, they all stopped. It was very creepy and surreal, but hey what can you say? If you’re in a team that was learning, theorizing and engineering time travel, you have to know the consequences. The, often, otherworldly consequences.\n\nWe published our findings as soon as possible. But the unscientific result we found coupled with the fact that all party of the time machine team were under strict NDA guidelines, meant that no science journal was ready to publish us. None of them even as much as reviewed our papers. But we pushed on, we knew our research must be correct, we had our ringing ears to prove it.\n\nAnd so, it happens. That day was like none other, people were lining up in a queue 10 times longer than when new phones arrive. Even the elderly and children were there, some set up camps and a little community of queue camper even appeared! On the other side of the road, divided by metal fences, the chanters and the naysayers were protesting, urging people to go home.\n\nEverything changed from that day onwards. Peoples lives and moves were guided by the ringing. If it started to rang than your life is on the right track, you’re on the exciting part of history. And people want to be on the exciting part of history. We started to do before-thought-of-dangerous things, we started to discover before-thought-of-impossible things. \n\nHistory seemed to be overwritten every day. Like that one time someone climbed the Everest without bringing any supplies with him. He climbed and scavenged around the frozen bodies up there with the help of the ringing. He rewrote the history of mountain climbing. However, the next day his title had already been over taken by a guy that climbed the Everest buck naked, he claimed to know he will survive because of the ringing in his ears. And he did and not only survived, he succeeded!\n\nMy life too started to be guided by the ringing. Well it had been guided by it well before everyone else’s. The creation of the time machine can be attributed to the ringing, my wedding with my now wife can be attributed to it, my journey through childbirth, everything in my life after that discovery can be attributed to it. Until we come to the present. There I was on a journey through the desert, alone and parched with a ringing in my ear.\n\nIt started of as nothing but a thought. “A journey through the Sahara can’t be bad, right,” I thought and from that point the ringing started. I knew right away that my destiny had called, that I was supposed to journey through the desert. I thought about asking my wife to come with but the ringing fades slightly as I thought so. As such, I decided to go alone. I went to the supermarket to buy my supplies, yet what I ended up buying was an assortment of weird things. Things I wouldn’t have thought to bring to a desert journey alone. I mean, who would’ve bought lube to a desert alone?\n\nBut I did as the ringing said, I followed it until I was alone in the middle of the desert. My supplies of normal gear had run dry, the only thing I had left was my tube of lube, a pack of batteries and a flare. The ringing in my ears were the hardest they’ve been since the start of this whole journey. It rang even harder than when we first finalized our research papers!\n\nI didn’t know what to do, I just thought of random things to do in the desert waiting for the ringing to pick up. I thought of dancing, singing, eating the lube, shooting the flare, digging.\n\nThe ringing blared. It was to dig, I was supposed to dig. So, I dug and dug with my bare hands. I lamented, “Why didn’t you tell me to bring a shovel?”\n\nAnd it is at this point that this story will end. I will bring you back to the beginning. I told you this, the ringing was an artifact of not only our natural growth, but also of something else. No one was able to give a concrete theory of what else yet. Because, while we had a pattern of ringing when time viewing was in the frame, there were still ringings outside of that patterns. There had to be something else then, something that can explain all the other unexplainable ringings.\n\nAs I dug under the sand, expecting myself to be the next person to find and ancient pyramids in the middle of the Sahara, I didn’t expect something else to come jutting out of the sand to pull me under. I didn’t expect to find who was calling me there.\n\nIt was otherworldly, yes, but it was kind. Its many eyes looked at me with calmness, its maw smiled as its fang glistens in front of me. I felt like home in its tendrily grasps, and I really was. It was guiding me there all along, from the beginning and now the end. At that point, I understood how those people could climb the Everest without supplies buck naked. I understand everything now.\n\nAnd I do hope my findings will forever be part of human history.",
"A cool breeze blew across the desert. Little particles of sand brushed against my face. In the vast emptiness, I heard a sound.\n\nIt was the sound of people. The kind you normally hear inside a crowded auditorium. A movie, I thought, or perhaps a time viewing.\n\nThere were thousands of people. All of them trying to get a better view of something. I spotted a warp stabiliser in the background. Definitely a time viewing.\n\nI stepped on some toes and shoved my way to the front of the crowd. It was a camel, a giant camel that lay on its side. It was dead, but the desert preserved its body. Near the corpse was a man. He was talking.\n\nSometimes, you find this, he said, pointing towards the camel. This camel is dead, but its body is still good. We might find some water here.\n\nHe spilt the Camel's guts using his knife and extracted something which looked like undigested hay.\n\nThis contains a lot of water, he said. You don't want to be dehydrated.\n\nHe pressed the undigested hay and drank the water that trickled out of it. The crowd gasped. It was disgusting. Then a man holding a camera appeared into the frame. Another voice said, Alright we'll rest up for a bit now.\n\nThen the man behind the voice himself appeared. The back of his jacket said -- Man vs Wild.",
"I can only now hear the beeping sound of the medical machinery. The pulses are slowing, the pumping sounds continue. I’m isolated. Dying. Some disease complication that I can no longer remember. So many things disappear from me.\n\nBut suddenly I’m not in the bed anymore. Instead, I’m… in the desert? It’s night. The moon is out and casting a silvery light upon the landscape. It’s so cold too… a fact I knew about but didn’t quite expect to experience. I’m not in my body? No… I’m not. I’m in a man’s body. In robes of some sort… tattered and beaten.\n\n“I wouldn’t blame you…” said a voice.\n\nI turn- or, rather, the man turns to face whoever the speaker was. He was another man in similar robes with long dark hair, middle-eastern. He’s clean, compared to me. To us.\n\n“Once again, begone. I will not entertain you words.”\n\nThey’re not speaking English. I know this. I can hear the words and know that I recognize none of them. But they are also speaking in a way that I just know what’s being said. I am, I guess, in a body that knows whatever this is. So, I assume I just know. It’s confusing.\n\n“You don’t have to listen to me,” the other man continued. “I’m not the one in the desert on the brink of dying from thirst. A mortal body requires so many things to keep it alive. I’m just pointing out that you need to take care of this… it’s the only one you’ve managed to create all on your own!”\n\n“My father made this… not I.”\n\n“One in the same.”\n\nThere were more people. We weren’t alone. The two men don’t seem to notice. These other people are. Oh, they’re witnesses! Those time goggles they have, the headbands and vests. This… this is a temporal event! But I’m not a witness! I’m… I’m dying in a hospital bed somewhere. Or, now, I’m in the body of someone. A man from the past. I’m part of an event…\n\n“You cannot fool me,” the other man said. “I know what you are doing. I don’t know how, but you’re killing off your own for this. It’s hypocrisy, sure. Though, I’ve come to expect it. You don’t have to, you know.”\n\n“I know not what you speak of. Again… begone and leave me.”\n\n“Come now! You must know! You’re feeing yourself off their spirits! How many more days will you do this?”\n\nThe more the man looks around, the more people I see. Time travelers, witnesses viewing an event from long ago. Not all events are visible… yet. It takes a good while to determine where and when and how to hone in on the exact moment that someone wants to witness. And once that moment is gone, it has to be recalculated. I see people popping in and out, all based on how much they paid Chronoco and others for the trip. The two men could not see them… but I could.\n\n“I’ll do it for as long as is necessary… leave me.”\n\n“I’m going to see all this. I want to see you killing them off one at a time for your inane stunts. Each one dies an unexpected death somewhere so you can leach their soul! I just don’t know where they are. I could stop you! I could put you to death right now, but it would accomplish nothing… no. They will do it for me. They will try! They will nail you to a cross and spit on your grave, but you will not have it will you!”\n\n“Leave me…”\n\nThere are so many people now. There are flying platforms with crowds, electronic devices like drones. Those aren’t supposed to be possible. Only people can visit, not such technology. I don’t know how I can see them. Those visors are the things that allow us witnesses to view what happened as if they were there. But they can’t even see their own bodies. How are machines doing this? Unless we figured out how to record those signals… sometime in the future. Are… are these witnesses from later? \n\n“You will slaughter a thousand of them to cheat death like you always have! Like you always do!”\n\nThe man I am in grows angry and turns to face the other man. We grow tall, large, and I hurt. I feel literal pain in a body that’s not even with me at that moment.\n\n“I can feed off you instead!” the man roars in an unnatural voice. The other man is not intimidated, though the man I am in grew and our breath sent sand bursting away from the dunes beyond us. “I can tear apart your soul piece by piece to keep this body alive for years to come. They will nail me to a tree and with your soul I shall laugh at them and demonstrate the true power of a god!”\n\n“You can’t!” the other counters. While not intimidated, the man appears worried… as if he’s not provoked a response he was not planning for. “You would have killed me long ago if you could. You can barely touch them. I see the limits of your reach!”\n\n“You see the limits of my reach now…” we chuckle with a smugness I usually detest, “but they will not always be so short. I exist across time itself. Do you think I need to harvest from now? I can harvest from the past from the future from any where and any when I can. And soon I’ll return.”\n\nThe other man was… frustrated. Angry.\n\n“This was your plan all along? They stopped believing in you so you do this to bring them closer to you so you can continue to feed off them! You are a monster beyond…”\n\nThe other man stops, chokes on something and falls to his knees.\n\n“Careful, Lucifer… do not underestimate my resolve.”\n\n“You… can’t. You need me… without me here… you cannot… exist…”\n\n“Why do you think I created this boy? To walk on the land? To pass around miracles? Those are merely secondary. Finding you… replacing you, that is my goal. There’s no place here you can hide. Remember that. I do not need you. I merely use you.”\n\nAm… am I witnessing something? What event is this? Lucifer? Is… is this Jesus? Am I in Jesus? The desert… wandering the land for, what was it? Forty days? Was that the flood? I was raised Catholic but I have no concept of most bible stories. Was this real then? Was Satan and God and Jesus all real then? Are these witnesses here looking upon the life of Jesus?\n\nAnd what is this sinister tone? This conversation? I thought it was merely a temptation during a fast or something. There are threats… eating souls… I don’t understand.\n\n“You cannot use me if I’m… gone…” Lucifer just gets out, falling completely onto the sand, barely able to keep his face from burying itself in the dune’s side.\n\n“You’re too selfish to die. You’ve done well to survive all this time. And you’ll continue to do so. You’re too afraid of death.”\n\n“Don’t… underestimate… my resolve.”\n\nThe man I’m in… Jesus, laughs loud and long, a bellowing that continues to send sand flying into the faces of witnesses as they pop in and out.\n\n“What can you do?” Jesus chuckles still. “Any power you had is gone. You can speak… you can appear… but only rarely. It is always amusing to see you try.”\n\n“I can save one of them,” Lucifer weakly murmurs, rolling onto his back.\n\n“You’ll die…”\n\n“…maybe. I’ve always wanted to save them… from you. I’ve failed every step of the way… maybe… just one.”\n\nThen there is a roaring, not Jesus or whatever he’d become after growing ten feet or more. It’s a sound of something else. Like a crowd at a concert when the main singer steps onto the stage and starts up the intro for their career-defining song. The crowd at a sports even cheering on the home team. Mixed in there somewhere are the gasps of a handful of others. Frantic sounds of movement.\n\n“She’s awake!”\n\n“Thank god… a miracle!”\n\nI open my eyes to the beeping of medical machines, excited exclamations from family gathered around me and other hospital staff moving in and out of the room. I’m being asked questions but hear none of them, about when it is, what my name is. I… I don’t know what I just saw or what happened. I think it’ll take a long time before I understand it fully.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\\[This is my first submission and I hope it follows rules \\^\\_\\^\\]",
"I look around. It's not something I'll ever forget. The sun is just starting to rise, the desert is shimmering with heat. Aside from the desert, I'm not sure where I'm going. I'm sitting on my back on the side of the highway, watching the sunset.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nThe next few minutes are just as surreal.A group of people are walking on the highway, waiting to see me. I turn around and see them all looking at me, all of them talking at the same time. \n\n&#x200B;\n\nThe first two people to surface are the prettiest people I've ever seen. They're both people, both beautiful people. The first woman is covered in some kind of old looking polycarbonate material. Her hair is white and her eyebrows are red. The claperons of different minerals make her look like a cross between a milksock and a bottle. I heard another woman say, \"I'm going to be in trouble for some time.\" She took a deep breath and walked towards me.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nI say to her \"I'm not here to watch the sun rise or anything like that. I'm here to enjoy the feeling of losing my life.\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Is it really that bad?\" she says. She had a very catlike voice.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nIn a calm voice I reply \"Yes, Somewhere, everyone is watching. Everyone is watching.They're watching us, their eyes are on us. It's as big as everyone around us. Why are they watching us?What's the point?\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\nShe reaches out for me. I take her hand, and follow her back to her group at the highway.",
"The sky is black and unspoiled. You'd hoped the stars might be meaningful but you know they are just gas. Black night, soft as sleep, soft as moss, caresses the rocks and the plants gentle. There is no breeze nor noise except for the sound of your boots on dirt and a slight ticking in your head.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nThe cold is getting to you like you hoped it would. You swig again. Stumble but overall it does not matter. Overall you are walking a straight line into the desert. You hate yourself for knowing you know your way back to the car. If you were any kind of human you would have walked as randomly as you could so you could not find your way back. So you had no way out.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nYou pull your sheepskin jacket around you, tighter. Hating yourself for doing it. Its only keeping you warmer longer. The sooner you get cold enough the sooner this is over.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nYou know humans cannot walk in a straight line, really. Eventually, you will veer to your left and complete a circle. But you know that humans can't walk in random directions, either. You know its impossible for a human to think of a truly random number. You try and do it\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"124...\" you begin \"...9..\" you continue. You did not pick 8 as it would have been a sequence. Ergo you have influenced your randomness.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nYou swig again. You do not know much about numbers but you know too much about 1s and 0s. You toss the bottle into the desert, don't hear it clatter.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nTwo weeks ago you used your computer knowledge to hack into the Pentagon. What they know, you know. Area 51, Rigged elections, the location of CIA spy stations, you know it all. Eagerly you paged through it all. Eager in ecstasy looking for the big secret. Eager, until you found it.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nA comet is going to hit earth in two years. The CIA estimate the global mortality rate to be 80%.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nThe desert is cold as you knew it would be. Your plan is to walk and to drink and then to dream dreamless sleep.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nReally, who could you tell about the comet? What would it do to the world? You have read 'On the Beach', where the last people left are in Australia. The novel tells stories about how they go to their deaths with grace, after putting things in order. Even before you started hacking, you knew more about life than that. You think of your niece. Two days ago your sister whatsapped you a video of her first steps.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"On her way\" she captioned the video.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Where to?\" you wanted to ask. But you could not because you knew the answer. Two years.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nYou are very drunk now. You have shed your jacket without noticing. When you get hypothermia, you shed your clothes irrationally. You read about it, when you read about Dylatov Pass.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nHow can you tell people about the comet? What good would it do? But if you don't, how can you live with yourself? You'd thought about the two years you knew you had. Thought about cocaine blizzards and sprees. But after the first bag, everything tasted of ash. You just couldn't do it. But you couldn't tell anyone, either. So what else is there?\n\n&#x200B;\n\nYou are very drunk. You trip over a rock, crawl to a boulder and lean up against it. You close your eyes.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nPeople appear as you close your eyes. They bow their heads. You did not talk. You did not cause chaos. You allowed plans to form. You forgot hope. It took them eighteen months to notice they'd been hacked. When they did, there was pandemonium. Had you published your proof, civilisation would have collapsed. As it was, it allowed the CIA and a select group of military and other like minded officials to prepare. In the future, you will be venerated for your silence, as much as a person like you can be venerated.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nThe leader of the people, in a military uniform salutes you.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Thank you for your service,\" he whispers but you do not hear.",
"Tanner stopped for a moment, head tilted back and arms outstretched to best enjoy the cooler air at this elevation. His sweat-drenched T-shirt clung with a clammy grip to arms and chest more muscular and in-shape than they had been since high school. Extremely early retirement and a gradual retreat from society had been good for something, at least.\n\nThe trail had thinned to the point that it would be hard to claim it still existed. It was pure luck rather than good planning that tonight’s skies were clear, with a near-full moon hanging up there like an enormous personal flashlight. It wasn’t doing anyone else around here any good, anyway; Tanner hadn’t seen another soul since just after sundown.\n\nSquinting into the distance to try to spot the next cairn, Tanner’s eyes chanced to catch movement off to the left of the trail. What was that? Something had shifted just behind an enormous sprouting of saguaro, the many-limbed species of cactus that dotted the landscape like silent sentries. He ventured forwards, keeping his eyes fixed on the plant, which must have been over ten metres tall. Tanner shuddered, perhaps not due to the temperature. This huge plant, this silent watcher, made him feel even smaller than usual.\n\nKeeping to what remained of the trail, Tanner drew level with the saguaro. Craning forwards to get a closer look, he saw movement again. And…it ran from its cover. A jackrabbit, a big one at that. Tanner exhaled slowly, a long expression of relief. For a second he’d thought it might be one of those ghosts.\n\nGhosts. It was hard to abandon the old term, even though science now knew what they truly were. Not spectres of the dead, but of those not yet alive. Time travellers, in a sense. As they couldn’t speak or touch anything in this time, it was more accurate to call them projections than travellers. They didn’t seem to have actually travelled anywhere. It was like an advanced form of future TV, except these projections were the viewers, not the show. No, that was us, those in the present. The entertainment was the people and events they came to observe.\n\nHeading up towards the summit of Mount Kimball once more, Tanner found himself ruminating on the subject of the ghosts. Damned things. They were what made him quit his job – no, quit his career – in the first place. Throughout human history, they had turned up at pivotal moments. They were depicted in hieroglyphics at several different sites in ancient Egypt. Nearly a thousand were said to have watched the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. Almost as many witnessed Caesar cross the Rubicon. Again and again, the ghosts appeared. A worrying amount were present at each and every one of Hitler’s speeches. A large crowd of them were reported to have witnessed Mao Zedong proclaim the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Name a noteworthy event and the ghosts would have been there.\n\nMentioned in the holy books of all the major religions of the world, the ghosts’ presence had influenced each of those faiths in ways that were too numerous and profound to quantify. How different would the world have been without the existence of the ghosts? Was the invention of this technology inevitable? Was it a good thing if it was?\n\nThese questions had plagued Tanner’s research career. Working with scientists who seemed to be inching closer to the secret of this time travel technology, he had come up with his answer to the last of those questions and quit. Humans watching humans, signposting any event of significance in all of history? That sucked all mystery from life. And it just plain sucked.\n\nShaking his head in attempt to clear it of these thoughts, Tanner tried to focus on the present. It was just him, his pack and the hike. Perfect solitude. He had reached the forested upper part of the mountain. The trees loomed above him, blocking the moonlight so much that he had to fumble around in his pack for his flashlight.\n\nDespite the beautiful stillness of the forest, the ghosts – of more than one kind – came back to haunt Tanner’s thoughts. Specifically, the reason he had finally left his comfortable old life behind. Lily. Three years older than him, and truly brilliant, she had taken Tanner under her wing at first, showing him the ropes in his first months in the job. Later, real friendship had bloomed, along with a massive crush that she’d never reciprocated.\n\nTheir last conversation was etched in his mind. He tried not to replay it yet again word for word, and succeeded this time in editing it down to a quick succession of highlights instead. Lily calling. Excitement in her voice. She’d made a breakthrough. Huge, but worrying. She’d be rich. And famous. Impossibly rich, impossibly famous. But was it worth it? And-\n\nAnd then, she said, the ghosts appeared. Hundreds of them, squeezed into every nook and cranny of her apartment, jostling for space, elbowing each other aside in order to see. Was it because…? Her voice trailed off, she said one single word, and then she hung up.\n\n“Sorry.”\n\nTanner had rushed to her apartment but it was too late. Lily had hung herself from her shower curtain pole. Tanner had given her the blouse that she'd wound around her neck for her twenty-ninth birthday.\n\nHe quit his job a month later, having not returned to the office once in the interim. At the funeral, a middle manager who had drunk too much free whisky and who thought only another crony was listening had implied that Lily had been weak. Tanner suspected it had been the opposite. She’d been much stronger than any of them would have been.\n\nBreaching the treeline, Tanner found himself near the summit. Fatigued legs found more energy and he made good time up the rocky last section of the hike.\n\nTanner planted his feet on the hard ground at the top of the mountain. The wide vista that swept across his vision contained no signs of civilization whatsoever. He was completely, totally alone. This was why he had come here tonight. Perfect solitude. It was like stepping back in time.\n\nStepping back in time.\n\nUnbidden, unwanted, a thought slid into Tanner’s mind from he had no idea where.\n\nTime travel. He knew how to do it.\n\nAnd at that moment, they appeared. One, then three, then ten. Twenty, thirty, and then too many to count. There must have been thousands of them. They crowded around him on the summit of Mount Kimball. Men, women, children. All smiling. Smiling at him.",
"The sand under my feet felt cold running through my toes while I climbed the dune. That was when I saw two of them standing together. Tourists. \nMy heart raced as I turned to find another pair had arrived - this time with cameras. \nThe panic had started to kick in as I tried to clumsily climb the top of the dune. I had to get on top so I could see my surroundings - what was in store for me?\nMy heart stopped as I reached on top. Infront of me - behind me - *everywhere* there were people. The dune I stood on looked more like an island in a sea of humans.\n\nThat’s the thing about timestamps - there are a few constants.\n\n1. People appear on time stamps. You have to choose a time stamp in order to go to a certain point. These time stamps are precise down to the millisecond. There are popular and cheaper time stamps which are the ones that give you more or less the ideal waiting time before the event. \nHow does this affect anything? Well, that means the increase in numbers from five or six people using a custom time stamp (who got great seats) to a million people using public time stamps is normally one second. You could blink and miss it. And I missed it.\n\n2. You can tell how bad or good the event is by the people attending it. If there are kids - it’s probably a happy PG 13 moment. If they stand extremely far - probably be worried.\n\nI stand on top to see this sea of people roaring. It was too dark to tell if there were kids and I could not see their expressions. \n\nI sat on top of the dune with my legs crossed, staring at the crowd. I had accepted whatever fate came to me - there is no way to stop it. I shut my eyes.\n\nA few seconds in, my eyelids began to grow lighter - an orange tint. Something very bright had appeared - massive torch maybe? The crowd’s screaming rose higher and higher as it got brighter. \n\nI opened my eyes. The ground was rising below me - the sand cleared to reveal a stone. I was sitting on a floating stone - rugged dark grey in colour, but glowing brightly. Difficult to explain.\n\nMy TimePortal gun was buzzing. I promptly took it out and shut it. \n\nImmediately the stone went off and fell. \n\nWhat was that? Did the stone react to my portal gun? Is there something inside my gun that reacts to this material? \n\nThe crowds were roaring louder than ever. \n\nI pulled out my portal gun - took out the branium Crystal that powers it and pushed it against the rock. It began to buzz and the rock floated with ease - once again glowing. This rock was no longer controlled by gravity. It felt no friction. This was a breakthrough in science and could help greatly in space travel. \n\nI took out my notebook and wrote it down. - *found a material in the desert that reacts to branium in a way I have never seen before*\n\nI looked up to see dead silence. I was alone again. I no longer heard the screams and chants of thousands - just the sounds of cold winds blowing over the acres of sand surrounding me. The event was over.\n\nI could think only one thing - \n\n“I’m going to be *so* famous.”"
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[WP] The year is 2070. You, an exhausted 60 year old who returned home from work decided to surf the internet. You suddenly remember the term “virtual YouTubers”, a term that hadn’t been on your mind for 50 years. You then decide to search about it on the internet.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"It's been a long time since I watched one of those realistic anime girls. I used to watch them back when they first started popping up. But I was a teenager back then, and watching then now that I'm three times their age just feels wrong.\n\nStill, their lively streams are entertaining for some reason. Their upbeat personalities and positive attitudes made you want to be like them. But no one would want to watch an old man play Tetris for hours everyday. Not an old man.\n\nI'll be honest, the idea was better in theory. I thought I'd play a small joke on some people online. But here I am; loaded with body tracking technology and a voice modulator, playing Tetris in front of thousand of viewers who thought I was an anime girl named Melly.\n\nI want to stop, but my viewers seem to worship me now, and it would be cruel to abandon them. The ridicules amount of SIMP money didn't hurt either.\n\nI just really hope my grandchildren don't find out."
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[WP] You are mourning your father's death, an untimely departure at an age that is not old. While your mother and siblings cry, you stare, your eyes stoic. You thought the wish you made last year could, in no way, harm you. Yet here you are.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"364 days ago, my father and I had an argument. I honestly can’t even remember how it started but it eventually led to him accusing me of wasting my life and me insisting that he needed to get his own. Jenna, who was eight at the time, walked in the living room to witness my father shove me against the wall after I spit in his face, a hand gripped around my neck. She screamed, and he let go.\n\nI grabbed some clothes and went to Amber’s parent's house and vented about how the man was psychotic and always managed to ruin my birthday. She listened patiently and held me when I had nothing more to say. She always knew when to speak and when to listen. Later that evening, she brought me a single cupcake she had made, topped with chocolate frosting and two blue candles. I closed my eyes, made a wish for each candle, and blew out the flames.\n\nThese thoughts come racing back into my mind as I sat there staring at the body of my father. The police said they found him last week parked off the side of the road, face pressed against the window, seatbelt still buckled. A massive pulmonary embolism, killing him at age 54.\n\nMy mother, sister, and brother sat beside me on the church pew as my uncle spoke about the wonderful life my father had led. They wept softly and nodded along, remembering the stories he told of family trips and homework projects. Amber sat on my right, gripping my hand to encourage me everything would be okay. But I could not take my eyes off the box that held my father’s body, stoic and unwavering.\n\nSurely this could not be my fault, birthday wishes don’t actually come true. They are a silly childhood game we play each year to give us some sense of control over the passing of time. Wishing my father was dead by my next birthday was a moment of anger, immaturity, and stupidity, not an actual command. And yet, here we are.\n\nWhat about the other wish? Will it happen tonight?"
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More of a setting than a prompt, but, IMO, it allows for greater creative freedom
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[WP] In the far future, Earth is a barren wasteland while the nations of Earth have fled to the stars, ruling over and populating several worlds whilst retaining their identities and governments
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"##Terra Nostalgia\n\nI run across the red desert to a distant spacecraft. My parents will be looking for me soon, but they will not wake up for another few hours. When I get to the spacecraft, I see that my boyfriend is standing at the ship stairs. My speed increases straight into his arms and kiss him. The ship is already filled with passengers. Our leader, Mark sits up front.\n\n\"Alright, that was our last stop. I found a planet near Mintaka that will simulate old Earth gravity. You have all chosen old Earth names?\" he asks. The entire ship nods in excitement, \"Excellent. This ship has its destination pre-programmed. Your living quarters have been assigned. Just relax until we get to the new planet. You are all going to be a part of the greatest experiment ever. One Species.\"\n\nHe shoots his fist in the air when he says that. The entire audience responds in term. The crowd is comprised of a diverse set of Sapiens. Each of them had to undergo genetic modifications in the past to survive on the new world. Some of the more dedicated One Species followers have taken it upon themselves to try to remodify their appearance to more closely match our ancestors. \n\nMy boyfriend and I have a cabin towards the front of the ship. He and I have never met before. My parents disapproved of me talking to a Californian online. They say think that group diverged too much from the species. It is strange that Californians and Oklahomans at one point were in a nation together, but now, the two planets are home to separate species. \n\nWe don't actually need to talk since we have been speaking for more than two years. We spend the next two hours cuddling to make up for all the lost physical contact. \n\n\"You are way more strong than I thought, Isaac,\" Tristan says.\n\n\"Us Oklahoma boys have to be,\" I reply. He smiles at me. After a few hours, we get out of our room to get lunch. When we get to the mess hall, we see that there are enforcer bots in the middle of the room. I approach a nearby woman.\n\n\"What happened?\" I ask.\n\n\"A fight broke out between the French passengers and the German passengers,\" she replies.\n\n\"Why? I thought the people on this craft agreed to leave behind our petty planetary squabbles,\" I say. She rolls her eyes.\n\n\"I am beginning to think that is impossible,\" she says.\n\n\"What do you mean,\" I say. \n\n\"That is the fourth fight that broke out on this ship,\" she says.\n\n\"But it has only been a few hours!\" I say.\n\n\"Exactly,\" she says.\n\n\"Why can't they compromise?\" I ask.\n\n\"Beats me,\" she walks away. Tristan and I get lunch and sit down to eat.\n\n\"So, I did some research on California. Have you ever been underwater? I saw pictures of the cities there. They are beautiful.\" I ask.\n\n\"No, the people who live there are unsavory,\" he says.\n\n\"Why?\" I ask.\n\n\"They adapted underwater a bit too well. They are basically act like sharks now,\" he says. \n\n\"I had no idea,\" I reply.\n\n\"Yeah, I am glad there is not one on the ship. They are disgusting,\" he says. Right after he says that, a passenger comes over and punches him in the jaw.\n\n\"Don't you dare say that about Hydrics,\" he moves to attack again, but a combat bot steps in and breaks up the fight. I look at my boyfriend on the floor with a bloody nose.\n\n\"Are you okay?\" I ask.\n\n\"Yeah, I cannot believe that one of them is here,\" he says.\n\n\"He must have had genetic reconstruction,\" I say.\n\n\"Couldn't hide the smell,\" he chuckles.\n\n\"What smell?\" I ask.\n\n\"All of the Hydrics have a smell. It comes from swimming in their own shit,\" he smiles at me.\n\n\"He is still a human. And we are One Species,\" I say. A look of horror crosses his face as I say that.\n\n\"Oh god, did I just say that,\" he says.\n\n\"Yeah, you did.\" I reply. He looks at me with fear and concern.\n\n\"Do you think we will be able to survive on the new planet? And be One Species again?\" he asks.\n\n\"I hope so,\" I reply.\n\n---\n\nr/AstroRideWrites"
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[WP]You were a part of a group of heroes who were on a quest to defeat a villain. Until you betrayed the group after the villain made some really good arguments. Several weeks later you run into one of the heroes that you betrayed.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"When The Hand of Order asked me to join their ranks to stop The Ender, I was just a small-time vigilante. I beat convenient store robbers and crack dealers bloody with a pair of brass knuckles and thought I was saving the world one broken bone at a time. I would wear a black hood with mesh lining that hid my face while I roamed the streets looking for a fight to pick in the name of fighting evil. I had just dug it out of a box in my closet one night and thought “tonight’s the night,” and the rest was history. I called myself Wraith.\n\nI learned a lot about what a real hero is from The Hand of Order—chiefly, that there is no such thing. We all had one thing in common that kept us together: violence. It was our collective catharsis. So we chased out nemesis, The Ender, relentlessly for years, thwarting his attempts to cull the city countless times. It wasn’t until I caught up to him ahead of the others that I finally saw myself for who I really was. It took less than ten minutes for him to point out the truth I had been running from since I put on that stupid Halloween mask.\n\nAfterward I relocated to the other end of the city, found a place I could rent under the table, then cut ties with the few remaining friends and relatives I had. I knew that one of them would find me eventually though. Go figure it was Atlas; I didn’t recognize him at first without his face paint. I just opened the door to my apartment one morning and he was standing there waiting for me with bloodshot eyes. He grabbed me by the shirt and threw me back inside so hard that I knocked cardboard boxes aside like a human bowling ball. \n\n“You double-crossing son of a bitch,” he spat as he slammed the door shut behind himself. I was surprised he was alone; the others surely wanted a piece of me as well. “I thought you were smarter than to show your face around here after what you did.”\n\n“I didn’t do anything,” I said as I sat up. I couldn’t help but grimace. It felt like I had cracked a rib or two. \n\n“Exactly. You caught up to Ender and you did nothing. How could you let all those people die?” He snarled as he advanced toward me. His breathing was labored as his nostrils flared and the accessory muscles in his neck strained with effort.\n\n“No one’s dead yet,” I said and he delivered a swift kick that connected with my chest and sent me flying into the wall. I was pretty sure I felt something give, but I wasn’t sure if it was another rib or the drywall. Either way, I couldn’t breathe. Not that that was anything new.\n\n“You allowed him to aerosolize the spores throughout the entire city! Everyone within eight kilometers of the detonation site breathed it in, including us!” He came for me again and tried to kick me one more time, but I caught his leg. That didn’t stop his fist from colliding with the side if my face though.\n\nMy vision swam out of focus as I sprawled on the hardwood floor. I wondered if he would beat me to death like he had Ender’s partner. That was why The Ender became “a villain” in the first place, because Atlas had pummeled the love of his life so badly that he never woke back up. They had tried to rob a bank to pay off the loan sharks on their heels. No one had even been hurt until Atlas arrived on the scene, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself from pummeling the guy until he went limp. It was as if Atlas’s motives went deeper than a desire for “order.” \n\n“How could you?” He asked, and I have no idea how long he had been standing over me before I could speak again. My head felt fuzzy, but if there was one thing I could remember it was the answer to that question. I would never forget it. \n\n“Did you know my son died in a car accident?” I asked. “I was driving him home from soccer practice when some tweaked out meth head ran a stop sign going forty miles per hour and blindsided us. My little boy was killed on impact, but I was practically unscathed.”\n\nAtlas paused. “What does that have to do—“\n\n “One year later, my wife took her own life with a bottle of sleeping pills. That was when I became the Wraith. I wanted to punish the people who would do nothing but cause pain, but I never stopped to think that I was one of the people causing it. The only difference between me and them was that I was hiding behind my morals to justify taking my rage out on them. All of us “heroes” do it. But you know that already, you just don’t care,” I said. \n\n“So you let him get away with infecting hundreds of people,” Atlas surmised. His fists were trembling at his sides. “What the hell are you trying to prove?”\n\n“I don’t want to prove anything,” I said. “Humans are a disease and Ender is the cure. All he did was show me the truth; we’re no different than the people we fight, not really. We can’t begin a new chapter without ending the the one before it.”\n\nAtlas let out a hideous bellow as his fist sailed toward my head. Looks like I didn’t have to worry about my lungs growing fungi after all."
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[WP] You are in a elevator with an elderly man, when it shuts down, trapping the both of you in there. When you both learn through a intercom that you will be rescued in 48 hours, the elderly man has a heart attack and dies on the spot. Just you and a rotting corpse, alone in the elevator.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"\"Am I supposed to close his eyes or...?\" My voice trails off, but it doesn't matter because Sharon's choppy telephone voice yells at me.\n\n\"Will you take this seriously, Penny?!\" she barks, \"A man just *died* of a *heart attack*! In front of you! In the fucking elevator of a JC Penny! And you just call me to tell me that you did *nothing?*\" I hear her scoff on the line like a pretentious bitch, like *she* would have known exactly what to do. And you know what? I'm pissed off and tired enough that I tell her exactly that.\n\n\"You know how I am squeamish, Sharon!\" I yell back, my voice falling dead in the little metal box, \"I'm sorry not all of us watch Greys Anatomy enough to receive a fucking honorary doctorate! I didn't even know what was happening! I could have thought he was writhing around possessed by the devil and I *still* wouldn't have known what to do! And neither would you for that matter.\" I let out a sharp breath, surprised I had any left. My head felt like a pressure cooker with no steam vent. I am going to fucking blow.\n\n\"What are you doing right now?\" She asks and it catches me off guard.\n\nI stammer into it. \"I, uh, I'm--\"\n\n\"You're standing there with your head in the corner, huh?\"\n\nI sputter out a dumb, \"What?! I--\"\n\n\"I knew it,\" she says flatly, \"Penny, if you can't look at it--\"\n\n\"He looks creepy!\" My voice still raised. \"Again, what would you--\"\n\n\"I'm not the one who got stuck in an elevator--\"\n\n\"Not my fa-ult!\" I sing over her. Who fucking cared how loud I was? The dead guy? Oh, yikes. Sorry.\n\n\"--For *forty-eight motherfucking hours* with a *corpse,*\" she finishes, overenunciating every word, \"Look, asshole, *you* are the one that called *me*.\" She sighs like she's just *so* over this whole thing. \"Look. I know you're not over me but--\"\n\n\"Wait a fucking second!\" \n\n\"--You've gotta get a new emergency contact, dude.\" \n\nI roll my eyes, again, even though no one can see. I hate how hot my cheeks felt and hate myself that despite the adrenaline and the haze of sleep that's dragging every part of my body toward the ground and how badly I want to hate her guts, I notice how tired she sounds. It's only 10 at night but I know Fridays are her worst days. She used to always come home dead, ready to sleep by 7 and out by 8. I'd come home and she'd be dead as a rock. Nothing could wake her.\n\nExcept for an emergency. \n\nI take a breath, scrunching up my shoulders really tight on the inhale then dropping their whole weight down on the exhale the way Dr. Dixson showed me. My anger dulls but my body still buzzes, my face still hot. The old man is still dead, staring up at the ceiling with his glassy eyes trained on the same spot. Lifeless. I have to look away.\n\nI called her by mistake. I didn't mean to press her name in my contacts, but in the moment, I don't know, I panicked. It didn't help that her name was still right at the top of my favorite contacts. We'd just broken up a week ago. I haven't had the chance to change it.\n\nI shut my eyes tight.\n\n\"I'm scared, Shar.\"\n\nThere's a pregnant pause between us before her voice comes through the white noise of the line. It's gentle.\n\n\"I know, Pen,\" she says, \"It'll be okay.\"\n\nI purse my lips. The man's mouth is open slightly, even without looking I see him burned to the back of my eyelids. Looking out forever and ever at nothing, seeing nothing because he is not there and never will be again. Because he died. Right in front of me.\n\nMy next breath is a gasp. \"Will you--?\"\n\n\"I'll stay on the line,\" she cuts me, yet she'd never been gentler."
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[WP] You have always fed the local stray cat as it seems pretty friendly. One day while taking what you think is an empty bowl. The cat attacks you, although just a few scratches what you didn't know was... It was a werecat.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Ow! The little scratches on my hand started burning again just when I returned home. This was weird, I thought it had finally healed after a week of constant throbbing. Should I go to the doctors? After all, who knows whether that cute cat had been infected with something or not? Nah, it‘s probably nothing and even if it was, I didn‘t have time to worry about it. As I was putting the last of my instant pizzas in the microwave and preparing to spend the night trying to fix that damned problem in the company‘s train system that Jeff dumped on me I wondered if the stray would be there today, it hadn‘t appeared since it had scratched me one and a half weeks ago. \n\nThe weird thing was that although neither I nor my neighbors had seen the cat the food I put out kept getting eaten. Maybe we just never saw it because it got dark so early now in winter? Maybe the cat was ashamed of its scratches and thus only came late in the night? Okay, that‘s enough of anthropomorphised cats, it was probably just the birds. I could at least feed them. It was one of the few social interactions I‘d had since I‘d switched jobs.\n\nWhen I went out to put the little bowl at the end of the steps by the door, I looked up at the clear night sky for what felt like the first time in forever. Of course, the first time I noticed the weather it was miserable. Just like how the only stray in the area was a cat while I was a dog person. I hated clear nights in the winter since they always meant cold weather on the next day. It seemed to me as though this winter, although it had only just begun, was a lot colder and less hospitable than previous ones. I hope that little cat finds some form of shelter. This night was dark, only the stars were visible as there was a new moon. Such nights were more bearable than the ones with the earie light of a full moon. As I was standing there, a sudden urge took me. Maybe this night did have some charme afterall? I grabbed my coat and went for a nice stroll in the beautiful night. Had I just completely changed my opinion about the night? Yes I had, but why not? It felt wonderful to finally leave my house again.\n\nWhen I reached the end of the street, I stopped momentarily. There was nothing but a small, dark park ahead of me and I had taken no torch from my house. And yet I continued on. I don‘t know why. I just felt so much better than I had in a long time.\n\nAs I entered the park, my eyes adjusted to the new darkness. I saw things I had never seen before such the reflected starlight on the pond. When I saw it, I felt as though it was calling out to me, as though I could close it in my hand and never let it go. How come I hadn‘t realized before how magnificent a night could be? I had ofen walked home late at night and yet never had such an experience. I heard the sounds of this beautiful night that I had never heard before. There were mice in the bushes, birds in the trees, the quiet rumble of the trains passing through. That brought me back. What was I doing? I should be working not standing by the pond in the middle of the night. I put my hands in my pockets and with a shock suddenly realized that there were no keys in them. how had I locked the door without them? Had I even locked the door?\n\nI turned the head back as fast as possible, but a sudden and unexpected pain in my wrist made me nearly cry out in agony. I held my limp arm and dropped down into the mud. Soon the pain swallowed my entire body and I cried out, shouting for help, for comfort, for anyone to come. As I closed my eyes, I began to weep.\n\nI could not have been unconcious for more than a few seconds before I awoke. I was lying on my side in the cold, wet mud. A blanket was lying on top of me, for wich I was eternally thankful. Someone had found and helped me! It was only when I tried to wipe away the tears of joy and felt something that should not have been there that I realized that there was no help. This was not a blanket. It was the inside of my shirt.\n\nI struggled to break free of it, but my hands would keep getting stuck in it. When I had finally managed to tear it aside, I collapsed completely exhausted in the mud. After a few moments, I struggled to my feet, attempting to stand up. I could not. When I looked down, I saw the paws of a cat on which still hung a few threads of my shirt. My thoughts were slow and my reactions even slower. Unable to comprehend what had just happened, I went to the pond and took a look at my reflection. I found a cat staring back. But weirdly, I wasn‘t bothered in any way. Perhaps my cat brain just worked differently? In any case, I was hungry and I knew just where to find some food.\n\nAs I was licking the bowl in front of my house clean, I was startled by a sudden blue light and loud voices. A giant stumbled towards me as I fled and hid in the bushes. The shouting and that damned blue light continued to flash and annoy me nonetheless. All of my instincts told me to be frightened and I obeyed them. I ran. I ran back to the park and found myself at the bottom of an old tree. Maybe it could protect me from this world that seemed to hate me. As I was sitting under its roots, the fear slowly left my body. I noticed a leaf, not very peculiar by itself and yet so mesmerising and strange at the same time. \n\nBefore long I had forgotten my terror and my disorientation. Round and round and round and round I jumped clumsily through the leaves. Every leaf had a different sensation. Some were crumbling and dry while others were wet and smelled like the earth. When I dropped completely exhausted just a soft feeling of wrongness was left inside. I didn’t care. It was then that I started adventuring and that was what I did ffor the rest of the night. I learned secrets of places that i had never been to before, I‘d just never had any spare time and when I did I was exhausted. Not now. It felt as if the starlight itself was cheering me on and was showing me ways I had never even dreamed of. But all nights come to a close.\n\nAs I was exploring my neighbour‘s back yard, I felt a sudden pain again. I tried to outrun it, I lept across the fence, but I wasn‘t fast enough. Before my paws should have touched the ground I felt the neglected grass between my fingers. The rest of my body slammed into the ground and remained lying there for a few minutes. I was crying. Was joy or loss this time? I should have been overjoyed to return to being a human, but I just couldn‘t. I felt miserable, instead of spending the night working as I should have, I‘d spent it playing around with leaves. How childish of me!\n\nWhy could I not enjoy being turned back into a human? Because I could not explain to anyone. Even if they would believe me, admitting that I had spent the night giving in to every animalistic whim would mean giving up my reputation, it would mean disappointing everyone who had believed in me and gave me the chances I took. I had to work hard for them all! And yet it felt so good to not care about anything, to let go all of the constraints put on me. But what was lost remains lost. Even if I wanted, I did not know what had turned me into a cat inthe first place, so thinking about that was futile. I stood up and limped inside, not quite ready for a new day in my life.\n\nThere, I found my neighbour sitting and seemingly waiting for me. When he saw me in the door, he jumped to my side and helped my exhausted self to the table, where a blanket was already waiting for me. He then frantically dialed a number and shouted at someone on the other end that he’d found me. Yes I was alright, no he did not know what had happened, yes I was at home now. He asked me in a quiet tone what had happened, whether or not I had been assaulted. I was touched by his caring, but I could not explain so I didn‘t say anything. When the police showed up with my torn clothes and asked me the same questions more sternly, I still did not say a word. I didn‘t even explain to my mother when she woke up after having spent the night outside searching for me. How could I have explained?\n\nAll of this had a good side, however, when my boss called me and told me that I could take the day off if I wanted, he wouldn‘t hold it against me. I told him I did, the first words I said after turning back. During my first day off in a month I came to a realisation. That night was the most fulfilling one I‘ve had in a long time. It was so much better than working late and sleeping short, precisely because I wasn‘t working. I didn‘t want to work in the company. Work wasn‘t as fulfilling as so many people had promised me. It was a chore, not a hobby. So while I would not transform into a cat ever again, I could still channel my inner cat and refuse work myself to death, instead making myself cozy and not jumping at every opportunity like a dumb dog.\n\nCan you imagine my exitement when, barely a month later, I turned into a cat again?",
"I’m pretty sure that the cat was domesticated. Mostly sure. She was large, at least the size of a full-blooded Maine Coon. When she ate, her teeth were like little white daggers half the size of a finger. Her claws tended to leave marks on… everything. I was thankful that she’d only taken up residence on my porch, and never tried to go inside. Dark grey markings shot through her sable coat, with dark rings on her tail and what looked like a beauty mark beneath her whiskers.\n\nShe wasn’t particularly friendly. That was fine – neither was I. We had an arrangement. When she visited my shabby porch, ignoring the spots where the paint was peeling off, she went straight for the food and water that I put down. At first, she ate with one eye always trained in my direction. Somehow, she was capable of growling and swallowing at the same time. After a few weeks, she had relaxed. I remember the first day that I’d touched her. Absently, not really thinking, I’d stroked her back like she was a pet and not some half-feral guest who was mooching leftovers.\n\nShe stopped eating, blinked, and then gave me an odd look.\n\n“Sorry,” I said. She made a noise almost like a huff and then went back to eating.\n\nWork was long and boring, as it usually was. The job wasn’t one that I particularly liked, but it paid the bills. The old mobile home I was renting was a bit run-down and seemed to generate flies no matter how much I cleaned, but it was mine. I liked the solitude. I liked the quiet. I liked that it was on the edge of the country, where the birds were somehow even ruder than the raccoons. The people were country too, with deep accents and leathery hands from hard, honest work. One of them, I had taken quite a liking to. Her name was Susan. She trained horses for a living, and despite her casual manner and constantly dusty jeans, was a licensed veterinarian. I’d stumbled over my words when I asked her out. She’d been in the process of brushing one of her many clients, who stared at me as if I was an idiot.\n\nI was lucky. Apparently, she was into idiots.\n\nThe morning of the date, the cat was waiting for me. I was carrying a small bowl of food, some cold steak and vegetables from the night before. I knew that cats were carnivores, but this one seemed to vacuum up every single thing that I provided. Before I had a chance to set the bowl down, she did something that she’d never done before – she rubbed against my leg, and just for a moment, purred. It was loud and throaty, and the look accompanying it seemed almost affectionate… or was it my imagination? Within a few seconds, she was back to staring pointedly at the food that I was still holding. I set it down. She didn’t hesitate. Her face was still buried in the bowl when I left for work.\n\nThe day was like any other, except for the nervousness bubbling up inside of me. I hadn’t been on a date in months. Was my hair okay? Was she going to be turned off by my work clothes? When I left for the restaurant we’d agreed to meet at, I was convinced that she was going to laugh at me as soon as she saw me. She didn’t. She was dressed exactly the same as she always was, with dusty jeans and the smell of horse around her. She’d managed a cursory amount of lipstick, but otherwise hadn’t bothered with makeup. She was just as casual as I was nervous, and was more than a little amused at my attempts to be charming. At the end of it all, I was sure that I’d blown it. When she hugged me in the parking lot and kissed my cheek, I stood stunned like a character from an old cartoon. She thought it was funny. She wanted to go out again.\n\nWhen I arrived home, the cat was waiting for me. She sat in front of the empty bowl, her tail swishing back and forth. I didn’t usually feed her in the evening, but…\n\n“I think I can give you a little something tonight. Not fair for me to have all of the fun,” I said. I reached down to pick up the bowl. She sniffed at my arm, blinked, and then sniffed again. “No, that’s not a horse. That’s another person.”\n\nHer eyes narrowed. She lashed out with a single paw and left deep streaks of red across my forearm. I dropped the bowl and stumbled backward, my mouth hanging open. She glared up at me and took a step forward. Blood was welling up in the scratches, and a stinging pain was cutting through the haze of surprise. I hastily unlocked the door and ducked into the house, heading for the bathroom. It took almost five minutes to clean the wounds. I was thankful that I kept stocked up on antibiotic cream and gauze bandages. Every once in a while, being injury-prone had its benefits.\n\nI returned to the living room, shaking my head. My earlier elation was gone. I switched on the light, and found myself staring at the cat, who was sitting on my threadbare couch. I’d left the door open. Of course I had.\n\n“First you scratch me, and now you want to hang out?” I asked. She made a huffing sound, and then she began to grow.\n\nIt wasn’t her fur standing up. That wouldn’t have surprised me. She was literally *growing*. As she did, more and more of the fur gave way to brown skin, paws into hands, hind legs into… well… a rather attractive set of human ones. I stared, my mind simply refusing to even acknowledge the sight. When it was over, there wasn’t a cat sitting on my couch but a woman. A naked woman. Her hair was the same sable color that I’d been seeing every day. Her eyes... had not changed at all.\n\n“You and I,” she began. Her voice was clear, her accent vaguely northeastern. “We need to have a little talk.\""
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[WP] "Hunt monsters long enough, young man, and you start to become something like them." The old hunter said. You thought he was being figurative, until the day you started growing spines.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"The wild zone is where I live. It’s far from the cities and the civilized people. Far from my father, who never appreciated my talent. I was a Class A marksman at the age of 12 and could sink an arrow into an apple from 100 yards. When the Rangers recruited me to thin the herds of monsters in the untamable wild zone, my father always would say \"what makes you so different from them? You better never forget that! One day you won’t recognize your self; you’ll realize your just like them— a monster\". \n\nDeep in the jungle of Grandis, a northern area of the wild zone, I built my home. It’s just a shack, but it’s built up in the trees, and has multiple rooms I can scurry in between. I didn’t build it up here because I miss my childhood tree house that I never had, although I do, but more so because of the letrawiggans. The letras are what I’m hunting. These creatures are next smartest species besides humans but by far the most violent. They have protractable claws like knives and can run on all fours when they want to— at speeds of a wolf. People started going missing in rural towns 50 miles away; so I was hired to push back these monsters. Well, that was 20 years ago— I think. \nNow, as I stare into the crystal pond, what reflects back is me. A me that would be un-recognizable to my father; as my spine has elongated past human form, my nails hard as steel and sharp as daggers. My feet are as long as legs and my legs are comparable to small trees. I am not shocked though, not even a little, as I stared into the moonlit water. I smile because I feel alive. This is who I am and what I always was— an ultimate predator far above the rest.",
"“The worms must be pulled,” I said. “They spoil the soul.”\n\nThe doctor looked at me for a while before scribbling something in his notebook. Then he peered at me again over his spectacles, his brow furrowed.\n\n“Tell me about the worms, John,” he said.\n\n“They sprout, they feed,” I said.\n\n“Who told you to pull the worms?”\n\n“The hunter.”\n\n“Who is the hunter?”\n\n“He taught me how to pull and where to pull.”\n\n“Show me the hunter, John,” he said.\n\n“Only in the dark. Only in the quiet.”\n\n“Can you show me? I’m going to leave the room now.”\n\n*Yes, leave*. I could hear him before he came. The doctor left, and the light turned off. I moved slightly and the bed creaked.\n\nThe hunter appeared in the corner of the room, his eyes murky in the gloom.Old rags fell upon him dirty and brown like seaweed upon a sailor’s corpse.\n\n“You killed the monsters, John,” he said. “You did a man’s job.”\n\nYes. I could see them briefly, screaming in my wife’s voice, trying to trick me into thinking they were my little boys in their little boys’ clothes.\n\n“But they’re coming for you now John,” the hunter said. “Look.”\n\nFirst it was a prickling, and then a finger burst out of my side, wiggling like it was beckoning me to come closer.\n\n\"You've got to pull them or you'll become them,\" he said.\n\nI grabbed the worm and pulled. Another poked out the other side, the thumbnail pale and moon-shaped. I felt along my back and there they were, wriggling like a line of worms squirming up to my neck. I pulled them out, the worms that wanted my soul.\n\nThey were on my hands, I pulled them, fluid oozing from the healed spots. *Deworming*. *Good for the cat, good for the soul*, the hunter had said. I am a hunter and the hunter am I.",
"\"I will kill you.\" whispered the barista as she handed back my change. \n\n\"What?\" I asked nervously as If I was brushing off what I had just heard. \n\n\"I said have a nice day.\" \n\nThe look on her face seemed annoyed as seemingly another one of her patrons had been distracted when interacting with her. \n\nOn the ground lay a brown duffel, belonging to me. Inside the duffel were the necessary items to be a successful assassin of scumbags. There's a handgun with a suppressor, a knife, a snickers bar, a bottle of whiskey, my medication, and a pair of binoculars. \n\nThe ideal candidate that receives my services is typically corrupt government officials; some of which I know dearly. I enjoy the look in their face as they finally understand the paradox of their career. Cracking their fragile spines is something that not only something that pays the bills, but also something that makes me excited to get out of bed. \n\nWith great enjoyment though, inevitably comes the inverse. \n\nI walk down Washington Avenue, replaying that moment from the coffee shop in my head over and over. This isn't something new, as I assassin more of those silly string spined bastards, more of these threats seem imminent. \n\nLately, 95% of my day is spent ruminating on human interaction that happened at some point in the day. I'm positive that I'm being watched or worse; hunted. \n\nI think back what my disgusting grandpa had told me when I was young. \"Hunt monsters long enough, young man, and you start to become one.\" I suppose that old abusive drunk knew a thing or two about being a monster.\n\nYet, I can't help think maybe he is right. I spend all my days hunting for the 'bad guys', maybe I have become one of them. \n\nI'm near my apartment when I notice a man with a black leather jacket and a baseball cap on has been walking behind me for the last few blocks. I start to speed my walk and think to myself that I have seen this man before. He seems to always follow me around this location. \n\nI get to the apartment complex, overlooking capitol hill, and enter as quickly as I can. Speeding up the stairs and frantically unlocking the door of my apartment. Slam the door shut and run to check all the closets are empty and my room is as I left it. \n\nAll clear. \n\nI decide taking a shower may help me feel better. So I begin to strip my shirt off and then catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My spine doesn't look normal; it looks smaller, weaker. \n\nMy spiral of inner ruminations begins to become inevitable. I reach into my bag for the medications and toss the whole bottle in my belly. \n\nI open the shower curtain and sit on the ground with my arms laying to my side and wait for the 'relief'. \n\nA man outside my apartment door knocks a few times but no response. \n\nIt's the man with a leather jacket and baseball cap. \n\nHe knocks one last time and says, \"Congressman Davison, It's Donovan your driver here to pick you up.\" \n\nHe would never get an answer.",
"I've crossed the mountains and plains, reached the depths and heights, looking for monsters. Hunting them gives me vigour and pleasure and there's nothing in the world like the feel of bludgeoning a monster to its death. I hunted the ones that caused trouble and the ones that didn't, monsters as big as the oak tree and shorter and smarter as the cunning fox.\n\nAfter sometime it has become too easy it has given me nothing but the boredom. I wanted to meet something that can challenge my valour and strength. There was literally nothing in the vicinity so I reached afar. The ship did not sail further for the sailors feared to enter. Land of the witches and spirits, they said. \"Fools!\" I stomped my feet on a different land. Land that has gone silent for centuries.\n\n\"Tread carefully... Hunterrr,\" a voice whispered in my ear. I drew my sword and walked straight. I slashed the trees that blocked my way, and went to see a house in the middle of a swamp.\n\nI knocked on the door. \"Who's there?\" asked a tired old voice.\n\nA man in his 60s opened the door, I let myself in, then he poured me a drink. \"Where can I find the monsters?\" I asked. Gloomy little man did not utter a word.\n\n\"Tell me, old man, I know that you know where they are.\" I don't like to ask the same thing twice. But he's not just any man, I gathered he was once a hunter like myself from the looks of him, bruised and tattered.\n\n\"Hunt monsters long enough, young man, and you start becoming something like them,\" said the old hunter.\n\n\"Bah,\" I laughed. \"It's been so long since I laughed this hard,\" I told him. \"Fine I'll find them myself.\"\n\nThe old hunter looked as I went into the woods. Dark filled the site for much longer than any place I'd been, it did not stop me from pursuing my dream.\n\nI finally reached the stones of the forest, laid in perfect circle. Fire was lit from the notice of my arrival, I braced myself for the creeper and anticipated the monster. Laughing sounds encircled me, I did not waver nor did I feel an inch of the terror.\n\nIt showed itself, the big toothed muscly monster, with red blotted pair of eyes. Its stench so strong it can almost burn the skin.\n\n\"I'll kill you and carry your head back home,\" I said.\n\nIt moved fast, I had a hard time keeping track of its movement. Nevertheless I have my sword I swung it on my back I scratched the monster's face. I jumped to strike a blow, it thrashed me towards one of the stones.\n\n\"Yes, you're the perfect monster to feed my hunger.\" It fueled my anger, I yelled as I fought. The monster showed its head to have a bite of me, I moved to my side and striked its neck. Two pieces, head and the body.\n\nI finally killed it. Blood ran faster in my veins, my heart throbbed way above what is considered normal. My legs and arms twitched, I dropped my sword. I felt the greatest pain as I grew spines from my back. I came to a realization I have finally met my doom, no longer human I became the very monster I came to kill.\n\n\"Nooo.\" My last human voice echoed in the night, only the old hunter and the spirits of the swamp heard my agony.\n\nr/FleetingScripts",
"The secret of this world, and ultimately humanitys success, was rapid evolution.\n\nAll humans are born the same, that much is certain. But everything else is up in the air.\n\nThe cities have forgotten this fact, where living among your own kind in relative security and safety stunts the process. But out here? Life is gorgeous and cruel.\n\nAs a hunter I recall the first time I adapted, spines on my feet, knees, elbows and hands. Myself and my mentor were climbing a mountain to hunt a Yeti that had plagued the nearby town.\n\nThe climb was brutal and harsh and I nearly died several times along the way. When I reached the top, I had changed, climbing from now on was easy. My master revealed his own adaptation then, many more than myself. He removed his gloves to show clawed hands with leather skin and bony calluses.\n\nThis revelation took time to process, ill admit, I thought I was losing my humanity. But now? I am stronger, faster, smarter and more capable than any city dwelling peasant.\n\nI thought back to the heros and monsters of old, the reality that through hardship and pain they were just people who had changed. I've met zeus himself, skin made of white steel for strength and gold for love, flight for speed and his signature lightning for battle.\n\nMy own adaptations are numerous now, the process is addictive. My spines became bony claws and spikes, I have grown taller due to hunting big prey, I am stronger from my long distance treks and my skin turned black to better sneak and surprise the dragons of the Ashfields, I can even manipulate fire after that trip.\n\nI finish my meal and lumber down to rest, igniting a lonesome tree to heat my bulk.\n\nSuddenly a tiny man entered the camp.... tiny? No. He must be average height, I'm the huge one.\n\n\"What do you want?\" I mutter.\n\nHe is silent, staring at me before clutching his necklace and muttering to himself.\n\n\"What on earth are you doing?\" I ask, lumbering to my feet and placing myself between him and the burning tree.\n\nHe squeeled \"Begone beast! You are not welcome here!\"\n\n\"Beast? I am a human you fool! I am.....\" I paused. I am human aren't I? The realisation dawned on me. The man continued.\n\n\"I will not be deceived! I will not be tricked! You are the deceiver, the trickster, the beast! Begone Satan!\"",
"\"Hunt monsters long enough, young man, and you start to become something like them,\" the old man had said with a solemn face, thoughtfully scratching his back. That was many years ago, on a warm summer night when we were enjoying our last evening together, talking around the campfire. I laughed at him.\n\nI didn’t know who he was or why he had to leave. We monster hunters aren’t usually of the companiable sort, but for some time he and I had shared something as close to friendship as it gets. For some months, we had travelled together, fought together and shared the measly pay. It was a great opportunity for me to learn the art of surviving out in the relentless wildness from someone whose wrinkles were the best indicator that he must be good at it, for old monster hunters are a rare species. I don’t know what he got out of our companionship, but I suspect that he felt he had to pass on some of his vast knowledge before the inevitable death would come for him. He was speaking of leaving soon for quite some time before his final announcement on that day, sadly telling me that I would have to look for myself again. To thank him for his tutoring, I gifted him a silver brooch in the form of a leaf I had earned some weeks ago for slaying an especially vile graveyard demon.\n\nOver the years, I fought hundreds of monsters, killed most of them and somehow managed to limp away with my life from those I could not best. I was nearly as old as he was back when we met and had almost forgotten him and his seemingly figurative last advice, when I first noticed a strange stubble on my right shoulder. After several weeks had passed and it had grown to a hard, pointy wart I became worried about having picked up one of the numerous diseases haunting the land. I showed it to a healer in the next town I came through. He told me not to worry about it, as we monster hunters usually would die long before any disease could do any harm. And for that, the bastard demanded a full silver dragon.\n\nFor a year, I went on business as usual, even though a whole array of black spikes had started to grow rampant on my back and scalp. When people started to run away from me instead of begging me to take care of ghouls and wyrms in their backyards, I invested my last few dragons into a hooded robe, just like the old hunter had always worn. When scales began sprouting on my face, I had to start staying away from settled places and hunt game for food instead of monsters for money. Then the periods of memory loss began. I would wake up with blood on my fingers – which by then had grown claws – without any idea what or who it belonged to. One time I found a tooth stuck in my left calf. A human tooth.\n\nI moved as far away from the settled regions as I could, a long way further than I had ever been before on my journeys. These places were always much too dangerous to be lurking around in, but sometime the last year monsters had stopped attacking me. I am writing this memoir on a scrap of paper during those short periods of time where my mind is still clear, sitting in a dark, damp cave far off any map. I am not alone, there are monsters living in here but they ignore me. In a corner, I have found an old, tattered cloak with a leaf-shaped brooch on it.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nComment: This is my first piece of fiction since elementary school and English is not my first language. Feedback would be greatly appreciated ;)",
"Growing up, I lived on a farm. My parents owned a hunting rifle and several sets of knives - for skinning and the like. I never much took to the actual farming part of it, my sister was the green thumb. I always messed it up, don't ask me how. So without much else to do, my father taught me how to hunt.\n\nOur farm was rather in the middle of nowhere. A forest, more specifically, so it often had wildlife in the surrounding areas; my father taught me how to hunt rabbits, deer, all sorts of animals we could feasibly eat when the harvest was low. I was a natural at it, or so he told me; our family wasn't afraid of getting our hands dirty, but at least blood was easier to wash off than literal dirt.\n\nOver the years I had grown accustomed to our way of life. I didn't know much else, learning how to read from the books and stories my mother read to me as my sister and I fell asleep in front of the fireplace. We both liked making up our own, and so learned to write too.\n\nThat was a long time ago. I gave up my hunting in favour of a more specialised career after I pursued an education; but, given the way things have become, I have had to return to my roots. \n\nThere lay a creeping darkness to the edges of the world, one that encroached slowly but surely over years. We were fortunate enough to be isolated from it, live relatively peacefully. \n\nYet now I live somewhere else. Somewhere you can enter, but not leave; I, along with others, have had to protect the town from the creatures that skirted around the shadows' grasp, for the sake of the rest of the world. Many of the other hunters are older, but in such a profession they never lived long to be that old. They were simply never seen again: likely dead or ran away.\n\nWhen I was newer, I asked why every hunter was of medium or youthful age. In response, I only got mumbles and a few disapproving stares. My insatiable curiosity got the better of me, however, and eventually I was able to find someone who explained, though cryptically he spoke.\n\nI have not been able to do much since joining this town. Our number are in too short supply to give up killing off the creatures; it is a mandatory job, so continued we have into the dark with our rifles and our knives. To hunt what few natural wildlife remains, and greater still, what unnatural wildlife flourishes.\n\nA month ago, I was unfortunate enough to have a fairly close call with one. I missed my shot just barely. \"Amateur!\" I exclaimed to myself, with growing tension as my mark raced towards me in retaliation. Its lunge impaled spikes into my arm as I moved to protect myself, its twisted face snapping at mine with demonic fangs. I plunged something sharp, anything sharp I could find into its head, and it slumped to the ground. I performed some basic first aid, but the spikes were too firmly lodged and would have been too dangerous to remove. There's no proper doctor around here, so most of our injured either have to wait it out or succumb to their wounds.\n\nA few days later, I woke up in pain. My arm still sore from the spikes of the day before, I unravelled the crimson-soaked bandage carefully to check on it. Were there always so many? I could have sworn there were only a few... and I hardly even noticed the ones through my chest, but there was yet no blood.\n\nIt's surprising how long it takes to understand that which is said most straightforwardly sometimes. Even now, my fingers ache as they awkwardly hold the quill. Under cover of the night, I will depart to the edges where I can finally sleep. My door is unlocked, and you will find necessary equipment throughout the house. I beg of you: if you find me...\n\nPlease kill me."
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[WP] you are a world renowned detective famous or solving the Stabby McStabbyface case but you have a deep dark secret that no one can ever figure out; you have no clue what you’re doing, you just got lucky. With a new baddie in town you are expected to solve the case
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
" \n\nStep outside. It's a nice day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing...\n\n... don't you feel like murdering someone?\n\nThere's a terrible swarm of black clouds surrounding you. The heavens are weeping as they cover up the sun's shining rays. The birds are quiet. It's a dreary day.\n\nWhat you wouldn't give to go back to sleep , and wish this day away.\n\nBut how are you supposed to find what you're looking for if you don't step outside?\n\nI just figured that you didn't really need to go anywhere. What you're looking for isn't found outside.\n\nGo outside anyway. It's not like it matters. You are a detective. You just need to start investigating.\n\nBut you know what detectives do , don't you? They have wild adventures that will probably result in them getting drunk at night and not being good at their jobs in the morning. They go out and look for clues that are never there. They run across the city, doing who knows what. They become stupid and stay stupid. They never solve a case.\n\nOr maybe they do. Maybe they do solve cases and they get a lot of money for that. They go out and solve cases, and they get praised for their bravery and their actions.\n\nDo you want that? Do you want to be praised? Do you want to get all the money that you want?\n\nNo.\n\nYou already have a bucket load of money unlike anyone else. You already have almost everything you could ever want. You don't want that. You probably can't want that.\n\nYou're made for solving crime. You're good at it even if you don't think you are.\n\nSo now, go out and solve a crime.\n\nYou decide to go outside your house even though there is a perfectly good bed right there in your house. You're acting as if you're really going to solve a crime. \n\nIt's now drizzling. A dark cloudlet hovers above you, which is pretty ominous. There's an orange glow coming from your detective's hat.\n\nI wonder what the hat does.\n\nI Don't know. It's your hat and you can check the manual to see what it does.\n\nMan, I hate it when the narrator shows off how inside he is .\n\nSo, what have you found out so far? Nobody around here seems to have a clue.\n\nThere's one person who won't let you in. She is beautiful.\n\nWhat do you want from me?\n\nI am a detective. That's what I do. I look at crime scenes. I look at bodies, I look at people and I look for clues .\n\nWhat am I supposed to do if nobody has any clues?\n\nI feel like asking why?\n\nWhat's so important about the clues? All they are are dead bodies and dead evidence. Yes, and evidence that people lack knowledge.\n\nSo what am I supposed to do?\n\nYou could go back to your house.\n\nNo. That will ruin me. Maybe I am better off staying here for a bit.\n\nPerhaps you could help this girl open her door.\n\nWhy would I do that?\n\nThat's a good question.\n\nIt doesn't seem like she's turning her back on you.\n\nThat's different. This isn't a crime scene and she doesn't appear to have died.\n\nIs it all right if I open her door?\n\nIt's fine by me. \n\nYou stand in front of her door, waiting for her to let you in. \n\nShe's going to open the door any second now... A minute passes... She's going to open the door any second now... Another minute passes... She's going to open the door any second now... Yet another minute passes...\n\nCan't you open the door?\n\nIt takes a little while , but eventually she opens the door.\n\nI'll be darned .\n\nHello, maam.\n\nYou are an excellent conversationalist .\n\nExcuse me, miss.\n\nYes?\n\nMy name is Joe.\n\nIs it black?\n\nWhat?\n\nYour name. Is it black?\n\nI believe so, yes........"
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[WP] In an instant, everyone on Earth develops the ability to shapeshift, but it takes a while for everyone to find out that staying as a form for too long locks you in that form forever. You're a caseworker specializing in helping people who got stuck in a form come to terms with the changes
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
" \n\nOne by one the world’s clocks chimed noon and somewhere the choral tone soared off bright and friendly and the sun moved across the sky seamlessly, stirring the shadowed trees to whisper to the wind in a language not yet forgotten. I wasn’t paying much attention, of course . The afternoon had been a slow one and I was enjoying a rare moment of peace, with a cool breeze stirring the flyaway strands and tickling my arms just enough to keep the sunlight from being too oppressive. A thin winged bug was hovering, uncertain, at the edge of the sparse overgrowth, about to take off into the sky for its afternoon flight, and I watched the delicate creature hover indecisively from foot to false again. Tomorrow, I promised the hapless bug silently. When I get home I’ll set out that can of spray you like so much. Just one more hour. The bug shuffled its homely wings, took a deep breath, and flew off into the sky. The last red sunspot shimmered on the surface before vanishing completely in the world below and dark clouds filled the sky. \n\nThere was the faint rumble of thunder in the distance that wasn’t followed by rain. I frowned into the sky, “Not this again,” I said aloud, knowing it wouldn’t do any good. I dropped my head back against the grave marker and sighed.\n\n“I shouldn’t have gone to that meeting,” I said after a while as the sun began to set.\n\n“Can you imagine what would have happened if this wasn’t what I became? None of this was supposed to happen.”\n\n“Zombies!” I laughed into the night sky, wincing.\n\n“Zombies,” I said again, more quietly, “The undead kill things by biting, Jane. The fact that I’m still alive at all is a miracle. I’ve bitten as many as two dozen people just to find out that I’m not a zombie. I’m curious, I admit, but I’m not a killer. I guess that makes me one of the undead, in a sense. I’ve always loved the earthy feel of the natural world. I might as well be a zombie.”\n\nI watched the shadows darken below as the sun disappeared behind the horizon, and I let the hint of crimson light illuminate the fold in my arms. I had long since grown out of my mourning but in this moment it felt right. The darkness of it contrasted so well with my bright red blouse and the plate at my feet read: Mary E. Fullerton.\n\n“Mom would love to see me like this,” I suddenly thought. “She’d be delighted if she had a warning like that right now. She might even laugh.” I stroked the diamond-shaped stone pinned to my blouse and suddenly felt a sharp and burning pain in my chest. I gasped and clutched over my heart. I had thought that shapeshifting would get me out of this. It’s not like I was dead, but at least I had been doing all this for a scientific reason and not because I was trying to fill a hole in my heart that she might never be able to fill. Perhaps that was why Jane’s father had left me. I wondered what it was like for him inside, maybe it was like this.\n\n“He was always kind to me, though.”I heard myself say. Maybe it was good to have a man that didn’t love a person like some kind of possession. Maybe it would be better to have a man like Steve. \n\n“I guess it’s nice to have choices,” I said, my voice breaking. I shook my head and hurried away from the grave. The call must have come from Mary’s parents, whose own daughter was now making far less progress at being a scientist than I had. They never really understood why I had decided to be a caseworker and I had never been able to explain it to them. “People,” I reminded myself, “are not possessions.”\n\nI went back to the house and headed for the lab. Tomorrow’s newspaper would be full of breaking new about the first woman to be bitten by a human as the other ghouls on the block watched it.....",
"&#x200B;\n\nMs. Lobber straightened her glasses, \"So Mr...\"\n\n\"Hens, Jason Hens.\"\n\nShe looked across the desk and asked in a calm tone, \"How's your day going Mr. Hens?\"\n\n\"How do you think it's going?\" he said flatly.\n\n\"We deal with these things all the time,\" she said as she read some papers from a stack in front of her, \"So it's been three months?\"\n\n\"Three and a half. Look, I'm a fucking chicken so if you could help me that'll be real great,\" he said already fed up with the conversation.\n\nIt was true. Shapeshifters often get stuck as whatever they turn in to. Ms. Lobber sat across from Mr. Hens, a white chicken standing on a stack of books in a chair.\n\n\"There's no need to get angry,\" she said, \"Treatments take about six to seven months, by then you'll be good as new.\"\n\n\"So I'll be a chicken for the next six months,\" he said, angrily pecking the air.\n\n\"Yes,\" she replied.\n\nHe started flapping his wings and pecking at the desk. \"What kind of place is this!\"\n\n\"Security!\" Ms. Lobber yelled and a guard promptly came in to drag the belligerent chicken out. Feathers flew as Mr. Hens resisted but he was soon subdued and taken away.\n\n\"What a shame,\" Ms. Lobber said to herself.",
"The Become of a Product\n\nIt is known by sociologists that little changes in culture or midst might have great Impact over a social system, but no one was prepared for what is to come. Common means weren't given to our economical, judicial or executive system to accommodate shapeshifting in the human genome, and yet it came, abruptly.\n\nIt was necessary to call for a calamity state all over the globe. People on the streets are freaked out by the news of a child who turned into a old lady and died of a heart attack. But the greater fear was hold as a question deep inside everyone's head. That question was \"what if?\". Freedom and impunity might be two best friends at this point.\n\nMy work here begins between the basics of research and welfare. State and private sector are currently working together to not cause panic among the public. Good samaritans? No way! Feeling just like a authoritarian government to me. Ask yourself why the news got so quiet, or what happened to the last editor who brought those creeping articles about the old child story.\n\nBut now the underground layers of this problem starts to show itself. Today a parrot came to me, beaking at my office window and begging for a auction. It was clear that his shapeshifting into a bird was getting worse, since he often changed his way to talk. Sometimes speaking concerned about his situation and sometimes singing a song and asking for food. His human brain, rotting inside along with his identity. But he clearly had something more important to say. His name, Lenie.\n\n- Baahhk! Enslaved people. Baahk! Turn into animals. Turn into pelts. Bahhk!\n\n- So Lenie. You were obligated to turn into a parrot?\n\n- Nahhk! Mammoth. For Thaaasks! Tusks. I mean.\n\n- But you got to change into a parrot. Why and how?\n\n- Met one. Also person baaahk! Two mouths ago. I imitate. I ahhk did. To flee.\n\n- Who are those people who did this to you Lenie? Do you know them?\n\n- Baaahhk people. BAAD. Pirates! Modern Piraahk! Slave parrot in the cabin. For fun. Yeahhk!\n\n- The ship had any identification whatsoever?\n\n- Tomboi! Sould by Farhhk! Farmac. Farmceutic.\n\nFor now on he starts to speak nonsense. Just like a regular parrot. I urge my superiors to uncover these criminal acts and allow me to help those poor people who are being killed and used as a product. This act has to be taken immediately, otherwise they will become a lost cause just like Lenie, who I couldn't save. I gave him a home, but real Lenie was gone forever.\n\nIf I'm not working on this case, consider this my resignation note. To become a journalist.",
"Henry dropped a file on my desk with a resounding thud. I groaned. ‘More? Seriously? It’s been a year, why aren’t people catching on yet?’\n\nHenry’s features stretched into what passed for a grin on his feline face. ‘Preaching to the choir Amanda. At least I had an excuse.’\n\nPoor Henry. The Changing Time, as it’s now known, when suddenly everyone on earth developed the ability to change their form at will, altered the world as we knew it in an instant. Bonus, the entire population of Earth got so focused on this new ability that it actually paved the way for more peaceful relations between countries. Partly because of that ‘we’re all in this together’ spirit, and partly because discovering that while your army can turn into a battalion of giant rock monsters, so could theirs. What we didn’t know in those first, chaotic months, was that if a being stayed in one form for longer than a month, they were stuck with that form, seemingly forever. We’ve been making some inroads, but people, too many people like Henry had to readjust their lives to fit their new forms. At least Henry didn’t go full cat. He can still get around as mostly human. Others weren’t so lucky.\n\nThat’s where I came in. My job is to reach out to the newly stuck, to help them navigate their new form, and try and find a place in the world.\n\n‘What’s this one, then?’ I asked, grabbing the folder.\n\n‘Oh, it’s a good one,’ Henry said, flicking his tail. ‘Man to tortoise. I mean, tortoise? Really? Slow moving land-dweller? Why?’ \n\n‘Henry, don’t judge.’ I opened the file and read the brief. ‘Okay, never mind. Judge away. Where is he?\n\n‘Conference room 2.’\n\nI found Brian Slattery, 27, formerly human man, now medium sized tortoise, sitting on the lap of a bemused looking woman, who introduced herself as Brian the tortoise’s girlfriend.\n\n‘Hi, I’m Amanda, I’m here to help you adjust to your new life. Please understand there is not currently any known cure for releasing someone from their form, but we think with a little work, you should be able to lead a happy and fulfilled life.\n\n‘Doubtful.’ Said the tortoise. \n\n‘I know this is hard, Brian,’ I said soothingly, but believe me, I’ve had at least a hundred cases similar to yours and I can assure you those people have managed to adjust quite well to their new existence. \n\n‘Yeah, I’ve seen the television shows,’ said the tortoise irritably. ‘oh, look at Larry, he got stuck as a lion and now he’s wowing people in the circus! Or ‘oh, poor Betty thought her life was over when she found herself trapped in the body of handsome man and now she’s living it up as Byron, super model. I’m a freaking turtle.’\n\n‘Tortoise,’ I said automatically. ‘Sorry. I understand how you feel, but you must have had a reason to be a tortoise in the first place.\n\n‘I just wanted to, erm. I was just trying to…’\n\n‘He thought I was cheating on him and he decided disguising himself as a tortoise in my back garden would be the best way of going about catching me.’ \n\nWell that matched the file anyway. ‘And are you willing to allow Brian to live in your garden as a tortoise, or should I look for other accommodation for him?’\n\nI didn’t miss the twitch as she tried to hide a grin. ‘I’m fine with it if he is.’\n\n‘Like I have a choice.’ Brian muttered.\n\n‘Finally Brian, for our records, so we can try to make sure this doesn’t happen to someone else, what caused you to miss the 1 month deadline?’\n\n‘It was in October when I took on the form,’ he said. ‘How was I supposed to know tortoises hibernate?’",
"\"So, miss Johnson, you have stayed in your... current form, for more than a week?\" I start off with.\n\n\"Yes, how do I change back?\" She asks a bit irritably. \n\n\"As I'm sure you know, if you spend a week in a single form you cannot change to another form without surgery. However I do not believe that would be suitable for your situation,\" I reply.\n\nMiss Johnson is one of many to have changed their form and lost their identity in the process. From a middle aged single woman to a more youthful, but unusual teen. She seems to have been testing around with what she could get away with, patterned hair, small horns, a tail even. Now that she's stuck, she is having trouble proving who she used to be.\n\n\"You will never get your old body back, but if you get finger printing and verify your signature, the DMV will replace your liscence free of charge, and once that is done I can write a letter of affirmation that you are who you say you are for your work and family members.\"\n\n\"...Can't I get how I look fixed ar all?\" She asks, a bit defeated.\n\n\"Hair dye will fix your hair, and a surgeon could remove your horns and tail with some care, but I can't say for sure these options would be permanent or temporary fixes for you.\" \n\nShe sighs and gets up. \"...I'll get my new liscence then...\"\n\n\"I am sorry for your predicament, if you need any further consultation do not hesitate to call me again,\" I give her a smile of pity. This job can be quite hard at times, having to tell people their lives will never be the same again and again. But at least I'm helping people fix their mistakes.\n\nMy next client should be here soon.",
"(Written on phone, sorry if format is messed up. )\n\nTW: gender dysphoria\n\n\nI walked inside the house. The blonde woman closed the door behind me and waved me towards the living room.\nShe is dressed in an oversized men's T-Shirt. Her boobs are so big it almost looks like a crop top from the front. \nShe offers me a beer. I respectfully decline, I never drink on the job. The things I am faced with as a case worker are hard enough to deal with when sober. \nWe both take a seat on the couch. The silence is pregnant. I clear my throat.\n\n\"I am here for Mr. Bob Maxwell. Is he coming soon?\"\n\n\"It's me. I am Bob.\"\n\nI nod.\n\n\"So what are your preferred pronouns Bob?\"\nShe frowns.\n\n\"I'm a man.\"\n\n\"Soo, he/him then?\"\n\nThey look frustrated, almost angry I asked.\n\n\"Yes bro\" he grunts.\n\n\"So why did you call me then, Bob?\"\n\n\nHis eyebrows raise, as if I just asked him the most stupid question he ever heard. He waves his arms up and down his enormous boob and feminine face\n\n\"What do you think?\"\n\n\"Well, in my line of business it's best never to assume sir\"\n\n\"I look like a fucking chick!\" He declared, shouting the first half of the sentence and whispering the latter half while looking over his shoulders to make sure we are alone. He lets out a long heavy sigh, his boobs juggling along.\n\n\" Look bro, it was Halloween alright? I dressed up as a woman cause it's funny yea? Next thing I know I am drunk and in need of a piss. I walked into the men's room and a dude started asking me what a pretty lady like myself is doing in there. I laughed it off, but when I tried to use the urinals ...well...it wasn't there\"\n\n\"It?\"\n\"My dick. My dick wasnt there anymore\"\n\n\"I see. So what happened next?\"\n\n\"Well, I think I am imagining things at this point. So I go to one of the stalls and take a piss sitting down.\"\n\n\"I mean, why call me now ? Halloween ended 2 days ago.\"\n\n\"It was a festival bro. I was drunk and thought I was losing my mind at first. But then this hot chick I've been trying to hook up with showed up. She's a lesbian. She was very fond of my tits, and anyhow, it was a fun couple of days but I am home now, and I am sober, and i still have tits\"\n\nI paused. I've had to work on a couple more cases since the world as we know it changed about a month ago. Nothing like this though. \n\n\"Look man, I don't know whats going on. I can't exactly go to the doctor and tell them I turned into a woman all of a sudden tho can I ? They will think I'm nuts. I saw your ad online and I was desperate. Can you help?\"\n\n\"Well, I assume you want to go back to how you looked before ? \"\n\"Yes. Yes, I want to be me again\"\nFunny phrase that, I thought to myself. \n\n\" Have you considered going to a gender clinic?\"\n\n\" What? No. What even is that?\"\n\n\"It's a clinic for people who would like a gender reassignment.\"\n\n\"The fuck? No. No I don't want no gender reassignment, I am already a man! I just want to go back!\"\n\n\"I am afraid I dont know how to help with that. This is all very new to all of us. But evidence shows that once a person changes one of their characteristics and choose to keep them for a certain amount of time,well, they kinda...stay that way\" \n\nHe now looked properly angry. Or was it sad ? Either way his face turned a shade of red and he lowered his head, his luscious blonde hair covered half of his face and rested on top his boobs.\n\n\"I- I am not certain that's the case\" I tried to calm him.\n\n\" Like I said this is all very new and you said it yourself, most people won't seek medical advice because shapeshifting isn't exactly on the list of things you call your doctor first. Maybe in the future they will find a ...\n\n\"A cure?\" It wasn't the term I would have used, but i nodded regardless."
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[WP] You’ve been blind since birth. No one has figured it out, however, since the voice narrating your life always made sure you knew what was going on around you.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Don't turn around right now because your friend is trying to surprise you and you'd hurt his feelings if he fails at this. \n\nWhy did you tell me then? \n\nSo you won't get surprised and hurt yourself. \n\nStop babying me! \n\nI can't help myself, I've always made sure you're safe and know about everything around you..\n\nWhat's he wearing? Anyone else with him? \n\nNo just himself. He looks nice. He's wearing that blue jacket you said looks nice from how I described it to you. Also he has flowers with him. \n\nWhat?! Flowers? \n\nYeah, roses, lots of them - careful when you accept it. \n\n\"Janice!\" Your friend, Harold, calls out to you and you turn around to him and act surprised. \n\n\"Harold! You look nice! Who's the lucky lady?\" You joke. \"Those roses are beautiful.\" \n\n\"T-They're for you!\" He stutters and you gingerly reach out and take the offered bouquet. \n\n\"Oh! You shouldn't have-\" You're however cut off as he babbles on. \n\n\"It's been years and I think I have the courage mustered up to finally confess-\" \n\nOh give the boy a chance, he's trembling like a leave! \n\nI don't like him that way though. \n\nLook he's listing all the things he likes about you, just date him for a bit see if you really don't like him that way or maybe it's because he's kept it to friends only out of polite decorum \n\nFine. \n\nYou accept his confession and give him a peck on the cheeks following the instructions told to you by your fairy godparent and you have a date this evening.",
"this is my first time writing since high school be nice lol.\n\n\"So the bartender says 'why the long face?'\" It takes me a second to realize the joke is over and Dave is doing the thing people do when they're waiting for you to laugh; The \"eh?..eh?\" thing.\n\n*Horses have long faces. I thought I described one to you on that school field trip.*\n\n\"Oh, that's terrible.\" I feel a hand softly rest on my forearm. If I didn't have him I'd probably get used to not knowing things like who's hand is on my forearm, but because he'll tell me in a half second, the half second of not knowing makes me a little uneasy. Especially with all I have to lose.\n\n*Your mother is feigning a smile, she doesn't think it was funny either but she really wants you to like him.*\n\n\"But being terrible is the crux of a good dad joke so maybe there's hope for you yet!\" mum laughs in relief at the averted awkwardness. I down some orange juice, proud of myself. Socializing for me is chaotic, and it takes a certain level of on-toes thinking to pull it off, even if what I said is kinda lame.\n\n*Dave knows he's acting the fool, he always does when he's under pressure. I hope you understand how much he wants to make a good impression.*\n\nThe rest of the night went without much anxiety. Dave gained some confidence and was actually pretty funny. It's still patronizing though, I'm 15 and my mom feels the need to make a big deal and dinner of introducing me to her new boyfriend.\n\no o o\n\n*In case you need them, your socks are on the floor to the left of your bed, it's going to be one of the chilliest nights of the year.*\n\n\"I know you know what I want to know, but could you not help me with that kind of stuff unless I ask? I'm trying to be less dependant.\"\n\n*Noted. If I may, could you please refrain from replying to me out loud? Even when you're alone like this, you have no way of knowing nobody is listening if I don't have time to tell you.*\n\n\"yeah and they'll assume I'm secretly blind and have omnipotent fucking babysitter in my head right? Lots of people talk to themselves it's not that conspicuous.\" I turn over to my side in my bed, even though I know there's no side I can turn onto to face away from him. \"Sorry I'm just feeling a little useless and patronized after tonight. I'm not trying to start a fight.\"\n\n*It's alright. I just prefer to be careful. They'll kill you to get to me, I care about you lily.*\n\n\"I know. I'm going to sleep. Goodnight.\"\n\no o o\n\nI awake to quiet, forgetting where I am, fresh mountain air numbs my face. \"Come on lily, I want to show you something.\" it's dad. My body is putting up a stout resistance to getting out of the warm sleeping bag into the cold night air, but I manage it.\n\n\"Look up, lily. Do you see the stars?\"\n\n\"Uh..\"\n\n*You do.*\n\n\"Yeah.\" my feet are cold\n\nHe breathes in, obviously enjoying the moment. I so want to enjoy the moment too, instead of swimming in the dark. \"This is why I brought you up here, you can't see them like this in the city.\"\n\n\"yes they're nice tonight\" I feel so fake, pretending to share a sky I'm ignorant of with him. I really hope he doesn't ask if I want a turn on the telescope. \n\n\"The sky is window to forever, it reminds us how small and how miraculous we are, to be living warm things in a universe of dead things. Would you like to look through the telescope?\"\n\n\"I uh... yeah sure.\" god why does he have to be so into this.\n\n\"I know you want to just go back inside the tent and sleep, but I want to tell you one thing first. Don't tell anyone about him.\"\n\n\"what? Who?\" Cold nips my feet.\n\n\"They'll kill you lily, do you want to do that to your mom? Do you think she can handle that?\"\n\n\"I--I don't know. I haven't told anyone about him\" My feet feel like lead.\n\n\"If you die then we'll both be dead, and your mother will be all alone. Are you really willing to do that lily? Are you that cruel?\"\n\nI wake up wet, and I don't realize why at first. I was crying. I stick my arm out and smack around for a bit on the ground to the left of my bed. Finding my socks, I slide them over my exposed feet.\n\n*Lily, your father didn't hold it against you that you didn't like going to the mountain with him. You were a child.*\n\n\"Yeah. He just never knew why. I wish I could see the stars with him one time.\"\n\n*End.*",
"**That was left! I said right, on the rightside... how we managed to get as far as this is beyond me?!** \n\n*How am I supposed to know whats left and right? I've been born blind. Not left side nor right side blind, like full on ahead blind... and don't come with that thumb thing again - I don't even know what a thumb looks like. In fact I don't even want to imagine this stubby appendage on my hand that's overly useful.* \n\n**Yeah sure as if I'm going to fall for this again. You just forgot again didn't you. I mean suit yourself it's not like turning the wrong side near a street is any reason to remember. Thirty years of this! Thiiirteee - what even is my existence?** \n\n*You realize I can hear cars from far away and still bring this argument to the table? I mean what are these weird ... wrooming car things even - feels weird everytime I drive one.* \n\n** Yeah, yeah cars... but more importantly did you think about what I asked? - Also move your hand down, You know down is where your toes are, that's it. Atta boy!** \n\n*No need to be snippy. We had this topic many a times before, I thought we agreed on a certain theory. I mean it was even you who proposed it, how am I to know.* \n\n**Ok, now do move number three, you know the half circle one. Then go back to position four and dip - sure I proposed it ... wasn't thinking straight... probably.** \n\n*Oh in contrary, I think it's very reasonable - more so than me thinking my brain fked up and gave me two voices in the head instead of functioning eyes. You sure people only have one voice?* \n\n**Totally ... I guess - oh that's it! Just a flip upwards and we're done.** \n\n*One voice... surely seems less stressful.* \n\n\"Tada! Mr. Wakanabe I'm finished with this piece.\" \n\n**Thanks I like you too.** \n\n\"Yes sir! I'll take it away and present it to the audience at once.\" \n\n**But really now how does it even work?** \n\n\"They're not even letting the paint dry nowadays.\" \n\n*What how it works to be able to see? Isn't that a bit of an insensitive thing to ask a blind person?* \n\n\"Yes sir, you've become quite famous recently. The blind Picasso they're calling you in the papers, although i have to admit your works seem a notch superior.\" \n\n**Yeah I mean... I can't see myself, I have no body as far as I can tell, mirrors don't work.** \n\n\"Who is that Picasso person Wakanabe?\" \n\n*Maybe a Vampire then, like in the stories you've read to me when I was little.* \n\n\"Yes sir, a famous Painter - I shouldn't have brought it up sir. It was quite rude, I apologize.\" \n\n**Yeah no, I love Garlic-Naan.** \n\n\"Don't fret Wakanabe. I'd also fancy a cup of tea.\" \n\n*That's why an imaginary friend still ticks all the boxes - well most atleast.* \n\n\"At once sir.\" \n\n**But ... what do I look like then?** \n\n\n---\n/r/SamAndHisBrain",
"*You're three meters away from the bus. It will open it's doors in exactly-*\n\nSeven seconds. I took this bus every evening on the way home from the education center and, for the most part, I followed this routine like clockwork. I never had to worry about getting lost as I, despite my blindness, had always had a knack for situational awareness.\n\n*You've entered the bus. There's a vomit stain to your right. There are five seats free. Careful, a woman's umbrella is jutting out from her bag.*\n\nWhen I was a younger man, with a quicker reaction speed, I'd be able to follow the Voice In My Head almost exactly as it spoke. I'm getting a little too old now, you see. My head is full of worries and sometimes, more often nowadays, I lose focus. The Voice never does, though.\n\n*You've knocked over her umbrella-*\n\n\"I'm sorry.\" comes a voice to my left. A gloomy, timid voice.\n\n*- and she feels guilty after seeing your cane. She's admonishing herself in her head, reminding herself that she doesn't do anything right. She silently wonders whether it's true what Jack tells her, that she's good for nothing. She comes to the conclusion that she wouldn't be able to survive without him, even if he does treat her terribly.*\n\nI could never understand the nature of the Voice. In fact, come to think of it, I can't really even describe how it sounds. However, it's been there from the beginning. It grew with me as a child; I remember the first time it used the word 'unnerving', when it was describing what my father was feeling when I'd asked him about why my mother kept crying at night. See, the funny thing is, I'd heard the word for the first time the day before on a TV soap opera.\n\n\"Don't worry about it.\" I say, turning to the direction of the voice and smiling.\n\n*She smiles back at you.*\n\n\"Uhm, I'm sorry to bother you, but... but would you help me find a seat? I can't tell which ones are taken.\" I ask, trying my best to make it sound sincere. I didn't need help at all, as the Voice would always describe of my surroundings in sufficient detail. Sometimes, though, I played a little game in which I'd flaunt my vulnerabilities like a damsel in distress.\n\n\"O-oh... of course! There's one over here, let me-\" she replies.\n\n*The woman is anxious to help you. She's about to take your arm.*\n\nA gentle tug on my sleeve follows and I let myself be guided to a seat.\n\n\"Lemme get that newspaper out of your way.\" she adds, before letting me take her arm for support as I make myself comfortable.\n\n\"Thank you. Sometimes I come on here and people just ignore me. I stand around like an old fool, holding onto whatever seems most stable. I really appreciate your kindness.\" I say, reaching out and laying a hand on her forearm.\n\n\"Huh. Well... no need to thank me, it's my pleasure.\" she says, a sliver of sunshine breaking through the gloom I'd been getting used to.\n\n*She's happy. Happier than she's been a while. She's heading back to her seat now, but she keeps stealing glances at you. She realises that you're blind anyway and won't see her. She feels like she's worth something, at least. She's worrying about you though, whether you'll be okay getting home.*\n\nMy act had satisfied my audience, but there was no use being too pleased with myself. The world was full of suffering and I, despite having no eyes to see, saw this truth vividly. In the last year I had only taken six train journeys in which neither of my fellow passengers wasn't afflicted with some degree of suffering. Sometimes I'd share carriages with people undergoing such enormous torment that merely hearing about their struggles caused me to curse the world and every wretched soul in it. The Voice would never shirk on detail, it cared little about my sensitivities. As a young man, I dealt with it by shutting myself in my apartment and putting all powers into cutting myself off from any human interaction, but over time the relentless silence of an unhappy solitude became more painful than the sound of the Voice. I simply had to get used to it.\n\nI often wondered why I had this voice. Whilst I was aware that it was uncommon, I was usually met with awkward stares whenever I'd tried to talk about this with some of the other visually impaired folks I'd met at the center. The Voice would then inform me that my peers were starting to think that I was losing my marbles, so I stopped doing that.\n\nOn a train journey about twenty or so years ago, the Voice informed me that the young man sitting next to me was busy planning the murder of his overbearing mother. I tried, foolishly, to persuade him not to, to tell him that he had his whole life ahead of him and that he couldn't ruin it for the sake of a twisted ideal of vengeance. He promptly panicked - who wouldn't? - punched me, then scrambled out of the car at the first opportunity. I don't know if he actually went through with his plan, but my nose smarted for days after that. It wasn't worth it.\n\nA soft voice permeates my contemplation. \"Uhm... it's my stop now, but... will you be okay getting home?\"\n\n\"I'll be fine, sweetheart.\" I reply. \"I've taken this route a thousand times by now. You take care of yourself, okay? The world could do with more kind-hearted people like you.\"\n\n*She's really happy now. Her cheeks feel strange as she realises that her jaw muscles aren't used to smiling this much. She can be something, she can help people. She's not worthless, Jack be damned! That's what she's thinking right now.*\n\n\"Okay! Take care of yourself too, sir!\" comes the sunny response.\n\n*She takes her umbrella and bag, then sweeps away the hair from her eyes. The dull pain of her back doesn't bother her anymore. She gives you one last glance before stepping out of the bus. She has a spring in her step.*",
"Slowly waking up on the marvelous Sunday morning is 21-year-old Alice Van Grebe. Annoyed by the forming headache in her head-\n\n“Which is you!” she yelled at thin air, she got out of bed and stormed to her bathroom, grumbling nonsense to herself.\n\n“Go to hell! Did you hear that?” she yelled again, slamming the bathroom door.\n\nShe got ready for a day out with her friends, Delia and Morgen, her friends she knew since preschool-\n\n“Do you really have to say that?” she snapped again.\n\nMy, my poor girl is loosing it today. Taking several breaths she grabbed her coat-\n\n“Was that a hand?”\n\nShe said as she touched the table slightly, thinking-\n\n“No... it felt like a hand... I know what the table feels like. I’m blind not dumb.”\n\nShe began to look around for this imaginary hand she thought she felt, but found nothing. Groaning in frustration, she stomped to the front door of her apartment, grabbed her keys by the stand she had left the night before and left her home, in hopes whatever she had thought she had felt was nothing.\n\nShe went to get some coffee before her 2:15 train would leave the station, ready to hit the city. The barista before her greeted, and what a handsome lad he is. Soft blond hair, gorgeous green eyes, and-\n\n“I’m sorry, why is he doing that?”\n\n“Doing what? Who?” Alice asked in confusion.\n\n“That guy, he’s like narrating everything we are doing.”\n\nThanks bro... you just ruined it.\n\n“Oh my god, so that wasn’t a voice I hear in my head?”\n\nAnd with that, I run, before the authorities arrive.",
"Theodore Art was one of those fellows whose peers would choose to describe as “reliable.” Like so many only half-genuine descriptors, this was externally a compliment, but its connotation was that he was a dull and uninteresting individual who could be relied upon to remain dull and uninteresting for the foreseeable future. He worked a dull and uninteresting job for people who fancied themselves innovators but were, in fact, just as dull and uninteresting as he. When he returned home, he ate dull and uninteresting food, and when he slept, he did not dream, for such excitement and imagination would be entirely contrary to his dull and uninteresting life.\n\nHowever, the dull and uninteresting Theodore Art had a secret. He was blind, and he had been since birth. To him, the world is without color or form, and is expressed entirely through the most curious medium of language. For, from above or beyond him, and piped directly into his ears, is a stream of narrative, a thread of story, and it is upon this that Mr. Theodore Art wholly relies. Wouldn’t you say so?\n\n“Yes, I suppose I would,” answered Mr. Art to the Narrator with an unconcerned indifference.\n\nToday was a day like many others. Mr. Art was taking his lunch break in the park outside his workplace. Beside him on the right sat the packaged sandwich he had brought from home, and while he intermittently took bites out of it, he enjoyed the warmth of the sunlight and the chatter of conversation between the other park-goers. A squirrel hopped in the distance, digging up and re-burying nuts according to its own obscure procedure.\n\n“Did you really mean what you said about me being dull and uninteresing?” asked Mr. Art.\n\nIt is worth noting that, while Mr. Theodore Art is a dull and uninteresting person on the whole, he does have some qualities worthy of recognition beyond absolute mediocrity. Chief among these is that while in form and motion he was absolutely unremarkable, in questioning the circumstances of his existence he was distinctly persistent. This will become important later.\n\n“Oh, it will?”\n\nYes, it would. For now, however, the questions of Mr. Art had to remain unanswered. *One of his coworkers was approaching him, walking down the path to his left. Her name was Sofia, and she was one of the few individuals Mr. Art considered a genuine friend rather than a mere acquaintance.*\n\n*“Hello Theo, how are you?” She greeted him in a friendly and jovial manner.*\n\n“Quite well, yourself?”\n\n*“Well, thank you. I hate to bother you, but if you have your card, could you let me back in the building. I believe I left my lanyard on my desk.”*\n\n“Of course.”\n\n*Ever the helpful friend and coworker, Mr. Art was more than happy to assist.* He repackaged what remained of his sandwich in its container and walked down the path back to his workplace, making sure to step out of the way of people travelling in the opposite direction four, eight, and eleven seconds later. After that time, he had reached the door, and so removed his lanyard from his pocket and placed it where he had learned the scanner was located. However, as he waved his card through the scanner’s traditional view, the familiar sound of admittance did not play. He tried again, and was once again met by silence.\n\nBy now, the forces of fear and panic were beginning to grip him. Had he been fired? Had the scanner been moved to some other location? Why was the Narrator refusing to tell him what was going on? … was he being punished? The dark void of nothingness extended around him, and the Narrator’s usual dulcet tones provided no actionable information.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nThis would soon change, however. As was about to be revealed to him, he was no longer standing outside his workplace. While walking along the path to the front door, he must have gotten lost, because he was now standing on the subway platform, awaiting the next train. The quiet screeching from the right side of the platform indicated that it was arriving soon, and so confused but trusting in the benevolent guidance of the Narrator, he sat down on the bench below him and waited.\n\n“No! Take me back.”\n\nMr. Art was displeased. There was no way he was going to allow the Narrator to toy with him like this, and he wanted to make sure the Narrator knew it. It was humiliating, and even though he hadn’t read a single city ordinance, he was sure there was a law against it or something.\n\n“Yeah, that’s right!”\n\nNow that he and the Narrator were in accord once again, he decided it was probably for the best to sit down anyway. After all, the Narrator had never steered him wrong before, and it would be foolish to think that the Narrator would start now.\n\n*He began to sit down when he was startled by the sharp noise of the train braking. There was no point in waiting now, and so he remained standing for the final few seconds before it came to a stop. Once it did, he decided, he would board it by walking six feet forward and one to the left, stepping over the gap, and entering the carriage.*\n\nWhile this thought was alluring, Mr. Art then realized that he had neglected to purchase a ticket, and so he would be unable to board this train. Perhaps it would be best to simply leave the subway station altogether and go back to eating his lunch in the park.\n\n*Then again, he had heard no one else in the subway station this entire time. If there was no one here, there would be no one to stop him getting on the train, and the sort of excitement that could bring would far outstrip the minor sense of guilt from cheating the transit authority out of one dollar and sixty cents.*\n\nBut of course being a dull and uninteresting person, Mr. Art was compelled to follow all laws, no matter how excitement-killing they might be. After all, if he were arrested, he might be fired, and without the menial repetition of his vocation, he would be entirely devoid of purpose. No. Mr. Art was satisfied with his life, with his role in his story, and he planted his feet firmly on the tile floor of the subway station and did not even entertain the thought of budging them forward onto the train.\n\n“No. I’m not, and I won’t.”\n\n*Mr. Theodore Art defiantly rebuked the Narrator and stepped forward, first once, then twice, then all six feet forward and one to the left where the door of the subway car opened. He heard its gentle puff of air, and signalled by this, he boldly strode forward once more. The interior of the subway car was brightly decorated, and though at this point he only experienced it vicariously, the vibrancy of it was palpable.*\n\n*His friend Sofia emerged from the forward part of the car and once again greeted him, evoking a sense of newfound adventure. “Are you ready,” she asked.*\n\n“Yes,” *replied Theodore, for the first time in his life excited about what was next to come. Together, they returned to the forward part of the subway car, and it slowly accelerated out of the station and into the obscure realm of the unsaid. Freed from his shackles of narrative, Theodore smiles.* \n\n&#x200B;\n\nr/DaeridaniiWrites",
"*note - tweaked the prompt a little to fit something bigger I've been working on*\n\n* * *\n\nJake Kimball had a headache. Actually, more specifically, he had two headaches: one was a generalized throbbing, a feeling of a large man pushing in on either side of his head -- maybe grunting a bit with the exertion? Who knows. And the other was...\n\n*DESPACIIIIIIIIIITOOOOOOOOOOOOO*\n\nFelicia Carrow. School weirdo, burgeoning telepath, and giant pain-in-the-ass.\n\n**That is *so* uncool.**\n\nI can \"hear\" her laughter. It sounds like the glass of a windshield breaking as a face gets smashed through it. \n\n*Payback's a b-word, ain't it?*\n\n**Wait. You actually *think* \"b-word\" -- that's not something that you say just when people are around?**\n\n*Shouldn't you be paying attention to class?*\n\n\"I *would* be if someone would stop singing Spanish power ballads at full volume!\" \n\n*You, uh, you said the quiet part loud. Again.*\n\nJake closed his eyes, more out of a habit than anything. That part of his face had been converted into...props, basically. He could act things out with them, but they didn't actually, you know, *work*. Not anymore.\n\nHe focused on the tension in his eyelids. It had been a novel discovery that he could still make bursts of pastel grey appear in his field of vision if he squeezed them shut tight enough -- or pushed on them with his fingers, like he was doing now. \n\nSlow breath, in through the nose, out through the mouth, concentrate on the sound of it. \n\nHe knew the classroom would have fallen silent. He knew without hearing it, felt the faces bent towards him like fucking sunflowers chasing the sun. \n\nHe heard Ms. Lucero clear her throat. She was really leaning into it -- it lasted for a good three seconds -- but he couldn't blame her. \"*As* I was saying,\" she said, an icy edge in her voice, \"*extraordinary* phenomena call for *extraordinary* explanations, such as when...\"\n\n*Smooth move, d-hole.*\n\n**You're *supposed* to be helping me.**\n\n*I'm* supposed *to be taking a Spanish test, but since you have the mental fortitude of a lobotomized toddler, I'm stuck in your head, aren't I?*\n\nTime was, there would have been some fire in a statement like that. Now it just landed in my brain with a muffled thump, like a couch cushion dropped out a second story window. She sounded that way a lot, these days. I think we had both sort of imagined that we would have figured out a way to break the link by now. Or, at least, to turn it off for a bit. Living a double life, trying to cover for me, wasn't helping much. Not to mention everything else that was going on.\n\n*Hey -- what's a \"thong\" verb, J?*\n\n**Oh, I like this. You torment me, then ask me to help you cheat? What would Senora Serena say?**\n\n*I help* you *on all of* your *tests...*\n\n**First of all, please don't use that little girl voice on me.**\n\n*It's not my voice, it's a neurochemical reaction happening --*\n\n**Secondly, you are *garbage* at all the classes we're not taking together--**\n\n*It's not my fault I'm in AP classes--*\n\n\"BUT IT'S YOUR FAULT I'M BLIND!\"\n\nEverything is quiet: Felicia, Ms. Lucero, the class. I realize I'm standing. \n\nI said the quiet part loud. *Again.*\n\nI need to recover. If word got out that I couldn't see, if it got back to...the wrong people, say -- that would be bad.\n\nI point in the general direction of the ceiling. \"--LY FOLLOWING PRESBYTERIANISM, O ALMIGHTY ONE!\" \n\nI clasp my hands, give them a few good shakes, and then sink back into my chair, head bowed.\n\n*Dude.*\n\nI hear the sound of a voice being cleared; it lasts 5 seconds this time. \"Mr. Kimball, have your faith guide you to the principal's office, please.\"\n\n* * * \n\n[Here's some backstory](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShadowsofClouds/comments/a7jhri/wp_due_to_an_overactive_imagination_and_your_love/) from my personal sub.\n\nEdited to tweak and polish a bit.",
"*Her eyes are blue. They’re beautiful*, the voice tells me. \n\nI don’t say anything, rubbing the handle of my dessert spoon between my thumb and forefinger. Across from me is the hesitant clinking of cutlery. She is having a raspberry cheesecake, which I know because I heard what she ordered. I know it is surrounded with little dollops of whipped cream because the voice told me. \n\n*Her eyes are blue*. *They’re beautiful*, the voice says again. I pick up my spoon and eat a small glob of chocolate mousse. Across from me, my date laughs, and I feel a twinge of guilt at the nervousness in it. “You haven’t said anything in a while,” she says, and I hear her fork clink against her plate as she places it down. “Is everything okay?”\n\n“Yes, everything is fine. I just-” *got distracted by how beautiful your eyes were*, I suppose is the right thing to say, but instead say aloud, “got lost in thought.” \n\n*Her eyes are blue and beautiful*, the voice insists again. I feel my eyes flutter shut. \n\n*What is it like?* I think to the voice. *The blue.*\n\nThe voice is quiet for a moment. I have never addressed it directly before for any other reason than to ask it to repeat itself, or describe something it had neglected to. *She is twisting her hair around her finger*, the voice says, finally. *Her eyes flicker to her watch*. \n\n*Is it beautiful like a melody is beautiful?* My head fills with a fingerpicked melody on a guitar, warm and mellow and accented with the slight squeaks as someone’s fingers move to switch up the chords. *I’ve told lots of people with blue eyes that their eyes are beautiful; is that true? Would I like them?*\n\n“Um,” my date says, clearing her throat, and the music vanishes from my mind. “I think I’m going to head out, soon. This was… nice.” \n\n“I can cover the bill,” I manage. My mouth curves in a smile that I’d practiced with a mirror, the voice coaching me with descriptions on how each expression looked. *A snarl, befitting of a beast*, then, *a nervous grin, like a high school boy asking his long-time crush to the prom*, and then, finally, *warm and approachable, a smile that puts butterflies in people’s stomachs*. \n\n*She looks disappointed*, the voice says, now. *She is gathering up her things*. \n\n*I am tired of lying without meaning to*, I think back, and the voice falls quiet again. I twist the tablecloth between my fingers and the slight texture grounds me. *Who are you? How would you even know if I would have liked the color blue?* \n\n*You do like the color blue*, the voice answers, but, this time, there is a hint of uncertainty behind it. \n\n*Who are you?* I ask again. *I know that this is not normal*. I asked another blind person, once, quite matter-of-factly, what their voice in their head was telling them about my shirt collar. It took every drop of my charisma to keep them from reporting me to the police. *And how can I hear you?*\n\nThe soft murmurs of restaurant chatter surrounds me like a warm blanket. *I am only trying to help*, the voice says, so softly that it almost seems to mingle with the voices outside. I remain quiet. The voice continues, *I have always thought that I was you. I’ve lived with you all your life. I had… a feeling, really, that you would find blue eyes beautiful.* \n\n*What are they like?* I ask.\n\n*I wish I could tell you in a way that would make sense. But, perhaps—like cool water running over your fingers. The whirl of a breeze that sends soft, stinging snowflakes flying up to your cheeks. Like the smooth, cool surface of a stone that’s been sitting in the shade.* \n\nI feel my lips tug into an unwitting smile. *I like all of those things*. \n\n*I know. I try to describe all the smooth rocks you come across, so you have a chance to hold them. I have a sense of what you would like, and dislike, and notice.* The voice falls quiet for a moment, before it asks, *Can you trust me on that?*\n\n*I wish I could see this blue that is so pretty*, I think, then startle as someone clears their throat next to my ear. \n\n*The waiter. He has your bill. He looks impatient*, the voice describes hastily. \n\n“Sorry, thank you,” I say hastily, giving him an apologetic expression as I hold out my hand for the bill. The check presenter thunks into my hand. \n\n*Ninety-three dollars*, the voice says immediately. And then, *I’m sorry. I wish you could see the blue, too. But I will try my best to help you catch all the beautiful things you can. Do you think you can trust me?*\n\nI nod, slowly, before catching myself and placing my hand decidedly under my chin. *Okay*, I think. \n\nThere is a soft sigh in my head, one of relief. *Your date is outside by the door. She’s waiting for something, checking her phone.* \n\n*I should probably apologize to her, right?* I ask. \n\n*You should stop talking to me and get out there*, the voice replies. I smile and hide the expression behind my hand. \n\n*Okay.* I slot my card into the check holder and stand. The voice, I know, will guide me back out through the tables, out onto the porch of this restaurant where she stands under a golden glow. Her eyes will flicker around to see me, complete with whatever little crooked collar or cuff stain that the voice cannot tell me about, that makes me human. Her eyes, blue and beautiful."
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[WP] Powerful, feared, and respected. One of the greatest villains in history just vanished after an intense battle with one of your superhero colleagues that left your colleague dead. It's been years, but you find the villain again, working as a volunteer at an addiction recovery center.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"As thunder quieted and the smoke cleared we all noticed two things; we had lost a good friend, and the villain was gone. Nobody saw him for five years, so we all assumed he had also died. But I had a problem with drugs, and finally went to a detox program. That's when I saw him, front and center with an unmistakable scar along his face and going down to his neck. \n\n”Hello everybody, I thank you for coming to this meeting today. I used to be addicted to super-enhancers, but I realized that I was being unstable after killing someone.” He monologued calmly ”I have turned around and now I host this weekly session as a way to help others now”\n\n”You mean after you killed a hero.”\n\n”What do you mean?”\n\n”You killed a hero five years ago, and you say that you just killed someone. At least respect them.”\n\n”I'm sorry. I wasn't myself then. And I can guess that you are not yourself right now either. If you choose to stay I will do my best to help you recover from this.”\n\n”Why didn't you turn yourself in? You could have repented through a legal process. So why didn't you?”\n\n”If I had gone under arrest, then I could not help others. I understand that you feel grief for your friend, but you didn't need to use drugs at any point. I help people like you accept that they are not the only ones affected by this, and people who have taken that step to rehabilitate. Now if you want to come in so the meeting can start then please take a seat.”\n\nI went in, sat down, and never mentioned who he had been again. Now I believe that I came out better for it.",
"Trigger warnings for drug use, overdose, suicide and death.\nWritten on mobile, so excuse any poor formatting please.\n\n\n\"So, this is where you disappeared to?\"\n\nThe canteen worker before you looks quizzically at you. He's in his mid-50s, you reckon, quite fit for his age, and you wouldn't be surprised to see someone with his looks in a clothing catalogue...\nAnd yet, here he is, dressed in a pale blue apron and latex gloves, serving meals to former addicts and recovering addicts alike. Not what you thought you'd find after tracking down the man that killed your mentor, Phaseshift, all those years ago.\n\nHe stares a moment longer, and you swear for a split second you can see recognition of who you are. A moment later and the signs are swallowed by a gently-smiling facade.\n\"I'm sorry sir, I don't think we've met. Perhaps you've got someone else in mind?\" He chuckles. \"I'm told I look like one of those movie stars the kids like, can't remember which.\"\n\n\"Maybe.\" You concede, stepping back to let the queue forming behind you past. Eventually the queue dies again, and you step close once more.\n\n\"So tell me, do you volunteer for any more activities here?\" You probe. \"Art workshops? Cooking lessons?...Beekeeping?\"\n\nThis time you elicit a small frown before that facade, that gentle smile like an elderly relative, returns to the face of the man you had thought dead in the same fight as Phaseshift. The villain, Hivemind.\n\nHivemind was known for seemingly impossible robberies, using incredible acrobatic feats and a variety of bee-themed gadgets to steal most anything he felt like, and often managing to pull incredible getaways out of seemingly nowhere. The number of times he'd slipped out of prison rivaled even some of the greatest villains of this age. When Phaseshift confronted him that one last time, the world may have cried for the loss of Phaseshift, but the underworld wept for Hivemind.\n\nTime to be more blunt. \"Who's your favourite hero? Most say Flitter or Platinum, but mine was always Phaseshift. Remember him?\"\n\nThis time, the man's face turns stony. He stands, fists balled, for a few moments, and you wonder if he'll leap at you, make a scene. Instead his hands relax, and he gives you an appraising look before leaning into the kitchen.\n\"Sharon, I need to take a break, if you don't mind? This lad wants to talk with me.\"\n\nHe gestures for you to follow as Sharon takes his place behind the counter. Wordlessly, the two of you make your way out to a large park, fenced off for the facility's use. There are plenty of trees, flowerbeds, and a quiet seating area you find yourself wandering to. Taking a seat at a nearby bench, he sighs deeply.\n\n\"Phaseshift...\" He murmurs, \"now there's a name that I haven't heard in a while.\"\n\n\"So it is you? You're Hivemind?\" The words spill from your mouth, and a slight grimace passes over the man's face.\n\n\"Lad, that name's been buried as long as Phaseshift has. Now, I'm just plain old Charlie Fisher and he...\" His voice grows soft, \"He was Benny Crane, and he was my friend.\"\n\n\n\nPart 2 will be in the comments!"
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[WP] You are an urban witch on the strangest tinder date of your life.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
" I was very much *intending* to actually write a date, but this is what came out instead. I think it's mostly on-topic. Hope it amuses\\~\n\n\\--------------------\n\nIn a sprawling apartment above a 24-hour chicken shop, there lived a model, an escort, and a witch. The former dated often, the second seldom, and the last one not at all. So it was that the three of them came to sit down on their second-hand couch one evening, to fix the last one's woes. \n\n\"Come on! You're a big bad spell-slinger, what's the worst that could happen?\" \n\n\"He could turn out to be a serial killer,\" the witch in question - whose name was Evelyn - replied, deadpan. \"He could spike my drink and cut off my head. Or bury me under a mountain of rocks.\" She paused. \"I could wake up dead in a ditch by morning.\" \n\n\"Can't wake up in a ditch if you're dead, sweetie,\" Xander - their escort (\"I actually prefer 'rent boy',\" he'd told the others one evening, a crooked grin on his lips) - pronounced airily, before hoisting himself up from his sprawled-out position on the couch. \"I'm making some tea. Anyone want some?\" \n\n*\"I* might wake up! I could come back as a zombie. And then I'd eat you for making me go on this date. And yes. Tea, please.\" \n\n\"Already told us zombies aren't real, sweetie,\" Xander shot back, disappearing into the next room. \"Can't put *that* genie back in the bottle!\" \n\n\"No, I said *I can't make zombies.* Which isn't the same thing!\" Evelyn called back. \n\n\"Potato, po-tah-toe,\" the kitchen door replied, \"Don't you have, like, spells against that sort of thing, anyway?\" \n\n\"Against what sort of thing? Being *dead?\"* \n\n\"Yeah! You know, like, resurrections, and all that.\" \n\n\"Only on *Buffy,* Xander.\" \n\n*\"Sigh.* Reality never lives up to television.\" His sigh was loud enough to hear from the next room. \n\n\"I'm sorry my petty magicks have failed to impress you. Truly, my heart is broken.\" \n\n\"Oh, you'll recover. Only if you go on this date, though. Otherwise you'll be stuck, broken-hearted… age of forty, with fifty cats…\" \n\n\"Hey! Cats are an essential part of any witch's wardrobe, I'll have you know.\" \n\n\"Then why don't *you* have one?\" Kate - their model friend, resident internet sensation, and occasional activist - chimed in. \n\n\"Because I have the same rental agreement as you. 'No pets', remember?\" \n\n\"Psh. Just, like, *magic* the landlord,\" Kate grinned. \n\n\"Mind control is-\" \n\n\"Yes, yes. Fiendish and immoral, I know.\" \n\n\"Well… yes. It is!\" \n\n\"I'm not saying, you know, *turn him into your drooling mind-slave,* or anything,\" Kate insisted, \"just, you know… get him to relax the rules a bit. Make an exception. For witches and their cats.\" \n\nEvelyn fidgeted uncomfortably. *Because there are lines,* she wanted to say, *and I don't want to be that person.* \n\n\"Too much of a slippery slope for ya, huh, Eve?\" Kate patted Evelyn's shoulder affectionately. \"Ah, you're too good for this world. That's why you don't have a boyfriend, you know. Or... girlfriend? Is that what this is about? 'Cause Tinder works just fine for picking up girls, all you have to-\" \n\n\"I like boys,\" Evelyn said defensively, \"or, well, *men.* Which even *is* it, at our age? I feel like I'm half-grown up, half still… I don't know, five years old. What should I even be looking for here?\" \n\n\"Well, if *you* don't feel grown-up, what hope do the rest of us have?\" Kate grinned. \"It's 'men' if you want to marry them, 'boys' if it's just a fling, by the way.\" \n\nXander returned shortly after with tea, and together they began the arduous work of swiping left and right across the town's supply of eligible (and some *not* so eligible…) men of dating age. \n\n\"You know, I'd really rather just meet someone-\" \n\n\"Nope,\" Xander vetoed, \"you've tried that. Been trying it. Last two years, you've been nothing but single. Single, and lonely, and desperate-\" \n\n\"Hey! I am not desperate!\" \n\n\"But you *are* lonely.\" \n\n\"... I am not.\" \n\n\"He's right, you know. I know, you're old-fashioned, and you want to 'meet someone naturally', and that's cute, but *this-\"* Kate declared, viciously swiping up on a six-four, flawlessly-sculpted surfer (complete with sunny sky and surfboard), whom Evelyn was mildly concerned would crush her between his dubiously natural biceps - \"is the wave of the future. Also, I've seen you get all melancholy every time I have somebody over.\" \n\nEvelyn winced. It wasn't that she envied, exactly, what Kate had - a seemingly endless procession of men and women, drawn in by the insatiable vortex of Kate's ascending internet stardom and never-ending lust for companionship - but… well, it reminded her of all the things she couldn't have. Couldn't do. Couldn't *be.* Not without a thousand caveats and oaths of secrecy. \n\n\"Are you guys sure this is okay?\" She asked. \"Even thinking about dragging someone into…\" \n\n*What I am. My life.* \n\n\"Hey,\" Kate said warmly, hand on her arm. \"You told us, and we're fine, right?\" \n\n\"Yeah,\" Xander agreed. \"You're a good person, Eve. You deserve to be happy, you know?\" \n\n\"Thanks, you guys.\" She sniffed, rubbed her eyes (something must have flown in there, she said), and glanced back at her phone. \n\nSo it was that poor Evelyn came to be sitting in a restaurant that she was reasonably certain she could not afford, across from somebody she was reasonably certain was a vampire, on an evening that she was becoming increasingly (and reasonably) concerned might be her last. \n\n*Well,* she thought to herself, *at least I can say 'I told you so'.*",
"I gnawed on the end of the tiny black straw that came with my fruity drink, staring down my date for the night. A handsome man in his early twenties stared back, his emerald eyes swimming with unbridled desire. I knew what I was getting myself into, perusing through tinder for a quick hook-up, but I was pleasantly surprised when I found that the man I’d swiped right was indeed as handsome as his photos led me to believe.\n\nMy black tinted, manicured nails clicked against the glass as I carefully slipped the straw free from my lips and slid it delicately between the ice still floating lazily in my cup. I raised the sweet, alcoholic potion to my lips and drank the intoxicating concoction greedily. I knew why I was really here, why I’d invited this handsome, *young* man to join me for a round of drinks, one of which would just so happen to include my signature sleeping potion. I was desperately in need of life force. While my hands and face maintained a glowing, youthful complexion, the rest of my body was starting to wrinkle and sag. The aging woman that stared back at me in the mirror every morning disgusted me, and so I decided it was time.\n\nIt was easy enough to snare prey when I had an attractive set of photos displayed on my own Tinder profile. Men, and sometimes women, leapt at the chance for a one night stand. They were blissfully unaware that they were caught in a trap, a spider’s web spun by an ancient black widow that had managed to adapt to the changing times.\n\nI grinned as the man across from me downed his second glass, the third full and sitting patiently beside it.\n\n“I just need to head to the bathroom real quick, I’ll be right back,” he said, shooting me a small, seductive smile.\n\n“I’ll be here,” I purred with a grin, intentionally angling my body to show the little bits of cleavage that remained appealing. He took a moment to appreciate the assets before stumbling towards the restroom. My face immediately fell as he disappeared around the corner. I dug through my purse, my fingers quickly finding the tiny glass vial near the bottom of my bag. I tugged free the cork and muttered a quick spell to swap my drink with his. I pretended to sip the glass, my hand shielding my mouth from view as I poured the sleeping potion into his drink. I’d learned from a particularly messy clean up in the past to keep my drink dosing a secret from any prying eyes.\n\nI snapped my fingers instantly swapping back our glasses, and not a moment too soon. The man, who’s name had escaped me, swaggered back towards the table and messily settled himself into the seat across from me.\n\n“So, do you do this often?” he asked, his voice suave but slightly slurred. He wrapped his fingers around his glass and slid it before him.\n\n“What, hook ups?” I asked innocently. “Occasionally, but I usually don’t find much when searching through my options.” It wasn’t necessarily a lie, just not the whole truth.\n\n“Yeah, same here,” he said as he raised his glass to his lips. I kept my expression a cool mask as I watched his Adam’s apple bob, watched as the contents of the glass slowly emptied down his throat. The thrill of closing in on my prey kindled within me. I flashed him a lazy smile as I took another sip of my drink.\n\n“So, did you want to stay here drinking all night, or did you want to get out of here?” I asked as I watched him down the last of his mixed drink.\n\n“Where did you have in mind, exactly?” he said as he leaned over the table. The fire dancing in his eyes indicated that he knew the answer to his own question, but I shot him a coy smile anyways.\n\n“My apartment’s just a block up the road,” I said as I slowly sipped the last of my drink and narrowed my eyes cooly in his direction. He smirked, then snatched his jacket from the empty seat beside him.\n\n“Shall we?” he asked as he pushed himself from his seat and gestured towards the exit. I smiled, the joy masking my face belying the anticipation roiling in my chest. He laughed and joked at my side as we stumbled down the block, arms linked. My excitement deepened as I felt him begin to stumble more violently. We hobbled up the front steps of my ground floor apartment. I flicked my fingers to the side, silently unlocking the door with a wordless spell. I reached forward and turned the door knob, releasing the door from its latch and allowing it to swing soundlessly inward.\n\n“You keep your apartment unlocked in a city like this? Brave,” the man breathed beside me, his words seeming to slur more with each step we took through the foyer. I nearly dragged him to the sitting room and swiped my hand lazily before me. The black curtains snapped closed, followed by the slam of the front door in the entryway.\n\nI deposited him on the carpet, just before the sofa as my pleasant mask melted away to a sinister sneer. I knelt down and slid one manicured fingernail beneath his chin, raising his drooping eyes to meet mine. My eyes burned fiercely as I drank in my prey, his helpless body splayed across my carpet. Until his legs suddenly swept beneath him, and the top of his head rammed against my chin.\n\nI staggered backwards, clutching my crooked jaw as my eyes widened in horror at the man smirking before me. He rolled up his sleeves and sauntered closer, revealing a flash of violent steel beneath the cuffs of his shirt.\n\n“Now that we’ve truly made our acquaintances, let me introduce myself. I am Jack Shepard, a witch hunter.”"
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[WP] You work as a bouncer at a bar that only serves gods and goddesses from all over the globe. No one knows the history of the bar, not even the gods, until one day, they get the bartender + owner drunk to make him spill it out.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
" The plan was in place, tonight was the night we learned the truth. For years, all the deities that went to the bar wondered where it came from and, more importantly, whom the bar owner was. The exterior of the bar was similar to that of an ridiculous American Western Saloon. Inside, the bar was divided into an uncountable number of sections. Each section was tailored towards a specific pantheon. The Greeks had marble furniture with larger goblets to drink their wine out off. The Romans had couches to sit on while also drinking wine. (Both tended to but heads about who was copying who, but everyone else just accepted the similarities.) The Norse gods, the most frequent visitors to the bar, had sturdy chairs and colossal horns to drink their ale out of. On and on it went, each room with the peculiarities of the pantheons. Hiding an unending interior to a normal exterior was a common enough trick for us gods, therefore it was deduced that the owner was also a god. The owner was a tall man by human standards, sitting at about 7 foot (amongst the other gods, he was only of average height). Swarthy, with a complexion more similar to those of the Egyptian gods, he was painfully thin. His voice was the opposite of his appearance, deep and resonant. Whenever he spoke, the whole bar listened. All of this added to the mystery of the man, and made us all hungry for answers. \n Now, the plan: Being the most beautiful among the goddesses, Aphrodite and Hathor would distract the owner with their womanly charms. Mercury, the fastest among us, would slip some drug that Loki had brewed into the owner’s own mug of beer (he had a fondness for American drinks). Loki has guaranteed that it would loosen the owners lips.\n “Don’t you worry, this concoction will make that fellow open his mouth faster that Bacchus eating a turkey leg,” the trickster had said. And, as a final resort, we had convinced Ares and Thor to stand by in case stuff got ugly.\n I must say, I was quite proud of the plan. Getting all the gods to work together had been a chore, but eventually they had all agreed they wanted to know the truth. The plan unfolded as planned. The owner was distracted by the lovely ladies, Mercury dropped off the special package into the mug, and Loki tried to stop Ares and Thor from breaking a table during an arm wrestling contest. Everyone in on the plan waited with held breaths as the owner downed the rest of his beer. With a sultry smile, Aphrodite finally asked the question, \n “So mister, just how did you come to make this here bar?” The owner stopped drinking from his mug, and looked over the rim at the goddess. Slowly, he lowered his drink and looked around. Making eye contact with each of the gods in on the plan one by one, he started to speak.\n “If you wanted to know, you didn’t have to come up with this ridiculous plan,” he said, finally laying his eyes on me. Shocked, Aphrodite took a step back from the owner.\n “How did you know?!” Aphrodite ask incredulously.\n “Oh please, I’ve had that tricked played on me too many times to count. You think your the first gods to try that on me?” Upon seeing all our shocked expressions, the owner laughed deeply. “What? You thought you were the only gods there have been? How wrong you all are!” Before the sheer size of that information fully hit us, the owner had pulled out a book. Nyarlathotep by H.P. Lovecraft laid upon the wood of the bar. “Have any of you read Lovecraft?” the owner asked, “I did so love giving him those dreams of my comrades and I.” \n Stepping from behind the bar, and moving to the front door of bar he said: \n “The reason I started this particular bar...” upon reaching the door, the audible click of the door lock resounded in the silent bar. “Is because it makes it easier to cull the herd once it gets too big.” \n Turning around, the owner’s face was not the thin brown it usually was, but a mass of tentacles with gnashing maws forming and disappearing constantly. In the infinite voices of the abyss, the being that was the owner said: “This is always my favorite part.”\n\n\n\nThanks for reading! I apologize for any grammatical errors that are here. Please feel free to leave any feedback!"
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Or substitute collectable child's toy of your preference.
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[WP] Many people have offered the devil their lives or their souls in exchange for their heart's desire. You're the first to try vintage LEGO sets, and he's not sure how to respond.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"\"You want immortality.\" Satan said in shock.\n\n\"Yes, I thought that was a rather common request.\"\n\nThe Devil looked at me somewhat confused.\n\n\"It is, but what you're offering in exchange...\"\n\n\"A LEGO Death Star, yes, what about it.\"\n\n\"Well that's just never happened before!\"\n\n\"That was sort of the point, you don't have one, do you?\" I asked.\n\n\"No, but I've never wanted one.\"\n\n\"I guarantee this is a fair trade, it's in pristine condition. I'll even through in some extra minifigures if you're still on the fence.\"\n\nIt was hard to keep a straight face, since I honestly didn't expect this to work. I wouldn't have done it normally but Truth or Dare can be a wild game sometimes.\n\n\"Look either you offer me your soul or I'm taking it right now.\"\n\n\"Fine, I offer my soul for your LEGO Death Stars.\"\n\n\"Alright, I'll get you your LEGO sets.\" The Devil turned to go.\n\n\"No, I want YOUR set.\"\n\n\"I have to go get one for you.\"\n\n\"Well then the deals off.\"\n\n\"You don't get a say in this anymore.\"\n\n\"We never shook on it.\"\n\nSatan looked like he might explode. \"WE HAD A VERBAL AGREEMENT\"\n\n\"I don't remember it.\"\n\n\"Well maybe I should just give you a perfect memory then.\" The Devil snapped his fingers.\n\n\"Hey, I didn't want that, I didn't agree to this. I demand compensation!\"\n\n\"Fine keep your soul, just let me leave!\"\n\n\"I want immortality.\"\n\n\"Screw you.\""
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[WP] 2460: Your ship crashes on a planet at the edge of known space. Crawling from the wreckage, you're amazed to see a paved road and ruined buildings all around. You realize that you've discovered the abandoned home planet of all humanity: Earth.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"It used to be a city. In some ways, it still was. Millions of things lived here, just like before. They walked the streets and climbed the towers and broke up through the surface of the earth. Straining for the sun.\n\nThe spaceman watched from what was once a park. A hub of nature, its head start over the encroaching weeds and vines now turned into a sprawl of trunks and interlocking branches. All around, grass taller than the spaceman, that flowed in the wind with the sway of a rhythm the spaceman could not hear. Things ran through the grass, called up to open sky, and sniffed out the scent of prey. The spaceman listened. They could hunt him. He would run. He still feared death. Even if it was a death here. In the womb of everything and everyone. It was strange, when they talked about Earth it always filled him with a sense of reverie. Of the holiest of holies. Terra. The land we left behind. The place we ran from when it no longer welcomed us. But still. Our home.\n\nHere and now, that feeling felt so childish. The naivety of distance and dreams. The park was ringed with concrete carcasses. Great open structures half torn apart by weather and time. Ragged wounds exposing individual floors of rusted metal and long since broken glass. There we no roads to be seen. No signs of life. Nothing besides the swaying in the tall grass.\n\nThe spaceman stood up. His suit crinkled softly, folds of plastic and fabric meant for the confines of metal ships, aloft in weightlessness. He’d ripped it off at first, before in desperation dragging it back on. It trapped his scent. Muffled his breathing. Held his sweat and spit inside. Kept him safe.\n\nAnything to make him less human.\n\nIn the center of the park a fountain remained. The passing of years had rendered it without gender, without age. But the human form remained, arms reaching upwards as if to embrace the sun. Through the moss, scratches wider than the spaceman’s hand exposed old and pitted stone. The exposed stone was pure and white. Fresh. His landing had woken them from slumber.\n\nHe glanced towards his craft. Once a gleaming dart of speed and fury. Now, like a bullet caught against a target, half compressed and buckled. The front-end semi-liquefied on impact; the remainder scattered across some half-mile through the city. At night he heard them, digging through the wreckage. Mostly the squealing bend of metal, reinforced for space travel, ripped apart in the search for that which they had so long been denied. Once, softer noises. Squishy tearing sounds, deep dull crunches, and the scream of something joyful. The spaceman hoped it had been quick. Hoped that they were dead and not just sleeping in a casket, waiting to be served.\n\nThey didn’t starve. By the spaceman’s estimations, it was more like they couldn’t starve. They simply waited. All this time. Perhaps they knew we would return. One day.\n\nThe grass stilled. The spaceman tensed. The calls rose up. A mewling twisting thing, half a cry, and half a moan. A sound of longing. A sound of hunger.\n\nThe spaceman ran.\n\n\\---\n\nPart 2 down below. The journey continues."
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[WP] You have always been able to see what element one could control by looking into their eyes.- They've varied, from fire to darkness, water to metal... But this child... You see the galaxy in their eyes.... When asked what you see... "... Sea foam, captain."
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"\"The world had changed from the era before it. A young crazy scientist opened a hole in the forth dimension and suddenly everyone and their brother was able to control fragments of the world around them.\" I explained to the group of Orphans before me.\n\n\"Lieutenant,\" My boss called from behind me \"We have no time to waste.\" I was reminded of the rush we were in.\n\nI smiled kindly at the child nearest me and looked deeply into their eyes. I was always able to tell the flow, the strings attached to each person. What they were able to control, what they were tied to in the foreign dimension. This connection allowed for the apparent supernatural power.\n\nAs i stared, there was no depth to this child's connection. There were no limits to the strings that tied him to the other world. A small reaction of surprised occurred on my face before I was asked what i saw.\n\nQuickly ordering my composure I responded \" ... Sea Foam, Captain.\" A devilish grin intensifying inside me.\n\nMy days as a scientist were no longer going to be forgotten."
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[WP] You find a black envelope in your mailbox. It has a note that says, "You are no longer under our protection. You are being hunted. Good luck."
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
" \n\nI stand at the counter staring at the black, thick card with my name on it. This wasn’t meant for me of course. I was never being protected. What was I being protected from anyways? But it must be for me, it has my name on it. “Catalia, you are no longer under our protection. You are being hunted. Good luck.” I must have read it ten times before I could peel my eyes away. It was for me, but I couldn’t make sense of it. No return address, no stamp, not even my own address on the envelope. This must be some joke from a neighborhood kid then. I toss it aside and cook myself dinner trying to ignore the eerie feeling someone is watching me. \n\nI go to bed while listening to a meditation app. I’ve been on edge all night trying to shake this strange card from my mind. As I lay with my eyes closed, my mother flashes across my mind. She’s talking to another woman in all red. My mother is holding something, she leans toward the woman and looks at me. Her eyes are frantic and worried. The other woman looks at me and smiles. I startle awake. I can’t catch my breath. Another strange dream. They have been happening a lot this week. As I get up for a glass of water, I turn and see the red woman smiling at me from my couch. \n\n“Your time is up,” the red woman slithers with a slight smile and slitted eyes. My legs weaken and my heart skips a beat*. Where can I run? Can I run? What do I do?* \n\nI choose the only thing my body lets me do. *“*Who are you?” I declare in a shaking voice. \n\n“Ah I knew you would forget. I told them keeping you away from me would only harm you. Catalia, I am your grandmother.” \n\nI look at her again. Green, almond shaped eyes with dark, short hair. She is taller than me and much too young to be a grandmother, or even my mother. The red, tight leather accentuates her powerful thighs and strong breasts. \n\nShe sees the confusion on my face and explains, “I am Queen of all beings. And you, my dear, are our princess. Your mother decided her fate many years ago. And now you must choose, too.”",
"\"Oh shit! They're after me,\" I thought. I was not prepared for this. It seemed to me I was getting all too comfortable with the life I was living. They only had one rule and that was to make sure I could be independent.\n\nObviously I wasn't paying attention. I had failed on multiple accounts to maintain the status quo. They say that when opportunity knocks, you should answer the door. Unfortunately I just sort of cracked it open and barely looked out.\n\nWhen I did happen to actually open the door, it was more like a flaming bag of doody, and I stomped on it to put the fire out. The consequence being quite a mess. If only I had adhered to their one rule.\n\nIt turns out I never really was ambitious enough to climb a ladder. I tried all the time and sometimes succeeded, but never took it seriously enough. Now they are after me. I am no longer under their protection. Like prey in the wild, I'm on my own. Maybe that's the point. Perhaps I should have left this comfort behind and sought out experiences that would not trap me.\n\nFucking debt collectors!",
"Omnious letter. Less omnious was the return adress on the enveloppe. You do what every well-mannered Scots would do in this situation: write back.\n\n*Dear correspondant,*\n\n*I am shocked and amazed, you protected me? Had I known, I would have invited you for a pint and chat. I am in a whirlwind of questions at the moment, why did I need protection? Why were you so nice as to provide it? Who hunts me? For what? Vengeance, send me a gift, hide-and-seek? I await your reply and hope for some answers, or, if not, some more hints to keep the suspense up.*\n\n*Regards,* \n*Sylvester.*\n\nThere, stamped and sent, it's good when God sends a new curiosity your way to break the routine a little bit.\n\nTwo days later, a new letter from the mystery correspondant. In it, a laconic message.\n\n*The husband of the gal you shagged a month ago, he's after you. He suspected something, I had to tell him it's you, I'm sorry. Hide, the guy's savage and dangerous.*\n\nMy, oh my, Silvester thought. The desire for the flesh, of course, as it often was. It is hard to look at a failed relationship and admit it as such, much easier to seek a simple yet cathartic revenge. He took a blank paper and a pen.\n\n*Dear correspondant,*\n\n*I believe in standing your ground and facing what is sent your way with the head held up high. I will talk to him, if need be, show him the other cheek. I appreciate your concern and it warms my heart, know that I am in no way angry at you for giving up my adress, there is no good way to handle such a situation and I am glad you tried. Be proud of yourself.*\n\n*Kind regards,* \n*Sylvester.*\n\nStamped and sent. Sylvester went to make himself some coffee before going out on a walk.\n\nTwo days later, in a cold morning, he found the reply in his mailbox. The missive, once more, stood on the laconic side of words.\n\n*Good luck dude, just don't end up in the hospital.*\n\nAnd the man came, angry, violence raging in his eyes, eager to be translated into his fists.\n\n\"Come inside my good man.\"\n\nThe man followed Sylvester and stood paralysed in the entry. Pictures praising God littered the home, a bible verse stood next to a welcome for guests. Finally, he spoke.\n\n\"Praise god and make another man a cuckhold, you fucking hypocrite,\" the man's fists tightened.\n\n\"I'm the local catholic priest, my son,\" said Sylvester.\n\n\"Wait, aren't catholic priests supposed to be celibate and not have sex?\"\n\n\"Indeed, and I can proudly say I never indulged in the pleasures of the flesh.\"\n\nThe man left in a hurry.\n\nSylvester took a blank paper and wrote.\n\n*Dear correspondant,*\n\n*Did you happen to mix up Masserston street and Mastersson street?*\n\n*Kind regards,* \n*Sylvester.*\n\nA few days later came the answer.\n\n*Oh shit.*",
" \n\n\nThe color was the first hint. I kept trying to delude myself while walking back inside. “Maybe it’s the funeral home, those sometimes use black” I mutter under my breath, steeling myself to open it. The letter was barely out of the envelope when I knew the truth. It was time to go. Three minutes later I was standing in the door of my kid’s bedroom with a duffle bag slung over my shoulder and a Glock in my pocket. It was against protocol, but I grabbed a single stuffed bear to keep me company in the long campaign ahead. I grabbed the flash drive from my computer. Odd to think how something so small might win us the war. I knew they had pulled their protection to keep other assets out of suspicion, but it still felt like a small betrayal.\n\nI took one last look at my home of ten years. The front lawn was strewn with toys, and the mid-autumn chill told me that soon it would be time to rake the-“No no no, I can’t think like that any more, never again, it’s gone, I can’t think like that” I had to mutter under my breath, trying to force myself back into the mindset ingrained in my 20 years earlier in training. By the time the Uber came around I had control over myself. I knew what to do. I had three priorities: Survival, shelter, and getting out of the country. A four-digit tip helped the driver see speed limits as optional, and we were almost out of the city by the time I spotted the first one on the highway. There, three cars back behind the red sedan, two men with partial face masks and AK-47s loudly gesturing at my car. Lunging over to the steering wheel, I wrenched us to the side before the bullets splitting the air could hit us. This was bad. I couldn’t get bogged down; the city was filled with cameras, I needed to get out into the countryside before I stood a chance of escape. My gun was firing out the window before I knew it, two shots straight to the temple of the driver. His partner was forced to grab the wheel before they crashed, and I used the brief reprieve to shove the driver to the backseat and reload. \n\nStomping on the gas pedal shot us in front of the assassins, and we soon lost sight of their car around a corner. The driver behind me was beginning to ask some questions beyond terrified screaming, which meant this was a dead end. $20,000 and a “this never happened” later, I was racing through the countryside in my dubiously acquired transportation towards an equally dubious future.\n\nFive hours of driving later had me arriving at a tiny town in the middle of Soviet Russia with enough guns and ammunition to outfit a small revolutionary army. Hopefully the others will be here soon. Waiting inside the hangar was a piece of technology that had no place outside top-secret government research laboratories. Fifty feet of gleaming, radar-reflective steel fighter jet would hopefully keep the radar off us as we made our way back to the homeland. Turns out I was the late one. Three people I had never seen before stood in a rough circle yelling about something in harsh tones. Before I could take more than a step into the room there were about six guns pointing across the room directly at me. “I’m Baltimore, Code 54” was all it took for them to put away their guns and resume yelling at each other with increasingly offensive expletives. “When’s takeoff?” I asked as innocently as possible. “That’s the problem 54,” a tall, bearded man growled in a heavy accent. “They remotely deactivated the jet.” Thirty years of indoctrination warred with the surety of his tone. “What? Why would they do that? They need the codes, don’t they? Maybe they just have a different exit strategy for us” I grabbed my sat-phone to ask command for permission to wipe these traitors off the map. Before the phone could leave my pocket my hand was pinned beneath a woman’s arm. “You don’t get it. It’s not another plan, or a different exit. They left us. Here. Alone.” \n\nThey had to pin me down for a full minute before I could calm down enough to think anything other than killing the heathens. It took thirty minutes after that for me to find out that not only was the pane indeed not accepting our access codes, it also displayed a message straight from command saying our brave sacrifice was necessary for the good of the homeland, and that all of command appreciated our choice to stay here and give our lives for the war effort. Any semblance of calm was gone. My carefully crafted mental state broke in minutes. The three of us just sat there in mute silence. It was all supposed to be worth something; that's what they told me. When I got home there would be commendation, and medals, and my family would be given the support they needed to live. Ten years of hope and anticipation drained out of me as I thought about my little brother who would never go to college, and my elderly mom who would die in days without her medication. My two lives crashed together. I was no longer a double agent, just a lonely, hated man with nobody in the world but three similarly betrayed agents who saw him as a number and a bounty on his head. “What… What do we do now?” The woman beside me choked out. “What else is there to do?” I replied. “We fight back.”"
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[WP] It was supposed to be just another mission in the life of a hitman. Go in, take out the target, get paid. Just like always. But no one told you your target was litterally immortal.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"There were times Delilah regretted becoming a hitman, but not for moral qualms. No, her targets were never clear of conscience. The hits were almost always easy to justify, but rarely easy to execute. In that sense, this target was no different: he had a criminal record so big that Delilah never even bothered to read them through. After they carried in the third box, she knew plenty.\n\nAnd Mozzak had not been easy to find. Multiple layers of false identities hid him from potential pursuers. It was more luck than skill that got Delilah on the right track: an anonymous tip pointed him out in the background of a recent vlog that had gone viral.\n\nAfter, it still took days of careful stalking to find him alone. Just moments before, Delilah feared he might have caught on when he stared straight through into her binoculars through the busy intersection. But even if he did, it can no longer save him. As Mozzak strolls down the abandoned lot, Delilah lines up the perfect shot.\n\nLoud, quick, simple, back of the head: Mozzak's body drops to the floor.\n\nReluctantly Delilah walks over to the body, hoping to confirm his identity. The thought of scattered brains across the pavement does not do wonders for her appetite.\n\n\"I'm sorry, would you like to try again?\" a low sound hums.\n\nDelilah freezes in place. Did she miss?\n\nAnother two loud bangs thunder across the lot and Mozzak immediately drops back to the floor right after he tried to get up.\n\n\"Ooh, that is going to bruise uuup!\" the voice complains.\n\nMozzak slowly sits up straight and turns around to face Delilah. His eyes are bloodshot but otherwise, you would not be able to tell that three 8mm bullets just tried to drill their way into his grey matter. His face communicates an uncomfortable combination of embarrassment and disappointment.\n\n\"Don't feel bad. You're not the first one to fail,\" the voice informs. It is now clear that this voice is indeed formed on Mozzak's lips.\n\nIncredulously, Delilah stares at her target. \"H-how?\" is the only word that escapes her.\n\n\"Oh, I'm as disappointed as you are. I genuinely hoped you would be the one to do it. That finally complete darkness would follow the sound of the gunshot. But alas, again no dice.\"\n\n\"Well,\" Delilah replies, \"We could try a few more things if you have the time.\"\n\nMozzak chuckles. \"Time? It's all I have.\""
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[WP] As you're looking at a mirror your reflection moves. When you look again, your reflection is just as confused as you are.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"\"Did that really just happen\" he asked nobody in particular.\n\nHis reflection mouthed the words in sync with the 'real' motions but there had been something.\n\n\"Let me see that again, rewind the tapes\" he asked as he walked over to the dual monitors mounted above a complex control panel. The technician cued up the digital recording to a few seconds prior to the audio with a lazy twist on a control bubble before stating matter of factly \"it's all digital sir, no tapes\"\n\nThe old scientist stared at the two images of himself, \" give me the left hand side view of the face\" he requested. Within a second both screens showed his left hand side face with the tell tale mole next to the nose, but on the right screen the image was mirrored having been captured by the camera through the mirror.\n\n\"Play, half speed.\"\n\nThe display played through a few seconds in perfect symmetry but when his eyes looked away from the mirror image one screen showed those eyes briefly glance directly into the camera, the camera whose video capture they were currently viewing.\n\nThe scientist shuddered involuntarily feeling as though 'he' was really looking at 'him'.\n\nThe technician sat up straight in his chair, disbelief etched on his face, he clicked a button to overlay unrequested information on both screens, his own curiosity superseding his bosses need to micromanage every aspect of this 'silly' experiment. \n\n\"What are you doing?\" The scientist demanded.\n\nThe technician blurted out his interpretation of the infologs.\n\"Timestame - Identical\"\n\"Geolocation - Identical down to 1/10 of a meter\"\n\"IP address's - left is 10.10.10.3 right is 10.10.10.13\"\n\"MAC address- both unique.\"\n\n\"Did I ask for any of that\" the scientist demanded.\n\n\"Sorry Dr. Stone, I had to check the equipment was working correctly...I cannot believe what I am seeing, was this what we have been trying to do?\"\n\nA long pause nullified the question, before the scientist spoke. \"The right cameras will not have had an angle to catch it, bring up the overhead.\"\n\nThe tech clicked a button which switched both screens to a view which looked down upon the scientists face from just above. He slowly twisted the bauble until the marked timeframe was ready to view. \n\n\"Play it - half speed\"\n\nAs with the first viewing, both images stared into each other and when he turned away to the left, again the reflected image's eyes briefly looked directly into the camera.\n\n\"Wait...\" the scientist said softly.\n\n\"What the fuck!\" The technician yelled, drawing the remaining participants in the experiment to the technicians station.\n\nAs he checked the infologs for these videos and rechecked them, then the assembled group watched the videos, some released a yell of jor while some screamed, unnerved by the unscientific reality the were witnessing.\n\nSatisified yet disturbed by what he saw in the infologs the technician shot an angry glance at the calmly smiling scientist, suspicious of some trickery on his part, he knew a lot about human nature, especially the lengths humans, like himself, could go to to achieve greatness...whatever the cost. But this was his realm, having secured this position, he selected the equipment, he purchased, collected, and installed all the audiovisual equipment and software for this, not-so-ludicrous, experiment.\n\n\"What the hell is going on here?\" He demanded locking eyes with the scientist.\n\nWithout losing that irritating smile he replied \"you have a year for me to explain it? Or the 6 it would take to teach you what we know to understand that answer?\" He stood and walked to the monitors as he continued \"Basically it is the fundamental quantum mechanical nature of the universe. Observation changes reality, measurement affects the physical properties of the system\".\n\nThe scientist pressed the button to pause the video at the exact time the reflection stared into the camera, before turning to the tech, \" The quantum world holds many secrets, and here\" he gestured to the display\" is proof of the existence of multiple universes, this one, our one, in which I did not look into the camera, and two other instances of other universes in which I did look at a camera\".\n\nThe technician would never have gotten to where he fell from in Hollywood, without being the best, and the best required a substantial understanding of optics and light, which have him an above average understanding of physics, so the scientists words made sense, and yet it was completely absurd that what he described could happen, or be captured on film. It was a trick, just like the old days, a trick of the light. That was all. A movie. \"Bullshit\" said the technician.\n\nThe scientist began a more in depth explanation as he walked to the mirror surrounded by cameras and electrostatic coils in an arc. But as he was explaining, while pointing at his face with one hand and the mirror with the other, he fell silent...\"what...where...what!...WHAT THE FUCK!\"\n\nThe tech and a few scientists ran to the mirror, and while they were all there, rushing into view in the mirror, there was no reflection of the scientist.\n\nStartled, bemused, confused, frightened, terrified, each of these emotional states visited everyone except the scientist, who only had room for terror. When he found himself able to move he carefully made his way to the technicians station to collapse in the comfortable reclining leather chair. In this position his view was confined to the displays, one showing him looking away turning to the left, on the left screen, while on the right screen, him turning towards the right, looking directly into the camera, with a mole to the right of his nose...and at the end of his nose there was a bead of sweat about to drop...\n\nThen it fell!\n\nThe nose wiggled imperseptibly, but the lip movement was unmistakable, the eyes moved to lock with his, but the techs gasp behind the scientist distracted him for the slightest moment, in the involuntarily movement to react to a noise behind him, the scientist missed it, when he looked back at the screen, it was blank, his reflection had vanished. All that remained was a blurry outline of the far wall with a still, unmoving timestamp matching the left screen where his image remained, unmoving with eyes cast away.\n\n\nEdit : a little cleanup of smelly spellies.\nEdit part deux: added final paragraph."
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[WP] A sorcerer's magical ability is only as good as his source of power. Your nickname as "The Kid Sorcerer" led everyone to believe your source was life itself for your eternal youth. They dont know your source of power is everyone else's loss of childhood innocence as they grow into adults.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"# Joys of Youth\n\nHe came to kill our Warlock, which should have been heroic, but when he left we damn near lost the children with him.\n\nOh, we were glad to see the Warlock dead. Don't get me wrong. That entire blasted hilltop mansion he lived in is now nothing but evil stones smashed to pieces and a haunting cry when the north wind blows past. After the things he did-- the midnight disappearances, bespelling the cattle and cursing the mill-- we couldn't find an ounce of sympathy when someone showed up who could do for him.\n\nBut for the love of the Lord I'll never forget the man who'd done it.\n\nIt was me, Jed and Hankley outside the dry goods store who saw him first, sprinting down the center of the street like a demon and the wind following. At full speed he looked like a riot of color and sparks that only resolved itself into a short, determined looking man when he came to a dead stop in front of the porch. From head to toe he was outlandish-- neon green glasses, rainbow colored friendship necklaces, candy rings on every finger. Even his shoes-- Lord, the shoes!-- were incredible blazes of color with the words \"SPEEDIE\" written on the side with marker.\n\nI stared. Jed stared. Hankley, God bless him, neatly butted a domino into place and declared victory in a cranky old man's voice. \"Yup, that's a set.\" Eyes with a growing film of cataracts turned on the newcomer. \"And who's this, oi?\"\n\nSix feet of tie-dyed delight answered in a voice that combined youth with optimism. \"Jack Farwall, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.\" He nodded. \"Three times and it's true. There a Warlock around here? Can you point the way?\"\n\nJed and I met eyes for a brief moment while Hankley squinted. \"I, uh. That is to say,\" normally I'm not so tongue-tied, but this was a bit much. \"There may as be. But hold on a second, young fella: You're here to do... what?\"\n\nAnd then (I swear to all that's holy this is true) that bright-colored youngster pulled out a rolled cardboard tube and a duct taped shield. \"I'm gonna kill 'em for you. Got my sword and shield here, but is this the right place? St. John's Fall? There was a letter sent for help a while back but I got a bit lost.\"\n\nThe letter was real enough; I helped draft it late one night in the church basement while we all listened to Warlock-y things happening outside. A dozen people went missing that night and turned up a few days later as stitched-together monsters. Which was a frightful thing to see and justified a request to have someone sent out to Do Something About It. At the time we were expecting some sort of scarred, surly witch hunter, or perhaps a lean, dark fellow with experience in ambushes.\n\nThis was something... else. \"Aye, we sent a letter. And you're here to do the job, then?\"\n\n\"Yup, handled. I got a song that makes me strong and jacks for days.\" He demonstrated, pulling them out of his pocket. They were actual jacks, complete with a rubber ball. \"Also marbles to make him fall and a mirror to bounce anything back he shoots. Oh! And some glue.\"\n\nJed broke in, bushy eyebrows going up theatrically. \"I'm sorry there, did you say 'glue'? As in real glue?\"\n\nA white bottle with an orange cap made an appearance from a fanny pack. \"Yup, right here. You know-- I'm rubber, you're glue, whatever you do bounces off me and sticks to you.\" He tapped the florescent sunglasses perched above his freckled cheeks. \"I can see it coming 'cause of my X-ray glasses.\"\n\nIt was around then I noticed we had an audience. Up and down the street windows were opening and young faces peering out. The last few weeks taught everyone to mostly stay indoors even during daylight but this show was too good to pass up. Delighted children put noses to glass or leaned out for a better look. More than a few heads nodded in agreement with Jack Farwall's logic or gave his accessories an envious look.\n\nBut I couldn't let it go. \"Look, son.\"\n\n\"Jack's fine.\"\n\n\"Look, Jack. I know yer heart's in the right place.\"\n\n\"Where the home is.\"\n\nI was trying to ignore a street full of nodding children. \"But I can't let yer run off to die. Our Warlock is a bad one, fire and death and, uh,\" I stalled for a moment trying to think of a way to describe midnight corpses shambling around. \"And unclean stuff. I don't want your death on my head.\"\n\nHe seemed unruffled. \"Nah, I got this.\" The cardboard tube whack-whack-whacked against his palm. \"Which way?\"\n\nJed threw a side eye my way, returned with interest. There was no way we were going to point this lad to his death, but Old Man Hankley had other ideas. \"Up the road, left at the fork. Old Patrick's place, before his family up and left 'em. That's the spot.\" He cracked his knuckles with a sound like dry gunshots. \"Do 'em in and come on back, I'd like to hear me the story.\"\n\nJust like that, Jack took off like a shot. It had to be magic (or magic sneakers) because the wind blew dust clear up onto the porch with us. Kids ran into the street afterwards, all looking up towards the hill and yelling in delight. \"Did you see his cardboard sword?\" \"Those shoes, I *knew* they made you run faster!\" \"I need to find my X-ray glasses!\"\n\nExplosions started lighting up the hillside, followed by weird wailing screams and at least one hard rock song blaring impossibly loud from what sounded like cheap headphones.\n\nHankley grabbed the dominos and laboriously shuffled them. \"Game, lads?\"\n\nI watched as children started disappearing back inside, returning moments later with all sorts of make-believe weapons and cardboard armor. Mock fights started instantly, although with decidedly less magical enhancement involved. \"Naw, not for me. I'll pass this round.\"\n\nJed was staring thoughtfully at the mansion in the distance, head tilted as he watched it slowly blasting into a cloud of dust. \"What's his magic, you think? Being silly?\"\n\n\"Well, if I had to guess-\"\n\nEven from a mile away we all watch the roof explode straight up into the sky, followed by a solid rainbow of light that pierced a cloud overhead.\n\n\"-I'd say he weaponized childhood.\"",
"As I sat high up in my tower, I pondered. \n\nThe sounds of war echoed in the mountains to the north. I pondered how to end it. \n\nThe wails of a poor and sick reached my ears from the south. I pondered how to end it. \n\nThe silence of death came from the east. I pondered how to end it. \n\nI opened my window to the west, and a new sound drowned out the rest. Laughing, cheering, the sounds of joy and excitement and child-like wonder and of children playing with not a care in the world. \n\nThen I knew how I could end all suffering in the world. \n\nDays of preparation turned into weeks, then months and years and decades and maybe more, until I was ready. Time is meaningless when the first spell you cast as but a young teen was a soul binding spell, just as your pet dog took its last breath, and now your soul is eternally stuck in the mortal plane, for as long as his remains in the afterlife. \n\nA village was surrounded by my hordes. They surrendered without a fight. \n\nAnother village kneeled to me, then a town, a city and lastly, the kings of the world bowed before my endless might. \n\nThe armies of the world could not touch me. My reign was cruel and absolute. My plan, perfect. \n\nOne day, one of my minions betrayed me. I let him live. I had a plan. \n\nHe told the people I oppressed the secret of my power. I let them live. I had a plan. \n\nThe people spread and preached and taught the oppressed how to weaken me. I let it happen. I had a plan. \n\nDay by day I felt my power dwindle as more and more people regained their childhood innocence. I let them be. I had a plan. \n\nMy nation broke apart. I let it happen. I had a plan. \n\nI went into hiding, fading into obscurity. Conflicts arose, but war did not break out. The poor were helped and sick were treated and the dying and the mourning were cared for, and noone suffered. \n\nAnd as children read of me in picture books they wonder, what drove me to evil? Was it my eternal suffering as an immortal? Or was it the desire to rule, to protect all from their own ignorance and arrogance and selfishness and greed and violence? \n\nAnd as I sit here, telling you this story, I will simply say, I had a plan. \n\nThe plan to teach everyone to never lose their childhood innocence, to never forget what compassion feels like, how to love others for love's sake, and to care for them without expecting anything in return but the feeling that you did something good."
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[WP] She existed only in a dream, he is a poem that the poet never wrote.This is their sad love story
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Let us return to a time immemorial, a time when even the Queen of England had never tasted Spam, a time when strange beasts roamed the earth selling cheese door-to-door... Yes, 1066!\n\nThe time, 1066, or 11:06 if you didn't buy your watch off the back of a lorry. A lone poet lay in the street, regurgitating lines of Chaucer and kippers as the world moves on around him. From betwixt his pearly whites stepped a fine figure, namely £5 and thruppence ha'penny, the exact bank balance of our hero, Calvin Spon! See how the little chap strode proudly down the poet's shirt, and tripped on his words as he went.\n\nPausing to navel-gaze, Spon considered his place in the world - slightly above the belt. Leaping down to the ground, he started head-wards, to where the poet now laid his head, settling off to sleep to see the girl of his dreams. Little did the poet know, Spon was a master of sleepwalking. Strode onwards, did Spon, to meet the fair maiden.\n\nSpon found himself before an old oriental teahouse, and offered himself a hand, though he turned it down. Stepping inside, he at last caught sight of his amour, then realised he was in fact looking at an armoire instead - beautiful indeed, but with huge drawers. Spinning some teacups, he went in search of his fair lady.\n\nThe two found each other beneath a blooming cherry tree, and bared their hearts to each other, professing their love to the world. They embraced, and as his braces fell down, they danced together in the tea-light.\n\nAlas, such loves are hard to keep, and though fair oriental maiden was keen, she was frail as porcelain, and our maiden fell ill. All that remains of their love now is a grave on the spot they met, on which he engraved a message in his fragile oriental maiden's native tongue.\n\nI haven't the heart to tell him it reads \"made in china\".\n\n---\n\nOkay, I couldn't help myself. The prompt, though elegant and beautiful, reminded me so much of a surreal comedy radio series, \"The Goon Show\", I had to have a go writing in their style. It was infamous for its wild, zany humour where characters could do just about anything, like routine marching to 10 years before, writing letters by gargling mouthwash, standing guards over a flea that was wanted for biting a member of the government, and chasing a sapient Christmas pudding through the jungle with cake forks and custard-lined pitfall traps. Well worth a listen if you like a bit of bonkers humour that can actually make some very clever observations. If you want an idea of some of the humour, I can recommend this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctM_Rvgjfpo\n\nHope you enjoyed!"
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[WP] Aliens have defeated humanity and are keeping us as pets. Today, your new owner is going to take you to the vet for that emberassing health nuisance you had been ignoring for months.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"It's been a few hundred years after The Last World War, life for the remainder of humanity has been Utopian compared to what the history books state. Hunger, war, and even road rage has been largely eliminated. After the war, the Shanfa took human kind to their home planet, opened up a few Human Societies, and adopted them out to young Shanfa's, who were about as responsible as most human world leaders in the 21st century. They also genetically altered us so we can't speak. Probably for the best. \n\nLiving as an alien pet may be the best any human has ever lived. Our containment units are essentially the most high tech fishbowls you could imagine. It's a nice house, everything cleans itself, food automatically just appears when you're hungry, occasionally a large mechanical tentacle comes from the air, picks you up, and you get asked to dance a little, but it's all a good trade off. \n\n\"Slagoslov!\" my alien called. My name's Jeremy, but whatever I can't correct him. \"Slagoslov, we gotta take you to the vet today.\" Great. They're gonna put me down today. \"Mom says that you have something wrong with your butt\" \n\nJoy, I'm getting treated for my hemorrhoids. I was trying to keep it discreet, but I think they can see through clothes, or maybe they can just see everything. Either way I'm going to have a giant mechanical squid taking a look at my asshole. He picked me up and forcefully plopped me in a void jar, and one quick lightspeed ship ride later we arrived at the \"Veterinarian\". \n\n\"You're going to be just fine. Okay Slagoslov?\", strangely comforting. \n\nThe vet floated in. He was on the older side of this species. I don't know how long they live, but I'm about 30 and this kid has been a kid my entire life. So this vet is definitely ancient. He was shaking and creaking like an old broken wind up toy. My alien handed me over to the guy, and as soon as he grasps the jar I'm shaken to the point of falling prone. He flips the jar over and dumps me on the table. \n\n\"Well let's see what we have here\" he said has he took my clothes off. \"Seems to be mostly healthy, a bit over weight. What was it specifically you wanted me to look at?\" he directed at the mother of my alien. \n\n\"He's been scratching a lot at his butthole, and he has been sitting on a pillow. Pretty sure something is wrong with his butt.\" said the mother with a small snicker from her offspring. \n\n\"Ah yes, here it is, \" he exclaims as he prods at my anus, \"just a simple complication of him sitting on the toilet too long. Maybe change his food to a diet with higher fiber and he should be fine. Or for a small fee, I can just replace the anal cavity.\"\n\n\"Ah no thank you doctor, I don't think it's worth it, he'll only be alive for another 50 or so years. Thank you anyway\". Yes thank you. \n\nAnd I was served beans and broccoli for the next 2 weeks.",
"”Sir, your human may have Cancer.”\n\n”What! How long does he have, doc?”\n\n”Please calm down, human cancer is not always that serious. Even if it is cancer, which it may not be, it could still be a benign tumor causing only minor inconveniences. If it is serious then there are surgeries to have it removed.”\n\n”Thank you, is there anything else I need to do?”\n\n”You need to schedule a follow-up meeting for next week for retesting for a false positive.”\n\n”Thank you, doctor, I will be back next week.”\n\nSo that's what the weird bump was. I should have said something sooner."
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[WP] Ever since I was young, I have heard you. I always listened to you, but I never understood you. Slowly, the pieces are falling in the right places. Universe, tell me what you must. I will see to it.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"The Universe is a vast place. A infinitely large reality. But in the multi-verse, it is much like any other. Its laws might be different, but they all formed equal. Bar one, which seeks to consume others. Unlike a beast, it can't just devour them. Instead, agents from it must slip into the other universes, making wounds in their fabric of space time. Too many, and the Void leaks through, adding that universe to its growing collection.\n\nBut in this Universe, it seeks to destroy those agents. Others would banish them, but it destroys, making the Void that tiny bit weaker. But it cannot intervene directly. Instead, it must use the beings inside it to fight back. As the agents can only break through where sentient life is, it prepares its defenses.\n\nOn Earth, it knew agents would see it. A world full of life, with darkness at its core. It would be easy to make a rift on. So it spoke to them. A whisper, made from overheard conversations. A fallen paper, the words it needs to say the only ones legible.\n\nIn some cases, it intervened more directly. A childless couple, desperately wanting kids. It would make a miracle birth happen, using a part of its spirit to breath life into them. That child would be loved, and cared for. But also, it would be closer tuned to its whispers.\n\nThey would hear it, but not understand at first, too simple to realise. As they grew older, pieces would fall into place. A hint to learn to fight. An idea to learn as much as they could. An urge to keep healthy. Then thoughts that something was coming. At somepoint, they always concluded that something was talking to them.\n\nWhen they opened themselves up fully, the Universe would speak to them directly. They would hear it clearly, some interpreting it as a god, others nature itself. All part of the truth, but not fully. Some would form religons around its words. They made a great force, for killing outsiders. Though sometimes, it would be misdirected, they served their purpose.\n\nOthers walked alone, shadows in the night. Lone wolves, to hunt agents. To kill them. They would all know other Universe touched when they say each other. And they fought, to protect their world. To protect their Universe."
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[WP] In a world where people receive superpowers on their 13th birthday, you have the unenviable job of being an 8th Grade teacher.
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"I sit at my desk and look at the screen, ready to take attendance. First day substituting for an eighth grade teacher on maternity leave. Uuuuugh! \n\n“Thomas Abner?” I call out. A boy with a giant Afro raised his hand - then extends it to the ceiling. Ok, elasticity. Not too much trouble there. “Carlos Alvarez?” He just raised his hand without showing anything off. Maybe he’s still normal? \n\nThen there were a few standouts who I knew pups give me issues for the next few months. Renee Marshall can teleport, meaning she can avoid taffies without me even knowing she would’ve otherwise been late. Emma Thorne was a prankster who’s shrinking power came in very handy. And the worst is Usagi Yamamura. Not because she was a trouble maker. In fact she seems like a sweet kid. But her powers to manipulate the elements is tied to her emotions. And as the “weird girl” of her grade, that means lots of outbursts",
"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"13 It used to be unlucky once upon a time. To some it still is. After all, thats when powers appear in those that are gifted.\n\nTeaching 8th Grade was never easy, but after the event, it became a living nightmare. Before, my biggest problems were puberty and fighting. Now, its keeping the class alive. \n\nSee, there's no way to know what a person's power will be until it appears. Which means no way to prepare. All we can do is keep a list of birthdays, and try to minimise the damage.\n\nToday is Lydia's birthday. She is the daughter of a telekinetic and a pyromancer. A volatile mix, if you ask me. As always, she will spend today taking her classes in the basement (an old nuclear bunker) just in case. And I must supervise.\n\n10:30am. Math class. Sweat rolls down my neck. Is it getting hotter in here, or is it just nerves? Its hard to tell sometimes. \n\n11:00am. Break time. At first, things seem fine. But then Lydia's hands begin to glow. It starts out faint, but quickly brightens to a blinding white. I drop to the floor as beams of burning light glance across the wall. Lydia screams. \n\nI crawl across the floor, careful to avoid those lights. Finally I reach Lydia, and grasp her ankle. The lights shut off. I stand, and offer Lydia some comfort. As I do, I thank whatever God granted me the power to nullify others abilities. \n\nIt certainly makes teaching 8th Grade that little bit easier.",
"\"Good Morning\"\n\n\"Good Morning Mis Marschall\" the class answered in unison.\n\nIt's the small things at the begging of the year. Where most of my children are still normal humans. It will soon change. I read Jeroen has his birthday in 2 weeks. \nI need to teach them right. Most teachers are too fearful. That why the elites of the teachers get to do this job. \nWe are the 8-grade teachers and we will fall before no one.\n\n\"Ok, class it's time for physical training. And don't forget conflicts should be resolved with words or your fists. Never use ur powers.\"\n\n\"Yes. Mid Maschall.\" They answered in unison again.\n\nThis will be a good year. Let's hope we don't need to rebuild to building again.\n\nr/tz4",
"A flash of wet paper zipped towards the back of my head, attempting to lodge itself between the patches of my exposed scalp. Fortunately I spotted Erin preparing the wad earlier and was easily able sidestep out of the way long before the spitball crashed into the whiteboard in front of me.\n\n\"You have eyes in the back your head Mr. Mace. It's not fair.\"\n\n\"Nope that's not it.\" I replied while taking another quick glance at the refection of my graduating class picture just in time to see Stephen detach his middle finger and raise it towards me. \"And if I catch any one of you levitating spitballs or flipping me off with detachable limbs I will send you to to Principal Sylvester.\"\n\n\"But how do you know?\" Erin asked, \"You have to have eyes in the back of your head.\"\n\n\"Principal Sylvester\" I said again, ignoring the question.\n\nThe threat of Principal Sylvester always worked as he was a well known telepath, and no 13 year old wanted to sit in the presence of someone who could read their mind.\n\n\"Mr. Mace?\" a voice said from the back row \"Can I use the bathroom.\"\n\n\"Yes Erica you may, but don't dilly da-lly.\"Erica had already teleported out of the classroom in such a fashion that would have every delivery company knocking on her door when she turned 18.\n\n\"Now does anybody have any questions before we start the test?\" I asked looking over my students who all stared back at me with blank stares. \"Ok then, lets get started.\"\n\nAs I walked past each student and handed out their algebra tests I could tell that Heidi was nervous. But it wasn't because of the test. Today was her 13th birthday and at any moment her powers would manifest themselves. Not long ago, Principal Sylvester had dropped her off at my room.\n\n\"Careful with this one.\" he had said \"bad family life. Mom's a necromancer and her dad, well let's just say he's not really alive. If you know what I mean. Of course you do.\" He said with a wink not pausing for me to speak. \"But we're mostly just worried that things can take a turn for the worse once her powers manifest as she's been known to get into a few fights. But I know you can handle it.\"\n\nHis words replayed in the back of my mind as I sat at my desk, gripping the nozzle of a fire extinguisher. The seconds dragged by as I watched the students. Erica had already returned and was racing through her test, while Stephen fidgeted with his hands, routinely detaching them in a nervous manner while Erin showed off to the younger students by levitating the pencil in front of her.\n\nSomewhere in the midst of juvenile powers I had forgotten about Heidi until she suddenly exploded into flames. Quickly, I aimed the fire extinguisher directly at her feet and pulled the trigger.\n\n\"Congratulations Heidi\" I said as she silently stared at me with a wet glare.\n\n\"I bet he's a time traveler\" I heard one student whisper. \"That's how he's prepared for everyone's manifestations.\"\n\n\"My guess is that he can run at the speed of light.\" whispered another\n\nI just silently chuckled to myself and reminded the children to return to their tests. I was never going to tell them the truth about my powers. As my power was only rumored to exist. You see I have the power to know a persons powers long before they manifest. And then I prepare."
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[WP]A little blind girl find a stray dog, and decides to adopt it. The Big Bad Wolf goes along with it because he thinks she’s cute.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"I was walking in the forest, harmlessly looking for that insufferable brat Red, when I came across something else entirely. It was a tiny human, no more than 4 years old, and it looked lost. It also looked delicious. It looked like it would be a delicious little pre lunch snack. All I had to do was catch it and then bring it back to that horrid old hag who had agreed to cook whatever I catch. \n\n\nAfter Red had made me go on a vegan diet (I know, right?), I had to find food through less than conventional means. She had contacted all of the local tavern and store owners to make sure that I didn’t get a bite to eat that wasn’t vegetables. Sigh. Somedays I think that it would have been easier if A) she had just let the hunter chop me up, or B) she had stayed in my stomach where she belonged. So now I wandered the forest, and hunted for food like a common animal. Disgusting, I know. \n\nRight now, though, I was looking for that horrible girl. She had “borrowed” my recipe book for cooking humans, and hadn’t given it back. I have a sinking suspicion that she burned it. I know, she really is no better than a common thief or vandal. Oh, I best deal with the little girl creature now.\n\n\n“Grrrrrr.”\n\n\n“Is there a doggy? What’s your name, doggy?”\n\n\n“Your worst nightmare.”\n\n\n“I think I’ll call you Sprinkles.”\n\n\n“Do you know who I am???”\n\n\n“Yes, Sprinkles. Silly doggy.”\n\n\n“I’m not Sprinkles for the last time! You are an awful, awful little girl, and deserve to be breakfast! Come along now! Let’s go visit my...uh...auntie!”\n\n\n“Of course you’re Sprinkles! Is your auntie a puppy too?”\n\n\nShe’s getting worse by the second. First I was a dog, now I’ve been reduced to a puppy. What is wrong with her? Can’t she see my teeth and claws?\n\n\n“Come with me little girly. The sooner we’re off, the sooner we’ll get to auntie’s house!”\n\n\nThe little girl reached over and grabbed my paw. Oh. That actually feels quite nice. She really is very small. \n\n\n“Sprinkles, can I ride on you?”\n\n\n“No-“ She had already climbed on my back. \n\n\n“I can’t see so good. Sissy and Granny help most of the time, but I got a little bit lost here in the woods.”\n\n\n“Fine. I’ll carry you.”\n\n\n“Just out of curiosity, where do you live, little girl?”\n\nShe gave an address. Oh, God no. Not there. She can’t be. \n\n“What in the world are you doing with my sister, you horrid wolf?”\n\nI was really in for it now. The girl on my back, she was none other than Jill Grace, Red Grace’s sister. As in, The Little Red Riding Hood. As in, the person in charge of whether or not I get sent to prison. I smile slickly at Red. She has no idea what’s coming. Perfect.\n\n“Actually, I don’t know if you heard, but my name is now Sprinkles“",
"Why is she laughing?\nI’m almost more surprised with myself than with the girl. It’s been a long time since my thoughts shifted away from my hunger. The woods have thinned and hunters are killing me, not with their weapons, but by taking my meals when they could get their own in shiny stores. They’re starving me.\nIt’s only fair that I get cast as a fairytale villain. I’m not picky, not anymore. If I want a deer but find a man instead, I count my blessings.\n\nThis, though. It’s too easy. I can’t help but hesitate.\nI’ve found an orphanage. The children are spindly but unarmed, and more often than not, unmissed.\nBut this one...\nSmaller than the rest, she creeps out the back door in the early morning, eyes glassed over and unseeing as she eases the door closed. For the fifth time this week, she run away, just sprints forward without a moment of preservative hesitation.\nShe never even makes it to the fence, zig-zagging the field until she exhausts herself. Not stopping until a tired woman effortlessly drags her back inside.\nThe woman would thank me to take her.\nBut I watch, perplexed, as the girl escapes a sixth time. She runs. She trips. She giggles, stands, and runs again. \nI’ll let her reach the fence, I decide. And then...\nShe smacks face-first into it.\nFalling flat on her back, she cackles as if she has won a game. Alright. \nI creep forward.\nShe hops to her feet and feels the fence, attempting to scramble over it. I push in through the unlocked gate.\nShe hears me, I’ll go for her neck. \nAmbling toward me, throwing me off guard again, she walks like a cartoon mummy, useless eyes widening with delight when her hands fall on my side.\n“PUPPY!!” Her arms wrap around me and I snap my jaw in frustration: I’m not eating today.",
"Where was the kid? the wolf wanted to see for himself, assess the rumor. \n\nOn the road, he pondered his life and the world he lived in.\n\nEat grandmother, eat little red riding hood, get gutted by the hunter, have him marry an underage traumatized little red riding hood. Happy ending. Fuck happy endings. They are only happy to the person writing or hearing the story, never to those inside of it. Sleeping beauty spends her youth in coma and wakes up to a world that isn't her own and the three little piggies live in the equivalent of a closet, the wolf couldn't get near it due to the stench.\n\nSomewhere, it snapped. Enough was enough.\n\nHanzel and Gretel had done the piece so often that they came to like the witch and allied with her. Not out of malicious intent, but to decide their own future. One after the other, they all did.\n\nLittle red, sick of being eaten again and again, told her mother to get stuffed and ran away. The wolf himself, who never liked that bag of bones called a grandmother, took the occasion to bail and see the world of his own volition.\n\nTurns out that fantasy land, once free of the schackles of narration and storytellers, is like any other land.\n\nThe woodchoppers, happy to learn the wolf was away, chopped down the forest and were now unemployed, petitioning the king for benefits. The fox had eaten the crow and left the cheese to rot only to run into a family of bears that wasn't keen on having a food stealer sleep at home.\n\nThe fairytale kingdom expanded, the carefully crafted city was adding shacks and huts faster than it could plan them, the streets became dirty, the colors washed off. The citizens, left on their own, asked for rights and freedom of speech, unless the royal guard paid them a visit.\n\nThe wolf got out of his head, he had found her. Sitting on a corner, begging for scrap and coin, her red hood stained and turning gray.\n\nSorry red, thought the wolf, you always got the short end of the stick. Done with being eaten and married off, you fled. A king took a shining in you, you didn't reciprocate. He blinded you. That's what you got for trying to be free. I really hoped it wasn't the truth when I heard it.\n\nLittle red felt the wet nose and extended a hand to caress the wolf.\n\n\"Hey there doggy, are you abandoned too?\" she said with a weak voice.\n\nThe wolf dropped the apple he had been holding in his maw all this time, it rolled at her feet.\n\n\"Is that... Thank you!\" she ate the apple in a hurry, afraid someone would steal it. Once done, she hugged the wolf tight.\n\nThe wolf lay next to her, aware of the twisted irony that he who ate her so often was the only thing she had left.\n\nHe would watch over her, it's the least he could do."
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[WP] Villain starts explaining to the hero why he monologues. It's to give his victims the false hope, the one idea that they could escape. Even if they are in a truly hopeless station.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"*Writer's Note: I'm super new to this subreddit and haven't written anything in ages, but here goes nothing. The prompt kinda comes to in the middle, I had a good idea for it coming in later.* \n\n\n \n\n“Ah, you have fallen straight into my trap,” proclaimed the villainous Dr. Evil.\n\nCaptain Rectitude looked up at the criminal genius, wearing his notoriously good-looking cloak, the one with spikes lining the color. “Ah yes, I’m caught again. Feels so horrible to be once again stuck in these same pairs of chains.”\n\n“Yes, I love recycling. You can see the punch mark if you look real closely at the top section. In fact, before that, it was a vacuum cleaner, one that-” \nCaptain Rectitude tuned him out. He began to look at where he was stuck. He appeared to be over acid. Costly for a villain, and it didn’t look particularly harmful to his bulletproof skin. He looked to his sides. Several large sawblades slowly approached, waiting for Dr. Evil’s monologue to finally end. Those looked bad. Osmium most likely, the one material harmful to Captain Rectitude. \n\nHe tuned back in during the monologue, “... and then, I attacked the brooms lady! You should have seen it, it was positively evil.”\n\nDr. Evil gave him a sideways glance. “You look like you’re thinking something? Did I forget the acid or something?” He peered into the acid vat, going right in the range of falling in.\n\n“Well…” Captain Rectitude began, “it is a rather slow monologue today. Why do you monologue anyway? Trying to tell me your plan?”\n\n“No, no of course not. It’s to lure you into a false hope. Like an unsuspecting prey waiting above a predator’s mouth, I give you the perfect time to escape, which increases escalation. Every fight is better than the old, more exciting, as I watch you full of your false belief you can escape.” \n“Wow, I never realized it was that complicated.” \n“Ah yes, I can be quite the evil genius sometimes. Anyways, back to the brooms lady!” \nCaptain Rectitude tuned him out again and pulled at the chains. He looked up at a small mark that looked a lot like a knuckle mark. He yanked his arm and the chain quickly became undone. Dr. Evil continued talking, looking the other direction, and continuing about somebody and their broom. \n\n*Villains are such idiots,* thought Captain Rectitude, as he grabbed his flying boots from the side of the room and walked out the back door, rubbing his feet on the “Come Back Soon!” mat.\n\nDr. Evil continued monologuing, not noticing his absence."
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[WP] You gain the power of being able to talk to animals, but discover domesticated animals are so inbred they're horrible to talk to
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"I thought it would be cool; getting to talk to animals, gaining insight into truths of life that we humans had lost over time. What the mysterious spirit that granted me this new ability left out was that with a few exceptions you don’t need to be able to speak to animals to know what they’re saying. \n\nMy neighbor’s golden retriever, god, I love him and he’s the sweetest dog I’ve ever met, but getting to understand what he’s saying every time he barks is not pleasant. Some of the thoughts don’t translate well into English, they’re more feelings, but unsurprisingly the intentions behind the sounds he makes throughout the day are what you might guess. There are different flavors of “chase.” One for “chase-into-turn-to-tree” - squirrels, one for “chase-but-catch-ouch” - cats, and one for “chase-run-eat-run-eat-come” - fetching. Any stranger coming toward the house gets a “not-pack-threat” bark, and when I walk up I get a “pack-but-not-but-nice-givetreats-friend.” I tried to talk to him at first but I’ve had more in depth conversations with toddlers. Within minutes, usually seconds any attempt at conversation devolves time a cyclical repetition of “friend” “havetreat” “givetreat” “pet” “chase-fetch” with intermittent distractions thrown in. \n\nI’ve never met a dog that’s not a mutt that can hold more than a minute conversation. Some of the smarter dogs are better but even the border collies just want to know when they can play and eat treats. The dogs that look like they came out of one of those kids toys where you can spin a different block for legs and body and head? They can at least string together a few minutes of coherent thought. They remember much more about their lives and the rescues usually can convey their life experience and are grateful to have a home. \n\nThe cats are a little better, at least they don’t yell as much as dogs. But similarly centuries of breeding them for looks selected out the genes for “intelligent conversation.” Cats manage a more aloof attitude, shocker I’m sure, but they’re conversation focuses primarily on eating and sleeping. They won’t hesitate to let you know when you’ve done something to insult them, but I can’t say that understanding what my friends’ cats are trying to say has made me more fond of any of them. \n\nJust like the dogs, stray or rescue cats do a little better than their purebred compatriots. They spend less time yelling about food or the scent of their water dish but often go on and on about the animals they can see and want to hunt or have seen and have hunted. Once you’ve heard 10 stories about stalking an unsuspecting bird at the park you’ve heard 1000. \n\nI had hoped that undomesticated animals would offer better conversation, but birdbrained is an apt term. The songbirds in the park yell about sex and good and danger, but no interest in anything else. The squirrels are worse. They yell about perceived indignities but still manage to get hit by cars on a regular basis. I think the worst part is that the gentle sounds of nature, like birdsong, have disappeared and been replaced by the raucous din you might expect on the floor of the NYSE, except instead of stocks everyone is yelling about their genitalia and what they want to have for dinner. \n\nI should have taken the hint and given up on my desire to find animals capable of conversation. I didn’t. I thought if all of the domesticated animals around me, and all of the wild animals nearby weren’t fit company, I should find some smarter ones. I started at the aquarium. I’d never really given much thought to the fish that live in an aquarium, I’d pitied the smarter animals like the octopus or the dolphins, but never lost sleep over it. That changed when I walked up to the exhibit with the tuna. While not incredibly intelligent, tuna are built for the open ocean. The amount of distress emanating from the large tank that held them make me stop look around the room for the lost kid wailing for their mother. When I realized the fish in the tank were the source of the cries I left and went to the next room. The sharks were just a bad. By the time I reached the dolphins I was nearly in tears. Any respect I had for humanity vanished when I sat in the room where people could come and go and watch dolphins swim around a tiny tank. The conversations I overheard from within the tank were reminiscent of interviews with freedmen after the civil war. There were older dolphins who encouraged the younger dolphins that things wouldn’t be like this forever and regaled those who had been bred in captivity with stories of the open ocean. They talked about the stupid tricks the human trainers made them perform, and about how bad the water tasted. They talked about what day had the best food and when the new shipment of frozen fish would come in. They bet about what part of the world their next meal might come from and if it would taste good or like it had also lived it’s entire life breathing in its own waste. \n\nThe worst part was sitting there knowing I couldn’t do anything to help them. I sat there silently bawling until another visitor asked me if I was ok. What could I say? I told her that I was just sad that their tank looked so small and got up to leave. On my way out I touched the glass and whispered an apology. The five dolphins in the tank stopped swimming to look at me. They watched me as I left. And for one beautiful second they were silent, leaving me free to try and push the experience from my memory. But I knew that nothing could ever erase the trauma of their captivity that I experienced. And all of it for little kids to walk up and slap the glass and shout “dolphins!”"
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[WP] A few hundred years ago, an elven swordsman without equal owed a human a life debt to a human. Generations later, swords are completely obsolete and their umpteenth descendent manages to keep getting into more and more trouble.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
" \"Tyler, for the final time, I cannot challenge Bobby to a duel. Dueling has been illegal for decades, and also he is 8 years old.\" \n\nTyler pouted as I drove him home from school. Many things had changed in the centuries since I had sworn my life-long allegiance to the bloodline of Merriwether Black, Tyler's great-great-great-grandfather and the human who once saved my life. New Brackton was no longer a budding fishing village, but a booming...oh what's the word they invented...ah yes, \"metropolis\". Tyler interjected through my musings, \n\n\"But Uncle Lussariel, he stole my Jade Axe Barbarian! It's an ultra-rare card!...and then he pushed me into some mud and called me 'poop-face' in front of all my friends.\" \n\nI repressed my weary sigh. Six generations of the Black family had grown and matured in my lifetime, but aside from Merriwether himself none had ever had as powerful a knack for finding trouble as young Tyler. Perhaps that's why he was my favorite. He reminded me of those simpler days, before the centuries of my Elvish lifespan had taught me so many difficult lessons. I inwardly chuckled to recall the dozens of times I saved Merriwether's life, but I never felt the urge to move on and claim my debt as paid. Merriwether saved me from horrors much worse than death: cynicism, depression, and resignation to a fate that Tyler would describe as “lame”. For millennia, my Elvish brethren have surrendered to the inertia of the universe, content to breathe in the calm and contentment of the sun filtering through the trees, finding peace in mere perpetuation. Merriwether showed me another way. To take the magic of that dappled sun and share it with others. To not merely hide away to rejoice in existence, but to reflect that joy outward to those who long to see the sun through the shadow of their situation. The man had a compulsion to tackle any evil, no matter how insurmountable. I will admit, I was no more help than any common soul when he sought to solve intangible problems, such as the hunger of a village struck by famine. Such challenges were better left to our long-time Dwarven companion, Tambor, and the magic of his ancestral faith. When the evil had a face, though...then, my skills truly shined. For a full century I had studied with the Elders of the Blade, honing my craft and inscribing the ancient ways of Elvish swordsmanship upon the fiber of my being. When Merriwether found a form of evil that had the ill fortune of being one or more living things, they would quickly learn to fear the taste of my steel. Probably the most invigorating fight was when we-\n\n\"Well?? What are we gonna do??\" \n\nOh right, Tyler's bully problem. This particular brand of evil was nothing new; bullies have always existed, and always will. Even in a multicutural metropolis, old biases still bubbled to the surface. Some humans detest the longer-lived races like Elves and Dwarves, either due to jealousy or mistrust. For our part, we often take offense to the constant change that humans call \"progress\" as a foolish disruption of our traditions and lifestyle. I considered Tyler's dilemma. The understaffed and underpaid teachers at Tyler's school had long ago abandoned all pretense of investigating the details of such play-yard disputes; much simpler to equally punish all children involved in a disruption than to judge the intent and honesty of each. No, the inane bureaucracies that grew like a layer of weeds among the cornstalk-esque skyscrapers of this purportedly grand city were not built to address this particular brand of juvenile injustice. Nor was the crime deserving of evisceration, ruling out my specialty. No, this “evil of the week” would require a more…nuanced approach.\n\n“This ‘Bobby’ has antagonized you before, has he not? Can you discern a pattern in his attacks? Do you know what motivates his aggression? To defeat your enemies, you must know the measure of them.”\n\n“All I know is he’s a big meany-face. Whenever I’m happy to have a new thing, he takes the thing and knocks me over when I try to take it back. He thinks he’s so cool ‘cause his dad drives a Phoenix”\n\nA Phoenix? Fascinating. I surmised that Tyler was of course referring to the Fandir Phoenix, a gaudy conveyance with a prohibitive market price. It reportedly ran off of a 20,000 torch-power Flame Ruby, nearly ten times the strength of the Flame Ruby at the heart of the cheap, efficient Hippogriff I was currently guiding through the city. These steam-powered carriages were yet another example of how progress was determined to render my childhood education obsolete; one hardly ever saw horses on the busy streets of New Brackton. Still, I could not help but admire the ingenuity of humans. Taking a simple Dwarven enchantment, so common that nearly every Dwarven household used one for heat and cooking, and capturing this long-lasting source of elemental energy through mechanical ingenuity…all for the sake of getting places ever so slightly faster. Remarkable. Of course, the supreme extravagance that the Phoenix represented provided a glimmer of insight into Bobby’s philosophy. Perhaps the presented facts painted a picture of a spoiled, entitled child, who took the possessions of others out of some instinctual urge to assert his socioeconomic advantage? Swordplay might be overkill here, but one does not live as many centuries as I have without picking up a few extra tricks along the way. \n\n“Tyler. I believe I have an idea…”"
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[WP] You found a special dictionary in your grandparents' attic. It is all written with a pencil, and each time you erase a word, it gets erased from reality. One day, while drinking some grape juice, you spill some over a page about the letter P.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Ah hell. I panicked dabbing furiously at the page and grinding my teeth with anxiety. When I retracted the cloth to assess the damage I took a breath of relief. It had spilled over the word \"people\" but here I was. I gingerly closed the book in the low candle light and scurried to the bathroom to wash my face with cool water. I was just a terribly anxious person and well, it helped immensely with panic attacks.\n\nI hummed idly and flipped on the light above my medicine cabinet.\n\nWhen I registered my own face I nearly jumped out of my own skin. Or was it mine?\n\nWe were still here alright. Just with grape-juice purple skin!"
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[WP] Your party got word of an interesting quest. A vile Steel dragon is nearby and his hoard is massive. Which is funny because you are neither vile nor have any relatives in the area.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"\"Derrick! Look at this!\" My little friend yelled at me, waving a paper in his hand.\n\n\"What is it, little Paris?\" I spoke quietly, as to make sure his ears weren't hurt. \n\n\"One of your relatives is in town, and they're close-by!\" He enlarged the paper using his magic, so that I could see the lettering that the little humans liked to use. \n\n***Vile Steel Dragon- 500,000 GP, Rank of Power III.*** \n\n*A massive steel dragon has been spotted burrowing in the northern Mount Gladiolas. Slay him, save our town from his evil claws! Become a hero of great renown, and have odes sung of your great deeds! Take this slip now, and prove how you slayed the mighty monster from hell, and we will promptly give praise to your heroism!*\n\n\\-\n\n*Signed, Mayor Jules of Menstra City, under the Kingdom of Strolmark.* \n\n*Gold will be provided by the King Eloy Strolmark III's Treasury, as allowed by His Majesty.* \n\nI set down the paper, as the paper shrunk back down to its normal size, and sighed.\n\n\"I was afraid of this.\" I sighed, starting to teleport my belongings back to the void where I stored them. \n\n\"What, why?\" Paris looked shocked, like his mother had died. \n\n\"Well, my little human friend. I must tell you that I have no relatives in this kingdom. Let alone this mountain range.”\n\n\"Huh? But this quest flyer says there's a-'\" \n\n\"Vile steel dragon here to destroy the down? That's definitely it.\" I sighed, and slumped with exhaustion. I had gotten tired of moving. I need to reapply oil to my ligaments. That would take at least an hour of summoning from the realm of fire. \n\n\"But you're not vile! You're not here to destroy the town either! You just want a place to live!\" Paris yelled in hope. \"You're a good dragon, right, Frederick?\" he looked up at me like a puppy looks when they want food from their master. \n\n\"That's right, Paris. I'm not an evil dragon. I'd get rid of all my gold if people could understand that.\" I sighed once more, felt my rusty metallic eyes slowly blink, and open again, and continued. \"But sadly, when one human sees a massive steel dragon living in their nearby mountain, they tend to get scared. They alert authorities, and they exaggerate. They say they saw something evil, vile, monstrous. They say that the hoard has hundreds of millions of gold, enough to save the kingdom. They say I want to destroy the town. That's what they see when they see me, Paris. I wish it wasn't like that, but that's the way things are. I wish we could be together for longer, as you were a source of great joy to me, but sadly, I must go\" I sighed, dreaming of better times. I slowly started to march out of the now empty cave, carefully avoiding the little man I was now leaving. \n\n\"They don't have to be like that!\" Paris shouted. \"I can convince them that you're good!\" he shouted at me, sounding desperate to keep me with him. \n\n\"Paris, your enthusiasm is appreciated, but please, let me go.\" I chided the young human. \"I have lived for millennia. I have seen the rise of this empire. I was friends with many great heroes, some of whom had physical power that has outshone even my great might. They all said they could convince the humans I was a good dragon. They all failed. So please, Paris, become a great hero for me. Get a god's blessing, and go out, slaying monsters of old. But please, let go of me. It is for the best.\"\n\nI headed for the exit of the cave, prepared to fly away once more, to different lands. Maybe I would go south? I heard that the lands there were in quarrel nowadays, so they probably wouldn't notice a dragon like me. \n\n\"What if you weren't a dragon?\" I heard desperate little Paris yell from the back of the cave.\n\nI stopped. Even one who had seen it all, heard of every possible theory like I, hadn't thought of that.\n\n\"Could you do it?\" I hesitated. It was an idea, to be sure. \n\n\"You'd have to give up being a dragon forever.\" Paris started. \"You could still summon parts of your dragonhood, most likely, like your fangs, claws, Breath of The Gorgon, wings, and spines, but you would never be at your size again.\" Paris finished. \n\nI turned around. That was a lot. No massive size? I'd have to \"summon\" my dragonhood? But for freedom... I'd finally be able to run around safely. I'd be able to live happily among humans. I wouldn't have to hide in the oil lands anymore... I wouldn't have to hide! I could walk around a town, and not be attacked! I could walk into a BAR! Have a DRINK! No more pond scum! Actual water! No relying on heroes to protect me form the masses! I could live! Live! LIVE! **LIVE!** ***LIVE!***\n\n\"What would it cost? My magic? Yours? Would some sort of god disapprove?\" I asked. There had to be some sort of caveat to things like this. There always was.\n\n\"I mean, I wouldn't be able to control what race you were, but you'd definitely be a humanoid.\" Paris stated, matter-of-factly. \"You'd probably also have some steel attributes to you still, as well, as well as your same dragon urges.\"\n\n\"I'll take it. What do I have to pay you? How much gold? 100,000? 200? Do you want me to destroy a town? Take you up into the clouds? Anything. I'll do ANYTHING!\" I turned around, scampering around my cave like when I was little. \n\n\"Hold yourself, Frederick. All I need is some peace and quiet to cast the ritual.\" Paris laughed. He checked his bags, and muttered to himself for a bit. \"Actually, do you have a few diamonds on hand?\" He asked. \n\n\"Absolutely.\" I summoned about 50 diamonds from my hoard. I had thousands. I wouldn't need them once I was a humanoid. \n\n\"Wow, this is way more then I needed. I only needed like, 5 at maximum.\" Paris looked at the small pile of carbon in front of him, then placed them around my still body, in a circle.\n\n\"You sure you want this? Once I do this, you can't go back.\" Paris said. \n\n\"I've been waiting to do this for millennia.\" I smiled, embracing my last moments as a dragon. It would be fun as a humanoid, but I might miss these moments, when humans were small, tiny creatures to be adored from afar. I'd have to live among them now. Oh well, if it was for my happiness and freedom to live safely, I would take it. \n\nMy thoughts stopped as I heard Paris start to chant in something I hadn't heard in a long time- Abyssal. I heard the words of power, as they started to take shape, as the diamonds around my body started to cocoon me in pure beauty and energy. I felt my body start to change. Like it was getting compressed into something that was too big for it. Slowly, the pressure around me started to decrease, as I felt my wings start to retract into my back, my feet start to change, the back ones less then the front ones, but all of them becoming more malleable. I felt my massive teeth get down to four large sharp ones, and the rest of them flatten out. The weirdest part of it was my tail, which felt like it was getting pushed up my butt, and hollowing out. Afterwards, all I felt was my face contort to change my expression. I finally felt the energy start to fade around me. I opened my eyes."
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[WP] Time traveling “resets” the universe to whichever time the traveller appears out of. But you can remember every non-existent future you were ever in even though you are not the traveller.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Journal entry 1\nAfter several severe headaches for the last few days and finally passing out. I wake up in a hospital bed dazed and confused. Through out the day I slowly remember places, names, faces as tastes. I recognize everything completely like it just happened. I remember what I had for breakfast 10 years ago on a random day. \n\nJournal entry 2\nAfter few days from the hospital I seem to have called my wife a different name without realizing it. I still feel that it was my wife’s correct name but not for her specifically. Odd. The face was different too.\n\nJournal entry 3 \nI did it again! This time I walk in a Lawfirm and sat down in what felt like was my office. I somehow knew almost everyone there. Before anyone really noticed me I walked out. I am frightened.\n\nJournal entry 3\nFor the last 3 months I have had vivid dreams of my other selves. I have accidentally talked to multiple people my current self does not know. I am slowly remembering what seems like all my different lives completely. \n\nJournal entry 4\nAfter the dream last night I decided to test out if I can do anything with this knowledge. I am a the information technology trade. I however was able to make a beautiful wooden chair with carpentry skills I have never had before. \n\nJournal entry 5\nIt has been a about 7 month since my incident and can remember everything from all my lives. I can also use all the knowledge and skills as well.\nI have told know one about this, not even my wife. No one one in their right mind would or should believe me anyway.\n\nThe question is what do I do with this knowledge? \n\nJournal entry 6\nIt has been 20 years since my incident.\nI have anonymously sent information of new and successful technologies and cures for diseases to multiple scientists throughout the years. I feel good with this decision. The world is a little bit better for it.\n\nLast journal entry. \nI am close to my death. Having lived a full 91 years with a wife 3 kids and multiple grandchildren and a few great grand children I am at peace. I have watch my self die constantly thought my years after my incident. After a few years I learned to ignore it. I have been assassinated for multiple things, fell off a ladder, and toaster in the bathtub. Any way to die I have died that way. But for the me. I am dying with the love of family around me.",
"...and then I wake up.\n\nId sigh a bit and check the date, June 12 2030. I'd sigh as I look outside and see the church of amon ra. A shake of my head as I think \"they went farther this time\" id go and brush up using the new shower thats been here always. The sounds of the city have changed again, third day for me of simthing new. Id head out to the job ive never always had. Seems im a ceo of a tech stsrt up, but thats going to change, yesterday I was unemployed. Tomorow I could be anything. \n\nI always rember the reset, it could be somtbing small like the lotonumbers but I always know, the dark wave comes again..."
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[WP] The universe bestows the title and powers of "The God of Technology" to your 90 year old grandfather who hasn't touched a computer in decades.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"A message on my voicemail timestamped at 10am and one minute and thirty seconds long in the long nasal drawl of my grandfather:\n\n\"Eh, Finn, I'm not sure what's going on here--oh gosh darn it what the heck. Well, Finn I don't want to trouble you, but could you help your old grandpa out? You seem to know your way around these things, being the young person you are, but the iPad you gave me last Christmas for whatever reason, it keeps glowing, and what the--!\" \n\nIn the background a computerized disjointed noise follows, reminiscent of the old dial-up days of the nineties. Then a long stretch of static follows. \n\n\"Oh boy Rachel,\" I tell my wife. \"I think my grandpa broke his iPad. And then his phone.\" \n\n\"You mean the normal cord one?\" she asks. \"He's been using that phone for what? Twenty years? No way.\"\n\n\"I guess. It is twenty years old. Maybe time for a new one. Listen to this voicemail.\" I hand her my phone. It squabbles into her ear, her expression shifting at the end. My grandpa had an independent streak despite living alone at nearly ninety. Yet, his subtle reliance on me in the past two years has taken its toll on my schedule. He refused to leave the small cottage at the edge of the county, curiously rural for an aged person. At first the idea of an assisted living community sprung up, but he shot it down. \n\n\"You won't understand til you get to my age, Finn, but that's not right,\" he said at the suggestion. Then, the idea of him moving in with Rachel and I manifested only for her to push it away.\n\n\"What? We're going to be trying for a kid in a few months. We can't take care of two babies at once!\" was her response. \n\nYet now, she frowns, and shakes her head. \"Yeah, that does sound worrisome. Are you going to check on him?\" She looks at her smartwatch, and frowns. \"Ugh, I have to be at my niece's recital in an hour.\"\n\nOf course, she wants to shift the burden on to me with an excuse. She has more important things to take care of than to consider my grandpa. \n\n\"I don't think I'll be able to make it if I'm going to check on him, but maybe we could talk about him moving in with us again?\" Even if it was not the appropriate time for resurrecting this conversation, the annoyance had spilled out of me, ready to fight and make my case. \n\nShe chuckles. \"Wait, what are you serious? Again? He needs to go to a home, Finn, not a--\"\n\n\"He said he won't go! I can't force him. He practically raised me and Chris--\"\n\n\"Well what about Chris, Christ why does it always have to be--\" \n\nHer smart watch glows a neon green, emanating a sharp frequency noise that cuts into my ears and apparently hers too. \n\n\"Holy!\" I cry, pressing my palms into my ears to block out the noise. Rachel fidgets with the band, flinging it off to the corner of the room. We both edge off towards the door. \n\nThe light changes color, becoming so blinding it transforms into white. With a swift fade, the noise disappears too leaving us to blink through the change in brightness only to see my grandpa standing in the corner next to the watch.\n\n\"Oh gosh, Finn, I think I can travel in those computers you're so good with,\" he says."
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[WP] A princess becomes a penpal with another woman in a far off land. When turmoil strikes her kingdom with an impending coup, she writes her best friend for help. She receives an unusual cryptic message from her friend, "Can a dragon help you? And if so, how?"
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"\"Can a dragon help me?\" I read, absolutely baffled for the moment. \"What on earth?\" Ella usually wasn't one to play coy, let alone respond so cryptically to such a serious missive. The page she'd sent the letter back with looked a bit surprised, and for a moment I wondered why, but she recomposed herself after a moment.\n\nI flipped the paper over.\n\nNothing. Nothing but five cryptic words, and some memories of a child's game long past. I suppressed a shiver, just remembering that night. Who was this girl she'd sent into my service? I didn't even know *that*. Hells, for all I knew I'd just let an assassin into my chambers, unbroken seal or not.\n\nI fixed her with my best gaze, forcing down the little bit of panic that comes from realizing you let a total stranger into your bedroom in the middle of a coup. \"Alright, so what's the rest of it?\" I asked, trying, and failing, to look intimidating, tear-stricken eyes and tangled black hair making me appear more gremlin than princess for the moment.\n\n\"Well, I can't be sure...\" she started, a half-smirk teasing at her mouth.\n\nI stepped on *that* right away. \"Well you had better be. And who the hell are you, even? You do know you just fought your way into the most heavily besieged castle this side of Paris?\" Muttering to myself, I studied the letter once more. \"And how the hell did you even get in here? The captain said you had the seal, but we even had to shut the tunnels last week, collapsing them on our own forces just to hold the breach.\" I grimaced.\n\nShe actually *laughed* at me. She laughed at me in my own castle, on the eve of the worst siege of our lifetimes, and in the very heart of the worst place I'd ever been as a queen.\n\n\"They executed my *mother* last month outside these gates, you wretch!\" I wept, sitting heavily back down on the floor and knocking the breath out of myself in the process. My backside stung from the impact with the marble, but I was beyond caring about such petty things as pain from that.\n\nShe hadn't meant to hurt me, I could see, kneeling as her face creased with gut-wrenching sorrow. \"I'd heard rumors... but I didn't know them for truth.\" she cried alongside me, breath fading to silence at the end as we stared into one another's eyes.\n\nI remember now, as sure as I remember life. Hiding in this stranger's somehow comfortable, now familiar arms. I *remember*. I remember flying, and sleeping, and hunting in caverns and cumulonimbus, and I remember pain, and sorrow, of a sister long lost. I remember her now, looking up into her eyes. Not eyes as you would remember them, but eyes as I knew they should be. As mine were. The red-gold slash of a dragon at war.\n\n\"Do you not remember our song?\" Ella spoke, and my heart returned her call.\n\nWhat keeps a princess \nsafe from cold \nheart of fire \neyes of gold.\n\nAt dawn, we flew with *fire*.",
"On my thirty-second birthday, Barney bought me a dragon. I'd told him I was looking for a new direction, since I'd gotten bored with plagues and political turmoil.\n\nWithin two years I had a small army that I liked to fly around my continent, causing small degrees of mayham, building my reputation as a dragon mistress.\n\nReally, I never expected my dragons to be ever caught dead doing an act of anything resembling *good*.\n\nBut poor Princess Lanalia from the Moors Region had other plans. I do hate letting the people I've claimed down...\n\n\\_\\_\\_\n\n*My dear friend Geela,*\n\n*How fare you on this day? I fear the turmoil I spoke of to you when last I wrote has gotten worse. The Dread Knight Lyle now meets in public spaces with his conspirators. I only was made aware of this in the past week, though I'm told it's happened for a month now. My guards have all but stopped reporting suspicious behavior to me.*\n\n*I am afraid, to put it plainly. I never anticipated Lyle growing so popular with the people but their fierce rejection of survivors from The Fen Region fires has grown to be a common sentiment. I fear the far cities of the region will start to fall to violence and my father refuses to speak out against them.*\n\n*I know there is little you can do from your region except offer me kind words and support. I urge you continue. The continued friendship I feel from you is enough to keep my days bright as I awake every morning to ensure the Moors stay hospitable to all.*\n\n*Yours dearly,*\n\n*\\~Lanalia*\n\n\\_\\_\\_\n\nA pen-pal exchange truly was a terrible idea. I wanted to stay close to one of my old disciples but within a year, all of his letters were being searched and even the most discrete letters were raising brows. So Gene gave me the address of one of his nieces, the lady in waiting of the princess of the Moors.\n\nThis was *supposed* to serve the purpose of keeping me up to date. Gene would mail her, she would mail me.\n\nBut, as luck would have it, Primrose was a total powderhead of a girl. I have never met someone so insipid. I mean, technically I never did meet Primrose, but if I did, I'm sure if you blew in one ear, dust would come out the other.\n\nTerrible, really. And a total bust. She told me of *her* life instead of Gene's, and my disciple and I soon fell out of touch.\n\nHowever, shortly a new development started. The princess of the Moors, Lanalia, began appearing in the letters. It turns out they were quite taken with the idea of a pen-pal from the Farmlands Region.\n\nI played along because a princess would be a valuable asset.\n\nI didn't really expect to make friends because falling prey to emotions is foolish, and I'm never foolish.\n\nBut again, Lanalia made things complicated.\n\nPrincesses, it turns out, aren't the best of friends for Dark Enchantresses, and now this is going to get messy.\n\n\\_\\_\\_\n\n*Geela,*\n\n*I hope this finds you well, for that would make one of us in good spirits. Violence has broken out in our distant cities and my father does nothing. He holds Lyle in either fear or regard, I cannot tell, but it spells disaster for our people.*\n\n*Lyle's throngs shout one thing to us.*\n\n*Turn out the Fenfolk, or we turn you out.*\n\n*Paralyzed by indecision, my father has made their mind for them, and they march on Eaglemire. Were he to take a stance counter to them, at least we could help the Fenfolk. As it is, we neither help them nor protect ourselves.*\n\n*I speak in private to my supporters. They are few but are fiercely loyal.*\n\n*We may win this yet.*\n\n*\\~Lanalia*\n\n\\_\\_\\_\n\nI wasn't going to help her. Barney agreed, it would be a blight on my reputation. Ja'Eel Scilatia? Help a petty princess defeat a coup? Defeating coups were all well and good when the king or queen were a wicked leader and I was trying to help the evil power stay in charge.\n\nThat looked good, you know?\n\nBut no, that's not how this whole thing played out. Instead, I began scheming, trying to find a way to help her without publically backing her.\n\nI had too many signature moves. Too many ways of attacking that were intimately connected to me. I couldn't risk storms or void plagues or summoned fae monsters.\n\nI needed something different. Something people hadn't come to associate with me...\n\n\\_\\_\\_\n\n*Geela,*\n\n*This may be among the last letters I send, for Lyle's troops march on Eaglemire in the next few weeks and it grows dangerous to send couriers from the city. I hope to receive your next letter and respond to it, but after that, I cannot promise more.*\n\n*I know I cannot ask for help, but if there is even a small token of your friendship you could send, it would give me the strength to carry on.*\n\n*Yours in friendship,*\n\n*\\~Lanalia*\n\n\\_\\_\\_\n\n*Lanny,*\n\n*Can a dragon help you? And if so, how?*\n\n*-G*\n\n\\_\\_\\_\n\nLanalia watched the enemy troops outside her city, flinching every time a dragon roared or a plume of fire showed.\n\n\"Geela, they- oh my that looked bad. They are really quite... something.\"\n\n\"You can thank me later, dear.\" I stood next to her on the battlements. This was my element, watching my terrifying beasts wreak havoc on people I hated. Yes, the 'enemies' probably aligned more with me moralistically, but it didn't matter because Lanalia was a friend.\n\n\"Ah yes. Yes, well. They do seem to be making short work of my enemies. And not a moment too soon.\" She was trying to hype herself up about the slaughter.\n\nI just rolled my eyes. She was a dear but far too soft on her foes. It's why I never truly indulged my identity to her. As far as she was aware, I was just Geela.\n\nAnd, sad as it may sound, I was realizing fast that our friendship, though dear, would not ultimately last the test of time. Our ultimate goals would be too different.\n\nStill, I took little issue with leaving her a parting gift.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"The dragons?\"\n\n\"Well, I can't use them anymore, can I?\"\n\n\"Why not?\" Lanalia looked aghast but not horrified at the idea. \"You've raised them from eggs, they should be with you.\"\n\n\"Oh darling, I promise, they aren't that loyal. If I tell them you are their new mistress, than yours they will be. Besides, your kingdom needs defending. And the four of them are very good at defending.\" I couldn't really tell her that, having shown my hand in such a public manner, these dragons and their kin would now forever be marked as The Heroes of the Moors.\n\n'Hero' is such a dirty word. Not one I particularly want associated with me.\n\nLanalia finally accepts, weeping with gratitude, and I make my way back home. This whole thing had been a fun experiment but now I need a new angle for my next evil scheme and probably need to keep my alliances a bit more political and less emotional.\n\nEmotions only get you so far and I'd rather leave things with Lanalia on a good note.\n\nIt sure beat our friendship ending when she learned who *really* set the Fens Region aflame.\n\n___\n\nCheck out [r/TalesByOpheliaCyanide](https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesByOpheliaCyanide/) for more stories! Read more about Geela in [The Extramundane Emancipation of Geela, Evil Sorceress at Large](https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesByOpheliaCyanide/wiki/extramundane-enmancipation-directory)!"
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[WP] Aliens find out that Humanity is actually a hivemind that is broken to the point that it can't be fixed and doesn't know that it is a hivemind
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"-They were. I said.\n\nCriscys replied without moving his attention towards Gassaie.\n\n-Can you see it? It dies around their last evolution branch. After homo erectus, as they call, it originated those sapiens primates which clearly has broken their hivemind aspect.\n\nGassaie still perplexed. Generally mammals doesn't need to maintain hivemind traits since they're biological bounded to their parents since conception, allowing those bounds to be multiplied in the social context. It is understandable that humans doesn't had this ability, the strange part how they had at some point.\n\n-How can you be so sure?\n\n-Modern humans tend to rely their choices to a monocratic leader. Even when they broke the power to lesser institutions, it is noticeable that they still need a visual figure of their leader...\n\n-The hive core.\n\n-Exactly! It is still in their DNA. See how their government is inclined to exclude some of them? For their color, sex, age, intelligence and so on. Humans are lacking of the hivemind, like a phantom evolutionary trait inching inside them.\n\n-We can't be sure, their government suffered interference from lots of aliens until the human research deal. It could be just reflexes from those contacts. Gods they called us, then we abandoned them...it seems to me that thei are just seeking for those ancient diplomats.\n\n-But none of them were one guy, always a group...of gods if you'd put in that way. But time moved and by the end most of them agreed by the existence of the One True God. Again, simplifying their intend to move back to their origins. When in the hivemind they didn't had to worry much about choices or divergences, empathy wasn't negociable, but now they just can't stop to seek everyone else approval.\n\n-So how could the hivemind type be damned when the rest put themselves in the top of the food chain?\n\n-Because they both wasn't fighting against the worlds challenges as hard as they're fighting among themselves. Humans are also opportunists and violents, but hivemind doesn't work like that, so one of them had to go.\n\n-That's the saddest genome story I ever heard. Almost feel pity about them.\n\n-You can say it again. Do we abort?\n\n-Nah. We do good rid them from their fears and angst. Comence invasion."
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[WP] It is a primeval fantasy. The Stout tribe from Big Rock, Pointed-Ear tribe, Pig-Blood Tribe and Human tribe are meeting to attempt a hunt that could feed them all for many moons.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"Jod adjusted the pelt that hung over his shoulder. It was a thick heavily furred skin meant to keep the owlbear warm through the frozen nights, now it served the same purpose for Jod. That owlbear had been his first successful hunt as a lad. Furg, his father, had taken him with a spear in hand to stalk their prey, teaching a young Jod how to read tracks and advance quietly towards their quarry. His gaze followed the outstretched arm of Furg to where two masses of dark brown fur lay curled together. From the pile one feathered head had protruded, a flat round face with a razor sharp break at it's centre. Between the efforts of Jod and his father, the two beasts had succumbed to the cut and thrust of their stone headed spears. Jod respected those animals, they had fed the tribe for an eight-night and the pelt he wore had served him well for many seasons. \n\nThe headdress Jod wore now contained feathers from that same creature, interwoven with many others by his mate, Yern. It distinguished him as the leader of the two rivers tribe. It was not a huge tribe but it was formidable in its own way, no other human tribes dared encroach on their land, the fear of the two rivers warriors was far too great. Jod's father had died many seasons ago, but the tribe was strong and Jod led it as best he could. There were seven men in the two rivers tribe, all of whom were fearsome with spear in hand, today it was Gar who walked at Jod's shoulder. \n\nGar was a huge man, almost a head taller than Jod, with wide muscular shoulders and arms that promised that he could throw around any who thought to challenge him. He was such a sight he lent Jod authority purely by his presence, that was exaggerated by his subservient position, walking a few paces behind his tribe chief. The two men crossed the river that marked the edge of their territory, using shallow natural ford, now entering into the land of the pig-bloods. They had arranged to meet just a little further ahead by the slumbering stone.\n\nThe sun was low in the sky, a burnt orange glow in the sky as the light was fading. The vegetation thinned as they strode up the hill and Jod and Gar could make it the slumbering stone in the slowly failing light. The large flat stone looked as though it had once toppled from a vertical position. It now created a level surface on its top that protruded horizontally out from the face of the hill. From the top of the slumbering stone a warm firelight glowed, and as they stepped closer a group of silhouetted figures became visible gathered around the source of light. \n\nJod turned to his friend as they walked, \"Let me do the talking today, we don't need a repeat of last time.\" Jod said.\n\n\"That wasn't my fault,\" Gar replied, sounding indignant, although the way he raised his eyebrows told Jod that he did regret how the last meeting with the pig-bloods had gone. \"We are a proud tribe Jod, we will not be intimidated by those swine. *I will not.*\" \n\n\"I know Gar,\" Jod said, keeping frustration from his tone. \"You just have to remember, the pig-bloods do not have the same tradition of negotiation as us. Collaboration is new to them and it takes a long time and a lot of practice to speak diplomatically, time and practice that Grin'chuk has not yet experienced. We will not be intimidated, but you need not rise to the slightest provocation either.\"\n\nA grunt was all the reply that Jod got, though he hoped Gar had taken his words to heart. \n\nClimbing upwards, the two rivers tribesmen reached where the slumbering stone was embedded into the face of the hill, they got a good fitting onto the rock and then started towards the firelight at the end of the stone. The platform stretched for about thirty paces from where it joined the slope. Jod could now make out four figures seated around the flames, only two that he recognised.\n\nOne of the figures turned to see Jod and Gar before rising to it’s feet. As Jod approached, details of the figure started to come out of the shadow and were lit by the light of the fire. Hulking muscular shoulders extended out from a thick neck, but most striking was the pig-blood’s facial features. Jod recognised this as Grin’chuk their chief. His face was broad and long, forehead sloping backwards with a pronounced eyebrow ridge, his nose large and upturned, almost snout-like. Most eye catching, as always with the pig-bloods, were the two dagger-like tusks protruding from his bottom jaw. They were slightly curved backwards towards his cheeks and extended up to halfway between his mouth and eyes. He wore furs not dissimilar to Jod’s with most of his torso exposed, his skin an almost grey. Gripped in his hand was an axe, a heavy stone head bound to a wooden handle that was long enough to wield with two hands.\n\nJod continued walking towards the fire, trying to exude confidence with every step. Grin’chuk strode to meet him, and greeted him with a guttural tone.\n\n“Chief Jod,” Grin’chuk grunted, “Good you have come. Important discussion we must have.”\n\nJod stopped a couple of paces short of his counterpart before responding. “Good to see you Grin’chuk, Chief. I expected only you and Gunder.” Jod had identified one of those still sitting as Grin’chuk’s daughter Gunder. Jod had seen her channelling before - usually as he and his men retreated. She was the foremost shaman among the pig-bloods and though young, definitely not someone to mess with. Much of her face resembled her fathers, although where his head was bald, she had a mess of long black hair. Jod continued gripping the shaft of his spear tightly. “Who are these other two you have brought? And why are they here?”\n\n“Come, sit” Grin’chuk said in answer, turning back to the fire and leading the two rivers men over. He gestured to a space on the floor near the flames, Jod and Gar sat looking at their hosts, backs to the face of the hill.\n\nNow having settled onto the floor Jod eyed the two men he did not recognise. They both looked tall and slender, although it was hard to tell with their legs folded underneath them as they sat, features far more delicate than either the Pig-Blood’s beastial grimaces or the Two River’s rugged frowns. They were clearly not any of Grin’chuk’s men and not from a tribe Jod thought he had ever encountered. The one nearer to Jod sat with a regality that clearly marked him as the leader of the two men, a smirk sat upon his lips and his long slim face was mirrored by a slight point at the top of each of his ears. Both the men were clothed in woven cotton garments, things that took much time to make and did little to protect from the chill of night.\n\nThe leader stood as Jod settled himself and gave a small bow in acknowledgement of the new company. That in itself was an odd greeting, but more intriguing to Jod was the glint of firelight that reflected from what he assumed was a weapon at the man’s hip. It hung there, a long thin thing encompassed in an animal skin, just above where it hung from the man’s clothing there was a hard material that looked a little like stone, however it shone with a reflected light from the flames that unnerved Jod.\n\n“Good evening Chief.” The man greeted Jod with a smile, “I am Flyndril, a chief of my own tribe you could say. It is a pleasure to meet you, Grin’chuk has told me of you.” He looked to Grin’chuk expectantly as he sat.\n\n“Flyndril is from the other side of Pig-Blood territory, we have come to an agreement with his people just as we have with yours Jod.” The Pig-Blood Chief grunted out the words in a quick burst. “It has benefitted us all to draw lines and keep to our territory. Why fight each other? The world is hard enough as it is.”\n\n“You speak sense,” Jod nodded in agreement as he spoke, “defining borders for each of our tribes has been a great boon to us. We no longer fight unnecessarily and can focus on leading our tribes to prosperity. Yet I don’t see why we are gathered here tonight. What do you want Grin’chuk.”\n\nFlyndril was the one who spoke up in response, “Straight to the point, I like it. Gunder would you show these men the reason for our gathering.” The Pig-Blood shaman mumbled some barely intelligible words, but as she raised her hands the fire flickered and shaped in response. What followed was part illusion, part flame. The flames licked and formed into a pair of leathery wings attached to a lizard’s torso and a ferocious reptilian head. Behind the creature the fire danced forming a tail at least the same length as the torso. The flame creature flew through the fire pit, with a calm grace. After a few turns it landed on the ground next to the fire. Tiny embers landed on the rock around the creature, tiny in comparison yet forming into little men. They began to flee from the beast.The scale was off though. It had to be, otherwise the sheer size of this creature must be an impossibility, it’s foot would engulf a man with ease. This was surely just a trick of the swine’s shaman, it couldn’t possibly depict anything in reality. Flyndril’s next words broke through the stunned silence.\n\n“What you are seeing is a dragon. This is a vision of how it destroyed my tribe, and with your help we are going to kill it.”"
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[WP] You've moved into a haunted house. The ghost there is ready to make your life miserable, but it doesn't know that you're already haunted, and the ghost that followed you to your new home isn't keen on sharing the space.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"“I could handle a haunted house,” I thought to myself. The sun shone brightly upon the wooden porch. The stairs creaked behind me as the real estate agent hastily left after passing the keys to me. The key had rusted with age and took some jiggling to fit the lock. An echoey click rang out as the door started to creak open. A thin layer of dust puffed and slowly wafted to the ground. There seemed to be the sound of maniacal laughter hidden between each creak as the door inched open. I walked across the threshold and felt the hairs of my neck prick up like meerkats on duty. The air chilled right down considering the beaming sun just outside. I shivered. I closed the door behind me. \n\nThe wheels of my suitcase created quite a racket along the hollow wooden floors. Each little bump echoed throughout the house. “No wonder no one bought this place,” I thought to myself. The painting was scratched in places, a few holes in the walls and floors and the bannisters barely held together. It was as though the real estate agents hadn’t been in since they acquired the property. I lugged my suitcases upstairs. As I carried a particularly heavy one, the top stair gave way. I dropped my suitcase as my leg fell through. Splinters fell to the ground below as I regained my composure. I tentatively pulled myself up with the bannister before stepping over the newly formed hole. I picked up my suitcase and gently made my way to the master bedroom. I took each step with care, as though invisible trip wires were hidden along the ground. I went downstairs to fix myself an evening meal to find none of the kitchen appliances working. I rolled my eyes as I dialled a local pizza shop. I wrote out a list of things that needed fixing. Top priority was the stairs and checking the structural integrity of the upstairs. No need to cause my own death. Followed by fixing the kitchen and then other small tasks that could wait. I sat trying to think of anything else as an ungodly wail rang out around me. “ Mr Fredericks? I have your pizza!” I quickly jotted down “adjust door bell sound,” before making my way to the front door. I paid the delivery person and as I turned to go back to my evening she exclaimed “wow. You sure must be brave to live here! Haven’t you heard all the rumours?”\n\nI faked a smile and said “Yes. Well ghosts are just for children aren’t they?” I lit some candles to eat with. I was enjoying the sunset through the back window, though it didn’t provide much light. Suddenly the door thudded shut and candles blew out. Wisps of smoke trailed harmlessly through the air as I reignited the candles and went back to eating. “I’ll be fine,” I thought to myself as the sky darkened from a blood red to a void like black speckled with grains of sand. I retired to my bedroom for some reading. \n\nThe candle next to me wavered and flickered gently. Apparently the electricity wasn’t working though everything seemed in order, hence why I was using candles. Eerie shadows danced along the walls. Almost depicting brutal murders before fading into another. The flame gave an almighty jolt as the four poles holding the canopy came tumbling down. They landed all around me.\n\nI rolled my eyes. “Ok. You can come out now. I know you’re here.” A faint giggled echoed throughout the room. A face of mouldy flesh flashed before my eyes. My heart jumped from the suddenness. I sat up and raised my glasses as footsteps creaked down the hall. The giggling grew louder before a young girl entered the room. \n\n Her outline faintly wavered with a blue tinge “Boohoo. You’re no fun.” The ghost giggled. It’s voice chilling and unsettling yet surrounded with an aura of sweetness. “You haven’t been injured at all! Or run away screaming like everyone else has! Stop ruining the fun!” The girl pouted.\n\n“Right,” so, can we stop the theatrics and death threats? Else we will run into a little bit of trouble you and I,” I said.\n\nThe young girl blew a raspberry at me and giggled. “Oh nooo the human man wants to hurt poor little me. Whatever will he do?” She mockingly rubbed her eyes. “Oh wait. He can’t hurt me. I’m a ghost.” She went back to giggling maniacally. The laughter turned to screams as another ghostly figure appeared and pulled on her pigtails. A red portal appeared and the ghostly child was thrown into it. The other figure stood at the foot of my bed.\n\n“You really need to stop this you know? Most of these ghosts are just bored... Using me to send them to hell won’t get anyone justice.” The figure looked at me. \n\n“Your form is fading,” I said trying to mask the sadness in my voice.\n\n“I’m not meant to be in this realm John. Please. Let me go. I can’t keep helping you forever.\n\n“No... you didn’t deserve to go the way you did. What was I supposed to do? I had no father... no mother and now no sister.. I made a deal.” I said holding back tears.\n\n“Don’t cry John. It’s alright. I will always be with you. You can let me go. I’m your big sister. I won’t let you down.”\n\n“But how? I begged for you back? I needed you. I don’t know how to return you.” I stumbled over my words.\n\n“I never left John. I was always here. Held to this world by your need. I believe in you. Look at all you’ve achieved without any of us. You will continue to do amazing things with us all in your memory,” the ghost said. Thought I couldn’t see her face. It was obvious she was giving me one of her warm smiles. I could feel it deep in my soul.\n\nI shut my eyes tightly and groaned with concentration. I felt arms around me. I looked up to see my sister’s face. “Thank you,” she whispered gently as she floated away. \n\n“I’ll miss you,” I said."
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[WP] Your family tree is a nightmare. You're descended from Elder gods (Cthulhu et al) on your mom's side, the Roman pantheon on dad's, and you're stuck in the middle. (optional twist: Thanksgiving is tomorrow!)
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"\"Thanksgiving is so dumb. It's literally about offering prayers and thanks to gods, or spirits, or something. It's a bunch of bull.\" My friend Diana starts, slamming back another beer.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nI exchange a look with a mutual friend, Farner, who merely grimaces whenever Diana starts one of her atheistic rants. \"Offering any thanks to anything besides the poor creatures that died for such a waste of time as some stupid holiday is just frankly absurd to me.\" \n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"What about making it a holiday celebrating family and a good year?\" John offers with a shrug, tearing the sweet meat of a buffalo chicken wing from the bone, making sure his chewing annoyed her. The two dated off and on in some odd ritual of hating each other so much that they love each other. I did not understand it, because well, hard to sympathize when you have the genes of gods in your veins.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nThere's the rub for me and Farner. Our parents are gods, demigods, servants to the gods, etc. We know that all of it is true, but Diana won't hear a peep of it. \"Screw you John, you know that family is just another waste of breathe. Blood is thicker than water? The only good passage to come out of that spilled ink people worship? Meaning that the people we choose are better then the people we are born to. It's simply really. I will spend it with some bar friends around campus.\" She looks to me and Farner, \"Last chance you two. I know how much you don't want to leave. Just stay here. Have a few drinks. Have a few laughs!\" Finally smiling at us, offering a raised drink for the statement.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Nah, I have to go. My dad would kill me,\" Farner offers with a wave of the hand. I snicker at it, drawing a growl from my actual closest friend. Odin wouldn't actually kill him, or more like, he would, but Farner would just reappear a little ways from the house in full Viking armor. Which caused a stir every year in of itself.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Same. You know my family, doesn't take that sort of thing well.\" When it came to me, even Farner loosened up and sighed. Yeah. My family . . .\n\n&#x200B;\n\nThe night ended there, all of us leaving at the same time, Diana and John heading into the same direction, their arguing heard for seconds afterwards. They will wake up next to each other naked again, no doubt.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nFarner looks at me with concern, \"Seriously, Carth. What are you going to do?\" I just shrug at him.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\n\n&#x200B;\n\nGoing through airport security is a nightmare, as always. Questioning why I have fish scales in one bag, wicker, ink from a squid, sulfur, and a bunch of other things in my suitcase. I explain that my family is a bit of nutcase, and that I am not planning on building some fish bomb, or something. Of course, everything goes into separate bags, and handled in some one or another that will make it a pain and a half to get out when I get to my destination. Then again, all worth it for a gathering as smooth as possible.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\\*Zoom.\\*\n\n&#x200B;\n\nTo Greece, Paralia Xi beach, where I already have a little place rented out. I called ahead and explained to a few local services a few things I would need: a few stone alters, some gold chalices, fruits, flowers, and on the other side, I need a few illegal things. I did not say the last part, but let us just say I had to shop a few unsavory places for the things I needed. Like a human skull. Still bloody.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nWhen I get to the spot, Looking around, I can just give a nod of satisfaction. A few of the workers smiled as I showed up, telling me how wonderful it was to celebrate my heritage with a class Greek alter to the gods. I must be so proud. Another smile and nod, as they walk away to their own feasts of thanks. Then to the real work.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nThe area is as much compromise as I can offer, given my family. Especially the image I give of myself, thanksgiving day, and I am at the beach sitting up displays and offerings in two different locations with drastically different motifs. On one side, the golden chalice filled with fine wine, with olives, peaches, pears, and bananas. That should please the old man. On the other, a circle with an effigy of human sacrifice, still bloodied with organs and eyes scattered about. Red candles and a book made of human flesh. The book was mine, I had that. A gift from granddad. For what it's worth.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nI take a deep breathe. Standing between them both, \"By all the gods, ancient texts, and scrolls of great imprisonment, I . . . Uh,\" I just sigh, and shake my head, \"Oh will you just come out!\" I yell, tired after a long day of prep.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nI tap my foot as the skies cloud over and the Mediterranean sea shifts and swirls. Lightening strikes and a typhoon of wind howls across my ears. The seas separate into a concophane of screams and laughter. Darkest spreads across the land as the void itself opens to bring forth-\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Hey, granddad.\" Is my only offering of greeting, along with a wave of two fingers.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nEver seen an elder god sigh and roll it's eye sockets? I have. Weirdest thing ever. A bubbling sound escapes the tentacles of Cthulu. My grandfather. His English isn't great, and heavens know my eldritch was rough. \"Where's mom?\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\nWith that, he stretches his hand out and opens it. There stands my mother, in all her . . . glory. Normally festering with sores and sea life, urchins, starfish and the like, she's freshened up for the occasion, so not nearly as many barnacles hang from her face. \"Hey, sweetie!\" She comes over for a hug, and grimace as she still drips with sea slime. \n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Hi, Mom,\" I groan as she squeezes me. I swear, if she just allowed herself some more time on land, my mother would be a beautiful queen. Actually, that's because she is. Or was, a queen, back in the day. But you know, corrupting powers and all. \"University is going great. Decided on a major. History. Minor in Psychology.\"\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Oh, that's wonderful my little starfish,\" She cackles, pinching my cheek until it's red. \"You're going places in the mortal realm, but never forget your place in the upcoming apocalypses when your grandfather and I rise up to overthrow the world of men!\" She laughs with such a sweet voice, even though I will never get used to the idea.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"He's doing no such thing!\" Came the booming replying.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nI roll my eyes turning around, blocking any further conflict in that regard. \"Hey grandfather.\" I offer a little bit more respect to the man sitting at the alter. Jupiter. Who is already chugging the wine and biting into single pears before throwing the rest to the sand. He's about what you expect. White hair. Red cape, with bronze armor. Ripped to all degrees. An asshole.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"Carth, my dear boy! What's this I hear about you majoring in History?\" He comes down and puts his hand on my shoulder with a spark, making me jump, \"I hope it's about Romian history. Maybe you can do a few things. Convince them that the temples need to go back up. I miss having those places!\" He laughs.\n\n&#x200B;\n\n\"It's not like you ever needed them dad.\" My father walks out from behind the alter, with less glow about him then then Jupiter. For all the world, he looks like a regular guy, but a second look earns you a few eyebrow raises. Taller, stronger, slower then a lot of people because he knows he has all the time in the world. And maybe weighed down by his mistakes. My mother being one of them. \"How are you, son?\" He hugs me.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nMy mom smiles and waves at him, as he rolls his eyes in disgust, \"You've let yourself go.\" My mother drops the smile, and her eyes glow yellow. Always a bad sign. My grandfathers glare at each other, and lightening strikes.\n\n&#x200B;\n\nI step in the middle once more. \"Turkey, anyone?\" \n\n\n\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_ \n\n\nSorry for any spelling errors here. Wish I had the time to really dig a little deeper into the prompt, but I had some fun thinking about it. Definitely worth a shot! Any feedback is appreciated! Ways to develop the ideas is nice too! \n\n\nThanks for readin!"
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[WP] Your father gave you a key on a necklace but never told you what it is for. Fast forward and you are breaking into homes for food. You find a house that seems random but you decide to try the key as always. The lock turns..
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"The lock finally turned and I was elated. Who knew that after spending many years and always failing to find a matching keyhole, I would find it while scavenging in other people's homes for food!\n\nThe door clicked open. I walked in and swept my eyes over at the ordinary interior. Just as I was adjusting to the dark features of the house, the bedroom door opened and a couple walked out together stiffly. They turned the house lights on and the darkness dispersed. Their unfocused eyes seemed to look straight past me.\n\n\"Close the door behind you.\" The man mumbled.\n\nUnsure what to do I politely closed the door behind me. These strangers ignored me and began absently preparing a meal for themselves. I silently held the key attached to the necklace up as a silent explanation as to how I had gotten in. \n\nThey continued to ignore me. \n\n*Well ok, they're definitely weird*\n\nThe woman had already set four cups down on the table and rummaged through the freezer for something. The man calmly shredded fresh cigarettes into each placed cup. The woman stood next to him with four slices of frozen raw meat. The man finished and the woman then shoved the meat into each cup.\n\n*What the..?*\n\n\"Time to eat.\" The woman growled lowly. I was low-key terrified. They both turned their dead gazes onto me in sync. I rigidly took a seat at the table in front of a cup.\n\nEverything was silent and no one moved. I wanted to puke. I was close enough that my nose could register the smell of awful rot within the cup. I made up my mind and began to try and politely excuse myself.\n\n\"Wait.\" The woman commanded. She gazed at the fourth cup that seemed to be waiting on one more person. She opened her mouth so wide that it stretched down to her stomach. A resonant deep echoing sound reverberated outwards. A door from the second story could be heard opened and then closed. The sound of several foot steps approaching the stairs could be heard, but no one could be seen. The sound of foot steps eventually reached the fourth cup.\n\n\"He is here. We may eat.\" The man said absently. His teeth ripped at the rotten flesh in the cup. The woman put the entire cup in her mouth and the sounds of something being crushed screeched inside. I looked at the fourth cup and found it already disappeared.\n\n*Yeah, no. I don't understand how I got here from opening doors. Now that I think of it, spending years of unlocking doors and finding this is the worst. I expected to encounter treasure or something totally cool, but now it's looking like I'm going to be the protagonist of the beginning of a rated M horror film at best. At worst I'm probably the guy who dies gruesomely in the opening scenes. Fk this mysterious key. Fk my dadFk fk fk fk fk fk* \n\nI got up to leave. A cup dropped from far above the table and shattered on the floor. I jumped. I turned my head to look up from the shattered cup. There was a young man in torn pajamas hugging the ceiling with 4 arms and no legs smiling at me with rotten chunks of meat in his mouth with tobacco stains on his teeth.\n\n*Hmm... if I rush towards the door I bet it's gonna be locked and I either need to ask for permission or play some kind of game to escape*. I rushed to the door anyways and yanked at it. The door remained firmly shut. I reached into my pocket for the key and felt a smooth scaly texture. I pulled out a venomous looking snake.\n\n*Well, of course the key I had mysteriously turned into snake...* Things were indeed looking grim."
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[WP] Everything keeps evolving into crabs. Why? Why, because it's the most bestest form of course. There has not been a sentient species without such a form ever recorded in the history of the galaxy. Until the humans showed up.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"*Humans are a semi-intelligent species of displaced tree-apes. They have been around for a relatively short time on this wonderfully watery world.*\n\n*And they suck.*\n\nThe crab scientist raised his goggles, rubbed his eye stalks, and sighed. He had to stay impartial. Or, at least, appear impartial.\n\nSaying that the humans suck, though true, would still ruffle his advisors exo-skeleton.\n\n“And they are...” Thought Chris the Crab Scientist, aloud. He thought a silent moment more, before - with a happy-snap of a claw - he got back to typing: “They are a sub-optimal life form, prone to pollution, greed, and warfare.”\n\nChris wrote on into the night. He loved working for the Science Advisory Board for the Galactic Crabkind Tribunal. It was fulfilling work.\n\nAnd soon, that hard work would pay-off. Another win for crabkind! The bestest of all lifeforms!\n\nCan’t have monkey’s running things on a planet. I mean it’s not the way Crab-Jesus wanted things, right?"
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[WP] You're about to preach to a very religious crowd about some god you know literally nothing about. Good luck.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"That God they worshipped was such a weird God I never heard of it until 2 seconds ago. Some backstage assistant gave me the name on a piece of paper that I lost. The crowd grew restless. I had to do something.\nWould I improvise on the spot or is there anything that could help me?\n\nNo one could help me. A Ph.D in Theology was not helping me. Studying about almost all religions in the world, but never hearing or reading about this one. Salvation. That’s something common among religions right? Christians have the pearly gates, Buddhists have a never ending cycle of reincarnation, you get the idea. But what was their salvation? \n\nPeeking through the curtain to see if they have any images that could help me identify something. White in a background of blue. Many things have those two colors, there must be something else.\n\nI must walk to the stage now, I’ve left them waiting for too long. Not enough time to figure out what to say other that white and blue. I sure hope it wasn’t a picture of some clouds.\n\nWalking towards the podium, glancing everywhere to see what I can use. Nothing. The lights of the stage are too bright. Except for something, a little hint. Looks like a bird alright. That should be enough for now. Letters printed across the podium, they look like the acronym of the church. Time for my speech.\n\n“I come before you today, to speak about salvation. We must be like the bird. Fly to the clouds and the blue skies. We must do this for our salvation. If on-“\n\n“Excuse me, are you saying we must be like Larry?”\n\n“Who is this Larry you speak of, we must be like the Lord and Savior”\n\n“Yes, Larry. He’s the lord and savior of the Church of Twitt. How come you didn’t know that?”"
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[WP] And with a flash of light, you awaken. You find yourself completely alone on a tiny planet. The only thing there is a a small stone house.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"A sharp turn of the wheel, a screech, a thud and that was that. Curtains on my 34 year old life, all because some asshole couldn’t stay in his lane. I opened my eyes, not expecting anything in particular, but I was definitely not expecting to see a house. The first things I saw were a car, a stone house, and a garage. A further glimpse around showed that I was on some small planet, surrounded by a pink sky. I heard a noise behind me and turned around expecting some kind of lord and god, but instead saw 3 odd individuals. There stood a grasshopper, a monkey, and an odd “man” wearing sunglasses and antenna. “Where am I?! What are you;WHO are you?!” The strange “thing” replied, “I’m King Kai, now get ready for my training.”",
"I opened my eyes to a completely novel environment for me. The sky was shining so bright and the verdant ground was so calming. It felt like I was not on Earth.\n\nThen I rubbed my eyes and looked around. Where was I? There were no signs of civilization in sight, only a massive prairie. If this was the case, how did I survive from all the fierce and scary wild animals roaming around?\n\nBut I looked around. I could not see any tigers or lions or giraffes or something similar. I was so puzzled. There was probably no place on Earth like this. Peaceful lands were all turned into cities and buildings. \n\nI did not really know where am I. I did not know how much time it took me to realize that I was starving. \n\nThere was no food around. I looked at the trees — they were all leaves. Huge clumps of leaves, but not a single fruit. It felt like the best season for trees to grow fruit, and yet there were none.\n\nSo I decided to wander around to find food because that was the instinct for any living animal to feed themselves well. And there was a stone hut — sort of a stone hut — near me. That would be the greatest idea. There would be something valuable inside that somebody built a shelter around it. It could be food! I walked closer to the hut, and found an orange wooden chest inside, placed next to a bed with yellow sheets and white pillows. This was weird, how could a modern bed appear in such a place?\n\nI opened the chest. There was a few uncooked and unfrozen pork chop. A few apple-like things but it appeared golden and was very shiny. Also a book with a leather cover. \n\nOn the book, it was clearly typed the words \"Survival Guide\", in extremely proper computer font. I searched for cameras around me, only to no avail. This might probably be my last straw of surviving in this completely unknown place.\n\nI read through a few pages which sounded just like any other wilderness survival guide. But as I skimmed at more pages, it seemed more resembling something unnatural and artificial.\n\nEspecially with the term \"respawn\". No one could rise up from the dead in a logical world — or else there would not be so many tragedies that took away so many lives!\n\nI was so perplexed and I flipped to the last page of the book. Then, I looked around with fear and took a deep breath. \n\nThe sun still had not yet set, so I walked to the nearest tree to me. I started punching the trunk. And with a few seconds of constant knocking, a wooden log fell in front of me. It was perfectly sliced off from the stem. I decided to collect much more wood with this method.\n\nI was skeptical about my intuition but I succeeded in making a crafting table. It was just a workbench — I did not know why I was insisting to call it a \"crafting table\".\n\nThen, before the sunset, I decided to wander around and got more wood. I made a door for the hut. And then I believe it was time for me to sleep.\n\nI had an extremely good sleep but it felt so unfit. I was certain something was still off. I was certain I was not alone — other people were just too far for me to reach.\n\nSo to prepare, I started digging down from a hole right next to my hut. There were stones immediately under the muddy layer, so I went to grab a wooden pickaxe. Then with the stones, I made a stone pickaxe.\n\nAnd with a few days of hustling, I got so much stone and different metal ores. I saw some diamonds but my pickaxe was about to break. I wish I got them. And the little bedside chest could weirdly store everything.\n\nIt might be better for me to go on and gather more resources.\n\n...\n\nIt was a few more days without human interaction, and only mining underground without seeing the light. I was craving for another person to stay with me. I got all resources that I needed. I got food from falling trees and pigs that unknowingly pacing around my hut. I was sorry but I really needed the food — I could not feed on just apples for my life.\n\nThen what seemed like a miracle came true — I saw a silhouette of another person.\n\nI slowly approached them, only to have scared him. \"Oh my god,\" he said with quite a deep voice. \"Wait, there is another person?\" he asked.\n\n\"Yes, \" I replied, \"my name is Willam. How can I call you?\"\n\n\"Uh... Carl?\"\n\n\"Nice name,\" I said, then cringed for my behaviour.\n\nAnd so Carl moved everything of him to my hut. It felt like he was yearning for human interaction too.\n\nWe talked about the weird things happening in this place. And I almost forgot who I was before walking up here. He tried to find a way out but he was completely lost on what to do.\n\nThen I suggested brainstorming what resembles our experience here the most.\n\nThat game. That famous game. We both reckon that this 'world' was an exact replica of the gameplay. And the mechanics worked the same. So we believed that we needed to 'beat the game' to escape. And there were two extremely challenging parts. 'The nether' and 'the end' were the names of the extra terrain from the game. And they were exceptionally daunting.\n\nI wished I could go through them as quick as possible.\n\nSo we just lived our lives like how a gamer would play the same. We gathered enough resources from the nether as well as the 'real' world in a few days. And we were determined to end this monotonous experience.\n\nCarl and I packed our things and left the stone hut. The hut that I stayed for almost like a month, but I had no idea what a 'month' was already.\n\n...\n\nAnd we carried on our way until something happened.\n\n\"Why are you so slow?\" Carl complained.\n\n\"Things are heavy! You carry it then,\" I muttered.\n\nHe grabbed the bundle from me and walked fast ahead of me nonchalantly. And I lost him in the woods.\n\nI walked even slower. There were not many items I was carrying after he took it. I was petrified until I heard some sound from somewhere, saying \"where are you, William?\"\n\nI traced the sound and dashed towards the origin. And I stopped when I saw the familiar face.\n\n\"I'm sorry,\" Carl said.\n\n\"It's fine,\" I said, slowly.\n\nHe grabbed my hands and guided me towards the 'stronghold', the place that leaded to 'the end'. The stronghold was surprisingly difficult to get into, but we still managed it.\n\nHe looked at me in the eyes. \"Are you ready?\" he said. I nodded, and we both jumped into the portal.\n\n...\n\nThe dragon was fierce and powerful. And the crystals on the towers were supplying it with the power. With bows, with arrows, with swords, it was still hard to kill it.\n\nIt was a long fight. The dragon could throw us up and could hurt us. It got aways so swiftly with its flying ability. And we could do nothing other than just trying.\n\nAnd this time we were flung midair. We were almost hopeless in dealing with the dragon. I decided to give it one last strike that I could.\n\nIt gave out a long howl and disintegrated.\n\nThere was a portal under us as we were falling down.\n\nI was not ready to say goodbye to Carl yet.\n\nHe looked at me in my eyes firmly as we went through the portal.\n\n...\n\nThere were brown colours that looked just like the mud I saw when I first woke up here. Then it turned to black.\n\nAnd everything settled. I felt something soft under me. I opened my eyes to see me in my room. It felt like nothing had really happened. I was downhearted. I wish I knew who Carl was before we escaped.\n\nI got up from my bed and I heard my phone beeping. It was a message from Carl.",
"A loud bang was heard and Chris only had time to turn around when a sharp pain dug deep in the back of his head. \nChris awoke with a start. His chest was pounding but as he lay in the darkness he couldn't recall the reason. The frightful nightmare was already fading away from memory. His hand groped in the dark for his nightstand only to find a cold stone wall. Immediately alert to the strangeness of his surroundings, Chris shot up and searched for a door out of the dark room.\n\nFinding the door was only the beginning of this new nightmare. Chris stepped out of the dark room and was greeted with a unexplainable sight. Dark grassy fields extended all around him till the horizon, which itself, was no further than a stone's throw away. The sky was cloudless and the stars were more visible than he had ever seen them before. Chris looked out at the stars for a while until he noticed his surroundings were getting brighter. Dawn had arrived. \n\nLooking back where he had just emerged from, he saw it was a small stone house. Simplest in design and no bigger than a bedroom. Four walls with a simple cathedral ceiling. A wooden table accompanied by a lone chair nearly comprised the entirety of the room. A unmade bed lay in the corner where he had woken up. Chris ran away from the small house in its opposite direction. watching it disappear in the horizon. Smack! He had ran into something and fallen backwards. Stunned, Chris looked up to see a stone wall. Getting to his feet and backing away, he saw that it was the rear wall of the stone house. He had circumnavigated the globe.\n\nThe planet, if it could be called such, was so small that Chris could view both sides of the house at the same time if he stood exactly on the opposite pole from where it stood.\nThere was nothing else present. No people, no animals, no life other than himself and the grass.\nFeeling truly alone Chris crumpled down on the field and wept. The man wept for the life he had lost and he cried to return to reality.\n\nThe man lay there for a long time, unable to bring himself to think. The more he tried to recall the real world, the less he remembered. He didn't know how long he had been here yet he felt no hunger or thirst. He was neither cold nor warm. He simply was. A long time passed with him wondering about everything. After what felt like an eternity, he still required no sleep and the light of day had never waned.\n\nOver time the man cried less and less about the life he knew before and came to accept his new reality. Growing content with just looking at the stars and occasionally running around, he slowly forgot. Dusk grew as he forgot more and more of his of existence, until all that remained was a sliver of light in the horizon. Thrown back into the dark, It returned to the small house and crawled into bed. It cried for losing all that it had left. The light of day. \n\nClosing It's eyes as it lay there. It was suddenly overcome with a deep sleep. It dreamt of a life well lived but cut short by accident. When It realized this was it's old life barely remembered, It wept once more. A blinding light grew around it. Feeling hunger and thirst again, It cried of joy. It wept for It knew it had returned to life."
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[WP] Zeus is drunk as usual, Ra is in a heated debate with Odin about politics, and the several “One true god”s are having a pissing contest. It’s thanksgiving at the immortal house.
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"*Ding dong*\n\n\"Ohhh if it isn't my favorite great grandson Hercules!\"\n\n\"Hi great grandma Gaea. Happy thanksgiving!\"\n\nCarrying a bottle of the finest ambrosia he meekly entered the primordial domain. How long has it been since he last stepped foot in there? Must be centuries now, and not without a good reason.\n\n\"Where's Megara, Herc?\", great grandma Gaea asked.\n\n\"Oh...we broke up\", the demigod sighed. Not wanting to be alone on thanksgiving, that was the reason he decided to bite the arrow and visited.\n\n\"Oh dear, I'm so sorry. Why don't you just make yourself comfortable, okay? Dinner won't be long now\", grandma Gaea grabbed the bottle and went off back to her kitchen.\n\n\"Herc! My man! How are you?\"\n\nHercules looked over to a blonde man similar to his own stature.\n\n\"Thor, you son of a bitch!\"\n\nWith the force of a thousand soldiers they clasp their hand in a thunderous handshake.\n\n\"You know that is one huge bullshit, Ra!\", a loud exclaim came from the other side of the room.\n\n\"Oh...are uncles Ra, Odin, and Vishnu arguing again?\", Hercules sighed. This was the reason why he usually refused to visit a family gathering. The unbearable political discussions...\n\n\"Yeap. Always the same thing, who's the one true god...\n\nAlso right there, aunt Izanami and uncle Osiris are already on their 5th glasses of nectar and talking about death...\n\nAnd right over there, aunties Athena and Frigga are discussing who's got the best ass in the pantheons, Achilles or Loki\", Thor summarizing the night's situation clearly already inebriated. \n\n\"Gross\"\n\n\"Yep...\"\n\n\"Oh...I see great grandpas Kronos and Atum are on speaking terms again.\" \n\n\"Oh nope, they're just happened to fall asleep and we dragged them together\"\n\nBoth men heartily laughed and went to another room to avoid getting sucked into any unwanted discussions. Loud rock music was playing as they walked in.\n\n\"Cousin Herc! Come join us! Grab the bass!\"\n\nShredding on the electric guitar and playing the drum were cousins Vainamoinen and Arjuna. Hercules shrugged and grabbed the bass guitar joining his 2 cousins in a godly rendition of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir. \n\n\"Guys! Guys! Stop playing! Look who's here!\"\n\nWatching out the window Thor was joined by his 3 cousins. Seeing who's coming, their faces dropped in horror.\n\n\"Oh no...it's uncle Cthulhu and grandpa Azathoth...\"\n\nThe eldritch side of the family was never a favorite amongst the family. Having them over together with the other patriarchs always results in some...unfavorable outcomes.\n\n\"Alright guys, calm down. I'm sure it was great grandma Gaea who invited them. Let's just try to get along and keep her happy, okay?\", Vainamoinen advised.\n\n\"Dinner's ready, everybody!\", great grandma Gaea shouted from the dining room.\n\n\"Oh sweet! Last one in the kitchen's a loser!\", Arjuna shouted running out of the room followed by Thor and Vainamoinen.\n\nHercules just smiled and shook his head. How long has it been since he's had this much excitement? Maybe he really should visit his family more often."
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[WP] Magic suddenly becomes a public and irrefutable fact in the modern world
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"**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n**Reminders**:\n\n>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include \"[Poem]\"\n>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail\n>* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles\n>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)\n\n[](#icon-help) [^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) ^•\n[](#icon-information) [^(New Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ^•\n[](#icon-help) [^(Writing Help?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) ^•\n[](#icon-exclamation) [^(Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) ^•\n[](#icon-comments) [^(Discord Chatroom)](https://discord.gg/js5XDFB)\n\n*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*",
"In New York City, the dead were rising. Old bones, still born, colonial, ghostly ashes, and even vague, cold eyes like points in reality where light refused to shine-they all were rising. They all began heading south. \nAt their head a dread Lich of immense power chanted in a thunderous voice. Power had failed the big Apple, and any who opposed them were forced indoors as gently as possible. \n\nIn Central Park, they dug up hidden civil war stockpiles-rifles and cannons marked in strange glowing runes. There, the Lich finished his chant, and red white and blue lightning spread from him through his ranks. \n\nA single reporter was allowed through. Before she could ask a single question, the Lich silenced her with a wave of his hand-stealing her voice away. Terror flooded her. Away, she heard the sound of a rapidly approaching horse-dead bone on asphalt. \n\nAstrid a skeletal horse rode a zombie in crumbling blue uniform. He jumped down lightly next to her and gave a gallant bow, sweeping his hat from his head, “Pardon me miss,” the stranger drawled, “I am General Ulysses Grant. And we need your and the help of the press.”\n\nShocked, she could not move. Patriotic lightning danced in the zombie’s eyes. The General turned toward his creator, and reached out his hand. “You were right, Mr. President. The South has risen again. We’ve got to find those dogs and put them down! It seems they have taken every soul alive and begun enslaving them, or else killing them if they’ll sign up. We are going to need mortality’s help to win this.”\n\nAbraham Lincoln lowered his hood. His grey skin was slick with slime, and his clothes smelled of the foulness of death. He turned his eyes to the western setting sun, as another new comer approached. “My dear friend,” the former president replied, “things are worse even than that.”\n\nThe man who approached stuck his hand out, “My boys are on their way. They say there’s a problem down south. That ain’t nothing we can’t fix. We’re got worse trouble than that brewing.” There’s a couple of World Wars I’m going to have to catch you up on, Mr. President. I’ve just gotten word from Germany. He’s back, too. Seems he did some reading in Jackson’s library.”",
"\"I get it,\" said Kevin. \"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magi--\"\n\n\"No, you don't get it, really,\" I told him, exasperated. \"*Temporus particularis*!\" I cried suddenly, pointing to the SUV that had been bearing down on us to our left. The vehicle froze in place, trapped inside the invisible temporal bubble that I'd wrapped around it with my spell. Kevin barely noticed. \n\n\"Anyway,\" I went on, \"it has absolutely nothing to do with technology. It's, like, a fact or reality, something written into the fabric of the universe. We just had to learn how to access it.\"\n\n\"With your silly spells?\"\n\n\"The words unlock the potential that's already curled into the fabric of existence, yes.\"\n\n\"That's totally BS.\" Coming off the crosswalk, I saw his eyes flicker to the doner kebab vendor at the corner.\n\n\"Hungry?\" I asked. \n\n\"A little bi--\"\n\n\"*Kebabulan immediosis*\\--er, you want lamb or chicken?\"\n\n\"Er, uh, lamb.\"\n\n\"*Bovidia lambulan*!\" I cupped the empty air as we'd been taught to do online by the Turkish mages, and the kebab, without wrapper, materialized. I handed it to my annoyingly ungrateful looking friend. \"I washed my hands back at the mall, by the way.\"\n\n\"I didn't.\"\n\n\"*Cleanaria handsanitarum,*\" I muttered. 'Kay, done.\"\n\n\"I didn't feel anything.\"\n\n\"Well of course you didn't feel the bacteria being eradicated, but I just made a damn kebab appear out of the air for you!\"\n\n\"Art of misdirection, and I'm sure you had that SUV driver in on it as well. I'm not a moron.\"\n\n\"Look, Kev, magic is real and that's been a fact for over a week now. You're going to have to accept it. YouTubers are teaching the spells left and right, and it doesn't cost a thing, except you've gotta sit through some five-second ads, here and there, but you can actually just say *adenium obliterasia* at the beginning of the v--\"\n\n\"That's what YouTube WANTS you to do. They pick up the spells through your phone mic and then cancel the ads, so you believe it. They're IN on it. Who knows what saying these words is *actually* doing. It's probably making us sick or something.\"\n\n\"Well how can I prove it to you, then?\" I cried. \"How can anyone prove it to you?\"\n\nKevin narrowed his eyes at me. \"Make me invisible,\" he said. \n\n*Dammit,* I thought. Kevin was clearly unaware, since he hadn't accepted the truth and thus hadn't yet done any research, but making someone invisible was one of the few impossibilities encoded into the universe. \n\n\"Well...\" I started. I saw the smugness start to spread itself across his face. \n\nYes, he was clearly *unaware.* \n\n\"Are you ready?\" I asked, cooking up legit sounding words. \n\nA shadow of fear beneath Kevin's countenance, and then a smile. \"Ready as I'll ever be.\"\n\n\"*Invisibilis humanitorium*!\" \n\nKevin blinked, visibly. I pawed the air just to the right of his head. \n\n\"Yo, where are you?\"\n\n\"Are you serious? No, you can't be serious. A-are you serious dude?\"\n\nMy eyes settled on an abandoned shopfront, my line of sight passing a full five feet from Kevin's actual face.\n\n\"I'm serious!\"\n\n\"I'm not there!\" said Kevin giddily. \"Over here!\"\n\n\"Here?\" I asked, swinging my gaze sixty degrees in the other direction, missing him by another ten feet. \n\n\"No! Oh my god, oh my god! It's real!\"\n\n\"So you're a believer?\" I asked, now directing my eyes at a tree trunk, squinting as through trying desperately to make him out.\n\n\"I'm a believer, man! I guess I'm a believer!\"\n\nFrom the corner of my eye I saw him start to strip.\n\n\"I just heard a zipper,\" I said, frowning, still not looking in his direction.\n\n\"It's hot out,\" laughed Kevin. \"No need for this clothing bullshit. Imagine jacking off in the middle of the mall. Holy shit man, just imagine it, right into the fountains!\"\n\n\"Kevin...\"\n\n\"Don't 'Kevin' me. No one'll know. How long does the invisibility last?\"\n\n\"I...uh...a day. Maybe till midnight...or...or something.\"\n\n\"Then call me Cinderella! Ha!\"\n\nHe shimmied out of his pants. Fully naked, save for socks, he slipped his sneakers back on and went sprinting down the street, his junk bobbing before the horrified eyes of a speechless elderly couple.\n\n\"Hey!\" I called, my voice cracking in terror of what I'd done. \"Put your mask on!\"\n\n\"Fuck it,\" he shouted back. \"Covid's not real anyway!\"\n\nHe rounded the corner onto Main, its sidewalks packed with human traffic, and then, slowly, almost like a ragged choir, the screams began to rise."
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