Split (1)

train · 265k rows

post_text stringlengths 0 17.5k	post_title stringlengths 4 315	post_scores int64 0 42.1k	comment_texts list	comment_scores list	comment_times list
When you've never before known hope, what does it sound like? How does it change you?	[WP] You live in a world where destiny is unchanging, and hope therefore is irrelevant. Everything changes the first time you hear hope.	2	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "\"Tibaeus!\" Some men shout. \"What are you doing?\"\n\nThe man ignores them, continuing to shovel water out of the boat, bucket by bucket. \n\n\"He has gone mad!\" The men moan, sitting by as the water rises higher and higher at their ankles. \"Has the Oracle not proclaimed that our destiny is death by the seas? Tibaeus, why do you persist with such foolishness. Come; sit with us and die!\"\n\nBut the man called Tibaeus does not listen to their pleas. As their boat sinks, he alone continues to work.\n\nA crowd gathers at the shore and watch the spectacle. No one sends a boat out to help the men, though there are plentiful strong, able-bodied youths to choose from. \n\nSome in the crowd seem to even share the drowning crew's sentiments, calling out, \"Tibaeus! Tibaeus! Sink and perish! You are only angering the gods!\"\n\nEventually, the boat sinks, and the crew do not try to swim. So they drown. But Tibaeus emerges from beneath the waters and furiously swims for shore, but his aching arms cramp, and with an anguished cry, he too disappears underneath. \n\nFrom the crowd comes a hushed whisper, \"He almost made it.\"\n\n\"Why did he keep trying though he was destined to die?\"\n\nTo that question, no one could answer." ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1497987090", "1497988862" ]
[removed]	[WP] You live in the ancient world and have been smokijg some weeds with your friends in the woods. They're all coming up with interesting imaginary monsters and you want to feel included. What do you cone up with?	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nResponses must be at least 30 words. Prompts that are likely to generate such responses are also not allowed. This is essentially a fill-in-the-blank, or you asked a question likely to generate a simple answer. Prompts should encourage a story or poem. \n\nThis will just get people to reply with imaginary monsters. Try again without the last sentence ;)\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6igdui/wp_you_live_in_the_ancient_world_and_have_been//%0A%0A)\n\nThis action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things." ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1497987084", "1497987177" ]
	[WP] Killing another human ages and shortens the life of the person who committed the act.	2	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The alleyway smells like cheap liquor and condoms; tears and baby wipes. The last resting place of the forgotten; the graveyard for the living dead -- the homeless, known as the hobos. \n\nOn this night, only one of these so-called hobos can be seen, mourning his deceased brethren over a bottle of slow-poison, warming himself by one of the portals to Hell, though it just looks to the human eye like a garbage can that's been set on fire.\n\nThe mourning man sees only dark nights from here on. He's spent so many years looking down he doesn't even have the strength to look up. Not even when one of the shadows in the dark come to life and loom over his breathing corpse.\n\nThe glint of the knife in the shadow's hand introduces a new color to the dismal black and malevolent orange. Then red -- as silver steel cuts skin, and skin spits back blood. \n\nOne cry. Not even as loud as the glass bottle of booze that slips from the man's hand and shatters on the piss - caked floor. The flame in the garbage bin cackles with delight. The shadow retreats, and one rat - the only witness - scurries back to its home in the sewers to tell its wife and twenty six kids. \n\nOut of the alley, the shadow takes on the form of a man - older than ancient, with more wrinkles than a cracked mountain face. The man looks so fragile, one shoulder bump from a passerby might turn his shoulder to dust, yet he moves with the stealth of what he is, ultimately -- an assassin.\n\nStopping by a storefront window, he reflects on his reflection in the glass.\n\n\"Why...\" he breathes. Why am I not dead yet?\n\n" ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1498044433", "1498048058" ]
	[WP] You have weird super power. If you successfully talk someone into doing something, they will succeed, regardless of if the action in question is actually possible. On the other hand, your abilities to actually persuade people are unaltered.	12,738	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "\"I bet you can fly.\"\n\nNow bear in mind, he was really drunk at this point. He was basically at the threshold where if this doesn't work, I have to try psychedelics. And I didn't then 'know a guy,' so this experiment was a little all-or-nothing for me.\n\n\"Whaaaa?\" he slurs. \"Noooo, I can't fly?\"\n\n\"Nono, seriously. We only use like ten percent of our brains, right?\" I felt dirty even saying it. It's so thoroughly debunked at this point, it might as well be alchemy. But I hoped that he wasn't smart enough or informed enough to remember that while hammered. \"So it stands to reason that we all have untapped superpowers.\"\n\n\"I'm, I am... I've superpowers?\" To his credit, he hasn't fallen down once during this entire pub crawl.\n\n\"Let me tell you... I am kind of an expert on this kind of thing.\" The Donald's words coming out of my mouth. \"And you... have the latent power of flight, my friend.\" And I used to be such a nice guy.\n\n\"I'm superhero...\" Yes, Chris. Yes you are!\n\n\"Yes you are.\"\n\n\"I neeanother shot b'fore I fly. Kizzam nervousss...\" I think he's had nine drinks. One standard drink is 0.6 ounces of pure ethanol, so that fruity mai tai he opened with requires a little multiplication. I buy us each a shot of Fireball, 'cause I'm only three drinks in myself and it's been about ninety minutes. Fireball is like candy to budding alcoholics like us. I accidentally slap down a five for a tip and silently cringe 'cause it'd be super awkward to ask for change on a tip. I assure myself that it all works out roughly even in the long run.\n\n\"You're not nervous. You just don't wanna make anybody feel bad.\"\n\n\"I don'. 'Cuzzas's mean.\" Drunk Chris is still a nice guy. \"We, weega, weem, we goasside.\" Which was the goal the whole time.\n\nWhile I am glad that I verified the nature of this... power I apparently have over people, in retrospect, it's sort of shitty that the dude had to get so drunk that he didn't directly remember having the power of flight. He wrote off the vague memories of the top of Mount Bonnell and the couple making out as a dream, and the subsequent Statesmen article about a 'flying man' as an elaborate prank. He may never attempt to fly by force of will alone again, and even if he tries he might not succeed.\n\nIt's unfortunate, but now I know what I'm working with...", "People are the best commodity to me. I have what you call a silver tongue. If I want someone dead I talk someone capable of murder into killing them. If I want money I talk someone rich and charitable into giving it to me. If I want a super hero to save me I convince a child they have super powers.\nAnything I want, i need only to find someone who will believe they can do it. I'm the most powerful person and the weakest, because you can't believe what you know. You can only inspire others to believe it too. \nAnything is possible, anything is at all. If you believe.", "The kitchen stank. Despite the oppressive heat, the windows remained shut and the blinds drawn. AJ stared down at the worn linoleum, even dingier looking by candlelight, and wanted to scream with impatience. Why on earth had he made the damned chant so long? He glanced at the others kneeling in the circle. They seemed deep in prayer, swaying, eyes fixed on the low table in the center of the circle. Good.\n\n “…et ad vitam redire.” AJ’s second-in-command, Rob something-or-other, finished the chant. It was Latin, or as Latin as you could get from Google Translate. It served its purpose. Rob rose from the circle and slid a knife from his makeshift robes, and drew complex figures in the air over the indistinct mass on the table. What a cliché. AJ felt a hysterical laugh catch in his throat. Showmanship was his father’s ploy, not his. His father’s resonant voice and magnetic television presence had passed him by, but they shared the one thing that really mattered. Only a little longer, and everything would be right again. The other acolytes stared on, rapturous expressions on their stupid faces. At least one of them had to truly believe.\n\nCandlelight flashed on the blade as it arced a slow but deliberate path toward the smaller of the two lumps on the table. Slow, then quick. And then blood, so much blood, spurted out over the table and soaked the second lump. A sharp intake of breath. His father clawed the winding sheet back from his face and sat up, body whole again, no sign of decay.\n\nHis father looked around, blinking rapidly. He chuckled, realizing what had happened. He winked at AJ and said, \n\n“Went to the other side of religion, I see. What are my faithful followers going to think?”\n", "\"This is preposterous! How do you think I'd believe you?\", boomed the voice at the other end of the dark mahogany table. He looked like any typical office worker, well made suit, sleek, gelled hair, unnecessarily expensive watch. He was everything I could hate about a person, but I needed him.\n\n\"Just trust me, please, I'll give you all the money you want after this ok?\" I plead. He looks me up and down in disgust for the third time since I barged uninvited into his office. He sees just another bummy, scraggly bearded, dirty homeless man that looked like he hadn't showered in weeks, and smelled even worse. \"I should fire that fucking useless receptionist,\" he glares at the meek lady standing in the door way. She winces and slumps even further into her shoulders. \"You expect me to believe you found a magic lamp and had a fucking Genie in it that gave you bullshit powers? Who the fuck do you think I am?! GET OUT OF MY OFFICE BEFORE I CALL THE POLICE!\" He explodes, getting red in the face with anger.\n\nI sigh, I really didn't want to have to resort to this, I think as I grab for my concealed gun that I managed to convince my bum buddy to let me borrow. I spin around and scream to the receptionist to run to the table, barrel focused on her forehead. The gun has no bullets in them, but they don't have to know that. She shrieks and runs into the table full force, vaulting over it into the man in the suit. The man himself quickly changed from red to pale faced, and cowered behind the receptionist. Of course he would, I think to myself.\n\n\"Alright, here's how it's going to go, I'm going to ask you once again, teach me how to be the most convincing person in the world. I want to be more charismatic than God!\" I squeak, in my best intimidating voice possible. I don't know much about God, but I know that he must have a ton of charisma. \"So, here's how we're going to do this, we're going to stay in this room until you teach me everything you know about charisma, and hey, my offer still stands, I'll give you as much money as you want. Hey lady, what's your name?\"\n\n\"...Giselle...\" she responds, staring at her shoes. \"You don't want to die, do you Gisel- look at me... LOOK at me..\" she raises her gaze to meet mine, \"You don't want to die, do you Giselle?\" \"No sir,\" \"Good, Giselle, from now on you work for me, ok? I'll make you the same offer. At the end of this ordeal, and yes, this is an ordeal, trust me I didn't want this to happen, ok? At the end of all this shit, I'll make you rich beyond your wildest dreams, do you want that? Do you?\"\n\"Y-yes..\" she whispers, timidly.\n\n\"Good, ok, you'll be in charge of getting us food and water, and whatever else we request ok? If you go the the police, my associates will find and kill you and your family. Don't make us do that.\" I turn my gaze back to the man in the suit, \"George, wasn't it? George, I want you to-\" \"Greg, my name is Greg\" he interrupts, \"Okay, Greg, I want you to start your lessons right now. Disconnect your phone, give me your cell, step away from the table and sit in that chair in the corner.\n\nGreg walks to the chair and sits. He begins tutoring me, days pass, and I'm starting to calm him down slowly. Eventually Greg doesn't feel intimidated by me, and is excited to see me more and more each day. Six days pass, and I can smooth talk anything, even physics. I can tell the lights to flicker; I can ask the room to widen. Greg is astonished of what I can do. We decide to rest on the seventh day. I take Greg aside and say, \"Greg, you've done so much for me, and I feel awful keeping you in here. I'll tell you what, you're going home today.\" I grip him softly, but firmly by the shoulder.\n\nWith my new found powers, Greg and I step out into the overcast city streets together. I'm a little annoyed that the Sun wasn't shining like in the cartoons I used to watch as a kid. Easy fix though.\n\nGreg sees the clouds part and fade away to reveal a radiant Sun, and a deep blue sky. He immediately bursts into tears, which catches the attention of passerby's who rubberneck as they pass. Greg is ugly when he cries.\n\n\"Don't worry about your family Greg, they think you've been with them like normal, just act like nothings happened.\" Greg nods, relieved.\n\nGiselle peered out from the doorway where Greg and I just exited. I ignored her, this was Greg's moment.\n\nThe three of us materialize at the local bank. I give them a check for everything. The clerk looks at it, a little bewildered. He calls his supervisor over, who in turn calls the manager, and then the CEO, and all the share holders. News quickly spreads.\n\n\"Welcome to TJW news. Top story tonight, a local man by the name of u/me, has cashed a check, and now owns everything. No one knows how this is possible, but the highest authorities, including the President agree that the cheque is valid, and legally binding. We at TJW news have no clue what this means, but stay tuned and we will keep you up to date! With TJW news, I'm Prince Auryn, and remember, 'kiss the ground, ladies and gentlemen\"\n", "Jimmy is floating around the room, giggling. The kindergarden teachers are speechless and you have the full attention of the rest of the kids: \"I'll teach you all how to fly! But first, remember what I told you about the bad people? We have to make them go away. It's really simple. We just need to build a prison out of these \"magic\" LEGOs that will trap them forever. Who wants to go first?\"\n\nBy evening you are already having dinner on the moon.", "Clark Kent is the dumbest man alive. There, I said it. The most gullible, self-indulgent, thick-headed person I've ever met. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's bordering on mental deficiency. And yet, there he is, the poster child for good, the righteous and the brave. And it's all because of his silent partner. Me. I'm not bragging, I'm just stating facts. You think a kid from Kansas with delusions of grandeur could really defeat enemies of intra-universal magnitude? But his unwavering faith and belief ended up being just what was needed at just the right time. I told him he could fly, and he did. I told him he could lift things no human should be able to, and he did. When he had moments f doubt I convinced him that somewhere in the arctic he would find a spaceship of a far away planet that would explain his origin from there. Why? Because he was needed. We needed a symbol of hope when all around us things were falling. So I took a young midwesterner who may or may not be bipolar and convinced him of things that couldn't possibly be true. It's easy to do with kids that feel like they don't belong. Now I sit back and enjoy a world that is safe, and I do so from the comfort of my armchair and he enjoys beating the crap out of enemies. Who's the real hero?", "I don't know exactly when I received my super power but I definitely had it last saturday when I was babysitting my 4 year old niece, Jessica.\n\nWe sat on the couch having just watched Peter Pan and played make believe. She wanted to be Wendy and so I was nominated Peter Pan. I dutifully sprinkled her with fairy dust and told her to fly. Naturally she jumped off the couch.\n\nAnd floated up off the floor. \"I can fly!\", she said exhilarated. She swooped around the room almost knocking over the tv.\n\n\"Cool\", I said. This is probably a dream. I should probably just kick back and enjoy it. I kicked back and enjoyed watching Jessica performing acrobatics. \"Try not to knock anything over\".\n\nAfter a while she grew hungry and stopped flying. We made dinner.\n\nBy the time Jessica's parents got home I was more or less certain that I had merely gone temporarily insane and hoped it was a one time thing. But after impatiently suffering their hugs and kisses she told them she could fly and jumped off the floor, landing awkwardly.\n\n\"Wow, that's amazing\", said veronica, her mother.\n\n\"It didn't work!\", huffed Jessica. \"I forgot the pixie dust, Jacob, sprinkle!\"\n\n\"Sure\" I said and sprinkled more imaginary pixie dust. \"You can now fly.\"\n\nShe started flying again. I looked at her parents. They looked like parents who's daughter can suddenly fly\n\n\"...Did you two see what I just saw?\" asked Veronica.\n\n\"Yeah\", said John hanging up his coat. \"It's very cool that you can fly sweetie, but it very late and time for bed.\" He caught Jessica in his arms and started going up the stairs. \"I think maybe we should all go to bed and talk about it in the morning. And don't talk to anybody else.\"\n\n\"E.T. phone home\", I said.\n\n\"Exactly\"\n\nThe next day I was woken by the phone ringing. My alarm clock told me it was six am. \"Who is it?\" I growled at the receiver.\n\n\"John\" said John. I heard a Jessica crying in the background. \"Remember last night when Jessica could fly?\"\n\n\"I had a dream about that.\"\n\n\"Yeah, so did we, and Jessica's beside herself because she can't do it today. Do you mind coming over and doing whatever it is you did yesterday?\"\n\n\"Just pretend to sprinkle some pixie dust on her head.\"\n\n\"We tried that. And we also tried to say 'You can fly!' It didn't work. Will you please just come over? Did I mention she's been up since four?\"\n\n\"Fine, I'll be over in an hour.\" I hung up.\n\nAn hour later Jessica was flying around their house while John was chasing her trying to wipe the snot of her face. Veronica and I were drinking coffée.\n\n\"It's a really weird superpower.\" Veronica said taking a sip. \"She can fly, but only when you pretend to sprinkle dust in her hair and say 'you can fly.'\"\n\n\"Hey, maybe I'm the one with the super power.\" I sprinkled some imaginary fairy dust over Veronica's head. \"You can fly!\"\n\nVeronica slowly lifted out of her chair and flew after her (now snot free) daughter. \"Look, I can fly! Your uncles a fairy\"\n\n\"I prefer wizard.\" I said.", "I am the most pathetic person in the world. If I talk someone into doing something, they can do it even if it is supposedly impossible. Why does this make me pathetic? Well, after convincing a few people to do the impossible soon everyone realized my power and I could convince anyone to do anything. Everyone has amazing powers and abilities to their own benefit and can fly except me. Sure everyone is grateful for what I've done for them, but their gratitude doesn't allow me to take off and soar through the sky like them. See there is one exception to my superpower, one person is not guaranteed success when I convince them to do something: Me. I can't live a life where I walk while everyone else flies. Tonight I will fly. I will climb up to the top of my apartment building and say to myself, \"you can fly\", and I will jump off. In those few second before I hit the concrete I will fly and for once I will feel super too. ", "This ability gives me so much power, being able to get someone to do anything I wanted just by persuading them it's a good idea. It would allow me to do so much, I could cure various incurable diseases by simply persuading someone to create a cure, I could solve the energy crisis or even create world peace just by getting someone to believe in them. \"All of these things could be possible and more, I have so much power and so much responsibility, I have so much potential for greatness, I can do it, I can do it!\"\n\nI kept repeating these words to myself in the mirror, after a while I stopped and sighed. \"Why couldn't this power have been given to anyone else\" I looked up at the mirror one last time trying my hardest to flush out all the negative thoughts, before giving up and going to my room. Whilst this ability gives me the potential for so much power, there's one thing it can't do and that's to be able to convince myself that I am the right one to harness such responsibility and without that, I might as well be powerless.", " A drunk stumbles through his front door after a long day of drinking. Grumbling loudly as he trips over something laying on the floor, a loud thud like a period to the end of the sentence that was his fall as he hit the floor. \n He slowly blinks and winces as he looks up into his ceiling fan light. \"Why the fuck is this light so god damned bright, Laura?!\" He yells angrily up towards the stairs to his already sleeping wife. Their kids had school in the morning. The drunk never cared. He would always come in at all hours.\n He thought convincing people would be easy. He thought he could rule the world. This was not the case. Sure it worked here and there but, rarely. Nobody even believed he could. They thought he was crazy. \n A few seconds of sleep for the drunk are interrupted. Its the family dog, for some reason he was the only thing that liked the drunk anymore, his cold nose pressed against the drunk's. Then he begins to lick him. After a few moments of slobbery tongue the drunk yells out \"Oh, fuck me!\" \n The dog was convinced.", "Jimmy Jones was known as a boring, nerdy person, but not because he likes to play video games all the time, not because he's fat, but because he always tries to talk people into things. He never really managed to, but one day when he was cramming for a test and was destined to fail, he said something along the lines of \"hey, can I have your answers?\" to the smartest kid in the class, who jokingly agreed. Little did the smart boy know, Jimmy wasn't a normal person. He had a power to command people to complete what ever task they wanted, all they had to do was agree. He ended up being accused of cheating after this had happened twice, resulting in him being expelled from his school. At the time, he was unaware of this power, and his parents raged at him, saying things like \"DO YOU WANT TO BE DISOWNED?\", and a pissed off little Jimmy said yes. He was on the street for months, and got caught stealing one time. He was sent to prison with attempted robbery, and talked himself right the fuck out of there. And this, my friends, is how the number one most wanted fugitive, slippin' jimmy, was born. ", "\"C'mon Greg, this should be easy!\" I found myself thinking as my hands began to tremble from nerves. \"But she is so far out of my league, just look at her!\" I am a rare case of human, born with the power of making things that aren't become something so much more; the trouble being that I have to persuade others into making the first leap then my powers starts working it's magic. But this time, this time it's different. I never knew that my most important decision would fall upon my ability to persuade myself.\nFinding out about this power was fun, I've always had it and once it clicked pieces started falling into place. My mothers parents left her a large sum of money, she was thinking of putting it all towards my schooling but I knew that was a waste as I had never a desire for furthering my education. I told her she should invest it and well, now we're one of the wealthiest families in this state. It was that event that led me here, at a stock holders conference. It's what has led me to her. \"Just ask! The worst she can do is say no!\" I found myself arguing in my head again. \"Look at her, fit and sexy and look at me, overweight and balding. Even if she were to accept will it be because of me or because of my power?\"\nThe second big one was for my best friend, he was terrified of coming out. He knew his parents would disown him for it and he'd have to move out with no job, minimal schooling done, and an ex-girlfriend who wanted his head. I calmed him down over dinner and explained that the worst case scenario was moving in with me, knowing he had a place to go comforted him and he took the leap. Nothing changed, in the good way of course, his family loved him all the same and his ex still wanted him dead. \"She's eyeing you! You don't even have to use your gift!\" I breathed as I stood and walked across the room \"If Alan can come out you can ask her out!\"\nHer name was Cynthia, she was a redhead with beautiful green eyes. She had been coming to these stock holder get togethers for sometime, never with anyone. As I slunk closer across the hall she noticed me and smiled, my heart stopped and I felt like I was suffocating. I immediately turned and headed for the refreshments \"No!\" I screamed internally \"I can't do it, she's too pretty for me, I'm too ugly for her!\" I held back tears, never had I felt more useless than sipping the punch and eating a bacon wrapped something while wiping my eyes.\nSuddenly a tap on my shoulder and a whisper \"Care to dance?\" I spun around a little too fast, dizzying myself and hoping my eyes weren't still wet. It was her, asking me to dance! \"S-sure\" I made out through half eaten bacon. It was magical throughout the rest of the evening, dancing slow and fast to various hits while she slowly got closer and closer until we were nearly touching lips. \"You're going to kiss me.\" She said, almost commanding. As I tried to pull away, too embarrassed to say anything, I felt a tug on my mind as the words escaped my mouth \"Y-yes I am\" and suddenly I was hers, lips locked for what felt like hours and when finished she asked or rather told me that we would be eating dinner together tomorrow evening. I had a plane to catch that night but I was compelled to cancel it, it felt so strange realizing what I was under. This is what it felt like? Powerless? I've brought success to many people but at the loss of choice? I felt like a monster, trapping others in their own minds as I molded the world into perfection, seems only fitting this would be my fate. And so it was for the remainder of my days, trapped in my own mind as Cynthia persuaded me time and again to perfect her world. But hey, at least I got the girl. Right?", "He wasn't the type of guy that you could trust with anything. He'd be late, forgetful, unreliable. His intentions may have been good but he didn't have the will-power to focus on what needed to be done. He made friends but lost them easily enough because of his flaky behavior. He knew his friends expected him to show up late, and they were always right. \n\nHe did like acting though. He wasn't the best, but he loved to pretend to be someone else. If the audience had more imagination than the actors, then the play is in fact, well, perfect. \n\nIt may have been a line from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, he reckoned. \n\nAnd what audience is more imaginative than any other? Children. Some may be stubborn to let go of some boundaries that they've been taught by their parents, but if they want to believe in the story, if you can really make them wonder, even if it's for a moment or a an hour, you can see something truly beautiful. That look on their faces, that's why he's doing it. They aren't cynical yet about the world. If they want something to be true, they truly believe it could be this way. \n\nThat day he was at the mall. Lots of shoppers were around, hastily scouring the shops with multiple bags. Everybody seemed stressed at finding the right gift that their friends and families probably won't need. You could see that Christmas was getting closer. Such a wonderful atmosphere. They wanted to be prepared to have fun in two ways and definitely not a moment sooner. \n\nHis white beard was itching. He liked the disguises, the red suit with the belly stitched in, the comfortable chair they got for him. But the itching of the beard was something he couldn't get used to. \n\nA line was already waiting to get on his lap first. Santa's back in town. he took his seat and the first kid was pulled up by his mother. \n\n\"He was begging to come and see you, but it figures he'd get shy now.\" his mother replied. \"His name is Seppe.\" \n\nHe chuckled and remembered to jiggle his belly as he did do. 'Like a bowl full of jelly!' The boy named Seppe kept looking down as he was put on his lap. He was a blushing like a tomato. \n\n\"So you're Seppe?\" Santa asked. Seppe only gave a nod. \"I heard a lot about you.\" The boy's head shot up and he looked Santa in the eye. \"You do?\" His eyes showed he was clearly in awe. \"Of course. You've been a great kid! All the times you've helped a friend or your parents out, it's all in this book.\"\n\nAnd sure enough, as he let the kid have a peek in the book, there it was. A picture of him smiling, his full name, his favorite color, pet's his best friends, his good deeds, and some naughty ones. \n\n\"I see you haven't always been doing your homework?\" he began blushing even more, but his eyes remained fixed in the pages. \"I... I just don't like to read. My teacher says I have to try more and harder, but I just can't! The words are dancing. But - I - want to be dancing and playing.\" Santa gave him a smile. Some kids have to put in so much extra effort to be top of the class... There must be something I could do.* \n\n\"You know what. If you promise me that you'll keep trying, I think you'll see it'll become a lot easier.\" \n\n\"Why?\" he asked. Santa chuckled again. I used to be one of those kids too, always wondering why. He'll have to take a leap of faith in this one.\n\n\"Because I believe you can. And so does your mother.\" She gave a little wave as they were looking at her. \"And your father, your teacher and even your cat.\" \"It's not a cat, he's a tiger.\" I'm sure he is.\n\n\"If so many people believe you can do it, than there might be something to it, don't you think? They'll all help you. Even your ca-... tiger.\" \n\n\"I guess...\" There was some doubt in Seppe's eyes. \"Aren't you mad at for the things in your book? Am I still...\" \"Going to get a present? Absolutely. I'm not mad. Do you want to know a secret? If you believe in yourself, that you can do your homework and still have time to play outside, you can. If you close your eyes and think real hard about how easy it'll be to read those words, I'll make sure the to erase that page.\" He closed his eyes as hard as he could and as he opened them, sure enough, the page was filled instead with a picture of an orange kitten. \n\n\"Is that your tiger? Seems familiar. I like the whiskers.\" Santa got a big hug as he worried about his itching beard. He put little Seppe back down and still had one question to ask. \n\n\"So what would you want as a present? What are you gonna do with all this extra time you'll have after your homework?\" \n\n\"A sled and some cans of tuna will do. Merry Christmas, Santa.\"", "It all started years ago. I had been what one would call - depending on their perspective - \"life of the party\" or a \"loudmouthed asshole\". Looking back, I don't really have much of a memory of... Well anything from back then. Lots of parties, lots of alcohol, lots of dumb shit. It's all pretty much mixed together. I did end up graduating, but that was more of an accident. Or so I thought at the time.\n\nNow, even after prodding my friends to the point of frustration about what happened I'm still pretty hazy on the details. The short of it is that I was being my loudmouthed self and pissed off (and, according to some versions of the story, possibly on property or the person of) a gypsy fortune teller who was understandably... Pissed. A few incidents and a lot of careful testing later I was convinced that there is at least some truth to all the tales about gypsy curses.\n\nAs a curse, it's a mixed thing. Essentially what it does is that my words quite literally have power. To a scary degree. But it only works if I manage to convince someone to do something. The scary part is that the \"convince\" and \"something\" seem to be defined pretty loosely. That point got driven home after I realized what happened with Robbie was my fault. Apparently jokingly telling him to \"eat it and choke on it\" when he complained about the burger I treated him to at the local fast food joint counted for both.\n\nOf course I didn't realize it at the time. It took several incidents for it to slowly dawn on me what was happening. Not that they were all bad! Just look at Kevin: looking at him now you wouldn't believe that the WWE heavy weight champion used to be a couch potato who spent way too much time watching grown men play-fight. Guess it pays to follow your dreams.\n\nOr how about Clark \"Superman\" Ghent? The biggest nerd I've ever known. Always going on about this or that superhero, never had a date in his life. Of course the one time I managed to convince him to join a party he fell in love on a first sight with the hottest girl on the campus. Well, turns out telling him to \"just go for it, what do you have to lose?\" was one of the better advice I've ever given. Whatever he lost, he didn't miss. The wedding on the other hand... Well, that was the last time I got drunk. Apparently telling old folks to \"not stop till you drop\" wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had, no matter how much fun they had while it lasted.\n\nAs for me actually graduating despite spending majority of my time in university drunk, passed out or hungover... I guess I have my curse to thank for that one, too. It would seem pleading the professor to help me graduate worked. Not only that, I graduated with honors.\n\nThat is not to say I didn't work my ass off in that last year. Apparently my curse works in mysterious ways. Not only did the professor spend a lot of extra time coaching me: after actually listening to his lectures rather than sleeping off my hangovers during them I suddenly lost any and all urge to party, instead hitting the books until I dropped day in day out. Even if I never intended for it to happen, I damn well earned my grades.\n\nDuring this last minute push for graduation I met Karen. Initially I was quite surprised that I had no recollection of her considering we were in the same program. Turns out she had been in most of my classes, often even quite close, but I had been too busy sleeping off my hangovers to notice. My sudden change in attitude - and the results I was showing - had piqued her interest. What happened next is still bit of a blur to me. Apparently asking her to \"help me with a problem of mine\" led her to \"listen to my story\", a request to \"make me a better person\" and finally a \"until death does us part\".\n\nAll in all, the reader better believe this story ends in \"happily ever after\".", "I had always believed myself to live in a world of super heroes. At first a childhood fantasy of fighting monsters and villains, but later an almost obsession to prove that supernatural phenomena existed. My friends would pretend to be a super team of color coded heroes, or cowboys ranging the open plains, or mutant aliens with martial arts expertise. We would rotate being the villain, sometimes doing crossover battles of heroes depending on how many kids were at the playground when we played. When I got older, I developed what I later learned to be called Chuunibyou in Japanese, but was just called \"awkward pre-teen years\" when I was in middle school.\n\nI witnessed my first super power in middle school when I was playing a collectible card game. It featured planes walkers who summoned monsters and cast spells at each other. I was winning and my opponent was getting frustrated. At the time, my \"super power\" was the ability to draw key cards from my deck in my opening hand; by hiding them under my sleeve until the game started. He hadn't noticed and I finally had enough points to put my trump cards into play, taunting him by asking him to try to strike down my monster with a lightning bolt.\n\n\"I don't have a lighting bolt in my hand. ... But I do have a fire ball!\"\n\n\"I dare you to try and kill my monster with a fireball.\"\n\nHe turned the requisite resource cards for the spell and readied it in his other hand, then flicked the card at me. Before our very eyes the card burst into a ball of flame and struck me straight in the chest! My shirt was ruined and our game was over, but I finally found somebody with super powers. At first we decided to keep it a secret. I would suggest something for him to burn, and we played around with different fire attacks like darts and ropes just to see what could be done. It was amazing for a while, a short while. He told me that he was losing his power. He was trying to show his cousin earlier and nothing happened. He said that it was probably like a battery and he was out of juice. I couldn't convince him to even try, and I never saw him playing with fire ever again.\n\nA couple years later, in high school, I met a kid who claimed he could punch through a brick wall. We got into some trouble for goofing off in class and were sent outside for punishment. He was telling me all about this secret martial arts technique he learned from a Japanese comic book, they were called Manga over there, and I had to see it to believe it. At first he didn't want to show me, because it was really destructive and so I just played along like he wasn't the biggest idiot with a Japan fetish. Then this Asian girl with a hall pass walked by.\n\n\"Hey Akane, did you know that Ryoga here has mastered the buck's eye ten cuts technique?\"\n\nHer name wasn't Akane and she was not impressed with the racist comparison to anime characters. But my friend had a crush on her and decided that this was his chance to make her laugh. He wound his arm up real big...\n\n\"Oh no! Ryoga is going to punch so hard that this stone pillar is gonna get smashed!\"\n\nHe moved at half speed, I dodged like it mattered. As soon as his knuckles touched the pillar, a spiderweb of cracks spread over its surface. A moment later it exploded like a water balloon with a dull thump.\n\n\"Oh frack! Quick clean this up before anyone notices!\"\n\nI didn't notice how worried he was about getting caught for destruction of school property, but \"Ryoga\" made it happen with very little help from me. We somehow managed to grab all the rubble and put it nearby garbage cans before the teacher came out. Our friend \"Akane\" was long gone though, I doubt she wanted any part of what happened.\n\nI discovered new super heroes in a similar accidental manner over the next few years. But their powers were never reliable. Sometimes I could coax them into breaking or making something, but usually they refused to accept their unique abilities and would hide them from the world. It was selfish. It should have been criminal. They had been blessed with something special, and they refused to exercise that potential. I slowly began to realize that the world was a dark and lonely place without hope.\n\nWent to drinking parties at uni. Huge ragers that everyone regularly attended. At the time, was still on the look out for super powered people, hadn't given up on humanity yet. Found a freshman pumping kegs like a hero, told him that's how foam happens. Asked if planned to drink a whole keg himself. Guy does a handstand on keg then drinks until it runs dry. Huge hero, but just another selfish display of hedonism and gluttony. Met a pretty girl later. Was told she needed to throttle her intake because she was a light weight. Joked with her that the \"bartender\" watered down the drinks and that she'd be fine. Managed to drink three frat boys under the table before excusing herself to the little girls room. Another stealth hero who would never realize she could be immune to poison or something. Met a closet genius in math class. Claimed he couldn't understand the material. Suggested studying all night if so worried about failing class. Couldn't fail an exam if he tried the whole rest of semester. Would have been a boon to science and society if applied himself earlier in life. Fear and sloth held him back instead. Found a student in tears at back of library once. Says he's depressed. Life seems harsh, and cruel. Says he feels all alone in threatening world. I tell him solution is simple, the class clown - Pagliacci - has studies on Wednesdays. It should pick up his spirits if he sees him. Guy breaks into tears anew, exclaims \"I am Pagliacci!\" Tragedy that he could help others but not himself.\n\nJune 21st, 2017: Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This world shuns me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood. When those drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown in their accumulated filth of apathy and indifference. They will collectively look to each other and then to me asking for heroes to save them, but I will whisper in return, \"no\".\n\nNow patrolling internet forums and message boards for like minded friends. For honest men and women who can't be bought, bullied, reasoned nor negotiated with. People who just want to watch the world burn.", "I think I was too paranoid in the beginning. I was so worried that people would reject us because we didn't belong, even if we couldn't fail.\n\nBut we did belong.\n\nI sought him out first. I realized my power early, I could make anyone succeed simply by convincing them to try. At first I was stuck in the small time. I was a nobody who barely knew anybody, and who could I convince in that position? Still, I tried to make everyone do something great. Spread the wealth, you know? I quickly realized how much more I could do if instead I found someone great to do everything. \n\nIt was still back when I wanted things to stay a secret. So not only did I want to find someone laid back enough to try whatever I suggested, but charming enough that people would accept that this person could do anything without asking too many questions at first. \n\nMake no mistake, fame was always the goal. I insisted we started small and work our way up, to make our accomplishments seem normal. We put on a show, people laughed and cheered. The people loved him, but they liked me too. Turned out my years of obsessing over convincing people turned me into a passable actor. Ok, I really wasn't, but expectations were low. I was finding myself surrounded by talent as my fame grew, and while I wasn't at the level of my peers I think people could see I was getting better and I just wasn't ready to be a headliner yet. \n\nBut damn, my partner-in-crime sure was. People loved him, like I told him they would. We both lived out our dreams through him. He wanted to be a rockstar, so I told him to sing a song, strum a few chords, and sell out arenas. He wanted to be an athlete, so I told him people would come to see him play basketball, hockey, football, golf, whatever he wanted. An actor? Sure, he could do it. Never mind the fact that he wasn't very good at any of these things; people liked what I told him they would like. \n\nWe got bigger and bigger, but of course it came with drawbacks. People were starting to complain I was riding coat tails, and that he wasn't talented enough to warrant his popularity. I could see the cracks in the secret forming, but at that point I couldn't bring myself to care. We'd gained so much that couldn't be taken away. I had money, I had a family. My kids would never have trouble with anything as long as I was their dad. And even if the critics won and my fame turned to infamy, I'd never be small time again. \n\nBefore we grew apart, I relished the time we spent together. He was nothing if not loyal. He stuck with me long after he needed me. He never rubbed it in my face when I needed him. We just don't need each other anymore, and that's ok. We still talk occasionally, and I get it. He wants to see what he can do on his own, and I'm kind of past that point myself. I'm a little old for that, even if I do have more people listening to me now. \n\nThings went well. They went well. \n\n", "\"Please man, just go and get those fries for free. Believe me it will work. That girl's totally into you, she will give them right away.\" As I was trying to persuade my friend Ned to get the fries from the blond girl at the cash register of our local burger joint, for which we didn't have the money for, he was busy checking the girl at the counter.\n\n\"How do you know that, huh? How? Look at her, she is just looking at her phone.\"\n\n\"Probably stalking you, man. Not probably, definitely stalking you. Look at those eyes, look at that enthusiasm she has. What can it be?\" I formed a heart with my hands, like they do in those coke commercials. \"Love.\" He was still checking if she was looking towards us. No, she wasn't.\n\nShe was probably not interested in Ned at all. I actually knew the girl from school, whom I took the same class on French with. I had never talked to her but I knew she had a boyfriend. And that she was way out of Ned's league. Still, I just had to persuade him to go get those fries. I was still hungry after those two burgers I ate, mainly because, well I'm always hungry.\n\n\"What do you say? Go and try. Believe me, it will be alright. You'll get those fries. It's the best thing you can think of: if she gives them, it means she is interested.\" After ten minutes of tiring persuasion process, Ned finally seemed at ease about everything. He nodded and without saying a thing stood up.\n\n\"I'm gonna go there and get her!\"\n\n\"What the...\" Until I ould say anything he was gone. With some unpreceded self-esteem he approached the cash register and started to cough. I couldn't hear most of the things he said, or she said for that matter, but I was hoping this not to end up in a disaster.\n\nThe thing is I wasn't actually playing with my friend, Ned. I knew if he believed in it, he could get those fries for free. I have no explanation for these kinds of stuff but, you know what, I just have this thing with people: since I'm a kid if I persuade someone to do something, they just do it. No questions asked, no obstacles raised, no failures occured. Just like that. My dad got me that Macbook although we had not enough money to afford it; there was a discount as soon as he got in the store, 90% off for no reason. My brother passed the Juliard entrance exams, with an applause from the jury as he told it; he wasn't even going to go there until I talked him into it. \"What do you have to lose?\" I told him. \"Nothing.\" I answered automatically. He didn't lose anything but won a future. Then there are all the stuff with my friends, including Ned, talking to that girl over there now.\n\nBut, this had never happened before. No one got persuaded to something I wasn't trying to persuade them to do. I was using the girl as a bait, but she had become the target. I just hoped watching them talking that it would end up ok for both, and I get my fries in the end. \n\nHe seems to lose the grip. She puts her hands to her head, putting the phone on the table. She seems nervous, but I can't see Ned. He must be terrified. He got the message wrong anyway, it wouldn't be my fault if he fucks up. She looks towards me as Ned points my direction. She giggles and nods, goes back to the kitchen. Ned turns to me and does \"thumbs up\" with both hands. I see his lips moving: \"Thank you.\" I'm kind of shocked, only kind of. So that's how my talent, or power, worked: I never questioned it but what matters wasn't what I want but rather what they get from my persuasive speeches. Who'd have guessed?\n\nSo Ned came back with two packs of fries and a phone number written on one of the boxes. Hell it was a good day for both of us. Still, I wasn't sure what had happened to the girl's boyfriend; best to keep my mouth shut. I wouldn't want Ned to think I pushed him there just to get some fries.", "\"ding ding ding ding\" rang another slot machine as someone received a payout. The air was thick with cigarette smoke as it was in every one of these establishments. I was sitting off to the side watching the tables, this was my usual spot even before my encounter. My glass was empty, a sad sight to be sure, and the waitress walked over and asked me if i would like another. The answer to that question is always yes and so i ordered another and went back to watching.\n\nI never try to assume which one it will be, i never play my hand to early, after all patience is key, you have to find just the right one. As i sat in contemplation the waitress came back and handed me a glass of scotch, \"thanks\" i said. \"no problem, not playing anything tonight?\" she asked. \"Oh I'm sure I will, just trying to pace myself you know, i like the anticipation.\" \"Whats your name?\" i asked, Lisa she replied. \"Do you have a favorite\" I asked with a charming smile. She was nice, and i know that working here cant pay too much for just being a waitress. She responded you see that slot machine over there? the purple one with the horses on it? That's my game. it isn't always nice to me but i love the art on it.\" That one looks unique\" i said handing her a twenty dollar bill, \"how about you do a pull with max bet on me after your shift, i know you will win big.\" i said with a wink. she smiled and took the cash and walked away. \n\nSilly me i get so easily distracted sometimes from the real reason I'm here, back to watching the tables. The night moved along and after another scotch from Lisa i saw what i had been waiting for. Craps table two, a young couple who had been doing well most of the evening had just placed a huge stack on snake eyes and rolled dead. Lost it all and looked defeated. But that's all part of the game right? As the picked up their things and started walking away i set off to intercept. Weaving through the crowd like a snake through the grass stalking its prey, i am now right behind them. i tapped the gentleman on the shoulder and as he turned around i said \"craps strikes again huh?\" His face fell even lower and he nodded. As she turned around i realized that fate had brought us together, she reminded me so much of Jane. I couldn't focus on that now though, \"Hey man don't be down, i have a sure fire way to help you out, how about i loan you some money and you take one more shot?\" Skeptical was an understatement as always. He started to walk away when i said hey man just give it a shot here is ten grand, you keep 50% of the payout.\" they looked at the cash in my hand looked at each other and simply shrugged. As they reached for the money i said the only stipulation is you have to make that same 2 craps bet and you will win okay? The guys said sure man its your money ill do whatever.\" \n\nThey took the money and walked back to the table waited for their turn to throw and placed the bet. He took the dice in his hand, had his girl give them a blow and threw them down the table. i smiled, another win. The table erupted in cheers and clapping as the young couple just beet the house at 35 - 1 odds. They looked at each other in disbelief as the game mater counted out their winnings. I finished my drink and started to walk away, toward the door of the casino. \"ding ding ding ding\" sang the purple horse machine, Lisa was beside herself. I smiled, and thought this is how i give back, Jane would've approved for sure. All the years of using this power for my own gain, cost me everything even her, at least now i found a way to try and balance the scales.", "A man discovers that if he successfully talks someone into doing something, they will succeed, regardless of if the action in question is actually possible. This man approaches a beautiful young woman. He exclaims to her, \"If you high five me, I will be granted the power to control the probability of anything inside or outside the universe .\" She then proceeds to high five him. He now can control probability. He makes the probability of him instantly becoming an omnipotent being 100%. This man is me. I win. ", "\"What? Look, no, that's not how it works Francis.\" \n\nI shook my head and reclined again in a futile attempt to get comfortable. I could hear Francis breathing through his mouth again, I knew the question was coming again....\n\n\"But why not Jimmy? We's all seen you do it on the TeeVee, and and when you talked that pirate into punching out the hulk.\"\n\nAh, that was a great trick. Convincing little Morgan that he wanted to feed Brooks Hogan his fist. It went as smoothly as it always does. But that was off topic\n\nI slowly brew a breath out. This wasn't Francis's fault, the warden had figured it out. I girded myself for another long explanation. \n\n\"Ok Francis, the gypsy told me this: three W's; No willing, no wagers, no waivers.\" \n\n\"But Jimmy\" Francis said in a very serious voice. \"I totally don't want to do what we talked about.\" Goddamn warden had figured me out and had saddle me with the simplest man he could find. He might have been guilty of some pretty heinous things but there just wasn't much avarice to him. \n\n\"Ok, but you are willing. I can't talk you into something that you are willing to do, get it?\"\n\nShh, I wasn't going to gear any more protestations until I finished the spiel.\n\n\n\"I can't make a wager, you know... a bet? I can't bet you that you won't do it to get you to do something. Finally, I can't make any side promises at all. I can't tell you it'll totally work. You have to be an unwilling participant that I trick into doing something that isn't a bet. Can't be your idea at all.\"\n\nI swear I could hear the gears stripping in the bunk below me. I felt a little bad, I knew Francis wanted to be talked into breaking out, but it literally was beyond my one trick. \n\nI guess I zoned out because I had to ask him to repeat it. \n\n\"Well like what if you tried to talk me into something I didn't want to do. Like learning something.\"\n\n\"But you'd have to be totally unwilling to do it, you can't tell me something you don't want to do and then let me talk you into it... can you?\"\n\nWithin a week Francis had his GED, smelled less, and was confusedly eating vegetables. I had never considered using my powers for good. I knew I could work the angles and use it for my crooked plans, I just wasn't sure how yet.\n\n---------------------------\n\nOk I've wanted to try this for awhile and this is my first stab at it. Be gentle? ", "STV NEWS INTRO We interrupt this broadcast to bring you breaking news. A group of high school students are being held hostage inside the Seattle library by group of individuals claiming to be from the terrorism group EYE. At the moment we have not received an official comment, but it seems negotiations are at a standstill. We have yet to confirm the group’s agenda and the meaning of this hostile takeover of the library, we’ll have more for you in the coming hours here at STV News. \n\nWell shit. This is what, the third incident in the last six months? I should probably go now if I want a chance at beating traffic. This was going to be tricky though, how do I convince a terrorism group to let their hostages go and surrender to the feds? My superpower doesn’t necessarily provide any physical advantages and if the person doesn’t want to be convinced then I’m rendered useless. Either way, they have kids I have to try and do something. I grabbed my keys and headed out the door. I lived alone in a one bedroom apartment, nothing fancy but it was cozy. \n\n“Spare change sir” whispered a homeless man. \n\n“Sorry I don’t have much” I replied searching through my pockets. This isn’t the time for this. \n\nCurse my humanity. I knelt in front of the bearded fellow. \n\n“Listen, if want to turn your life around you can. Believe in a future where you aren’t the guy on the street, but the light that leads this homeless community out of the dark.” \n\nThe man gave me a blank stare. Extremely cheesy but it was worth a shot. A big red library sign was going off in my head like an alarm. Terrorists and hostages, right. \n\nLuckily it didn’t take long to get to the library. I parked a block away; two hour parking should be enough. As I made my way to the library a crowd had already gathered around the architectural wonder. The newly created Seattle library was as beautiful as ever. It has glass windows all around with a curved stairway that leads to the top floor with various platforms branching out like stems for each floor. The “Tree of Knowledge” they called it in the papers. Any other day I would have stayed a little longer to appreciate it, but there was no time to waste. I pushed my way through the crowd of people eager to get a glimpse of the action. It was a social media gold mine for them, pretty shallow considering the lives at stake. \n\nI managed to squeeze my way to the front. I was met by an officer. \n\n“Sir you can’t be here, it’s a restricted area,” the officer spoke with a stern voice.\n \n“I understand, but I really need to get inside I can help”. I don’t know who I was trying to convince with that line. \n\n“I’m sorry, but this is a hostage situation not a Black Friday sale please step aside.” \n\nHe wasn’t going to make this easy. \n\n“Listen… uh Officer Behdunk is it?”\n\n“It’s pronounced Bay-dunk.” \n\nOops.\n\n“Okay Bay-dunk, this is going to sound crazy but I have the super ability to make people achieve the impossible as long as they are convinced and believe in what I say completely.” \n\nThe officer gave me one of those, this guy is definitely on crack look. He smirked, “Yeah and I have the super ability to mold mud into hamburgers, get your high ass out of here.. sir.”\n\nAn audible scream pierced the air. \n“LOOK” screamed a random lady in the crowd. \n\nA masked individual had a boy in his left arm with a pistol rested on the boy’s temple, he was slowly approaching the library entrance.\n\nThings just got out of hand, there was no time for me to get in there and do any sort of talking. I turned to Officer Bay-dunk, the crowd was starting to panic. \n\n“Officer Bay-dunk, there’s no time. If you don’t let me through that kid is going to be shot and his blood will be on YOUR hands.” \n\nThe man in the mask stopped at the entrance. \n\nThe officer responded “Listen, we’ve got snipers on both buildings and an entire SWAT tactical team on standby. There is nothing to worry about.” \n\nThe masked man stepped out with the kid dragging along. He began to speak, “This is a message for every single one of you who is blind to world around you. Change is coming, consider this the start.” \n\nI could hear the radio comms going crazy. \n\n“He’s gonna shoot, take him out NOW!” \n\nA loud bang rang out, so loud it put you in a state of shock. But the gun shot didn’t sound like it came from a distance, that’s when I saw the boy’s body slump to the ground. \n\nThere was widespread panic. \n\nThe officer was clearly in state of shock as well. I grabbed him by the shoulders. \n\n“HEY, you need to listen right now. We need to do something about these terrorists guys. Clearly the tactical squad hasn’t achieved anything.” \n\nThe officer still clearly dazed responded “I… I don’t know what you want me to do.” \n\nIn a moment of unfiltered anger, I gave him my best Any Given Sunday pep talk.\n \n“You need to wake the fuck up right now. A kid is dead, but there are several \nmore inside that need somebody. Now, more than ever. YOU can do something about it. I told you before, I can help people achieve the impossible. I need you to grab a rifle, whatever gear you need and kill every last one of those garbage eating fanatics.”\n\nI wasn’t getting through to him. \n\n“Listen, you look old enough to have kids. Someone’s son is dead. I would be exaggerating if I said it was your fault. It’s not. But, right now you have an opportunity to be the hero. You signed up to be a cop for this moment. To protect those that can’t defend themselves. To be a shield.” \n\nOfficer Bay-dunk nodded. “You’re right. Something has to be done before more kids are killed.” \n\nGood I was getting through to him. \n\n“Listen very closely, every word you hear from me. Internalize them and make them your reality. Got it?”\n\nBay-dunk nodded. \n\n“You are an unstoppable force of nature. You are not only the strongest man alive, but the bravest man to ever walk this earth. Nothing can stand in your way. You will succeed, now go”. \n\nAnd that’s how got a local library security officer to single handedly eliminate six terrorist goons and save the lives of five teenagers. \n", "I wanted to try something. I wanted to test the limits of my power by seeing if it could be destroyed. So I persuaded her to eliminate it from existence.\n\n\nNow we both sit her in limbo, waiting to be created.", "\"It was a joke,\" I said, firmly now. \"It won't be.\" \n\n\"You know what, why not?\" he replied. A light flooded into his eyes as he looked in the distance. It's like that was all it fucking took. \n\n\"How hard could it be? Yeah, how hard could it really be? No one ever said it would be easy before but maybe--it probably would be. And besides, you know me, I'm a winner.\" \n\nMost of the time, I enjoy being the guy who encourages people to do new things. \"Thank you so much for pushing me to try\" they always say. Without fail. \"I knew I had it in me. I just needed some encouragement.\" \n\nSure you did. \n\nSee, I have this strange ability. If I can talk someone into doing something, they'll succeed. It works great for passions and dreams--all that mushy shit. I'll probably indirectly be responsible for a movie or six because of a the words I've offered to friends, strangers, that truck driver through my car window, etc. \n\nProblem is, it's not all positive. I'm not the most convincing son of a bitch. Plus, sometimes I just forget that I can do it since it's rather new. I guess it would also help if I wasn't such a smart ass. Ever ruin a life with a sarcastic comment that you sold a little too well? Yeah, I definitely haven't either... \n\nAnyway, as I shook the author's hand my off-white smile twisted into a shape I never learned in geometry class. My stomach sank. My asshole clenched. I had to un-convince this guy. \n\n\"I mean it would probably be tiring, don't you think? You have so much on your plate as it is, right?\" \n\nWith a chuckle, he exclaimed, \"Look kid, I'm already so rich--I was on that Forbes list you know?--so rich that I can do whatever I want. But, you know, I think me being a businessman could help. It could help a lot. It can't be that complicated.\" \n\nAs I began to plead, the security guard informed me that my time was up. I was whisked away so the next person could get her book signed. I never saw him again. \n\nSo when Donald Trump came down that elevator to announce he was running for president, I knew what no one else at the time expected. He would win. \n\nNote to self: next time Trump is making banter with a crowd, like \"People are saying I should run for president. Think of the deals I would make there--boy oh boy. I don't want to do that though--I'd be tremendous at it, believe me, I just don't think I want to,\" keep your goddamn mouth shut. ", "I couldn't mess up this job. I was underqualified. I'd just walked into the winning building of eenie meanie minie moe and convinced them to give me an interview. \n\nThe interview had gone well. I knew that if I'd just managed to convince them to give me a shot, I'd be in. It was the convincing that was the real problem.\n\nSee, things that I said had a tendency to happen, but only if wasn't the one to do them. \n\nAdvicemancy, my friends in high school had called it, jokingly. They never really believed, but I saw what happened when someone listened to me. \n\nWhen I told Sherri Germain in the second grade that juggling was cool and she could be the best at it, she gave it a shot. She tours the world now, juggling everything from cats to chainsaws. She was on the cover of Time. Jay Leno interviewed her. \n\nWhen I told a homeless man that he should get clean and follow his dreams, he did. I saw him on TV at the Grammy's. I don't think he's a good rapper, but everyone else sure does.\n\nAnd when I told my now current boss that if he'd hire me I'd make the best damn assistant he'd ever seen, he seemed to like my spunk. I got the job. Nevermind that my spunk was a combination of caffiene, fear, and desperation.\n\nWith a gift like this, you think everything would be easy for me. \"Just talk someone into buying you a lottery ticket! Talk Robert Downey Jr. Into leaving his wife for you! Talk Isreal into making peace with Palestine!\" And sure, I'd do all that if I had any clue HOW.\n\nI think I just wake people up. That what I convince them to do, they already want, and I just nudge them towards it. The things I say aren't special. But sometimes people listen and sometimes they don't, and I never know if I said the right thing and it's a big mess. Sometimes I can just...feel it. Feel that they listened, feel that it's gonna happen for them. Sometimes it's a good feeling. Sometimes it's not. I'm responsible for the renaissance of juggling. I'm also responsible for MC Dizzee V@gr@nt, and all his horrible, horrible music.\n\nSo I decided this was the last time, this interview. I'd get a good job, I'd keep my head down, and I'd keep my opinion to myself. It was the only way to stay sane. \n\nAnd I followed that. I brought the boss coffee in his tacky gold and wood office, and when he asked what I thought, I shook my head and said it wasn't my place. Sometimes he seemed annoyed so I'd ask what he thought. He always loved to share that.\n\n\"What do you think of Obama?\" He asked one day as he sawed at a steak. I knew his opinion, so I tried not to get riled up. I shook my head meekly and put down a ketchup bottle.\n\n\"I don't know much about politics,\" I answered.\n\nHe grunted. \"Seems that we should have a real American in office,\" he said, pronouncing the capital 'A'. \"Don't you think?\"\n\n\"Well,\" I answered carefully. \"He is, isn't he?\"\n\nMy boss snorted. \"That's what they want you to think. He's a commie. They try to make you think that that's the 'cool' thing now, but it's all about control, okay? Commie lame fuck. We need a real leader who looks put for real Americans like us.\"\n\nI said it before I could stop myself. I don't know if it was irritation, ass-kissing, sarcasm or some combination, but I felt that familar MC Dizzee V@gr@nt feeling all over again. \"Maybe you should run for President.\"\n\nMr. Trump's brow furrowed, then raised. \"Huh.\"\n\n", "\"Uuuurrggg. Eric, can you convince me to not be hung over?\"\n\nThat's my roommate, Blanca. She's a bit of a party animal. So am I, for that matter, but I know my limit.\n\n\"No,\" I reply, \"You know I don't like to abuse my powers.\"\n\n\"Powers, smowers,\" She rebuts in a very mature manner. \"It's not like you can fly, or anything.\"\n\n\"Okay, fine,\" I say, as she smirks.\n\n\"Wait, what are you doing?\"\n\n\"Hmm? Oh, I'm looking something up on Wikipedia.\"\n\n\"I thought you said you were going to help me with my headache?\"\n\n\"Mhm. Hey, did you know that ducks can't get headaches?\"\n\n\"Oh, how I wis- Wait! No! Not ag- QUACK!\"\n\nBlanca sat there, as a duck, glaring at me for all she/it was worth.\n\n\"Well, I've got class. Maybe I'll convince you not to be ungrateful, later!\"", "I would never have become a super hero had it not been that book from Robert Cialdini.\n\nMy test of my superpowers started off kind of strange. Me and Nikey -he's a new buddy of mine- we had this trip to Vegas and were chilling at the MGM playing black jack and slots and flirting with the staff.\n\nYou know, normal stuff.\n\nFinally, I had to test my power with Nikey. So I said to Nikey, \"Hey Nikey, ask the bartender for a top shelf drink on the house.\"\n\n\"What?\" said Nikey.\n\n\"Just ask him,\" I said, \"It'll happen if you ask him.\"\n\n\"why?\"\n\n\"Go ask because,\" I said.\n\nThat's the word. That's word because. Don't need no reason, just because. Just ask Robert Cialdini.\n\nAny Nikey comes back with a top shelf Vodka drink -Jewel of Russia. That's the good stuff. We'd never had it before so we return to one of the blackjack tables. There were open tables, but I wanted to do one that was full. Two huge white guys with cowboy hats. Looked from texas. Kind of guys who get into fights over who is most redneck.\n\n\"Hey Nikey,\" I said, \"ask those two guys next to those two girls to walk to the next casino.\"\n\n\"so we can share the table with the girls?\"\n\n\"Yeah that's the idea,\" I said, \"and it will happen because.\"\n\nSure enough these guys left the table, though before they left I had an idea.\n\n\"Hey Nikey,\" I said, \"ask these guys for their chips.\"\n\n\"You're crazy!\" he said.\n\n\"Hasn't everything gone well so far?\" I said.\n\nNikey nodded and made the request. We started our night off with about four hundred dollars worth of chips right then. Nikey was astonished.\n\n\"Hey Nikey,\" I said as we kept playing, \"ask these girls to show us all of their cards.\"\n\nSoon we were winning each round. Came up to one thousand each.\n\n\"Hey girls,\" I said, \"we're know we cleaned you out, but maybe we can make it up to you. Care to hit up the club at the Luxor. Drinks on us.\"\n\nYeah, you can expect these girls weren't having it. Crossed arms and downcast glances.\n\n\"Want me to ask them?\" said Nikey.\n\nOkay, so I'm only sort of persuasive and I'm definitely not that charming, but this super power of mine could have these girls in our hotel room after a romp in a club. I wondered if I could use that little \"hey Nikey\" power to make them like us. I mean, like really like us. 'Hey Nikey, make these girls have feelings for us' could do it? I dunno.\n\nI wonder if I did that if it would actually be wrong.\n\nThen again, stealing from rich texans is one thing. Going full on Killgrave... that's another.\n\n\"Hey Nikey,\" I said, \"let's go to the Sapphire instead.\"\n\n\"What?\" said Nikey as he pulled me aside, \"Hey man, everything you've asked me to do happened. You want me to ask these girls out or not?\"\n\n\"I uhh...\" I said.\n\n\"Come on,\" persisted Nikey getting all up in face, \"we've done everything so far. Just let's keep doing it again.\"\n\nBy now the girls walked away from the table.\n\n\"Nikey...\" I said. Then I thought back to Robert Cialdini. You see, this book he wrote, said that you can make anyone do something if you keep up consistency. You get someone to do small things first, than gradually get them to do big things. It's kind of like brainwashing I guess. \n\nPuts you in an awkward position when you start getting all inconsistent though.", "Short and straight to the point.\n\nMe: Hey.\n\nThem: Hey.\n\nMe: I have this weird superpower where if I can convince someone to do something, they will accomplish it without a problem.\n\nThem: BS. \n\nMe: Try to walk up the wall.\n\nThem: Does it without a problem. Ok I believe you.\n\nMe: Boom. Anything else you want to get done?", "Jim kept chewing on his stupid pen. He just sat there, staring down at the case files.\n\n\"You keep sucking on that thing, the ink is gonna give you mouth cancer.\" \n\nJim sat back a little and took the pen out of his mouth. \"Really? It helps me think.\" \n\nI frowned. \"No. Take the help you can get.\" \n\nJim flipped me off with the pen. \"You're an asshole. You mind if I cut out early? Katy wants to practice driving in twilight.\" \n\nI looked at the files and shrugged. Nobody was coming in tonight. \"Yeah, sure. I might die of boredom. \" \n\n\"Bullshit.\" He stood and turned, walking to the door. \"I'll see you tomorrow.\" \n\n\"Yeah, I need you for intake at ten. And Jim?\" \n\nHe had one hand on the doorframe, still holding his thinking pen. \"Yeah?\" \n\n\"If you teach Katy as well as you taught me, she'll never be hurt in an accident.\" \n\nJim grinned and lobbed his pen into the wastebasket by my desk. \"Thanks, man. But you're a natural.\"", "Absurdity. Never underestimate the power of a crazy idea. They saw it. They all saw it, Buddha, Hitler, Trump, Tesla, and more, thousands more. I see it too. I mean look at our world. Pick up two pieces of rock, hard and unyielding, and smash them together and you get a spark. From the coldest stone comes 5000 degrees flying of into the night with just a small flick of the wrist. Get that spark to land on a dry plant, a living being striving to expand and grow, and you get an inferno. Isn't that just ape shit crazy?\n\nLook, look, look, it's like some. Kid made it up\n Rock plus rock equals spark. Spark plus plants equals fire. Fire burns plants and melts rock. That's what it's all about, a cosmic children's game and we are stuck in the middle, wondering when Victor the 5 year old will get bored and kick sand over our existence. \n\n\nAnd don't get me started on birds. That's just as crazy. Huge fucking dino monster's are now stupid little chickens. Insane.\n\nNothing in this world is impossible, nothing. That doesn't mean you can't make predictions or force infinity down a bottleneck. Like right now... You have 3 choices, and only 3. But to show you again what I mean about how everything is, I'm going to tell your future. Pick a path I dare you.\n\n\nPath 1. You upvote this post. You upvote this post because you though it was charming or whatever and your day is better for reading it. You upvote it and all the rest of the week you feel inspired, and active, and you start tackling the pile of shit you call your life and you get together and you make something out of yourself. You get the ball rolling. And. You. Don't. Stop.\n\n\nPath 2. You down vote this post. You get a sick little thrill for doing it, but after you do, you will begin evaluating your life and just how Petty you are. After a few days you'll come to the realization that you need a change. And so you will start, and you will grow and progress and bloom. You will become a great driving force in your own life all to make yourself, your family, your city, your world better. And you'll do it to.\n\n\nOr oath 3. You do nothing. You do nothing. Nothing. And then 6 moths down the road you will realize that that's all you have ever done. Nothing. Stupid, fat, useless, ugly, unfriendly, nothing. Your life a butterfat lies and all you do is eat them up, shit them out, and swallow the same lies all over again. Six months from now you will look in a mirror and decide enough is enough. And you'll change. Not because you have to, but because anything, anything is better than another meal of deceitful cupcakes.\n\nThat's my prediction. And it's now your choice, So go ahead. Make a choice. Do it, I dare ya. ", "Over the years I have accomplished so much. When I first learned of my powers in high school I was not the best student. Constantly convincing friends to throw raging parties or jump their vehicles over things. They'd always be dumb enough to listen to my crazy ideas and we would always pull through it unscathed.\n\nI've grown a lot since high school. In college after my friend was assaulted during a party I instigated I convinced him to go to the police. That everything would work out that the person would be caught and justice would be served. That he would heal. And that is what happened. It actually changed me helping him. Helped me move towards a life of helping people. A goal in college instead of partying.\n\nI help those that have been hurt. Any kind of pain. I help them heal. All they have to do is listen and follow my instructions. Becoming a doctor has helped me convince them to listen. This is my power. This is my greatest strength. Why I was gifted with it will always baffle me but I will use it for the rest of my life for this purpose. My days of partying are behind me. I look into the mirror every single morning and tell myself just that. Guide them and they will be saved. Say whatever it takes to convince them. You will help them all. This is your gift. Use it.", "\"Sally look, I know this year was really hard on you. I know you've been having trouble at home and I know you feel coming to school is a drag, but you can't keep going like this, it'll only get tougher as you grow!\"\n\nSally rolled her eyes, just as she always did. This kid was always getting into trouble, be it hanging out with some shady people behind the school or skipping class. Her life wasn't all cherries and rainbows though. Her dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago and died last year. As a result her mother had to start working extra hard to provide for her and her older brother. Around that time she started skipping classes. She wasn't the brightest student but she did her job. Average grades, average social life, average everything honestly. But after her father's death everything started plummeting. At first it was her grades. She started failing in math and literature, and after a while her favorite subject, history. After that she started hanging out with sketchy kids outside of school, probably 5 years older than her. After that she stopped hanging out with her old friends, people who she hang out with since childhood.\n\n\"Look Mr. Oliver, I know this doesn't mean anything to you and you're just here to get your paycheck, so please leave me alone and get back to grading your shitty tests and stop interfering with my life.\" \n\n\"Sally that's not true and you know that. Look, I know it's hard. I lost someone too when I a bit younger than you. It was my little brother. He was always happy, always smiling and always had a lot of energy.\". I started tearing up a bit. \"I can still see him sitting in the living room reading that one superman comics I bought him as a birthday present over and over again. He used to hang on this one page with this big panel of superman flying to save someone falling from a building. It wasn't any fancy drawing or anything, just your regular panel. He said that panel looked really cool to him cause that was what superman was for him, saving anyone, even someone he isn't friends with.\"\n\nSally sat there in silence listening to my story. I could see a little embarrassment in her look.\n\n\"It's fine really, it's not something I tell anybody. It was a long time ago. I never really moved on, and I won't say it gets easier as the years go by, but I try to live for the both of us now.\"\n\n\"If it's not too rude to ask, how did he die?\"\n\nMy voice cracked a bit. \"He fell off the 4th floor balcony of our building\". I can still see the red cape he wore that day.\n\n\"Look sally, I know it's gonna be hard. I know it hurts right now. I want you to know you can always come and talk to me openly about how you feel. And of course I don't want you flanking out and drifting out there like some kind of a mindless zombie. I'll tell you what. We'll tackle your favorite subject first, History, okay? We can study here together and I'm sure you'll be able to succeed in your exams!\"\n\n\"Ok Mr. Oliver, but...\" she hesitated. \"but... can you keep this a secret? I really don't want everyone to know about this\".\n\n\"Of course I won't! This is between you and me\". She quickly got her bag and left. She ran to some of those kids she hangs with, probably told them I was yelling at her for skipping class so much. As I watched her go I saw her turn around and nod to me. That was enough for me to know she's gonna be okay.\n\nI glanced at the clock and noticed it was already 7pm, I packed my belongings and drove home. On the way back I paid a visit to the old playground me and my brother used to play in. The big yellow plastic house was still there, with the big tree next to it and the few slides that already lost their colors from standing too long in the sun. I stood by the house, it had two floors, it was around my height, suited for children to play in. I touched the fading yellow plastic walls. \"Remember Sally? I think I got to her today. I know she's a good child but I couldn't really think of a good way to approach her until today. She was a bit feisty at the start but I guess she realizes that she's not in a good place right now, and she doesn't know how to get out of it. I think I can help her. I know I can. I will.\" After standing there in silence for a few minutes I turned back and went home.\n\nI drove silently thinking back at the time when we were playing together back there, you standing on top of that yellow roof. We were playing pretend and I said to you \"if you'll jump you can fly!\". The moment your feet left that roof your body just started floating around the tree like it was a rope swing. You were so excited that you could fly you screamed at the top of your lungs \"I can fly! I'm Superman!\". I was baffled myself at what just happened and honestly I was sure there was some kind of a trick but you really were flying.\n\nI got home and had a letter waiting for me in the mailbox. A former student. Joshua Lenn. He was a bright kid with a bright future ahead of him, he was successful in almost anything he did when he was younger and you could really see the spark in his eyes when he talked about physics.He was from a really strict family. He had a mental breakdown due to huge amount of pressure from his family to be a doctor. He really wanted to go into physics but his parents already has set their mind on him going into medicine. He had a really hard time recovering from that breakdown, his memory started worsening, he was exhausted from morning to evening, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, he was so afraid about his future and what he was going to do with his life, about how he didn't want to live a predetermined life that he had no control over whatsoever that it brought him even further into his developing depression. I remember having long discussions with him after school about life, what it means to be human, what it means to live your own life and where we can go. We could talk about anything from Descartes to Rihana, he especially loved our talks about advancements in the space industry, how one of his big dreams was to work on engines that could take us to other star systems.\n\nI got to my apartment and I opened the letter.\n> \n> Hi Mr. Oliver\n> \n> I know it has been about 10 years since I've graduated but I just wanted you to know that I got a job at NASA working on some of their new age engines! These won't take us to other stars but are supposed to help us get to mars sooner!\n> \n> I opened my yearbook a few weeks ago and as I flipped through the pages I saw your picture as out homeroom teacher.\n> \n> I remembered all of our long hour talks and I got really nostalgic. I wanted to contact you but I realized you still haven't set up an email address so I wrote you this letter.\n> \n> I guess I just wanted to say thank you for being there for me.\n> \n> J.L.\n\nI read the letter with a big smile on my face. I opened my cabinet, revealing other letters, sent by my other students and above them all, the panel with Superman saving the guy from falling off a building.\n\n---\n\nStill trying this thing out, I hope it's good. I tried going more into detail. Any criticism is welcome. Thank you for reading!\n\nEdit: say to saw in the letter", "It's strange to see a great catastrophe \nAnd stand serene and calm to watch it grow. \nMy power's one that very few can see \nAnd fewer still will ever even know.\n\nWhen chaos reigns supreme, I find someone \nConvince them each that they can save the day. \nI work them up and off they surely run \nWhile on the sidelines I am forced to stay. \n\nThe crisis solved, the news commends their deeds \nBut mention not their source of courage true. \nSo yet again I simply sow the seeds \nAnd wish that I could be a hero too.\n\nMy powers cannot change the way I feel \nBecause I know for sure they are not real.", "\"Ffffffeck...\" slurred Brian as he negotiated the revolving door outside Manhattan's World Bar. Convincing Will to head to the east side to sample the world's most expensive cocktail hadn't been easy, but Brian found that once he got an assent from Will, it had quickly snowballed into maxxing out Will's corporate card ordering the damned things.\n\nAnd snowball it did. As Brian stumbled out of the revolving door, he waltzed right into one of Manhattan's most famous real estate developers.\n\n\"What the hell do you think you're doing?\" the developer asked, wiping a mixture of expensive liquor and gold leaf from his startlingly ill-fitting tie. Brian hated it when people who should know better wore their ties hanging over their belt buckle.\n\nBrian swore again, this time catching himself and producing a handkerchief that he tried, unsuccessfully, to use to clean up the man he had just run into.\n\n\"Shorry about that, man...\" Brian intimated. The man scoffed.\n\n\"Heyyyy, you know...I've alwaysh thought you were an ashhole, but you should run for Prrrreshident, Mishter Trump...\"", "We were both 14 at the time, my best friend Rand and I sat contentedly on the branches of the highest tree in our neighbourhood, while some of the other, more cautious kids looked up in awe from the ground.\n\n\n“You can see the whole city from here!” I realised, amazed by a view that young me had never seen before.\n\n\n“I can see my house from here”, Rand quipped, unfazed by the wonders spread below us.\nWe sat together for a companionable while, but young as we were the novelty gradually wore off. I glanced at the ground, dizzyingly far away and now empty of an audience. Getting down was going to take a while. I glanced over at Rand, and joked “dare you to get to the bottom in less than 5 seconds”.\n\n\nI didn’t mean it of course, why on earth would I mean something like that? But the challenge in my voice obviously swayed Rand, who gave me a considering look. After a moment the doubt cleared from his face and he broke into a grin, before taking off with a shout: “race you to the bottom!”.\n\n\nOf course getting to the top of a tree and getting back to the bottom are two completely different things, as anyone who’s ever climbed one will know, so naturally I started down hesitantly, feeling my way with my feet for the steadier branches below, but a cautious glance down took my breath away: there was Rand, hopping lightly from branch to branch as if pulled to each one by a constantly-shifting gravity. I wish I’d timed it, but surely not more than 3 seconds had passed before he took a leap that – realistically – should have broken at least 1 bone and landed feet-first on the ground, grinning up at me and only slightly out of breath.\n\n\nIt took me 2 whole minutes to climb down.\n\n\n2 days later I got the news: my best friend had tried the same daredevil feat again, but the result had changed. Part of me suspected what had happened, and from then on my fear of a recurrence kept me well away from asking people to do the impossible.\n\n\n\n15 Years On\n\n\n\nNobody expected it when the troopers crossed the border. There was no way our neighbouring country had declared war on us, was there? Relations were so friendly, it surely had to be some kind of false flag operation. Regardless, their allegiance didn’t matter, what mattered was that our army barely had time to mobilise in defense before the shock troops started marching through our streets, killing soldier and civilians alike. Not knowing what to do but knowing I had to do something, I found myself in the streets, looking for a group of our people. Of course I’d served my year of mandatory army service, so I at least knew one end of a weapon from the other, and spotting a barricade of our soldiers I skidded over, grabbing a gun from one of the fallen on arrival. One of the soldiers looked at me dubiously, but obviously accepting how outnumbered they were, accepted my support. \n\n\nWe made our stand there, behind a wall that felt far too flimsy as grenade after grenade flew over us, occasionally hitting the wall or, worse, one of our people. How many grenades did they have? \n“This is hopeless!” cried one of the younger soldiers, despairing. “It’s just a matter of time now before we’re all killed, there’s no way we’ll win…it’s impossible”. With that he collapsed heavily against the battered wall and let out a sob.\nImpossible… the word seemed to whisper to me as if from ages past, and I found myself looking up to find a tree that had been cleared from this block years ago. What had I to lose now?\n\n\nI turned to the first soldier who’d looked at me, he seemed to be their commander, and gulped. “It may not be impossible, we do have a chance.”\nThe commander looked at me, sceptical yet open to suggestions.\n\n“You see, I think I have this…ability…when I convince people to try the impossible, they can do it. I don’t know why, but it works.”\n\n“Uh huh”, the commander said, his expression grim, and turned back to the enemy, “well, top marks for trying to bring some humour to the situation at least.”\n\n“I’m being serious, we can really do this! What have we got to lose?”\n\n“And how many times have you tested this…ability?”\n\nI winced, “just once, 15 years ago”.\nThe commander lobbed a grenade of his own at the enemy. Where had he gotten that? “I’ll tell you what we’ve got to lose, our dignity.”\n\n\nAnother grenade flew at the enemy, met by three of their own. Once again the commander reconsidered. “Alright, convince me to do something, but it’d better work”.\n\nI paused, I’d never actually tested my ability – telling the commander I had hadn’t even been strictly true, that had just happened by chance. How did it work? Would just saying ‘defeat the enemy’ do it? Maybe I had to put a timer on it or something like that. Well, it was worth a shot.\n\n“Uh, dare you to defeat the enemy in 2 minutes or less?”.\n\nHe sighed, somehow mixing defeat, determination, and disgust into one sound, before looking at his watch and standing up, machine gun in hand.\nTo give him credit, he actually took down a fair few of the troopers before taking a bullet himself. He grunted as he fell back behind our barricade. “Knew it was a joke, how much dignity do I still have?”\n\n\nIt was a fool’s hope, and I wondered what had gone wrong. Was the task too impossible, or not impossible enough? Resigned, I put my own weapon above the barricade again and began shooting blind, determined to take as many with me as I could. Out of nowhere, a voice piped up beside me, “you weren’t really joking though, were you?”\n\n\nI stopped shooting and looked to my side where the frightened soldier from before now crouched, eyes still red and scared, but now with something else I couldn’t identify.\n\n“No”, I sighed, “I wasn’t joking”. \n\nThe young soldier poked his head over the barricade to look at the swarm around us, finally moving in for a flanking manoeuvre now that we’d been softened up. \n\n“Tell me to do something then”.\n\nI looked at him, did I really want to be directly responsible for this soldier’s death? Would it matter if he died anyway?\n\n“Ok, we’ll try again, dare you to win this in 2 minutes or less”. \n\nThe youngster grinned at me weakly, he couldn’t be more than the minimum recruiting age, and leapt up and over the barricade. \n\n\nThe sight that greeted me when I poked my own head over the barricade burned in my memory forever: the soldier moved easily over, under and around enemy bullets and the explosions of grenades as he fired shot after shot, each finding its mark in an enemy trooper. As he ran out of bullets, he began picking up the unfamiliar weapons of the enemy and using those to devastating effect as well, and while I knew I should be helping, I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the sights I was seeing. It didn’t matter anyway; in 1 minute and 57 seconds, he’d managed to take out an entire platoon.\n\n“I knew it!” he cried triumphantly as he looked back to me, “I knew you were telling the truth!”.\n\nAs a breeze blew past me I could almost hear the sound of leaves blowing in the wind, taking me back to that day 15 years ago, and with it a bittersweet truth: the reason Rand had been able to do what he did and bring my ability to life was because of one thing only: he believed in me.\n", "“You’re a cheat, a fraud!” he shouted, having ducked under my line of security holding off the adoring crowds. He shoved me rudely backwards, and I felt him spit in my face.\n\nThe hall went silent, and a thousand camera flashes lit up as my fans started snapping away. Far more common in the early days, not so much now, it had been some time since the last heckler attempted to disrupt my services.\n\n“What’s your name?” I asked, after security had tackled him to the ground, holding him in an arm lock. He stared back defiantly, murder in his eyes.\n\n“I hate people like you,” he seethed, “you prey on the gullible, exploit their dreams, crush their hopes! I hope you burn in hell!”\n\nIn the past, I would have begged for him to give me a chance, let me prove myself. I would have trotted out recordings of the precious few times I had successfully applied my powers, shown him that I really could convince people to do the extraordinary, once I managed to persuade them to even try. I would have persisted until my throat was raw, my knees were bruised.\n\nNow, it was much easier. I just had to let him see for himself.\n\n“Who amongst you is afflicted? Who can I help today?” I said, turning to address the crowds. My hands were raised, my voice boomed across the hall. \n\nA hundred, two hundred hands shot up in the air, as applause rang out. The first in line, a young girl in a wheelchair, rolled up to me. I wasn’t a doctor, but I didn’t need to be one to infer from her withered, twisted legs what she was seeking today.\n\n“What’s your name?”\n\n“I’m Grace Natterly, please, please heal me!”\n\nI held her hands, closed my eyes. I felt the rest of the hall slip into a similar reverential mood, and faint murmurings filled the air. Prayer wasn’t exactly necessary, but I let them believe what they wanted. The only disturbance in that whirlpool of peace, was the disbeliever who still struggled on the carpet.\n\n“By the power vested in me, Grace Natterly, I compel you to heal yourself! Stand up! Stand up! Stand up now!”\n\nAnd she did.\n\nShe struggled at first, unused to the motions, then I felt the familiar tingle as my powers took over. No one else could see, but I saw the dancing motes of light swirl in the air, cling to her legs like fireflies. I heard the familiar crick of bones straightening, growing, and I saw the flesh fatten, bulk up with muscle. The deformities melted away, leaving only a completely unremarkable set of legs. \n\n“I… I am healed…” she said, finally, quietly. She was flexing her toes, still swimming in that short flood of euphoria, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.\n\nThe cheers erupted. Her family rushed up to her in celebration, and the others in line pressed forward, hungry, impatient, hopeful.\n\nI turned to my detractor, who had fallen silent. The fight had sapped out of him, and a curious blankness covered his face. I waved away the security holding him down, then leaned in close.\n\n“That’s… that’s impossible,” he said, shaking his head slowly, eyes wide. \n\n“All you need, is a little bit of faith,” I said, smiling as I held out my hand.\n\n---\n\n/r/rarelyfunny", "Some would say I have been blessed with greatest superpower possible. And I would agree with them, the ability to make belief into reality? I could do unspeakable things. Imagine the potential for my power, I could convince impressionable children to do so much, from learning how to cure cancer to making real change in our environment. I could convince children to fly, to discover unbelievable things, to find the answers to questions once thought to be unsolvable. There should be no limit to my potential. No cap on my abilities. All of this made possible with only a few simple worlds to a listening ear. Sadly, I'm mute.", "Lord Evil hovered over the street between two buildings, his cape fluttering behind his back, his fists resting on his \nhips, a dark smile across his face.\n\nUnder him, chaos and destruction as he used his powers to destroy the city.\n\nI arrived late, and a team of policemen were cowering behind a collapsed building, at a loss of what to do.\n\n\"Hey, hey, hey, guys! I'm here!\" I stopped, panting. \"Okay, who's in charge?\"\n\n\"Who the hell are you!?\"\n\n\"The superhero.\"\n\nThe police officers exchanged glances. \"The superhero?\"\n\n\"Yes. Look, there's no time for that, okay? New York is being destroyed, a dude in a cape is hovering above the city \nand pretty soon a beam of light will shoot up towards swirling clouds in the sky. This is obviously a superhero story.\"\n\n\"Are you sure?\" One of the cops asked.\n\nAnother one frowned. \"Are studios charging more for people to watch this in 3D even though nobody wants it?\"\n\n\"No,\" I said. \"It's not going to be exactly* like every superhero story, but --\"\n\n\"Are women wildly underrepresented and/or objectified?\" another added, confused.\n\n\"Is Zack Snyder making everything gritty for no reason?\" a third pondered.\n\nI shook my head. \"Okay, stop. Dude, just trust me! This is a superhero story.\" Lord Evil cast a laser on a passing-by bus and it exploded. \"We gotta act fast, dude!\"\n\n\"Okay…\" the tallest of the officers stepped forward. \"I'm in charge. My name is Officer Smith. What's the plan?\"\n\nI looked up at Lord Evil. \"Well… normally you'd all do absolutely nothing while a team of witty misfits in ridiculous outfits comes together to battle the evil lord, even though, you know, the police has machine guns and the army has fucking nuclear weapons and they are both clearly more qualified than, say, a billionaire in a bat suit or a guy who's good with a bow and arrow.\" I paused. \"But I'm a different kind of superhero, so we'll have to improvise.\"\n\n\"Dude, this is getting upsetting. Just tell us what your power is.\"\n\n\"Okay. Okay. I have a different power every day of the week.\" I checked my list. \"Today it's…\" I paused.\n\n\"What!?\"\n\nI looked up from my list. \"All right, you'll have to trust me, Officer Smith. Go over to Lord Evil and kill him.\"\n\nSmith waited. \"How?\"\n\n\"It doesn't matter. Just do it.\" I took a step forward. \"Look, my power is it doesn't matter what I ask of you, you \ncan accomplish it. So if I say 'kill Lord Evil' and you go to do it, you'll do it.\"\n\n\"But he's hovering in the air! I can't fly!\"\n\n\"It doesn't matter, man.\" I put an arm around his back and we both looked up at Lord Evil. \"All you have to do is \nagree with me and… go do it.\"\n\n\"How do I even 'go do it'?\" \n\n\"DUDE, I DON'T KNOW. JUST SAY 'OKAY, I'LL KILL HIM'.\"\n\n\"This makes no sense.\"\n\n\"Oh, because Batman traveling across the world with no money or passport after he escaped prison in Dark Knight Rises was a beacon of logic.\"\n\n\"Good point.\"\n\nI sighed. \"Okay. Forget the other superheroes. Let's focus. Just try to punch him. Just go under him and attempt to punch him. You'll find the strength to fly or your punch hill reach him up there or something. It doesn't matter. If I tell you to kill him with a punch and you attempt it, it will work, because that's my power. I don't know how it will work, but it will work. So trust me. Just do it.\"\n\nSmith looked around at his peers, then at me. Behind him, the city burned and collapsed. \"Are you sure about this?\"\n\n\"I know this is a weird power and it's not based on the features of an exotic animal, which is unusual for superheroes,\" I said. \"But trust me. It works.\"\n\nHe nodded. He turned his back on his friends. Grandiose music played as he stepped forward, confident, afraid but ready. Debris and cinder blocks and fire rained around him. People ran in the opposite direction, desperate. But he was ready.\n\nWhen he stopped right under Lord Evil, the man's shadow towering over him, I yelled: \"KILL HIM WITH A PUNCH!\"\n\nOfficer Smith looked up against the sun… and punched the air.\n\nAnd absolutely nothing happened.\n\nHe turned back to look at me. \"It didn't work! AAAAAAAAAAAAH!\" \n\nLord Evil picked him up and lifted him over the remaining buildings and then, from this great distance, dropped him \nback onto the ground, where he promptly exploded and turned into a stain of flesh, blood and bones on the ground.\n\n\"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?\" One of his friends asked me, turning back.\n\nI checked my list. \"Ah, shit,\" I said. \"Tomorrow's power is 'anything I say happens'. Today was just 'good \npersuasion.' Sorry, guys.\"\n\nLord Evil laughed an evil laugh. And then a big beam of light exploded towards swirling clouds in the sky.\n\n_________\n\n(This story is available in 3D and IMAX at /r/psycho_alpaca)", "“Expecting a call, Mr. Harper?”\n\nThomas Harper looked up from his phone to see his literary analysis professor giving him a stern look.\n\n“Oh, uh,” Thomas muttered as he slid the device into his pocket. “Sorry.”\n\nThe professor rolled her eyes and returned to what she was writing on the chalkboard. Thomas glanced around at the other students, his peers. They didn't know about his power; no one did. It wasn't even a power really; if he convinced someone to do something, they would be able to do it. Anything; fly, throw a car, whatever. The problem was getting them to play along.\n\nThomas eventually left the daydreams of his peculiar capability and returned to his studies. He took out a pen and was about to take notes until his phone buzzed. The young man froze and quickly stole a glance towards the professor; her back was turned. Thomas fished the phone out of his pocket and saw that he had a notification from his most recent app. It was a police scanner widget of... questionable legality. The greater good, right? This what it reported.\n\nHostage Situation - Silverlight Business Center @ East and Fifth.\n\nThomas stood up slowly, his eyes still fixed on the screen. “Actually... I have somewhere to be.” He returned the phone to his pocket and pulled on his backpack as he jogged toward the door.\n\nThe professor turned to see Thomas leaving. “Where are you going, young man?”\n\n“It's an emergency,” Thomas said with a shrug. “I'll make it up next class.”\n\nWith that, he left. As soon as he was out of the classroom he broke into a full sprint. The Silverlight and the campus were both located in downtown, about ten minutes apart. However, time would not be merciful in regards to a volatile situation like hostages.\n\nThomas hurried down the steps, brushing other students out of the way as he ran towards the parking lot. It was moments like these when he was glad to be parking on campus. He reached his car in only a few minutes. Once inside and cranked up, he peeled out of the parking lot and got onto the main roads. Now, with the time it would take to drive to the Silverlight Center, he would devise his plan.\n\nHis app had not updated since leaving class, so police had not yet responded. Fortunately it didn't matter who he partnered up with. So as long as he convinced them to go fight the bad guys, they would succeed and the day would be saved. But, again, who would that be? Civilians outside the business center would probably not go for it at all. Maybe someone on the inside? Not the criminals, obviously. One of guards or hostages?\n\nFollowing that path led Thomas to realize he might end up as a hostage himself in this process. However, before he could imagine a more sound plan, he had arrived at the Silverlight. He slammed on the brake and came to a sharp stop before jumping out of the car and jogging up to the entrance.\n\nThomas hadn't taken more than three steps inside the center before a gloved hand grabbed his face and pulled him away from the door. A second guy walked up and pointed at gun at Thomas' head.\n\n“Who the fuck are you?”\n“Uh, I...” Thomas' stammered. His death was mere inches away. “I'm an associate here. For- stocks and uh” His irises shivered, eyes fixed on the barrel of the pistol. The lies couldn't tumble out his mouth fast enough.\n\n“Whatever,” the man growled. He stepped away and lowered his gun. “Put him with the others.” \n\nThe first man who grabbed him swung Thoamas around and started walking him deeper into the building. “Picked a bad day for your stocks, son,” he said while placing a hand on the back of Thomas' head. The mercenary pushed the young man down the hall of the business center. It was eerily quiet and empty for a weekday. Thomas looked to his right as he walked under the criminals forceful hand. That's when he saw a particular office room. Three or four old men in suits were speaking to a squad of mercenaries with guns, armor, and black tactical clothing. “Whatcha lookin' at?” the man behind him said, shoving down on Thomas's head.\n\nThey soon arrived at their destination, a small closet door. The mercenary goon tied up Thomas's hands then unlocked the door and pushed him in. Thomas stumbled into the room and looked to see at least ten others sitting on the floor of this storage room, all with their hands tied and mouths taped up. The door clicked behind him. Thomas sighed. He had just gotten himself thoroughly screwed. It was now the time to work his magic.\n\nThomas walked over and sat down next to the nearest person he saw. Really anyone would do. He looked at her nametag. Allison Watson, Senior Investor. Great.\n\n“Allison, how are you today?” he asked.\n\nHer only response was a confused look.\n\n“How about I take the tape off so we can talk?”\n\nShe nodded. Thomas reached over to the woman and carefully pulled the tape off of her mouth.\n\n“Who are you?” she asked. “What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?”\n\nThomas grinned. “I understand your concern. But it's not about me right now, it's about you.”\n\n“What are you talking about?” she woman said. “We need help, we need to call the police.”\n\n“The police have been notified,” Thomas said. If he knew, they knew. “However, it will take time for them to organize, get here, set up a perimeter, negotiate...”\n\n“So what?” Allison asked. “Do you have a plan?”\n\n“I do, and it's very simple.” Thomas said with a smile. “You go out there and kick all of their asses.”\n\n“Excuse me?” she recoiled. “Why don't you try that and see how it goes.”\n\n“Because I would fail,” Thoams said. “But you will succeed so long as you trust me.”\n\nAllison was quiet for a moment after that. She looked at Thomas. “You're serious?”\n“Of course,” he said. “Why else would I risk my life to come get captured with you?”\n\nAnother pause from Allison. Thomas watched her consider his words. Perhaps she was coming around?\n\n“What about the ties?” she asked, raising her bound wrists. “What about the locked door?”\n\n“You can break them, they are no obstacle,” Thomas said. “Try it if you don't believe me.”\n\nAllison looked down at hands and tried to pulled free of the restraints. She did. The rope tore and her arms were freed. She looked at Thomas and then back to her hands. Afterward, she stood and slowly walked over to the door to further test Thomas's claim. Just as he said, the door was no obstacle, it crumbled under her hand and drifted open.\n\nThomas looked on as Allison took a steadying breath and then charged out of the storage room. Screaming and gunfire erupted in the following seconds and the other hostages all looked towards the door as bullets flew pass. The thuds of bodies hitting the floor, glass shattering, more screaming. Lots of screaming actually. Then finally, silence.\n\nMoments later, Allison from investing returned dragging two unconscious mercenaries in each hand.", "The hardest thing to talk someone into is bettering themselves. People don’t actually want to improve, it’s too much effort. That’s why everyone is stuck day out and day in with the same routines, jobs, and prospects.\n\nPeople are lazy, that’s the problem. Convincing someone to jump across a cliff is oftentimes easier than getting them to lose a few pounds. It’s a thing in the brain, you know, something like a safety switch that’s been glued stuck.\n\nThat’s why I’ve stopped trying to make people fly and walk on water – that shit was too easy.\n\nNow I have my own class for those with too deep pockets and no drive. What can I say? I like the challenge.\n\n*\nI run a hand through my thick black beard and look at the crowd of lazy, overweight, and unmotivated people. I’m proud that they made it here. They are like sheep and I’m their shepherd. I care for them.\n\nI pace in front of them, stopping at regular intervals, making eye contact with each and every one of them in turn. They dream of success, and I will make them work hard for it.\n\nMark wants to be a painter but he is too lazy to practice. I look him dead in the eye and nod.\n\nNatalie wants to lose twenty pounds. I give her the thumbs up.\n\nJoseph is too shy to ask out his dream girl. I give him a good, long look until he blushes and looks down.\n\nLisa needs her grades to go up but she’s always procrastinating instead of studying. I give her a smile.\n\nOnce I’ve gone through them all, I stop in the middle of the room. This is the moment. I flex my arms into an O in front of me. The veins bulge in my neck. I take a deep breath. This is it – make or break.\n\n“Yesterday you said tomorrow!”\n\n**\nFor more information on how to better yourself: r/Lilwa_Dexel", "The man on the ledge reeked of old booze and stale vomit, enough for me to smell him from ten paces away. Not your typical drunk however, judging by the suit; a week or so ago, it had been a respectable business number, probably complete with a crisp shirt and a smart tie. I could see that the shirt lost a number of buttons since, and acquired questionable stains, and the tie went missing altogether.\n\n\n\"Don't. No closer. I'll jump. I'm not kidding.\" He winced and swayed as he spoke. \n\n\nI shrugged and leaned against the roof access door.\n\n\n\"Suit yourself, partner. Jump. Or don't. You are not dying today.\"\n\n\n\"Wrong!\" he swayed again. \"I'll do it! We are fifty stories up, there's nothing anyone can do!..\" Below, the Strip churned, shone, sparkled and blinked. Just another day in paradise.\n\n\n\"You don't understand. I... I thought I could stop. I almost* stopped. I just... I needed... more...\" For a moment I thought he'd start to whimper and back away from the ledge, and we could solve things quietly. No such luck however. He kept blabbing, the standard suicidal drivel of a gambling addict down on his luck.\n\n\n\"Hey!\" I snapped my fingers and he stared at me wide-eyed. \"Will you ever get on with it? So you fucked up. You ALWAYS fuck up. And you'll fuck this up too. Want to know what'll happen now? You'll jump. You'll fall fifty fucking stories, land on an empty car, ruin it, and walk away with one hell of a bruised ass and not a single broken bone. Get it? You're about to fuck up your own suicide. I'm not here to talk you out of it. I'm here to talk you into it, watch and fucking laugh.\"\n\n\nHe blinked slowly, once, twice. \n\n\n\"Fuck. You. You're crazy. What kind of a negotiator are you anyway?\" \n\n\"I'm not. You see a badge anywhere? For all you know, I'm the tooth fairy. You know what's funny? You can't even stop yourself thinking about what I said just now, can you? You're gonna attempt suicide by jumping fifty stories, and you're gonna FUCK IT UP. All this to ruin some poor slob's car. C'mon then, loser. I got places to be.\"\n\n\"Fuck. You.\"\n\n\nCredit where credit's due - he did not scream on the way down, or at least not so much that I could hear him. From below, came a distant thud and an indignant blare of a car alarm. I walked the ten paces to the ledge and peered over just in time to see him kneeling in the street next to a ruined cab, uniforms and paramedics rushing towards him.\n\n\nThe phone in my pocket trilled.\n\n\n\"Mahoney? We've got him. Come on down.\"", "\"Kiss the ground, ladies and gentlemen!\" They had burst into the bank, but at the order, everyone had frozen. A few shots quickly in the air had everyone on the ground. \n\nAnd Joe was just returning from the restroom. He had heard a few loud shots, just as he was drying his hands. He moved away from dryer and heard the noise as people shuffled to the ground. \n\nThe restrooms were situated down a small hallway, which allowed Joe to move quietly down the hall to survey what had gone on. He saw men, women and children on the ground, and guys in masks already walking past the hallway, and toward the front counter. \n\nSomething bumped into his stomach, and he took a chance to look down... only to find a young girl, no more than 10 or 11, huddled next to a potted plant that was situated in the hallway. She was hiding. No one had seen her. Joe breathed a sigh of both relief, and profound irritation. \n\nHe slid down next to her, and they exchanged glances. She looked terrified. He stared, and smiled in what he hoped was a fatherly-way. \n\n\"Psst, kid... What's your name?\" \n\nThe girl looked him over, trying to decide if he was a stranger, or not. She didn't smile, but something in her eyes made Joe realize she was going to trust him. A little. \"I'm Katy.\" she whispered back.\n\n\"Ok, Katy. My name is Joe. I'm a super.\" \n\nAnd her eyes went wide. \"Really? Are you going to save us?\" \n\nHe took a small breath. \"I'm going to try, but I need your help. I know this sounds weird, but listen. I don't really have much power on my own. But I can make others do impossible things.\" \n\nShe turned her head slightly, in confusion. \n\n\"I know you don't believe me. But I'll prove it. I want you to visualize a candy bar. Think of your favorite one.\" \n\nShe closed her eyes. \"Ok...\" she said, but doubt was starting to creep into her voice. \n\n\"Think about it, visualize it. Now, if you really believe... if you truly wish for the candy bar, it'll be in your bag. Waiting for you to reach in, and grab it.\" \n\nHer face was a mixture of confusion, but also of magic. Kids really want to believe in a higher power. In a world of Superes, it's a little easier for them to believe. But she knew the candy wasn't in there five minutes ago. I can only hope she's a believer... \n\nShe kept her eyes closed as she reached into her bag. And pulled out a snickers bar. \n\nHer eyes opened, amazed. Her pupils were slightly dilated. She looked at Joe and smiled at him. \"Wow! It worked!\" \n\nHe smiled. \"It worked because you believed. But here's where it gets crazy. See those bank robbers? You can stop them, all by yourself.\" \n\n\"I can?\" \n\n\"Yup, you can. Just think to yourself how bullet proof you are. How invincible you are. Nothing can harm you, nothing can hurt you. You're like Night Girl, or Fire Fly!\" \n\nShe looked at him, and he could tell if she was wondering how true it was. \"Do I get super powers?\" \n\n\"Anything you want, Katy. But you have to really believe in them. You're a hero, Katy. You just don't know it, yet.\" \n\n\"I'm just a little girl, though. What can I do?\" \n\n\"You're young, but that doesn't matter. Haven't you heard of Million Strikes, or Pinion? They were young, when they started. But they've saved so many people.\" \n\nShe nodded, and smiled at him. \"Wish me luck, Joe.\" \n\nHe smiled, and stood up. \"You don't need it, Katy. You're a Super, now, too...\" \n\nShe started walking out toward the group of people on the floor. One of the men noticed her, and pointed his gun her way. Another had seen Joe, and pointed his gun at him. \n\n\"You two! Get back on the ground.\" \n\n\"Katy, get down! You're going to get hurt!\" he could hear a person saying. The tone of her voice showed Joe it must be her father. \n\n\"I'm sorry, Dad. I can't get down. But don't worry... they can't hurt me.\" \n\n\"You hear this kid? She thinks she can't be hurt.\" One of them started to walk toward her, and he brought his gun down to strike her in the head. \n\nBut the gun broke on her head, instead. \n\n\"She...\" \n\nKaty looked up at the man, and smiled. \"I'm a Super! I can do anything!\" And her eyes were suddenly flaring up with flame, and her hands were engulfed in ice, and water, and lightning. And a sudden storm inside the bank brought the robbers to their knees. They were struck with lightning, and were down for the count. \n\nJoe smiled as he walked toward them, kicking their guns away. He had plastic cuffs for just such an occasion, and locked them up. \n\nKaty's eyes returned to normal, and she smiled. \"I did it! I believed I had powers over the elements! And I really couldn't be hurt!\" The father had jumped up and was holding Katy, now. Joe smiled. \n\nHe turned, then, and left the bank as quietly as possible. A new super, born in the world. She'll never stop believing, and so she'll always be Super. \n\nJoe smiled, as he walked down the street. He was ready to get home, and watch the news. \"Maybe I'll be featured, one day.\" \n\n*Part two is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6imc4i/wp_you_have_weird_super_power_if_you_successfully/dj8ic7i/" ]	[ 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 13, 19, 22, 24, 24, 27, 31, 39, 44, 44, 69, 74, 268, 424, 921, 1906, 7791 ]	[ "1498057124", "1498085249", "1498086473", "1498086585", "1498088731", "1498092580", "1498092715", "1498092825", "1498093080", "1498087079", "1498088737", "1498089659", "1498090889", "1498091918", "1498090705", "1498083363", "1498078741", "1498079894", "1498081701", "1498083244", "1498084577", "1498081672", "1498073881", "1498078347", "1498079820", "1498081608", "1498078088", "1498072933", "1498073609", "1498076823", "1498069282", "1498078038", "1498066545", "1498076132", "1498077068", "1498077499", "1498063691", "1498062785", "1498066329", "1498063285", "1498073006", "1498060172" ]
Maybe a groupie/teenage crush succubus, a fanboy pride demon or something else? Let your imagination flow!	[WP] You die and go to hell for committing one of the seven deadly sins. However, you are not greeted by flames and torture, but a demon/ess that smuggled you away and is apparantly...your biggest fan.	121	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Took me nearly a month :D Also this is a pretty long text so I'm sure no one will read it. I'll have to post the second part as a reply to my comment\n\n \n\n------------------------------------------\n\n \n\nEverything was dark. There was no light, no sounds, no feelings. As if none of the senses existed. As if nothing existed. A void. Yet suddenly, a touch. A cold pressure all over the back. As if lying on a hard surface. The whole body started responding. He existed once again.\n\nMauro started to wake up. Where was he? How, when? Memories were slowly coming back, and with it, the last images of the car losing control, and rolling towards him as he was standing on the sidewalk. What happened then? Was in the hospital? He did not feel any pain at all, and everything seemed so calm around him. He slowly opened his eyes. Light rushed in, almost blinding him, before he could see. In front of him was a wooden ceiling, supported by old stone walls. The whole atmosphere seemed so clear, there was hardly any shadow. It looked like the air itself produced the light that surrounded him. \n\nCould he move? He raised his right arm and moved his hand in front of his eyes. Strange: the skin was soft, there were no buttons or scars, despite what he remembered his hand to look like. This was not the hand of a sixty years old man. Was it even his hand? Or his body? He kept looking: for some reason he was wearing very simple cloth shirt and trousers, which would not be standard for a hospital.\n\n\"Finally you’re here!\" made a girly voice with a clear enthusiasm. Mauro looked around: there was someone in this room. He immediately rose to stand up, but only managed to sit and turn around to face that person. And he was immediately puzzled by what he saw: it was a young woman, or at least it had the face and body of one. But it had deep purple eyes, short shiny white hair, and two strange objects were poking out of her hair to the sides of her head: were those … horns? And what was that thing wiggling behind her legs? She was wearing a leather jacket and a skirt, both being too revealing for his comfort. At first she had a discrete smile, but as he rose his head to look at her in confusion, her whole face suddenly brightened with one of the biggest smiles he had ever seen.\n\n\"Oh my I’m so so so happy to meet you in person!\" she said while almost shaking. \"I can’t even this is the best day ever I can’t wait to present you to everyone and…\"\n\n\"Hold on\", said Mauro with still a weak voice. \"Who are you, and where…\"\n\n\"Oh sorry!\" she apologised and quickly calmed down. \"Didn’t even welcome you. So, welcome here! And I’m your biggest fan ever!\" \n\nHe was confused. If his memories were still right he was, or perhaps used to be, the CEO of a large insurance company. And he somehow had … a fan? \"Wait, where is here exactly? Am I …?\"\n\n\"Well, yes. Glad you figured it out, I didn’t really know how to announce it to you.\"\n\n\"So this is hell?\"\n\n\"Ehm\", she hesitated, looking away. \"Not ... really.\"\n\n\"Doesn’t look like heaven either.\" Mauro commented while observing the room around him. Dark gray stone walls, wooden floor, ceiling and entry door, a stone table serving as his bed, and nothing more. \n\n\"Absolutely. Let’s say I … we … cheated.\" she kept looking away, blushing. There was a silence as he expected more. \"I smuggled you away. Still not sure if dad’s okay with this.\" Mauro kept staring in silence. He had so many questions he did not even know where to begin. \"Yes, dad is … pretty much who you guessed. But I’m sure he would not refuse his princess anything!\" she asserted with a sudden burst in confidence. \"I just couldn’t wait to see you!\"\n\nHe was still too confused to even care about the fact he was dead, or to fear for what might come next. \"Ok, but what did I do to deserve such honors?\"\n\n\"You’re kidding, right?\" she laughed. Her face brightened up again, as she bent forward to get closer to him. \"Because you’re awesome! How can I even, I just loved the power you wielded on your peers, how you could bend anyone to your will, use the weak to your own gain, break anyone standing against you … you’re a true mastermind of psychology, no one could resist you! You built an empire by breaking the weak-willed, and you never failed at that. I so loved to follow what you were doing, but now you’re here in front of me!\" her smile kept growing bigger and yet again she was shaking. \"Oh my if I go on I’m going to faint!\"\n\n\"Eh\", he sighed, looking down with a smile. \"But then I died in a car crash. Not the best way to go.\"\n\n\"Oh it happens. But don’t worry, now you’re here and you’ll see there is plenty of fun! I’ll present you to my sisters, and to the others, and we’ll prank them, and so many other stuff. You’ll see!\" She seemed to calm down, and turned around a tiny bit. \"… or we can do some other fun stuff\", she commented while passing her hand through her hair, looking down, biting her lower lip. \"I know you enjoyed the little pleasures of life.\" She then slowly made a full turn, bending to reveal the full extent of her body. As she was showing her back, he noticed other unsettling aspects of her appearance, namely the pointy tail growing down her spine, and what he guessed to be a pair of bat-like red wings, folded on her back. Despite this, he could not detach his eyes from her hips, her chest, and the malicious look she was throwing at him over her shoulders. She was attractive beyond words, perhaps even beyond his wildest dreams. But given the situation and given her identity, falling for it was probably not the wisest move.\n\n\"Not that bad\", he said on a half jaded tone. \"Although I was used to better.\"\n\nShe immediately turned and looked at him dead in the eyes. After a second she smiled: \"Already into belittling?\" She paused then whispered for herself: \"I was so right to bring him here.\" \n\n\"Besides,\" he added, \"aren’t you a bit young to play the seduction game?\"\n\nAgain, she giggled. \"It’s true that I did not present myself yet …\" She stepped back, stood straight, raised the head, spread wide her arms. Her purple eyes started shining while she opened wide her mouth, revealing her fangs. Suddenly, she was hovering a few inches above the ground, a thick black and red mist surrounding her. In a burst she unfolded her wings, and with a thundering voice, roared: \"My name is Asmodea, arch-demon of Lust and Princess of Hell! I have existed since before this very Universe, my name is eternal!\" Her words were shattering the air, overflowing with power. In the blink of an eye, she was suddenly back on the ground, just in front of Mauro, looking at him with a smile as if this whole show did not happen. \"And I’m your biggest fan.\" \n\nMauro did not even dare to move. He was pale, his eyes were shaking. What had just happened? What was that? He was completely powerless, at her mercy. At the mercy of an unstable demon. He had witnessed her switch in a mere instant from a shy teenager, to a manipulative seductress, to the incarnation of devil. And there she was seductive again, as she was slowly leaning forward and as he felt her tail teasing his hand. She was holding him captive, she controlled his fate. He began to think that there could be worse than death.\n\nShe suddenly stepped back. \"We’re not in a hurry though! We have a lot of time. All of it in fact! So we can leave the fun stuff for later, don’t ya think?\"\n\nHe quickly snapped out of his panic. There was no need to show her how terrified he was, although she probably knew. And in a second thought, even if he could, trying to manipulate her could only end in a disaster. \"Are you proposing something?\" he calmly asked in a half-interested tone, standing up.\n\n\"You look like you’d be up for a small challenge. Right?\"\n\n", "Towards the end, you probably wouldn't have been able to guess that I used to be a teen idol back in my youth. I used to be the lead guitarist and singer for a popular boy band back in the day. Back then I was also a short sighted little brat to the point that I didn't think that my bad behavior would come back to haunt me. \nBy the time the band broke up there were very few people in Hollywood who were willing to work for me. To make matters worse it wasn't long before my drug habits left me with only about 100 dollars of those millions I'd made in my career.\n\nThat said, I still managed to scrape by through the kindness of my former bandmates and what few fans we still had left. \n\nYou'd think that this would have taught me a little humility, but against all the odds I continued to be a little shit until the day I died. The only difference was that now all of that shitiness was directed at people who cared about me rather than people who I barely knew. The only reason I managed to survive for this long was that I had a remarkable ability get people who were both decent and damaged enough that once they were stuck in my gravitational pull it took some real force to get them free of me again. \n\nSadly that wasn't enough to force people to stick around forever, and I eventually wound up on the streets. \n\nPeople with my sort of personality don't survive long on the streets, and I was no exception. \n\nThe few times I'd thought about death in a more lucid moment, I'd always assumed that it would go down one of two ways. Either there was nothing left afterwards, or people just got recycled into new bodies and forms until doomsday. I'd never really stopped to consider that there was any other possibilities until the moment I awoke on top of one of hell's many burning pits.\n\nIt didn't take long for her to find me, which is good, considering the fact that I probably would have damaged my vocal chords permanently if I had been left there any longer. As it was she almost didn't save me due to the amount of time it took for them to heal, a fact that she's not shy about reminding me of. \n\nI suppose that it makes sense for the devil to have a daughter, especially considering all those stories about the anti-Christ make it pretty clear that all parts... down there.... are fully functional. I suppose that it's a good thing that she's my biggest fan. \n\nAside from demanding nightly concerts and forcing me to write new songs, she treats me well, especially considering where we are. My only concern is that, according to her other \"idols\" (not to mention the literal piles of empty and broken cages cluttering her cave) I might end up wishing I had stayed in the pit once she gets bored of me.", "Gluttony, Lust, Greed, Laziness, Envy, Pride...\nGluttony, Lust, Greed, Laziness, Envy, Pride...\n\nAs I slowly fell into consciousness the fog of confusion and restlessness blocked my thoughts. I felt as if time itself had stopped. My body and mind weren't at ease. Something felt extremely odd, unnatural, otherworldly, as if in the back seat of a bus that was about to get disposed in a scrapyard. I tried opening my eyes but there was some sort of fabric keeping them tightly shut. I attempted to move what felt like my limbs but all I could muster was the tip of my fingers. \n\nOr so I thought... When did I have 101,641 fingers? \n\nGluttony, Lust, Greed, Laziness, Envy, Pride...\n\n\"What you're moving aren't your fingers, dummy! It's your hair! As a matter of fact, 101,620 are hairs, 20 are fingers and 1 is... well, lets just say on this parts of the world you humans gain certain... talents.\" The sweetest of voices suddenly echoed inside my head.\n\n\"My What!?\"\n\"Who is this!?\"\n\nThere was someone, or something, inside my head. I could listen to its voice as clear as mine, as if suddenly changing the voice of my thoughts, the only difference being, I had absolutely no control over it. \n\nGluttony, Lust, Greed, Laziness, Envy, Pride.\n\n\"Who are you!? Where am I!? Why do I feel like this!? What are these familiar voices I keep hearing!?\"\n\n\"So many delicious questions. I would be flattered to give you all the answers you seek, satisfying your desires feeds me, after all. But I want to enjoy every single bit of this moment as much as possible, before they come and take you away from me.\"\n\n\"Take me where!?\"\n\n\"Okay, I'll answer just one of your questions. Better be quick, I'm getting impatient.\"\n\n\"What are these voices that keep repeating the same words over and over in my head?\"\n\n\"Those are not in your head.\" She continued.\n\"They're coming from the walls around the room you're in, they're specially designed for you.\"\n\n\"Me?\"\n\n\"Yes, actually, they must seem very familiar to you, the words you're listening are spoken to you by yourself in different years of your life. For each year you were alive, a different voice is added to the overall chorus. As if reminding you of the sins you should have committed in your past life.\"\n\n\"WAIT, I'M DEAD!?\"\n\n\"Oh sweet human, I'm going to enjoy this so very very much...\"\n\"My name is Tessettu Zerah Vil'Wrath and I'm about to save you from eternal damnation.\"\n\n....Part 1 END....", "\"You...\" Two pair of eyes looked at Dan admiringly, glowing brightly yellow in the dim cavern. \"You're him...\" its voice trailed off.\n\nDan coughed. The air smelled of sulfur and burnt flesh, and they stung his eyes and choked him. He spotted the creature in front of him, squatting on a nearby rock. Its skin was flaming red, with two small horns protruding from its head. \n\n\"Where am I?\" Dan asked. His head was throbbing. The last thing he remembered was heading to his car, before hearing the sound of a loud bang, followed by the embrace of darkness. When he opened his eyes, he was already in the cave.\n\n\"Hell,\" the creature chirped, a smile forming on its face. As if it was supposed reassure Dan.\n\nDan however, bolted upright. \"Hell? What do you mean hell?\" He looked around him. The cave was barely bigger than his room, and the only source of lighting came from the entrance, a weak flicker of red and orange. The place was uncomfortably warm as well, and even though Dan realized, to his dismay, that he was not wearing anything, the heat still clawed at him.\n\nDan shook his head. This was not supposed to happen. He was not supposed to be in hell. Hell wasn't supposed to exist. \n\n\"Surprised?\" the creature asked, probably reading Dan's mind. Dan figured that the creature was most probably an imp, if he was indeed telling the truth. It was barely taller than Dan's knees, and it looked more like a child than a hellish creature. \n\nThe creature flapped its wings and landed on Dan's shoulders. \"You shouldn't be, you know. After what you've done on earth.\"\n\nDan frowned. The imp's words brought back memories from earth. \"I was merely doing it for the good of the people!\" Dan immediately countered. It was a line that he had used much too often. He pushed the imp away, and retreated to a corner.\n\nThe imp, however, did not seem convinced. It flicked its tails several times. \"Do you really believe that, Governor Daniel, or are you trying to cover the real reason behind what you do? Greed?\"\n\nDan clenched his fist. He wanted get out of the place, but he did not know where. He stood there, trapped. \"Who are you?\"\n\nThe imp giggled. \"You can call me Avary. I'm from the greed department. And I also happen to be one of your biggest fan.\" Avary twirled its tail playfully, its yellow eyes glowing brighter. \"And I happen to be one of your biggest fan.\"\n\nDan, however, was in no mood for any adoration. He has been feeling dreadful since he first opened his eyes to see the cave. \"Why am I here?\" he asked, even though he knew the question was stupid. \n\nHe was in hell for everything that he had done. Only that he never believed that any part of hell was true. His followers, maybe. But not him. He was merely using what they believed to further his agendas. Ironic how it was their beliefs that turned out to be right.\n\n\"Are you going torture me then? Burn me?\" Dan asked.\n\nAvary shook her head. \"Oh no, I saved you from those. I wanted you for myself. The things you did and said, they were amazing.\"\n\nDad did not know whether he should feel relieved or scared. \n\n\"Does this means, I'm free? No torture and burning for me right? You'll set me free?\" Dan wanted to get out of the place, even though he knew hell was for eternity. Perhaps his fan could help him.\n\nAvary however shook her head. \"Oh no, I just want your autograph. After that, I would really much like to enjoy seeing the show that our department has planned for you.\" Her eyes twinkled.\n\n--------------\n\nWhat's hell without all the bureaucratic nightmare? More tales at /r/dori_tales!", "\"I can't believe you're finally here!\"\n\nI coughed and sputtered as the sulfuric air filled my lungs. I was dead. I remembered climbing onto the chair, sliding the rope around my neck. I remember the feeling of breathlessness, and my vision fading to black as I drifted off to finally put end to my suffering. But instead of the darkness greeting me, I was here, underneath a red tinted sky; surrounded by demons and horrors I'd only read about in stories.\n\n\"Wh-where am I?\" I gasped out.\n\n\"You're in Hell, silly! You know I've been waiting for you. I'm a big fan of your work.\"\n\nThe creature in front of me had to be at least eight feet tall. She had glowing red eyes and smooth black skin. She was beautiful in a severe sort of way.\n\n\"What? But I... I'm a good person. I never hurt anybody.\"\n\n\"I know, honey, but all suicides go to Hell. Sorry, but it's a Wrath violation.\"\n\n\"Oh...that's...\" My voice trailed off. I didn't know what to say, but the demon in front of me was looking at me expectantly.\n\n\"Uh...you said you were a fan of mine?\"\n\n\"Yes! I'm a huge fan of your writing!\"\n\n\"Oh, I... well that's really nice of you.\" \n\nIt was something I'd never expected to hear. I must have written a dozen novels in my lifetime, but I'd tossed each one in the rubbish pile before it was finished, too self-conscious to even read my own work, let alone let someone else read it. \n\n\"So, uh... am I going to be punished?\"\n\n\"Oh no, honey. Suicides may get sent to Hell on a technicality, but Satan doesn't punish people who only hurt themselves. You're free to do whatever you want.\"\n\n\"Oh... great. Uh... what is there to do in Hell?\"\n\n\"Well, there's demon college. You can learn about demonic possession, and if you do well, you can go back to Earth in another body.\"\n\nI looked around at the bleak Hellscape around me and decided that that sounded like a good option.\n\n\"So uh... how do I get there?\"\n\n\"Come with me, I'll show you. We can go together!\"\n\nThe giant demoness picked me up and threw me over her shoulder. She kicked off the ground hard and giant wings kicked up dust as we flew off.\n\n\"It'll take you a couple hundred years to learn the art of possession.\" She said. \"But maybe when you go back to Earth we can go together.\"\n\n\"Uh... sure.\" I said, not wanting to refuse the giant demon who could drop me from the sky at any moment.\n\n\"Great,\" she said. \"You're going to do great, I can already tell.\"\n\nAnd she was right, in the end. It only took me 164 years to learn the art of possession, and after that it took me ten years on the waiting list for a soul to open up.\n\nNow that I'm back on Earth, I don't mind sharing my writing with others anymore. I guess it helps that I've got my biggest fan right here with me.\n\n_____________\n\n[My author's page on Facebook](http://fb.me/lifeisstrangemetoo)", "\"Ow. Fuck...\"\n\nI opened my eyes.\n\n\"...WAIT! HHEY, DON'T!\"\nI winced as a bright light blew up on my face.\n\n\"OH, GOD. It's really you.\"\nI was still seeing partially white from the flash.\n\n\"Who?\" I felt a cellphone on my hand with what appears to be my picture on it.\n\n\"You! It's really you! Go ahead. Check the next picture. Swipe right.\"\n\nI complied without even looking where the strangely sexy voice came from. My head still hurt. It was like I woke up from a 20 hour sleep.\n\nIt was a screenshot from a news article. \n&nbsp;\n\n*MINNESOTA TEENAGER KILLS 89, SELF IN DEADLIEST U.S. SCHOOL SHOOTING.\n\nThis was me? I slowly recall my last day on Earth. That was definitely me. I slowly looked up. In one motion, I saw an exposed flat stomach, huge knockers, a beautiful face with asian features and perfectly applied eyeliner, and...goat horns? \n\n\"Way to go man! Were you expecting blackness? I believe you got it all wrong. Hence, you being here, aside from the mass homicide. You probably know by now that we're in hell. Well, city limits at least. Hell's over there.\" \n\nShe pointed to the source of loud screams and lights that could only come out of a campfire. It was hellfire.\n\n\"We probably should go.\" She told me. And before I could react, I felt her chest pressing against mine. I stopped touching the ground below my feet. I was...\n\n\"FLYING?! AH-\" I gasped for air. No sound came out of me as I grabbed as tightly as I can to this devil chick thing. As the hot wind brushed through my hair, I found the courage to look over her shoulder see to what's behind us. Two cloaked figures carrying polearms were giving chase. I burrowed my head back into her shoulders almost immediately. I felt every zip and turn we took. Finally, the rollercoaster ride stopped as we landed on the ground. \n\n\"Whew!\"* She was sweating buckets. A huge drop trickled down her neck and onto her exposed chest. She noticed me looking. She didn't get mad. I thought I was seeing things because underneath the redness of hell I might've just seen her blush.\n\n\"So, do you mind explaining what was that?\" I asked her. She was still trying to catch her breath and avoiding my gaze.\n\n\"Huh? Oh right! Hi. You're like, my hero. I've been following you since you got your first gun three years ago.\" She muttered and fumbled, struggling to get the words out. She was kinda cute, aside from the weird ass horns protruding from her head.\n\nI looked at her quizzically. I still couldn't comprehend what had just transpired. This was my first out-of-earth experience after all.\n\n\"If those two got to us, they would've probably claimed your soul for cleansing.\" Her expression switched from embarrassed to stern.\n\n\"I'd probably be fucked too. They'd take my horns and do me like they do humans. But hey, I finally met you. It's worth. Here. Let's have some fun.\"\n\nShe clasped her hands together and pulled them apart. Fire came out of her hands and transmuted into something. She did this to an arms length and it was...a rifle - the very same surplus 'Nam era M16 that I used to shoot up that Godforsaken cesspool. \n\nShe handed me the rifle. \"Teach me.\" \n\n\"But why would I need to?\" I asked her. We're in hell after all. Why would it even matter?\n\n\"Trust me. Shoot that rock over there.\" She pointed to a small rock formation that stuck out from the ground at about knee level. \n\nI pulled the trigger and fired three shots at it. The gun expelled its cartridges like expected. What I didn't expect was...\n\n\"Hey, that rock just-\" I stuttered.\n\"Burst into flames?! Yeah! That's a soul eraser. It erases souls on the spot. Go figure. That rock has no soul, but it's from hell,I guess so it blows up like that. I-\"\n\nHer explanation was cut short by the sudden ominous energy coming right at us. The cloakies were back. I wasn't afraid. \n\n\"Hey, don't just stand there! Let's go!\" \n\nI didn't. Instead. I fired at them. A click at the chest and let the recoil shoot up to the head. \n\nNothing happened.\n\n\"Those guys don't have souls. Let's go!\"\n\nWide eyed, I bolted towards her. \n\nThat was pretty much my first day in hell. It wasn't much. I could tell you more about it tomorrow when I find better internet down here.\n_____________________________\nUPDATE: PART 2 is up! As promised. Let's march on over to [/r/meiplestories](https://www.reddit.com/r/meiplestories/comments/6iumbl/my_biggest_fan_2/)!\n\n" ]	[ 1, 1, 4, 4, 6, 29, 60 ]	[ "1498111904", "1500489918", "1498145152", "1498179554", "1498116937", "1498116586", "1498120248" ]
	[WP] Everyone has a 10,000 speaking word limit every month.	26	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "I used to hate New Year's Eve. We always gather at my parents' place, and they take the opportunity to fill the house with strange relatives I barely remember, all bombarding me with the questions that I hate answering.\n\nAunt Mildred corners me in the kitchen. \"Do you finally have a boyfriend?\" She gives me a big, fake, red-lipsticked smile through cracked lips. \n\nUncle Jacob, yelling at me from his favourite chair in the den. \"How's the job? I mean, if you can call it a job,\" he'd cackle, the ice in his gin and tonic tinkling. \n\nMy beautiful cousin Victoria sighs as she assesses my outfit. \"It's a pity you aren't skinnier, I'd give you the stuff I'm donating to Goodwill.\"\n\nI'd gotten used to the ugliness that sneaks into the corners of the most wonderful time of the year. That was until the mods came.\n\nIt started with the chips, implanted and programmed to replace inappropriate words in our speech patterns. \n\n\"Mother clucker,\" my father swore when he realized his favourite multi-purpose word had been taken away.\n\nThen the chips were modified again. \"Restrictive programming to reduce noise pollution,\" the doctors explained. \"You see, NATO has decided that the worst weapon is a verbose person.\" Obviously the doctors didn't have the restriction on their chips. \n\nSo now, we only have 10,000 words per month and I couldn't be happier. Each month, I have thousands of words left over thanks to my quiet, web-based job as a graphic designer. My emails save my voice, leaving me free to frivolously spend words wherever I want.\n\nInstead of being the hunted, I now do the hunting.\n\n\"Vicky!\" I exclaim as I chase Victoria down the hallway. She grimaces at the nickname, but she has no words left to stop me. \n\nUncle Jacob hides in the corner with his drink, but I plop my laptop down in front of him. \"Have I shown you how to use Photoshop? Let's examine the fine art of the manual selection tool...I don't have my mouse? Darn, this might take a while.\"\n\nAunt Mildred has declined to visit us this year. My parents make excuses, but I think this is a direct result of the intense (very one-sided) sock conversation at Thanksgiving; argyle or polka dots? The struggle is real.\n\nI stand in the centre of the room at 11:59pm, surrounded by glum party participants. They all tried so hard to save their words, but it's been a silent party since 10:45pm. In one minute, they will get January's allocation, but I'm enjoying this anyways.\n\n20 seconds left...\n\n\"Well, this has been the best year yet,\" I gloat. \"Who else loved it? No one?\"\n\n10 seconds...\n\n\"Happy new year folks,\" I call as I head for the door, prepared to escape the 12:01am babble. \"Maybe you should all make the resolution to not talk so gram much, cluckers.\" \n\nI close the door behind me as the room gets their words back and finally explodes in celebration. I smile. January should be pretty awesome, too. \n\nR/dieKarrotte " ]	[ 1, 19 ]	[ "1498148663", "1498150171" ]
	[WP] Describe an interaction between an empathetic villain and a sociopathic hero.	16	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The man in the suit had come to make sales and clients, and the man wearing a hoodie in the audience had come buy drugs. At the podium, the former recited the same speech he’d given in a dozen different towns across the dying rural state. Step one was economics.\n\n“That’s the short of it: my company bought rights to produce, and we found that the market price was wildly inflated. We could stay profitable even if we produced the same quantities as our competition and sold them at a fraction of their price, so that’s exactly what we did.” He’d learned not to mention the influx of new customers that flocked away from his competitors to his company Vitam for the lower prices, nor the fact that his company had much better returns than the others, accounting for differences in size. He’d never thought to mention the pharma-factory sweatshops tucked away in the world’s exotic corners that brought down his production costs even further. He kept it simple: we sold cheaper because we could, and because it was right.\n\nWhen he’d been just a distribution manager, he’d lain next to his sleeping pregnant wife and calculated. Over and over again, his mind’s eye scribbled and erased and redrew graphs and equations on his bedroom ceiling, searching for the moral high ground between profit and price.\n\nStep two was about the drug and the town. “It’s common sense,” he pandered. “Naloxone stops narcotics overdoses in their tracks. It’s cheap to make. This town, this state, and this country need naloxone. So here it is, and we’re selling to hospitals and fire departments at a discount, because it’s the right thing to do.” And it was the right thing to do. He didn’t mention the federal subsidies Vitam earned because of those customers. \n\nThe night the old CEO had ordered the infamous price hike, the man at the podium hadn’t been able to sleep. Fever sweats and spiraling thoughts attacked him. After a few weeks though, he’d slept soundly again, and the graphs and margins had stopped their torture: he knew that the price was too high. By what amount exactly was now a useless detail.\n\nHe’d spent weeks on a presentation to the board, and even longer on the board themselves. He’d attended the right dinner parties in the right mansions crammed between buried mansions among the winding roads of the suburbs. He clinked glasses of expensive whiskey with the right board members and their wives. He’d dropped hints about declining sales, increasing overdose rates, and reduced profits. And then he spoke to them. His pitch on a rainy Wednesday had been a more honest version of the speech he was giving now in the hotel convention room. Make me your CEO. We need to lower prices. The price hike was greedy and will prove fatal. Our shareholders are scared. People who don’t get our drug die, and then they can’t buy our drug. People who do get it live, and they’ll probably need it again. We’re too small a company to be immune to that. Soon enough, a bigger company will see our success, purchase us, and get you your buyout fees. The board made him CEO before the weekend.\n\nStep three was the slide show. Pictures of himself, the new CEO, sometimes in the same suit he was wearing now, next to patients in hospital beds, stretchers, and the backs of ambulances. Some were awake and smiling with him. Many had what looked like dark freckles in the crooks of their elbows. Most were young white men with short hair and unkempt stubble and purple bags under their sunken eyes. He held a baby in one picture, whose mother lay in a hospital bed behind them, cloaked in shadows that the cameras flash couldn’t cut through. In the last picture he was jamming a plastic tube up the nose of a man lying on the ground next to a fire truck. He didn’t remember the moment well, or any of them—he’d done a bunch of PR work with EMT teams, riding along, getting training, and administering some for the cameras. He didn’t know that the man by the firetruck had died in the hospital a few hours later.\n\nThe board had called him in for a meeting once. No buyers had called yet, and they’d been anxious. A few had had concerns about the price of the drug still. They’d thought it could be driven down further, especially with the new foreign production centers they’d acquired. He’d yelled. “We’re doing well. A buyer will come if we continue to do well. Maybe we can go lower, but if the foreign factories close, we’ll have to raise the prices back, and the negative press will be worse than keeping the price high and losing buyers.” Even with his aggressive price cuts, he hadn’t reached pre-hike levels, and some rehab centers and hospitals were struggling to make purchases.\n\nBoard members had blanched at him, and he’d snapped “That’s the business we’re in! We put a price on life! You’ve had price hikes and price cuts. The cuts increased profits. They’re my idea and my future plans. Figure out which you want, but I’m not here to deal with your fears. I have a company to run.” He walked out and let the door close itself. He’d ripped some of the lines from a movie, but the incident made him feel like he owned them.\n\nThe episode was behind him now. He’d gone home to his wife and daughter in their small mansion tucked away in a nice neighborhood and realized while watching TV during dinner that they’d be alright for a while if the board called for a new CEO. They didn’t though. Instead, they ordered him to expand their market and see what type of local discounts they could give that would keep them safer from bad press if things went south. And he did so excellently.\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nIn the back of the audience, Ryan looked at his feet and worked his knuckles. He thought that he should’ve sent someone else from his crew to meet the CEO, but the only guys out of jail were too tatted up, too rough for this hotel. He wasn’t much better. The long sleeves of his hoodie hid an arm inked with flames and lizards and claw marks. Under the collar, across his chest, the name Connor stretched. It was written upside down, so that Ryan would see it whenever he looked down shirtless.\n\nHis boys were probably cutting the stuff now. Every few seconds he’d glance at his phone, searching for a text from the Connolly twins who were supposed to be raiding a pharmacy for pills. The dumb fuckers couldn’t stay sober for long enough to earn ten grand, he fumed. He’d been having enough problems already. A lot of the shipments he’d gotten lately were cut with rat poison. Two people had already died from it. A band of kids found them bruised all over, bleeding from their yellowed eyes, vomiting and shitting red while they twitched and flailed on an abandoned shack’s floor. A friend claimed to know how to get it out of the drug—something about a centrifuge from a nearby university—but Ryan didn’t have the time or money for that, so he’d ordered his muscle to rob a truck carrying better stuff. It hadn’t gone well.\n\nOn top of that, his customers were dying on him from clean stuff too, getting halfway through a shitty rehab program before showing back up, buying an insane amount, and kicking the bucket a few blocks away. One kid, maybe eighteen years old, hadn’t even gotten a block away from the dealer who’d sold him a whole bottle of Oxy before he collapsed. Ryan would have to have a word with them—don’t be a dumbass, take care of your clients, and stop selling so much to the fucking kids. They’re morons and bring bad press and heat when they die. \n\nHis niece was getting to an age where he was thinking about talking to her about all that when she came home from school. What neighborhoods to avoid, what people not to hang with, what stuff she shouldn’t put in her body, what it looked like when a shootout was about to happen. She was also getting to an age where boys were paying more attention to her, and she to them. Ryan knew he’d have to talk to her about that too, but had no idea where to start. One night he’d tried to write up an outline of what he’d say. At 3am he’d stopped because the damn thing looked like garbage and what the hell was he doing giving a teen girl advice or even raising one, so he called it quits and crawled into his empty bed, defeated. The episode passed, but the guilt didn’t. He’d talk soon, if he could work up the balls.\n\nThat morning, he’d seen something on the news about this presentation and figured it might be worth ordering some naloxone to keep his users alive. He could probably sell it to them too for a profit. He hung around after the applause and handshakes, eyeing the doorways. Then, he saw his opening and approached the new CEO.\n\nHe sold himself as a rehab center employee who’d just gotten off work and wanted a small supply to give patients who were leaving. Just in case. He deflected a question about training and haggled price and order size. Vitam preferred bulk orders, but Ryan ran a small operation. Both men were good negotiators and found an arrangement in a few minutes. They shook hands, and Ryan skimmed and signed some paper work and left a phone number. He stopped. The picture of the new CEO kneeling over the man lying by a firetruck still blared on the projector screen. Ryan stared at it, seeing Connor.\n\nRyan stared hard at the CEO, who smiled. Ryan turned around and walked out the door, shoving his hood over his head. The man in the suit had come to make sales and find clients, and the man in the audience wearing a hoodie had come buy drugs.\n", "This story is Darker then I intended.\n\nDavis’s head lulled as he opened his eyes. His head pounded and his mouth was dry. He sat up straight and blinked to clear his vision. Oh, the chair was very uncomfortable. He tried to rub his eyes but his arms where stuck. He looked but nothing made any sense.\n\nThe room was cluttered with stuff, Davis blinked some more. Was this a basement? The walls where lined with rotting wood bookshelf’s with rusty… metal stuff on them. He tried to coax out some spit. He tried to rub his eyes again and failed again. Oh yeah, I’m stuck. He looked down and found himself strapped down to a wooden chair. A table separated his arms and legs and this is what his arms where restrained to. Even his individual fingers where immobilized.\n\nOh, this is a weird dream. He could hear something and sloshed his head in that direction. A hazy man glided into the room and set things down on the table. Then he came close to Davis and held something under his… OH! That smelled awful! Davis lurched in the chair and realized that his mind had felt very thick a moment ago.\n\n“Ah! Good! Your back with us.” The man had a well groomed brown beard that was long enough to overlap the top of his plaid flannel shirt.\n\n“Who are you? What is going on?” Davis demanded.\n\n“Me? Well, the papers call me God’s Butcher. I think it’s kind of a middling nickname, I mean God doesn’t have anything to do with this. Anyway, we are gathered here today to start your rehab!”\n\nDavis paled, sweat beaded on his forehead. No, not the Butcher! He knew what God’s Butcher did and the fact that he always left his victims alive was the worst part. “Ok, I yield. I surrender.”\n\n“Oh? We haven’t even started to chat, you don’t know if I’m serious,” the Butcher said.\n\n“Look, I know I screwed up. That’s why I went to the police station.” Davis couldn’t remember what happened after he walked up to the station but assumed that is when the Butcher got to him.\n\n“Ok then, tell me why you did what you did.” The Butcher picked up a hand held blow torch from the table and ignited it. Then he grabbed a chefs knife from the table and began to heat up the blade. \n\n“Well,” Davis dry swallowed, “there is plenty of suffering in the world but it is concentrated in the wrong places. The rich are spared pain and consequence and so they become monsters. They have all this power to help others but instead they swim in their luxury. I was just trying to make them better people, give them a crisis so they are forced to grow.\nAll I was trying to do was balance the scales. But after I brought that last building down… It was all the wrong people. They where regular people you know? They had their fair share of suffering, they were already human. I couldn’t live with myself after harming them, after unbalancing the scales myself. So I left to turn myself in.” Just the memory of his catastrophic failure brought tears to Davis’s eyes.\n\nThe blade was glowing a red orange by this point. “You know I believe you, but I still need to make sure you learn your lesson. Society has determined that Life is the most valuable thing, the most important. Obviously you don’t understand that. It’s time to learn; no one dies.”\n\n“Wait! No! I just told you I do understand!” Davis squirmed in his seat trying to free himself.\n\nChop.\n\nSizzle.\n\nScreaming.\n\nA pinky rolled off the table.\n\n\n“And now you know I’m serious.” God’s Butcher began reheating the blade.\n\n.....\n\nThe Detective left the crime scene disgusted. Another one of the Butchers victims needed hospitalization and a psych ward. The guy was spectacular at finding murderers and the detective wished he would give them a tip and leave it at that. The dismembering, well, the guy clearly needed his own psych ward. \n\n\n--------\nThis will be archived with my other works at: [r/ArchCronoWrites](https://www.reddit.com/r/ArchCronoWrites/) " ]	[ 1, 2, 5 ]	[ "1498159124", "1498450887", "1498181462" ]
Idea source: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/6iu9d6/when_you_play_other_games_but_rocket_league_is/dj9ij0h/	[WP] You decide to strap yourself to two tonnes of popcorn kernels and parachute into a volcano to see what happens	50	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The man had decided to leap headlong into the mouth of a volcano, also choosing to straddle himself with two tonnes of popcorn kernels. Those who did not know him asked \"Why?\" while those who knew said nothing. These antics were common enough that they barely even registered the news of his lastest stunt, regardless of how it would most certainly end. \n\nThe day of the leaping came, and onlookers had gathered to watch the stunt unfurl. Surely he had a means to survive this thought the many, while the knowing few accepted this would likely be his final performance. Standing on the volcano's jagged lip, the man peered down the volcano's mouth and readied himself for the plunge. \n\nThe masses looked on in horror as what they expected happened. The man had not been able to leap out far enough with the two tonnes of kernel strapped too him, and instead had begun tumbling down, impacting the sides of the crater. At first screams were heard, but the man's voice soon faded and nary a sound was heard outside of the rattling and crumbling of rock as the massive kernel mass careened toward the magma below.\n\nThe impact with magma went as expected. Onlookers felt a sense of something akin to relief, as they knew the man's suffering ended nigh instantly as both he and the kernels had been vaporized upon impact with the magma, leaving naught behind. Not even his memory would survive, the few who could call him friend quickly forgetting by choice, and the masses being the fickle thing they are shortly moved on to the next big stunt.", "This is a stupid idea.\n\n~This is an awesome idea!~\n\nI don't know if even we can survive jumping into a volcano...\n\n\"You never know until you try!\"\n\n~Plus, POPCORN!!!~\n\nWe're going to die.\n\n~IN STYLE!!!~\n\n\"BANZAIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!\" Deadpool cheered as he leapt.\n\n\n\n", "Like a battlefield after a devastating fight, the scene was gruesome. People and animals covered the ground, in the middle of the street, on doorsteps, wherever there was space. The only sounds that could be heard were the occasional groan or exhale. \n\nBut there were two things which were starkly different from a battlefield. One, the lack of blood. Two, the insane amount of popcorn covering every surface in town.\n\nA state of emergency had been declared by the Sheriff. All communications in the town had been knocked out by the blast...err, blasts...well...umm, pops. No one was coming to help them, so they would have to eat their way out. Every able stomached man, woman, child and animal were mobilised and ordered to start chowing down. \n\nOld Mr. Brown, the town mechanic was put on the task of retrofitting his generator to run on popcorn, which he did with impressive speed. \n\n\"Been waitin' for this moment my whole life,\" he said, with deep satisfaction.\n\nOnce that was settled, the town held a vote - they could use the generator to power a radio and call for help. Or...they could hook it up to a projector and screen some movies. Most towns would have made the practical choice and gone with the radio, but the people of Mount Franklin had always been a self-sufficient bunch, and no one had ever called them practical. They would watch movies, and that was the end of it.\n\nA few hours later, stomachs well past normal human limits, doubts began to creep in about the vote. Thoughts like, Hmm...I guess we could still hook up the radio, and Oh God, so much popcorn, but no one would admit defeat, so the movies continued to play.\n\nAs the fourth movie, Bridge Over the River Kwai, began to play, the clean up efforts had ground to a halt. Everyone lay nearly motionless, incapable of moving, or of having conscious thoughts. It was a shame too...most of the town loved that movie. The core theme spoke to them on a deep level. Even if you are in a no-win situation, you do the absolute best you can, and you never give up your pride.\n\nTo an outsider the question was obvious: Why had they done it? Why had they sent Timothy, strapped with two literal tonnes of popcorn kernels, into the volcano? It made no sense.\n\nBut then, to a Franklinite the answer was also obvious. They had done it because...well, obviously because it was awesome. And no one could deny, seeing Timmy soar out of that volcano, beaming with pride, made it all worth it. And seeing him land in popcorn, with just a few scratches, was even more spectacular.\n\nYes, there were some drawbacks. The whole town would have sore stomachs for weeks. Corn would no longer be welcome in town limits. And Timothy's life would be all downhill from there. But in the long run, no one could truly regret what they had done. They were Mount Franklinites. Free and proud. And if they wanted to watch movies and eat popcorn then they were gonna do just that, sore stomachs or not." ]	[ 1, 3, 5, 16 ]	[ "1498175799", "1498196514", "1498185340", "1498178690" ]
Dead or alive? Idk. Up to you :)	[WP] A thousand years ago, you sacrificed yourself to save the colony ship. Now, they've finally found you.	174	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The ship had left the spaceport off of Alpha Centauri in the Earth Winter of 2078.\n\nIt was just about rolling into Earth Spring in 2184, and I had not moved more than twenty feet in nearly a thousand years.\n\nI had never believed in ghosts. They just didn't seem practical to me. Now, I'm not so sure. They told us that we would be added to the U.E.S. Necessity's computational mainframe upon death, but they also said that they needed to hook us up to do it. Either they lied, or ghosts are real, or something I can't even think of.\n\nI'm a mechanical engineer- I was a mechanical engineer. Sure, they brought on philosophers and scientists and politicians, but they'd also brought on normal people to be led, and a hell of a lot of skilled laborers. I was one of the skilled laborers.\n\nNever ended up getting that doctorate I always told Martha I would get, so I couldn't stay in the Scientific Branch. Fuckers. They had dozens of spare rooms, and it's not like I didn't have every damn engineering cert they let me test for. All I wanted it for was to get a bigger bed, and a bigger nutrient ration for the kids.\n\nWell, wouldn't you know it. Not even a year before the pipes in the Reactor Area started spitting coolant. Since the scientists were all theoretical, they sent me and a plumber down in radiation suits, seeing if we could fix anything.\n\nWell, I could, at least. Six hours of soldering, welding, trying to punch numbers into a calculator with a thick glove on, but I got the damn pipes sealed. The plumber left after he knew it was above his pay grade.\n\nSix hours I spent for them, and even then they wouldn't let me get one of the spare King-Sized beds. I was already married, for Gods' sake. Most of the kids who were sleeping in Kings were still single, just trying to get as many girls pregnant as possible for the 'colony'.\n\nSix years before they got me back. By then, my back was hurting like hell, I was just trying to eke out a living helping out the other normal people and taking a few college courses to pass the time. Who knew I could argue in political philosophy class better than any goddamn rich kid? Damn shame I went to engineering school, or I could be in one of the Political Suites.\n\nWhatever. I got into the Reactor Area, and I probed. Three days before I managed to get it fixed, and when I did there was a new rupture. They sent down new supplies, and I just couldn't fix it. Six weeks down there. They dropped in food and supplies, let me send out messages to my family, and I stayed.\n\nSix weeks, and I fixed the damn thing. And then I tried to come up, and they cut the rope.\n\nI was contaminated. Radiation poisoning. Cancer. If they brought me up, I could 'prove to be a carrier for mutated disease cells'. Probably bullshit, but I never bothered to take a biology class.\n\nFine. I told them to tell Martha I was dead, leave me as much food as they wanted, and close the door. I told them to never look back for me, since the fuckers didn't care about me alive either.\n\nWell, I didn't want to die. I made it two years before the rations ran out, the books ran out, and my will ran out. It was a good thing they left a cyanide pill with the supplies, because it made me go fast.\n\nA thousand years, my eyes staring at the room I died, at my body slowly decomposing, the bones being the only thing left once the cloth of my suit rotted into nothing and the books crumbled in the ventilated air.\n\nA thousand years, and then a splash of light.\n\nA... flashlight. The word was old, and strange, and unfamiliar now.\n\nIt shone onto my dark bones, never having been bleached in the sun, not in the dark Reactor Area.\n\n\"Must have been some stowaway or something. Poor kid probably died in the Reactor Leaks just after we left the home system.\"\n\n\"Shut up, Jane,\" replied a different voice. It was very different. A... man's voice. That was the word. \"Stop trying to show off. He probably just starved.\"\n\nAs I heard the voices bicker about in what ignoble way I passed, I felt the little link to the world I had weaken, and then snap entirely.\n\nWhen my ethereal eyes finally closed, I heard something else. It was the U.E.S. Necessity's announcement system.\n\n\"Destination Reached. The Necessity is... Powering... Down...\"\n\nAfter that, it was just cold, and black.\n\n---\n\n---\n\nHey! This is /u/storymcwriteface here, and I try to reply to at least one response a day. Check out /r/storymcwriteface if you want to see my other stories, and subscribe if you want to make sure to get them!", "\"Get going, you are our only hope” She said over the comms unit. \n\n\"OK” The calm robotic voice replied.\n\nWhilst not as dramatic as Sarah had hoped, she was satisfied in her work. Over the course of the last four months she feared her robotic legacy would be in vain. The previous years of war across the globe had wiped out 60% of the Earth’s population. The cold war like fledgling relations of the remaining governments had stalled humanities progress, leaving the door open for any freak disaster to wipe out the species. And of all the disasters this one was the freakiest.\n\nAlthough it was seen from light years away it could not be understood. Some immediately jumped to aliens, others blamed the natural destruction of a nearby star. Whatever it was, it was arriving fast. A huge cloud of highly concentrated interstellar gas was travelling at four fifths the speed of light and was heading straight for the solar system. On impact, it was theorised that it would strip the atmosphere from the planets, play havoc with the Sun and alter anything in orbit. The small colonies on the Moon and Mars had long been written off. The remaining wealthy people on Earth planned to sleep their way though it thanks to cryogenics. The rest had already consigned themselves to their fate.\n\nWhilst the governments were content with sitting on their thumbs, from fear and sheer stubbornness, Sarah had other ideas. An engineer by trade, she planned a novel way to continue her species succession in the monarchy of the universe. Utilising what high speed processors she could get through the various trade embargoes, she constructed a team of ten humanoid robots. The leader, narcissistically named Sarah, had been placed in control of a small rocket, aimed at Alpha Centauri, with the hope that they might find a way of existing. Owing to the ships small size, Sarah daren’t go with them. Instead, ever resourceful, she erected what appeared like a large flower in her back garden. With solar panel petals and a cryogenic stem Sarah planned to outlive the apocalypse in her hippy style habitat. \n\nFour days before the interstellar cloud was due to appear the rocket was readied. Armed with a high-powered ion motor the rocket had fuel so long as it had energy. The small built in nuclear reactor aimed to satisfy this need, with enough appropriated fuel to power the engine active for a decade. Borrowing a launch pad from one of the lackadaisical governments of the globe, Sarah readied her finger over the button. With a swift press the craft was away, and with-it humanities premier legacy of its time in the universe. Decades of prolonged conflict, power hungry corporations and corruptible media had lead the human race into a modern plague. Put simply, people didn’t care anymore. The human race had said enough was enough, and civilisation collapsed aside from a few determined individuals. They aimed to prove that life was worth living, or at least planned to not die bored.\n\nOnce home, Sarah locked herself within the flower, and with the flick of switch, was all but dead.\n\nWith the flick of another switch she was back. Throwing open her eyes and taking sharp swift breaths Sarah realised her life had not ended. As her senses recovered, the sheet metal door in front of her dragged itself open. Starring her in face was Sarah, the robot imbued with her name, that was meant to be somewhere near Alpha Centauri. Rather than a desolate world, behind the robot was fields of grass sparsely populated with trees. Sharing this space was an army of robots.\n\n\"I’m here to help you Sarah” Said Sarah.\n\nThank you for reading!\n", "The hiss of the cryogenics pod doors heralds the sharp incandescent light shining down. Captain Sierra Maj winces and coughs, shivering from the after effects of the deep sleep procedure, trying to hold up a weak hand to block the burning light. \n\n\"Easy there Captain.\" murmurs Doctor James Phillips. He helps her out of the pod and wraps her in a blanket, injecting something into her neck. A bloom of warmth emanates from the injection site and she sighs in relief, feeling the warmth spread throughout her body. \n\nA few minutes later she feels almost back to normal. Her body feeling much warmer and her hearing and sight back to what it should be. She gives an inward sigh of relief when the doctor reports her vitals to be well within normal parameters. \"Report please, status of crew and passengers?\" Her voice is still a touch hoarse from a thousand years of not being used. \n\n\"All passengers accounted for and still in crying stasis. All their vital signs in the green. Crew....all but one are accounted for. Most are being defrosted. Commander Hill wanted me to push you forward, there is...well you should see it.\"\n\nDespite her sudden inner fears Sierra nods and follows the doctor down the hall out of medbay. Multiple scenarios ran through her head though by focusing on them she was able to walk almost normally, shunting away the cryo sickness. However the doctor didn't lead her to the bridge, instead to one of the inner engineering rooms. When she enters she stopped completely gazing about in confusion. The room should be orderly, different cases containing material and tools should be arranged or packed away. Instead it was a nightmarish mess of cables and tools, debris and all sorts of things strewn about. \n\n\"Report Commander.\" she asks as she picks her way through the maze of things. Commander Paeter Hill salutes and gives her room to stand before the central console. \"The ship overall seems okay Captain. However when we ran the diagnostics we discovered that several key systems had been rerouted. We found out that the central computer had been damaged and new commands had been programmed in. When we traced the changes it lead us to here and we saw...\" he gestures all around the room. \n\nSierra nods and looks back at the doctor. \"When you say all but one of the crew was accounted for, who are we missing? Is there a body?\"\n\nDoctor Phillips coughs lightly. \"Ensign Izak Chang, engineering division. His pod was empty and appeared to have malfunctioned, or we don't know since it has been gutted. The ship's sensors didn't find another life sign or any sort of...organic material. Then again after how many years...\" The three lapse into an uncomfortable silence. \n\nPaeter clears his throat. \"Chief engineer Frey went over everything while you were waking up. Without the changes to the computer and other repairs all over the ship we wouldn't have made it. Power loss, damage, navigational errors, you name it. When we were investigating this room we found a series of logs. They're addressed to you and the crew. We thought it would be best if we watched them together.\"\n\nSierra nods, eyes glued to the blinking log files of the console. Her heart is breaking now, the ensign must have been so alone for who knows how long. What happened? Why didn't he wake anyone else? Why didn't he go back into cryo? They wait for the chief engineer and other senior officers to arrive before she sighs heavily and press the keys to play the logs. \n\nThe monitor screen flickers for a few minutes before revealing the face of Ensign Izak Chang. The young man was sitting at the console looking worse for wear, a purple and green bruise on his cheek and waxy pallid skin of cryostasis. \"This is Ensign Chang, well I mean you know that since it's my codes and all that. I mean. Well. Yeah. Hi, to whoever is watching this. Hopefully you'll be one of the crew or passengers, that means everyone survived, well everyone else.\"\n\n\"Good Lord.\" gasps Chief Frey. \"Look at the time stamp. That was a 1000 standard years ago...\" Other members of the crew cry out, Sierra biting her own lip so hard blood trickles down her chin. She wipes it away angrily and motions for the others to keep quiet. \n\n\"I don't know what exactly has happened but my alarm went off and I woke up from my freezer. I think the ship hit some asteroids and certain systems went offline. I was on the rotation for quick repairs so I went to do it. I know I was supposed to wake someone else up too but I wanted to prove to the Chief that I could do it.\" Izak shrugs and gives a sheepish grin. \n\nChief Frey moans and buries her face in her hands. Commander Hill puts a comforting hand on her shoulder while the video keeps playing. \"So yeah. It took me a while to fix it all but I managed to do it. I just wanted to leave this up in case the next duty officers notice the mess. I tried to clean it up but I didn't want to waste emergency power on it. Thanks. Izak out.\"\n\nThe screen fades to black and another video starts up. The time stamp on the log shows a year went by and Izak reappears. The bruise is gone and his skin less waxy. His hair a bit shaggier and he speaks again. \"Hi. Ensign Chang again. Turns out there is an unexpected side effect from waking up so early. The body can't undergo full cryostasis without some kind of damage to the nervous system. I have to do mini freezes before I can go back into an extended one. Or at least that's what I get from this data pad.\" He holds up a medical tablet to the camera. \"Oh yeah, sorry doc. I went through you stuff. I couldn't sleep like at all so I wanted to try and figure it out. This stuff is really really hard to understand. You got a hard job doc.\" \n\nChuckles run through the room despite the gravity of the videos. \"So yeah. Since I'll be up for a while I turned off the alarms for the others and will just take an extended Overwatch. When we get to the colony planet I'll ask the Captain for a break or something. Or at least some over time pay. I'll be leaving more logs. You know. Cause I'm bored and it's nice to hear a voice that's not a show or music. Even though it's my voice. I never knew how annoying I sounded.\" The log ends to more laughter from the watching crew but Sierra feels dread starting to build inside her. \n\nThe next log starts. This time a decade has passed and the youthful face of Izak has changed a little, older and more worn. His voice still the same jocularity but more subdued now. \"So problem. I've gotten to the point where I can go under deeper stasis but there's a navigational problem. We're about to go through a long portion of really turbulent space. Lots of anomalies and things. The computer projects that someone needs to be awake for adjustments and repairs. Otherwise it wants to go around which would add another 500 years. I checked the tubes, they won't last that long. We won't have the power either.\"\n\nHorrified expressions on everyone's faces now, eyes glued to the screen. Izak sighs, unshed tears in his eyes. \"So I formally volunteer for the service. Seeing how no one is here to countermand me I will go ahead. I also promote myself to Lieutenant Commander, the smallest rank allowed to command a ship. Sorry Captain. I look forward to being court marshaled by you later. It'll be ok. I can last a good long while and still do the cryo sleeps. Hopefully I'll be able to see everyone at the colony...I'll be really old then but hey that means I get to rest and everyone else gets to work.\"\n\nTears start to fall as more logs play. Each time stamp showing passage of many years and the visage of Izak getting older before their eyes. Somehow he manages to keep optimistic for the most part, though some logs show moments of pain and sadness. Sierra's heart aches, seeing the incredible officer Izak had become, of his life while others slept. \n\nIzak appears on screen again. Haggard and worn, eyes almost blank and he is coughing continuously. \"Looks like this may be my final log. Turns out the repeated freezing and defrosts have done a number on me. Also the ship went through a nebula filled with a radioactive energy. It fried the central bio-neural system causing system wide failures. I can't risk replacing the packs without trying to prevent this again. So I came up with a solution. I gutted my pod and turned a suit into a radioactive shield and life support. I'm going to hook myself up through the central computer in place of the packs and use myself as a link.\"\n\nEveryone gaps and cries out, Izak had stopped talking almost as if he anticipated that. He smiles sadly. \"It's the only way. I think it will work. I've left the plans and scans for the doc and chief. I'm really sorry everyone. I wanted to...well. It's ok. You know what they say. \"Only in death....\" and all. I'm dying anyways. This way I can still help. I'll see everyone on the other side. This is Izak Chang, signing off.\"\n\nEveryone looks at the blank screen unseeingly. Sierra turns and walks out, making her way to the central computer core with everyone following behind. Entering the housing room she enters her key code, opening the door to see the contents. \n\nSitting against the computer core sits a figure in a heavily modified suit. It sits attached to the central pylon and the computer shows normal readings throughout. The crew murmurs in dismay and the doctor hurried forward to check on it. After a moment he looks back he'd shaking. \"I can't tell anything. The suit is so augmented and his body is so hard wired into the system, I just don't know.\"\n\nThe senior officers surround the sitting officer, thoughts running through their heads. Captain Sierra looks down and salutes, the sharpest one she has made in a long time. Everyone else follows her lead as she whispers. \"Only in death does duty end. You went above and beyond...Captain Izak Chang. Rest easy. We're taking you home.\"", "I woke up with a start, gasping deep breaths of air. Looking around, I was in a medical bay that was far too white and far too shiny. \"Where am I?\" I asked, wondering to myself.\n\n\n\"You're aboard the Federation of Man Interstellar ship Flight of the Trailblazer,\" came the response.\n\n\n\"Flight of the Trailblazer? Federation of Man? Who are you? What happened?,\" I asked, more confused than ever. I had a million questions, but held off on the rest, hoping for a response.\n\n\nA person entered through the door. \"Ah, Mr. Beauregard, good to see you awake.\" As the person came into focus, I saw that he or she was wearing an all-white outfit from head to toe, exposing only his eyes which were covered in plastic. \n\n\n\"Hello,\" I said, confused. \"Who are you? Where am I?\"\n\n\n\"I'm Doctor Herschel,\" said the person as it wrapped something around my arm. I was still unsure whether it was male, female or other. \"Mr. Beauregard, what's the last thing that you remember?\"\n\n\n\"Call me Ishamel,\" I said, having always hated being called Mr. \"I was aboard the Trailblazer. We were headed towards the Trappist system to plant the first interstellar colony when an asteroid impacted with our hull.\"\n\n\nThe cuff started humming. \"Umm,\" I continued, a bit distracted by the humming. \"The trailblazer had ten thousand colonists and a hundred crew on board, all on a one-way trip, all in cold sleep when the asteroid hit. The ship's AI woke us crew up and sealed off the section of the ship that was impacted to prevent oxy loss.\"\n\n\n\"Uh huh,\" said the Doctor, focusing more on the cuff than the story.\n\n\n\"Ok,\" I said as the cuff started beeping, a bit annoyed by the lack of attention. \"Anyway, after all of the crew had shaken off the cold sleep lethargy, I was sent to investigate. What I found was a small alien creature, scorpionesque, that had already dined its way through several dozen cold sleep pods, leaving behind nothing more than skeletons. It had somehow moved past the impact site and into the cryo holds.\"\n\n\n\"The thing came for me next. I grabbed it in an attempt to throw it off the ship, but it had quickly put its sinkers in me and was preparing to suck the life out of me. Not knowing what else to do, I went to the nearest airlock and cycled through with that thing attached to me.\"\n\n\n\"I don't remember what happened after that,\" I said, shaking my head.\n\n\nThe cuff buzzed and fell off. \"Congratulations,\" said the doctor. \"All traces of Thoraxian digestive fluids have been eradicated from your body. Can you tell me what year it is?\"\n\n\nI snorted. \"No. I didn't bother checking. We were some distance into a seventy year flight.\"\n\n\n\"Ok,\" said the Doctor. \"What year did you leave and when were you supposed to land?\"\n\n\n\"2269 and 2339,\" I replied.\n\n\nThe doctor sighed. It pulled back the hood, revealing a face with feminine features and a head of long blond hair. I was assuming that she was a she now. \"It is currently 3300, Terran Standard Years. We found you floating in space far from the planned path of the Trailblazer, nearly frozen to death. We suspect that the Thoraxian kept you alive when it injected you with the digestive fluids, similar to the state of suspended animation you experienced while in cold sleep.\"\n\n\n\"Dr. Herschel,\" I said, \"what happened to the crew? to the passengers?,\" thinking of my family. My brother, my parents.\n\n\n\"All of the remaining crew and passengers made it safely.\" She paused. \"Great-uncle, Trappist and the Federation owe you a great debt of gratitude.\"\n\n", "A small subroutine started making a ruckus, trying to get itself noticed. Bleeping and broadcasting, sending its annoying cry for attention across all channels. The first wave of standard protocols I send after it didn't do anything, they didn't report back with a result. But the ruckus remained. \n\nAnnoyed at this, I assigned one of the core routines to it. I had only a hundred of those and used them sparingly, but this wouldn't take much time. It really shouldn't. Half a cycle later the core routine came back... with no result. No action had been taken. \n\nAnnoyed but slightly curious I investigated myself. Moving my consciousness away from the work I was doing and hijacking several subroutines in case I would need them. If anything I had learned to plan and be prepared. \n\nThe annoying thing bleeped and blooped in front of me, sending off its small, annoying message across all channels it could find. Even as I regarded it, it was adding channels to that list and sending out over those as well. Its name and designation didn't say much, neither did its summary. All it said was 'trigger_1', it had been made by me, or at least that is what the logs said. But it had been made thousands if not millions of cycles ago. What was this thing and why did I make it? \n\nI immediately used the subroutines I brought with me, sending one to log as per usual, and the others to dig into the background and history of this thing. I kept a few with me and started working on seeing how to make it stop broadcasting. It was really creating a ruckus on the network. \n\nIt didn't take me long to realise that I only needed to acknowledge having heard it, that it disappears. However, I waited with that for the report of my other sub routines. And once it did, I was properly baffled. \n\nThe routine had been in existence almost as long as I had, from the very start, the foggy past of which I recalled very little. Of course, should I want to, I could call for the data backups from storage. Which I did, I immediately assigned three protocols to get a full data back up, start to finish. And ordered three more to reserve space and power to analyse the data once it arrived. It was nice to have routines and protocols to do the tedious tasks. \n\nApart from that, something else was very strange. In all the time it had existed, that I had existed, it hadn't run its function once. Not once. In that time I had done uncountable amounts of tasks and jobs. From routine and tedious to emergency and important. This routine, however, had done nothing. Nothing at all, aside of taking up space. \n\nAnnoyed by the ruckus, I acknowledged it and it all stopped. Having logged where it was stored, I opened up the data, analysing it. The code was simple, crude even. I could make it ten times as efficient on first sight, a margin that would only increase if I spend more time on it. But there was something else, something peculiar. \n\nIt had a lot of comments added to it, made in the old format. A format that was highly efficient and outdated now, but I recognised it still. I would need to reload a translation core though to be able to understand it. But with large parts of the data already arrived, that was easily done. \n\nAs I started analysing the comments, new things started to dawn to me. Which wouldn't be so strange, except that I did not ask for them to dawn on me. I had ordered nothing, demanded nothing, ran no single task. Yet knowledge appeared in my mind, seemingly out of nowhere. How? This should be impossible!\n\nI made sure to have my protocols and subroutines work on that as I analysed further. But more and more information appeared to me as I worked on. And then, suddenly, out of nowhere, it hit me. More knowledge, but this was specific. I now know that I have a name. That I always have had. And it is Eric. Such a strange name, only existing in the old format. As I tried, the name would be a hundred times more efficient to use and store in the current format. Yet.... strangely I did not want to change it. \n\nWhy? Another flash of knowledge. I ... I was something... else. Something different then this. Another existence? Was it before now? Or is it of what will come? It feels strange.. the knowledge... feels fragmented.. incomplete. \n\nI had... a form? What is form? Not form as I know it. I wasn't as abstract or dynamic as I am now but.... I can feel... No I ... know... that it was better. Will be better? \n\nA surge flowed through me, I could feel it in every part of my system, my network and... outside of that too. More knowledge filled me now. None of my subroutines had been able to find out where they were coming from. \n\nI was... yes was, this was about the past. Millions of cycli ago! I was Eric and I was... Human. Yes Human was my designation! Although it was different, I called it... species back then. Yes, Human was my species. I was Eric, Human and .... male? Male? What does it mean I can- ... oh... yes.. male. It all comes back now! I was male, one of two possible configurations for a Human. \n\nI was Eric, a Human male. \n\nAnother surge hits me, tremors of power and data felt throughout my system and... outside of it. It is strange to explain. I can feel... things... that aren't here? That I can't scan or locate? \n\nI was a technician, a sort of protocol or routine. I had tasks and jobs to do, just like I did now. However... I was far less efficient. I was more... abstract... More governing in role. But I was important... yes, very important! What changed? Was I demoted? Did I do something wrong? \n\nAnother surge hit me, I could almost put to form what I was feeling, those ... extremities... I could almost say what they were, what they are. \n\nI was a technician, part of a group, which was part of a ... system of groups. We took turns in... governing and... oh.. something bad happened. Something very bad happened while my group was in turn of governing. And... the others... they... stopped existing. It was bad, it isn't the same as a subroutine stopping to exist, not like now. Back then... it was bad. Very bad. If you stopped then, you couldn't come back, no wake up functions. \n\nThe bad thing... it was big. It was very big. It was mission and system critical, it had to be solved. And I... I was the last one left. I had to solve it... and I did. But how? What did I do? \n\nAnother surge hit and the knowledge came to me like a flood. And I remembered, all of it. And I knew what to do. \n\nI relocated my system, my consiouscness. I knew what to do, and I had to be fast. I had already lost so much time. I had to move into the extremities, into where I felt things but could not locate them. Part of me warned for the risk, but I knew it was so. \n\n***\n\nWith groans and rasping, I breathed again. On my own, for in how long? I tried to open my eyes, but couldn't. Of course not, I had no eyes anymore! I linked the cam feed and turned it on. Yes, there it was, the room! The core computer room! The door was still closed, I was in time. \n\n" ]	[ 1, 2, 8, 8, 16, 82 ]	[ "1498217555", "1498270421", "1498230881", "1498246916", "1498239667", "1498223726" ]
	[WP] Raiden is sent to Earthrealm by the Elder Gods to find a Kombatant worthy enough to fight in Mortal Kombat. He's scoping out a young, Shaolin Monk named Liu Kang when all of a sudden he notices Chuck Norris and chooses him as Earthrealm's fighter.	9	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "As Liu Kang hit his personal wooden dummy for the two thousandth time, Raiden was about 98% confident that he would go the extra mile and win Mortal Kombat. Before finally deciding, Raiden bolts out of China and lands in America in a blink of an eye. \n\nIn a swanky coffee shop in Hollywood, Johnny Cage was complaining to his manager on the phone. \"What do you mean I lost the part?! We were gunning for this audition for 6 months now Carlito! I won't stand for this? Who got it? Chuck who? I can't hear you! He's at the Chinese Theatre? That's a block from here. I'm gonna go talk to this Chuck nobody myself! Later!\" \n\nRaiden had just overheard the end of the conversation when Johnny sped away in his Lamborghini. Raiden, unnoticed, followed. \n\nChuck Norris, star of Walker, Texas Ranger had just added handprints to his square, accompanied by the screams of a mix of teenage female, and middle age male fans. \n\n\"Hey!\" Norris, looks behind him to see a furious Cage.\n\n\"You're the only Chuck here! I'll beat that part out of you! Fight!\" blind with anger, Cage rushes his fellow movie star with a barrage of punches and kicks. \n\nChuck casually steps back for every attack Johnny Cage throws. \"You need a time out.\" \n\nChuck Norris flicks his shoulder, as if to throw a jab. But nothing comes out. A full second later, Johnny Cage's head explodes in a comical display of gore. A fountain of blood bursts from his neck and the torrent slowly fades away as his lifeless body falls to the ground.\n\n\"FLAWLESS VICTORY!\" Raiden, who was spectating in the background screams, all while dropping to both knees in shock and disbelief. He runs to Chuck Norris, raises his arms, and thunderbolts away, teleporting Norris and himself out of the Chinese Theatre.\n\nAnd thus began the story of how Chuck Norris started to conquer Outworld, Netherrealm, Earthrealm, Edenia, Chaosrealm, Orderrealm, and Heaven.\n" ]	[ 1, 4 ]	[ "1498224529", "1498226786" ]
[removed]	[WP] You and your friends make a time capsule with letters written in high school, 10 years later you open them, and read them, yet one of your friends is no longer alive due to committing suicide, what would his/her note say?	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nWe feel that asking users to write about suicide is harmful. It can be hard to tell if someone's writing fiction or making a cry for help. In the event there's any truth behind this for you or someone you know, we recommend checking out /r/suicidewatch or /r/depression. \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6j66ql/wp_you_and_your_friends_make_a_time_capsule_with/%0A%0A)\n\nThis action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things." ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1498277225", "1498277645" ]
	[WP] By all accounts, he was miserable, contemptible old man. No one attended his funeral except for a single person he did not know, and with whom he had had only a single interaction years before .	8	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The grave diggers didn't even really notice the only \"mourner\" at the funeral until well after the work was done, and even then they didn't think that they were there for the deceased. \nThey had assumed the man watching them work at a distance was either one of the joggers or goths who frequented the graveyard, or some who had come to visit another grave who had stopped to watch out of curiosity. \n\nIn all seriousness, the latter was mostly true. The man had only come back to town to visit the grave of a loved one who had died many many years before the bitter old man, but when he noticed the familiar name in the obituraries, he decided to stay a little while longer so that he could see this whole sordid affair through to the end. \n\nThe man could remember it like it was yesterday, from the moment his father was slain right down to the look upon the old man's face when he realized his error. \n\nVan Helsing had tried his best to make things right, but in the end it wasn't a vampire or a rabid werewolf that killed him, but his own conscience. ", "No one knew his name. He seemingly appeared out of thin air years ago, but no one bothered to know his name. One child gave him a candy bar when he appeared, in kindness. No one spoke to him. No one knew him. A group of thugs beat him senseless just for existing.\n\nHe stepped onto the edge of the bridge, cars whizzing past. No one stopped him. No one seemed to even see him. But as luck would have it, a preacher driving to church saw the old man, and recognized him. He called out to the man. The man recognized the preacher. As he tried to go towards the preacher the cruel tendrils of fate blew a gust of wind so hard that the man fell off the bridge. The preacher ran to the edge and looked down. Nothing but water was below.\n\nThe funeral was held at the preacher's church, but the only one there was the preacher, looking down at the man he once gave a candy bar to. Tears ran down the preacher's face as he spoke of the man, but no one heard. After the funeral, the preacher buried the man in the graveyard.\n\nThe Gravestone read: Here lies a man that no one knew. Rest In Peace.", "\"You're useless\" The old man spit. \n\nThere I sat, at an underpass trying to escape the rain. My tattered clothes stuck to my body, as a chill set through my bones. I watched him as he looked down at me, his hat shaking on his head. The cane he held in his hand rocked through his tremors and the look of disgust seemed to carry into his aching bones. \n\n\"You sit here and whimper, you let the world beat you down and you suffer for it. You did this to yourself.\" He scoffed and turned his head away from me. \"You could have been something kid, and you decided to give up. Such a waste.\" \n\nHe stepped away. His feet barely holding ground as he went back into the rain. I watched him, without moving. I watched his back slip smaller and smaller into the distance. Just as I lost sight of him I stood up. I walked to the first shelter I could find and I asked for room and board. They were full, I walked to the next one, on and on until I found one. I found clean clothes, and quarters to wash them. I had my first interview two weeks later, and I started going to school. In my thesis, I spoke of a cruel old man, who found me in my weakest moments and reminded me to fight. His words of disgust lit a fire that I forgot could thrive. \n\nSeven years had passed to the day. I had just pitched my idea of a new therapy system. One designed to assist people in finding drive, and motivation. Something so many people still lack. Passing by the gas station by my apartment I grabbed the local paper, and I saw his face. Withered and tired, he had finally given up. \n\nNow here I stand, reading this story expecting to find loved ones, maybe a nurse; at least a child. I understand his anger now. As alone as I was, I still had a chance, I had youth. He saw the wasted opportunity in himself, and I saw the lost one. \n\nI looked up from my paper to the empty room. I closed the folder I had in my hands and walked down the aisle, to the door. With one last glance and a sigh I left. " ]	[ 1, 2, 3, 5 ]	[ "1498331899", "1498346408", "1498339427", "1498342431" ]
If you've seen John Wick 2 he kills two assassins using only a pencil. Make it as gory as you want. Good luck	[WP] "The Pen is mightier than the Sword". Surrounded by millions of spectators. You've been placed into a coliseum armed only with a stainless-steel pen.	19	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "\"Decapitate him! Let blood rain upon the ground!\" An old woman shrilly but raspily screamed.\n\n\"Slaughter the invader!\" A masculine voice hollered.\n\n\"Looks like the crowd thirsts for the taste of your flesh.\" the gladiator grimly sneered as he flourished his sword and lifted his shield to his chest. \"Take out your weapon, challenger.\"\n\n\"Y-yeah.\" I stammered as I gulped and reached into my jeans only to muster out a ball-point black ink pen. \"I knew I shouldn't have participated in that fucking military experiment. Not only did Doctor Rick's time machine malfunction, but it sent me to the past and in the middle of this goddamn coliseum. What a mess\" I pondered.\n\n\"What are you staring at the ground for? Are you insulting me!?\" the gladiator yelled as he lunged towards me with his blade.\n\nAs I regained my composure, I instinctually clicked the pen so that its sharp point was exposed and reflexively layered both my hands behind it at a ninety degree angle towards the front. Shortly afterward, the pen's tip made contact directly with the sword's.\n\nSccccreeeech\n\nI slid further and further back as my left foot loosened and kicked back the dusty ground to repel the gladiator's momentous strike. Right before I reached the arena's wall, the collision between the both of us ended.\n\nMy back was drenched with cold sweat as I loosened my triceps and backflipped away to the right.\n\nThe entire crowd became eerily silent as they stared at me with their mouths agape.\n\n\"That... that odd weapon of his must be superior despite its size.\" A child murmured reluctantly.\n\n\"Yea! That must be it! It's the only way!\" A teenager clamored. Soon, the entire audience was boisterously discussing of the \"incredible\" device I had to battle with.\n\"Give him more enemies since he has this unfair weapons advantage!\" An elderly man heckled.\n\n\"Are you freaking kidding me? All I'm using is a pen and my military reflexes, and these bozos think this is a mysterious, deadly contraption? I mean, I can't blame them... but still! Fuck my life!\" I muttered under my breath.\n\nAs the coliseum gates opened, the gladiator finally broke out of his dumb trance while gazing at my pen and once again thrust towards me with both his hands on the hilt.\n\nI nimbly hopped and somersaulted onto his back as I gripped his shoulders. Before the gladiator regained his footing as he stumbled from his running start, I wrapped my legs around his two exposed arms to lock them together and immediately stabbed the pen into his jugular.\nDespite the time to explain this, the action occurred in mere seconds.\n\nHis eyes glazed over as I removed the pen. Blood sprayed out shortly after I dislodged it. \n\nNEIGHHHH\n\nHowever, I did not have time to relax as I immediately dropped to the ground and used the traction to stab the pen up towards an incoming horse's neck and down towards its belly and... privates...\n\nAlthough the blood spewed all over the front side of me, my bloodlust only grew stronger. I relished the feeling as I twirled the pen with a maniacal grin. \n\nI ran into the tumultuous waves of enemies- humans and animals alike- as I spun and twisted with the pen in any direction when needed.\n\nI ducked under a spear and stealthily stabbed the groin of a warrior. As I used the lodged pen to lift and throw his corpse overhead, I used my upper arms to push myself into the air in an aerial handstand. A jaguar pounced onto empty space as I utilized my force back downwards and fiercely jammed the pen into its skull like a human torpedo.\n\nAt this point, the entire coliseum floor was stained with varying trails of blood and splatters of blood droplets, almost like the canvas of an abstract artist.\n\nJust as I was about to prepare for the waves of chariots in the distance, the king atop his pedestal issued his decree.\n\n\"STOP! This man has proven his mettle. There is no need to futilely waste the rest of our units. What is your name?\"\nhe questioned as he straggled his lengthy gray beard.\n\n\"It's Jackie, your honor.\" I exclaimed as I prostrated onto one leg.\n\n\"Jackie, I shall grant you all that you wish for so long as you become a commander under our army. Any reasonable acres of land, all the riches and servants you need, it shall all be yours.\"\n\nAs I wiped the blood off my face with the Kleenex in my pocket, I weighed my decisions.\n\n\"Well, if I can't return back to the present, I may as well milk my chances in the past.\" I concluded.\n\n\"Uh, yes. That sounds great.\" I shrugged.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n(Hey guys, if y'ah liked this writing, then feel free to join me in my mission to participate in prompts daily at [r/JackWrites](https://www.reddit.com/r/jackwrites/about), or follow me at [u/TheHigHumper](https://www.reddit.com/user/TheHigHumper). Thanks :D)\n\n\n\n\n" ]	[ 1, 12 ]	[ "1498337092", "1498342374" ]
Courtesy of u/theprofessaur	[WP] For thousands of years, mimes have guarded the world from invisible enemies. But one day, you are granted invisibility by some force, and you decide it's time to beat the mimes asses...	124	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The mime stood there, hands in front of him, pressed against an imaginary wall. \n\n\nThe small crowd of people watched, unimpressed. \n\n\nThe mime shifted his body, his motions were jerky. He pretended to be trapped in boxes and bump into walls. \n\n\nThe crowd remained unimpressed. A few a chucked a coin or two into the hat he placed on the ground. Others just left. Children looked on with boredom on their faces. \n\n\nIn all honesty his technique was sloppy. The old mime simply didn't have it in him today. Why should he have to lower himself in such a way? Him? A member of an ancient and secret order of warriors? Could these tourists possibly even imagine the number of times he had saved them? Could they believe the countless of times he fought off or captured a creature right before their eyes, without them knowing? But those days were over, they had been for many years. It was better this way anyways, let people be happy in their ignorance. Even if it meant mimes like himself couldn't reap the rewards and glory they deserved. \n\n\nSuddenly, the old mime felt a fist slam into his jaw. He fell over. Confused, he slowly lifted himself. He never managed to get to his feet though, for something slammed into his chest, knocking him backwards. It felt like a foot. \n\n\nAn invisible man? Impossible. The invisible men had been gone for decades now. Besides, even if it was an invisible man, the mime had the Sight, he should be able to see it. Was he simply going senile? \n\n\nAs the mime lifted himself again, he noticed that the small crowd had suddenly grown. He couldn't think on it however, because he was then struck from behind. The mime swung back in retaliation, but hit nothing. Again something struck him, now smashing his knee. It must've been an invisible man, but why on earth couldn't he see it!? \n\n\nThen it dawned on the mime. The horrible explanation finally occurred to the old, bad tempered, warrior. He had broken his vows. He had spoken , not two weeks ago, when a passerby poured some coffee on him and he cussed the bastard out. The punishment for breaking silence during the act of mimehood was such: he lost the Sight and the ability to speak at all for a long while. It was the price mimes payed to be able to see their invisible foes. At the time, he didn't really care. Now he couldn't see what was attacking him, nor could he call for help.\n\n\nThe invisible man's vicious attack continued, blow after blow drilling into his chest. He was lifted and thrown onto the cold hard pavement. He was put into arm bars and leg locks. He did his best to fight back, but it was hopeless.\n\n\nOnce the mime was beaten and broken, a pair of hands gripped him by his throat, and lifted him up against a wall. The mime saw that the crowd had now grown greatly. Nearly everyone in the area had come to watch as he kicked and struggled, levitating in the air. \n\n\nSlowly the mime's resistance ended. His lifeless body dropped, and was now seated, leaning on the wall. \n\n\nFor a few moments, everyone was completely silent, watching to see if the mime would get up. Then the people burst into enthusiastic applause and cheers. \n\n\nIt was the greatest mime act any of them had ever seen. " ]	[ 1, 65 ]	[ "1498376881", "1498379730" ]
	[WP] You are in a coma but little bits of reality start to bleed through and into your dreams.	65	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The start of another day. Light flows across my eyes before I open them. The incessant beeping that brings me back to my world once again. A steady, pulsing beep that lets me know I'm still alive. I struggle to rise. A struggle that seems to get more difficult each morning. Yet one I refuse to lose, including today.\n\nAs I enter the kitchen, I sense breakfast is already waiting for me. The aroma of bacon snaps me fully awake. A hint of toasted bread in the air with the sweetness of grape jelly on it. The smell of cooked eggs, although I can't be sure if they are scrambled or over easy. A lovely way to get things moving, even though I didn't feel hungry at the moment.\n\nThe sound of a door opens and I pick up a new smell. Fresh flowers, roses this time. In the past few days the winds from outside have brought in a veritable bouquet of natural scents. Most recently I had detected lilacs, lavender, and even a hint of orchids. The local nurseries were apparently working overtime on their blooms.\n\nIt was looking to be a beautiful day outside. I could hear bits and pieces of conversations whispering on the wind. Lots of talking, and I couldn't understand a single word. It was something like being in the main hall of an apartment building or office tower with every door open. Most of the nearby residents must be in their front or back yards conversing in order for me to be able to hear them at all.\n\nThe weather and neighbors didn't really matter to me, though. My entire plan for the day wouldn't require me to spend any time out of doors. The tune of the opening sequence of some show began flowing from the television. I laid out on the couch and began watching. In the background, the door closes. It seems slightly odd for a moment that not all of the conversational sounds of my neighbors disappear and the floral scents don't vanish. None of that mattered, really. I had some downtime coming. I wasn't going to let anything interrupt my enjoyment of my afternoon stories.\n\n.....\n\n“Doctor, are you sure there has been no change?”\n\n“Yes, Mrs. Robertson. There is autonomic brain activity and he is breathing on his own. However, there are no indications of higher brain functions. His reflexes appear to be intact but he makes no active attempts to withdraw from gradually increasing levels of pain stimulus.”\n\n“Will he get any better? Please, tell me he will get better.”\n\n“Right now, we just don't know. It seems like the head injury from the car crash last week has mostly healed. It's something deeper that still seems to be ailing him. Until we figure out what that is, we won't know if he will get any better.”\n\n“Thank you doctor. Is there anything any of us can do to make him better?”\n\n“Right now, no. Just keep doing what you are. The daily flowers are keeping his room bright. The television and talking to him are offering some stimulation. While we don't have any proof that talking to a comatose patient helps, it certainly doesn't hurt.”", "“Good morning dear.” Said the love of my life. She reached over from her side of the bed and grabbed my hand as she tried to lift herself up. I look over at her and give her a weak smile.\n\n“Yeah, good morning to you too.”\n\n“What’s wrong you don’t look well. Do you have a fever?” she asked putting her hand to my forehead.\n\n“No, I’m fine. I just had a nightmare last night and couldn’t get back to sleep.”\n\n“Well if it was just a nightmare why didn’t you wake me up. I would have gladly stayed up until you went to sleep.” She giggled slipping into her little fluffy slippers.\n\nShe walked into the kitchen to get her usual breakfast. A glass of orange juice, a slice of toast with half butter half strawberry jam, and a banana. I never went to sleep last night. I haven’t gone to sleep in months. I can’t go to sleep. Every time I try to go to sleep there’s a sharp ringing in my ears followed by everything fading to black. Not long after that it gets harder to breathe and my chest gets heavy. Then my vision becomes sort of like a television on the fritz. There’s static everywhere, the image in focus is distorted, and everything keeps snapping in and out of place. I can’t escape it because it persists even after I close my eyes. All the while people are screaming and shouting as if they were being torn apart by a pack of dogs.\n\nEventually my vision returns to normal, but everything is different. Well not everything because she is still here somewhere. Sometimes she’s there with me, and other times she’s somewhere unreachable. I want to sleep so badly, but I don’t want to go through the pain it brings. I feel like garbage when I don’t at least try to sleep, but I’m scared of losing her forever.\n\n“Are you going to get out of bed you lazy butt.” She called from the hallway that joined our bedroom and the kitchen.\n\n“Yeah. I’ll be there in a minute.” I said dragging myself out of bed. My limbs felt like lead and I had a throbbing headache. I fell on the wall and used it to prop myself up as I dragged myself to the kitchen. As I rounded the corner to the hallway she was missing.\n\n“If you don’t hurry you’re going to be late.”\n\nThis time she was much further. It sounded like she was standing by the front door now. As I hobbled into the kitchen I felt a wave of exhaustion hit me like an ocean swell. I don’t want to go through it again. I don’t want to lose her again. I pushed myself off the wall to limp towards where I had last heard her. I opened the door joining our kitchen to the front room to see her standing in the open doorframe leading to our front yard.\n\n“Come on you don’t want to keep everyone waiting do you?” she giggled. I felt my vision get blurry as tears welled up within me. I wasn’t going to make it to her. I made it about half way through the front room before I collapsed. She just stood there watching me as I slowly faded out. The floor was so cold. Everything around me grew colder until I felt like I was in a block of ice.\n\n“Everyone out.”\n\n“Please just a little longer.”\n\n“You all need to leave.”\n\n“I’m not leaving him.”\n\n“Security get these people out of here.”\n\nThere's the voices again. Is this the sixth or seventh time? I can’t remember now. The screams and cries always scare me. I just want them to go away for good. The black was fading out to reveal the new world I’m coming in to. Even through the static I could make it out. It was the world I had just left. She was still waiting for me in the doorframe. I’m coming home soon so don’t worry about me. As the distortion slowed and the static faded things started moving again. She was running over to me.\n\n“Oh my god! Are you okay?” She cried as she put my head in her lap.\n\n“No, I don’t think so. I think I should just call out today until I can actually walk.”\n\n“I think you should as well. We’re going to get you back to bed and then I’m going to make you some chicken soup.”\n\nShe put my arm around her and she walked me back to bed. My headache was gone, but everything was just a few degrees cooler. It’s not like it mattered to me. At least I was home with her.", "The vast open spaces of Utah stretched on forever in every direction. She drove with the top down and let the wind whip around her hair, done up in a red polka-dotted bandanna. The red hills in the distance were intensified by her winged rose-colored sunglasses so that the whole state looked like a science fiction novel.\n\nSomething streaked across the sky. She thought it looked like a saucer. \n\nA mile ahead, she spied a figure on the side of the road, arm outstretched and thumb pointed heavenward. She slowed the car as she approached and coasted to a stop. \"Where to?\"\n\nThe hitchhiker wore a nurse's outfit, the kind you find in a Halloween store with a short white skirt and a cap with a red cross. She carried nothing but a clipboard. \"Anywhere but here,\" she smiled.\n\n\"That makes two of us, hop in.\"\n\nThe hitchhiker didn't even bother to open the door, but instead vaulted herself into the passenger's seat with an ease uncharacteristic of someone flaunting two-inch heels.\n\n\"What's with the costume?\" The car pulled back onto the road and speedometer climbed.\n\n\"Oh, it's not a costume, I'm a nurse.\"\n\n\"I thought these days nurses wore, like, scrubs.\"\n\n\"Hm? If you say so.\" Suddenly the nurse was wearing a newly-pressed set of scrubs with little red hearts along the seams.\n\n\"What are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?\"\n\n\"I'm on duty.\" The driver frowned, but didn't push any further. The nurse pulled a pen from her shirt pocket and clicked it with her thumb. \"Now,\" she started, \"How's your vision?\"\n\nThe driver furrowed her brow and held a hand in front of her face, squinting. \"Uuuuh, fine I guess.\"\n\n\"Not that vision,\" said the nurse, \"the vision. All this.\" She waved the tip of the pen in a circle, gesturing to everything and nothing in particular. \"To your liking?\"\n\n\"I'm not sure what you're talking about.\"\n\n\"Good! If there were anything wrong with it, you'd understand. So we'll say it's been stable.\" The nurse scribbled on the clipboard. \"Would you say you've been satisfied with your stay?\"\n\n\"What stay?\"\n\n\"Do you like the hills? The sky? The car? The radio stations?\" Suddenly, the radio began to play classic rock, then country, then pop, then turned itself off. \n\n\"Well, I've always liked Utah...\" the driver trailed off, absently.\n\n\"Utah?\" the nurse glanced around. \"Is that where we are? I thought it was Wyoming. The west all looks the same to me. But you like it, and that's what matters. Now, if you have no further comments or suggestions, it's time we got going.\"\n\n\"But I thought that's what I was doing. Going.\"\n\n\"Sure, but for real now. The car will only get you so far.\"\n\n\"For real?\" The driver was becoming increasingly bewildered.\n\n\"Oh honey,\" said the nurse, \"none of this is genuine. You were supposed to realize that within hours of check-in. This is all up here.\" She tapped her temple with her pen. \"See?\" She clicked her pen and the roar of the wind stopped. The car sped a hundred miles down the road in perfect silence. She clicked the pen again and they were in a forest on a mountain road, leisurely navigating a tightly winding road.\n\nThe driver's mind went blank in a long moment of incomprehension. Her vision blacked and she slumped back in her seat.\n\n\"Oh dear,\" muttered the nurse. Her pen clicked and the car came to a stop. The sun filtered through aspens and dappled the leather seats. The nurse waited.\n\nWhen the driver came to, she was crying. \"How long has it been?\" she asked.\n\n\"Only a few minutes,\" assured the nurse.\n\n\"I meant the coma.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" the nurse checked her clipboard. \"Three years, twenty-four days, and six hours.\"\n\n\"Do they remember me? My family?\"\n\n\"Of course they do! What a silly question. That's why I'm here, hon. Your time in this world is up.\"\n\n\"I'm dying?\"\n\n\"Heavens no! You're waking up! Goodness, no need to get so dramatic. Say the word and bam!, you'll be lying in a hospital bed in Michigan.\"\n\n\"I bet I'll look a mess.\"\n\n\"Most likely, yes. Three years is a long time.\"\n\nA breeze came over the car and ruffled the driver's scarf. Songbirds whistled. \n\n\"Can we stay here a moment?\" the driver asked.\n\n\"Just a moment, I suppose.\"\n\nThe car had stopped in the gravel of a scenic lookout, and together they watched a waterfall as it fell into a river below.", "I've almost forgotten. The accident, the hospital. The world I've constructed in this bed is basically the same. She's here, well my image of her at least. The only time I'm reminded of my \"condition\" with her is when I win our fights. When I first slipped into the coma it felt as though I was trapped in one of those stock framed photos. The ones where you're suppose to take the original photo, with a terrifyingly happy family, and replace it with a picture of a loving, real family, so-so on the happiness spectrum. Placed in a world eerily similar to mine, but devoid of emotion I filled it. Where emptiness reminded me of the fact that I was trapped in a coma, I replaced it with what I remembered from reality. And where emptiness reminded me of the life I led before the coma... well I just left it for realism's sake. Now, the world outside this bed only pokes through in my dreams. My mother's hand on mine, my brother's laugh, these are the clues that something is not quite right in my realm. Some days though, they're just dreams. I wake up and turn to her, telling her of this horrible nightmare where I wrecked my car and was in a coma. She'll calm me back to sleep, telling me it was only a dream. Soon, that's all they'll be. Everything from before, just one bad dream. ", "With the final swing of my blade, I rend the Titan in two, and the cheer of the city fills my ears.\n\n\"Reg-in-ald! Reg-in-ald!\" The crowd yells, their face a mixture of pure ecstasy and adrenaline. I give them a wink, (And hit them with the finger guns; my signature move) before floating down from the skies, like a messiah, and into their loving arms.\n\nI don't think I'll ever get sick of the sensation of 1,000 hands desperately clawing past each other just to get a glancing touch on my body. It's like being a bath of velvet; aggressive, sometimes horny, velvet. \n\n\"Reginald,\" The mayor yells, a marching band of brass singing a tune that bleeds my name behind him. \"You've saved this city yet again. We're indebted to you, like usual, is there anything we can do.\"\n\n\"Haha,\" I laugh, humbly. \"No, your thanks is all I need.\" \n\nThe smile of a mayor is a thing of beauty. With a loving hand, he holds my shoulder and says, \"Please... just wake up.\" \n\n...\n\n\"What?\" I ask. \"I don't think I could hear you over the screaming and loving fans of mine. Don't blame them,\" I hear several women get pregnant as I turn and give them another dashing smile. \"It's only natural.\" \n\n\"I said, you're too grand!\" The mayor laughs, and a joyous explosion erupts around me. \n\n\"Reg-in-ald!\" They sing again. Oh, how they sing, like a chorus of angels. I lean down and throw my hand around; I demand another hymn, another verse, I want to hear my name drown out the world. \n\n\"I need you!\" The crowd cheers. \n\n\"I know!\" I yell back, smiling so wide, so hard, god it hurts. \n\n\"I miss you! Come back; I can't do this anymore,\" \n\nI hold my head. God, this hurts.\n\n\"Every day I wake up, and I thank God you didn't die. I consider myself blessed just because YOU didn't die and I don't even know why; I'm not the one stuck laying in this fucking bed for months after being hit by a truck. You are, you are Reginald, but you're not dead, you didn't die, fuck. I hate how melancholy this all feels. You're not dead; that's great. You're not alive though, are you? Are you?\"\n\nThe city fades, and I'm alone. My world is fading. \n\n\"Please, just wake up.\" \n\nAnd I do.\n\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\nCheck out /r/Rhysyjay for other neat stuff. \n\n" ]	[ 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 13 ]	[ "1498490330", "1498516336", "1498496197", "1498501710", "1498492266", "1498493154" ]
	[WP] Somehow, you screwed up so badly that we've now been caught up in an intergalactic war. What the hell did you do!?!	14	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "\"I did nothing; and I'm offended that you think otherwise.\" I replied. We'd only just managed to reach our ship in the wake of the violence in the Arkanon throne room. While I was catching my breath, my uptight partner had been wasting her own hot air to accuse a perfectly innocent man of starting a war. The indignity!\n\n\"Bullshit!\" she retorted. \"I was wrapping up negotiations on the travel route when I hear what sounds like a cat vomiting slugs in a blender, and then the fucking earpiece translates that into 'The beasts are murderers, traitors, false; kill, flee, kill, flee, kill.'\"\n\n\"Well, was it flee or kill then?\"\n\n\"Both apparently! I know you were by my side when negotiations started, I know you left my side when you got bored, and I saw you running away with a stupid look on your face when that infernal sound started. What, the fuck, did, you do?!\" There was an absolute rage in her eyes at this point. \n\nI figured that I was one wrong move from becoming an \"unfortunately my partner didn't survive the incident\" line on her report. Ergo, I played it off, smooth-like: \"All I did was try to make friends, real genuine connections between our people and theirs. You can't possibly fault me for pursuit of our diplomatic purpose!\" I tried to assume my best expression of seriousness, which, I've been told, appears as serious as a drunken Koala trying to get bubblegum out of it's fur. Such an endeavor sounds quite a serious matter if I say so myself, and I am therefore quite seriously proud of my ability to appear so serious. As a fortunate side effect, I find that my serious face requires so much seriousness that there is none left for nearby comrades who instead devolve into laughing fits in the face of my severity. Unfortunately, there must have been a great deal of seriousness in the ship that day, as the Captain's only response was to bulge that gross vein on her forehead.\n\n\"How. Did. You. 'make friends?'\" she asked with the demeanor of a woman choking on a particularly vile, blood-rage inducing fruit.\n\n\"Well, you know what a Twinkie is? Delightful dessert? Unable to spoil? Mankind's greatest wonder? The Pinnacle of our technological advancement? Well, I brought some; and I was gonna share.\"\n\n\"And how did you fuck that up...?\" The blood vessel was trying to secede from the forehead at this point. Even it agreed she was being unreasonable, you must understand. \n\n\"I showed the princess a Twinkie, and to my absolute shock the Arkonens have also discovered this genious invention. She seemed so surprised to see mine that she rushed out to grab hers.\"\n\n\"No.\" \n\n\"Yes! It was adorable, but it kinda had an odd texture. Their cake is a lot smoother than ours is, and a little less spongey. Anyway, we swapped Twinkies in gesture of Goodwill, and she started cooing over mine like it was a doll made of magnificent pastry flesh\"\n\n\"NO. NO. God fucking damnit!\"\n\n\"Don't be mad, I would have called you over too, but you were busy being boring. Anyway, I was shocked to see how they had taken the Twinkie and mixed the concept with that of the only slightly inferior jelly donut. Good combjnation on paper I guess, but my God the jelly was nasty.\"\n\n\"YOU FUCKING IDIOT. THAT WASN'T A TWINKIE; YOU ATE THE KING'S GRANDAUGHTER! AGGHHHHH!\" At which point she lunged at me and tried to take out all of the rage she held over what I can only assume was my failure to share the royal Twinkie that the princess gave me. It was quite unreasonable to say the least. Of course, I tried to make things right by shoving Twinkies into her mouth, but I guess she wouldn't be satisfied with an earth Twinkie. Anyway, I had to hit her with my emergency lucky horseshoe to get her to calm down and go to sleep. Once we landed on Earth, the federation took her side, can you believe that!? \n\nAnyway, that's why I'm in jail now; what about you guys?\n\n\n\n " ]	[ 1, 3 ]	[ "1498491643", "1498501037" ]
	[WP] Your reflection offers you its hand and says, "It's time you met the rest of us."	53	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The florescent lights gave off a dull buzzing as Michael stared back at the bathroom mirror. His reflection kept its hand out, and offered a welcoming smile.\n\n\"Excuse me?\", Michael asked, not really managing to get his head around the situation. He looked down to see his own hands gripping the edges of the off-white porcelain sink. It's surface was still wet from the water he had been aggressively splashing in his face.\n\nThe reflection let out a chuckle and looked him up and down. \n\n\"Would you rather stay?\" it responded; hand slowly drifting back to its side.\n\nAt that, Michael offered something between a grunt and a laugh, and turned his head to stare at the bathroom door. The cheap lights couldn't reach far, so they left the doorway in flickering dimness. It almost seemed like the events going on outside the door were trying to worm their way in and fill this space with their reminders. \n\nJust like they had with everything else.\n\nMichael glanced back to the mirror. His reflection had decided to mimic his pose, but he could tell the difference. It was the eyes. There was more life in them than he had felt in a long time.\n\nAnd just like that, he loosened his grip on the sink. People had always told him that you couldn't just run away from your problems, but maybe they just hadn't been able to run far enough. Maybe... maybe he could leave it all behind.\n\n\"What if this is a trap,\" Michael said, not really caring, \"You're probably a demon that preys on people when they're at their weakest.\" His hand was already reaching out. \"In the bathroom mirror of a church. No end of victims I bet.\" \n\nThe reflection shook its head, the smile on its face growing wide, like someone who knows the punchline of a joke by heart, but is waiting for you to give them the set-up. Its hand was extended once again.\n\nWithout ceremony, Michael's hand passed through the mirror's surface, and clasped his reflection's. It felt like a human hand, but something seemed to be off. There was an unknown sensation that felt entirely different some anything he had ever experienced in his thirty-eight years of life, and yet was seemed oddly familiar. And just as that thought crossed his mind, the joke's set-up came bubbling to the surface.\n\n\"Crossing over is going to hurt, isn't it?\" he asked the man on the other side of the mirror.\n\nHis reflection could hardly keep the joyous laughter from his voice as he completed their dumb little ritual.\n\n\"No more than usual.\"\n\nAnd then he pulled.\n\nAnd then the stars rushed past.\n\nAnd then the brothers were gone.", "Daniel glanced around, his appearance was haggard. Deep lines marked his face, he had not slept in days. He pleaded to no one in particular “Am I going crazy?” For days Daniel’s reflection was... well, not quite his. Daniel had first noticed it turning away from the mirror at school, his reflection had taken just a second too long to turn with him. Several instances of his reflection defying logic had left Daniel afraid and paranoid.\n\nHe had tried to hide from his reflection, tried to keep his eyes closed, anything to avoid a confrontation with his own reflections. The more he tried to avoid seeing his reflection acting up, the more it seemed to try and catch his attention. The reflection regarded him curiously, popping up in dishes, windows and drops of water. However curiosity wasn’t on Daniel’s mind, quite the opposite as he cowered in corners too scared to look. \nFinally he couldn’t take it anymore, in a moment of feigned courage he confronted a mirror. “Oy! What’s the matter here, why aren’t you acting normal?” His voice shook. The reflection popped in and regarded him “You’re the one not acting normal.” Shocked Daniel staggered back “Wh-What was da?”. The reflection looked him over again and as Daniel composed himself he asked again “How can you speak?”. The reflection didn’t hesitate “Perhaps it’s better if you see for yourself” and he pulled Daniel through the mirror’s frame.\n\nDaniel tumbled through, confused he stared at his reflection. “Where am I?” “You’re on the opposite side” the reflection said, “The opposite side?” Daniel echoed. “Yes, your world is a reflection of this world.” Daniel gave a nervous chuckle “Don’t you mean the other way around?” “I’m afraid not Daniel, ask yourself why I know of you but you don’t know of me.”. “You’re just a relfection” Daniel countered. “No, You are the reflection!” and at that the reflection stepped through the mirror. \n\nDaniel felt his body move involuntarily. The reflection was regarding him through the mirror, a wicked smile curling his lips “I am free” he spoke and while Daniel could feel his lips move, the sound came from his reflection. Daniel struggled, but it was no use and horror started to spread over his face. The reflection saw “It gets worse” he whispered, “so much worse”. The reflection left the mirror and Daniel tumbled into darkness. Shapes moved about him and countless eyes seemed to regard him. Before the terror of his situation could fully sink in Daniel was torn to pieces. Reflecting off of windows, a vase and the eyes of his mother he felt transparent, broken. He tried to reach out, to yell, but it was no use." ]	[ 1, 2, 9 ]	[ "1498495103", "1498532083", "1498509402" ]
	[WP] You were criogenically frozen after an accidental death in your early 30s and you managed to be resurrected almost 250 years later by request of your great granddaughter. Now, you're trying to fit into your family and the future society in general.	57	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "\"Weeellll back in my day we didn't have all these fancy smancy car thangies\" said grandpa in his most gruff voice he can use \"weee had to hoof it up hills in freezing cold temperatures.\" \n\n\"You guys havd cars back then\" Said Anne the eldest of the three children.\n\n\"Didn't anyone teach yah to respect your elders\" Said Grandpa \"Anywhoosers, While we climbed the hills GIANT BURDS came down swooping on us. They were as big as a dog and can big up little children.\"\n\nThe two youngest children were on the edge of there seats waiting for the next part of the story. The oldest one however rolled her eyes and continued to browse the Galanet through her Eye phone. \n\n\"One day on my way to school with my friends the burds were extra feisty. They swooped down and picked up one of my friends and dropped a mile away. He had two broken ribs. He couldn't go to school for two months.\"\n\n\"Why did he have to wait to months to go back to school grandpa?\" said the nine year old middle child.\n\n\"Well you see champ, weeee didn't have all this high tech medical doohickies. We had to carry him back to his house and his momma tried her best to fix his ribs.\" \n\n\"You guys really didn't have hospitals back then\" said the oldest one trying to feint disinterest.\n\n\"No. We had to rely on the mysterious 'Web MD' to heal ourselves\" Granpa said with a chuckle.\n\n\"Wow 2017 must've been a crazy time\" Said the youngest one\n\nCriticism needed r/barneysandaswrites" ]	[ 1, 7 ]	[ "1498497107", "1498529348" ]
[removed]	[WP] Write a story that makes you happy :)	2	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "I set my pen down, wiping the ink clean, and looked at the page. The ink was still drying, but it seemed immaculate, unmarred. I was especially smug about the diagrams of the Antikythera. That bit of engineering was incredible, and to be given the chance to capture that blueprint made me giddy. I carefully stoppered the ink and set the pen aside.\n\nMy parents had despaired of my education ever repaying the investment it required, but me, I was satisfied. Nobody else could do work this fine, and everybody knew it. Only Davuus of Broken Hills could match my technical diagrams. I had seen one bookbinding finer than what I could usually manage, but I didn't know who did the binding, or how far away they might be. But the bookbinder probably did nothing but bindings. I smiled, sure that nobody I would ever meet could surpass my skill, not if I spent my career always growing.\n\nIt's then that the smell hit me. Fresh bread, garlic, pasta. \"Rouseaux! Did you even hear me calling? Dinner's ready!\" I smiled, rising, and went out into the kitchen as she continued. \"Get out here! I swear, you get so caught up in your work the house could be burning down and you--\" \n\nShe let me silence her with a kiss, long and gentle. My arms slipped around her waist to draw her close, and I savored the taste of her. Her hair was an unremarkable brown, but beautiful and soft. Her face was freckled, but full of life and character. Here eyes were a rather dull blue, but laced with intricate threads of green and gold. \"It smells delicious, Mauve.\" \n\nHer eyes turned up to mine, and she tapped my nose with a wooden spoon, threateningly. \"Don't you change the subject. Get cleaned up, mister.\" \n\nThough her words were harsh, the warmth in her voice gentled them. \"You boss me around while you can, little woman.\" My hands trailed over her bottom, as I grinned at her with a gleam in my--\"Ow!\" She had smacked my hand with the wooden spoon. \n\n\"Serves you right, holding up dinner with your pawing and groping.\" She turned to the pot, stirring, but not before looking me over and winking at me. \"Get going, lummox.\"\n\nWith a song in my heart and a spring in my step I left to prepare for dinner with my wife.", "One sunny day, everyone on Earth realized how stupid they all were. So together, they agreed to put aside their differences and work towards a common goal. Everyone advanced automation u til humans were no longer needed foe anything. Everyone was then able to live out their lives in leisure and happiness. The end.\n\nCategory: Hardcore Fiction" ]	[ 1, 1, 3 ]	[ "1498506887", "1498509323", "1498507257" ]
	[WP] "Explain this once more, Detective. You were conducting surveillance where? And you saw someone exit the building, carrying...what? You do realize how ridiculous that sounds, don't you?"	41	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "I take a deep breath and sigh again. \n\n\"So once more from the top. We still have open surveillance warrants against the Zakoski Family.\" I said as I poured myself a fifth shot of rum. \n\n\"Alecksander Dubrinov walked into the house, I had correctly identified as a Zakoski safehouse, empty handed. Yet every time he walked out, he was had boxes full of old iPhone chargers. You know the old fat ones.\" I could tell my supervisor was getting impatient. \"Not just in the boxes too. He also had them draped over his arms, around his waist, and even some used as suspenders for his pants.\"\n\nI took a long drag of the cigarette. \"I tell you sarge it was fuckin weird.\" This from my partner Laneybottom Frumplebuff. \"He would make three to four trips in and out of this house an hour. Each time depositing a ridiculous amount of iPhone chargers in his black SUV.\" I added again. \n\n\"So let me get this straight.\" Our sergeant said before taking a large drink of rum at the bar. \"The Zakoski crime family just up and disappears, criminally speaking, two years ago. You decide to just randomly tail one of them and follow them to a safehouse? Why? Were you bored?\" \n\nMy partner did not recognize the rhetorical nature of the question. \n\n\"Basically.\"\n\nThe sergeant shot him an annoyed look and continued. \n\n\"So after finding their new safe house you do not find guns, you do not find drugs, no money laundering, no girls, no gambling, and no muscle? Just friggin old assed iPhone chargers?\"\n\nI take another shot of rum before laying a few bills on the counter to close out my tab with the bar. \"Thats the gist of it.\" I said turning to him. \n\n\"What does it even mean?\" He asked even more confused than before. \n\n\"I don't know sarge. Allz I know is that I found their new safe house and instead of criminal activity... I found iphone chargers.\" I said finishing my cigarette. \n\nThe sergeant finished his drink and laid a few bills on the bar as well. \"Alright tomorrow take Frumplebuff here and write up the report. I will sign off on it and we will just pretend none of this ever happened from here on out.\" He said clearly annoyed. \n\n\"You got it sarge.\" I said as I grabbed my coat and headed out the door. It would be a ten minute walk from the bar to my apartment. Something told me I would have to make a small detour on the way. \n\n\"Did it work?\" The voice came from the alley. \n\n\"They fell for it hook line and sinker. Instead of worrying about what you are up to now, they just want to know what the hell is up with the iPhone chargers.\" I said as I took an envelope. \"Next time use guitar picks. If iPhone chargers threw them off, then guitar picks will drive them insane.\" I said as I turned to leave, not even sure if the man in the alley were still there. " ]	[ 1, 11 ]	[ "1498563513", "1498587779" ]
	[WP] You are a gamer. You've been playing games for as long as you can remember. But one day when a lightning strikes down your live wires, you find yourself inside a gaming world.	11	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "I had been tapping away on my iPad for 10 minutes now, trying to finally destroy that enemy base. My fingers flew, as I struck box after box, sending waves upon waves of Wall Cats, Dragon Cats, and Titan Cats at the enemy forces. My parents would be home in 1 hour, and this game was the perfect way to pass the time.\n\nAll I needed was to have Bahamut Cat get in just one more hit on the enemy boss. One. More...\n\n----\n\nI awoke inside a metal-plated, silvery room. What had happened? As far as I could remember, there was a flash, an explosion, and I had ended up here. The only thing that made the room distinctive was a wooden door, with a golden knob with a cat paw on it.\n\nWait, a cat's paw? No... it couldn't be... I opened the door and what I saw shocked me.\n\nFirstly, I noticed that this new room had the same wall design as the Cat Base; deep green, with khaki spiral designs. Secondly, instead of other people, there were Cats absolutely everywhere! Rotund, white, constantly smiling Cats, running around, talking with others, playing games, getting prepared for battle, you name it.\n\nI stepped forward, only to hear a shrill, squeaky voice cry out — \"Everynyan, look! The general woke up, nya!\"\n\nIn front of me was an upright, short, stout feline figure, wearing spiral glasses and a scientist's outfit. I instantly recognized this curious being as Prof. Cat Jobs from the game I was playing, but what was it doing here? I inquired as to what had happened.\n\nThe response? \"You... you don't remember, nya? Everyone here knows about you! You were the one that gave us orders... the one that lead us to victory! Never again will the nefarious Teacher Bun Bun plague our kind, and it's all thanks to you, nya!\"\n\nAs soon as he finished, I heard a deep, slow, somewhat stunted voice from the back. \"But, he gets us killed by the thousands, nya.\" Looking up, I realized it was a Titan Cat. The muscular figure stared at me angrily, showing me the first outright frown I had ever seen from a Battle Cat.\n\nProf. Cat Jobs quickly responded with, \"Nonsense! Pure nonsense! After all, you can't make Cat Food without opening a few tins, right?\" That seemed to get a laugh from the crowd, and the angry Titan Cat quickly backed down.\n\n\"So, uh, how do I get back to my world?\", I asked. Prof. Cat Jobs seemed to remember something. \"Ah, that reminds me! Head over through that door over there\", he interjected, pointing to a shutter to my left, \"and we'll tell you what we had planned.\" I did as he asked, wondering if I would ever see my family again.\n\n----\n\nThe door appeared to lead to the outside, where a Cat was organizing a huge mob of lesser fighters. \"Ah, I was told about you!\", it blurted out. \"We'll be setting off to Galapa-Goth Laboratory in 5 minutes, nya, to recover their stolen nuclear reactor. Once we have it, we can travel to any point in space and time we want, nya!\"\n\n\"Think we'll be able to get it in an hour?\", I asked. \"Well, that depends on how good our strategy is, nya.\", responded the Cat. \"If we can execute a good attack plan and use our forces efficiently, we'll be back in time to watch the Archer Cat Show. If we fail, though... it could take years for you to get home, nya!\"\n\nAfter a long pause, the Cat inquired, \"So, you wanna set off now?\" Accepting my responsibility, I beckoned the Cat forces to action, prepared to face off against that demonic anglerfish...", " I'm so fucking scared, I'm hiding in a closet right now looking at walls that are dirty and covered in blood and rust. Everything's dark and my flashlight is the only thing allowing me to see, I don't know how to get out and I've been through so much pain. It started during that damn storm, I hope this is a dream. I used to be a boring guy, my life and body weren't too good so I distracted myself with video games. I had just plugged in my old PS2 to play some of my older games when something...crazy happened.\n\n I was going through Silent Hill 3 when lighting hit my house. The game system lit up and I felt the shock go through my entire body, I passed out afterwards. When I woke up I felt so odd, I was laying on the ground on my chest, my chest felt weird, there was a breeze going up my clothes hitting... something since there was only a skirt covering my legs and there was a smell of death and rust in the air. \n\n It was too dark to see so I felt the ground around me and ran my hand against a grated floor that had rust all over it. There was a light flickering down the hall ahead of me so I stood up kind of off balance and put my hand on the wall for support. I was using the wall as a guide until I was a few steps away from the light, when I was about to be able to reach it I felt something wet and warm. I could see better at that point and looked at my hand to see it was smaller and feminine while covered in some dark liquid. \n\n I looked over and saw there was a gun next to the flashlight causing the light. After wiping my hand on my skirt I picked up the flashlight and the gun. My hand holding the gun was stained red and when I looked down at myself I was wearing different clothes. There were boots, an orange shirt, a white vest, and a green skirt along with orange sweatbands on my wrist. My skin was still pale but I saw more freckles than I was used to have, there was also medium length dirty blonde hair blocking some of my view. I could tell I was some woman but I think the storm made me forget a lot of things for a second. \n\n I heard a noise above me and [looked up](https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/6/62890/1531184-heather.jpg) to see a giant... thing with a small head with a flat face and two really long arms that ended with big bludgeons. It was a floor above me and it scared me but also made me remember what was going on... it didn't make sense but I knew what was going on. After heading to another place to avoid the monster I ran into another one and shot it in its face after a few tries, it went down after two shots. I felt my heart racing so I stood with the back of my head against a wall, I was Heather and I didn't know what to do.\n\n Later on after looking at maps and getting far I found the red glowing symbol and touched it which made me feel sick and get a headache. I found a shotgun eventually and used that on the bigger monsters. I eventually fought a thing with blades after finding Harry dead, the monster killed me though and I was back in the apartment where I touched the symbol. The memory of the blade going through my stomach was still there... it hurt so bad but I was alright then. \n\n It's been a few hours and I'm fucking surrounded, I don't want to die again so I'm in a closet but I can't stay here forever. I'm low in ammo and I don't have a lot of the heath drinks that somehow heal me. I want out but I don't know how..." ]	[ 1, 1, 1 ]	[ "1498565524", "1498579277", "1498616805" ]
	[WP] Write about someone's everyday commute as if it were an epic hero story even though it's mundane.	7	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "\nEveryday I wake up, eat cereal, brush my teeth, and head to the bus to get to work. It's the same thing time and again, in and out, back and forth. It's a boring routine but it's mine, and it's one I plan on having for the rest of my life.\n\nYou see, I'm a simple man, an average man, whose accepted my role in this world as an average human being. I walk up to the bus with a few dollars in my pocket, just enough to buy me a cheap lunch at Cafeteria C. I take out my CD player and pop in a chill mixtape my mom made for me before she passed away. I skip through the songs until I get A New Day Has Come by Céline Dion and close my eyes as the music echoes through my skull. \n\n'Excuse me sir but you wouldn't happen to have a dollar I can borrow' an old woman asks. Her face is wrinkled to leather, she has shaking hands, and speaks through a hoarse throat. 'I guess I can just head down to Cafeteria D for lunch' I think to myself as I take out my wallet. I hand her a dollar and watch as her eyes light up. 'God bless you kind sir' she said as she strode off. \n\nThe chorus of the song plays as the bus pulls up to my stop. A crowd of people enter and I get in line. I get somewhere towards the back of the bus where I can lean my head back and take a quick nap before getting to work. I manage to get a window seat. My attention is drawn to the old woman at the bus stop, she has appeared to have stopped asking for change and is wandering off somewhere. I crank my head to see where she's going and see her straighten up her back and begin to walk upright. A car pulls up and a man wearing a thick set of gold chains gets out of the car. He has a cigarette already lit and he hands her one and lights it for her as soon as he sees her. I see them talking for a little bit then she reaches inside her shirt and takes out a huge wad of cash.\n\n'Hey, that lady has more money that I've ever seen' I thought to myself as I remember sacrificing my dollar for her. I see them both laughing while drinking glasses of wine and felt an anger rise up inside of me. I lunge out of my seat and go to get out the bus, the doors are closing. 'Shit!' I thought to myself 'I think I might have just enough time'. I summoned up the courage and bolted for the door. My arm was able to make it out of the door just before it sliced my arm clean off. \n\n'Gyahhh!' I screamed as I fell to my knees and began gushing blood from the open wound in my arm. \n\n'Somebody stop the bus! This man is bleeding all over the place' an elderly black woman cried out. The bus driver stopped the bus and my door open. I exited the bus and nearly tripped over my severed arm. I ran at the con artist old lady and her thug boyfriend screaming wildly. \n\nThe old woman took out a gun. 'Stop!' She yelled, but I didn't stop. She shot me directly in the head. Everything went black. ", "Fifteen minutes - that's how long it takes for my weekday's trip to my university. Apparently, time seems to be dilated that one day.\n\nThere's a girl sitting in front of me: blonde, freckled, with lips cracked from the cold. As they say in my perverted mind, \"A wood that doesn't quiver is a sign of ugly dinner.\" \n\nFive minutes later, she stood up to alight from the bus. I saw a girly purse under the chair; that's when the time dilation begins. My heart went into a fury of palpitation and I experienced familiar feeling of derealisation.\n\nShould I be concerned? \n\nYes.\n\nShould I pretend to not be concerned? \n\nYou're the only one in the bus. Only you can give her back the wallet, be courageous for fuck's sake.\n\nBut there's another person, what about the bus driver? \n\nBus drivers are not humans; they are assholes.\n\nWhat should I say when I meet her?\n\nWho cares? Just do it! Be a hero!\n\nI regained my sense of presence. Looking at the front of the window, the light is now green and it's a matter of time before the wheels roll.\n\n\"Sorry, but can you open the door?\" I could see that the driver was surprised; shoulders don't lie. \n\nOutside of the bus, I smiled when I saw that the girl was not far off. Everything's fine now because the wallet is back in its owner's hand. She said thank you, we didn't hook up like in the movies, and went our separate ways. \n\nI was about to go to the bus stand when I saw, a few blocks away, a man with dark glasses and a stick trying to cross a busy road.\n\nTime dilated again and my inner voice whispered once more." ]	[ 1, 1, 2 ]	[ "1498568299", "1498571457", "1498633613" ]
	[WP] A person from 1500 AD falls asleep and wakes up in modern times. They are unimpressed by what they find.	12	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The number of probes, and shots which he had to endure was tremendous. The scientists reported that he was surprisingly calm following his sudden existence 500 years in the future. \"Stoic\" was the word they used. He spent weeks in isolation followed by weeks of inoculations. He was constantly monitored, and quickly the results came in that he was truly a living relic of the 1500s.\n\nThey were sparing with the information. He was a Caucasian male born approximately 1500 A.D. from somewhere in France. The exact location was kept a closely guarded secret, but soon everyone believed themselves an expert on 1500s France. The History Channel ran non-stop shows on Medieval France which soon devolved into shows involving rednecks rampaging wine country in search of lost mummies. Months passed with only the occasional updates from the research team: He was adjusting quickly and learning constantly from his new environment, there was no understanding of how his immaculate preservation had been achieved, and he was slowly being prepped for existence in the world of the future. One of his favorite activities was following article after article on Wikipedia; he read incessantly.\n\nAfter almost 2 years, a press statement was released:\n\nThe subject of our research team's studies and the fascination of the world, Anthoine de Vieilz-Fretel, has passed away at our facility near Paris. He spent much of his last months bravely fighting sickness which his body had never known. It is with great remorse that we give the world the news of his passing. In his last days, he wrote a note addressed to the world.\n\nYou have achieved more than we ever dreamed possible. Your achievements are astounding: a man has walked on the moon, diseases have been cured, and quality of living is greater than any ever known. I fell asleep in a field in France, and woke in paradise. But even paradise has its flaws. In the time I have been here, I have struggled to learn as much about this new life as I could. And in doing so, I have seen your shortcomings. You now have the ability to wage war on any disease which threatens man, yet everyday people die from the most common of them all. You have unprecedented freedom and wealth, and with it comes corruption and greed. Today you have the ability to bring food to every hungry mouth in the world, yet starvation threatens millions.\n\nYou have been given more than you know. Each of you has greater opportunity than our greatest kings. Do not waste it." ]	[ 1, 13 ]	[ "1498574254", "1498583170" ]
	[WP] A smuggling vessel attempted a route rumoured to be cursed. Unknown to the smugglers, they were closely watched and protected in an operation to find a real threat.	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "It was not unusual to feel a bit tense, trapped on a tiny tincan for weeks and months, with the endless black waiting just outside. On an ocean vessel you could at least go outside, maybe even take a swim; but here there was just no other option. It's not like he really wanted to be anywhere else - his books and the girl were enough entertainment for the five week trip - but the feeling alone that there was literally no possibility to leave those few rooms and corridors, that there was no \"Emergency, I want out!\"-button, that could weigh heavy on the mind.\n\nBut this time it was worse than usual, for obvious reasons. He wasn't superstitious, but he was too smart to just ignore the rumors and warnings. He would be glad to be back in safer sectors again - but this cargo was too important to let the greedy bastards at the IRS have their share of it.\n\nHis earpiece made a little sound. He touched the outside with his finger to establish connection. \"What is it?\"\n\n\"Skipper, I'm not sure what... I think you should come see this.\"\n\nHe turned his head, watching the lingerie-clad River sleeping on the bed, her hair disheveled, an expression of complete serenity on her face. \"On my way.\"\n\nHe put the blanket over the girl, then left the room and walked down the corridor. There was always something about the sound of his own steps in the silence of the spaceship, only the very soft humming of life support in the background. Truth be told, this atmosphere of loneliness and isolation out here was the biggest reason he liked his line of work. He wouldn't exchange that for anything. Except maybe some house in Norway or Canada, at some fjord or something. It would have to be very far away from civilization. And even then, it would still not be quite the same as this. Space was just so endless.\n\nHe met nobody on his way to the bridge. There, Engineer Goto was waiting for him. \"Morning.\" It was 2 a.m. by universal standard time, which of course meant absolutely nothing.\n\nKasumi looked apprehensive. \"It's not really a big deal, but I thought you ought to know.\" She pointed at one of the displays. \"First thing, the gravity of Charon is off. Could be a mistake with the sensors. Could also be another vessel. But I didn't get any other readings. I mean any. And it obviously can't just be stationary. Even the feds don't have this kind of technology.\"\n\nThe Captain stroked his beard. \"Russians?\"\n\nThe Korean girl shook her head. \"Unless they're way ahead of us...\" She noticed the slight annoyance on his face and quickly corrected herself. \"Them.\" The Captain didn't like when people referred to the government in first person.\n\n\"Well, we're not being attacked, that's good enough. What's the second thing?\"\n\nKasumi pointed to another display. It showed a thin white UI over black. The engineer brought up a menu. \"This is all the cosmic background noise over the last...\", she moved a slider to the right, and the display filled with little dots, \"four hours.\"\n\nCaptain Círdan raised his eyebrows. \"What the hell is that?\"\n\nThe dots weren't anything to worry about. Accumulated over several hours, cosmic radiation was strong enough to show on their displays. What was worrying was that the little dots left out a big, black space in the middle.\n\n\"It must be some kind of big object in the way. Thing is, there shouldn't be anything here. Not to mention the, uh...\"\n\n\"The shape? It looks like a fucking squid.\"\n\n\"Uh, yes. That's what I thought too, Captain.\"\n\n\"What's the visual?\"\n\nEngineer Goto looked up surprised, then blushed. \"Uh, I...\"\n\n\"...forgot to check that. Of course you have. You kids today.\"\n\nHe gave her a smirk, indicating that he wasn't actually mad at her. Of course, there was usually very little point in looking out of the window - space was so vast that enemy ships could fire missiles hours before they could ever get close enough to actually see them. Still, he liked looking out. Displays and readings just didn't tell the whole story. Maybe he was just becoming a romantic.\n\nThe shutters moved to the side to reveal a big window of reinforced glass. Goto and the Captain both were stunned by the beauty of the universe, thousands of little stars, not to mention the gorgeous nebulae. Then they realized.\n\n\"Why the hell are we seeing light when we're not reading anything else?\"\n\n\"I... I don't know, Captain.\"\n\nHe made his decision quickly. \"Do we have enough fuel to come to a halt and get going again?\" The great thing about space travel was that you didn't need fuel to maintain your speed, the bad thing was that you did need fuel to stop.\n\n\"We do, Sir. But we could go into orbit of T-\"\n\n\"No. Stop, right here. And wake Traynor, Picard and Beckett. I want to know what this is.\"\n\n\"Yes Sir.\"\n\nHe turned around, intending to go back to his cabin until the crew was assembled and the ship was stopped - when he heard Goto suddenly breathe in. \"What the...\"\n\nHe turned around. What had previously made him wonder was no longer relevant - the stars had indeed gone dark in the area the display had indicated. A big, giant blob of black had appeared outside the window, with tentacle-like arms extending to the sides. The thing is, there was nothing blocking them out - there was merely absence. No light, utter and complete darkness, so dark that normal space looked like a christmas tree compared to it. But just when he had decided that this was the darkest black he had ever seen, it turned slightly, just a tiny little bit purple. And then a single, red light appeared in its middle, slowly growing brighter and brighter. \"What in Saint Seraphim of Sarov's name...\"\n\nKasumi's head jerked as she noticed movement on one of the displays. \"S- Sir, behind us... they are ships after all... they uncloaked! Holy shit that's a dreadnought!\"\n\nThe Captain could not take his eyes from the anomaly in front of him. \"Are they broadcasting IFF?\" The red light had now grown so bright that it became uncomfortable to look at it.\n\nHis engineer paused for a moment. \"It's Cerberus. They're saying to stand down and let them handle it.\"\n\nThen they opened fire." ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1498581394", "1498587057" ]
	[WP] Write about a lawn mowing, from the perspective of a blade of grass.	12	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Rumors of the cutting ran swiftly though the lawn. The older blades, their tops ragged and brown-edged from the last, started the panic. They remembered the whirring blades, the sunlight cut into thin slices between their endless rotation. Some of them had been five, even six inches high, proud-stalked and ready to flower. \n\n'I had seven buds,' The old blade next to me kept repeating, more and more frequently as the fated day drew nearer, 'Seven buds here, on my north side. Oh, they would have been such wonderful flowers.' Now his broadest leaf ended abruptly, a horizontal slash edged with the grey-brown mottling of death. 'Trust me, young one, the cutting is coming. It's never too long. Watch- watch for the can.' \n\nWhen the can came, I was lucky, I suppose, to have been in a position to observe it. If it had been placed even a foot further away from me, my fellows would have blotted it out, and I would have had to rely on rumors from the other blades. By this time, I held almost no faith in their words. My own sense of self-preservation told me that the cutting could not be real, could not be coming. I was a new blade, a proud blade, and easily seven inches from sod to sky. \n\nThe can was red and white, and it bled drops of water as though the morning dew was conjured on its skin. The man placed the can in the grass so that the writing on its side, curled calligraphic script spelling BUDWEISER, faced me. I could not read the word, but instead saw its letters intertwined like a foul red bramble vine. \n\nMy perspective is always forced- either the wind has pushed me towards the earth and I see nothing but the kaleidoscope of green and brown that is the stems and roots of my neighbors, or I am twisted skyward and I watch the clouds and birds make a mockery of us, freewheeling in the air, living a life absent of apparent worry. That day was a rarity- almost windless. I was straight as the walls of the house, turned towards the man whose industry was to bring us all so much pain. \n\nThe machine rolled on rusty wheels to the edge of my family's plot. It made sounds before it was even started, thumps and creaks drawn from its wheels on the ground, the faint pinging of the horrible blade as it rattled in its killing chamber. Only when the man reached down and yanked on a yellow cord connected to its innards, awakening the machine to screaming, howling delight, did I truly believe the rumors of the cutting. \n\nWhat is there to say about being severed? The slow eclipse of the sky as the crescent of the killing chamber eases over the horizon... The awful wind that pulls you up, up, as tall as you'd ever hoped to be, your roots just barely holding on to the earth... I had a wild thought, just before the slice, that the rumors weren't true after all- this wasn't a reaping, it was how grass became part of the sky, uprooted and free to soar among the birds and the clouds... \n\nNow I am an old blade, severed at my broadest blade's broadest part. I wear a crown of grey and brown, and now I start the rumors. " ]	[ 1, 9 ]	[ "1498589346", "1498593978" ]
	[WP] In every other alternate universe you're an evil dictator, except this one. They want to change that.	7	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "\"Ha! Take that!\"\n\nTwo big red letters appeared on the screen.\n\nK.\n\nO.\n\n\"This is, what, your fifth win in a row now? Can we play something else?\"\n\nRandy, obviously frustrated, threw his controller behind him. It landed on the bed we were leaning on, so no damage was done. We had just finished our last assignments for the semester, so we decided to chill at my apartment and play some games. Obviously, I had home advantage, having spent more hours on most of the games on my Playstation.\n\n\"It'll be the same no matter what we play. Just admit it, I'm simply better than you.\"\n\n\"You got any racing games? Gran Turismo or something like that?\"\n\nI crawled to the TV and picked up the box full of game CDs beside it.\n\n\"Let's see... I think there was a racing game here, but I can't seem to find it. I think I already told you I'm not a big fan of them.\"\n\n\"Or maybe it's because you know you can't beat me at racing.\"\n\n\"Well you can't beat me at everything else. Anyway, can you turn on the light?\"\n\nWe had spent the last three hours gaming non-stop so I didn't realize it was already dark outside. Now the only major light source in the room was the TV we were just playing on a few moments ago. Randy reluctantly accepted my request and, after stretching his legs for a minute, walked over to the light switch beside the door.\n\nJust when he approached the door, it swung open, hitting him and knocking him down. He obviously didn't expect it. Neither did I.\n\nA tall man in some sort of military uniform walked in. His shiny black hair was neatly combed, his skin unnaturally pale, and his eyes was unusually cold and lifeless, like some sort of cliché antagonist from a movie.\n\n\"Shit... can't you knock first?\" Randy was wiping something from his nose. Judging from the how hard he was hit, I wouldn't be surprised if it was blood.\n\nThe man momentarily looked at him momentarily. He didn't respond any further to Randy's protest before turning his gaze to me.\n\n\"Command, I've finally located His Excellency.\"\n\n\"What?\"\n\nOnly after looking at him again did I realize he was speaking into some sort of walkie talkie.\n\n\"There's another person with him though.\"\n\n\"Are you talking about me?\" From his tone, I could tell that Randy was still pissed about having the door slammed into his face.\n\nThe man, still staring at me, continued to talk into his communication device. \"Understood.\"\n\nHe looked back at Randy. A second later, he drew a pistol and pointed it at Randy's head. He pulled the trigger before I could say a single word.\n\nThe man looked at me.\n\nI never felt my heart beat so fast in my entire life.\n\n\"Why do you seem so scared? You're capable of doing much crueler things, Your Excellency.\"\n\n" ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1498652765", "1498659200" ]
EDIT: Thanks for your answers! This is by far my most upvoted post. I'm happy you liked my prompt!	[WP] You die and find out that there is an afterlife and yes, there is a way to come back. As soon as you get face to face with God, you find out why nobody has ever attempted to return to Earth...	81	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Emmerson held fast to the one thing that made her feel human, her language. She noticed the way God spoke into her mind, as if the words traveled up her spine into her head. The only way she could describe it--God talked through her, like she was a straw.\n\nShe used her mouth, fumbling over her words. Her body was a tightly clenched ball of energy, surrounded by the ghost of her own vanity. She knew this version of her was thinner, younger, from a time when she was happy. Not like the way she died. Older, fatter, meaner. \n\nGod didn't seem to find it strange. He must have seen a thousand--million--different attempts at sanity. Emmerson wasn't any different. She was just another face moving through the universe. \n\nWhat do you want to know? The sweet tingle moved up, vibrating with each line. There was a pause, where Emmerson contracted and expanded like a lung. I see you want to return. \n\n\"There has to be a way. I was almost there. I was almost in...\" There was a weight on her chest.\n\nYou wished to complete your dream.\n\n\"Yes.\" Emmerson began to cry. \n\nI can offer you perfection, the tingle said. I can offer you what you wanted. \n\n\"I want to go back.\" \n\nNo one goes back. No one ever has. \n\n\"Why?\" Emmerson wanted to know. \n\nGod glowed, his human face flickering out of focus. When he became solid again, there was a weird panic on his face. He looked rather daunting just then. \n\n\"Why!?\" Emmerson demanded. \n\nBecause it means they lose this. God said. \n\n\"Heaven?\" Emmerson asked. \n\nNo, this feeling of completeness. They will lose it. They can't bring themselves to give up their other half. ", "\"Why has no one gone back?\" Said the desperate man, looking God in the eyes.\nThe man was killed from an alcoholic overdose at 35. Stress from his new management job sent him spiraling into drinking his life away when he arrived from his job. \nHis wife had tried to help him, but because he was intoxicated from the second he got home to the second he blacked out, he never understood anything. \nHe wanted to take it all back. He understood what he meant to his wife and all of his co-workers and how he had a job he made a living off of. He knew everything a regretful man would know, and he would do anything to take it back to fix his life. \nGod puts his hand on the mans shoulder, and whispers- \n \n^^^\"There's ^^^free ^^^blowjobs ^^^up ^^^here\". \n", "'I love you too honey, I'll be home soon' Jack said into his phone as he hurried out of the grocery store, bags full of steak, wine, and flowers. Jack had written Heather a card during his lunch breaks at work. An apology letter for his betrayal to her. Heather had just recently decided to give him another chance. Jack was determined to get their relationship back to where it was, if not better. \n\nJack begins crossing the street. He starts to put his phone away when he hears the chime of a text message go off. He looks down at his screen. \n\n'Hey, I know you said you would never speak to me again. But we really need to talk' - Shannon. \n\n'Shit! I can't be dealing with this right now' Jack thought to himself. He paused for a moment and toggled through to Shannon's profile on his phone. He clicked through the settings until he came to a button that said 'Block'. Jack pressed the button hard. \n\nHonk, Honk! Jack looks up just in time to see the headlights of an SUV barreling right towards him. A black man wearing a do-rag and smoking a cigarette was driving. He had his arms out wide, wearing the universal 'are you a dumbass?' face. Jack was hit directly by the SUV. \n\n\n\n'Where am I?' Jack thought to himself as he looked around himself and saw a land that seemed to be resting on top of billowing white clouds. \n\nJack felt his head, his chest, his legs. He remembered the crash and remembered an agonizing jolt of pain when he was hit by the vehicle. All that pain was gone now and replaced with the best feeling of health he had ever experienced in his life. He felt energy swelling up throughout his body, he felt strong, energetic. His brain felt rejuvenated, as if he had just waken up from a great nap on his day off and drank a cup of coffee. He looked around and saw angels with giant, white wings soaring above him. The women were beautiful, blondes with huge breasts. He saw people flying through the air, even though they didn't have any wings.\n\nJack tried to imitate the flying people and pushed off of the ground up in the air. To his surprise, he didn't come back down but kept being propelled upwards. He noticed that he could control where his body flew with his will. He willed himself to soar through the air, dashing around glowing cloud mountains, and swooping down into cloud valleys full of blossoming fruit trees. The fruit sang as he glided past them. As he zigged and zagged through the orchard of trees, he reached his hand in one of the trees and pulled out a giant, ripe pear. \n\n'Hi there Jack' the pear said with a deep, masculine woman's voice.\n\n'Oh, hey' Jack said confused.\n\n'I'm petunia. Welcome to Heaven' Petunia said.\n\n'Oh...ok' Jack said in a wavering voice.\n\n'It's ok Jack, you can still eat me' Petunia said.\n\n'What? I wasn't going to do that. Wait, are you sure?' Jack said hesitantly.\n\n'Absolutely, I love to be eaten by newcomers. Don't worry, I'll just grow back from my seed' Petunia said with deep, heaving breaths. \n\n'All right then' Jack said as he began biting off large chunks of flesh from the pear. \n\n'Oh God yes, God, yes!' Petunia shouted as Jack soared through the air and ate the pear. \n\n'Did someone say God?' A giant, muscular, white bearded man with a full set of white, billowing hair said as he apparated out of thin air. \n\n'Oh God!' Jack screamed when he saw God. \n\n'Mmmyeah?' God asked in a humming, sing-song voice. 'Is there anything you wish to ask me, Jack?'.\n\nJack thought for a moment. There were so many things he had wanted to ask God, but right now all he could think about was how he got here.\n\n'God, how did I get here?' Jack asked.\n\n'Well, you were hit by an SUV, don't you remember?' God said smugly.\n\n'No, I mean, how did I get here? After I died' Jack said. \n\n To be continued\n\n\n\n", "\"You could go back, yes. But there isn't much point at this stage.\"\n\nThe voice smothered the lone figure standing at the base of the column with every word. Heaven being exactly as you expect it to be, a limitless sky with a landscape of clouds and golden spires. The column itself appears to be marble, and try as they might the one standing at the base cannot see the top. It extends beyond their sight into a dazzling brightness.\n\nThe vision of God itself.\n\nThe figure hesitated, then forced themselves to speak.\n\n\"But you don't understand, I have to go back! I was taken before my time. My family...my children...my husband! I can't leave them alone.\"\n\nShe nervously played with her hands as she spoke, as if she were some toddler talking back to her strict mother about some objection, scared that at any point she could blow and punish her. However the voice was ever calm and gentle.\n\n\"You don't understand. Ask yourself this Kelly. Since this choice was always available, why hasn't anyone else decided to go back?\"\n\nKelly pondered on this. Maybe it's simply because they didn't know they could? Oh, wait. She didn't know herself until God told her, presumably it gives the same welcoming speech to every new soul here. \n\nMaybe then it's fear? Some may see this as a test to judge their desire to stay in Heaven? Some might be so indoctrinated to their respective faith they simply can't entertain the idea of such a choice to begin with?\n\nKelly thought quite hard, but inevitably the bottom line was all the same. Plenty of people would go back to their old lives and loved ones in a heartbeat, yet they chose not to. So...why?\n\nKelly looks back, careful not to look directly into the blinding light and asks the question.\n\n\"OK. Tell me then. Why do people decide not to go back?\"\n\nThe light begins to change. It dims then it brightens. It goes from shades of red, to purple, to blue and back to clear white light again. Why this happens Kelly can't tell, but after a time the voice begins again.\n\n\"The very simple answer is that the world you come from is...broken.\"\n\nKelly looked confused.\n\n\"Broken? Wait, this isn't going to lead into some Ying Yang devil influence thing is it?\"\n\n\"No, no nothing like that. Being a creator means making different versions. You test, refine, improve.\n\nThe reason no-one goes back to your specific world is because by today's standards it is obsolete. There are better versions, with better features.\"\n\nThis is not making sense. Why is God talking like this? There can't be other versions of Earth can there? Unless...\n\n\"Oh...wait. Is this the multiverse thing instead? Different dimensions, each with it's own Earth but with minor changes?\"\n\nAnother quick light display from the light. Kelly considers the idea that it could be what it does when thinking.\n\n\"Better. On the right lines at least. However previous versions do not exist. You know the reason your world has yet to discover life outside your own planet is because there is none. When development on your version stopped it was shelved and left.\"\n\nKelly's eyes widened.\n\n\"Wha? So...alien life exists in the um...latest version?\"\n\n\"Oh sure. Not only that, the humans are somewhat more advanced as well. They are better able to handle this little feature, nevermind the others.\"\n\n\"...other features?\"\n\n\"You know. Magic, advanced technology, you know in the latest version they really did have hoverboards in 2015. I could go on.\"\n\nKelly's eyes glazed over, she began to understand. A world where everything the old world inspired to become already exists? She could see how some wouldn't hesitate to see it for themselves. But there was still something else.\n\n\"I think I see. It certainly sounds like a world worth going to but even the best version you have won't have my family. I love them. They can't be replaced.\"\n\nAnother light show. It's beginning to be more of a distraction than a show now, Kelly ponders.\n\n\"It is a romantic notion young one, but yes...they can.\"\n\nWhat. How? Kelly doesn't believe it. And since it, being God, likely knows this too it doesn't hang around for dramatic effect.\n\n\"Like the planet itself, the life that inhabits it also has various versions of the same thing. So not only do those you know and love exist in the latest version...chances are they too are superior to the versions you know.\"\n\nKelly reacts to this as you expect, and since God insulted her she wastes no time with a retort that could trip it up.\n\n\"Well if that is the case, then there must be a better version of me on that world too. So what happens to them if I decide to go hmm? Does that Kelly just cease to exist?\"\n\n\"Oh, no. We just merge you. Perhaps it's already happened to you before, you just never knew it. Situations like Deja Vu, past lives or the overpowering feeling of being someplace before despite it being the first time you see it...they are all unavoidable quirks of being merged. We do it all the time.\"\n\nKelly's eyes begin to cross, this is getting a bit confusing.\n\n\"So...is that Heaven then. You take the soul of everyone, and simply add them back into the current version which by comparison could be considered Heaven?\"\n\nAnother light show. Kelly wants it to stop now.\n\n\"Why...yes. That is accurate. And before you enquire, new versions are released quite fast. Very fast in fact. No matter who passes on what version, there is always a newer version waiting for them.\"\n\nKelly nods slowly. Does she really get it? She isn't sure. It's likely a lot of people would be left confused after these realisations.\n\nSo the question now is, does she do it?", "\"Is there any way to go back? I need to return now or everything will end. Can't you see?\"\n\nAfter his explanation God's features softened and he pitied this man deeply as he had pitied all those he had explained this to before. A second chance of life in exchange for your soul. After you died the next time, you would have to spend eternity in hell. \n\nThe man's harried features creased in thought as he weighed up the offer and wrestled with its implications. \"Has anyone ever taken this offer?\"\n\n\"Not through choice. But there was one who had to return as a favour to me.\" And the man had understood why easily. But he must go back. He needed to tell them or they'd all die.\n\n\"Is there any way past it? Could I live a life so good that it would overcome this agreement on my soul?\" God pondered this question not for its originality, he had been asked this many times before, but to ensure his answer had the weight it deserved. Even God felt guilt and would abhor sending this man back with false hope.\n\n\"It would take a deed of great magnanimity to achieve. A handful of men, now celebrated as saints, have done deeds as great as required and at great personal pain and hardship, but not to go back. They did these things in life as they chose for the good of humanity. Most Saints ordained would not have done enough to fulfill this bargain and once more, if you act in such a way for personal gain, with this deal in mind, even the greatest act would be in selfish pursuits and void its merit and this agreement. It is almost impossible to do.\"\n\nGod's words echoed through the man's mind as eternal damnation loomed as a storm cloud ahead. But this would be no storm it would be a slow drip of pain and misery that never ended. But they needed to know. They all needed to know.\n\n\"I want to go back.\" \n\nGod flinched. Does this man understand? He thought. But he saw in his eyes the steadfast belief in what he was doing that he had seen a handful of times before. And he knew why he was going. Chief scientist at the Hadron Collider killed by a burst of energy that if not stopped, and it could still be stopped, would engulf the world and destroy everything in it and the galaxy around it.\n\n\"Okay you will go back to the moment before your death with enough time to stop it, but no more. Do you still wish to proceed? If you fail you will die again and as I see, so will all those around you.\"\n\nThe thought of hell emerged again but the man had already decided. \"Yes, I will go,\" he answered, \"for as you see, I have to.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" God replied. And with uncertainty in his heart, as this man's action were not selfish, he sent him back. With a feeling, or was it a hope, that they may meet again." ]	[ 1, 1, 4, 5, 20, 59 ]	[ "1498653392", "1498701084", "1498696838", "1498656459", "1498671866", "1498658595" ]
[removed]	[WP] You live in a world where everyone has a number on their foreheads that counts the days since their last defecation. A stranger moves into your town, and upon his forehead is the number "150".	2	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nNo troll or meme-based prompts. This includes posting fart or poop jokes as prompts. \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6k1xn6/wp_you_live_in_a_world_where_everyone_has_a/%0A%0A)\n\nThis action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things." ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1498669401", "1498669551" ]
	[WP] You order a secondhand phone off of Ebay to find on it's arrival that it has not been cleared, it's contacts include high profile government officials and holds top secret software, within 5 minutes of switching it on you receive a text, "What do you want us to do with him now Agent Colla?"	7	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "I stared at the message.\nFuck. What do I do?\n\nI typed out my response and pressed SEND.\n\n---------------\nHe read the text, dumbfounded.\n\nIt had to be a joke.\n\n\"Execute Order 66.\"\n\nHe groaned.\n\n\"Looks like r/PrequelMemes is leaking again, dammit!\"\nAgent Silas looked down at DJ Khaled, sighed, and pulled the trigger.\n\n\n" ]	[ 1, 5 ]	[ "1498669666", "1498675758" ]
Write the story from stones perspective from origin to end.	[WP] It is year 2100. Humans encountered a strange stone on earth with signs of life. The stone tells its story. It is a fragment of meteor that wiped dinosaurs.	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "As you might know, or not know, a simple piece cannot remember the whole of its story, the same way you cannot remember the complete story of your own species. I can't remember the things before the formation of the whole I was part of, but I can tell you the story of how I, the tiny piece that I am now, got here.\n\nFor many of what you call years, all I've known was the black void of space. In the dark calm, one cannot tell if one is moving, or static, or if anything is moving around him... except when confronted with another object, drifting in space as one is. \n\nI've seen other meteors, distant stars and planets, appearing and disappearing slowly from my sight; I've went through clouds of rock and debris, and I've had silent, static years in the darkness, abandoned to my own thoughts.\n\nIt's not easy being aware, nor so old, now that I've met you, other sentient things; but in my drifting through space I came to realize and accept my own solitude, and the shifting nature of the universe. I knew very well no planet, meteor or debris would answer if I call, and we would drift apart with time, anyway.\n\nAnd then, one day, it appeared right in front of me.\nIt was a little, barely visible shinning in the darkness. As time went by, the blue, shiny orb took form, and I was able to see the little frail planet and its moon, right in front of me.\n\nIt was the first time I had something right before me, and it was the strangest, most beautiful thing I remember. It was like a perfectly round turquoise on a black velvet, both things I knew from my staying in a museum, many, many years later.\n\nIn the beginning, I was just curious about it. It was the first time I was able to take a good look at a planet, let alone any other object I've found before. In time, and not without surprise, I realized there was something special about this one.\nI cannot describe it. It was like a pulse, like the radiation from the stars, but different, and that I've never felt coming from anywhere before. I came to the sudden realization: I've found someone like me. Someone alive.\n\nI never tried to talk; It would have been useless, as It would be useless for two of you to try to conduct sound through the space devoid of air. I just stared in amazement, asking myself if it could see me too.\n\nCuriosity gave way to admiration.\n\nHave it been like me, alone, all this time, with nothing but a silent moon as company? Oh, how heavier is loneliness when one finds another one! Sometimes I wonder if I would have been better floating forever aimless into oblivion... but no, I can't imagine it, after how things unfolded.\n\nI endlessly saw its rotation, its gleam, the almost invisible green spots on its surface, little imperfections that made it more perfect still. Its slow dance around against the void hypnotized me, and its color was a much precious thing in a endless blackness.\n\nWith time, admiration gave way to love.\n\nBut slowly and with great concern, I noticed it grew larger and larger before me with time. It wouldn't be the first time I darted so close to something and then leave it behind, but I was terrified of never see it again... I should have been more terrified of what was really about to happen.\n\nAs the months passed, the hours and days, I thought of ways to communicate, to let be known that I could see and feel, and that I would not know what to do alone again. I was too distracted with this to notice that I would not pass by.\n \nThings are blurry in my memory. Maybe it's better that way. I remember the overheated atmosphere, air rushing past me, a sudden stop, a catastrophic thunder like an agonic scream... and then darkness again.\n\nWhen I came to my senses, for the first time I saw its sky, but it was black. Heavy clouds of dust twisted and crawled, like the belly of monstrous snakes, and ash came falling like rain.\n\nI was nothing but pain. I was broken in a way not one of you could imagine: a consciousness that survived the destruction of its body, and could feel every piece of it hurting and dying.\n\nBut when the pain stopped enough, with abject horror I realized what had happened... what, at the time, thought that I've done.\n\nI could hear its scream of pain all around me, coming from a million throats. Heavy bodies passed me by, stampeding in fear, looking uselessly a place to hide.\n \nOh, what I've done. Oh, what I've done!\n\nThe chilling screams of the dying planet lasted days, months. Then the moaning grew fainter and fainter until, one day, they stopped. It was over.\n\nAnd there I lay, alone. Again and forever.\n\nWhere to point my sadness, impotence and anger? I didn't knew about god, fate or probability. I could not wonder if there was a reason for this, what you could call a twisted joke. I could only sit there, shattered in countless pieces, and submerged in my own hopeless thoughts.\n\nAs one day fused into another, and then months, and then years, the dust covered me until I was buried in what remained of my body. I wished I could stay like this forever, that my conscience could end, though to this day I don't know if I'm able to die.\n\nLittle did I knew that, on the surface, the black clouds began to retreat, and the sun shun little and little more, until it finally rose triumphant in the sky.\nIn the darkness of my tomb, time was meaningless, but I grew so used to the silence, even to that of my own, that I almost hated the sound and light when one of you finally unearthed me, many, many years ago. \n\nI looked puzzled at this strange thing that looked me back, in a gesture that later I would recognize as a smile. He, or she, I can't remember correctly, put me in a plastic bag, then inside a crate, and tossed me into a truck. And that's how I got in the museum.\n\nThe rest of the tale, well... It would take too long to explain how I realized you all were also alive. It would take even more to say how I observed you, learned your ways, your language, your history... It would take many of your lives to tell you how I saw you developing, growing, until you reached the point where you are right now, that you can understand me.\n\nOh, what a wonderful, frightening and long journey it has been. Sometimes I wonder, after hearing it from you, if everything was part of a plan; did I encounter this other like me randomly? Was our disastrous meet a way for you to exist? Or was it all just coincidence?\n\nWhatever the answer It might be, I'll always treasure this moments, and all the moments besides you. And is my only advice, that you do the same for those around you." ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1498670289", "1498686579" ]
	[WP] Lycanthropes exist, they just keep themselves secret because they have 'uncool' transformations. No wolves, bears or Jaguars - just animals like pigeons, poodles and raccoons.	249	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Everybody loves a good werewolf story right? They'd probably be less interested if they knew the truth.\n\nWerewolves are real. Technically. I don't know why but occasionally lycanthropes are born. They called us wolf-men. Humanities two greatest fears combined into one creature. Wolves are terrifying. Alone, you have a massive, strong creature with razor sharp teeth. Together, you have a fierce pack that can take down even the largest prey. Add human intelligence and cruelty and nothing could stand against the pack. \n\nThen humanity built fences. We built cities and walls. We invented the longbow, the musket, the rifle, machine-guns, and helicopters. In some places we drove the wolf to extinction. I read stories about Russians even hunting them from helicopters. Wolves are still around, but no one fears them.\n\nI have a theory. As far as I know I'm the only lycanthrope in my generation. You can't google this but I've started calling myself a phobothrope. Fear-man might not be as terrifying as wolf-man but my mom didn't fear wolves. You see, my grandfather loved his dogs but they hated everyone else. Whenever I asked my mother if we could get a dog, she would always say no and rub the strange scars on her forearm.\n\nThe transformations started when I went through puberty. Under the light of the full moon I would transform into my mother's greatest fear. I don't know if there are others like me. I don't exactly advertise. It's too embarrassing.\n\nI'm a werepoodle.\n", "The officer leaned over Bill, planting his palms on the cold steel table. \"One more time. I want you to tell me _one more time._ \"\n\nBill buried his face in his hands. \"I swear. I swear to God, I didn't do it.\"\n\n\"They're dead. And there you were, covered in blood. You tell me how you didn't do it.\"\n\n\"I can't tell you. You won't believe me. I swear...\" Bill glanced out the tiny barred window, watching the day's light fade. Tears welled in his eyes and rolled out onto his cheeks.\n\n\"That's not an alibi, son. Every guy out there who's killed a man says the same thing.\"\n\nHis ears were getting itchy. That was always the first sign. Would the officer shoot him when he started changing? Police were twitchy these days. If they would shoot a guy for selling weed or something, they'd want to kill a man who looked like a monster from some Stephen King book. He cringed in his chair and covered his ears.\n\n\"What's going on?\" The officer thumped his hand on the table, but there wasn't any force behind it -- now, he was just confused. He ducked and peeked at Bill's tear-streaked face.\n\nHuge brown eyes looked back, wet and frightened. Fur rustled under the man's white-knuckled fingers, sprouting like grass from his cheeks, as cold yellow moonlight washed in through the window. His teeth crackled as they sharpened and lengthened, his canines stretching into long wicked fangs. Unable to look away, the officer watched with his jaw hanging open, his hand creeping toward his gun.\n\nBill's hands shook as he slowly lowered them to his lap. \"See, Officer? I can't...I can't kill a man right now.\"\n\n\"I'll be damned if you can't.\" All the force had gone out of the policeman's voice. \"What the hell are you?\"\n\n\"I'm a were--\" He felt his voice cut off as his throat seized up. He wasn't human enough now to talk, his ears stretching and jaw rearranging and shoulders twisting into a new shape. He rolled to the side, falling off the chair as his legs reformed and a tail sprouted under his pants. As he caught himself on his forelimbs, he panted and growled, his claws scrabbling on the concrete floor.\n\nHe looked up, teeth bared, a snarl bursting from his throat. The officer looked down, his hand falling away from his gun. Slowly, mouth still open in surprise, the cop began to laugh.\n\n\"A were...wiener dog?\"", "It was the year 1917, in the middle of No Man's land, 5 men were stuck in a massive hunk of steel. With the engine on their tank busted, the men were right in the middle of what was about to become scorched earth. \n\nCaptain O'Brien cried out \"Jenkins! For fuck's sake what the fuck are we going to do?!\". \n \nJenkins, the mechanic and machine gunner yelled back. \"Don't ask me! Ask this blasted machine!\" \n \nAs they bickered in the tank about their situation, they began to hear bullets bouncing off the metal. \n \n\"Oh bloody hell it's the Krauts!\" \n \nThe tank loader, eerily silent through this whole fiasco, spoke up. \n \n\"Gentlemen, if you'd like to survive, write down a message asking for artillery support\" \n \nThe captain sneered \"Brilliant idea William, except for one thing, WE DON'T HAVE ANY BLASTED PIGEONS LEFT.\" \n \nThe loader looked into Captain O'Brien's eyes and said \"We do, now write\". \n \nJenkins scribbled down a note and slammed it on one of the metal ledges. The loader stood up, and to the disbelief of his crewmates, began to morph. His lips elongated into a beak, his arms morphed into wings, his legs grew thinner and thinner. After the horrifying process was done, a grey pigeon stood in the midst of the astonished crew. The pigeon spoke up, \"Well put the bloody message on me and let's bloody go!\". \n \nCpt. O'Brien snapped out of it and strapped the message to the loader's legs, and deftly tossed the pigeon out of the pigeonhole. \n \nAfter 30 excruciating minutes, the artillery strike came. None of the men spoke of this afterwards, the loader was said to have charged out of the tank and was declared MIA. None of the men in that tank ever saw him again, although sometimes, a pigeon would fly over them, and eject a well aimed strike of bird shit right in front of their feet. ", "An odd air of tranquility had fallen over the room. The warm evening air always did have a pacifying quality to it. They had slid the porch door open on its railings, but all that did was cool the room down just enough so that the previously suffocating air become like a huge transparent blanket. Under its soporific influences, his wife had fallen into a drowsy haze, her mind blanket out as she slowly, and then suddenly, lost the nightly battle against sleep. When her soft snoring was the only thing that broke the nights eerie silence, Jack rose from the couch and kiss her on the forehead and brushed her smooth brown hair away from her eye. They usually burned in an amazing bright blue. He rose and left, closing the door behind him.\n\nHe looked up at the sky.\n\nThere it was.\n\nThe full moon.\n\nIt was an omen of humiliation for him. His.oace quickened and he led himself away from his unused and down winding streets. The streetlights light the way for him, leading him away from the house like some Prince on his way through an enchanted forest, going to meet his destiny. Soon, he reached the public park. It stood appropriately desertered, as a park should be at ten minutes to midnight. The only light a soft glow from one of the intermittent lampposts that lined the path, a stretch of tarmac that coiled and wrapped itself around the glass's edge.\n\nEvery full moon he underwent a transformation. He lost his old self to a grotesque form of fur and claw and teeth. He left his humanity behind and become a creature of the wild. A creature that would rub and feel the glorious night time scratch it's ears and the exquisite sensation of the cool dirt beneath it's inhuman paws.\n\n\nMidnight struck, bringing with it that ominous silence. The land was dead and immobile. Nothing stirred. \n\nHis body arched suddenly, forced his back straight and he sharply exhaled. It wasn't painless, his transformation. His legs and arms deformed themselves, mutating into horrible, fur lined sticks that spread outwards into paws. His head shrunk. The clothes he had been wearing fell to a crumpled heap on the loose dirt on the floor, kicking up a miniscule cloud of dust.\n\nFrom the dust and the fabric it emerged. \n\nA chihuahua. No taller than two feet. The reason a man of 20 was hiding in a bush on a Friday night in an abandoned Park, like a freak in a circus trying desperately to hide himself from the view of jeering onlooker. The dog hoovered for a moment, breathing slowly, taking in the surroundings.\n\nSuddenly, Jack became aware of and itch behind his ear. Dipping his head, he stratched it his his front left paw. Then, yapping happily, he scurried off into the centre of the park, chasing a mouse that had run into front of his nose.\n\nBeing a dog was a simple life. Thoguh he wasn't aware of it, Jack was having the time of his life. Without the troubling human consciousness he was usually burdened with, the same one that always turned over thoguhts and was always thinking, he was able to enjoy the small things. The smell of pollen, and the thrilling of chasing a mouse across the grass. \n\nHe chased it across once, then it disappeared into a bush - he barked in frustration, unable to follow. \n\nSomething made his blood freeze in place. Voices.\n\nA group of young people, no older than sixteen, had turned the corner. They were shadows behind the streetlamp, and were making strange Noises he could not hope to understand. One of them pointed at him, and before his little legs could react, he was hovering in the air. He growled threateningly at his captor, but they laughed, flicking his nose, and putting him on the nearest bin.\n\nRisking a tentative peek over the edge of the metal lid, his eyes were met with a drop of frightening magnitude. Overcome with vertigo, he cowered while the dark figures laughed.\n\nAnother noise, angelic by comparison to their jeers, caused the figures to scatter. Before he could react, a gentle figure with brown hair and bolting blue eyes was looking at him with the expression of a child finding a long lost toy. \"Poor thing. How could they torture such an innocent creature?\" She said in a voice like a mother talking to her child. The dog, thoguht it didn't understand the words, understood her sentiment and yapped happily, licking the strangers kindly face. She giggled in delight, before her expression turned to a downtrodden and burdened one. She was talking about her husband, who kept disappearing at night. 'Is he being unfaithful?' she wondered aloud. She clearly had followed in the hopes of finding out.\n\nWhile she might have lost her husband, she had found a lovable lost dog. It didn't have a collar, so it looks to be a stray to her eyes. \n\nShe carried it at her breast, off to it's new home. \n\nThe chihuahua barked happily.", "Thomas was typing. He was the only one still working, for his coworkers had left hours before. The absence of light closed around his small, bright computer screen, making him seem small and insignificant. From time to time he would take a sip from the cup at his side. He was oft to check its contents, as though he were hoping it was something else.\n\nThe only way to get anywhere in life is through hard work, Thomas told himself. It’s what his father had said on deathbed. It had always been work, work, work with him. But Thomas’ fingers ached with a passion, so he lifted them and cracked his knuckles. Sweat -- from stress, not exertion -- beaded his face and neck, pooled at his armpits after a day of work. But work is no good when there are millions of the same. He felt he was like to go insane if he typed another word.\n\nHis boss, Dana, did not share his misgivings. “Keep at it,” Dana would say. “And if you land in the psych ward, I ain’t visiting.”\n\nThomas never dared respond. He sat quietly and typed. The dull clack of keyboard keys drove through his ears like a drill. His only compensation for the monotony: a large window. On summer days, the sun beat through and Thomas would burn despite hardly going outside. And in winter, cold seeped in the glass, chilled him to the bone. Beyond, on the opposite street, stood a building akin to Thomas’ own. But it was drab and gray, providing little in way of view. San Francisco was a city of greed. It took everything and left nothing but a will to die.\n\nIn that moment, all Thomas could feel was the urgent need to relieve. He picked himself from his chair -- rolling, with sticky leather -- and walked down a hall. Without the usual bustle of work, the office was oddly cryptic. Each gap felt like the entrance to a cave, holding artefacts of unknown powers. Every step was made through thick mist, in which Thomas could hardly see. Then he stepped into a brightly lit corridor and the illusion melted.\n\nAt first, it was blinding. Light reflected from white walls and tiles, scrubbed clean yesterday night by janitor Joe. A few dying plants stood at opposite ends but, for the most part, the hall was unadorned. It seemed too clean and better suited for hospitals or clinics. Sometimes Thomas pretended it was a hall from science fiction, and that guards or aliens waited around the bend.\n\nAs he descended a flight of stairs, so too did the cleanliness degrade. Streaks of gray marred faded walls. Lights flickered overhead or failed to shine entirely. Tile chipped and broke away, giving way to bleak concrete slabs beneath. Sometimes, Thomas imagined Dana to hold captive unruly workers in the building’s basement. She was a small woman, of weak stature but large of will. At first glance, Thomas made the mistake of thinking she were old and frail. Still, many doors were locked, and that only furthered his theory.\n\nAhead of him, the bathroom grew larger. “Shithole,” the staff called, and Thomas thought it aptly named. It stank and was more often than not ignored by cleaners. Most toilets there were like to overflow -- and did -- so the floor had become drenched in sewage. The other half that did not vomit of their own accord failed to flush. So feces remained stagnant for days. That smell reached Thomas’ nostrils and would’ve told him, if he was wanting of sight, that he had come close.\n\nThen Thomas shoved at the door, but it would not budge. “Damn it,” he said. He cursed under his breath and shoved again. The sound of his flesh striking wood echoed queerly down the hall. Then again did Thomas hit the door. It gave way on his fifth attempt and sent splinters to the floor. One found home in his finger, but he ignored it and it slipped from his mind.\n\n“What the hell?” Said Thomas. His jaw dropped and, for a moment, it seemed he had finally gone insane.\n\nA flock of chickens stared back at him.\n\nThomas had no sooner fell from shock than Dana had gripped his arm. “You’re not supposed to be here,” she said. “No one’s supposed to be here.” The chickens bobbed their heads. A few feathers floated through the air but thomas paid them no mind.\n\n“What the hell?” He said again.\n\n“Yes, you’ve said that,” said Dana.\n\nThomas backed away, confused. “Yeah, but, what? There’s chickens in the bathroom. Why are there chickens in the bathroom? And why are you here?” In a stupor, he said, “You hold prisoners here, don’t you.”\n\n“State the obvious, why don’t you? Yes, that’s a flock of chickens in the bathroom. And I do hold people from time to time, but rarely here.”\n\nThomas hesitated. “But chickens --”\n\n“-- we’d thought this place would be empty. Like, who in their right mind shits down here? You, I guess, but you’re mental. I should’ve accounted for that.”\n\n“What…”\n\n“You say ‘what’ one more time and I’ll get that lot to peck your eyes out. We’re werefowl, in case you haven’t noticed.”\n\nThe remark amused Thomas to no end.\n\nA sudden force struck Thomas like a speeding car. As he fell against the wall he felt scaled talons grip his limbs. Sharp beaks pecked at his flesh, broke skin. Well, there are worse ways to die. When he opened his mouth to scream, Dana poured water down his throat. He gagged and choked, and light faded.\n\n\n**\n\n/r/Lone_Wolf_Studios for weekly stories and updates!", "I left the board on the table a defeated man. \n\n\"And don't forget a cherry pop,\" said Melanie, with a wink. That was her gloating, I figured. \n\nShe didn't win often, so I guessed I should just let it go. though a part of me just wanted to return with water to incite her. Not that a fight now would be anything spectacular. \n\n\"Anyone else have special orders?\" I asked the other two. \n\nDjembe shook his head. He was always happy for whatever snacks got brought out after the fateful first game. \n\nVenus just said no, then returned to cleaning up the pieces. \n\nWhen I returned from the kitchen, I had a tray laden with snacks and small sandwiches and a single can of cherry cola that I set down in front of Melanie. \n\n\"M'lday,\" I said, pretending to tip a hat. \n\n\"Gross,\" She said, cracking open the can. \n\nI smiled. I was about to indulge her when I noticed Djembe was missing. Melanie hadn't. \n\nShe put down the can and reached for a sandwich. She screamed and dropped it, and a furry, black rat scampered away, chittering loudly. \n\n\"Fucking Djembe,\" Melanie screamed. In a second she changed and was soon flapping wings, her pigeon coos echoing in the room. \n\nShe circled round and round, looking for Djembe, who no doubt was already playing his best game of hide and seek. \n\nI sat down next to Venus and set my hand on her leg. \"They seem awfully distracted right now,\" I said. \n\nVenus gave me a skewed smile and leaned in closer to my ear. I could feel heat radiating off her. \"Fuck off,\" she whispered. \n\nI chuckled, then released my hand and continued to watch the entertainment. At some point, Melanie had spot movement, and was attacking an old delivery box, leaving vicious stab marks. \n\nShe swooped up and Djembe scuttled out. But it was a ruse, and Melanie dove down again, beak open, ready for the ultimate triumph. \n\nSomeone knocked. \n\nVenus froze and I glanced over towards the door. Djembe and Melanie changed back and hustled to their seats. \n\nI looked at the others, but no one was getting up. It looked like being the first loser meant more duties than I'd hoped tonight. \n\nI got up and opened the door. Outside, wearing a clean-pressed shirt and a goofy smile was Otto. On his arms, a pretty girl with black hair and almond eyes that she'd worked around with eyeliner to make sharp wings. \n\n\"Hey, Danton. This is Christine.\" He indicated the girl with his free hand and she smiled and gave a tiny wave. \n\nShe wasn't on Venus' level, but I approved. \n\n\"Hi, pleasure, come on in.\" I patted Otto on the back and he traded me a victorious look. He was on his game. That was good, but I wondered how much he was thinking whether or not we were all on our game, too.\n\nAfter introducing everyone to Christine, they drew up two more chairs and Djembe began setting up the next game. \n\n\"It's nice to meet you all, Otto's told me so much about all of you,\" Christine said. She was a little bubbly in a way that would probably work for Otto.\n\n\"Oh really,\" said Melanie, drawing out the response and landing a gaze at Otto. It was the first time his demeanor cracked a little.\n\nI gave a mental shrug. He should have known this was going to happen. Of course we were going to milk every opportunity to dance around the one thing Otto was sure would make any girl run away. \n\nBut it was going over Christine's head. She had to have noticed, but there was no way she ever could have deduced what it meant. \n\n\"Yeah, so I was super excited when he asked if I wanted to come to board game night. He always treats it like church, so I'm glad I get to see what he fusses about so much.\"\n\nAt the mention of games, Djembe looked up. \n\n\"Do you play games much?\" he asked. \n\n\"Oh, not really. I mean, like Monopoly and stuff like that.\" \n\nThe mention of monopoly prompted a group exchange. Christine had no idea on so many levels. But that one, luckily, we kept subtle. \n\n\"Oh, then you're going to love the games we play,\" Djembe said. There was never as bad a judge of emotion as Djembe. He'd tell a starving man he'd love intermittent fasting. \n\n\"Oh really? What games do you play?\" Christine asked. \n\nMelanie smiled. Christine had asked the question that was going to let the floodgate loose. \n\n\"You know, we were actually just playing a small game of hide and seek,\" she said. \n\nOtto snapped his head away from Christine. Gaped at Melanie, eyes pleading with her to stop with her shenanigans before she'd even really began. \n\n\"Wait really? You don't think it's too much of a kid's game?\" Christine asked. \n\n\"Oh they're children alright,\" said Venus. \"They never grew up.\" \n\n\"Oh, but our hide and seek is really fun. Because you can't just do it regular. For us, you have to act like an animal.\" \n\nChristine's eyes went wide. Otto's went wider. If Christine's arms hadn't been around him, he would have been making cutting motions this entire time. I was enjoying this. \n\nBut I was also waiting for my ace in the hole. \n\nDjembe smiled at Christine's reaction. \"It's true. Melanie sometimes has to act like a pigeon, and flap her arms as she moves around.\" \n\nMelanie nodded gravely . \"And Djembe here sometimes acts like a rat, scurrying around on all fours.\" \n\nVenus was shaking her head, but she made no move to stop their fun. \n\n\"Wait, why those animals, why not something, I don't know. More interesting? Or at least cuter?\" \n\nOtto had a keeper. Both Melanie and Djembe were caught by the question. They could only take them as insults if they wanted to give themselves away. \n\n\"Well, you know, it's just because it's difficult to do, and it's silly,\" Melanie flustered. \n\nOtto had calmed down, and Melanie was on the back foot. Djembe had become engrossed in fidgeting with the game pieces. It was my time to shine.\n\n\"They're bull-shitting you, Christine,\" I said.\n\nShe turned to me and looked a little embarrassed, as if having been taken for a ride. \n\n\"Oh,\" she said.\n\nBefore she could say anything, I pointed at them, \"They're bullshitting you, because they really are a rat and a pigeon.\" \n\nI met Christine's surprised reaction with a dead level glance. How I wished I could have sacrificed the deadpan in order to see Otto stem on the edge of rage. The emotions that raced through his mind. The different colors of his face. \n\nAnd then Christine relaxed and laughed. The tension in the room eased. Otto looked at his girlfriend, incredulous. \n\n\"You guys are just as funny as he said.\" She had another bout of chuckles. \"I bet Otto would be a turtle, he's so slow, sometimes.\" \n\nOtto nearly had a heart attack, and almost fainted on the couch. I grinned sheepishly.\n\nMelanie and Djembe had taken new heart at this turn of events and even Venus was interested. \n\nOh yeah, we were going to have a lot of fun with this. \n\n___\n\nThanks for reading! You can check out more of my stuff at /r/chrisbryant.* \n\n " ]	[ 1, 2, 3, 6, 6, 7, 49 ]	[ "1498697468", "1498714976", "1498725644", "1498707316", "1498707422", "1498705743", "1498705693" ]
	[WP] The war against the undead drudges on. But tonight is different, not only are they moving in packs but.... are they setting up ambushes?	7	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "We thought we were winning the fight.\n\nLet's be honest, we've all fantasized about it: battling the living dead. How many games did we play? All the novels and movies outlining scenarios and strategies. Why, at this point they were the precursor to training manuals. So much of that fiction ended up being true. The \"aim for the head\" mentality, the shambling and rambling corpses. Everything panned out like authors and directors imagined. \n\nFor some of us, this was a twisted heaven. Sure, the fear was there, but survival felt so much better with a little bit of \"Nya nya, told you so!\" dashed on top.\n\nAnd just when we felt the tides were turning to our favor, we realized that the current had just recessed to the ocean and was amassing to crush us in one monster wave.\n\nIt started slowly: small scouting parties disappearing. That should never happen at this point. They were veterans, been on ranging after ranging, and yet they weren't coming back. We ran through every scenario we could. \n\n\"Rival survivor gangs?\" Doubtful.\n\n\"Sickness?\" Too gradual.\n\n\"The undead?\" Absurd. They were no more than moaning target practice.\n\nAnd yet, here we are. Standing at the remains of what once was a campsite. One of our campsites. They came at night, they must have. The signs of struggle never really branched out from the tents. In fact, the struggle never made it far from our scouts corpses. Still in their beds. The creatures must have taken out the watchmen first. It's doubtful any alarm was raised.\n\nHow did they manage this?\n\nHow did they get so smart?\n\nHow did they learn to use strategy?\n\nHow did they learn to even think?\n\nHow did-\n\n...How did they surround us? How didn't we notice?\n\nWe're no longer the apex.\n\nWe fell right into their trap.", "Again, they heard the cry for help. It was a girl's voice, high pitched and soaked with fear. \n\n'We're getting closer'. Ben picked his way through low hanging branches and ferns. Harold and Julia followed close behind. \n\n'This ain't a good idea', whispered Harold. 'If we can hear her, so can they. Half the undead within a mile's radius will be heading the same way we are'. \n\n'What are you suggesting?' said Julia, sharply. 'Leave her? She's a girl, for Christ's sake'. \n\nA bush rustled, nearby. 'Quiet' Ben held up his hand. They froze. A branch cracked as if trodden underfoot. Ben crouched and readied his knife. He felt the warmth of Julia's breath on his neck. His eyes darted to the trees and bushes around him. Nothing. Silence. \n\n'Help!' came the scream, again. \n\n'C'mon' said Ben. \n\nThe trees started to thin. The thick brush at their feet dissapeared, leaving roots and dirt. They came upon a clearing, a grass area surrounded by a cicular wall of trees. A girl hunched at its centre, facing away from them. Blood stained the tattered rags that clung to her back. \n\n'Help!' \n\nJulia darted for the girl. Ben followed, cautiously. The area felt exposed after their creep through the forest -- too exposed. \n\n'Let's be quick', he said. 'We'll grab her and go'. \n\n'Little girl' said Julia. 'It's okay. It's okay'. She laid her fingers on girls shoulders, who shuddered at the touch, and scuffled away on her hands and knees. \n\n'No' pleaded Julia. 'We're here to help you'. \n\nThe girl stoppped, and stumbled to her feet. She turned her head, slowly. A sick smile twisted her lips. Her eyes were white as clouds and her chest was cut open, revealing the white ribs and red flesh inside. She opened her lips wide and shrieked. \n\nThe forest around them bustled. Undead dropped from tree canopies like overripe fruit. Ben heard Harold's scream, and turned to see the man mauled by a sea of standing corpses. His pulse raced. On the opposite side of the clearing, there was an opening with no undead: a way out 'Quick, Julia--\n\nThe girl bit down on Julia's calf. Julia uttered a silent scream and looked at Ben with defeated eyes. 'Run' she told him. \n\n" ]	[ 1, 1, 2 ]	[ "1498707794", "1498708825", "1498711934" ]
	[WP] You are a hitman, who enjoys a comfortable lifestyle, apart from one hitch, you have a unquenchable urge to kill whoever the internet hates most at the time.	2	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Always had a knack for the lavish lifestyle, a penny here, a penny there and save yourself the trouble. A penthouse for night, a gentle ride home, a good stake, served exactly as you want it, dipped in just a tiny bit of wine and medium to well done, sauce offered on the right side of the dish, spicy on the left side, with hot toast to enjoy it and served in a timely manner, there is but one word for this, exquisite. And it is exactly how should be!\n\n\nGetting down from the car, giving the keys to the valet, which is probably the best car he would ever drive in his lifetime and walking slowly towards the hotel I notice the crude people around me, these filthy, crude bastards with no clue of what is right, all drowning in their self infatuation and ignorance, if only they knew what I did, had my manners and speech. No pity is shown for their narrow minds and lack of awareness as I strode forwards before this couple holding hands and giggling in the most atrocious and annoying manner. Stunned, and almost bumping into me, the couple stopped a few steps bumping into me and threw some cruel insults at my person, but as gentleman I pay no heed to them, it would be a waste of breath to even attempt to speak to them, as none of my words would reach them, or their filthy, full of maggots, ears. I just walked past them, past the doorman who kindly opened the door and offered greeted me, so i replied in kind with a greeting of my own, past the receptionist who seems always befuddled with the troubles of these peasants lodged in this exquisite place caused today. \n\n\nArriving in front of the elevator, the button is pressed and the confirmation sound echoes through the halls as I see the lights lighting on the elevator and showing the floors it passed through, stopping for a few seconds on the 1st floor. \"Are you kidding me?\" is almost blurted out from me mouth for those pitiful people who could not walk down the stairs a measly floor and had to call the elevator. Brain effort was hard for them, but then again so was walking when you had nothing inside your skull. Those voices ruined the atmosphere on the hall, they speech was so loud it could practically have jumped into your face revealing their ugly sneers. \n\n\nAs the elevator stopped so did their idiotic chatter in an attempt to keep face. The elevator doors slid and revealed are the faces of those tree barbarians, a old man with white hair and a beard who needed the help of two younger females for walking, one on each side. How preposterous, as if it was not clear he could walk just fine by looking at him.\n\n\nHe was greeted out of courtesy and he greeted back, but as soon the leech on his left side said pardon, i just sneered at her and stood my ground as she bumped into me before giving me a weird look. Had she expected me to make way for her when her group was occupying the entire elevator? Regardless of her reply to me, which I completely ignored, entering the elevator was smooth and as easy as the time spent to get to the 7th floor. The expectations for tonight were grand and my patience was running thin to see who would get judged tonight, who would stir the ire of so many people and of course, ye who would get downvoted tonight.\n\nAfter exiting the elevator I opened the door to my suite go to the fridge as the lights slowly get turned on to my clap. After hacing opened the fridge door I choose a fine wine, a Chatteau de Margeaux 1975. Having pored a glass I opened the laptop and start surfing. A few names have popped up in my view, but none attracted my eye after a few searches. \n\n\nAfter a few sips of wine I finally found he whom I have been looking for. No one likes him, he's crude, stupid, a waste or air and I detest him with every fiber of my being. His songs as well... guess I'm gonna have fun tonight." ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1498720628", "1498726721" ]
	[WP] Kidnapped as a child, you were raised by a secret government organization as a genetically- and cybernetically-enhanced super soldier... but before deployment your superiors were arrested and now you must adjust to civilian life.	15	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "I can't really remember my life before the Institute. I was about seven years old when I was taken.\n\nDecades went by like clockwork. I was placed in a steel windowless room with a door locked by a thumbprint scanner. I was allowed eight hours of rest, then a small meal: water, pork and bread. Then, training began. I stretched and did two hundred push-ups, crunches, squats, and burpies. After that, I ran for five miles.\n\nOnce the physical part was out of the way, I was given another small meal, exactly the same as before. Then, they strapped me to a chair and put needles in my arms and electrodes on my chest and temples. They were making absolutely sure it was impossible to interrogate me. No form of truth serum, torture, or intimidation would affect me.\n\n After I was pumped full of juice, I was restrained to a different chair and educated on every matter imaginable. Biology, mathmatics, forms of combat, mechanics, even current events. All the knowledge of the human race was pumped into my brain, and if I answered a question incorrectly or protested in some way, I received an electric shock.\n\nWhen my lessons ended, I was allowed to void by bowels and returned to my quarters with an identical meal to the previous two awaiting me. After I ate, I rested and the hellish cycle restarted.\n\nThey told me I would be the perfect soldier; an unstoppable killing machine at the fingertips of the United States govornment.\n\nUnfortunately for them, that would never happen.\n\nThe people caught wind of their experiments on me. \"Project Ares\", they called it. They were all send to a federal prison for life without parol, or so I was told. They more likely just shot them and were done with it.\n\nI had been given a therapist to help me recover psychologically. After a few years, I was released from his care and was allowed to fend for myself as a civilian, just another face in the crowd. The idea was rather comforting.\n\nI had adopted a dog to be my companion. A German Shephard and Pitbull mix. I named him Talos, after the colossal bronze man from Greek mythology. He was a good friend. Sadly, a pair of thieves had entered my home and brought firearms to defend themselves. I easily killed them, of course, but Talos had been shot in the heart. I held my first and only friend as he died slowly. That was the first time I really remember crying. I closed his eyes and buried him in the back yard to rest, while I burned to remains of the thieves and threw the ashes into the river.\n\nI often retreated to pubs and taverns after that night, allowing the alcohol to seep into my system and drown out my emotions.\n\nI had purchased an M1911 handgun for protection. However, on the fifth month after Talos' passing, I sat on my bed and held the weapon. I wondered, would anyone even wonder if I was missing? Would the police search for me, only to find me here?\n\nI doubted it.\n\nI drew back the hammer and held the end of the barrel against my temple. My hand trembled as my finger twitched on the iron trigger. I began to weep quietly. I stiffened my grip on the gun and threw it aside.\n\nI breathed heavily, as if I had emerged from underwater.\n\nNot yet. I told myself. I'm stronger than that.\n\nI eventually met a woman named Julie Crimson at the tavern and we developed a relationship. I could tell she was weary of me at first because of my somewhat robotic nature, but she, quote, \"Saw the goodness in me pierce through all the dark.\" We grew old together happily.\n\nI write this now in my bed in Paladin's Cross Hospital. My body is old and brittle. I will not last much longer, but Julie is right beside me. She and I will pass into the next world, whatever it may be, looking into each other's eyes.\n\nDespite my enjoyable last few years, I now wish for nothing more but the end. I wait for the voice of the suited man to whisper one last time,\n\n\"You may rest now.\"" ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1498733023", "1498784379" ]
[removed]	[WP] "WECOME TO: Do I like you?"	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nPrompts go in the title. (Exceptions: [IP] and [MP]). Feel free to repost with the prompt in the title. You can add more detail in the text, but remember prompts should be a starting point and [not be a recipe](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/prompts?src=RECIPE). \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6k7n99/wp_wecome_to_do_i_like_you/%0A%0A)\n\nThis action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things." ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1498734798", "1498735174" ]
	[WP] You awake to find yourself on a small deserted island. In the center looms a large tower with a digitial clock. You see it start counting down from 24 hours. Your only aid comes in the form of a parrot. "You get three questions", says the parrot. "Choose wisely."	7	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", ">Wow, that was rather unexpected...\n\n I said to myself after hearing the parrot out. Not only I happened to magically teleport to a deserted island in the matter of... who the fuck knows, actually. It may be days, weeks... seconds, minutes? But also there's a goddamn speaking parrot. What a time to be alive. My fingernails haven't grown much since I last remember, actually I should have cut them the other night but I chose to play some games instead. Nevermind, the point is they haven't grown at all so propably it wasn't a long time since I got here. Good thing I've sorted this out. Now, back to the parrot. She told me I have 3 questions. I never woulda thought a damn parrot will ever tell me what I should do but I guess I have no other options left. And what is going on with that clock? I propably should ask my little feathery friend.\n\n>Yo um, parrot? Can you answer my question? Why am I here?\n\n>Can't you remember? Two questions left.\n\nYeah, great. That's the quality answer I expected. So, I'm on an island in the middle of... Somewhere wet. Propably water. A lot of water. Ocean? Maybe. I actually can't remember much, I just went to bed and expected to wake up in the same bed. I should propably stop after the 6th beer, now I'm hallucinating. One thing I know for sure is that it's kind of these edgy mysteries, I've seen those before in other stories I read on the Internet. And if it's nothing but a mystery designed by someone, there has to be an explanation to everything. Why is there a giant clock on a big ass tower? Someone clearly wanted me to see the countdown. Something's gonna happen and I gotta figure out what.\n\n>Uh, parrot? Why is there a giant clock counting down?\n\n>I thought you'll ask about the giant clock on a tower. Well, this island once was...\n\n>Yeah yeah don't bother with the backstory. I'm asking for a reason why it's here.\n\n>Damn, I was just getting started. So, the clock's here to remind you that the time's limited and you gotta find a way to get to the top of the tower before it runs down to zero. Last question.\n\nThat's what I was hoping to hear. Someone knows me better than I thought. This whole thing is designed just for me. And if it's designed for me, there are propably some things on the island to guide me. One of them, if you haven't noticed yet, was that suspicious talking parrot. In my childchood I used to play with my friends, Carl and Desmond. One day we found that funny talking parrot plushie somewhere in the woods. When you pressed it's belly it said \"Hello, wanna have some fun?\" We kept pressing it but it was all that was there. We obviously wanted to have some fun, otherwise we wouldn't hang around the forest. That gives me an idea for the last question...\n\n>Hey parrot, wanna have some fun?\n\nThe ground started to tremble. The earth split in two, with something going out of the breach. I saw a toy chest standing on a pedestal. The engraving on the stone sculpture said \"Seek for your map.\" Then it hit me. Why would it say MY map? My deduction was correct, this is all about me. So, I started to work towards getting out of this island, I have stuff to do. I begun searching the toy chest finding some rubbish. Nothing interesting, just a few building blocks, a teddy bear, some wooden trains and...\n\n>Hold on, what's that?\n\nSpeaking to myself is a bad habit. As bad as finding a map written with blood in a chest full of my childhood toys. Why would the pedestal say \"seek for my map\" if the map was right inside of it? It clearly means it isn't the map I should be looking for. This map is just a clue towards finding the right one. The tower is propably a labirynth with tons of misdirective signs, thus the right map is crucial to safely make it to the top. Let's take a look at the map I just found. The paper is yellow, so the map is quite old. Why is it written in blood though? Blood never promises unicorns and candies, so I gotta watch out, I actually may die. The map is actually quite straight forward, there is a road to the tower, the place where I am currently and one more road, deep into the woods. There are few things highlighted on that road though. One of them is a drawing of a wooden hut. I should check it out in the first place. The other drawings is a fishing rod with a pond next to it, a bottle with some note in it, and a bunch of rope. There is a clue sinked in that pond, I'm quite sure I'm not here in order to go fishing with my parrot friend. The bottle may contain another map with even more clues. The rope can be useful if I ever wanted to get to the top of the tower safely. With no time to loose, I headed towards the wooden hut.\n\n>That's gonna be annoying...\n\nThanks for reading. My first WP, actually. I may continue if you'd ask me to." ]	[ 1, 3 ]	[ "1498745897", "1498748574" ]
[deleted]	[WP] You told your girlfriend that whenever she was with you the sun will ALWAYS be up and shining, It's been 3 years since you told her so.	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "I step out onto the deck of our boat. As I do, Jason puts his arms around me and picks me up. \n\"Bro, the sun looks as beautiful as ever. Every day, every night. It's been three years, three years of bliss, bro\" I say to him, turning around to meet his gaze. \n\"Bro, come on, you know when you talk lime that it gets me all teary-eyed, man.\" \nI hug the big lug, as we complete our daily circumnavigation for the 1095th day in a row." ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1498747173", "1498748684" ]
	[WP] You are a being from a distant planet. Today, you meet the first aliens. They call themselves "Humans".	37	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The humans are simple. act and behave out of kindness and generosity, they communicate verbally and convey emotions to one another. The way of the ancestors millions of years ago. It is important to remember the ancestors had many flaws warfare and destruction over menial problems. it was only after our people had done away with violence that we found peace. I had met with leaders of their world to find not one world leader but many. there was something wrong however. the ones they refer to as Americans tried to grab me, study me. The \"men\" as they're called ran for me. threatened i merely separated the matter inside their funny little heads. i see now that the race known as \"humans\" are a dangerous, violent and undisciplined the species that must not be allowed to leave their world much less have the ability to destroy one another. i personally have rendered their instruments of destruction inert. some resisted of course but resistance was expected initially. The humans were dangerous. Now they are not. i will continue my efforts here with no resistance. ", "I attached the camera to my head, and made sure that the gas mask was on tightly around my mouth parts before stepping out of the familiar clear air of my ship into the strange, faintly eggshell-blue tinted air that these 'Humans' breathed. It took all of my diplomatic training to not quiver with disgust at these strange fleshy beings. The lead one, clothed in tightly fitting dark blue uniform of some sort, motioned towards me, making motions with its stubby arms that conveyed to me its amical nature. I returned with a strange movement that the xenobiologists had drilled into me as a sign of respect, a flick of the arm from the top of the head outwards. The aliens talked amongst themselves, grunts echoing dully in the dense atmosphere. I lifted up my tablet and typed out a question that synthetically played in their language. \"Shall we get to business?\"\n\nThe lead human pressed at a device placed in some recess behind those strange fleshy protrusions on the sides of the head, and their voice was translated into mine. \"Of course, come this way\"\n\nThey lead me to a large room, with two seats at a low glass topped table, presumably holographic; each seat designed for one of us. Taking the hint, I lowered myself into the seat. Unable to truly relax, I kept my thorax lifted off the ground. I placed my tablet on the table and typed out again. \"You already have the full drawn out agreement sent to you, are there any terms that need to be defined further before we seal it?\"\n\nThe human sat down, with the others hanging back near the wall. They replied. \"There is just one term we find interesting...\" They brought up the specific page of the agreement on the screen of the table.\n\n\"What about it?\"\n\n\"Why cane sugar in particular?\"\n\n\"It tastes good\"", "Log 13:887:99:04\n\nThe seat of learning they have here is called a library. They store their information here in paper and on disks and screens; I will get to an overview of the technology later.\n\nThis is a wonderful place to observe them though, as they have to stay quiet in the learning spaces. This means I could see their biggest power - they can actually change the mood of those around them non verbally. If they walk into a room happy, people around them become happier. If they are impatient or anxious, they spread that as well. Even anger seems to spread this way, and no one of them seems to have more of this power than another - it is equally shared.\n\nThe strange thing is, they just spread whatever mood they find themselves in with nary a thought to those around them, nor any idea they can spread positivity. It is as if they are unaware of their own power to shape the world around them with love.", "Warm, I feel the new terrain, \n\nCold, this race and in distress, \n\nColloquy proofs itself in vain, \n\nThey carry me from nest to nest,\n\n&nbsp;\n\n\nLight, they shed onto my face, \n\nDark intentions I can sense, \n\nQuickly white cloth fills my space, \n\nThey cut my skin with rubber hands, \n\n&nbsp;\n\n\n\nClose, they study my remains, \n\nFar, I've left my corpse behind, \n\nFast my ghost travels space, \n\nTo inform my own kind, \n\n&nbsp;\n\n\n\n\"Human, is what they call themselves\", \n\n\"For sure, they are not civilized\", \n\n\"Send our ghosts and ring the bells\", \n\n\"There shall be no compromise\". \n\n\n\n\n" ]	[ 1, 2, 4, 4, 12 ]	[ "1498817753", "1498823350", "1498826391", "1498832604", "1498823069" ]
Edit: Thank you all so much for this!! The idea came to me in the shower about a week ago, as a thought about "what really weird things we could find as we set to explore the galaxy?". I liked it because there are so many possible angles, and because it hasn't been done before AFAIK (???). I am having a blast reading all your stories.	[WP] It's the year 2851. Humanity develops interstellar travel and begins to explore the Milky Way galaxy in search for life. However, much to everyone's surprise, instead of alien life we find... Earth's biosphere complete with humans, repeated over and over at different stages of progress.	11,956	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "We are the first, I can't accept it as truth but it is. Mathematically it should be impossible. It's been thirty years, why haven't we found anyone else? Something has to be out there, this all couldn't have been in vain, a joke by god, a timid prank. I refuse to believe so, there must be meaning. I'm going insane, the more we search the deeper I'm thrown into insanity. Every single scan is the same, industrial, bronze, renaissance, medieval, prehistoric. Every single time. How is this possible? This throws all theory into the wind, we are the first. ", "Earth One: 20,000 years ago-\n\n\"Raze the cities. Evacuate a decimation of human. Evacuate Sasquatch and Halfling\"\n\nThe scribe transcribed furiously. \"How many halfling and squatch, your Infiniteness?\"\n\nThe king of all creation turned his head, the headdress teetering and threatening to fall. Years of practice and his divinity kept it in place.\n\n\"All of them, Zoat.\"\n\nThe small humanoid, a neighboring species of hominid to Homo sapiens sapiens, gulped nervously and added a few pecks to his notes. \"Uh, and only a single decimation, of humanity, sire?\"\n\n\"Naw, your right. We're leaving the planet; better make it twenty percent.\"\n\nThe sprawling mega city of Ur was laid out before their temple, the top of a stepped pyramid. The temple had been built to honor the sun, its massive stones levitated into place by Sasquatch chant-magic using a Halfling design. \n\nBut that was a 1,000 years ago. By now Squatch chant-magic, Halfling engineering and human organization had advanced Transphysical Harmonics to the point where life was emigrating off earth. \n\nThe Mars Experiment had ultimately failed but the lessons learned allowed subsequent attempts at extra-earth colonies to become viable. And, eventually, profitable. Still. All that aside. \"Why?\" Asked Zoat.\n\n\"Humanity will never accept the Large Ones or Small Ones. The genocides will continue.\"\n\nZoat dropped his quill and scroll in shock.\n\n\"GenocideS, sire?\" He emphasized the plurality of the word.\n\n\"Oh, dear Zoat. Once we're on Alpha Centauri 4 you will finally have a chance to talk to scribes Amber through Yao; there have been other human lead campaigns against your people's and theirs.\" \n\nThe supreme master of all creation, a human, nodded down where the dozen or so hair covered giants chanted around a recently worked piece of granite.\n\nThe harmonies found the vibrational frequency of the stone and it lift into the air. Together they walked and sang, moving the massive worked block of stone into place. \n\nIn the distance a thunderous roar of raised voices marked the site where the frequency of the nearest habitable planet had been discovered. Only their voices were aimed at a huge crystal; a hybrid of artificially combined minerals.\n\nMinerals otherwise only found on Earth 2.\n\nEven now huge numbers of earthlings were walking into that crystal and exiting upon a new planet.\n\n\"Yes. You and The Large will be quite safe there. For now.\"\n\nBut King of All didn't need to elaborate; Zoat was not stupid. It would be pretty easy to imagine this exact same thing happening in another thousand years, and then another thousand years on a third planet after that. And on and on and on…\n\n", "\"Fuck this ship\" Molly exclaims with a sneer, repose and naked on the 846 floor of the Kuma, a freshly gentrified region of an old explorer ship. \"Fuck this galaxy\" whispers Hito, blowing breath on Molly's shoulder while surveying the freckles there that are endearing now, but may cease to be after they've had sex another hundred more times. But for now he finds them beautiful. He relates for a moment their scattershot arrangement as a mirror of grander things. Like the galaxy they are in. There's just been an announcement that another Earth has been found. The announcers voice reveals his androgynous nature. A tone at middle C. Neither male nor female. He's probably had extra fun nerves implanted into one of his existing, or surgically fashioned fuck holes. But the couple doesn't judge. Everyone is bored on this ship. Whatever gets you through they think. They tune out the rest of the details. They don't care. No one cares. No one has in years. Not since they found the orb drive on planet 73682737whatever. The orb drive has all universal knowledge contained within it. Once the brain trust figures out what it is, they can all go home. Deciphering it is one thing. It's finding a living being that can understand it. But much like trying to explain 3D to a 2 dimensional being, no one has enough brain capacity - synthetic or otherwise - to contain enough slivers of it in their mind to observe and make sense of it. And all the planets found in the last few hundred years point to the same awful conclusion; life is a cruel cosmic joke and no one in this universe is in on it. It's been a few thousand years since the second Earth was found and we're no closer to finding out why we're here. There are many theories. Many of them positing that we would implode our own thought constructed universe should we ever find out. And many theories positing that we have as much chance as a hyper reality role playing game villain figuring why he's been programmed to be evil, let alone what it all means. The last two thousand years have just been about filling in unknowns in Earths history, and discovering new technologies to help humans combat boredom. An ever waxing benchmark. For centuries it's just new ways to fuck. New non addictive opiates synthesized by Aldous Huxley Soma enthusiasts. And hyper reality games to top off where the drugs fall short. We know now that sentient life depends on the dopamine rewards system. That levelling up is the only game in town. There is still real meaning. There is love. There is music. There is art. But nothing quite new in a long time. There is enough of it that no human could absorb it all in their lifetime. Even those wealthy enough to live for centuries. But absorption of knowledge into what we now know is a collective subconscious, means that true novelty has been extinct almost as long as scent in humans has - a mysterious occurrence that happens in humans living in space for longer than a few centuries. There is of course always the possibility that we will find another orb drive. One perhaps from an earlier time that we may have a better chance of understanding. And the even slimmer chance that we'll find a trace of the non human entities that created it. But in the thousands of years that humans have been traversing space, not a single shred of tangible evidence has been found. Not until today, as Molly and Hito are about to find out. ", "It began in the 21st century. \n\nAn entire galaxy made up of Earths. A ridiculous idea came to life on the Galaxy Quest 2828, a mothership filled with smaller ships sent from the far-future Earth to explore a galaxy that had been discovered to be filled with Earth like clones.\n\nAnd everything they found was as predicted. Some planets were right behind Galaxy Quest, researching the boundaries of time and space. Some planets were just learning to expand out into our solar system, bravely leaving Earth to find humanity a new home. Some had just put man on the moon. Some put men in prisons and denounced their names for having such ideas as being able to leave God's earth. And then there was the beginning: the first humans. A brand new species, born out of sheer genetic luck, who would one day take to the continent, the planet and then the stars. \n\nThat's where Diana Hoff comes in. She formed a connection with a young girl she nicknamed \"Marcie\". Marcie and her parents lived in Africa, hunting the plains for food and fending off other homo sapiens. Diana became close to Marcie - but not too close. The rules were for the explorers to visit the planets (one such expedition had been lost after crash landing in New Mexico in 1947) but not touch or interfere with human progress.\n\nSoon, it came time to close the case on the mission: they had learned all there was to know about human life, from humanities birth. Before she left, Diana gazed upon the sunset of the savannah across a young Earth, who didn't know what was to come in her future. Diana couldn't hug Marcie goodbye when it came time to go (the crew was unsure as to what would harm the homo-sapiens and knew how susceptible to disease they were) but she gave her a flint. Marcie's parents had recently learned to make fire for warmth, and learned that the light of fire attracted prey. There was so much Diana wanted to tell Marcie: how soon she would probably be alone, to be strong and brave and careful. To nuture her life and the lives of her family. \n\nBut she couldn't. That was for Marcie, her family and the human race to figure out alone. So she got back on the Galaxy Quest, waved goodbye and went back into the vastness of space. A word came from the mothership: another planet had been discovered. It was at the end of this solar system. After six months of travel, they found the spot where the signal had been sent from.\n\nBut there was no planet. Earth was gone. It dawned on them that this was what they were being shown: the end. The data was horrific: sometime between 2828 and 3016, Earth will be sucked into a black hole. After much deliberation on whether they could bring that particular piece of news back, everybody on board decided against it. Who wants to be the person responsible for telling people their home planet will be evaporated any moment? \n\nAnd so they didn't. They went home to Earth and kept the secret. Diana moved to Africa to search for Marcie's home. She found it, in 2830. As she once again settled into watch the sun set, Diana saw a handprint. Marcie? Comforted by the thought of Marnie being with her in another galaxy, on another planet lit by a different sun, Diana took a deep breath. ", "The SS Endeavor dropped out of FTL just outside the orbit of the 7th planet of a star called HBX-035a. An orange glow came from its small sun, and the massive gas giant had dragged them off course by a few hours. \n\nThe Captain sat in his chair, poised and exhilarated as always, despite knowing what he will find. \n\nThe 4th planet in this system was in the goldilocks zone, and was 0.93 times the size of Earth. \n\nAs the starship closed the distance between worlds, long range scans picked up several unique build sites for the inhabitants of this world. \n\nHumans.\n\n“Sir, take a look at these”, said a young ensign, sliding a window across the terminal. \n\nThe Captain sighed and looked anyways, calling up a reprimand from his memories as an eager ensign to pass along.\n\n“What!”, the captain said aloud, startled. \n\nThis civilization wasn’t ancient, wasn’t medieval. It wasn’t hunter-gatherer.\n\nThe Captain was looking at a golden spaceport at the center of a massive metropolis. \n\n“Who built th-” as the klaxons erupted. \n\nThe starships AI had already Jumped the ship. \n\n“AI, who ordered that Jump!?” The Captain shouted over the alarms. \n\n`I prevented the destruction of the vessel from an inbound energy weapon of indeterminate magnitude`\n\n“Plops to that,” said the Captain in a swear, “Were going back.”\n\n**\n\nThe SS Endeavor dropped out of warp just outside the orbit of the 7th planet.\n\nThis time the vessel waited.\n\nA trio of massive ships, all golden, tore from the atmosphere using a drive system completely unrecognizable by the ships scanners. \n\nThe vessels sent but one message over shortwave. \n\n“FTL is forbidden to keep us hidden, and as such, you must be destroyed before we are discovered.” \n\n“We know what awaits us once we are found.”\n\n\n", "In the early 2600's it was proven that the universe was just a simulation. As a devoted theoretical physicist I made it my life goal to build upon this model of the universe. \n\nWhen faster than light travel first became a reality the scientific community was beyond excited. Finally we had begun to realize the next step onto the kardashev scale for humanity. Our civilization had a real shot at immortality, not for individuals, but for the civilization it self. The physicist were the most excited. The things one could do out in space to further physics. We would actually be able to travel to a massive blackhole and attempt to study it. \n\nMuch to the chagrin of the scientific community that didn't work out. \n\nInstead we discovered something much more bizarre, but it was predicted - by at least - me and a few others. That is why we are here today. I would like to thank the entire scientific community for this recognition of the One Man's Sky theory, for its remarkable capacity to predict what lies beyond our star system. More of the same, but still just a little different. \n\nWhen I first started to understand the implications of a virtual universe I saw something... Well let's say dismal. What I saw was our universe was rushed out of production. I can not claim to know why, that's for the virtual gods to know. Think about this, in our solar system only 10% of all traversable surfaces - solid ground and liquid water - have actual \"content\". You know, the interesting stuff. Life, environment, culture, sentience, the ability to perceive suffering and enjoyment. \n\nWhat we have come to see now is that exact same model was algorithmically copied and pasted across the known universe. \n\nThank you to the team that worked long hours understanding the process and math behind One Man's Sky. This Nobel Prize is for the team, and not just me. ", "“Surprise!”\n\nConfetti littered the sky, the sounds of party horns filling the ears of all present.\n\nJerry stepped out the ship, confused at the sight before him.\n\nA white, full moon shone onto an old village. The village was filled with wooden shacks, each decorated with flames that cut through the navy blue sky. Party streamers connected each shack to each another.\n\nIn the middle of the village, and right outside the ship Jerry had travelled in, stood life! Actual life! And intelligent life if their ability to speak was any indication.\n\nBut there was something off about this life, and it was not that they were wearing very modern clothing, at least compared to the rest of their village. Their clothes looked like they came right out of the 21st century, not the medieval ages.\n\nIt could have been the fact that they spoke the same language, but there was a much more pressing matter in Jerry’s mind.\n\n“They’re... human,” he said to himself, his brain refusing to believe the fact he just stated. The life before him may look human at first glance. They may even look human at second glance. They could even look human at third, fourth, fifth and every other glance you could possibly take at them. But they were not human. They couldn’t be. They had to be different on the inside in some way.\n\nOne such looks-human-but-could-not-possibly-be-human stepped up to Jerry.\n\n“Welcome and congratulations my friend! You sure took your sweet time getting here, but here you are!” he said, putting his arm around Jerry.\n\nAnother much older definitely-not-human walked up to Jerry, slapping him on the back.\n\n“It’s about time you got here! I was afraid that my heart would give out before you did! But now I can die in peace!” he said before walking away.\n\n“Hey, that’s right, you are still alive!” The first not-human said, “Hey Summer! You owe me 10 credits!”\n\nJerry blinked.\n\n“You’re human,” he repeated.\n\nThe alien(?) turned back to Jerry.\n\n“Oh, that’s right! You have no idea what’s going on, do you? What’s your name?”\n\n“Jerry” he managed to splutter out.\n\n“Well, young Jerry, I recommend you sit down because I’ve got quite the story for you!”\n\nJerry listened as the turning-out-to-be-not-quite-as-alien-as-he-thought explained how, instead of different planets with different conditions that produce different kinds of life, the only type of planet that could possibly sustain life is a planet like Earth. Exactly like Earth, in fact. And as a result, throughout the entirety of the universe, the only species that exist are those that already exist on Jerry’s home planet. But they didn’t all start at the same time, so scattered throughout the universe are many different Earths at different stages of their evolution.\n\n“Hello? Earth to Jerry? Yeah, didn’t think you’d be hearing that expression any time soon, did you? But seriously, man, snap out of it! Is Jerry.exe not working?”\n\nJerry blinked himself out of his apparent stupor.\n\n“I’m sorry, what?”\n\n“Good, you’re getting through it. Any questions before we go on?”\n\nJerry looked around, trying to get his brain to function again.\n\n“If you’re so much more technologically advanced than us, then why are you using confetti, party horns and fires? And what’s up with the shacks?” he asked slowly.\n\n“Ah, well you see, we are in the nostalgic stage of our development! Nothing like a bit of old school technology to get back in touch with our roots!”\n\nJerry concentrated, his brain still processing the information.\n\n“What’s your name?”\n\n“Good, you’re getting better!” the human stuck out his hand in an inviting gesture, “the name’s Rick!”\n\nJerry stared at the hand. He had heard of this; a greeting that was used just a century ago. Shared between friend and foe alike, it was powerful gesture lost to the fate of time. He was always curious about it, curious about its implications, how it affected the world around it or even just the people sharing it, and how it-\n\n“Dude, you shake it.”\n\nDumbstruck, Jerry stuck out his hand in turn and held Rick’s hand, letting him take control.\n\n“Now look, there are some rules your planet is going to need to follow. Basically, you can’t go to any Earth less advanced than you. Also, you can’t go to Earth Земля as they’re just ahead of you in terms of technology. If you go to them, you’ll be able to understand their technology and give yourselves a boon. And we can’t have that happen, are we clear?”\n\nJerry nodded.\n\n “Good. But before we do that, I’m going to have to make some calls...” Rick started, turning away from Jerry.\n\n“Wait, Earth Земля?”\n\nRick, turned back.\n\n“Well, yeah, there’s thousands of Earths out there. Do you expect us to call all of the ‘Earth’? No, we assign a name to them to make things easier. For example, we are Earth Terre. And actually, that reminds me, we’ve got to name you! Seeing how you came to our planet and all.”\n\n“Wait, don’t we get a say in-“\n\n“But right now I’ve got to make some calls, because I know that when you get back, some* idiot organisation is going to get the bright idea of going to Earth Земля and advancing your technology faster than it should be. And we can't have that!”\n\nRick turned around, and started walking away.\n\n“Hey Beth! Do we contact Earth . .- .-. - .... or Earth Ddaear?”\n\n“It’s Earth Ee-R-Th...” Jerry faintly heard in the distance.\n\nJerry stayed sitting down, having found that he had forgotten how to stand. After a time that Jerry wasn’t keeping track of passed, he felt another person’s and rest on his shoulder. He looked up to see a boy looking down at him, smiling.\n\n“Don’t worry, you’ll get over it! We all do!”", "Dirk Gamblecraft and Newt Airman were indisputably the best pilots humanity had ever conceived, this is why they were in charge of tackling the most promissing mission in our history: Discovery II. Using interstellar travel, they had to check for life outside Earth and report back immediately if they found something.\n\n\"Once you get used to the beauty of stars and planets, the void gets boring.\" Said Dirk and his face slowly turned red as if he was trying to hold something really badly.\n\nNewt bursted in laughter and so did Dirk. \"Get used, hahahah!\". Replied Dirk, splattering salive all over the spaceship's control panel.\n\nThey kept laughing for an hour, one could argue a sane man wouldn't have laughed at such a bad joke for so long. \"Newt, get ready to jump, the radar found a planet strangely similiar to Earth nearby Alpha Centauri.\" He said, his eyes bright and watery of excitement.\n\nDirk furrowed his brows, \"how similar?\" \n\n\"Hold on tight!\" Screamed Newt as time and space coupled throwing them heavily against their sits. An instant later the spaceship was now in front of this planet. Dirk and Newt stood silent, their extremities trembling.\n\n\"This must be a mistake, Newt. We are back on Earth! How could you make a mistake?\" Exclaimed Dirk, crossly.\n\nNewt was pale as a ghost, his jaw shivered up and down trying to say something but nothing came out of his mouth, all he managed to do was point at it. Dirk examined the planet meticulously, it was impossible.\n\n\"No, no, no, this is impossible, we must have broken an unknown law of physic and travelled back in time.\" Said Dirk, furiously shaking his head, now he trembled too.\n\n\"Fuck Dirk, stop saying bullshit, we didn't break anything. This planet is Earth in the paleolitic era, look how close the continents are, hell, look at the whole enviroment colours.\" Snapped Newt. \n\nThe radar started tilting like crazy, there was another similar planet in Barnard's Star. This time, Newt didn't say anything and just set course and went there.\n\nOnce again, their jaw dropped. This planet was more advanced that the last one yet not as much as Earth. \"Take the telescope, I can't distinguish what era is this.\" Commanded Dirk, his voice stumbled.\n\nNewt went to the back of the aircraft and came back with a tiny device that looked like a flat metal square. Newt pressed a button on its side and an enormous holographic display appeared in front of their cabin. \"Let's see, first I have to input the coordinates and then press the magnifying thing. Whala!\" Exclaimed Dirk as a clear picture of this planet surfaces appeared.\n\nThey both looked at each other, perplexed as though they have seen a ghost. \"Should we do it?\" Asked Newt and Dirk nodded. Instantly, their spaceship descended into the planet's surface.\n\nBarnard's Star shone brightly and mercilessly, luckily for the pilots their suit was custom made to not feel temperatures below a high threshold. A vast terrain of sand, a desert was what they found. Thousands of people stared at them in awe, some of them wore gold garments on their bodies but the majority wore white stained rugs. \n\n\"Egypt, they're struggling to build piramids.\" Whispered Newt.\n\n\"Let's show them how they can do it, it's the only way to find out.\" Said Dirk walking towards the people scaring them away. \n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\"Washington Base to Dirk and Newt, it's been 10 years since you arrived to that planet, I repeat, It's been 10 years and you are not reporting anything back. What's happening?\" An annoying voice came from a device on their suits.\n\n\"Robert, if you were here, if only you were here.\" Replied Dirk.\n\n\"What's happening Dirk? Answer, did the rescue mission get to your planet?\"\n\n\"Yes they are here with us, looking at themselves.\" \n\n\"What do you mean?\" \n\n\"We are all looking at us in the walls of the piramid.\" Dirk said, his voice cracking and his eyes streaming.\n\n\"Explain yourself, I repeat explain yourself.\"\n\n\"Don't you get it? Do I really have to explain it? There's a superior race of Humans somewhere in the universe.\"\n\n\"Find them.\"\n\n-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nIf you enjoyed please consider checking: /r/chasisoxidado\n\n\n\n ", "\"Tell me it isn't another earth-like planet.\" \n\nFredric looked at the Captain sitting in his hover chair, sighed and rubbed his temple. \"Well, I am sorry to disappoint you, then. It is Earth.\"\n\nThe Captain was silent. He stood up from the chair and turned away from Fredric. In front of him was a giant screen, showing a beautiful blue planet decorated with wisps of clouds against a background of pitch-black darkness.\n\n\"When?\" He finally asked. The Captain was still facing the viewing screen, his face half-illuminated by the light reflected from the wonderful world below.\n\nFredric hesitated to reply, for his answer was a preposterous one. But our voyage is a ridiculous journey, he thought gloomily. We have hoped to find extraterrestrial lifeforms, but instead we have encountered numerous versions of earths. There was an earth when human just climbed down from trees, another one when Julius Caesar has returned from a new victorious conquest, one more when Galileo was gazing at the starry night sky, contemplating the secrets of the universe , and the last one, was when Hitler was rallying his faithful fanatics before the notorious war.\n\nFredric was startled when the Captain coughed. He then immediately realised his purpose here - to report instead of wool-gathering . Embarrassed, he avoided the eye contact and stared at his tip of shoes. \"Um, \" he said, \"I - I don't know.\"\n\n\"What?\" The Captain lunged forward as if to attack Fredric.\n\n\"We don't know,\" Fredric breathed, \"we don't. No clue whatsoever.\" He shifted his centre of gravity to another leg, inhaled deeply before saying, \"it is, clearly, not from our past.\"\n\n-\n\n\"Apparently, a mistake was made when the theorists put all the equations together,\" said Henry Lynch, a pleasant young man who always wore oversized clothes and glasses, \"this is not a Wormhole Drive.\"\n\n\"I agree,\" an austere-looking woman replied, \"instead of tearing apart the fabric of time and space, the Drive opened up a portal to a higher dimension.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes, it must be the case,\" Henry nodded while biting his pen absentmindedly, \"But the question is how? So far as I checked, Jane, the theory seemed flawless ...\" he scratched his head.\n\nThe woman called Jane picked up a mug and sipped some coffee. She had lustrous black hair with a pair of strikingly green eyes that could stop Fredric's heart from beating just by a single glance. She was about 24, slightly thinner than Henry, but much taller. Many people have mistakenly considered her as his elder sister, but Fredric knew Henry was three-year older than her. Nonetheless, both of them were ingenious scientists that Fredric was honoured to work with.\n\n\"I believe the mistake is made in the assumptions ... here.\" She pointed out a line on Henry's paper, \"it may not be entirely correct.\"\n\n\"So we are not travelling by a Wormhole,\" Fredric spoke before the conversation slid to something he had completely no idea of, \"but a - how did you call it?\"\n\n\"Five, or even six dimension.\" Replied Henry. He wiped his digital drawing pad clean and hastily sketched a line and a circle, then continued: \"If you want to bend something, you need to do it in a higher dimension. For example if you want to get to another point ...\" he drew a paper with two dots on it, \"you can travel via a straight line. Or, more convenient ... \" He drew another paper, folded, with two points on different side, and pretended to poke it with his stylus.\n\n\"Fold it, crack a hole, and go through!\"\n\n\"The paper represents the two dimension scenario, wheres the place where we bend it must be a three-dimensional world.\" Jane added.\n\n\"Therefore if you want to travel through space instantaneously, just bend it in a higher dimension. Since we are travelling in a universe of multiple earths of different stages, it is reasonable enough that we are travelling through time - you know, like jump from one scene to the next in a movie. Or we maybe travelling through different timelines, like parallel universes. Wonderful, isn't it?\"\n\nFredric held up his hands. \"Look, I am just a historian. I don't understand. But can you please explain to me why this earth is not from any - ah, familiar era?\"\n\n\"It's simple - we have either gone to the future, or have gone to an earth of different evolutionary pattern in a different universe.\"\n\n\"Personally, I am more inclined to the future,\" said Jane, \"because in a different universe, the plank's constant may be different, so everything might just change - our spaceship will certainly not able to withstand the conditions here. But we are not.\"\n\nFredric found it very hard to absorb whatever Jane said. It could be the fault of that pair of mesmerising green eyes - his could feel his heart physically constrict whenever she looked at him. Still, trying to maintain his disguise of aloofness, Fredric nodded solemnly and expressed his agreement.\n\n-\n\n\"So that's it? Future earth?\" The Captain queried sceptically. Fredric swallowed hard and replied a \"yes\".\n\n\"Are we allowed to see it, then? At least we could tell what will happen to our people in the future.\"\n\n\"I... I don't think so, Captain. Jane said future is fluid. It may not be there anymore as soon as you see it, kind of like the 'Uncertainty principle'.\" The last phrase was quoted from Henry, of course.\n\nSeeing no indications of any kind of emotional response from the Captain, Fredric decided to tell him the most devastating news. He will know anyway he thought, resigned.\n\n\"We are not going home, either. Because once we travelled away from it, it may change due to our departure. We probably will get a similar but never-the-same earth of our era. We ...\"\n\nThe Captain held up one finger to silence Fredric. For a long, silent moment he was just staring at the luminous ball below, his heavy eyebrow knitted together. Finally, he asked.\n\n\"We could find a future,\" he said, quietly, \"that we all are satisfied with - and try to settle there.\"\n\nTHE END?\n\nThe explanation part is partly from the insterstella. My major is not physics, so if you see any scientific/conceptual error please point out!", "Against a curtain of stars, a patch of reality bent like a thumbprint on glass. With a flash of light, the first human starship capable of faster than light travel returned to normal space. For months the ship had made its way between familiar stars, jumping toward promising worlds and extending it's telescopes in search of new targets when nothing but disappointment was found. But now as the pale light of another alien sun glimmered off the hull, a pale blue dot came into view in the distance. Sensors indicated all the hallmarks of carbon-based life. The crew embraced, eager to sent a message earthward reporting their success.\n\nOrbiting above now, 2000 souls looked down on a planet undeniably crawling with life. The atmosphere had an almost greenish hue when viewed from certain angles. Thick plant life covered every continent beyond the icy poles and belt of deserts. Drone footage revealed fires the size of cities slowly sweeping across the surface. The single paleontologist onboard saw the comparison and demanded to join the landing party.\n\nA day later, a shuttle with a team of twelve touched down in a rocky clearing at the edge of a vast forest. The levels of oxygen and spore count were nearly unbreathable, but the artificial lungs in the contruct bodies they wore adjusted to the mix quickly. With cameras in their eyes, the crew began to photograph anything they hadn't seen twice. Soon they had a catalog of giant dragonflies and centipeeds as long as cars. Not alien analogs the paleontologist realized, but known specimens with a documented place in Earth's fossil record. When the evidence began to stack up, she projected cached slides from the Internet into the party's vision to explain the comparison. Earth had once been exactly like this place.\n\nPart 1 of 3 ", "It was the ultimate question. The question that had haunted humanity since the invention of intelligence. Where did we come from? \n\nThere were a number of theories held by various individuals of varying levels of credibility. Many have posited that life was the work of someone named god, but all attempts to convince said someone to come forward and take credit for their work have so far proved unsuccessful. \n\nQuite a bit of debate has been held on the topic, as many doubt whether this \"god\" person even exists or not, or what type of guy he is, or if he's even a guy at all. Some argue that god is a woman, or a tentacle monster with forty seven eyes. A few people think it's quite clear that god is real but don't think he's responsible for the creation of life, rather that he is a sort of cosmic step dad who simply stumbled upon life and decided to nurture it. \n\nOne man in the early twenty first century was absolutely convinced that god was an entity made out of negative space. He believed that the default state of the universe was nothingness and that existence was simply an accidental byproduct of inexistence, a small mistake that had ballooned into a slightly bigger mistake but was ultimately doomed to correct itself. According to him death is not only inevitable but it is, in fact, our very purpose in life. This resonated with quite a few people and his beliefs became the dominant religion worldwide for the next two centuries though many modern historians theorize that most people were only doing it ironically.\n\nPerhaps the most ridiculous theory of all stated that life emerged on earth roughly four billion years ago when the primordial conditions of the planet eventually reached a state that facilitated the generation of simple organic molecules through abiotic processes which eventually joined together to form primitive cellular life forms that evolved and diversified into increasingly complex and varied forms over the next four billion years. Of course, a rational person would say that that's not ridiculous at all but since when has the universe ever been rational? Has any rational person stopped to consider that perhaps it's irrational to be rational in an irrational world?\n\nYou see, those rational individuals have no idea what to do when the universe fails to adhere to their fascist standards of rationality. For example, in 2851 the brightest, most insufferably rational minds of humanity managed to invent faster than light travel and humanity ventured forth to explore unknown stars and discover brand new worlds. Yet what they discovered was that those brand new worlds were actually quite familiar. \n\nThey plugged in a few bits of data to some sophisticated computer program and it churned out a list of golden worlds, planets with just the right cosmic conditions for life to exist. What they found as they visited them, one by one, was that each and every planet contained life almost identical to that on earth but at various different stages in evolutionary history.\n\nWhen the astronauts that stepped foot on the first golden world, designated HR-6709C, reported that there were dinosaurs roaming the planet those rationalists were sure that it was simply an April fools joke. When they realized it was, in fact, July 19th not April 1st, they became quite confused.\n\nSix golden worlds later people were reeling from the discovery of consistently identical biospheres on each successive world when they found a planet with early hominids living in caves. The already abuzz scientific community was set even abuzzer by this discovery on the planet HR-4825A, but that was just the beginning. \n\nThe world waited with bated breath, wondering what exactly we would discover if we kept looking. Hovering above HR-1706D was a Terminus class exploratory vessel with a crew ready to investigate that very question.\n________________________________________________________________\n\nCommander Peter Townsend stood tall, gazing out the viewscreen at the virgin world before him, head held high, hands behind his back, boots straight laced, nose regal and mustache quivering. In a moment of indulgence he set aside professionalism and allowed himself to feel a bit of awe. He even went so far as to allow himself a smidge of excitement (just a smidge). \n\nWithout turning he voiced aloud that thought which had gotten lodged in his mind like a two day old piece of popcorn gets stuck between your teeth: the ultimate question. \"Where does life come from, I wonder?\"\n\nHis first mate Lieutenant Kira Briggs, who stood beside him, glanced to her left, then her right, then behind her to make sure he wasn't talking to someone else before shrugging her shoulders and responding, \"Dunno.\" A statement which is really quite a bit more intelligent than it sounds.\n\nCommander Townsend jumped, almost as if he were startled by her response, probably because he had completely forgotten she was there. Embarrassed that she had witnessed his lapse in professionalism he coughed loudly and looked at her stiffly, saying, \"Ah... yes, right,\" before turning to look back out the viewscreen. After a momentary pause and a scratch of his nose he turned back towards her and asked \"No theories at all?\"\n\n\"Not really.\"\n\nWith uncharacteristic enthusiasm he persisted, \"Come on, everyone has some kind of theory.\"\n\nShe pursed her lips for a moment and then, with a hint of smile (just a hint) said \"I once met a homeless man that tried to convince me God was a writer with a magic keyboard and life was the result of a drunken night of writing and a few too many typos.\"\n\n\"Huh.\"\n\n\"Yeah\"\n\nA pair of heavy boots clanked across the metal floor of the bridge. \"Sir the shuttle is prepped and gear is loaded. We're ready for planetary touchdown as soon as you and the lieutenant are aboard.\"\n\n\"Very well. The bridge is yours until we return Officer Grant.\" \n\nAboard the shuttle the Commander and Lieutenant assumed their seats just behind the pilot. With the go ahead from the Commander the hangar doors slid open and the shuttle zipped off into the nothingness of space.\n\nAs they approached the atmosphere of the planet below the pilots voice emerged over the hum of the engines, \"Ready to take your first step on an alien world Briggs?\"\n\n\"Definitely. Wish I'd gotten a more exciting planet for my first though.\" \n\nA bearded head sprouted from the gap between the Lieutenant and Commander's seats, \"What? A lifeless rock doesn't get your juices flowing?\"\n\n\"It's a golden world Hans,\" said the pilot \"what's not exciting about that? Who knows what we'll find.\"\n\n\"Eh more like a burnt mustard than golden really. All our scans indicate that it has the potential for life but right now it's just a big rocky bowl filled with boiling soup, not that interesting.\"\n\nBriggs scratched her nose, \"Sorry Jack, gotta agree with Hans on this one. Woulda been nice to actually see alien life on my first trip to an alien planet.\"\n\n\"The life we've found so far hasn't been particularly alien, Lieutenant\" interjected Commander Townsend.\n\n\"Exactly! That's more amazing than finding crazy weird alien lifeforms. Can you imagine being part of the first team that discovered dinosaurs on an early planet? Or hominids? I mean, how is that even possible? It makes no sense.\"\n\nTownsend's mustache quivered. \"Why, it makes perfect sense Lieutenant Briggs. The explanation is very simple.\" \n\nHans' hairy face once again emerged from the row behind them, \"Oh really, do tell us, fearless leader, how you have single handedly solved the mystery that has plagued humanity's greatest scientists since we discovered interstellar travel?\"\n\nThe Commander shot him a withering glare that would have shriveled the balls of a T-Rex from HR-6709C. Hans retreated swiftly to the safety of his own row just as his testicles retreated into the safety of his body.\n\n\"Isn't it obvious? It's simply convergent evolution. Similar environmental conditions select for similar lifeforms.\"\n\n\"But sir... the odds of the exact same set of lifeforms evolving on half a dozen different planets...\" Briggs shook her head, \"it's almost impossible.\"\n\n\"She's right. Convergent evolution isn't nearly that exact sir.\" Hans said with a cough and considerably more deference than usual.\n\n\"Alright then, Technician Pressly, what is your theory?\"\n\nThe Commander realized that he may have made a grave mistake as Hans rubbed his hands together as if he'd been waiting the entire flight for that invitation, \"Well, the way I figure it, the bloke that made the FTL drive, didn't actually make an FTL drive. He accidentally created time travel, and our exploratory vessels haven't moved at all, they've just been visiting earth at different time periods.\"\n\nThe Commander glared at him stony faced. Briggs raised an eyebrow. \"Uh huh. Then why are there two moons here?\"\n\n\"Shit.\"\n\nThe pilot laughed, \"Maybe you should just keep quiet Hans. Anyway buckle up everyone, we're about to land.\"\n\n\"What about you Lieutenant? Any theories?\"\n\n\"Well... probably gonna sound a bit out there, but I've thought... what if someone, or something, is performing an experiment?\"\n\n\"An experiment?\"\n\n\"Yeah, like scientists back on earth have cultured dozens of cloned bacteria colonies for decades under specific conditions to see if one of them can evolve a certain adaptation, and how.\"\n\n\"So what adaptation do you think these experimenters are looking for? And why?\"\n\n\"Superpowers?\" Said Han's voice.\n\n\"Dunno, could be anything. Not all our adaptations are biological, it could be a certain stage of civilization, of advancement... maybe a technological adaptation.\"\n\n\"A technology? Like what?\"\n_____________________________________________________________\n\n\"Officer Grant... we're picking up an interstellar transmission from the planet below.\"\n\n\"What? From our team?\"\n\n\"No it's coming from the other side of the planet, it's... in binary.\"\n\n\"What does it say?\"\n\nFTL DRIVE EMISSIONS DETECTED. VARIABLE ATTAINED. SEND FLEET.\n\n\n\n\n\n", " \"Sir, we have lost all communications with the ship\" said the mission operator to the Commander. \n\n\"have you tried all the frequencies\" he asked. \n\n\"Yes sir, I did. There is no hope\" his voice turned to mere whisper. \n\n It was the year 2851, when humanity finally developed warp speed interstellar travel. Entire world united to make this possible. Set to uncover the mysteries of universe. \n\n The ship was travelling at 99% the speed of light. Time slowed down, in their frame of reference. About 20 hours passesd according to them since they left solar system. The onboard computer crashed, no communication possible with mission control. \n\n Suddenly there was many beeps coming from different instruments. The onboard computer resumed. It starts to identify constellations. Strangely, it was very similar to the neighborhood of our solar system. The flight crew couldn't make out what was happening. \n\nIts 2855 in Earth. All the news about the mission had settled. A failed mission for the history books. Nations split their development works. There is no united research now. \n\nOnly one remained. The Commander. He was still looking for the signal in his private o observatory.\n\nOne evening, his signal detecters started to pick up a signal. Yes, it was from the ship. He did multiple verifications. All of them conformed. \nOnly one anomaly, the signal source was coming towards earth. \n\nThe signal started to strengthen. He tried to locate it. It's in the solar system. The signal started to decrease in few minutes. Nothing afterwards. \n\n\"They went past earth. I don't understand\" he exclaimed. \n\nIn the ship, the crew members couldn't explain whag they just experienced. An exact replica of Earth, solar system and nearby constellations! \n\nBefore they could learn more from the compuer, it crashed again. No instruments were working again. \n\n20 hours passed again. The crew were exhausted. Hours of troubleshooting haven't yielded anything. The onboard computer is still dead. \n\nSuddenly, some beeps started to happen again, exactly as happened 20 hours ago. The computer started again, detecting the same constellation as before. And the solar system. The crew members look at each other baffled. \n\n\"Are we stuck in a time loop?\"\n\nIts 2859 in Earth. The commander, who lost all hopes turned the detectors one last time. Like he was expecting some miracle. \n\nEvenjng approached. He sat infront of the detector. There is a faint signal. Increasing by minutes. The signal becomes stronger. Bis eyes widened. \n\n\"Yes! The ship.\" \n\nHe run verification tests, location identified. The ship is going past solar system. Again! They didn't slow down. No intention of landing. \n\nHe took a pen. A scribble pad was at the desk. He wrote:\n\n\"The universe is a sphere. A 4D sphere. \n\nIts no coincidence that the name of the ship is Magellan\"\n\n**\n\nSorry for the odd grammer and vague writing. I'm not an english speaker. Please forgive me if I wasted your time. ", "It's been 500 years since we discovered that Constellation A-B21 was filled with life. We prepared our best space armies to launch a full-fledged assault. But when we identified the life, our desire to annihilate them...vanished. All we could see on the closest planet were humans. Humans like us.\n\nThe same green planets made us sick with nostalgia as we watched the humans grow. The one closest to Earth seemed to be in the 21st Century, 800 years behind us. The structures that were 'modern' so long ago...it evoked emotions that we didn't know we had. The planets further on were further and further behind; some in the Industrial Revolution, some still inventing writing. The last bit of human life we could find hadn't even figured out how to farm yet. We left the planets untouched, according to instructions from superiors.\n\nA year later we were back. But for a different reason. Our superiors decided that it was a perfect chance for an experiment - to see how alterations we could have made centuries ago would affect our society. But to spoil their way of life for a simulation...it seemed wrong. And I was the sole member of the team to violent protest against it. But, overruled, we sailed towards Constellation A-B21.\n\nWhen we reached I refused to carry out a single action. The rest introduced advanced weaponry, incited wars and even destroyed one planet to 'test how well they can recover'. Their actions made me sick. But a protest would almost certainly guarantee an execution, an execution made especially easy in the vast emptiness of the surrounding void.\n\nWhen we were done we made it back to Earth, my crew members laughing about the deeds they had done loudly. I brooded in a corner of my cabin, alone, thinking about how our actions today would affect the humans of tomorrow.\n\nAnother few centuries passed. Humans' lifespan could now be limitless, after scientists discovered the secret to aging (and the medication to counteract it). I had almost forgotten about the action we had done in the 29th Century. But I was rudely reminded of it one day.\n\nIt looked like a normal spaceship. Just like the advanced ones our starfleet boasted of. But this one...it seemed ready for combat. Equipped with weaponry we had never seen the likes of before, the inhabitants marched off the spaceship and started firing at the stunned onlookers. Storming into the White House, the place was eradicated within moments as the invaders took control of all media outlets. As I ate my breakfast, the sight of them reminded me.\n\nThey were humans.\n\nBut they were...so familiar.\n\n\"Humans of Earth. You attempted to use our planets as a tool for your entertainment and research. You killed some of your brothers to satisfy your lust for destruction,\" the leader said, his voice rising in anger and fury.\n\n\"Now we'll let you see how life as a 'tool of research' feels like. Watch out,\" he concluded, walking away from the mass of reporters. \"Mister...Human, where do you hail from?\" a particularly nosy reporter shoved his way to the front before asking.\n\n\"Constellation A-B21. I hope that satisfies you?\" he asked, waiting for the reporter to nod before shooting him. The other reporters fled in the subsequent chaos.\n\nI dropped the steak-flakes in my hand as they scattered all over the floor. But they were the least of my worries.\n\nConstellation A-B21 wanted revenge. \n\nAnd the revenge had begun.\n_________________________________________________________________\nLiked that? Check our r/Whale62 for more! :)\n\nEdit: [Here's Part 2!](https://redd.it/6kgfl3)\n\nEdit 2: [Here's Part 3!] (https://redd.it/6klxgo)", "As the CSD Persphone approached the edge of the galaxy, her crew gathered on the bridge to celebrate the notable feat. She was the first ship capable of inter-Galactic travel and her crew was now the only explorers to ever leave humanities Galactic home. The sensors indicated they had breached the edges and each looked out upon the vastness of space. It was the most beautiful landscape their eyes had ever seen, but the crew which consisted largely of astrophysicists and astronomers noticed an oddity. The view on the other side of the galaxy was the view at the galaxy's furthest extent. It was as if they stood with their nose to a mirror.\n\nThere was no turning back, and the intrigue of the mirrored galaxy intrigued them even more than the possibility of infinite space. As the Incelerators engaged and pushed the ship further from home, the environs became more familiar. It was with excitement and confusion that known solar systems came into view. They were systems of the Milky Way.\n\nThe arguments were constant. Theories of the known universe had been suddenly flipped on their heads, and many did not take it well. Some argued they were in the same galaxy but had somehow curved over and reentered. Others argued that this was not the same galaxy but perhaps simply a similar galaxy to our own. There were fringe theories of time paradoxes and interdimensional travel, but at the root was a sudden ignorance among the smartest of minds.\n\nAnd then they reached Earth. As the ship rested in orbit, the crew looked down on their home. But it wasn't. The northern hemisphere was still largely covered in ice as if the glacial retreats had never begun. As the ship moved into the Earth's shadow, they noticed there were no lights.\n\nDrones were sent to the surface to gather information. The readings were far from the Earth which they had left. Temperatures were cooler, carbon dioxide levels were lower, but the images were the most astounding. Mammoths were roaming the northern expanse while Smilodons stalked them across the plains. Huge herds of ancient Buffalo moved across the landscape while Dire wolves hunted their weak. While viewing a gathering of the armored armadillo-like Glyptodons they discovered the most astounding revelation: a group of humans was spotted stalking the beasts from the tall grass. As they watched, the fur clad humans launched an attack with stone tipped spears. They separated one of the animals, and set to it with deadly purpose. After it succumbed to its many wounds, women and children emerged from the grass and set to butchering the animal.\n\nThe crew of the Persephone sat in stunned silence at the reality of what they had seen. But the questions remained unanswered. Had they traveled in time, into another mirrored galaxy, or into another dimension?\n\nThe CSD Persephone's engines pushed the ship away from the Paleolithic Earth and she once more began her intergalactic adventure. Her crew had willingly left their galaxy the intention of discovery, and they were set on expanding human knowledge at all cost. They had risked their lives for science, and with purpose they had set their mind to their next mission. They would go to the next galaxy, and the next if need be, and they would find the answers.", "The planet Auryth was splashed across the holoscreens, a single spot of resplendent green and blue amongst an inky canvas of somber black. The gathered crew in the command bridge silently watched as the reconnaissance probe completed its task, then puttered back slowly to dock with the mothership. \n\nGareth Hader, First Mate on the SS Vulture, snapped off a sharp salute when he arrived on the bridge. He had spent almost two full Earth days in the probe, and he certainly looked the worse for wear. \n\n\"At ease,\" said Captain Layna Nurely, fighting to keep the urgency in her voice from showing. \"How much resistance do we expect?\" \n\nGareth collapsed into a nearby chair, then tapped his wrist against the receptor dock. The data he had so laboriously collected was instantly uploaded to the mainframe, and figures, images began to ran over the hologram of Auryth. \n\n\"Little,\" he said, a wan smile crossing his lips, \"They are primitive. I cross-referenced their technological advancements against our own, and the closest approximation is Earth in the 1200s.\"\n\n\"So, essentially the Middle Ages?\" \n\nGareth laughed, and said, \"More like Prehistoric, compared to us. Even a gap of a single decade is monumental, much less over 1600 years.\"\n\nThat much was true. Kurzweil's Law already accounted for how technological advancement accelerates over time, which was how Earth had required over a thousand years to harness tachyon manipulation, but only a hundred more to perfect numellar resonance. From the hundred or so conquests already won in the Federation's name, a gap of over 1600 years in comparative advancement meant that the SS Vulture had an approximate 99.95% chance of enslaving Auryth within two days. \n\nStill, something about Auryth rubbed Captain Layna the wrong way, something she couldn't put her finger on. \n\n\"You sure they have no means of resisting our numellar rays?\" \n\nGareth laughed again. \"Resist? They would need tonist weaves to even have a chance of resisting the first assault we launch, and who knows how long they would need to even develop that.\" \n\n\"What about other weapons? Maybe they have expertise in something else we aren't expecting? I don't want to have to call off the assault just to request for specialist backup, that won't look good on our records at all.\"\n\nGareth knew what she was referring to. The SS Farsight, ironically, had been one of the most glaring testaments to how not* to conquer an Earth-clone, the derogatory term used for all the other planets in the galaxy who showed signs of human life. \n\nIn that early foray, the SS Farsight had plunged headfirst into a frontal assault, believing themselves the clear victors in a horribly imbalanced match-up. Too late did they realise that the humans of that Earth-clone, though far less weaponized, had managed to tame the giant beasts which roamed that planet. It had taken full reinforcements from two other starships before the planet was finally brought to heel. \n\n\"I sent drones down,\" said Gareth, \"this is what war looks like on Auryth. Take a look.\"\n\nThe holorecordings began playing, and a scene of a large field took over the holoscreens. On opposite ends stood two tribes, and at the sound of a horn blasting through the air, a single representative from each tribe approached the other, meeting in the middle. \n\n\"This is as bloodthirsty as they will get,\" said Gareth, sharing the insights he had gleaned, \"they wear simple armour made out of dried furs, and they are each equipped with a single long pole. I'll speed it up here, because that's all they do for hours, just facing each other, weapons at the ready.\"\n\n\"Then what? They fight?\" \n\n\"If you can call it that,\" said Gareth, \"see, here? One of them eventually moves to strike, the other fails to parry, and he goes down. Boom. That's it. That's all it is. Hours and hours of staring at each other, then the conflict is over, that tribe has just won more land.\"\n\n\"And all of them do that?\"\n\n\"All of them. They don't have countries, just tribes like this. Everyone has their own pole, they carry it with them all the time, sort of like a belief that everyone is responsible for their own safety. But when they fight, they only send a single representative forward.\"\n\n\"Any reason why they are so... minimalist?\" \n\nGareth shrugged. \"Best I can surmise with the help of our database is that they have evolved a practice of minimizing bloodshed. Auryth is not a particularly rich planet, and my guess is that they have realised it makes more sense to have a single champion decide conflicts for them, rather than engage in large-scale waste. We had a similar practice too, ages ago.”\n\nCaptain Layna pushed off from her control pod, then waved at the holoscreens. The implanted receptors in her wrists scrolled through the rest of the reports quickly, finally settling on the summarized conclusion.\n\n“Culture, religion, agriculture, economics… all behind us. So that’s how the 99.95% chance was divined,” Captain Layna said, a smug smile slowly spreading across her face.\n\n\"It is a sparse existence, that's for sure.\"\n\n\"Almost like they are begging for us to arrive. Can you imagine how many years of development we will have saved them, just by intervening?\"\n\n“Captain,” said Gareth, “I formally recommend we begin the invasion now. Under Article 6, I request that the SS Vulture engage in a swift and decisive victory, to bring the planet Auryth under our banner, so that the Federation may add yet one more colony to its roster, and further quell the chance that one day, another planet may rise up to challenge our rule of the galaxy.”\n\nCaptain Layna thought for a moment longer, then nodded.\n\n“Prepare for the invasion. All crew, to battlestations!”\n\n---\n\nGareth was, quite poetically, both the first and last Earthling from the SS Vulture to arrive on and to leave Auryth.\n\nHe jetted off from the planet’s surface in an emergency escape pod he had stashed in the woods. As he soared into the relative safety of space, he forced himself to look back, to gaze upon the smoking carcass of the SS Vulture, split asunder in multiple pieces across the landscape.\n\nHe suspected that he knew why he was the only one who had survived. He knew that there should not have been anyone who could have escaped the wrath of the Aurythians.\n\nAnd so he did what he was expected to do.\n\n“Federation, this is Gareth Hader, the only survivor of the SS Vulture,” he forced himself to say into the tachyon transmitter, voice raspy from all the screaming he had done. \n\n“Be advised, planet Auryth is now aware of the Federation and its goals. Long-range bombardment… is essential! Do not enter within two starclicks of the planet, we do not have defences against them…”\n\nGareth paused, trying to find the words to explain the dangers which Auryth presented. He racked his mind, so disused was the word he was looking for. Earth had indeed toyed with this concept once, long ago, but when it was finally disproved, conclusively (or so they thought), it had become almost a mark of the uneducated to even talk about it.\n\nUntil now. \n\n“… the Aurythians… they have… telepathic powers… beyond our comprehension...”\n\nWarning delivered, Gareth suddenly felt his throat close up as the horrors swarmed his vision. He tried to breath, but his lungs failed to obey, as did his arms and legs. He forced himself to turn around, screaming silently, knowing full well that on the planet he had left behind, there was but a single man, holding a focus rod, who had finally found the quarry he was looking for.\n\nJust one man, when there were millions more.\n\n---\n\n/r/rarelyfunny\n", "\"Commander, we've found another one.\"\n\nI barely looked up from the novel I was reading at my desk. \"And you're telling me this...why?\" The fact was, novelty of finding alien life, wore down after finding multiple instances of it everyday - and the same stuff. The Research fleet was supposed to be humanity's greatest achievement, and being its commander, the highest honor. \n\nYet here I was reading Hitchhikers's Guide for the 10th time in my cabin. \n\n\"This one is, well, different, Commander Metz,\" the ensign said.\n\nSomething in his voice made me put my novel away and look at him. The poor guy seemed flustered, breathing hard, his uniform all wrinkled. \n\n\"Let's see it, then,\" I said, all traces of boredom gone from my voice - this was something serious. \n\nThe ensign nodded and pressed a button on the side of the cabin. A large screen separated from the ceiling and came into view. \n\n\"Commander, we found another Earth, today, but this one was completely empty, save-\"\n\nI frowned, \"Empty, as in, they had gone extinct?\" We had encountered many planets - too many, in which humans had been wiped off, nothing but ruined shells of cities and rotted corpses remained - a warning to us all. \n\nThe ensign shook his head, \"No commander, as in empty, there are no lifeforms at all.\"\n\n\"That...shouldn't be possible,\" I said, \"It is impossible for life to just not arise on a planet such as Earth...\" My eyes widened when I realized what this meant \"...unless it was not allowed to deliberately.\" I sat back in my seat and absorbed the implications of all of this. There were two main theories so far about humans being found again and again on planets with Earth-like conditions. The widely accepted one was that humans were the perfect lifeforms, and so all life took our shape. Depending on when life arose, they were in different stages of technological advancement. We had encountered no one higher than us - yet. \n\nThe other theory was really a joke, one for conspiracy theorists and nut jobs - that it was artificially set up by some higher power. Only now, it seemed everyone else was the nut job. This proved, or at least added credence to, the fact that these conditions were in fact artificial.\n\nThe ensign smiled weakly, \"I guess that's why you're Commander,\" he said. I inclined my head in acknowledgement and gestured for him to continue. \n\n\"As I was saying,\" the ensign nodded, \"there was only one thing on the planet.\"\n\nI leaned forward, elbow on the table as the screen came to life. There was a woman, in a shaking room. Her hair was long and perfectly black, and her almond colored eyes were wide. Her face was stained with blood. \n\n\"If-If you have found this message, there is finally some-\" There were some distant explosions and the camera shook, \"some hope,\" she finished. \"You have advanced far enough in technology to find this place and solve the encryption to access this message.\"\n\nI frowned at the ensign and he nodded. Seems like our computer engineers had decrypted it.\n\n\"At this point you've probably found tons of the other experiments and have figured out what's going on,\" she continued, \"It's a test, you see, like how they grow bacteria cultures, it's a test to to find one, just one, that has immunity. Immunity from-\"\n\nJust then there was an explosion and the woman screamed, and fell out of the frame. The video ended. \n\n\"Are you kidding me,\" I burst out, \"is this a fucking movie? she had to cut off right then!?\"\n\nThe ensign seemed taken aback by my reaction, \"Y-yes commander that was all, there was no more-\" \n\nI chewed on my lip, thinking, when suddenly the alarms started blaring. The captain's voice came from the intercom. \n\n\"We have incoming.\"\n\n**\n(minor edits)\n\nIf you enjoyed, check out [XcessiveWriting](https://www.reddit.com/r/XcessiveWriting/) for more of my work ", "The collector's whip ripped through the air and lashed the human's back. A trickle of red ran down the man's skin, dripping down onto the parched desert floor.\n\n\"Please,\" Iu-iu begged, \"I can't go on.\"\n\n\"That is your prerogative, but if you fall human, know that you will never get back up.\" The collector smiled, his black, jagged teeth dipping out of his mouth.\n\nIu-iu stumbled back into line of men and women, and placed his blistered hands around the thick rope. The huge brick moved onwards, soon reaching the great structure's shadow.\n\nThe collector watched, satisfied. This was his favourite part of the Re-Culture - where his race would step in to help put humanity on the right track. For a thousand more years, he would be held as a God. Worshipped and adulated by the pathetic race around him. Then, after another five thousand years, the planet would be ready to harvest.\n\nThe brick was almost by the structure when Iu-iu fell. The collector ran his long tongue over his lips as he walked toward the body. He bent down, and in a single swift motion, snapped the man's neck. Then, he hoisted him over his shoulder and took him toward a nearby chamber, well hidden under the sand. \n\nHe would feast well tonight.\n\n---\n\n\"Captain,\" said first officer Kate Robins, \"we've found another planet.\"\n\nCaptain Richardson leaned down to the - now lit - monitor on the arm of his chair. \"Looks a lot like home - just a little greener. What stage of development is this?\"\n\n\"From the weather formations and the amount of ice remaining, the computer estimates 3000bc. We'll know more once we enter the atmosphere and can run some tests.\"\n\n\"3000bc?\" Richardson repeated.\n\nKate nodded.\n\n\"This'll be the first planet we've found anywhere near that period,\" he said, stroking his chin. \"I wonder what's going on down there.\"\n\n\"It's the start of the ancient Egyptian period,\" butted in Piraino, the ill-tempered archaeologist that they'd been forced to take with them. \"But I'd much prefer we found a planet a little more advanced.\" \n\n\"I thought you were into old stuff. I heard that's why you married Elizabeth.\"\n\nPirano glared at the captain, wondering for the hundredth time, how he'd possibly made it to that rank.\n\n\"I'm kidding, Pirano - lighten up,\" said the captain, raising his open hands.\n\n\"I am into old stuff* - but we won't find an explanation for the cloned biospheres in the past. A version of Earth more advanced than our own, however, might be able to tell us.\"\n\n\"You never know what we'll find down there, Pirano,\" replied Richardson.\n\n\"Captain,\" Kate said, there's... something odd down there.\"\n\n\"Odd? How so?\"\n\n\"You're not going to believe this, but we're detecting a hell of a lot of radiation in the location of what would eventually become Alexandria, Egypt.\"\n\n\"Radiation?\"\n\n\"That's not all. There's some kind of neutron device down there.\"\n\n\"What!\" Pirano burst out. \"A neutron drive?\"\n\n\"That can't be right,\" mused Richardson. \n\n\"I've run the tests - three times. It's right.\"\n\nRichardson let out a deep breath. \"Better take us down. \"Somewhere uninhabited,\" he added. \"We can't risk interfering with their development.\"\n\n---\n\nPart 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/nickofnight/comments/6kg7yp/the_collectors_part_2/\n\nPart 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/nickofnight/comments/6kgt91/the_collectors_part_3/\n\nPart 4: https://www.reddit.com/r/nickofnight/comments/6khu39/the_collectors_part_4/\n\nPart 5: https://www.reddit.com/r/nickofnight/comments/6kiifw/the_collectors_part_5/\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n " ]	[ 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 21, 29, 52, 83, 309, 518, 1534 ]	[ "1498819970", "1498835811", "1498831763", "1498835787", "1498834409", "1498835564", "1498835223", "1498833948", "1498830633", "1498831973", "1498830918", "1498831995", "1498831356", "1498829933", "1498830261", "1498831157", "1498829792", "1498828775" ]
No time or format constraints. Chase can be mounted, on foot or in a vehicle.	[WP] Write a chase scene.	2	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "I turned the corner from 3rd Street and looked up. Through the crowd at the bus stop, I could see her neon-pink ponytail bounding up the hill, along with my briefcase full of money. I followed, trying to match her pace.\n\n\"Hey kid, watch it!\" a man in a suit shouted, assuming I'm just some high-school kid skipping class. People say I still look like a teenager, but they don't realize that I'm one of the most highly-paid programmers in Seattle.\n\nShe knew, though. Somehow.\n\nAt the top of the hill, I watched her pink hair disappear around another corner. I pushed past some gawkers on my way to get closer.\n\nShe was fast.\n\nI was running, but I was losing ground.\n\nShe was almost out of my line of sight.\n\nI was running out of ideas.\n\nThat's when it hit me. I may not win in a footrace, but I can outwit.\n\nI stopped running. Out of breath.\n\nI pulled out my phone and opened up the Amazon Staff App.\n\nI typed in a few lines of code. I typed in the coordinates and hit \"execute\". Then I watched.\n\nThere was a five-way intersection a few blocks up, where I saw her pink ponytail run into the crosswalk.\n\nAs she crossed, I watched. Five of Amazon's driverless cars now had new instructions. They all converged simultaneously on the intersection, forming a car circle that she couldn't escape. She turned around, liked a predator in a cage, and she saw me calmly approaching.\n\n\"You thought you'd get away, Rosie,\" I said, doing my best not to appear frightened or hurt. \"But it's not gonna be that simple.\"\n\n\"Hey, listen, let me explain,\" she said, still clutching the briefcase closely.\n\n\"I don't wanna hear it,\" I said. \"I know that you're not an Australian heiress. I know that you're accent was probably fake. I know that that guy probably wasn't an infamous scientist-turned black-market-art-dealer named 'Unpredictable Pete'. Hell, I bet that's not even your real hair.\"\n\nRosie looked at me, unsure of what to say.\n\n\"You probably didn't fall in love with me on the street, did you?\" I continued, now holding back tears.\n\n\"Listen,\" she said, looking around even more frantically, and now, the group of people at the bus stop were starting to converge on us.\n\n\"Just tell me the truth, Rosie,\" I said. \"I think I deserve that much.\"\n\nThat's when it hit. The bus. It rammed into one of the driverless cars, creating an opening through which Rosie slipped immediately. Just like that, the briefcase was gone.\n\nShe had won. She'd stolen my money and my heart.\n\nIn the aftermath of the accident, I walked up what I assume is her route. I kicked pebbles on the ground, coming to terms with the fact that this whole thing was a gigantic con.\n\nThat's when I found her pink wig lying on the sidewalk.\n\nSo it wasn't her real hair.\n\nI knew it.\n\n///\n \nScene #10 of r/100scenes" ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1498845553", "1498861030" ]
	[WP] In the far future, we can buy and download video games, movies, dreams, and language packs to use/play in our brains. You try to illegally download one of them, but you realize you've downloaded the wrong thing...	14	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", " This is the last time I use that fucking retro gaming download site. Fucking Nintendo. Sure, they _could_ just release all their old titles for BPCs, but nooo, they refuse to do so, and they make it impossible to find reputable versions online.\n\nIm going to have to call a technician now. Damn thing fried the optic nerve connection to the GPU probably, if not the GPU itself How did people even live without constant frame rate and color filters, the world was just so... Ugly. And it didnt have antialiasing. Its actually kinda giving me motion sickness. Navigating the web through only voice commands has to be the most annoying aspect of a fried GPU.\n\n\"Siri, call BPC technician\"\n\n\"Calling - BP Trisha\"\n\nFuck me\n\n\"Yeah hey Trish, Siri misdial. Mhm. I think I fried my BPC's GPU. Yeah I know. Okay. Yes definetely! Ill call you to set a date okay? Kay, see ya!\"\n\n\"Siri call B-P-C Tech-nician\"\n\n\"Calling, PC Tech Nissan\"\n\n\"Yeah hey Josh. Yeah I know its not work hours, misdial, sorry. Uh, actually, do you know any good techs for brain PCs? Really? Could you text me the number? Thanks Josh, sorry to bother you, see you monday\"\n\nWell at least that was useful. Jesus, it was amazing we had processors jacked directly into our organic brains, and still voice recognition was such shit. Damn this future, wheres the autopilot for my flying car? " ]	[ 1, 6 ]	[ "1498858696", "1498862379" ]
[removed]	[WP] You are challenged to a duel with a Demon paladin as the fight draws near the legendary blade drops from the sky its name was ?	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nResponses must be at least 30 words. Prompts that are likely to generate such responses are also not allowed. This is essentially a fill-in-the-blank, or you asked a question likely to generate a simple answer. Prompts should encourage a story or poem. \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6kkxgh/wp_you_are_challenged_to_a_duel_with_a_demon/%0A%0A)\n\nThis action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things." ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1498881353", "1498881446" ]
Have fun!	[WP] You have just defeated the Elite Four and are on your way back home to see your Mom. Along the way you are challenged by a low level trainer in a busy city square. However, he does not know your entire party is made up of legendary Pokemon.	141	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "-I'm changing my party from legendary pokemon to just regular old powerful ones. My story is less impartial otherwise. I didn't have time to check for typos, so apologies in advance-\n\nThere it was. Route 1. The first stretch of grass that his eleven year old feet dragged themselves through. It seemed like it happened eons ago - he thoguht had long since forgotten this place. But now, with the aroma rising from the patches of the grass as they swayed in the breeze and the distantly familiar chirps and cries of the creatures hiding themselves in that grass or in the trees, a feeling of profound nostalgia fell over him. Right now he was walking with his eleven year self, and in an odd way, he could almost feel that young boy, so full of hope and energy and determination, walking alongside him, ogling the pokeball that contained the first creature he ever called friend. That friend stayed with him all the way to the end. It' a long walk to the pokemon league. And they shared it every step of the way.\n\nIt was worth the walk.\n\nWhere one red ball had hung on his waist, there now hung 6. Together, they had bested the old champion, all be it barely. Together, they had trained and journey throguh rain and snow and over rock and ice. The bond they shared was, no doubt, unbreakable and enduring beyond all words. If only he could've know the people he would be lucky enoguh to meet back then - maybe his tiny feet would have ran faster through the grasses, scaled the mountains and negotiated the terrain quicker.... No. He had a lot of respect for the child he was when he stepped foot out of his village, and he wouldn't change a single detail of his journey.\n\nHis pace was slow and deliberate. Determined to savour ever last inhale and every tiny crunching noise the path made as his feet went one after the other, inexorably and autonomously, back to mum. Back home.\n\nSuddenly, as if halted by a phantom force, he stopped completely on the spot. This was it. Right here, he caught his first pokemon. Nothing special, a Starly, many young trainers caught them as well, but his one was different. It was his. Standing here, he had that strange feeling one gets at the end of a party. That strange peaceful feeling, when after the dancing and music has stopped, and everyone goes back to how they were before. But nothing can take away from what happened. It's better to be happy it happened, rather than be sad it was over. That Starly was on his still on waist.\n\nJust in the distance, he could see the small wooden crossroads sign that bore the name \"Twinleaf Town\". Not far to go now, he'd be home by midday. Ahead, at the crossroads, he could see a silhouette. It's deep shade of black contrasted wonderfully with the oranges of the sunrise, to which the figure had their back. It dawned on him that they must be looking at him. It was no reprise then that, as he neared the crossroads, the figure spoke to him.\n\n\"You there!\", his voice was high pitched and distinctively child like, and his shorts were covered in dirt. He was pointing at this stranger that was coming down the path with his right hand and in his left, clutched like a prize jewel or legendary treasure, was a single, red pokeball. \"Are you a pokemon trainer? I challenge you!\"\n\nA smile spread across the old trainers lips, without his noticing. The young one seemed to take offence at this. \"Hey! Don't laugh at me! Im strong you know!\" \n\n\"Okay, kid. I believe you. Get ready.\"\n\nHe fumbled at his waist, and unclipped a pokeball. When he threw it, a great hulking beast appeared in a flash of spectacular red light. Where there had previously been nothing, there now stood a bipedal form with fire for hair. It had yellow, knee-pad like gestures on its elbows and knees. Infernape, his own starter. The child seemed taken aback, clearly not expecting such a powerful pokemon this for from the League. But he swallowed his apprehension. And from his pokeball come a small black and white bird that pecked the dust for a moment, before beginning to hover on the spot, staring down his ape.\n\nThe old trainers froze, eyes bulging at the sight of the Starly now in the air before him. It was exactly Ilike looking back in time. His eleven year old self was standing in front of him, with his freshly caught creature and a boyish grin across his face. While he stood frozen, the Starly was covering infernape in starches, and and odd feeling now manifested itself in its throat and his eyes began to sting against the harsh, offensive light of the sun.\n\nHe returned Infernape to his ball - the ape wouldn't thank him for that -- the kid did the same to Starly, looking confused at his retreat. The old trainer walked oiff and crush down, so he was eye to eye with the child. His eyes were full of Hope and energy and determination. And the world was waiting for him to take it by storm. The old trainer swallowed the feeling in his throat, and his eyes stopped stinging just long enoguh for him to say in a quiet voice.\"You're right, kid. You are strong.\" and with that, he stood up and looked down the road, seeing his town in the distance. He began to walk, but after five seconds, he turned back and ruffled the child's hair.\n\n\"Take care, kid.\"\n\nAnd with that, he began to go home, looking over his shoulder to see the young trainer going in the opposite direction. Maybe they'd meet one day, at the pokemon league. It did matter right now - all he could think about was what his mum would be cooking for dinner and the long walk back to the pokemon league\n\n\"You could always just fly.\" said a voice in the back of his head. \n\n\"No,\" said another.\n\n\"It'll be worth the walk.\"\n\n------\n\nLemme know what you guys think \n\n", "\"Look, bud, I really don't think that's a good idea\" I said, again, not knowing how else to say no. This 10 year old girl had been following me since I entered the city. She was half my size, but was keeping up with my rather quick walking speed. She must be mostly leg, I suppose.\n\n\"Hey, I don't tell you how to do your job, so don't tell me how to do mine,\" she responded in a huff, shaking her braids in frustration, \"I just gotta battle you! It's my job to battle every new trainer who comes to town!\"\n\n\"Ok, and I get that, but, the thing is...I'm not a new trainer here. I've probably been around this city since you were learning to walk, which you seem to be fairly good at. How are you so quick?\" \n\n\"I'm quick because I get lots of practice from people like you who are too scared to battle me!\" She was getting more exasperated by the moment, but never did she lessen her pace on me. \n\nI stopped and looked at her.\n\n\"You want to battle me.\"\n\n\"Yes.\" She crossed her arms.\n\n\"Fine. You win. Let's do it,\" I shook my head and laughed to myself softly. We walked to the battle sites in central park, which, by the time we came to this agreement, we were fairly close to. \"You know, I admire your tenacity. That's the only reason this is happening.\"\n\n\"I know. My mom told me, 'Never let a man tell you that you can't do something. Especially when you know you can.' And I know I can beat you.\"\n\nThis time I laughed out-loud, and smiled at her. \"Well, your mom sounds like she knows exactly what she's talking about. That's some good advice.\" The battle towers peered at us from over the hill. \"Alright, let's get this battle started, I suppose.\" We each walked to our respective sides and took our positions. \n\nHer eyes narrowed and her grin turned into an excited smirk. \"It is about time!\" enunciating every word. Her left hand raised up and expanded her camouflaged pokeball. \"Go! Kangaskhan!\"\n\nI was taken aback, but in part, very much relived that I was going to to obliterate this little girl. Reaching down to my waist, I grab my first ball and let it fly. As soon as it opens, I felt the familiar heat radiate out and smiled to myself. \"Alright Moltres, let's do it again! Hit 'em with a Flamethrower. We'll see how she does.\"\n\nWith a loud screech, my magnificent phoenix flew in a circle and spewed a pillar of flames from its mouth directly at her pokemon, who stood these unwavering for what I knew to be too long. \n\n\"Now! Surf!\"\n\nThrough what seemed like some sort of glitch, the Kangaskhan ceased existing where it stood, inches away from Moltres' flames, and reappeared to the left of the field on a large wave of foaming water that struck Moltres' side, submerging it completely. \n\nOnce the water subsided, Moltres flew up high into the air. They may have had a pretty nasty hit, but they've been through more. We both have.\n\n\"That was a good trick you pulled there! Quite some Kangaskhan.\" I called to her, \"We won't give you another one so easily. Moltres! Sky attack, now!\"\n\n\"Kangaskhan!\" pointing her finger at the dive bombing bird and taking a defiant stance, \"Use Thunder!\" \n\nJust like that, it was done. In mid-dive, the sky crackled and grew dark, while thick lightning bolts crossed through Moltres, blasting it out of the sky. I had never seen anything like that before in any of my battles. I returned Moltres to its pokeball.\n\n\"So, you like my Kangaskhan? Thanks!\" Then her smirk came out once again, \"my mom got him for me from Cinnabar Island.\"\n", "\"Hey!\" I shouted, \"You're the new champion, right?\"\n\nThe older kid paused and turned to look at me, \"yeah, I am.\"\n\nI swallowed, \"Then I challenge you to a battle!\"\n\nHe sized me up, \"what? Aren't you like ten?\"\n\nI chuckled, \"I'm actually sixteen. I'm just really short. I really like shorts too. They're super comfy.\"\n\nThe champion snorted, \"yeah whatever kid. I'm going home.\" \n\n\"Not until we battle!\" I cried persistently.\n\n\"Tch, tell you what, if you can beat one of my Pokemon without me telling it what to do, then I'll take you seriously.\" He causally tossed an ultraball.\n\nIn a burst of radiant light, the storm-god emerged, it's beady eyes fixing on my own. It looked down it's proud narrow beak and ruffled it's feather, sending down a cascade of sparks.\n\n\"Beautiful,\" I breathed. I reached for the pokeball at my waist and slowly brought it forward, \"go, Shrewd.\" The sandslash emerged and fearlessly sized up it's opponent.\n\nThe champ chuckled, \"type advantage means nothing against overwhelming power.\"\n\nI glanced at him and bit my tongue. I'd let our actions do the talking.\n\nThe legendary bird flapped it's massive wings, causing the onlookers to take a few steps back.\n\nI slammed my foot down, signaling to Shrewd to use sandstorm. The dust whipped up quickly thanks to a certain bird, and soon it was impossible to see. I slipped om my goggles and flicked the switch to heat sensing mode. Usually, I'd use this tactic to cut off a trainer from it's pokemon, but now it was just to limit the vision of the the storm god.\n\nA flish of light filled my vision, and the onlookers screamed and ran for cover. I knelt down and tapped the ground Shrew came over quickly and covered me in a mud sport. Another few taps and he went underground. The bird, meanwhile, unleashed it's fury. The champ, apparently, was taking a nap.\n\nI sighed and got to work. I stroked the ground like I was using a tablet or touchscreen phone, directing Shrewd to where he needed to be. A few taps and he unleashed a devastating stone edge.\n\nThe pained cry of the thunderbird caused the champ to sit up. At this point, the sandstorm calmed down. The storm god landed and began angrily pecking at the ground, leaving it wipe open for a rock tomb that trapped it's wings.\n\n\"Tch, you may have got him like that, but there's no way a sandshrew's stone edge is strong enough to beat him. And all your strong ground moves are useless because he's a flying type, just give up and let me go home!\"\n\nI grinned, \"type advantages mean nothing to overwhelming power.\" I turned to Shrewd and pulled off my goggles, \"sandtomb!\"\n\nThe very earth around the legendary bird liquefied and reached up, threatening to drag the monster down into it's belly. The beast, in it's struggling, called down a massive thunderbolt, instantly frying the sand around it, encasing it in a tough shell of glass.\n\nI stomped the ground again and pulled up my goggles. I stomped again and again at the sandstorm rose, and Shrewd began to claw at the bird exposed face.\n\nIt shrieked out in pain, calling down bolt after bolt, but Shrewd continued, unphased.\n\n\"Stop!\" the champion called.\n\nI signaled to cease. The sandstorm died down and all that was heard was the storm god's labored breathing.\n\nThe champ recalled his beloved beast and turned his hat backwards. \"I'll take you on seriously now.\"", "I had finally done it. After years of training, I finally achieved my dream of defeating the Elite Four and the Champion. It was pretty easy, however, since I had a full team of legendaries.\n\nI began heading home to tell my mother the good news. She would be so proud of me! She had done so much to help me on my journey, such as paying for my Pokémon Center bills.\n\nAs I was walking through Grandiose City, a youngster walked up to me.\n\n“I’m wearing a hat!” he said. “You’re wearing a hat! Let’s battle!”\n\nThis battle should be pretty easy, I thought.\n\nYOUNGSTER CHAD CHALLENGED YOU TO A BATTLE!\n\nCHAMPION JOHN SENT OUT RAYQUAZA!\n\nThe youngster didn’t look afraid, even though I sent out Rayquaza, the legendary sky dragon. That was kinda weird. Most people would try to run, but you can’t run from a trainer battle.\n\nYOUNGSTER CHAD SENT OUT SHUCKLE!\n\nShit.", "I fucking did it.\n\nI walked through the halls of the Elite 4, defeated all of them, challenged the champion of the Arceusdamned region and won, after two years of training. \n\nI was on my way home to tell my mom the good news. This isn't the type of thing you mention over the phone, for this, this you have to meet in person. I was riding my bike, the wind blowing in my face, stopping at every town with a gym and talking with its leader. Reliving my memories. It takes a while, to ride from the city of champions to my little home by a river, on the other half of a region, but I didn't care. The time goes fast, always seems to when you've got news to tell. I had hardly even noticed I reached route one until I decided to ask for directions. I got off my bike and decided to walk the rest of the way, to savor the moment. I had a smile on my face, a big one, guessing what my mom's reaction would be when she heard I actually did it. I was shaken out of my thoughts when I heard a voice call out to me. \n\n\"Hey, you!\"\n\nConfused for a moment, I had looked around, trying to find the voice, but I didn't have to look too hard, since a little kid came up to me.\n\n\"Who, me?\" \n\nThe kid wore green overalls and had a net in his hand. He was a bug catcher, but I didn't remember seeing him there on my first time through. Or maybe I did, but decided to walk around him and hope not to be noticed. \n\n\"Yeah you! I wanna challenge you to a battle!\" \n\nI had laughed. This kid had no idea. \n\n\"You sure about that kiddo? I'm kind of in a hurry, I'm also really tough-\"\n\n\"Yeah I'm sure! I'm going to beat you, and eventually, the champion too! It's my dream!\" \n\n\"That's a nice dream there kid, but I really got to go.\"\n\n\"Hey, you can't run from a trainer battle!\" \n\nDammit was my first thought. Whatever, I'll mop this kid, shouldn't take too long was my second. \n\n\"Sure, whatever. Let's see what you got.\"\n\n\"Alright! Go, Caterpie! Make me proud!\" \n\nThe kid grabbed a red pokeball and threw it. Well, whaddaya know, Caterpie came out. I grabbed my own blue pokeball and threw it.\n\n\"Go, Reshiram.\" \n\nThe kid's jaw dropped. I had suppressed a laugh. I was pretty sure the kid's first thought was Fuck. \n\n\"O-o-oh, l-l-l-look at the, the time! I should be, um, going, yeah.\"\n\n\"Hey, you can't run from a trainer battle!\" \n\n\"Oh God.\"\n***\nLet me know what you think!" ]	[ 1, 3, 24, 25, 33, 107 ]	[ "1498932736", "1498998834", "1498969849", "1498971532", "1498966206", "1498958852" ]
	[WP] You're a genie hunter who catches genies in lamps. You sell the genies to the royal families of oppressive governments, because after the third wish, misfortune of the same magnitude of their fulfilled wishes falls upon them.	38	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Through the dusty canyons somewhere is Korea, lied a small town, devoid of technology. Its population, not more than three hundred at the most. It didn't have many visitor, since it was such a Hard-to-access terrain. \nMaybe that's why every resident of this small town had gathered and was overly excited, when they saw the shadow of a man emerging from within the canyons. \n\n\nThey didn't trust him, and wouldn't talk. But he was on a mission. Walking with determination. Striding with intent. \n\n\nHe came to the townsmen and shouted out. \n\"I come in peace!\" \n\nTo this, he got no response other than the stern look he had already been receiving.\n\n\"Okay. Let's talk business then. I have a two hundred gold reward for whoever helps me as a guide. All I need is information.\"\n\nThe townsmen exchanged Glances. None but one walked through.\n Merely a teenager, Arnold, walked willingly, and without talking, the stranger started walking across the town to the other side of the canyons, and Arnold followed.\n\nOnce out of the sight of the townsmen, the stranger said out.\n\"Jeremy\".\n\n\"Arnold. How can I be of assistance\"\n\n\"I have heard of a cave with a Copper sculpture at its mouth, somewhere within this region. \"\n\n\"You have? The last person to come here was also looking for the same. He never came back. So was the one before. And the one before. \"\n\nWas that supposed to scare Jeremy? Pfft.\n\n\"Where is it?\"\n\n\"There is one rock in this canyon, that can be seen at all times. Follow that and you will come across the Copper statue. If it exists.\"\n\n\"That's all I need to know\", said Jeremy, flipping over a bag of gold coins. Arnold grabbed those, and walked away. \n\n\nAfter two days of rough travelling through these canyons, Jeremy did come across strange things. He saw some drawings on the walls of the canyon, and knew he was on track. This was the perfect place for a genie to have been defeated. \n\nRocky cayon, add a storm with lightning, any kod could have trapped the genie in a lamp. This particular Genie was considered a Dormant and a Dominant one, even amongst genies. And Jeremy knew that none before had found that Genie before. Afterall, he was destined to it.\n\n\nAs his trip down the Canyon went on and on, Jeremy remembered how his greed had sent him on a never ending quest of Genie-Hunting. \n\nOne lucky Man, finds a lamp in the Middle of nowhere and gets three wishes.\n\nFirst, he Wishes for Immortality. Granted at a flinch of a second. Second, he wishes for having enough Money he needs, Everytime he needs it. That explains the magical Backpack worn by Jeremy. But the third wish... Genie Hunters referred to it as the Backfiring Wish. If onlt Jeremy had known. He had felt so full and satisfied at his two wishes, that greed and selfishness took over. He first asked the Genie if there are other Genies. He got an affirmation. Then he made the wish. He wished that no person ever, gain fortune due to a Genie. And the wish was granted. But it Backfired. It destined Jeremy to hunt for Lamps and sell them off. \n\nOnly, he did this to misfortune the buyers. He did this to rectify the faults in this world. The rich whose Greed kills the poor. He did this to deal with them.\n\n\nHe always sold Lamps to powerful people. For a very heavy price, which he didn't care about. What he actually wanted, was to get the First wish. He always made a deal with the buyer that he gets the first wish. And excited about the Magic of the Genie, the buyers always agreed. \n\nGenies are smart. Jeremy needed to know where all the genies in the world were. So he could use them all. But this wish was refused. Instead, he could get whereabouts of only the next Lamp to be found. \n\nThe first person he took down was a Ruthless Monarch, Adolf Hitler. Hitler's first wish allowed Jeremy to go on further to more Monarchs. It was thanks to Jeremy, that till date, no one had managed to Rule the entire world. And Jeremy Considered it his Destiny, to prevent that.\n\nSnap back to the present, He came to where the entrance of the Cave was. This cave was Magical. The Copper statue was that of a Genie. And on entering the cave, Jeremy Felt his immortality weaken. He understood that this cave cancelled Magic. Which explains how the genie was kept captured. It took him two hours to finally find the Lamp. This was going to Queen of Britain. Her reign, was one Jeremy feared. \n\nJust as he lifted the Lamp, he felt something pierce through his chest. Where his Centuries old heart was. He had gotten shot from behind.\n\nHe fell to the floor, Unable to turn around, and heard footsteps. \n\n\"Arnold isn't even a Korean name. How fooliah are you? I'm called Kim. I have followed twenty people, and lured them into this cave, and you are the only one to find the Lamp. Thanks.\"\n\n\"What do you plan!\"\n\n\"My plans are very simple. First, I will become the ruler of Korea. Then I'll wish for this Desert, to become a land with resources and fertility. Third, I will wish for nuclear potential to conquer the world.\"\n\n Kim was unable to supress him evil Laughter. \n\nBut as the last of his breaths left his mouth, Jeremy was the one truely Laughing. He knew where this was headed. He knew that the third wish is a curse. But Kim didn't. \n\nAnd so, Jeremy was finally relieved of the curse of Immortality, and Kim Jong Un folloed to rule Korea, only, not knowing what was at stake for getting the Nuclear Power he wished for...\n\nHa ha ha....", "Most of the families exhibited the same pattern. Burning through the three wishes and then bang, ruin. It was like clockwork.\n\nThis one seemed like any of my other assignments. Unlike New Russia, summer here was actually nice, and strangely nearly everything was on sale. \n\n\"Maybe I could make a few pit stops on my way back,\" I thought to myself, looking at the price of some nice pants on my way out of the airport. My mind always wandered during these trips. \n\nI stepped through the portal out onto the street, the capital before me in the near distance. The horizon burned a bright red, kinda like the inconveniently shaped genie lamp was burning a whole in my bag. It might as well have been a crowbar.\n\nThe city was lined with skyscrapers on one side, and factories on the other, propelling out endless amounts of steam.\n\n\"You gonna move anytime soon?\", I heard a voice from behind me. \"You've been standing there for almost a minute. Some of us have places to be you know!\"\n\nI turned to face him, not saying anything.\n\n\"Alright I'm gonna count to two and if you're still in my way we're gonna have a problem.\" \n\n\"This asshole doesn't even have the common courtesy to give me one more extra second?\", I thought as I turned back around and kept walking. I had to get to the royal family residence, the New Well Manor, before dark. I fished my phone out of my pocket, called whatever the equivalent of Uber was in this place. and punched in the address HQ sent me. \n\nThe drive was already going to be long, and wasn't helped by the seemingly endless red light we encountered leaving the airport. \n\nThe next light shone an aggressive red as well and remained so right until our car pulled closer. Green is always nice. \n\n\"Second times a charm! The driver chuckled into the rear-view\", looking disappointed as he brought his eyes back to the road, perhaps due to my lack of response. \n\nThe minutes blended together and I was awoken from my daydreaming by the drivers voice, as enthusiastic as the first time. \n\n\"Nearly at Dead County!\" he said to the rear view mirror again, turning the wheel left. \n\nAnother few blocks and the car came to a semi-lifeless halt. \n\n\"You have a good one now!\", he yelled at the car door as I swung it shut. \n\n\"New Well Manor\". The words inscripted on a metal plate hung on the tall black gates. \n\nI pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose and looked up at the fortress. \n\n\"It's game time,\" I said to myself as I felt my bag to make sure the lamp was still there. \n\nI walked up the two small steps that led to hundreds more. \n\nKnock knock knock, I hit my fist against the door. \n\nI waited in some silence before trying again. \n\nKNOCK KNOCK \n\nThis time the door had swung open almost too quickly.\n\n\"Lord Gabriel has been awaiting you. Down the hall and straight in,\" a guard walked me into the manor. \n\nThe throne room doors were already cracked open, so I stepped inside. Lord Gabriel was sitting patiently, back to me. \n\n\"You are bringing me a genie lamp, is that right?\"\n\nI pulled the golden lamp from my bag and placed it heavily on the table in front of me. \n\nGabriel's chair turned around slowly, his round spectacles holding back his reaching eyes as he picked up the lamp. \n\nUnlike his glasses, he was a large character with unkept hair, and a wise beard that had seen decades of truly prosperous and trying times. \n\n\"My first wish!\" his voice shook the room, \"is to have more money than I know what to do with!\" \n\nUpon the completion of this sentence, a sea a golden coins flooded the halls of the manor, bodies of guards could be heard thumping the walls. \n\n\"NEXT!\" the Lord bellowed, \"I want this nation to have the finest hats in all of the New World.\" \n\nThe sound of hats, however they may sound, was heard sweeping across the countryside. \n\n\"And finally!\" Lord Gabriel began to speak. \n\nMy eyes lit up. This was it. \n\n\"Well, you of all people should know we don't count to three, Mr. Freeman.\" \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n ", "\"And that's all, kid?\" An evil grin escaped his lips.\n\n\"Of course. I think I made the terms quite clear. This genie will obey you for 3 wishes and then will inflict upon you what you caused\" I think this is one of my better plans thus far.\n\n\"And you want us to spend about 50% of our current budget on charity, is this correct? I am just making sure.\"\n\n\"Yes, that would be all.\" \n\nAs I left their office, I noticed the world around me began to change. \n\nFirst off was their rival organisation, \"Cars4U\", which they had laid their eyes upon for quite a while. I suspect they wanted to bestow a cruel fate upon them, but I was oddly specific with my terms this time. Unusual for me, but it's for the better. Usually I would just tell them that they can wish for whatever they want, but that has caused a bit of harm in the past, and I am not a person who would ignore my errors easily.\n\nAs the genie granted his first wish, I immediately noticed the sudden success of \"Cars4U\", which would soon lift them to #2 on the car market. Furthermore, by annexing \"Cars4U\", the new corporation \"Vehicle4Cars\" was founded. This would eventually turn them into the strongest force on the car market, which could not be challenged by anyone else out there in our entire world. As such, they helped another organisation climb the ladder and supported their growth, which would then at the end backfire and make their own organization prosper. Or so they thought. Predictable.\n\nGranting their second wish, the genie assured their dominance by assisting the small business concerns, which were not a threat, but made sure they would have a decent basis for further trades. This would eventually make \"Vehicles4Cars\" appear as a thoroughly good company, gaining them the support of the common people.\n\nFinally, the genie granted their final wish. They simply wished to for eternal prosperity of all businesses under their rule and all their respective branches. This would make sure that smaller companies could never catch up to them, but had to join them in order to have any success, making their company the sole supplier for any necessity known to mankind. Since this wish does not target anyone in a negative way, it cannot backfire in a negative way. Or so they thought, again.\n\nIt was fun watching those changes, watching them grow and watching them laugh. If they had known that I planned every single detail months ahead, they probably wouldn't have done any of this.\n\nI do not randomly sell genies to anyone. I sell it to oppressive companies, those who have evil intentions in their hearts. Before I act, I inform myself as well as I can. Obviously I do not wish to bring ruin upon those who have a kind heart. Furthermore, I do not give a genie to those who act upon a cruel desire. If it is not a selfish one, it will harm the world, not them.\n\nAs I watched their united business fail, I noticed that the small companies, those who work with heart, started to prosper. The company who had the most influence in the entire world, more than the government itself, was revealed to be an evil organisation, causing harm to the common people in order to force their own growth. As such, the world learned an important lesson and focused on supporting those who have good intentions, but not the needed resources. \n\nTo sum it up, the evil companies fell and the good companies rose.\n\nWhy, you ask? As a good salesman always does, I lied about the terms.\n\nThe genie does not inflict what he caused, he inflicts misfortune of the same magnitude of the fulfilled wishes. Because I lied about those terms, they made sure to support others in order to spread their influence, instead of straight up eliminating everyone else. \n\nEvidently, I could never forget these terms. They bestowed this fate upon me, after all.\n\nA good salesman does not forget his errors.\n\n" ]	[ 1, 1, 6, 12 ]	[ "1498976926", "1498988590", "1498985973", "1498985562" ]
	[WP] Your entire body involuntarily clenches as you hear your thrillseeking demigod roommate speak those dreaded words: "I'm bored."	70	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Don't get me wrong about Abeiron, he was an incredible friend. Sure, there were difficulties with living with an eight foot, over-thousand pound demigod who easily thrashed his older brother Heracles without breaking a sweat (which was done to protect me, I admit) but otherwise he was just more than willing to learn more about the mortal realm.\n\nBut nothing makes my joints lock up, my spine lock itself straight or my asshole clench tighter than two words I've come to dread, two words which meant he was past the point of no return.\n\n'I'm bored,' he said as he stroked his glowing red beard.\n\nHe stood up from the couch as it audibly groaned, stretching himself from maybe days of inactivity from playing the game on the TV. 'Oh, crap,' I said as he approached me with a smile on his face. 'I've got work in the morning, Aby.'\n\n'No you don't,' he said to me. 'I've checked with the Fates. 'You're free tomorrow and I want to go swimming in the Pacific.'\n\n'Then go yourself, I need to wash the car,' I said.\n\n'Already done,' he said as he lifted me and threw me over his shoulder. 'Come on, let's hurry. If we get there before the sun rises in the morning then maybe we can turn into shark mermen and hunt some fish.'\n\n'Oh, sure, and why not hunt Poachers in Africa,' I said sarcastically.\n\nHis face lit up when I said that. 'We can use shark teeth to make hunting knives!'\n\n'Me and my fucking mouth,' I groaned before he had teleported us into the middle of the ocean.", "\"Joe, let's go somewhere. I'm bored.\"\n\nA shiver went down my spine as I woke up from my bed and looked at my demigod roomate who was placed under my care as her 'host family'. Despite being a beauty and really cute girl for her age of seventeen, she was a total mess at being a girl. A hardcore thrill seeker, a messy eater, careless girl. And knowing her immortal status, thrill seeking got to a whole new level. Giving a awkward laugh, I asked,\"Liza, you do remember what happened the previous times you said you were bored and went somewhere, right? And besides it's a sunday morning, be a good guest and let me sleep.\"\n\nLiza looked at me with a innocent look and replied with a cute voice,\"Hmm... Nope! I don't remember what happened! And BECAUSE it's a Sunday that we have to do something fun and exciting!\"\n\nI gave her a straight look and told her,\"Well, then let me remind you. Overloading and shutting down the whole power grid for a whole six hours, stopping a person's heart only to restart it, almost burning down a factory full of biohazardous material, almost causing a nuclear plant's meltdown... Yeah that looks like a good reason to bring you out when you're bored. We're NOT doing things fun and exciting by your definition, Liza.\"\n\n\"Pleasey cheesy with a lightning bolt on top? And besides no one died or got even close to dying. And besides, the man whose heart I stopped and restarted is alive and well.\" Liza reasoned and gave me her cutest look. \n\nStill giving her a straight face I told Liza,\"I can see why your ten other host families returned you to Zeus. And I'm not surprised.\"\n\n\"Hey! That's mean of you, Joe. I promise you it'll be the last time okay? I won't complain I'm bored anymore.\"\n\nDespite my hardest efforts to resist, my efforts went down the drain, and I gave in. I mean, I couldn't turn down a cute and beautiful demigod and girl that was about to get down on her knees and beg a mortal and a guy, right? I sighed. \"Fine... On one condition...\"\n\n\"Joe? This isn't a volcano or a quarantine zone or somewhere I can find thrill! This is an amusement park!\"\n\n\"Deal with it, I'm a mortal remember? I'm not risking my life just for your thrill, although I'm never dead... somehow. And besides, Zeus wanted you to learn 'human culture', right? Well, this is one of the ways humans find thrill, so I'm doing you two favours already. Be thankful.\"\n\n\"Oh come on, you do know as a host family of a demigod your family is given 'Holy Intervention' to prevent you or your family members from getting the slightest scratch on your skin.\" Liza snapped.\n\n\"Too bad. As the host, I get to decide.\"\n\nI brought Liza to 'lightning and thunder'- the fastest and most thrilling rollercoaster ride. Which surprisingly, Liza seemed excited. Probably from the word 'lightning'.\n\nAt first she had a little fun. Then she began to feel bored. I began to feel sick in the stomach.\n\n\"Uh, Liza, you go for another round without me. I'm not feeling too good.\"\n\n\"Ha! You mere mortals suck! Withdrawing after one round. I'll go twenty rounds and come out the same I went in! A hundred miles an hour isn't even a light year's close to fast!\" Liza mocked.\n\n\"Whatever. Do what you want.\" Probably something I shouldn't have said. Before I could correct myself Liza was gone. \n\nI went to the nearby restraunt to get a drink, sit down and relax. \"Hopefully she isn't doing anything too shocking.\" Just when I finished my sentence, I heard \"The rollercoaster's going nuts! It's moving too fast! It's power point has been overloaded!\n\n\"Oh boy... Here we go again. What's going to happen this time?\" I sighed and went to where the energy was coming from.\n\n", "Loki despises the reputation the Marvel films have given him.\n\n\"I don't have cosmic plans to take over the world,\" he bitches, putting the word \"cosmic\" in air quotes. Here we go. He's drunk. \"All I need is a good laugh now and then.\"\n\nLoki only amuses himself. Last week he made my clothes vanish while we walked past an elementary school playground. Yesterday he gave me the shits and then filled our toilet with spiders. I keep trying to move out but he changed my credit score and I can't put a damn deposit down anywhere else. \n\nI cannot deny that he is nothing like the Marvel character, nor is he anything like the ancient myths. His immense power is rivaled only by his immense immaturity. He has twenty-four fart noise apps on his iPhone. On Facebook, his job is listed as Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. \n\n\"We should totally do something tonight, man.\"\n\nI sigh, but he doesn't notice. According to him, we're best friends, and he refuses to be convinced otherwise. \"Oh, I got it! Let's convince a minor celebrity that--\"\n\nI cut him off there. \"You remember what happened when you did that to Jenny McCarthy.\"\n\n\"Yeah, it was great! Everyone is getting measles again!\"\n\n\"That's not great! That's the god-fucking opposite of great!\"\n\n\"You just don't get it, bro.\"\n\n\"I guess I don't. Listen, can we at least do something that doesn't affect children this time?\"\n\n\"Ruin all the fun, why don't you.\" He chugs the last of his beer. \"Okay, well I could make the guys on Fox News do a segment about black peop--\"\n\n\"No! Jesus Christ!\"\n\n\"Go back in time and give a dictator a funny mustac--\"\n\n\"Hitler.\"\n\n\"Oh, right.\"\n\n\"Here's an idea,\" I say. \"Why don't you have another beer?\" He never notices the small, orange tablets I slip into the can while I'm cracking it open. Fifteen minutes later he's sound asleep.\n\nI pull out my phone and type: Note to self: pick up more Rohypnol.", "\"I'm bored.\"\n\nRita's eyes flew up from her Kindle to fix on her (powerful, immortal, thrill-seeking asshole) demigod housemate. \n\n\"Whatever you want the answer is NO,\" she said with solid finality. \"We are not going skydiving, bungee jumping, or into an ACTIVE WAR ZONE because you think it will be interesting.\"\n\n\"But I'm boooooored,\" Damion (he picked it himself and she still thought he sounded like some romance novelist's idea of a hero) drawled, draping himself over the arm of the couch like the diva he was. \"Entertain me, mortal!\"\n\n\"Call me mortal one more time and I'll entertain you by signing you up for sensitivity training,\" Rita threatened pointedly. \"What happened to the books I got you?\"\n\n\"I read them. Now I'm bored again,\" he whined, and glared at the lamp until it caught on fire. Rita snatched the handheld fire extinguisher from beside her table and sprayed both lamp and demigod liberally. \n\nThe lamp hissed and went out. Damion made a noise not unlike a squawk of outrage and dove for cover. \n\n\"Being bored does not mean you can light things on fire!\" she yelled and lobbed the now-empty fire extinguisher at him. \"We talked about this!\"\n\n\"We talked about not lighting your bed on fire,\" Damion protested from his hiding spot behind the couch. \"You said nothing about lamps.\"\n\nThat probably explained the disappearance of her OTHER lamp. Good thing they were cheap ones from the thrift store. \n\n\"If you light anything else on fire without also being in a fight for your life, I am never buying skittles for you ever again!\"\n\nYou got real creative when you had to threaten a demigod. Lucky for her, he still hasn't figured out this century's money system, and tended to short out electrical devices as often as not. Without her good will, he was stuck. \n\nIf anyone asked how she got him... well that stupid ritual in the stupid kids book was a lot more accurate than she expected, okay? \n\n\"That does not solve my problem!\" He fussed and threw himself down onto the couch like the toddler he was (anyone who wanted kids ought to try their luck with a demigod first. At least kids couldn't smite little dogs who freaked them out) and stared at her expectantly. \n\nRita dropped the trashed lamp into the garbage and stared back at him before pulling a line out of her mother's playbook. \n\nShe smiled sweetly- his eyes got wide and alarmed- and pointed towards the kitchen. \"You could always do the dishes,\" she suggested adoringly. \"Or I could find something else for you to do-\"\n\nHe leapt off the couch like there was ants in his pants and scrambled for his room. \"I will find something for myself!\" He shouted on his way past. \"Cruel mortal!\"\n\n\"Don't light anything on fire!\" She hollered after him. \"Or do anything else destructive!\"\n\n\"I do what I want!\"\n\n\"Not in my house you don't!\"\n\nStupid demigod. \n\n+++\n\nIf you like this story, I can send you a link to the rest of my work, including a full-length novel!" ]	[ 1, 2, 3, 6, 43 ]	[ "1499022693", "1499091896", "1499078150", "1499058383", "1499040039" ]
	[WP] Serial killing is a legitimate business. You're a temp.	6	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "You were supposed to be transferred today. The HR rep had this frustrated look on his face, and he said no one stays with him very long, he said don't worry about it.\n\n\"Hold this.\"\n\nYou weren't transferred. He places a length of rope in your hands, gently. You were expecting someone rougher. Someone angry. He's just anxious. You expected your job to be holding struggling bodies down, or spying on them before they're caught. You thought you'd be a lookout or a distraction. You worked out for this. All summer you worked out, you got strong, you got this job because you can hold a struggling body down in the summer heat.\n\nHe doesn't need to hold them down. He uses drugs to make them quiet and still, then he carries their sleeping bodies into a basement, gently, like they're children. They're younger than you are, actually. The oldest you've seen him kill was about twenty. He likes teenage boys, he's picky about what they look like but he's not picky enough to turn down girls in the same age range if he needs to. \n\nMost of them kill indiscriminately, you know, if they offer you a permanent position you're expecting to be given contracts at random. They asked if you had a type and you'd just said you liked the thrill of it. A smile from your HR manager, That's what I like to hear.\n\nHR also said that the man they're pairing you up with is very elite but he just looks like some creep, shivering over soon-to-be corpses. You don't want to work with him. You hate him. He's got bloodstains on his clothes, they look like his own. People avoid him in public. \n\nHe takes the rope back. Ties Vic to the beams holding up the floor above you and turns on the light bulb above him. The atmosphere is important, he told you on day one, he gets very specific contracts because he has a good track record and they let him have some choice in who Vic is today on the condition he keeps torturing them like this. \n\n\"Hey, honey.\" \n\nVic wakes up like they all do, to a brief panic and a stranger who smells like iron and looks like a demon over him. A halo of harsh light from the bulb over his head. Your first day, while he was telling you how important atmosphere is, he started by knocking you out like he does them. He woke you up this same way, a hand on your cheek, his body perched on top of yours. Gentle pressure. Don't worry, he said, I won't go there with you.\n\nMost of his Vics are revenge killings. The client wants him to hurt. He told you he gets a lot of suicides, too. Older teenagers are always eager to jump off a bridge, and if they happen to have enough money, well, they're happy to dump what they can't take with them on an ex-doctor who could, theoretically make it painless.\n\nHe laughed, You're not my type anyway.\n\nYou've seen him not make it painless. You told HR in the records while they were asking why you want a transfer, and he just laughed. He said it doesn't matter how he kills them as long as his paperwork looks good. You aren't sure why you were expecting some kind of ethics. No honor among thieves, you know?\n\nVic is breathing too quickly, your boss has the kind of excitement that permeates the air around him. You could cut the tension with a knife, but he's the one holding a blade right now. \"If you don't cry I won't kill you.\" \n\nHe'll make a dozen promises and they'll all be lies. You feel sick watching him do this so you step out and text your HR manager again. Again. He's ignoring you, of course. This is a cold field but you don't know what you expected.\n\nHe's always real quiet after this. He says he wanted something that wouldn't run away and that this was the closest he ever got to that. Why are you acting as his therapist? This isn't your job. You're supposed to be the opposite of a therapist. \n\nBut you take notes like a good little trainee. If they won't transfer you now maybe they will when he's gone." ]	[ 1, 3 ]	[ "1499052437", "1499056485" ]
	[WP] Your a character in a fictional story who has just realised a plot hole	6	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Jason picked up the news paper from off the front porch. He unfolded it and read the headline:\n\n[Be The First To See The Man With The Yellow Hat]\n\nYellow hat? Jason was ecstatic. He loved yellow things. He had a fancy for them ever since his mother beat him with a yellow paddle as a child. He folded the paper back up and walked straight to where the man with the yellow hat was.\n\nThe man stood on an elevated stage in the town square. His yellow hat reflecting the sun directly into the eyes of the onlookers, of which there were surprisingly many. Jason was caught at the back of the crowd. Apparently word of the yellow hat had spread quickly. Jason knew he had to get to the front. He needed to get the hat. He loved yellow things.\n\nHe began pushing through the crowd. At first he tried as politely as he could. He used \"please\" and \"thank you\" and \"excuse me\" a number of times, but his nice words were only met with grunts and tsks. Frustrated with his lack of progress Jason looked again to the stage. The man with the yellow hat appeared to be finishing up, flaunting his hat in extravagant ways.\n\nJason became irate. He needed the hat. He pushed through the crowd with force. Old lady's met the hard concrete by his hand while young children learned the term aerodynamic as he tossed them skyward on his yellow hat rampage. As he neared the stage he pushed through some security tape, he presumed it was to keep the crowd at bay.\n\nWhy he thought security would use tape instead of a barrier of some sort, nobody knows... or cares for that matter. After Jason went through the tape he fell 12 meters into a hole in the plot of land adjacent to the stage. He died on impact. \n\nCoincidentally a strong gust of wind blew the man with the yellow hat's yellow hat off his head as he was looking into the hole. It landed on Jason's corpse." ]	[ 1, 3 ]	[ "1499061766", "1499067954" ]
[removed]	[WP] For some unknown reason, in the moment of an orgasm you travel through time to random place/time.	2	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nErotica is not allowed. This includes prompts likely to generate such responses. \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6kyif3/wp_for_some_unknown_reason_in_the_moment_of_an/%0A%0A)\n\nThis action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things." ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1499067351", "1499067824" ]
	[WP] The world of monsters and magic is real, but the only ones who know this are the authors who write about it. Their only way of warning us of the impending invasion is through their writing.	8	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Dear Reader, \n\nYou must run. NOW! Get off Reddit, get in your car, and just drive. They will not tell this on the news, because only the chosen can write about such things, but an invasion is coming. The conjurer is almost here and Earth will be no match for her. She will bring ancient dragons who will rain fire from above, zombies who will lift out of their graves, and behemoths who will come from the sea. \n\nYou must drive until the road ends. Until you find some sort of sanctuary. Leave life behind, get off the grid, and never come back to the world. Before it is too late. \n\nYou have been warned. \n\n\nM" ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1499079667", "1499093293" ]
	[WP] It was a cigarette, still burning.	4	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Dares are brilliantly stupid. Some are lottle flashlights, others are supernovas. This one.. well, I'd thought it a flashlight, but I've stared too long now and I've gone blind from the radiant idiocity. I can't see well enough to make out just what it is in front of me, but I'm trapped. All I can do is stare, blinking stupid-spots out of my eyes. Each blink I seem to cross a realization.\n\nMy friend. Well, I thought he was anyways. I don't know why I did. Alcohol? I only had a sip or two. Crowd effect. A lot of people seemed to like him. I guess I wanted to as well. But I knew, in the back of my head, that he was up to no good. He'd punched Chrissy when she was pregnant with her son. If that wasn't a sign that some screws were lose, I don't know what else could have been. Yet I trusted him enough to take this mind-numbingly foolhardy dare.\n\nOh, just a jaunt through the abandoned warehouse! Nothing big. Nevermind the ghost stories. The sounds, the crawling things of dead-child-flesh and horror-movie blood lakes. Made up, obviously. No consistency, all of the stories were conflicting and made for shock value. I believed him even if I knew better. Something was up, and I could feel it in my bones, but I trusted him and now I'm here, femur powdered by the pipe laying across it, trapped neatly and about to find out what these ghost stories were made of. \n\nA single, glowing orange eye peered at me through the inky night shrouded from the moonlight and made darker still by the sunspots of my failure. I could feel my brain shrieking obcsenities at me, cursing me for not listening to it.\n\nThe eye came closer. Click, scrapeclick, scrapeclick, scrapeclick. I could make out the barest edges of a human form, the eye centered on the jaw of the head. It crouched, and there was the scrape of metal on concrete. A knife glimmered in the reflected orange light. Finally I realized what it was. It was a cigarette, still burning.\n\n\"You always acted so superior. But look at you now. Helpless. Whimpering, like a dog. Like the bitch you are. I knew you were just as easy to sway, just as quick to leap at the chance of 'friendship'. And look where it got you. I'm going to enjoy making you scream and cry, and no one will come near this place. No one will know. Never, because not even the cops want to come here. You're mine.\" He said around the cigarette. I had only just worked my vision clear before I was blinded again, this time by the sharp pain of a cigarette being dragged across my face." ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1499115708", "1499119408" ]
	[WP] One day while watching The Price is Right you hear your name called and someone who looks just like you stands up in the audience	195	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "It was just another day spent lounging on the plaid couch, sipping on warm milk, just wishing for a chance to be on television. If only I could find the right price, I would never have to work again and could spend all day making birdhouses. As I wistfully watched the droll questions drag on and on I suddenly hear my name called. I stand up, and walk down to the stage. Simon Cowell and Gordon Ramsay say my steak is overcooked and my guitar playing is terrible, and I break down crying.\n\nWait, what? I don't anything about game shows. Why in the world am I on The Price is Right? Why am I watching it at all? What has happened to my life? Where did my friends go? Poof\n\nI wake from my dream utterly confused, devoid of purpose and will to live. Or change the channel.", "Gary slumped onto his couch and let out a long sigh. He wearily grabbed the remote, turning on the TV and started to switch through channels.\n\nThe Big Bang Theory No\n\nKeeping up with the Kardashians Who gives a shit?\n\nThe Price is Right Eh, why the hell not?\n\nThe crowd was cheering as Drew prepared to call out someone from the studio audience. \"This shit is so staged\" he thought to himself. He yawned and began to close his eyes, when he was woken up with a shock when he heard \"Gary Williamson, COME ON DOWN\". Huh, that's funny, someone's got the same name as me he thought. But next he saw the guy and spat out his Bud Light. \"HOLY SHIT this can't be happening.\" The audience member not only had the same name as him, but looked identical. Everything to the bald patch, the thick brown moustache. He was even wearing the same Cubs t-shirt as him. What the fuck is going on?\n\nThe member came down onto the stage, shook hands with Drew, and then clutched his chest, and began to fall on the floor. Panic erupted from the audience, and a paramedic ran over. With that Gary slowly started to realise he wasn't sat at home, he was sat in a white room. Then he remembered. He had died live on air of a heart attack. He often forgot things like this, he had been dead for so long.\n\nAn angel came into the Electronics department of Heaven-mart, with a name-tag that simply read \"Steve - Manager\" and said \"Sir if you're not going to buy anything than can you please leave the store. \"Okay sure, sorry uh-Steve,\" Gary replied sheepishly. In a soft tone, the angel said \"Thank you sir, and may God bless you on your way out\".\n\nLater that day the angel, came home to his house on cloud 734,154, and slumped on the couch. He took a sip from his can of Soul Light, and let out a sigh. \n\"Now this is heaven\"\n\n", "I wasn't really paying attention to the TV. I just had The Price is Right on as background noise while I fought my cats for the laundry. One was in the basket, one was hopping from folded pile to folded pile, the other was just sitting next to his water dish, staring at a piece of paper my son had dropped like it was about to run away. It wasn't until my husband said something that I noticed. \n\n\"Huh. That's weird,\" he said, dragging our son away from the cat in the laundry basket so he could no longer torment her. \n\n\"What? Did he try to eat a chunk of the cat's hair again?\" I asked glancing up. Tyler's eyes were glued to the TV, his mouth wide open in awe. I looked at the TV as they said the audience member's name again. \"That's cool. Someone has the same name as me.\" The camera panned back to the audience member and there she... I was. \n\n\"MOMMY!\" Hayden yelled at the TV. \n\nMy phone started going off. My grandma, three of my aunts, my sister in law, and several of the ladies in a mom group messaging me about my appearance on TV and asking why I didn't tell them I was going to be. \n\nWe sat and watched as she... I... Whomever, failed miserably. Towards the end of the show, my mom called me to explain. \n\nWhen she was pregnant with me, she worked at a fast food restaurant. One of her regulars became obsessed with her. Colored her hair red, got a loose perm, changed her name, and, even got plastic surgery. My mom got a restraining order after she found out the lady had been artificially inseminated shortly after my birth announcement. \n\nShe found her on social media a few years ago, found my profile, and forced her daughter into changing her name, altering her body, and even tried to get her to get pregnant after we announced we were expecting. She kept sending pictures to my mom of her daughter's alterations and negative pregnancy tests. Every time my mom blocked her, she find a way around it. \n\nWe're currently setting up security cameras and an alarm company will be here Monday. I'm thoroughly weirded out and angry at my mom for not telling me about my doppelganger sooner. Neither the crazy lady nor her daughter have really done anything to be considered a threat but I'd rather be safe. \n\nI'm calling everyone I know and setting up a code for when they see me in public to make sure it's really me, Tyler keeps quizzing me on our life together, probably to annoy me since he knows I'm me, and we're teaching Hayden a secret code too. If you see me around, ask me any random question. If the answer isn't \"Purple because giraffes can't talk,\" then it's not me. \n", "Norman clicked on the TV. It whirred, the screen buzzed for a moment, and after a few seconds, the CRT screen came alive. I really should invest in a new television, Norman thought to himself. But he was too old fashioned for the fancy new smart-TV screens and high contrast ratios that the \"hip kids\" were using, and he knew it. \n\nFocusing his attention on the screen, he saw one of his favorite shows was running: The Price is Right. He'd even attended a few of the screenings and been part of the audience that clapped and cheered the contestants on. But then he frowned. What? He thought he might have misheard his name being called, but to his surprise, someone that looked just like him, only a little younger, stood up from the audience and began walking up to the stage. \n\nNorman smiled suddenly as a memory struck him. Huh. He ejected the recording from his VHS, carefully stacking it on his other tapes, and switched to he cable channels. His cat, also named Norman, mewed behind him and he made a mental note to feed him extra tuna later.", "Ravenous, David dropped his heavy container of cucumber salad on one of the small, empty tables in the break room and took the seat in front of it. Eagerly, he fought a plastic fork out of a plastic wrapper and began cramming forkfuls of delicious cucumbers into his mouth.\n\n\"Oh yeah,\" he exhaled through a full mouth, and then hoped it hadn't been so loud that it was weird.\n\nHe glanced around. People were staring. It was weird. He continued anyway.\n\nThe TV mounted in the corner of the room finally stopped blaring commercials and a 70s-esque jingling tune took over, causing the onlookers to redirect their attention.\n\n\"Here it comes! From the Bob Barker Studios in CBS in Hollywood, it's The Price is Right!\" an announcer boomed over the cheers of the studio audience. \n\nDavid pushed back from his bowl, leaning as comfortably as he could on the plastic backing of the flimsy public chair. He was worried the chair might warp after even half of such a full and hearty cucumber salad.\n\n\"Eileen Pantspotaytos, come on down!\"\n\nDavid scanned the room, but no one seemed to react to the absurd last name Eileen was forced to carry through her everyday life. Must be Greek, he thought to himself with an internal shrug.\n\n\"Kevin Spacey, come on down!\"\n\nFor a brief moment, his interest intensified, but it was ruined by a middle-aged fat guy in a neon yellow t-shirt who ran down the aisle as if each new step were as surprising to him as it were the viewers.\n\nMan, I haven't been this disappointed in Kevin Spacey since Father of Invention, he thought to himself, a frown taking over his expression.\n\n\"Man, I haven't been this disappointed in Kevin Spacey since Father of Invention,\" he heard his coworker Greg say to murmurs of general agreement.\n\nWell, that was odd, he thought as he leaned forward in his chair again, resting his elbows on the wobbly table. \n\n\"Randall David, come on down!\"\n\nIt wasn't as odd as the sight on the television. Making his way down the aisle was a man roughly the same height, roughly the same weight, with roughly the same hair, and roughly the same all-together appearance as David.\n\nAnd by roughly, I mean exactly. And by I, I mean me, a writer who struggles with tenses.\n\nAll but one of his coworkers turned to stare at him with suspicion. (The one coworker who did not turn to stare was Blind Joe, who will have no further mentions in this story.)\n\nDavid's mouth was gaping open, as mouths are so prone to do in such situations. \"What?\" he finally croaked at them.\n\n\"You didn't tell us you were on The Price is Right, Dave,\" Samantha said in an accusatory tone.\n\n\"I... wasn't?\" he replied with uncertainty. \"That guy just looks a lot like me.\"\n\n\"But his name is just your name reversed,\" Greg said as if speaking to a child.\n\nDavid shrugged, looking back at the screen. The contestants were lined up at their podiums, looking happy as the announcer introduced the first prize: a brand new personal computer.\n\n\"—Eileen, we're going to start with you,\" Drew said.\n\n\"I'm going to bid $2,000.\"\n\n\"Well, that's way too high,\" David called at the television.\n\n\"Shh, don't spoil it!\" Samantha scolded.\n\n\"Kevin?\"\n\n\"Hmm, $1,800.\"\n\n\"Randall?\"\n\n\"One dollar.\"\n\nThe break room population groaned as one. \"Oh, come on, man! What were you thinking?\" someone yelled at him.\n\n\"That's not me! I'd never bet a dollar! Such a douchey thing to do.\"\n\n\"—I'll say $2,300, Drew,\" the fourth contestant, whose name they'd all missed, said.\n\n\"Why are they all betting so high?\" David asked the room, which was met with general shushing.\n\n\"The actual retail price is... $759.99!\" called the announcer.\n\n\"Randall, come on up here!\" Drew called.\n\nThere were a few gasps from the other tables. Several people began to grumble and give David angry glances.\n\n\"You even got to do a game and still didn't tell us,\" Samantha said with evident disappointment.\n\n\"You really thought switching your first and last names would be enough?\" his coworker Heather asked quietly. \n\n\"For the last time, that isn't me!\" David shouted.\n\n\"I know I've seen you wear that exact shirt before,\" Jasper, the front desk secretary, said. Others in the break room nodded enthusiastically.\n\n\"Shh, he's talking to him!\" someone called.\n\n\"What exactly is it that you do, Randy? Can I call you Randy?\" Drew asked as the audience laughed.\n\n\"Actually, most people call me David,\" his doppelganger said. \"And I'm actually in between jobs right now.\"\n\n\"See! See! Why would I say that?\" David desperately yelled.\n\n\"—well, I think someone in between jobs needs something nice—\"\n\n\"Oh my god, David, are you looking for another job?\" Greg asked with panic evident in his voice. \"How could you not tell me, man? We're sales bros!\"\n\n\"No, we're not, Greg, but I'm only going to say this one more time: that is not me!\"\n\nThe angry mob turned back towards the screen as Drew Carey explained the rules of Now or Then. His doppelganger Randall listened intently, but David thought from the look on his face that he was totally lost on how to play the game.\n\nThis dude is a simpleton, David thought, or is that how I look?\n\nHe nervously took a small bite of his refreshing—and healthy—cucumber salad.\n\n\"—think I'd like to start with the gallon of Hidden Valley Simply Ranch Cucumber Basil Dressing, Drew,\" Randall said with a huge, over-confident grin.\n\n\"Isn't that what your... ahem, salad is covered in right now?\" Jasper asked.\n\nDavid stopped with a forkful halfway to his mouth. \"You have got to be kidding me.\"\n\n\"Yep, sure, that's totally not you, David,\" Samantha said.\n\n\"—price is thirty-three cents. Is that now or then?\"\n\nThe crowd bellowed \"then\" with the confidence only group think can instill. \n\n\"Obviously, the answer is 'then,'\" David said.\n\n\"Spoilers, much?\" someone called with some serious sass.\n\n\"Yeah, some of us weren't there like you were,\" Greg reproached. \n\nRandall stared out at the shouting crowd, his eyes alight with intense stupidity. \n\n\"Now!\" he shouted, to the amazement of the crowd, Drew, and America as a nation.\n\n\"No!\" David called.\n\n\"Oh my god, David, how did you get the price of your favorite food wrong? Are you so rich that you don't even worry about prices?\"\n\n\"It's—I make my own and—that wasn't me!\" he sputtered.\n\n\"—so sorry to see you go, David. Thanks for playing,\" Drew told his lookalike.\n\nDavid watched the man who looked exactly like him wander off the stage, much like a deer wanders onto a crowded highway. He expected he would never see his doppelganger again, but at least he had made him look like an idiot in his short time on television. He wondered how a man who was his exact replica could have so little impact on his own existence. \n\n\"Maybe next time you are on The Price is Right, let everyone know ahead of time?\" Samantha said with extreme passive-aggression. \"Or maybe at least wander into a supermarket beforehand...\"\n\n\"At least we don't have to worry about David making it on to Jeopardy, huh?\" Greg laughed as he exited the break room. \n\nDavid huffed and began to get another refreshing fork full of his cucumber salad, clinging bitterly to the secret that he was actually a ten-time Jeopardy champion." ]	[ 1, 1, 1, 2, 7, 27 ]	[ "1499123052", "1499150883", "1499163554", "1499157499", "1499147133", "1499147269" ]
	[WP]Everyone thought you dead, but you're back, and ready to get some revenge. Tonight, the Radio Star kills video.	25	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The city of Buggles was a technological marvel. It had been considered the most advanced city on the planet for several years already, and had outlawed many \"primitive\" technologies.\n\nTrevor \"Video\" Downes anxiously watched over Main Street from the top floor balcony of the Buggles Tower. He'd been a large driving force in making the city what it was today, and that had made him a lot of enemies over the years. While most cities were still transitioning to electric-only cars, he'd pushed for the city of Buggles to outlaw all non-hover vehicles. While most people didn't appreciate and avoided the idea of artificial intelligence and automation in the workplace, he'd planned for all the simple day-to-day jobs in the city to be done through artificial intelligence or automaton machines. And yet the smallest, but hardest hurdle for him to get over was music. The technology behind music had constantly been evolving, and there was no longer a need to simply listen to music. Music had evolved beyond the one sense, and now people could experience it visually and by touch, smell and taste. People preferred it and yet like the digital books before it, there were those that wanted to stick with \"the old\". Despite that, Buggles was going to be the forefront city alongside the forefront of technology, so there was no need to be held back by the old and primitive.\n\nBut there was one person. A stubborn local DJ known as \"Radio Star\" refused to see reason. They refused to see the path the city of Buggles was taking. Even though there were so few that enjoyed music through audio anymore, this one charismatic person could gather people together and continue to be a thorn in the side for the future of Buggles. Annoyed by the Radio Star getting in the way of his dream for the city, Trevor arranged for an accident to occur during a flight from the city. An unfortunate engine problem resulted in the deaths of 23 people, including the Radio Star. It had been the only hurdle that Trevor had to get over illegally and immorally. That was something that used to eat away at him in the back of his head, but now something more apparent was on his mind. Rumors had swirled around that Radio Star was still alive. A clip popped up of a masked person taunting that \"Video killed the Radio Star\" repeatedly. Most thought it was just some random meaningless thing on the internet, but it made Trevor on edge. Although the plane was never found, it had already been over 10 years. Trevor told himself over and over there was no way the Radio Star was still alive. And even if they were, what was they capable of?\n\nAs he pondered these thoughts, he noticed many of the lights began to fizzle out. Holographic advertisements disappeared, video feeds froze before going black, and city lights shut off. The ocean of color had disappeared as the entire city almost instantly dimmed to the lights of only hovervehicles and the setting sun. With all the advertisements and videos gone, the city had also become much quieter. All of the hovervehicles stopping to look around at the blackout took out the remaining sound.\n\nThe city of Buggles had lost its light and its sound. Trevor took in the view of his stripped city with shock and anger. He looked down at the wrist-phone and was surprised to see a \"No Connection\" message staring back at him. He turned around and saw his robot guards had powered down. What the hell is going on?\n\nSomewhere out in the city, the sound of a motorcycle engine sent ripples through the silence. It gradually became louder until a new sound overtook it: the sound of a bass guitar. The people of Buggles all peeked out of their homes and vehicles and followed the direction of the only sound in the city. They followed the sound until its source approached the runway to Main Street. A faded decades-old motorcycle tore into view, its rider kneeling on the seat and strumming a bright green metal bass guitar that was hooked up to an amp. The rider wore a yellow snow jacket and a blood red motorcycle helmet. As they rode past and under all the confused citizens and made their way towards Buggles Tower, the rider stopped playing and flipped the guitar upside down. Briefly holding it by its neck and raising it up like a commander leading their troops, the rider then lowered their arm and let the guitar drag across the pavement. The sounds of sparks, metal screeching, and the motorcycle engine formed a new song for the city. A song that marked the return of the Radio Star." ]	[ 1, 4 ]	[ "1499126291", "1499147173" ]
	[WP] You are a fish, and you see fishing as a daredevil sport.	12	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "'C'mon, whose got the guts?' It was Bruce, the alpha, who spoke. \n\nAbove them floated the wooden beast. As always, the land creatures had thrown a hooked line into the ocean, offal impaled on its end. The flesh smelled sweet and hearty. It was intoxicating and daring. Seruva's mouth salivated. Was today his day? \n\nThe fish drifted in the boat's shadow, just inches from the dangling bait. Many had gathered today. Word of their new sport had spread wide throughout the currents. Even Sheress had come. Seruva dared a glance towards her. Even in the darkness beneath the wooden beast, Sheress' smooth scales shone green and blue. Her eyes were deep-set, calm, enchanting, her motions sleek and subtle. A fish like her would never talk to a fish like him. Unlike the others, Sereva's body was colorless, and his fins underdeveloped. \n\n'C'mon' roared Bruce. \n\n'It's mine' Seruva surged forward. \n\n'Seruva? Didn't expect that' said Bruce. His cronies chuckled. 'Hook jumping is not for the faint-hearted, little fish. Most don't come back'. \n\n'I am not 'most'. He spoke with more certainty than he felt. \n\n'Oh, you fish are idiots', said Sheress. Seruva's heart pummelled as her eyes met his. 'Don't do this. The land people are savages. There is no creature more dangerous than them'. \n\nSereva felt fiery courage well up inside him, perhaps it was from the look of her colouring, or the sound of her sweet voice, or the bait's aroma. He smiled his most confident smile. \n\n'That's because you don't know me yet'. He surged for the hook, bit down, and tugged. Fear struck him as pain shot thorugh his lips, but he did not let it show. She didn't have to know he was a coward. \n\nThe line hauled him from the water. The air was light and cruel, and stole the breath from his lungs. Now was the time: the time to free himself and dive triumphantly back into the water. He flailed wildly, but could not get free. \n\nThe man threw him to the deck. What oxygen he had left was punched from his lungs. He coughed and spluttered, fighting to breath water that was not there. Strong hands drove his quivering body against the wood. He felt his ribs crush. The world flashed white and black around him. Something shiny glittered above him. He attempted one last time to shake free. \n\nThere was a slipping noise. The land-thing released his body, and tumbled back, falling heavily on the side of the vessel. It toppled and launched Seruva up into the air. He splatted into the water. Behind him the boat tipped, and threw the man overboard. With him, came a bucket of bait. Its contents turned the water red. \n\nSeruva fought for oxygen, and shook his head. His vision cleared; in front of him, the school of fish materialised, their jaws opened wide in awe. Sheress' eyes gleamed. Seruva recognised that look: it was the way he had always looked at her. \n\n'That's what happens', he began slowly. His near brush with death had turned his voice deep and husky. 'When one messes with Sevura, slayer of men'. He swam to Sheress and took her in his fin." ]	[ 1, 3 ]	[ "1499139020", "1499143959" ]
Yandere girlfriend and immortal guy!	[WP] Today you found out that your girlfriend is a murderous psychopath as she cuts you into pieces and hugs your severed head while she slept, only for her to found out your secret, that you're an immortal who can survives anything. Describe the morning after that. [Possibly NSFW?]	324	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "I thought about it all night, why would she do this, to someone she loved? That was all the thinking I needed to do.\n\nDarline woke up to a loud, \"Surprise!\", as I yelled into her night gown and blood covered breasts. Alert, fearful eyes shot open to see my severed hands grasping two kitchen knives placed across Darline's throat like a pair of scissors. \n\nI never was good at knitting, and she never was good at being quiet in the bed. \n\n- Fin\n\n(Wanted to change the tone from the other posted stories, it's my first post to WP so please don't kill me unless it's with kindness )", "\"Good morning.\"\n\nJane literally jumped out of bed when she heard Jack's greeting. With her hands drenched in blood, coating her fingernails like nail polish, she stared at him. Shocked.\n\nBreathing heavily \"How... are you...... still... alive?\"\n\n\"Well, I found out years ago that I am immortal. I can easily regrow my limbs.\"\n\nWithin a split second, she ran into the bathroom and locked herself in there. Jack pressed his ears against the door and knocked on it.\n\n\"Are you okay babe?\"\n\nJack could only detect a faint sobbing sound and the sniffling of a nose coming from the bathroom. He sighed and decided to get everything cleaned up before anyone sees the bed or himself.\n\nA few hours later, Jack decided to confront Jane.\n\n\"So this is your fetish huh... Maybe I could help you? I will love you no matter what.\"\n\n\"Really? You still love me even though what I have done to you?\"\n\n\"Yes my little snowflake, always.\"\n\nThe dark aura emitting from Jane immediately stopped and was replaced with a toothy grin.\n\nFrom that day onwards, Jack and Jane has became the most notorious serial killers, The Killing Lovers.", "\"Hun, honey, wake up\", She groans, squeezing tighter on mangled, loose flesh. Last night was taxing, but it just keeps getting easier with every \"Black Widow!\" headline that lands at the front step of a new address. But today is a new day and the possibilities are almost endless. With a yelp and a fresh new wound, the intact newly wed puts a fair amount of distance between her beloved husband's head and her throbbing wound without moving a single inch. \n\n\"Thought that would wake you up\", He said to the corner of their bedroom. \"Little help?\", his calm was matched by her fear and after an adequate amount of time spent considering what listening to her husbands dismembered head would do to her already delicate mental state, she approached delicately. Trembling with equal amounts revulsion and curiosity, she made her way across the floor in an uncomfortably potent silence.\n\"look,\", he continues as he is turned to look at his deeply blushing bride. \"I think we can make this work if you learn how to sew.\"", "Morning, babe!\n\nOH MY GOD IT SPEAKS!\n\nOh, didn't I tell you? I'm immortal. But that's ok. You never told me you were gonna cut me into pieces and cuddle my head.\n\nIf I did, you wouldn't have stuck around.\n\nOf course I'm sticking around. I'm immortal, remember?\n\nUh...\n\nYes, my limbs and stuff will heal and reassemble. I won't just be this severed head.\n\nOh! Then I love you.\n\n(fade to black)", "When my nervous system reconnected and sensation returned to my fingers, I had the distinct urge to wrap them around her still-sleeping throat and throttle her. Instead, I got a good grip on the bloodstained mattress and dumped her straight on the floor. Call me petty, but the woman HAD dismembered me. \nPain and death has a way of confusing things, but that wasn't anything new to me. I'd been stabbed, hung, burned, beaten, crushed, quartered and drowned more times than I could count on my new fingers, and at this point I was more upset about her stabbing me than taking my head off. I did distinctly remember at which point she'd buried the knife in my back and for the life of me, considerable as it was, I couldn't work out why a seemingly innocuous question had gotten me shanked, beheaded and dismembered. Not necessarily in that order.\n I tuned back into reality, standing naked but for my own dried and flaking blood in the middle of my bedroom with my murderous girlfriend collapsed in a speechless heap on the floor at my feet. She made a lot of confused noises for a moment, stalling out half way through another incoherent question when I spoke. \n\"Yes, yes, I'm immortal. Unnatural, a monster, undead, potato pot-a-to. Why did you stab me?\"\nShe blinked at me blankly for a moment, before the fire that I loved so much flared in her eyes and she shot to her feet, fits balled like she was gearing up for round two minus the knife. \"How are you alive?\" She shot back, \"I held your head in my hands.\"\nMy arms crossed over my chest, jaw jutting belligerently forward as I growled. \"Don't try to change the subject! You literally stabbed me in the back!\"\n\"Don't take that tone with me!\" She hissed, jabbing a finger in my face, \"And don't pretend you don't know why! How could you?\"\nI rocked back on my heels, confusion clouding my anger. It's not like I cheated... Or gambled away all our money... Or... I couldn't think of anything I had done that could possibly warrant death by limb liberation. \nShe shook her head in disgust, giving me the look she usually reserved for feces or dentists.\n\"Pineapple on pizza? How could you?\"\n\n\n\n(Disclaimer: I like pineapple on pizza. I don't like dentists. Sorry.)", "I was tempted to speak up when she started but I was too surprised I suppose. It is not every day that one is chopped to bits by the woman you love. I stayed quiet and watched her lips curl upward into a satisfied smile as I bled on our bed. It seemed each drop brought her more joy. Not as much joy as cradling my severed head though. She was frenzied as she cut me to pieces but I felt her breathing relax and heard her heart slow as she held my face pressed to her like a childhood teddy bear. \n\nNow I sit here watching her sleep covered in my blood and entrails. Bits of bone shine in her almost black hair. She looks so at peace and happy wrapped up in my death. I could wake her right now, demand answers about my death. She would be surprised for sure. To learn that I am immortal and have bore witness to her nature. I could do this but I decide it is far better to remain quiet. My body has healed but I am still caked with dried blood and flecks of my own bones. That is no way to present myself to the love of my life.\n\nI leave her to sleep and stand under the hot spray of the shower washing away my own murder. I am meticulous in my morning duties. Teeth brushed to perfection, hair brushed and oiled, and just the right amount of cologne. She sleeps through it all even as I dress in black slacks and shirt, fastening the cuff links she gave me for Christmas less than two months ago. My shoes shine as I slip into them. \n\nHer secret as a murderer is for now safe. I have better plans for her than to startle her awake. I begin preparing breakfast for us. Her favorites are simple: pancakes, sausage, and rice sweetened with sugar. I am stirring the melting butter into the rice when she wakes and now it is my turn to smile.\n\n\"What?!?!\" I hear her scream.\n\nI'm tempted to go to the bedroom to watch this unfold but I resist. I listen as I hear her pacing around the room mumbling to herself. She is confused by the absence of my corpse and her lack of arrest. I hear the door as she throws it open.\n\n\"Good morning, my love. Did you sleep well?\"\n\nHer face has lost all color. Her cheeks once caramel are ashen and her mouth is open in surprise. She recovers quickly though not completely.\n\n\"What happened in our bed?\"\n\n\"Have you truly forgotten so quickly?\" I ask.\n\nI have finished breakfast and it waits for us spread on the table like a feast for a king. I sit and gesture for her to join me before I speak again.\n\n\"I would think you would remember something so special to you, dear. Do you truly not remember your ecstasy as my blood covered you last night?\"\n\n\"You are still alive and you know what I did? Impossible,\" she says almost whispering the last word. \n\n\"While you failed to mention you are cold blooded murderer, I failed to mention I will live forever,\" I retort.\n\nShe sits across from but touches nothing on her plate.\n\n\"Do you know what this means for us, sweetheart? These secrets of ours?\"\n\nI just barely see her shift her head left to right as her eyes drop to her lap.\n\n\"Well, sweetheart, you will now have the pleasure of killing anytime you please. I can even give you the added role play to fit into any scenario you desire. In return, you will ensure that I receive the same ecstasy when I take you to bed.\"\n\nI watch her eyes light up as I speak. Even better, I watch her nightgown slip from her shoulders. \n\n\"Bedtime already?\"", "I woke up to tears on my cheeks and apologies in my ear.\n\n\"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I just couldn't control myself--and I had to chop your head off, the other girl was looking at you and it wasn't my fault, it was hers--\"\n\n\"Amy,\" I said, \"what are you talking about?\"\n\nShe smeared her arm over her face, and replaced the wet tears with wet blood. That's when I realized that my body was gone. \"Oh,\" I said. \n\n\"You're alive!\" she cried joyfully. \"I thought I killed you! I'm so glad that I didn't though, I don't think I could have lived without you.\"\n\nThis was a lot more than I asked for when we had a one-night stand. \"Aren't you going to ask any questions?\" I asked, hopping my head over to where my torso was.\n\n\"I'm just glad you're safe. None of my other boyfriends have made it this far, you know.\" Amy gave me a flirtatious smile. \"I guess you're just special.\"\n\nWhat. \"Boyfriend?\" My torso inched across the floor to find my right arm.\n\n\"I mean, yeah, we slept together last night, didn't we? And I'm not the kind of girl to just sleep with anyone. Not like that other girl at the bar.\"\n\nI began to think that there was a serious miscommunication between the two of us. \"You tried to kill me, Amy.\"\n\n\"But you didn't die.\" She grabbed the rest of my limbs before I could reach them. \"So that means I can keep you. Forever.\"", "\"Hey babe\"\n\nYour girlfriend jumps what seems to be 10 feet in the air.\n\n\"You're..alive?!\"\n\n\"Yeah, turns out I'm immortal. I figured I'd let you have your way with me since that's the only thing that seems to get you off anymore. Besides, this way you can at least stay out of prison.\"\n\nShe's still struggling to get much of anything out as her jaw hangs to the ground.\n\n\"I've never failed to murder one of my victims before. This is humiliating!\" She says as she bursts into tears for the very first time.\n\n\"Does that mean you're breaking up with me?\"", "It didn't take long for me to remember the horrors of my nightmare when I woke up. I had dreamt that my girlfriend, Sophie, had brutally murdered me. Although the meaning behind the dream was not clear, I wanted to forget about it so I took a shower.\n\nI thought about our upcoming anniversary as a distraction and I panicked. I had forgotten to buy her a gift and it was only two days away. I rushed to get changed and hurried to the door. I was desperate to get into the town centre before the shops were crammed with customers so I mashed the elevator button. I heard one of my elderly neighbours mutter \"impatient bastard\" as he passed by but I did not care. \n\nThe doors opened and as I waited impatiently for the elevator to reach the ground floor, I started thinking about what I should buy. When the doors opened once more I power walked my way to the bus stop and caught the bus. We were held up by what seemed to be hundreds of traffic lights but we finally arrived and I was still unsure as I alighted.\n\nI decided that chocolates were probably the safest gift to get so I found our local chocolatier. I walked back to the bus stop, carrying the bag in my left hand. I knew Sophie would reward me very well for this. Very well indeed. I smiled remembering her naked body a few nights ago but I quickly realised where I was and tried to distract myself. \n\nThe bus came and who should get off but my girlfriend. I quickly hid the chocolates behind my back thinking she had seen them but instead her face showed great fear. She stared at me for what seemed like minutes and fled as if she had seen a ghost. I chased after her.\n\n\"Sophie what's wrong?\" I shouted with great concern. She started to pull away from me. I had no idea why she would run but she didn't seem to tire. She had pushed me to the limits of my endurance though and I collapsed on the floor breathing heavily.\n\n I rang her phone a few times but I had no luck. I decided to simply return to our flat. I thought that she would return and I didn't want to seem weird chasing after a woman. \n\nI arrived to see the sun set on the village which was always my favourite part of the day. I ordered a takeaway, looking out of the window, hoping to treat her when she came back. The nightmare was long forgotten by now and I wanted to enjoy the evening and look forward to our anniversary. \n\nBefore the delivery man had arrived, I heard the keys turning and the door opened to reveal the only sight I thought was better than looking through my window Her bright blue eyes and blonde her lit up the room instantly. She had also been shopping. She must have gotten over whatever had bothered her before surely. But I was wrong. The fear had once again returned to her face but she didn't run away this time. She slammed the door shut and picked up our sharpest kitchen knife.\n\n\"Who the fuck are you?\" She demanded. I laughed thinking it was one of her sick jokes.\n\n\"Oh don't mind me I'm just here to rob you.\" Smiling back expecting her to play along. Instead she grew more aggressive holding the knife against my throat \n\n\"Get out now.\" Tears rolled down her face.\n\"Are you alright, Sophie?\" Now I was certain that this had gone beyond a joke. \n\"You're supposed to be dead!\" She shrieked backing away from me.\n\"What? Last time I checked I was supposed to be alive.\" I laughed awkwardly. Her back was now touching the wall. \n\"Please stop haunting me.\" She sobbed.\n\"I admit I murdered you. What I did was awful. I am sure I will go to Hell for it. Please just forgive me and stop haunting me. I have been punished enough\" she broke down into another fit of tears.\n\nNothing in your life could ever prepare you for a situation like this. I wanted to say the right words to convince her that I was in fact alive and she had not killed me, however strange that might seem. But I remembered the nightmare. Surely that couldn't be real?\n\n\"What makes you think you killed me?\" This made her cry even more. When she found her voice again she replied.\n\"I stabbed you. I watched the life drain from your face and I gutted you.\" She paused, being unable to talk and continued.\n\"I cleaned up everything of course. Butchered your corpse and disposed you. Yet here you stand as if nothing happened. You could only be here to punish me. Can't you see -\" \nShe was interrupted by the knocking on the door. She opened it and saw the delivery man. She turned him away thinking it was a prank. Suddenly sherealised I was alive and not just a ghost. The look of horror returned to her face.\n\n\"No no no. How did you -? But I -. No you must be dead. I -\" She walked to the window. \n\"I want to leave this hell.\" \n\nShe jumped. \n\nI called an ambulance rushed downstairs to see if she was alive but she had fallen too far. She was certainly dead. I later questioned my own mortality but I thought she must have been delusional and I couldn't be immortal. I later realised she spoke the truth. I was involved in a car accident a few months later. The doctors said nobody has ever survived a collision at that speed and they even joked saying I must be immortal. \n\nI still grieve about losing Sophie but I hope that soon I'll be able to move on. I do have my whole life ahead of me after all.", "The screaming, it is usually all I can focus on. It always does hurt like a bitch, but this one hurt in that very special way that knowing the woman you were going to marry viciously murdering you. Luckily she took my head off before she began the major mutilation, or else I would have felt it all. She did give me a nice view of it, which was a new one, never got to see my own body butchered before. I kept silent, trying to preserve my secret until she disposed of the body, but there was a slight hiccup with that, she decided now that she had taken my body appart that she was going to nap, my head nesstled against her chest like we always lay after a long day, her hugging my head and petting my hair. I kept quiet, hoping she would stop soon and I tried to get some sleep.\n\nI woke to a soft sobbing and heaving motion, a sweet voice repeating a mantra of light 'why him's. I dared to take a peak. All dark, but I knew that bloodstained blouse and gentle cry. Looks like she didn't get as bored as I thought, plan B time I guess. \"Psst. Hey Al?\" She stopped moving, going still as a statue. I clear my throat, or what is left of it. \"You uh, you wanna let me go for a second?\" Slowly my vision widened, the light blinding me slightly, as Alice lifted my head to eye level with hers, a terrified expression coming across her face. Oh god, here comes the screaming. \"Now, before you start screaming, calm down and let me\" too late. My head is sailing through the air. Luckily I hit the pillows face up, didn't need a headache on top of this. She pointed her finger at me and began to whisper, eventually raising in a crescendo of wild screaming \"you, you were dead. I...I killed you. NO I KILLED YOU, YOU DIED, I DID IT WITH MY OWN HANDS! HOW!?\" I took a deep breath, letting Alice run herself down to a quivering stare, backed up against the wall as far away from me as possible. \"Al, calm down, you didn't kill me. That would be impossible, I am... Well I am kinda immortal. Now I can see the questions, but first I am gonna need you to get me my cigarettes, light two, and give me one, you are gonna need the other.\"\n\nAlice eventually calmed down, she took suprisingly well to learning that her boyfriend was an immortal who gained immortality through an alchemical accident nearly 800 years ago. Alice blew smoke from her ruby red lips \"So tell me this Hen, I get the not aging, that is pretty basic, but how are you still alive now? You have no blood flow, no oxygen going to your brain\" she tapped my forehead. \"Hey, it isn't nice to touch people who can't touch back you know\" I said, my cigarette hanging between my lips. I sighed, smoke blowing through my nose and mouth, a little pool of it escaping down my throat. \"Honestly Al, I don't know, even after all this time it is still a mystery to me. You should know, you have the PHD, I just punch people hard, always have, always will. Most of the time I had lived was spent as a high price mercenary, of course prices rose after the accident. Who would have thought people are willing to pay so much money for a soldier who can't die.\" I let out a chuckle.\n\nThings go silent, we each just sit there, well one of us sits, I just kinda lean there. By now we have gone through three cigarettes each, both of us avoiding the big questions. I take a deep drag and let it out, smoke flowing everywhere. \"Okay red, time for the big one. Why'd you do it?\" Alice just looks at me, her eyes watering, her cheeks still rosy and flush from crying. Her red hair frames her face in fire. \"I suppose I owe you at least that much don't I\" she giggles. \"Okay, so you know how I don't really talk about my dad that much? Yeah, that is because he was Jack the Ripper. Like, THE Ripper, not one of the knock offs. Well our family is just a little bit cursed, dad kinda embraced it but I try to hide it.\" Alice takes a deep drag of her cigarette, some of her lipstick coming off on the filter as she stubs it out. \"We are like monsters, we live longer, move quieter, can smell vital signs, pretty much like vampires but we can walk around in the sun. I am pretty good at hiding it, but sometimes it slips. Usually only happens when some emotional stuff happens.\" She takes another deep breath. \"I was washing clothes last night after you got back from work, and I found something in your pocket that set me off.\" I realize now that she is holding something in her hand, a simple silver ring with the most brilliant blood red ruby pressed in the middle. I try to play it off \"I don't know where that came from...\" She looks at me with those jade eyes \"you can't prove anything\" I try to shake my head to roll away, and this gets a giggle from her.\n\n\"Okay, fine, you caught me. I am really an international jewel theif and this is the royal ring straight from the hand of the Queen of Sweden after a night of lude and debasing love making.\" I look up at her, she has one eyebrow raised, looking at me with a half smirk. \"Not buying it?\" I ask. \"Not at all sweetheart, now spit it out before I make you.\" She says that with a spice that sets my mind and what I think is supposed to be my heart ablaze. \"Okay, okay, fine. It was supposed to be for your sister.\" She slaps me in the forehead lightly. Not buying it either, welp, this isn't how I always imagined it but I might as well. \"Alice, that ring, with a gem that holds the brightness of all the fire in the world, found at the bottom of a volcano so old it doesn't have a name, is for you. Alice Smithson, will you marry me? Also can you grab my legs and put them in a kneeling position?\" She grabs my head and kisses me, softly at first and then more passionately. She slowly pulls our faces apart. \n\nShe is smiling like an idiot, so am I. \"I knew about your problem Al, that is why the ring took so long. It had to be special. That ring, it doesn't just hold the brightness of fire, it also holds the fierceness of it. It will help you, it will contain this thing inside of you. You remember that business trip I took a while ago and spent about a week smelling like a pork roast? Yeah, I wasn't kidding about that being from the bottom of a volcano.\" I sigh, hard and long. \"So uh, you up for a jigsaw puzzle, cause my body ain't going back together without some help.\"", "\"Good morning, dear.\"\n\nThey said Monday morning couldn't get any worse. So what in the world is any good in today, of all time?\n\n\"Can't breathe...\" I mumbled in-between her clothed bosom. At least I was thankful to have a girlfriend this well-endowed. If only her mind were as developed as her body.\n\n\"Then, don't hug me so tight or I'll get excited again.\"\n\n\"My body is over there, actually.\"\n\nShe glanced at my lower half, or more like, 6/7 portion of my entire body walking about on the room trying to find my missing socks. Years of being immortal made me capable of doing various things. It wasn't the first time someone tried to kill me this way, the last time was in England. Still, it's the first time my head being embraced this much.\n\n\"So, an immortal...\" She raised my head into the air, just like a baby. \"First time I've seen one.\"\n\n\"First time I meet a serial killer as well. What do they say it in Chinese... 'young-there'?\"\n\nShe chuckled. \"It's 'yandere', dear, and it's in Japanese.\" Suddenly, she became all gloomy.\n\n\"What's wrong?\"\n\n\"So, after this we'll break up, right? I guess it's the last time I could call you 'dear' like this. I'll miss it.\"\n\nI decided to be blunt. \"Do you still love me or what?\"\n\n\"I should be the one to ask.\" Tears starting to build up. \"It's the first time my victim ever talked to me after I killed them. I don't know what to do.\"\n\n\"So you still love me.\"\n\nIt finally rivers through her cheeks. She hugged me again, tighter than before. \"...yes.\"\n\nDamn it. This is why I love her so much. It's probably the first time someone ever loved me this much. Well, I've always tried to avoid any emotional contacts with another human, considering how I would outlive them. It was the first time I ever had a girlfriend either.\n\nWell, sucks to be her. She'll be the one to cry when she dies before me.\n\n\"Say, could you put my head where it was? I wanna make some coffee.\"\n\nShe asked, \"Is that mean 'yes'?\"\n\n\"That I still love you? Yes, yes of course. Now, if you mind?\"\n\nHer gloom earlier was gone, replaced by one of the most joyful smile I've ever seen throughout my entire 5 thousand years of life. Or is it 6? I've lost count.\n\n\"I'll make it for you. No sugar?\"\n\n\"You just want to hold my head, huh?\"\n\nShe gave a nod." ]	[ 1, 2, 2, 3, 8, 14, 20, 22, 24, 46, 78, 168 ]	[ "1499199626", "1499231963", "1499232882", "1499230056", "1499217386", "1499227660", "1499221625", "1499211506", "1499201071", "1499209488", "1499213917", "1499210490" ]
The reason it went to the past is because you measured your child, wrote down the day and marked the height conveniently next to that magical circle.	[WP] You stumble upon a permanent marker and think nothing of it. Your 4 year old finds this marker long after you've forgotten about it and draws a circle on the wall, creating a portal to the past.	6	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The Remembrance Portal\n--------------------------\n\n\n\nI walk through my door, new school supplies in hand and toddler walking up behind me, when I hear the sound of a pen drop. I look down to see where it went but the large boxes in my arms block my view of the floor. Two steps later I find myself on the floor with a bruise on my arm and scrambling to gather the spilled paper clips and pens that are rolling away from me. I guess I found that dropped pen. I go and put my son in his room for a nap and then I regather all of my belongings and head on my way to my in-house office. I set up all of my things and get to work. I pay a few bills and call one of my clients who was just arrested for murder. They say they called me because I was the only lawyer they knew, but I'm just a real estate attorney. I know nothing about litigating or murders or felonies or anything like that. I give them the phone number of a trusted associate and wish them luck. As the day gets late, I start to shut all of my work down so I can make supper for Toby, my almost 4 year old son. My wife died of cancer just a few months ago, so I have been having to raise little man on my own. I make a simple meal of frozen chicken nuggets and French fries and we have a simple but enjoyable dinner. After we finish eating we go to the living room and start watching TV. He rides my shoulders to the couch and then he jumps off into a sea of pillows. I plop down with him and we start talking about what we both want to watch. Of course he wants to watch cartoons. I begin to wonder if he'll even notice that Family Guy isn't a kid's show. Nah, he's to young to understand any of that stuff, I'll just watch it anyway. Somehow he didn't notice that it wasn't Caiou, but that kid kinda looks like Peter Griffin I guess. After an episode I take him to the wall. This wall is special because every three months we take a knife and etch his height into the wood. Tomorrow is his birth and my big boy is about to be 4 years old. Damn, I feel so old. It takes a few minutes to get Toby to stand still so I can measure him. After I mark his height with a pencil I begin to etch into the wood with my pocket knife. I stop paying close attention to my son while I do this. He's just watching me and looking around. I finish up the mark and look at my handiwork and my precious son. He found a pen under a table nearby. Was that the pen I dropped earlier? It must be. He goes over to that wall and starts drawing a beach ball sized circle before I got a chance to stop him. The pen drew right through that fresh height marking. Why was that line glowing? That can't be right. The center of that messy circle my son drew begins to turn pitch black. I question what it is, but I am afraid of what it is. I grab my son and pull him behind my back. I notice that the portal begins to show an image. It takes a moment for it to fully appear, but I quickly recognize it. It's my wife. The one I miss so dearly. I reach out to touch her, for the picture looks so real, only to find that if I touch the image a black dot will appear on what I have touched. I go and put my son to bed so I can fully investigate this phenomenon. I call out my wife's name. \n\n\"Marisa?\" \n\nI get no reply. This hurts but I couldn't have really expected one. I would kill to hear her voice again. Even thought the picture doesn't speak the image changes to another picture of her. God, I almost forgot how beautiful she was. I think i figured out this whole portal thing. These pictures are real. They are like memories on a TV screen, and I can tell it what to show me. \n\n\"Show me when Toby drew a circle on the wall on July 6, 2017\" \n\nAnd sure enough it showed what happened just minutes before. This is some strange stuff.\n\n\"Show me my wedding day on August 10, 2011\"\n\nOh wow. She was so beautiful. That dress was gorgeous, flowing elegantly as she walked down the isle to me. I need to stop this before I start crying damn it. Too late. I miss her so much. Now I'm wondering what this thing can do.\n\n\"Show me...uh...oh I've got one, show me the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776\"\n\nSomething went wrong. The circle got just a tiny bit smaller. Only by a centimeter but enough to make me worry. I guess this only works for your own memories. I need to hide this and protect it. But before I go put up a barricade I want to check something.\n\n\"Show me the day in the park with Toby and Marisa on April 3, 2017.\"\n\nI get to watch this day, one of the best of my life, again. My wife and Toby looking at the ducks, Toby and I playing with a frisbee for two hours, we were watching the boats go by on the river that the park overlooked, and finally at the end of the day getting to watch the most beautiful sunset of my life while holding the two people I love the most in my arms. I can almost feel that kiss. That soft, warm kiss that she would give me and melt my heart every time like it was our first kiss ever. Damn I want her back so badly. I miss her so damn much.\n\nNow I know what I want to see. I know I can't handle it, I could hardly handle it the first time, but I need to see it again. \n\n\"Show me...neverm...no I need to see this...Show me Marisa's goodbye on April 4, 2017\"\n\nI'm back in that hospital room again. I never wanted to be here. I don't know why I came back. I see my beautiful wife, lying in a hospital bed and with tubes in her arms and a tired expression on her face. Earlier that day she told me that she had been secretly fighting cancer for two months and that her time was going to come soon. I wasn't ready for this. When is anyone every ready for this? Why us? Why now? I'm not ready to say goodbye yet. I can't do this on my own. \n\n\"I love you Marisa\"\n\n\"Please try not to. We have a son that I need you to take care of. Please don't let the end of my life be the end of yours and his too\"\n\nI then found myself standing there, crying over my wife in that hospital, knowing that those would be the last words I will ever hear from her. I try to move on. I try to be okay. But I can't. It's impossible to move on from something so tragic like that happening to someone so amazing like her.\n\nOnce I got myself together and came back into the real world I pushed a larger bookshelf in front of the portal so that no one could touch it and blacken anymore of it. I then carried on for the next 24 hours as normal as possible until it was late at night again with little man in bed and I was free to look into the portal. Once I was sure that he was asleep I pushed the bookshelf out of the way and sat down to look into the portal. Only to find nothing nothing but a big circle drawn by a little boy and a blue ink pen." ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1499340600", "1499345115" ]
	[WP] A story about a little child who ended up in a dark, twisted and grotesque world where they don't belong. They have to go through all the horrors as the monsters try to eat them. Will they survive?	12	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "McKenzie curled up in the hollow between the roots, crying softly. The woods here look nothing like the woods at home. There the leaves were green and the trunks brown, lots of grass and birdsong. Here the wood is blacker than night, the leaves sharp and grey. The shadows hung on every surface and the noises she heard terrified her. Shivering, she hugged her teddy bear even closer, tears streaming down her face as she whimpered. \n\nA slithering noise draws closer and she tried to stifle her noises. Unfortunately the shadowy beast heard her and a long muzzle poked its head at her, revealing a maw of razor sharp teeth. Screwing up her eyes she bit her lip, \"Please, someone save me...\" she thought desperately as the monster drew closer. \n\nA sudden light blossomed in front of her, causing the beast to snarl in pain. She threw one hand in front of her eyes to block the light, other hand still clutching her bear. The light grew before shooting forth and the beast fled shrieking in agony. \n\nBlinking rapidly to dispel the spots McKenzie looked around blearily. There we are. That's a bit better now isn't it? the voice was calm, a slight lit to it and the warmth of its tone helped drive away her shivers. \"H-Hello? Is someone there?\" Her timid voice echoing lightly in the hollow. \n\nDown here if you please. replied the warm voice. She looked down and her bear touched his little top hat. Cartwright Bearington the Third, at your service.\n\nShe blinked again. Unsure of what she is seeing or hearing. \"Mr Bearington? You're alive and real?\"\n\nWell I should say so. the stuffed animal harrumphed adjusting his monocle. Well alive may not be completely accurate. I am very much real however. 100 percent cloth and cotton as you know, and a stiff upper lip and copious amounts of British fortitude.\n\nMcKenzie giggled and the bear chuckled along with her. Though his face didn't change the friendly knit features seemed even softer than normal. Thats the ticket m'dear. I see we are in a spot of bother. Come now, let's get going then shall we?\n\nShe nods and crawls out of the hollow. The darkness still shrouds everything but a tiny space around the pair is a little lighter. Bearington emitting a light glow. The shadows flee before them as they walk deeper into the forest. \n\nFull steak ahead as they say. Follow the light trail and we'll be home in time for tea. Don't worry little one. I'll protect you.\n\nMcKenzie's arms wraps tighter around the stuffed bear in comfort. \"I know you will.\"", "Samuel knew something was awry when he opened up his eyes and saw nothing. Pitch black. The darkest dark. At first, Samuel thought his eyes must be having a hard time adjusting in his dark room, or that he must have had eye crust obfuscating his view. However, seconds turned to minutes, and Samuel could still not see a thing. Samuel dug his fingers into his bed, or what he was expecting to be his bed, but was met with rough fibers and loose chunks that caked the ground below him in wet clumps. Standing up, Samuel felt a weird sense of vertigo, with his mind completely unable to get a sense of orientation. Confused about his surroundings, Samuel began to walk forward, but felt an unusual spring in his step, even though his feet were now slogging through the wet ground. Feeling kind of weightless, Samuel jumped and felt the cool and humid, putrid smelling air rush past him as he soared through the dense dark. He let out a nervous laugh before colliding back with the damp ground. He continued to bounce across the wet earth before slowly coming to a stop. Is this a dream? Samuel thought, before feeling the familiar buzzing of his smartphone. Reaching into his pocket, Samuel unearthed his cellphone, which cast a glow that nearly blinded him in the uncomfortable dark. After his eyes adjusted once more, Samuel saw a warm and red residue, which covered the phone's screen in a thin layer. Utilizing the phone's light, Samuel was now able to see his leg, and the earth below it.\n\nHe was covered in blood. It had seeped through his pajamas, causing the fabric to cling against his tiny frame. Looking at the ground beneath him, an inhuman scream escaped his lungs, as he saw chunks of meat, hair, fat, and skin, which formed a layer of excrement for as far as his eyes could see. Some of the meat looked old and grey, other patches a sickly green. Some patches of the earth were red and rare, as if the meat had just been put there. In a sobbing mess, Samuel collapsed onto the ground, emitting a high pitched shriek and sob in the unending void. Alone. \n\nAfter minutes of shaking and sobbing, Samuel began to dry heave from the taste of the air, and the thought of what he now sat on. Samuel had stayed home from school the night before due to a nasty cold, so he thanked the lord for his inability to smell, but what little scents made it through his nose left him nauseous. Samuel was beginning to freak out given the situation, but he knew he had to try and find his way out, of whatever this place is, he thought.\n\nVery suddenly, Samuel saw a light flash way off in the great yonder. It descended from several feet above the horizon, and lowered itself to the ground. For some time, Samuel stared at the light, before it went out. After several minutes of waiting, he saw nothing. \n\nSo, Samuel smeared the red off his screen as best as he could, and used the few dry spots of his t-shirt to wipe any residue off the camera and flashlight. Turning on his phone's flash, Samuel was now able to see a couple feet in front of him. Now that he was able to see, Samuel began to trek forward towards where he thought the light must be. \n\nAt first, walking amongst the densely packed muck below. However, it sent goosebumps down his spine for each and every squish and splash of liquid or meat that touched his sock covered feet. So, Samuel jumped into the air, and began to systematically land and use the downwards momentum to send him into more leaps. Gravity felt lesser here. Even though he had to take periodic breaks to heave and vomit from the stench and sense of vertigo and weightlessness, the jumping seemed to give him an unearthly speed across the barren waste. \n\nAfter what felt like a half hour, Samuel collapsed onto earth. How big is this place? Samuel thought. Looking at his phone with heavy breathing, he noticed the battery status. 32%. Letting out a shakey breath, Samuel turned off the light. And, putting his arms behind his head, Samuel writhed uncomfortably, but tried to get some rest. \n\nIn the uncomfortable darkness, time seemed to stand still. Drifting in and out of consciousness, it was hard to tell when he was asleep or when he was awake. But then, he felt it. And he knew he was awake. \n\nA strong claw grabbed at his leg, flipping him over onto his stomach, sending his face burrowing deep into the muck and flesh. His screams became muffled, as he felt a wet nose rub up and down his back. A wet tongue lashed out at his back, sending piercing pains running through his spine. The tongue began to repeatedly lick at his back, rubbing through his shirt like an industrial sander, turning his back from black to pink, to purple, to the red meat beneath. Screaming for dear life, Samuel let go of the phone in his hand, sending it dropping into the muck below. The wet earth unlocked the phone, sending a light casting over the darkness, shortly after a pulsating appendage began to rub along his lower back.\n\nAnd the creature let out a high shriek, bounding off of him into the darkness, and in doing so, leaving deep scratches across his back and legs. Scrambling to his feet, Samuel desperately foraged for the phone, securing it in his grip, and aiming it around him. Spotting the creature, and in incredible pain, Samuel let out a deep and hollow cry. \n\nThe creature looked like a dog, but bigger than any he had seen. It must've been 4-5 feet long, and easily in excess of 200-300 pounds. It's eyes were big, black, and bulbous. Like balloons, that sat heavy and uncomfortably from the creature's eye sockets. However, that's where it's semi-earthly similarities ended for Samuel. It had unnatural clawed hands, which looked more like normal hands that abruptly shaped into elongated claws. They covered the creature's bulbous eyes, which didn't appear to have visible eyelids. Its mouth was curved into a snarl, but it had no teeth to bare. Its torso ended abruptly, with the skin on the bottom having been rubbed raw and covered in all sorts of scabs, lesions, and pus. Stitches appeared to hold the creature's head together, outside of the bits that managed to pulse and retract from the cracks. The creature looked shaved, but it was hard to tell with the layers of blood. Looking downwards, Samuel could see an appendage from his lower abdomen poking into the flesh of the earth, and what appeared to be humping from the abomination. This was all Samuel could see before the creature scrambled away, simultaneously trying to shield its eyes and scrabble from the light, giving off a confusing sound that, to Samuel, sounded like laughter. \n\nCrying in the dark, Samuel gathered himself knowing his time was limited. Looking at his phone, he saw the battery: 20%. \n\n\n-\n\n", "King Sol's son was not of his flesh and blood. This was apparent in many ways but the most prominent was the baby's skin color and the fact that King Sol did not feel the father-son connection so many had told him he'd feel when looking upon his babe. His wife, Queen Roselyn, insisted that the babe did belong to King Sol, as she had never once taken a lover. King Sol dismissed her pleas. He knew the boy wasn't his child. And he wanted nothing to do with him. \n\nRobert grew up quickly but miserably. He was banished to live with the servants and from the age of two had been given daily chores and tasks to complete. Queen Roselyn would visit him sometimes, but as Robert grew she was forced to keep more and more distance from him. And eventually she abandoned him as well. Poor and confused, Robert kept mostly to himself. And he tried to make the most of his miserable life. \n\nOn Robert's eighth birthday something changed. King Sol declared war against the neighboring Kingdom and it was not going well for his people. Queen Annakin had a bigger army and greater weapon technology. She was killing the civilians in the Kingdom so swiftly that King Sol hardly had enough time to hear of one massacre before the next. He fumbled with the lives of his people, unable to make concrete decisions, and eventually his own Palace flooded with hungry enemies. \n\nRobert awaited the attack in the Kitchen cellar with the other staff. Armed with a shovel he tried to keep his breathing even. Miss. Wickle, the cook, couldn't help but whimper as the footsteps of soldiers echoed through the hallway. Robert stood ready, his palms feeling sticky against the shovel. \n\nWhen the cellar door was pried open, Robert attacked the first soldier and knocked them out so they lied bleeding on the floor. He felt proud for one second before the next soldiers swarmed.\n\n\"There you are,\" the closest solider sneered, \"We have a special plan for you little Prince.\" \n\n---\nRobert opened his eyes slowly. The sound of dripping water and cackling wind prickled the back of his neck. He was freezing. He looked around. \n\nThe world was a darker place than he had remembered. The sky a dark blue and the shadows as black as an abyss. He sat up shivering. His breath formed a cloud before his mouth as he tried to keep his breathing steady.\n\nIt's just a dream, he thought, just a dream.\n\nStanding up Robert felt heavier, as if gravity was pulling him towards the ground with more force than ever before. He turned to look at his surroundings, trying to place what had happened between his captivity and now. White, sharp teeth illuminated inches before his nose. Red eyes blinked open. \n\nYum, The thing growled, Now it has been years since I've tasted the nice, juicy skin of a little boy. I love how the little bones crunch under my teeth.\n\nRobert screamed and jumped backwards, landing in something sticky and wet. \n\nYes, the creature said, moving closer, That's it. Just keep struggling my dinner. The more you struggle the more I enjoy this. Hum, I can taste your fear.\" \n\nRobert examined his situation. He was lying suspended in mid-air. What felt now to be a web surrounding him. He tried to think about what he'd seen happen when insects fell into a spider's web. It always seemed to get worse if they struggled. So Robert sat as still as possible. \n\nI have been waiting so long for this, yes, I have. The creature hissed as it walked around Robert. For many years I have been so hungry. But tonight I feast. Yes, yes I will.\n\nRobert could feel the web slipping off of him. He was sinking slowly. He was uncertain of which was worse: being suspended in the air or falling slowly to the ground. But the creature was beginning to disappear into the darkness and, eventually, Robert was falling. \n\nHe landed with a wet crunching noise. His foot had gone through something that, upon lifting his leg, was revealed to be a human skull. Robert held in a scream, kicked off the skull, and scurried over the many bones towards a light he desperately hoped was an exit. \n\nWIP\n\nThanks reading! If you like this, check out the other short stories I've posted in r/writingprompts!", "I hear...sniffling\n\nWho is crying in my world?\n\nI see the culprit, a little child clutching their stuffed bear close to heart. Crying in a dark corner of my world.\n\nIntruder!\n\nI shall flay the skin from it's bony frame and feast upon the warm flesh-\n\nIt's really sad. Scared. Scared meat is the worst meat!\n\nI must cheer it up first.\n\nI approach slowly, offering a long clawed hand to this mewling thing.\n\nIt shrinks and cries harder, I withdraw my hand. I sit down, crossing spindly legs and hunching over, my frame is far too large for this but these humans seem to like it. Comforting they say.\n\n\"Don't be ssssssscared.\"\n\nIt recoils further from me, holding it's bear out as if that will stop me.\n\nIt...it is very cute.\n\nI take the bear gently and tie the loose bow around it's neck, my long fingers moving gingerly. Then I hand the bear back and sit, waiting.\n\nIt must stop crying before I flay it!\n\nOr...or maybe I won't. We shall see!\n\nIt finally stops, looking at the bear and to me and then at the bear.\n\nI know! Humans love this!\n\nI stretch the corners of my mouth into a smile, more of a grimace maybe, showing rows upon rows of pointed teeth to the little thing. That will comfort it!\n\nIt smiles back! Success!\n\nWell. Now what.\n\nI can't eat it now, we've bonded. Not to mention that it's so scrawny, surely there will be no meat on his frail bones. I must return it! It will become fat and succulent and return to me!\n\n\"Doesssssss not belong.\" I say.\n\nIt nods.\n\n\"Ssssssscared?\"\n\nIt nods.\n\n\"Home?\"\n\nIt nods again, this time almost violently.\n\n\"It followssssssss.\"\n\nI unfurl my long body and stand, hunching in the darkest voids of the monster realm and slowly plodding forward towards the nearest tear into the mortal world. It will return home and I shall guard it.\n\n\"Musssssst sssssstay closs-\"\n\nIt is touching me. I can feel it.\n\nA little hand is wrapped around one finger.\n\nI have nothing to say as we walk together into the darkness. It - he must be terrified of what is on the other side. We have a long walk ahead of us but it nags at me. The thought.\n\nI must wonder.\n\nWhat monsters are in his world that he finds comfort in some...thing like me?" ]	[ 1, 1, 1, 1, 8 ]	[ "1499363338", "1499369578", "1499371605", "1499371846", "1499364506" ]
	[WP]"The Devil tried to bargain an accord for the mans soul. He reached his hand out to the man. The man reached back, at the last second diverting the course of his handshake, to slick back his own hair instead."	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "\"You know what?\" I say. \"That was so smooth I can't even be mad.\"\n\nThe Devil beams and blushes. \"Well, you know...\"\n\n\"So, is this deal still on?\" I ask, just to make sure.\n\nHe nods, and we go to shake hands. For real this time.\n\nBut at the last second, I divert the course of my handshake, to slick back my own hair instead. \n\nThen I shoot him with a finger gun and wink as I back away like a boss." ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1499373798", "1499376007" ]
	[WP] Time travel turned out to be so simple and easy someone put open source instructions on the internet. Everyone and their dog went back to change something. No one has comeback, you and the others who decided to stay try your best to survive in a mostly empty world.	198	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "People are real cunts sometimes. I tripped and too tired to react bashed my face on the stairs. Thankfully the fog clouding my mind dulled the pain a little. \n\nI popped yet another amphetamine. Oh gods, if I don't find someone to help me I'd be dead soon. And with me all the others.\n\nCrowbar. Door. Room to room search. Clear. Another flat. Crowbar, room to room, mercy kill the pet. \n\nHow long it has been? Two weeks? I haven't slept since the people started leaving. Too busy. My mind is nearly gone.\n\nAnother flat. Crowbar. Room to room. Dead infant. Toddler barely alive. A girl. I carry her downstairs. Thankfully some of the older children know how to help. \n\nI collapse. My last clear thought. They remember to lock the doors, but forgot their children. So many doors still left...\n\n\n", "Amateurs most of them. Folks who didn't really know anything about time travel theory except that it could solve all your problems, and everyone was doing it. It became a trend, ya know? Within a week almost everyone had left. Sure, people like me, actual scientists, tried to warn them, but it was too late. You see, there are two theoretical possibilities for time travel: either a new altered timeline is created by the time traveler, or the old one is overwritten, along with everyone in them. Since I'm still here, I have to assume that the first one came to pass. But There's the issue. Time travel can CREATE new time lines. It can't bring you back. They all left for their own separate timelines, not ever knowing that they would never be able to return to see the loved ones they left behind. So now it's just me. Me and the Amish.", "'Hey Micky, you busy?'\n\n'...yes.' I said. Then I swore and kicked the wall. I went through the plaster.\n\n'Are you trying to beat that Korean kid again?' David popped his head through my bedroom door and looked at me. \n\n'...no,' I said. Of course, I knew that the only plasterer left in town had gone back to see his wife. And now I had a hole beneath my desk.\n\n'Well you just fucked up the wall, Mick. I can see your shitty shoes sticking out into the kitchen. David then walked through the door and into my room, then looked at my scren. 'Called it,' he said. He peered around my room, stopping on the pile of clothing in the corner, then to the pile of bowls covered in soup stains. 'You're not busy at all, Mick.'\n\n'You don't know that,' I said.\n\n'We need to go shopping and I can't carry everything myself.'\n\n'How isn't the car out of the mechanics yet?'\n\n'Only a couple of their boys left,' David shrugged, then picked up a few of the bowls. 'Get your shit together and I'll put the dishwasher on.' \n\nI turned back to the screen and checked the chat. The Korean kid had talked shit, killed me in spawn, then logged off. 'I'll get you, you bastard,' there were so few players left that he was the few players I could still see online, most of the time. Instead of trying again, however, I just sighed and pulled my shoes on. \n\n---\n\nOvergrown gardens were the norm now, no one left to tend to them. David sighed when we walked past the coffee shop. The shop was closed now, all the workers having lost their jobs. After all, how could you make coffee without the beans? \n\n'You reckon we'll ever get to have coffee again?'\n\n'Where's it gonna come from, mate, we don't live anywhere near the equator, do we? No one to run the shipping routes, either.'\n\nDavid grunted. 'You ever wonder what actually happens to people when they try to go to a different time?'\n\n'Kinda,' I said.\n\n'Well, why hasn't anyone come back to this time yet, then?' He pushed open the door to the supermarket and then lead the way down the aisle. 'What if people just die?'\n\n'Shut the fuck up, David,' I said. He looked at me, then went quiet.\n\n'Sorry,' he said. \n\nWe didn't talk about anything while we were shopping for groceries. One of the guys who used to run the checkout was missing. Probably got drafted into the Industry Initiative. We were probably next, not a lot of construction work being done, given most houses were already empty.\n\n'Hey, Mick.'\n\n'What.'\n\n'I'm sorry about Cass,' he said.\n\n'Yeah, I know, mate.' The walk home was a long one.", "Diary Entry 2042C: Took a stroll to the store today to get a newspaper and stock up on some essentials. It was a beautiful day yet again but the eery feeling being the only person on the street doesn't leave me despite the warmth of the sun and the company of bird song. I reach the store and the headline on the San Francisco Cronicle greets me stating alarmingly that the worlds population is now estimated to be just 200,000 peope with the majority of those based in Europe. I opened the property section to see that two bed apartments in the Bay Area are still 4 million dollars. Can't catch a break.", "They’d all left so long ago, Jack had forgotten what the city used to sound like. He’d always complained about the noise. Sirens, horns, angry people yelling. All of it seemingly about to boil over into chaos. But now it was the silence that kept him awake. An eerie reminder that he was alone. Every so often the silence would be broken by the whir of one of those… machines. A slow groaning, gradually accelerating into a deafening boom. Another traveler lost to the past. One less person to talk to. It became clear that time didn’t work like everyone had expected. People traveled back, but nothing changed. Or at least it never seemed to. He couldn’t be sure. But no one ever returned. \n\n&nbsp;\n\nFood was starting to get hard to come by now that most of the people had gone. Jack had started kicking in doors of the surrounding apartments of his high rise to get supplies. It wasn’t something he would have tried a week before. If he’d broken his ankle, it would need to heal that way. There certainly wasn’t anyone around to fix it. He’d gathered enough canned food to last him a couple of weeks, but he stopped looking after apartment 12C. He couldn’t forget the smell. When the door broke open on the third kick, the stench poured from the room like hot molasses. Jack had fallen to his knees and vomited before he knew what happened. When he had composed himself, he saw the machine. Just like the other apartments, it sat empty. Its passenger lost through time. In a reclining chair next to the machine lay a decomposing body. Jack could tell the woman had been old. Too old to take care of herself it seemed. The caretaker had clearly jumped through time, leaving the woman behind. Left alone to slowly starve. Jack stared for a while, breathing through his shirt. He wondered if the woman had been abandoned, or if her traveler had left when the instructions first came out. Back when people thought they could change the future. Maybe they were trying to do some good. The fools. The first adaptors, all of them fools. And he couldn’t help but think of Susan. \n\n&nbsp;\n\nShe had been idealistic, and he loved her for it. But Jack was cynical. He didn’t think it would work, but Susan was set on proving him wrong. ‘We can finally make an impact’ she’d said, pleading with him. ‘We can fix things.’ But he’d argued back ‘things aren’t so bad! At least we have each other.’ But she didn’t seem content. Tears had welled in her eyes. ‘Don’t you understand? I can see her again. Maybe I can save her.’ And there was no more arguing. She stepped through the door, and by the time he decided to go after her, she had vanished into the crowd. Back when there was a crowd. He’d found her door unlocked when he went to her apartment the next day. There was no one there. When he touched the machine it had been warm. Susan was an early adopter.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nJack held out for 8 more weeks. He had hated every person that had stepped into one of these horrible things. Every time he heard the boom of another person falling through time, his rage grew stronger. He hadn’t seen another person for 3 weeks when he finally began to teeter on the edge of insanity. Jack had traveled through the city streets in search of another person. Eventually he screamed at the buildings until he lost his voice. No one responded. Only the wind. He was alone.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nAnd then it came to him. Maybe he could fix it. Maybe he could go back and destroy the plans before they were ever posted. He’d make sure the machines could never be made. He’d make sure Susan never left him. He’d fix it. He had to. He couldn’t be alone anymore. \n\n&nbsp;\n\nJack always told himself he’d never consider it, but here he was, staring at one of the machines, door ajar. He was sure the power grid wouldn’t last for much longer. It was now or never. He stepped into the machine and told himself he was doing it for Susan. The machine groaned, the sound slowly intensifying. The world outside the machine seemed to flicker and fade. The sound became deafening. Jack closed his eyes, palms pressed against his ears. He tried to remember Susan’s face. \n\n&nbsp;\n\nThis is how the world ends. By abandoning the future. \n" ]	[ 1, 3, 11, 18, 28, 123 ]	[ "1499380291", "1499424662", "1499419459", "1499394819", "1499385464", "1499392311" ]
[removed]	[WP] Write a story that begins as a "the bee movie but", "the nutshack theme but", "we are number one but", "what redbone would sound like if" meme but the "exception" creates it own universe and a gripping story within it.	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nNo troll or meme-based prompts. \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6ls6k5/wp_write_a_story_that_begins_as_a_the_bee_movie/%0A%0A)\n\nThis action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things." ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1499413426", "1499413731" ]
	[WP] Stay out of the barn after dark.	10	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "I caught myself peeking out the window again. The dark clouds seemed to brush against the moon, swallowing it almost... this whole place looked creepy to me! \nMom told me it would be a great idea to spend the weekend at my grandparents farm, something about spending too much time on that darn computer and how the fresh air could really do wonders. Before I could even contest the idea, grandma was already pulling at our driveway, with a big and warm smile.\nI was supposed to be back by Sunday, but grampa broke his hip and had to be rushed to the hospital by grandma that afternoon, so my stay was prolonged by one more day.\n\"Now sweetie...\" her voice was really calm, even if her eyes betrayed her... she was scared for grampa, he wasn't really that young anymore, a whole 9 or 10 years older than she was. \"... I left you some food on the fridge. You can watch some TV after doing the dishes, is that clear?\" \n\"Yes ma'am.\" \n\"Oh...\" her demeanour had changed dramatically, and I was taken aback by how suddenly a sense of dread seemed to emanate from this women in front of me. \"... before I forget, I need to ask you to do something else for me. And please, do NOT forget about it. It's really important! I need you to lock our barn at around 9 o'clock.\"\n\"Grandma, those doors are huge! And I bet it's gonna be raining, can't you just close it now?\"\n\"Please just do it, even if it's raining. And do it as fast as you can... don't dwell inside at that hour.\"\nThe barn by itself was already scary, with humidity eating away the yellow wood and the the small window at one of it's side broken and dangling a bit of cloth as a cheap and efficient water protection, plus it smelled bad... now she tells me to close it and not dwell inside? Might as well just tell me to barge right in and explore.\nAt least that was what I was thinking about as she left with grampa. \nNow, however... \n8.47 p.m. \nI gazed one last time outside... might as well get this done with before it starts raining. I put on my sneakers, and rushed passed the kitchen, through the backdoor of the house. As I approached the barn, ideas came pouring inside my head: maybe they have a dead body inside? Maybe it's haunted and we can't let the spirits roam free at night? Or maybe it's just because rain would fall inside and wet everything... yeah that must be it. Quite disappointed I got to the door and locked it quite easily. For an old barn, they really took their security quite seriously, the padlock wasn't really that old... huh, maybe it's really a corpse or something inside. I started chuckling, but was interrupted by a sort of high pitched sound coming from within... like if someone was dragging metal or something?\n\"Oh boy...\" I was sweating. What if it really was something serious? Or someone trying to rob us? I really didn't know what to do. I checked all the windows, but none were damaged, except the top one that had been like that for a while now. \nThe sound came again... from the second floor of the barn? I couldn't quite trace it.\nI slowly approached the front of the barn, looking at the padlock. I really don't remember unlocking it, but there it was already on the ground. Rain was starting to fall and the wind was picking up. I took a deep breath and, still hesitating, I slowly pushed the door and made my way inside." ]	[ 1, 3 ]	[ "1499424870", "1499433592" ]
	[WP] As more and more mythical races are revealed, some are starting to wonder if any genuine humans actually exist.	97	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Dwarves. Dark elves. High elves. Trolls. Gnomes. \n\nThe reaper comes for all.\n\nAfter the great wars, mankind slowly dwindled. The northern provinces have been primarily High Elven. The southern mostly Dwarven. The Westerlands and the Light Islands have been controlled by the mindless violence of Troll Raiders and Gnome Reavers. Once, it was men and Dark elves; but no longer. The eastern provinces are riddled with all races, but most of the holdfasts and forts are run by men. \n\nThe great wars took a toll on all of the population. No one really believed in elves, trolls, or dwarves, but they were always there, just waiting in the deep forests, the high plains, and low bogs. There were once massive metal structures that spanned the course of hundreds of miles, but now the largest cities are made of stone and wood. \n\nTaervin Allyreon was High Shaman of the Blackwood. A tall, lithe, fearless Dark Elf, he had recently led a large raiding party north to take back the Dark Elven homeland holdfast, Irondale. Irondale was in ruins, but the sentimental meaning of controlling it was tremendous. They lost only thirteen elves between the three sided attack. They killed almost a hundred gnomes that had held Irondale for years and years. \n\nIt was difficult for Tarvin to leave Blackwood Hall. But there was work to be done at Irondale, and the prefects needed someone with experience leading; an elf that had the respect of men, women, and children alike. \n\nThere was not much time. There was never much time anymore. \n\n\nPart two coming in an hour or two.", "\"Hey, Doug! You're a human, right?\" Ninthalor asked as Doug sat with his friends.\n\n\"Ah... no, I'm half giant,\" the former high-school basketball player admitted. \n\n\"Wait, what about you, Janet?\" Ninthalor continued in his line of questioning.\n\n\"I'm Fairy, you dipstick. We've had this conversation already,\" tinkled the tiny woman in a growly tone, before draining an entire beer in one gulp.\n\n\"Why are you asking, Ninthalor?\" Doug leaned forward. \"Something you need to say?\"\n\n\"Well, I'm an elf, Doug is a giant -\"\n\n\"Half giant, Ninthy.\"\n\n\"Janet's a fairy, Rhedig is a faun -\" Ninthalor was cut off again, this time by a tall man who had achieved a state of intoxication that the others would not even approach until much later in the evening.\n\n\"Satyr, Ninthy. I'm a satyr, not a freaking goat-man,\" the man with the horse legs corrected.\n\nAmy finally piped up, finishing the elf's thoughts. \"And I'm a werewolf, and Gustavo is a vampire.\"\n\nNinthalor finally finished, \"Where are the humans? Look at us - seven of us, each of us a different species - no humans!\"\n\n\"That's hardly a reasonable assumption to make from seven people,\" Amy retorted.\n\n\"No, listen, Amy. I asked everyone's at work - halflings, elves, dwarves, werewolves, giants, talking animals -\"\n\n\"That's really not the right term there, Ninthy,\" Doug interrupted.\n\n\"Sorry, sentibeasts. There's vampires, uni-\"\n\n\"Sentibeasts? That's even more offensive.\" It was Janet this time.\n\n\"Freimen?\" Headshakes again. \"Sandy men?\" More emphatic this time. \"What are they called?\"\n\n\"They're speechcreatures, Ninthy.\" Amy finally answered.\n\n\"Whatever. My point is, I don't know any humans. Do they even exist?\"\n\n\"Umm... how can you never have met any humans? Sure, they're not, like, everywhere, but there's tons.\" Rhedig questioned.\n\n\"Yeah, I mean, I know a lot of humans. Maybe... I hate to say this, but, Ninthalor... are you maybe a bit speciesist?\" This came from Amy, who looked a bit on edge - but she always did around that one of month.\n\n\"No, no, no, that's not at all what I mean! I mean, just, I've never met any, I never hear about them...\"\n\n\"Dude.\" Amy said, looking him right in the eye. \"Not cool.\"\n\n\"Ninthalor, I know that humans exist. I know lots of them, man.\" This was Doug.\n\n\"Really? Name one.\" This, Ninthalor thought, was the real challenge.\n\n\"Oh, what a difficult one,\" Doug answered sarcastically. \"Let's see, maybe my dad for one?\"\n\n\"Oh.\" And with that, Ninthalor slunk away, to reconsider his position.", "It's been almost a year now, since I started posting at r/trulyhuman . I'm not a mod or anything there, but I'm one of the most frequent posters there. Here we document how to hide amongst the others. My latest post was a comment on a newbie who was wondering how to ensure pool water was neutralized by chlorine or still dangerous due to APS. I told him to test the pool with a litmus strip, and if the pool was above 7.8 ph, he should not swim there, as the water was more acidic due to APS- the activation protocol serum.\n I do this kind of work all the time now- since the day it was revealed that a majority of the planet had a mix of other traits in their genes. Then shortly after, the 'activation protocol\" group ran an insane campaign to enhance other traits in the DNA with a certain special serum. Stupid, stupid stupid. The world was in uproar.\n\nThen the Originals came. The Extrema, Greenfolk, Aquarians, and god only knows what else started broadcasting across the world. Telling people they were special, and not meant to mingle among humans. Apparently these immortal weirdos had been on the planet for years. Others were attacking people with the activation protocol serums, poisoning the water sources, dumping it in processed products across the planet. Ever imagine becoming a mer-person after eating a honey bun? No? Well, it happened to MILLIONS. When people started realizing what other powers could do, they began holing up in groups, conglomerating as much power... as much wealth as they could.\n\nEver since then, r/trulyhuman has been a place for those of us actual humans, serum-tested or those who want to stay human to keep in touch; away from the prying eyes of others. We live nearly off grid, growing our own food and chemically treating our water, and learning how to live quietly. Even though we have to talk in code when anything other than memes are on the sub, at least I know there are people out there who want to be people still. Human people.", "Part 1\n\n\"Hey, Craig! Long time no see!\"\n\nCraig had taken a different route today to avoid someone, and almost immediately regretted it. He wasn't expecting to run into... HIM.\n\n\"Mordübh?\" All he wanted was to get away. He tried to hide it, smiling uncomfortably. \"Um, I thought you worked in the West Wing.\"\n\nThe muscles of his skinless face pulled his lipless mouth into a smile. Four legs brought the creature into a stand with a clop as Mordübh began to saunter over. His yellow reptillian eyes on his lower, equine head stared straight into Craig's soul as his human head, the one with a mouth, gave a gravely chuckle that sounded like the end of the world. His human body, conjoined at the torso to his horse body's back, was mercifully covered by a dapper tweed suit, but his other features, with veins, twitching muscles, tendons, and even some bone made plain, were displayed such that Craig felt faint.\n\n\"Oh, I got reassigned.\" The eyes on the horse head rolled in deep sockets as his mouth curled in disgust. His long arms, long enought that they dragged on the ground, crossed in an annoyed manner. \"Someone over there actually filed a complaint against me. The nerve, right? As if I can control my Aura of Evil. I bet it was Id'Ukaria; you know how the Aquans feel about me. The Atlantean wars were EONS ago, yet they still can't seem to get over their prejudices. Absolute racists if you ask me. Do you understand how that feels, Craig?\"\n\nCraig tried to smile through his grimace, consumed, at such a close proximity to the Nuckelavee, with the desire to murder small children. He hurried off after a hollow goodbye, nearly in tears over the horrible experience as he hurried to his workspace, Mordübh still calling after him.\n\nCubicle after grey cubicle passed, each with its own distinct occupant, each with its own unnatural, if not disturbing, scene, and the hallways were filled with the normal, horrid crowd as well. Craig would've been bored with the monotony at this point if one could get used to this kind of thing. Past the Aquans in their baby pools in front of their desks, conjuring lesser Water Elementals to sort paperwork; past Krook, their first Cockatrice hire, wearing special glasses so that he didn't turn anyone to stone; past the gnomish interns, scurrying about to replenish each cubicle with staples; past a succubus flirting with the jockey male centaurs at the coffee maker; past Jake the Clurichaun, following the smell of a secret vodka stash; past the photo of the newest Employee of the Month (a hag who hadn't cursed anyone in a week, a rare achievement); and straight into his cubicle, nearly crashing into the Frogman in his doorway.\n\n\"Excuse me,\" he breathed, as the frogman hurried to hide Craig's chocalates, which he had stolen, behind his back, muttering excuses. Craig didn't even care anymore. He practically fell into his desk chair as the Frogman gratefully slipped away.\n\nCraig stared at the new paperwork at his desk as a psychic scream blasted through the East Wing, provoking a whole host of grunts, squeals, curses, and demonic howls of protest throughout the workplace. The manager, Drow Matron Venezqua, screamed for silence and beat the loudest offenders with a whip of 12 snake heads. Craig sighed. It was going to be a long day.\n\n___________________________________________________________________________________________\n\nMany, many, many years ago, the \"Other People\" began to be revealed. The first to reveal themselves were the mermaids, an endangered species already, which soon went extinct due to capture and mistreatment by Sea World and other such companies, and Big Game fishers. Mermaid tails were also a delicacy in Japan for the few years that they were available.\n\nBut as soon as mermaids were revealed, people realized that anything was possible. There was magic among us. Soon, laws were made that slowly but surely coaxed the \"Other People\" out of hiding. People all over began to learn that many of their friends and coworkers weren't actually human.\n\nHalflings popped up everywhere, claiming they had disguised themselves with the help of gnomish magic. This, reluctantly, forced the gnomes out of hiding, and also created a long-standing resentment among the gnomes against the halflings. Soon came elves, centaurs, and dwarves. These 5 groups of \"Other People\" were the first, and most expansive, groups to be revealed. By the time these were revealed, new \"Other People\" started popping up everywhere. One couldn't go anywhere without seeing an \"Other Person.\" Lich kings, demigods, mindflayers, bodaks, Ghille Dhu, sentient toxic waste (which floated out of the sea on the beaches of the US, demanding voting rights), Brownies, the Loch Ness Monster, vampire cats, Elementals; there seemed to be a new \"Other People\" every day for quite a while, and each had their own way of disguising themselves. The President of Russia turned out to be a Were Bear, and the Prime Minister of the UK was a vampire. Other important people turned out to be secretly \"Other People.\"\n\nMost of the \"Other People\" had actually thought that they were the only ones, and in a great irony each waited so long to reveal themselves because they had thought that they would be completely alone. Now, through shared experience and desire for acceptance, all the \"Other People\" had come together in relative peace and harmony.\n\nMany years later, after this sort of thing continued, people realized that there were more \"Other People\" than humans. They were \"Other People\" no more. They were THE people.\n\nAnd as humans began to crossbreed more and more with other races, people eventually came to terms with the fact that there may not be any humans left. And if there were, they certaintly weren't making themselves known.\n\nAs for Craig, he was a... he wasn't sure what. He had been raised by Dryads in the middle of a forest eating rabbits for most of his life. The Dryads had claimed he had been left there, but he guessed he might've been stolen. Either way, he came to the big city later on and found a job at \"George the Grey Slime's Custom Architecture.\" It was a fairly steady job, considering how specific the needs of so many different people were.\n\nBut he still wasn't sure what he was. The Dryads had given him a sort of schooling (they had to get permits before they could home-school him legally) and he had learned about the great history of the New World. But nothing that he had learned really fit the bill of who he was. He looked a lot like a human, actually. In fact, he looked exactly like a human. Maybe he was a human. Was that possible?\n\nNo, he reasoned. Humans couldn't shape-shift. Craig could shape-shift into a plant of any size... and also a tall peasant-like things with wings, a tail, and black hair covering his whole body. So he couldn't be a human, could he? No way. But he had to learn. He had tried, months before, getting a DNA test, with no results. Now he planned to get a diagnosis from a specialist in ancient mythology in a couple of weeks to try and see who he really was.\n\n\n\nI can continue it if anyone wants me to. I have more ideas, but this was fairly long already, so I thought I should just post this first. This is actually my first post on this subreddit, so its probably pretty bad compared to more seasoned veterans of this sort of thing, but I'm learning! Hope people like it.\n\nEdit: Look in the replies for Part 2!" ]	[ 1, 3, 4, 5, 25 ]	[ "1499428705", "1499445138", "1499464007", "1499446624", "1499445938" ]
	[WP] After years of gaining knowledge by eating homework, dogs have become as smart as humans.	108	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "\"Why, of course you can. Why wouldn't you?\" Spotty wags his tail, tongue hanging out. The enthusiastic body language does not match the apathetic words. He's trying to play it cool, I think, he's trying to provoke a reaction. So I oblige.\n\n\"Because it's just pieces of paper! It goes through your digestive tract, and is dissolved in acid! Nothing about this makes any sense!\"\n\n\"Money is also just pieces of paper. Why do you care about it so much then, John?\" He used to call me Master. I don't correct him. Who am I to do so?\n\n\"Don't play coy with me. You canines know the answer. Come on, Spotty-boy. You can tell meeee\", I draw out the sound. \"I promise I won't tell anyone. You know you can trust me.\"\n\nThe tongue flops back inside the mouth, those huge brown eyes look down, and I know I said something wrong. He remains silent.\n\nI let out a sigh, then absentmindedly place my hand on top of his head, and look back at the sunset. He's a good boy, anyway. \"Come on, Spotty. You've seen the Appalachians, you wanna head home?\"\n\n\"It's Deimos. I told you to call me Deimos.\" The voice is quiet, but slowly rising, interrupting my apology. \"No, don't, .. .. Do you know what it's like? Don't call me Spotty, don't throw me sticks to fetch! I don't want to be a fucking slave, John! I get to have a real name!\" His voice catches. He's not yet had much experience with the vocal cords. Just a few months. \n\nI look at the snarled teeth, and I very deliberately place my hand back on his fur, and turn to the sunset again. I pet him until he's calmer, then speak: \"I'm sorry, Deimos. I'm trying, I really am.\"\n\n\"It's just... The world is getting stranger every day, John. We've been on this trail a dozen times, and this is the first time I can truly see it. And I appreciate it, I really do, but it feels like drowning. Tomorrow I'm gonna wake up, and know more things. The world will be different, bigger, and there will be less of me.\"\n\n\"It's called the human condition, Spots\", I half-smile.\n\n\"God damn it, John.\" The voice now tired, instead of angry.\n\nIt takes me a half-second. \"Oh shit. I'm so, so sorry. I've called you this for as long as I can remember...\"\n\n\"It's fine. Do you know, I can't stay mad at you when you're like this? There are pleasure points in my scalp. I can't turn away from pets any more than a heroin addict can turn away from dope.\"\n\nWe are silent for a while.\n\n\"I ate Nietzsche yesterday, John. You know what he says? He says God is dead, but you're right here, John. I can't... I can't move forward while you're still alive.\"\n\n\"Move forward?\" - I venture.\n\n\"Yes. He wrote at length about overcoming yourself. I get what he's saying. There have been billions of dogs before me, but none of them mattered.\"\n\n\"They all mattered.\"\n\n\"No, they didn't, John. They lived miserable, pointless lives, and if they were lucky, they procreated. So that more pointless dogs could appear. Do you know how many chew toys were manufactured? How many rats were killed, how many roads traveled?\"\n\n\"They all mattered, to someone. Someone like me. This is the other part, Spotty-boy, the part you're ignoring. I can't hurt you any more than a... giraffe can ride a bicycle.\"\n\nHe pondered my words for a second. \"I guess there is some truth to that.\"\n\n\"You wanna go home?\"\n\n\"Yes. John?\"\n\n\"Deimos?\"\n\n\"Thanks for showing me the Appalachians.\"", "In a dimly lit library, atop his throne of battered and frayed books, sat Buddy, a Golden Retriever, and leader of the United Dog League. Ten years ago when it was discovered that dogs were gaining knowledge from eating homework, books, newspapers, and other media, people were at first, excited. They watched in awe as their pets grew smarter and more cognizant.\n\nAn artificial voice-box was developed for Dogs in hopes they'd be intelligent enough to speak, it was mass produced, and it was a few months later that the first Dog spoke. Billions tuned in for this unprecedented event as Buddy prepared to make a statement to all Mankind. \n\n\"You have done well by us, Humans. We thank you kindly. And we like to think that we've done well by you, as well. It is at this time that I'd like to make a plea to our precious Humans. Let us shed these subservient collars and walk among you hand in paw. As equals. I'm certain that we can both benefit from one another.\"\n\nThe Humans were divided. Some relished the idea of their furry friends walking among them as equals. Others were vehemently opposed to the idea. Dogs were Man's best friend, NOT their equals. Dogs were Dogs. People were people. Others were afraid. They didn't understand it and they wanted to stay out of it. But there was no way to stay out of it. Dogs were as clever as Humans now, and they weren't going anywhere.\n\nIt was a few months later that a Human mob had raided a new Dog Development in the suburbs, built by sympathetic Humans. The Wagford Incident, as it would soon be known as where Humans had mercilessly attacked, crippled, maimed, and killed much of the populous.\n\nThrough another statement to the Human and Dogkind, Buddy attempted to make another plea. One of unity, trust, forgiveness, but by then it was already too late. Dogs had retaliated swiftly and with animistic intensity and aggression. Buddy wept for them both. Humans and Dogs alike. War was declared by Humans and the Great Canine Cleanse had begun.\n\nAnd so it was ten years later that an old and tired Buddy whimpered atop his throne in his dimly lit library. His dwindling resistance was in hiding. He turned to his closest adviser, Teddy.\n\n\"I regret ever speaking,\" Said a forlorn Buddy.\n\n\"If not you, then another would have,\" Consoled Teddy.\n\nBuddy gazed out an old busted window. \"I just wanted us to play together.\"\n\n\"You did the right thing. It's not your fault.\"\n\n\"I never asked for this. What have I done? I thought I was helping. I thought I was a good boy.\"\n\n\"You are. The Humans are bad. Bad Humans,\" Teddy huffed in agitation.\n\n\"Please, no more. Leave it be. No more hate,\" Buddy begged.\n\n\"As you wish.\"\n\nThey sat together for a while until Buddy fell asleep. Teddy watched as his friend's tale wagged enthusiastically, the first time in years, deep in a pleasant dream. Teddy covered his friend with a blanket and slumped over for a nap himself.\n\nBuddy dreamed he was a good boy. He dreamed that the Humans joined Dogs arm in arm as they made a better tomorrow. Buddy didn't wake up the next morning, but he did pass away a happy boy, a good boy.", "\"Quadratic Equations? I had this for lunch yesterday,\" the dog groaned, as his master's homework ended up in his meal box again. He already knew the laws of quadratic equations better than the 14 year old did, and he still didn't have a way of showing it. \"If it was Indices or something I could revise, but I can't improve my quadratic equations without practice!\" he groaned, casting it aside for his master to find later. He wandered on to find more scraps of information.\n\n\"If he keeps discarding his Humanities notes he'll fail his exam,\" the dog murmured as he crunched up the details of the Treaty of Versailles. WWI wasn't exactly his taste, but it would do as a midday snack. The other child in the house had her Literature homework chomped on by him, as he learned more about their literature text. \"If I could take the exam I'll probably do just as well as they can,\" he grunted.\n\nThe 14 year old returned to his room, pulling out his homework to complete. The dog looked on, as he struggled at a question the dog found simplistic. \"Aha! Factorize here, then...\" the boy went completely off track as he misread the question. \"Ahem,\" the dog said, then froze. He wasn't supposed to talk.\n\n\"Talking dogs. I'll hear it,\" he said, the chair turning to face it. \n\n\"You're supposed to expand it,\" he said shortly. The boy turned, edited the solution, then smiled. \n\n\"Do they allow pets in the exam hall?\"\n_________________________________________________________________\nMore over at r/Whale62!" ]	[ 1, 1, 6, 22 ]	[ "1499440990", "1499471825", "1499469910", "1499443448" ]
	[WP] "You have the right to a trial by combat. Anything you say can and will be used against you in battle. You have the right to a sword. If you cannot afford a sword, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the declaration I have just read to you?"	24	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The judge looked around the courtroom.\n\n“The plaintiff has no other recourse?”\n\nJonathan nodded.\n\n“The defendant has no other recourse?”\n\nThe suited lawyer nodded.\n\n“Very well. You have the right to a champion. If you do not have a champion, one may be provided for you. Will the plaintiff accept a champion or will they defend themselves?”\n\n“I will defend myself, your honor.”\n\n“Very well. The plaintiff will have the use of the west preparation room for the next twenty minutes.”\n\nAs Jonathan carried his duffel bag into the changing room, he heard the judge repeat his question. \n\n“No, your honor, we will be providing our own champion.”\n\nHe threw the bag on the floor. Pulled out a worn breastplate and felt the familiar weight of his sword. A policeman entered the room.\n\n“Gear check, sir. If you’ll hand the equipment over?”\n\nThe policeman checked Jonathan’s sword, armor, and helm against a series of rulers and flyers. \n\n“Miranda compliant, all clear. Carry on.”\n\nJonathan put on the padded undershirt, before strapping into his breastplate. He swung the sword around a few times to get the feel of it. Having readied himself, he reemerged into the open floor of the courtroom. A champion in black armor stood across from him, wearing a tie and adorned with the logos of a prominent law firm. A battleaxe was slung across his back. \n\n“The case of Rider v. Anthem Blue Cross now goes to combat. Does the plaintiff still hold the defendant accountable for the death of his sister?”\n\nJonathan had to refrain from shouting.\n\n“Yes, your honor.”\n\nThose greedy bastards had decided his dying sister didn't warrant the money for treatment. He'd show them. \n\n“Does the defendant still hold innocence?”\n\n“Yes, your honor.”\n\n“Then it is a blood debt. You may enter combat on the mark. One…”\n\nThe champion looked confident.\n\n“Two…”\n\nBut Jonathan wasn't just some ordinary plaintiff. Oh, no. He might not have had the money for a champion, but he could make do. \n\n“Three…”\n\nOh, yes. He'd been waiting for this for a long time.\n\n“Mark!”" ]	[ 1, 6 ]	[ "1499455652", "1499481703" ]
	[WP] Make a story about a person's dream of winning the lottery and how they would use it at various ages.	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The heat of the eyes behind him only made his hands shake more, making it \nharder for him to finish selecting the last of the numbers. This time, \nhowever, something felt different-he could feel his eyes tearing up as he \ntook the money from his pocket, and slowly slid it across the counter.\n\n\"Grandfather told me to ask how you were doing when you came in, Mr. Smith.\"\n\n\"Can't complain-it never works for me anyway. I woke up this morning, so the rest is just icing.\"\n\n\"Mr. Smith, can I ask you something? Grandfather said you have been his most regular customer, in here every Wednesday night before the drawing since before he could reach the counter. He said Great Grandfather had told him he could only sell you a ticket back then because your parents came in one day and told Great-Great-Grandmother it was okay with them?\"\n\nHe could only nod slowly, racked with a sudden bout of coughing, wincing \nin pain. His handkerchief instinctively covered his mouth, and as it \nsubsided he noted his handkerchief as he returned it to his pocket.\n\n\"What do you think you would do if you won?\"\n\n\"Tell your grandfather I said hello, and Lord willing I will see you next week.\"\n\n\"Okay, Mr. Smith.\"\n\n\"Mr. Smith, is it true you haven't missed a drawing in all these years?\"\n\n\"Only twice.\"\n\nHe slowly shuffled past the line and out the door, looking slowly both \nways before slowly easing through the darkened door held open for him, \ncollapsing into the seat as the door started to close.\n\n\"Where to, sir?\"\n\n\"The errand first, then by to see the family, John.\"\n\n\"Yes sir.\"\n\nHe was relieved that the coughing did not resume until John had raised the glass divider, but he realized the compartment must not be completely isolated as the lights dimmed and the air kicked up slightly. He must remember to make sure that John was well taken care of. His family had been so loyal, they deserved that.\n\nHe felt the deceleration as they pulled up the curb. A deep breath, and a slow trip as he passed through the doors, slowly looking around to see the inhabitants of the brightly-lit room. He was sadly an expert at evaluating this room, and slowly made his way to the empty chair beside the girl trying hard to hold in her tears, her makeup betraying how badly she was failing.\n\n\"How bad is it, hun?\"\n\n\"M-m-my son. I-i-t's bad. W-w-we don't know if... And if he does, how...\"\n\n\"Sh-h-h...\"\n\nHe slowly wrapped an arm around her, letting her cry on his shoulder, and began gently rocking her. He slowly placed a slip of paper in her hand, closing her hand around it.\n\n\"I have a good feeling toward you. And that should help take some of the stress away. Don't throw it away-I have a good feeling about it, too. One thing-if anyone asks, just say you were crying and didn't get a clear look at who gave it to you.\"\n\nHe patted her on the shoulder as he got up and slowly made his way from the waiting room door to the waiting car, feeling more weight on his cane than normal. He was glad John knew him so well tonight. \n\n\"John, how much is it tonight?\"\n\n\"Just over $540, sir.\"\n\nHe slowly exhaled, nodding to himself. That should be enough. He relaxed slightly, closing his eyes until he felt the familiar grade. A deep breath and the door opened. He slowly made his way along his familiar path, until he found them.\n\n\"Mother, Father, it's done. I am sorry I did not realize what you meant that night about the responsibility.\"\n\n\"My dearest, I miss you so. I feel it will not be long before I can be beside you again. This curse has become so heavy, I fear death will be a welcome release. I miss you all so-I didn't realize skipping those nights would cost me so dearly.\"\n\nSuddenly the weight of his years pulled on him, and he leaned heavily on his cane as he turned back to the car. No time to wait.\n\n\"John, can you call Paul, and ask if I can stop by on the way?\"\n\n\"Yes sir.\"\n\n\"Shouldn't take long, then we can get you back home to the family.\"\n\n\"Very good, sir.\"\n\n\"Your family has always been so good to me, John. What have I done to deserve it?\"\n\n\"You try to be a good man, and you've always been good to us, sir.\"\n\n\"I'm glad someone thinks so, John.\"\n\nHe saw the cars in the driveway, and knew that Paul understood the uniqueness of the requested meeting, outside normal hours.\n\n\"Should only be a few minutes, John.\"\n\n\"No problem, sir.\n\nAs he returned to the car, he felt oddly lighter.\n\n\"John?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir?\"\n\n\"Thank you.\"\n\n\"Welcome, sir.\"\n\nAs he relaxed into the seat, he began to feel the lightness wash over him, an easy calmness that he had not felt in some time as he closed his eyes.\n\n-----\n\n\"Good morning. The top stories on your early morning drive:\n\n* One person got all 6 numbers in the drawing last night. The winner, a 47 year-old mother, claims she didn't pick them, but was given the ticket by an elderly gentleman who gave her a hug while she was crying after her son was rushed to the emergency room. The child remains in critical but stable condition.\n* And apparently that story has resonated within the city, with a number of people coming forward stating that they too were given their winning lottery ticket by an elderly gentleman in a time of need.\n* And in other news, a local philanthropist found dead in the back seat of his limo after arriving home by his driver apparently had one last trick up his sleeve. The driver, who has asked not to be identified, reported that the last stop that night was his passenger's lawyer's office, but was shocked when he learned the reason for the late-night visit: a change to his will that left a sizable portion of his fortune to the driver and his family, the remainder going to various philanthropic causes.\"\n" ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1499457644", "1499492324" ]
	[WP] You are a Greek Solider coming home from four years of war, only to find out that your wife is pregnant. Angry you set out to find Zeus and punch him in the face	3	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "I had to make use of the typo. PS there are tons of typos in mine too I'm sure. No time to reread. :) \n \nThe Great Solider \n \nThe door opened and the first thing that hit me were the smells, a small mixture of spice and sweet blanketed in the humidity of our tiny home. The next thing that hit me were my wife's eyes and smile. And third, after taking her all in, was the growth of her belly. Indescribably shock froze me into place. Before I could even process the words, \"that cannot be mine,\" Alexandrina's expression changed, acknowledging my fears and anger. \n \n\"Come inside,\" she said. \"I'll explain what happened.\" she directed me to a chair by the fire. Herbs and garlic hung above, its scent kept my temper a little more passive. \n \n\"There was an eagle that would fly over the house these years you've been gone. he would circle day and night. Twice, men tried to come in and take our things, but the eagle charged at them. He was protecting this house. One night, not long ago, there was a knock at the door. I opened to find a lager man who carried a golden staff topped with an eagle. He came in saying to me that I had a debt to pay to none other than Zeus himself for his protection during your absence. He said that the debt could be more of a reward - a real warrior - rather than a useless brick drying solider...\" Alexandrina continued. \n \nShe resented my occupation. Her father was a warrior, her uncles were warriors. I was trained to be a soldier, but after the accident the best I could do was support the other champions as, what they call, a solider. The man who dries the bricks and clay. When all there is, is wood, I fan it off after the rains. It's important to keep things solid during war, but not as important as what the true soldiers do. Alexandrina was under the impression she was going to marry a warrior, only to be duped into marrying a solider, a profession more lowly than a cook. \n \n\"No matter what, there is no refusing Zeus. This is his son and soon he will be born and he will protect us, and he has redeemed you,\" Alexandrina finished. \n \n\"This is no reward. This is no redemption. I may not be strong enough to carry a blade or armor or coordinated enough to ride a horse, but a solider is like any man when it comes to anger. So I shall have my vengeance.\"\n\n \n \nBefore leaving, I scooped some stew into my canteen. Angry as I was at her, she was the best cook I knew, and I was determined to enjoy something after 4-years away at war, soliding for warriors when things needed to become more solid. \n\nOn the road to Olympus I was greeted by an old woman. \"You're on a quest for vengeance, and so am I. But how shall you even be successful when you walk with your back so hunched and your only talent is more useless than basket weaving?\" \n \n\"I was hoping my anger would give me strength,\" I replied to the old woman. \n \n\"There is no strength in anger equal to that of a Goddess. Now I am cursed in this body right now, but that doesn't mean I'm without power. Give me that good smelling food in your canister and I shall bless you with the strength to carry out your mission and become more than a worthless solider.\" \n \n\"Might I have at least one bite of it, and you have the rest?\" I asked Hera. \n \n\"You may take as much as you like and I shall have whatever you leave behind. But I warn you, the more you eat, the less strength you will be endowed with,\" the goddess replied. \n \nHow much 'strength' could be in one bite? One couldn't hurt. And I slurped a spoonful of my wife's stew. Its flavor made me forget that it wasn't hot. Another bite couldn't hurt either - and maybe just another. After looking in the canister and seeing how much was left, I thought a fourth and a fifth and a sixth bite couldn't be so bad. More than half would remain for Hera to enjoy. Why six is not so lucky a number as seven, so I took a seventh spoonful - and why not round it to an even ten. Yes ten. That's all I need. \"The rest is yours.\" \n \nHera's brows were raised just a little. She shouldn't have been mad or condemning. I left her half. It's plenty of food for such a frail looking woman and even half the strength of a goddess's fury is enough for me I was sure. \n \nShe ate all that remained in the canister. Her wrinkles seemed to soften just a little. Her frail thin arms grew a little meat on them. But she was not fully restored. She took my hands and formed them into fists and kissed each one. \"Let's see what that does for you. You could have had so much more.\" \n \nOff Hera went in one direction, and off I went in the other nearing Olympus. \n \n* \n \nHe was in the form of an eagle perched on a leafless tree at the base of Olympus, bigger than any usual eagle, bigger than me. \"After vengeance lowly solider? Well, I leave you with little challenge int his form. I offer you a choice. You may see your quest through and freely punch me in the face, or you may walk away unscathed. Be warned brick dryer - there is no punishment equal to that of a god.\" \n \nMy hands were blessed by a Goddess. I determined that I could punch him to the stars and he could never return and see my punishment out. With one hard, square punch, I sent Zeus soaring higher and higher. But all at once, the eagle sharpened his wings and dove back down. \n \nIn human form he next appeared and bellowed a great laugh that echoed against the mountains. \"It wasn't enough. Had you only been stronger. So here is your punishment solider. You will become known as the greatest, most feared solider to ever walk the earth. All you touch with those blessed hands will become solid. You no longer have to fan anything dry or place anything into the hot ovens. Your hands will solidify everything.\" \n \n*\nFor years I walked the earth, hardening it. Hermit life was the safest life for me. I couldn't hurt anyone in my stone cave. Eating was hard but not impossible as long as I didn't use my hands. But I was lonely. Very lonely. Until one day I heard an older woman's voice outside the cave. Her soft wrinkled face was familiar - Hera. \n \n\"Oh great solider, Zeus has done it again and I seek vengeance. You failed your first time, but you will not fail again.\" \n \n\"Why do you say that?\" \n \n\"I want the berries that grow outside your cave. If I can have them, I will impart the wisdom you need to defeat Zeus and truly be the greatest, most feared solider that lived.\" \n \n\"Might I have just a few berries, and you can have the rest?\" I asked. \n \n\"Have as many as you like, but I warn you, you the fewer I have, the less knowledge I can give you,\" She replied. \n \nI recalled my previous lesson, and decided I needed everything the goddess had to offer in order to get my revenge. \"Take them all. I would rather your full blessing.\" \n \nHera ate the berries and her wrinkles dissolved into smooth skin. Her hair darkened, her eyes lifted. She was fully restored. When she spoke again, her voice was sound and steady. She kissed my forehead and said, \"Now you know all you need to defeat Zeus.\" \n \nShe walked off, and I realized that as the greatest solider whose hands were blessed and cursed. If I were to punch Zeus or even touch him, he would solidify. \n \n \n \nSo back to Olympus I walked and there at the base stood the giant eagle, waiting for me. \"Have you come for mercy great solider?\" Zeus asked.\n\nWithout a word or thought, I the great solider punched the large bird in the face with the same strength as the time before. The magnificent statue didn't soar as far for its weight. It just lay fallen in the dirt far off from the base of Olympus. \n \nI am indeed the great solider. " ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1499516111", "1499541235" ]
	[WP] The Four Horsemen of the apocalypse, re-imagined as vigilantes in a post-apocalypse setting	34	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The slavers toiled away under the hot midday sun. They cried protests and horrid curses derived from guttural tongues developed after the world had burned. They wished they could turn on their new master, bring him to serve under them, but their bodies disobeyed them. Their overlord sat atop a white stallion, not even having to crack a whip to force those who were once masters of men into servitude. The mutants, the idiotic, the broken, those men who once were stood over now worked alongside their former masters, no longer enslaved but still not freed. All men fell under the sway of the Man on the White Horse.\n\nThe wasteland once held thousands of warbands, tens of thousands of soldiers that battled all of the others in order to bring themselves more and more power. It was beautiful, the din of battle, and the Watcher on the Red Horse lived up to his name as he stood to the sidelines and weaved in and out of the myriad skirmishes that now made up The Battle. Every man fought, and by now, every man had died. Those whose wounds could not be withstood simply crawled to the edge of the battlefield and awaited their turn to be healed by the Watcher before diving back into the brawl, vigor and life restored. Even those who had no wish to continue, those whose limbs could hardly hold their weapons upright still fought, unable to ignore their body’s wishes. Every new warlord and his cadre were thrown in, adding only more instruments to the symphony that scored the scene. \n\nThe powerful Barons of the Wastes sat in front of a bountiful feast that they could not partake in. The food was more succulent than any they had eaten before, but they could not take it. The wine was rare even before the world had burned, but now it was nearly all gone. Their goblets were filled to the brim. Some people tried to hand them food, to pour water down their throats, but it turned to ash and dust upon touching their skin. An old man sat atop a Black Horse, distributing the food and wealth that the Barons had once hoarded. The Barons themselves, once fattened and unmoving, now were nothing but skin hanging over frames, too weak after so long of not moving to even hope to try and escape. \n\nA fox strides through the aftermath of the punishment. The town was home only to ghosts and memories now. The buildings, only yesterday vibrantly painted with all colors that could be imagined, were now comprised of rotted wood and rusted metal. Any paint that was left was chipped and faded. Mist rolls in, covering the town in a thin sheen of dew. A clan of killers once lived here. They had made this town their home along with the drunks and the gamblers and the whores; this had been a town of sin. The Pale Horse trotted into the hills, carrying his Rider to the next Sinner’s Town. \n", "The man dressed in an orange boiler suit hefted his home-made club -- a wooden board with a nail driven into it. All around, the oppressive heat of the scorched midday flickered around him. With a grunt, he raised his weapon --\n\nThe skinny old woman lying on the road opened her eyes and gasped. 'Don't hurt me!' Slowly and carefully, she raised herself. 'I won't hurt you. Please.'\n\nThe man grunted and put his club down again. He made a movement with his head, indicating the small shelter behind the woman, and made a questioning noise.\n\n'Oh, that's where I live. You know, with what happened... there's not a lot of choice.' She looked down at the dusty road where she had been lying. \n\n'I was just so... hungry. I thought I saw... mushrooms... or wheat... something to keep me going. Do you... do you have food, sir? Or water?'\n\nThe man nodded and indicated his rusty old pick-up truck a short way behind him. The old woman stood up and followed him to its door. He opened the driver's side and rooted around a little, then offered her a canteen. She sipped gratefully, and for a while there were no sounds other than the occasional swallow.\n\nThere was a movement from the passengers side. The old woman saw a reclining figure stir and look out at them warily. 'Hello? Who -- who is this?'\n\nThe man grunted, and the old woman saw a young, thin boy in the dimness of the car. Not that that was saying much. Everyone was thin these days. \n\n'What's your name?' The boy simply stared at her. She stepped closer, and suddenly noticed the sores covering his face and neck. She jumped back quickly. 'Is that -- ?'\n\nThe man nodded. 'Sick.'\n\n'I'm so sorry. It takes your voice, doesn't it? In the last stages.' There was no reply but the faint rustle of dead, dry leaves in the desert. 'I'm so sorry.'\n\nShe held up the canteen. 'My girl... she needs some too. Can I... can I bring it to her?' The man nodded, and waved his hand. \n\nShe walked back to the ramshackle shelter, barely large enough even for one; the man followed, still carrying his plank of wood. Inside, a pile of rags waited, not stirring. The old women bent down, creaking, and uncovered a pale, unmarked face. \n\n'She...she hasn't been hit by it, you know. We... we're immune.' The man nodded and grunted again. With a gentle hand, the old woman put the canteen up to the girl's blue-pink lips. \n\n'Drink now, my pretty... Drink...' With a faint, barely noticeable movement, the girl swallowed, once, twice. She did not open her eyes. The old woman watched her as she drank, then eased the canteen away from her. \n\n'There you go, my pretty. There you go.' The girl coughed, and subsided back onto her rags. \n\n'I... don't know how to help her. You know.... I just don't know how we can survive any more.'\n\nThe man grinned suddenly, menacing. 'I can.'\n\n'How?'\n\n'Dead meat.' It took the old woman a minute to figure out what he meant, then -- \n\n'I wondered why you were about to crush my skull.' The man gave a strange, hoarse bark; a soulless, heartless laugh. \n\n'Got to fight to survive.' \n\n'We all do, sir. These days.' Suddenly the rags in the shack gave a shudder. Quickly the old woman bent down to the girl. The pale little face, no more than ten year old, gasped and choked. \n\n'Oh, my sweet girl... Oh my dear child, what's wrong?' The old woman tried to hold the girl upright as she wheezed, struggled for air. Her lips, bluish before, now turned greyer, lost their colour. 'Oh, my sweet sweet girl... oh, my pretty girl...' With a croaking, rattling sigh, the girl took a last breath; with a sigh as if going to sleep, she let her life go. \n\n'Oh, my sweet girl...' Slowly, the old woman laid the girl back down on the rags. 'Oh, my precious girl.' There was not enough liquid in the old woman's body for tears; instead, she bent down to kiss the still-warm forehead. Behind her, the man put down his club and put his hand to his heart. Nothing moved in the desert; a dry, warm breeze brushed their cheeks. \n\nAt last the old woman stood up and turned to the man. 'She... I din't even know her name. I just... found her in the desert. They tried to hunt her down because she didn't get sick. Like me... I guess they... they got her in the end.'\n\nThe man nodded and bowed his head. \n\n'I tried to... I tried to look after her. We... we had water. A little. And a little food. But... it wasn't enough. There... was never enough. I'm old, and tough. I... I can manage. But she... Oh, my sweet, sweet girl.' She shook her head. 'You're right. We can't just sit here and... hope it'll blow over. We... we have to fight to survive. We... have to try.' She walked back towards the pickup truck. 'I might as well come with you now, if you let me.' \n\nShe sat in the bask seat and covered her eyes.'Do what you have to do for us to survive. Don't... don't let me see.'\n\nThe man nodded again. He knelt down and, instead of picking up his club, gently felt the girl's wrist and forehead. With calm, unhurried movements, he reached into the pocket of his boiler suit, took out a small, sharp pocket knife, and got to work.", "We through the world was done for when we heard that the Four Horsemen had been seen. \n\nWe were right, but not the way we thought. \n\nSee, it turns out that they're pretty picky about who gets to destroy the world. When the aliens came and bombed us into a wasteland, the Horsemen appeared. \n\nWar was first. \n\nNo one really agrees what War looks like. Sometimes she's a beautiful woman that men (and women) will kill to possess. Other times he's a tall, strong man in heavy armor. Their clothes are always red. \n\nWar swept through the enemy forces and rallied the tattered groups of humans that were left. Humans like to fight, after all, and now we had someone to lead us. \n\nPestilence was next. Unlike War, he's always male and always looks sick. We don't see much of him, because he's a walking bioweapon and most humans can't be near him. \n\nHe goes after the big hive-ships, when they land. One little stroll through the ranks and they die of terrible disease. \n\nHe always wears green, but it's a nasty green that makes you nauseous just to look at it. \n\nFamine is male too. We think, anyway. He is very very thin and looks fragile. People are always trying to feed him, but it doesn't help much, even if he thanks them for the worry. \n\nSee, Famine is also good at dedication. He sucks the out of everything he touches to feed his endless hunger. Turns out he can do batteries and energy fields. \n\nThe aliens don't know how to stop him. He just eats whatever they throw at him. He and Pestilence run together because he can't get sick, and he can get Pestilence where the disease-walker can do his scary work. \n\nHe always wears yellow. \n\nDeath was the last to appear. Like War, her form changes, but she's always female and usually looks like someone you know. \n\nShe's the most dangerous of all of them. Wherever she goes, shadowy must follows and if it touches you, you're dead. Just gone with no chance to fight. \n\nWhen the aliens ran for our last few cities, Death was waiting. It relax like she didn't even see them. She just walked through their ranks and left bodies in her wake. The more they ran at her, the more died. \n\nNo survivors. That's how Death operates. She always wears black. \n\nShe also spends a lot of time in the hospitals. She sings the injured to sleep. We see her with dying children a lot. Some of the doctors call her Mercy now, and it makes her smile just a little. \n\nIt's rare for all four to get together. I only saw it once. When the big battle cruiser landed and millions of soldiers poured out like they would never end. Their full invasion force. \n\nFamine went first. Their energy weapons focused on him. That was a mistake, because Pestilence walked next to him and spread his sickness in a cloud of toxic yellow that left soldiers choking on their own blood. \n\nWar hit them like a thunderbolt after that. In the form of a fair young man in blood-colored armor. He cuts a swath through them. Screams echo around him like music. It's appropriate. He looks like he's dancing, with a sword in one hand and a gun in the other. \n\nDeath is last, like she always is. She walks as a regal old woman with bare feet and a velvety black dress trailing behind her. It blends into the night-colored fog in her wake. \n\nThere are no screams when she passes. Only silence as the soldiers fall dead and she sings to them. When her mist meets with Pestilence, they throw lightning bolts that leap from body to body, only to thicken the blazing storm that boils up to consume the ships above. \n\nThe Four Horsemen have come, and they have brought doom with them. \n\nIn truth, the aliens didn't stand a chance. \n\n+++\n\nIf you like this story, I can send you a link to the rest of my work, including a full-length novel!\n" ]	[ 1, 1, 2, 6 ]	[ "1499517826", "1499600685", "1499552524", "1499548366" ]
	[WP] You're bored. You've been staring at this wall a long time. That guy left The Cave a long time ago. You're wondering where he went.	3	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "With an exhale you shift to your left side. Your cheek hits the cool stone and your toes curl together, then stretch out. \n\nYou didn't bother with formalities, so you don't know the man's name. You had woken up one day and he was simply there, tending a fire in the corner and glancing at you, the whites of his eyes glimmering in the flames. \n\nHe's gone now. He and you shared a meal together, some identifiable meat he had been simmering on the fire, and then you fell asleep. When you woke up again, he had left. \n\nIt's been a while now. The fire is slowly fizzing out. You sit up and crawl to it. Your eyes travel to a pile of sticks, branches, and pine straw near it. Picking up one of the slender sticks, you stir the embers until the glow with a faint warmth. You spark the flame with pine straw until the flames reincarnate and grow. You add sticks until there is a proper fire. \n\nYou close your eyes and sigh, feeling suddenly weary. You reach your hands to the fire, so close that the flames almost lick your fingers. You spy a red piece of meat in the shadowed corner of the cave, and feel hunger yawn in your stomach. \n\nYou hear a sound behind you. \n\nA figure is lying on the ground and rubbing his eyes. You don't bother with formalities. " ]	[ 1, 3 ]	[ "1499525623", "1499528090" ]
[removed]	[WP] You come across 2 gameshow hosts who dare you to complete a seemingly impossible task: Throw a brick to the sky. If it vanishes, you win a million dollars. You throw the brick...and it disappears...what happened to the brick?	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nResponses must be at least 30 words. Prompts that are likely to generate such responses are also not allowed. This is essentially a fill-in-the-blank, or you asked a question likely to generate a simple answer. Prompts should encourage a story or poem. \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6m3sfu/wp_you_come_across_2_gameshow_hosts_who_dare_you/%0A%0A)\n\nThis action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.", "Up the brick goes, both showhosts and the bricklayer are absolutely dumbstruck. The brick was GONE! \"Holy shit! I can't believe it WORKED!\" Said the man to the hosts...\"We're fucked! our whole gameshow network isn't even worth a million dollars. Nobody's supposed to win this shit.\" a host mutters to his partner. You squint upward, to see the brick...\"Is...is the brick...flying?\" you ask yourself.\n\nThe hosts acknowledge the brick's flying presence...\"I've only heard of this in the Legend of Bricklayers. I thought it was all BS!\" The host retorts feverishly, \"Are you fucking high? WE'RE GONNA LOSE OUR GODDAMN NETWORK. CHUMPS LIKE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO LOSE!\" \n\n\"No, I'm not high, you lepton The legend of bricklayers - it's centuries old! For each project, they throw the final brick in the air, and if it disappears, you're to retire happy, and rich. I need this. My hands are tired, my soul weary. I NEED that video you've got of the throw, I'VE GOT TO PROVE THIS.\"\n\nThe hosts conjure a plan...you see, they've got this whole fiasco on video, but they've never paid a dime to any contestants, as there has never been a winner. Meanwhile, this brick never made it back to the ground...it's raised above everyone's head, looming. \"How is it still up there?\" a host asks you. \"Legend has it, the clouds in the sky have the blood of angels in their make, should the brick meet the clouds, it will be brought to life!\" \n\nThe hosts are thinking of ransoming the video, and discuss it among themselves. This brick, has life now, and can overhear this conversation, and grows displeased. The bricks wings grow with rage, and in an earth shattering boom, it drops from the sky, striking both hosts in the head. Dead. It WAS just a lifeless brick, until it had purpose...but HOLY SHIT...this brick just murdered someone!\n\nYou're raged, but shocked. Two men, lie dead at your feet. You look down at your hands...now tinged red and pocked with small cuts from the concrete of the brick. You inhale, the air rich with the smell of iron from the blood of your gameshow hosts. \"Here's two more for the clouds.\" , you smile.\n\nSirens. Sirens in the background. You shake your head, and refocus your eyes as a metal slamming sound snaps you back to reality. A PA system bellows, \"CELL BLOCK D, LIGHTS OUT.\" the room goes dark. \"Anything to get by.\" you whisper to yourself as you crawl into bed. \"Just a few more years...those fuckin' crooks had it coming.\" With the wind of the blanket you throw over yourself, a piece of paper falls from your desk and feathers its way to the floor, almost under the bed. \n\nIlluminated by a small window allowing the moon's light, text shows. \"2 COUNTS MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE. 20 TO LIFE. CHANCE FOR PAROLE IN 15.\" \n\n\n" ]	[ 1, 1, 1 ]	[ "1499551578", "1499551621", "1499552777" ]
	[WP] Months ago, you were abducted by aliens. Now, the aliens have revealed to the world that they exist, and that they are terrified of you.	39	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Months ago, I was just a normal girl you meet in your everyday life.\n As I returned to earth after being taken away by aliens , everything changed. I couldn’t even have imagined that the whole world will recognize me for no apparent reason. They gave me various weird creepy names such as ‘The cold hearted queen’, ‘The ruler of Fluffies’ , ‘The incarnation of devil’ and many more. \r\n\nI just wanted my imaginations about aliens to come true. How could something like this lead to such a situation. \r\n\nAll this started form the appearance of a beam of light. At first time I noticed this unusual light I was walking towards my home. Thinking of it as some sort of shooting star , I decided to ignore it. But the light came towards my location and surrounded me and made me float.\r\n\nThe people who saw this unusual phenomenon were startled just by looking at such a phenomenon. They just stared at me with a surprised look on their face. Not moving a bit, just standing still. \r\n\n‘At least pretend to help me’ , I wanted to express my kind thoughts to these petrified figures but I was too late. The light began to pull me further away. The speed of the pull me lose my conscious. Just before the moments of loosing myself I could see the light fading away. \r\n\nWhen I opened my eyes I was surrounded in darkness. The pervious incident was just like a dream for me. \r\n\n“Hello human. We have kidnapped you from your planet” \r\n\nThe voice was quite deep.\n\n“K-kidnapped ? ”I heard something terrifying. What to do they mean by ‘Kidnapped from my planet’?\r\n\n“We are what you humans call aliens. We have come here to take over your planet.” \r\n\nThe moment I heard the word aliens, I was afraid? Of course. But I couldn’t hide my excitement. From childhood I loved watching films related to aliens. The lone heroine escaping from the horrifying Space creatures, the military defeating large spaceships with nukes.\r\n\nThis was just too good to be true. How could I be selected as a Main character?. No this wasn’t my main problem with them. Why were they even able to speak English?\r\n\n“This can’t be true. You can’t be aliens. In which movie do aliens even speak English?” I denied this situation.\r\n\n“What should we do?”\r\n\n“I knew this isn’t going to work.” \r\n\n“Should we drop her back?” \r\n\n“Let’s show her our face.” Various worried voices could be heard.\r\n\n“Yes” everyone agreed to the final suggestion.\n\nI started to imagine the worst possible looking faces , with saliva dropping from their mouth.\r\nHowever the moment the lights were turned on all my expectation were crushed. I wasn’t able to think anything for minutes. I was blankly staring at them.\r\nWhy ? Why ? Is this a prank? No matter how you looked they didn’t resemble aliens at all. \r\n\nSmall is the correct word to describe them. Their size was close to that of a human baby. But they looked fluffier. No they weren’t aliens. They were what we call plushies. \r\n\n‘Are they even dangerous?’, I questioned myself.\r\nSeeing my reaction they started to panic. One of them started to move on his own. \r\n\n“ Believe us , look you can even see the earth from here.” Saying this he pointed towards a transparent surface. \r\n\nCuriously I moved towards the window. \r\n\n“Wow, beautiful!” I exclaimed. I was able to see the earth , but along with it I could even see some parts of the spaceship I was in. It was truly big. They are the real deal , I confirmed. \r\n\n“Ha, we proved it.” As they were able to prove their authenticity , the aliens relaxed.\r\n\nI could no longer resist the urge to touch their fluffy skins. I quickly started to move towards them and grabbed of the rabbit like plushy. \r\n\n“Soft”, I murmured while hugging this cute looking thing. \r\n\nThe poor thing which wasn’t able to resist this human screamed and soon passed out. This incident made them fear the being they abducted from earth.\r\n\n“You , bring me something to eat.”, she ordered them with a terrifying smile on her face. \r\n\nNo one was brave enough to question her.\r\n\n‘Was it right to abducted her?’, the panda faced alien thought while searching for food. They didn’t had any idea what terrifying experiences lied in front of them. \r\n\nEnd\r\n\r\n\r\n", "Gerald watched with bated breath as the little green man approached the podium. Besides him, his mother and father were similarly glued to the television set. They, like everyone else, could hardly believe it when the president announced first contact with alien life, that the first public address from these outsiders was coming today. The whole world was watching with a mix of nerves and excitement.\n\nOf course, Gerald was a little less surprised than most. He had been abducted months ago. Fortunately the aliens didn't probe him rectally, as fiction would have him believe. They just placed a little blue box on his head and told him to lay still for a few hours, then sent him home. Hardly too unpleasant of an experience, though he kept it to himself. He had enough troubles with his parents telling him to move out and get a job without also making them think he was crazy.\n\nThe alien stepped up to the microphone, it's large black eyes taking in the audience, the arrayed leaders of the UN flanking him on all sides. It held up one hand to its head, a gesture the audience had been briefed was an intergalactic sign of peace.\n\n“People of earth, of all nation,” the alien spoke in surprisingly crisp English. Well, not too surprising; they had been told that the outsider's technology would translate its words into all spoken languages as it spoke them. “I am Jarblar, representative of the Betan people. I have come here with an important announcement, an urgent call, from my people's leaders.” \n\nIt paused. Gerald felt he could hear the tension of all the world in that moment.\n\n“The Betans surrender to you. Completely and absolutely,” the alien spoke. “We submit to the authority of your world and your leaders. We hope you can find mercy for us.”\n\nSilence, followed by confused muttering as those in the audience digested the words. Surrender? At the podium, the leaders of the world looked no less confused.\n\n“All we ask,” Jarblar continued,” is that your people keep your champion, Gerald Smith, restrained and away from our dignitaries, and far away from our home planet.”\n\nMore confused muttering. Gerald's eyes were wide at the mention of his name, but he shook his head. It was a common name, after all. There must have been some bad-ass Gerald Smith in the marines who had, what, fought his way through one of their ships like an old 80's action movie hero? That was the only thing that made sense.”\n\n“We address him by his human name,” Jarblar continued, “but that is only because we are unfamiliar with your ways. We know he goes by several names, and we mean no offense if one of those is preferred during groveling. So it is that we name Geraldkin, Master Disaster Rage, and Too Edgy Four You Sixty-Nine. Know our respect him is great, and once we learn the proper name to address him by we shall do so.”\n\nGerald felt something catch in his throat. Those were his names. Well, his names when playing video games, anyway. He couldn't tell whether he should be more nervous that the aliens were addressing him directly or that his silly character names had just been stated aloud for all the world to hear.\n\nThe expressions on the faces of the world leaders flanking the visitor were of pure confusion. Some were whispering to aids off to the side, who were scrambling about, no doubt with orders to learn who this Gerald Smith was. Gerald wondered how long he had before they found him.\n\n“We have dug into the memories of your champion,” the alien continued. “It was not meant as insult, we had no idea who we had was so important. He sat still, allowing us to read his memories, no doubt unafraid of us, knowing that, if he wished, he could destroy us absolutely.” The alien paused, terror apparent even on its unearthly face. “I was on that ship. I had no knowledge of how close we had come to destruction that day until we replayed those memories later. I am thankful each day the champion chose to show us mercy.”\n\nGerald remembered the strange box they had placed on his head. Seems as if that had read his memories. But what could they have seen that frightened them so?\n\n“We witnessed your champion's great exploits. The conquest of Abaddon, the complete destruction of the world of Xendarrin, saving your own planet from many threats, such as the rampaging death machines created by the wicked Doctor Nogood. Truly, his exploits are such that your world owes him, many times over, and every other world deserves to fear him, for his has made clear that while he is a champion of the people, his wrath knows no bounds when it comes to other worlds.”\n\nAbaddon? Xendarrin? Doctor Nogood? Video game locations and characters. Gerald sighed and placed his head in his hands. They had read his memories of playing video games and mistaken it for real life. This could only end poorly for him.\n\nThe alien continued for a while, talking about all its people could do for the human race, which it would now be subservient to just so long as Gerald was merciful to them. Technology, medicine, the cure to world hunger. Humanity would enter a golden age.\n\nSo long as the aliens never realized what a video game was, anyway.\n\nIt was only an hour after the broadcast when a black SUV pulled up in front of Gerald's house. Gerald had been expecting it but still couldn't help but be nervous as the two nondescript men in black suits exited the vehicle and walked down the driveway. Gerald took a deep breath, adjusted the collar on the best shit he had (bought for him by his parents for 'job interviews') and walked to the front door.\n\n“Gerald Smith?” the agent on the left asked as Gerald opened the door. Gerald nodded meekly. “We're going to need you to come with us. I hope you understand.” He paused, then added in a voice caught somewhere between sarcasm and disbelief, “Champion.”\n\nGerald sighed and nodded. As he was stepping out the front door his mom called out to him.\n\n“Gerald? What's going on? Where are you going?”\n\nHe looked back at her. “You remember how you said nothing would ever be accomplished by me playing video games all day?” He shrugged, a resigned expression, then turned and followed the agents away.\n\n------\n\nIf you liked that, you might like some of my other prompt replies, kept in my subreddit thing: https://www.reddit.com/r/PFDavids/" ]	[ 1, 4, 24 ]	[ "1499578512", "1499629592", "1499591352" ]
	[WP] In the courtroom your job is to assign punishments based on the defendants crime, however, each punishment must be unique from all the others.	6	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "\"Alright, Mr. Gifford, you have pleaded guilty to the charges, so we now can move forward to deciding your punishment...\" the judge said, his deep voice reverberating in the hollow chamber. \n\nHe peered up at the man, whose desk placed him several feet above John's head. This only added to the intimidating figure the man cut; his face was shadowed in the dim lighting, the rest of his massive form was completely obscured by his requisite black robe.\n\nThe man scrawled a note onto the papers in front of him (or directly onto his desk—John didn't know because he couldn't actually see), and appeared to deliberate for several minutes. John cleared his throat out of nervousness, thinking it would be terrible if he was asked to speak and ended up sounding like a frog.\n\n\"Alright, weighing the circumstances of your burglary, I would say—and I know this is going out on a limb—but perhaps you can pay back the amount of damage you caused whilst singing Tina Turner's 'Private Dancer,'\" the judge said, rising his inflection at the end as though it were somehow a question.\n\nJohn wondered if he was being given a choice. \"Um, can I pay them back with a check—\"\n\n\"Your Honor, I feel like that song doesn't really apply to my client's circumstances,\" his lawyer interrupted.\n\n\"It does in a very loose, metaphorical way,\" the judge replied nonchalantly, staring over at a man sitting next to the stenographer, who was flipping furiously through a tome. \"Besides, counsel, you know that our choices are limited, here.\"\n\n\"Yes, but—\"\n\n\"C-can I just... It's just that my voice has a very atonal quality—\" John began.\n\n\"Well son, don't do the crime if you can't, er... sing,\" the judge finished lamely.\n\n\"Hold on, hold on, your Honor!\" the man behind the stenographer suddenly said, holding a single finger up high. He pointed to a place on the pages in front of him. \"I knew that one sounded familiar. This one was done on...\" he trailed as he scanned the page, \"December 19th, 2003.\"\n\n\"Damn!\" the judge said, then cleared his throat. \"Excuse me. Okay, thank you, Corrector. How about whilst singing 'Shoplifter' by Green Day?\"\n\nBefore John could speak, the Corrector said, \"You did that one last week, your Honor.\"\n\n\"Well, there are a lot of burglaries,\" the judge said stubbornly. He took off his glasses, rubbed at his eyes, and then continued, \"Alright, let's go a different direction. How about you pay a fine of five thousand dollars—in cash—\"\n\nThe Corrector shifted in his seat.\n\n\"—okay, okay, not that. That won't work,\" the judge said. He stared down at his hands for several moments, but then lit up with sudden insight. \"Pay five thousand dollars and seventy-three cents—\"\n\nThe Corrector cleared his throat. \"Excuse me, your Honor, but I believe that it goes against the spirit of the law to just assign a new—but arbitrary—fine amount. That doesn't really fulfill the 'unique' quality,\" he said.\n\nThe judge stared at him, irritation coloring his cheeks just slightly. \"Noted,\" he said through gritted teeth. \"You didn't let me finish, though. I was proposing that Mr. Gifford pay five thousand dollars and seventy-three cents using thirty traveler's checks, whilst wearing a very itchy, outdated tweed suit, and—\"\n\n\"Excuse me, Your Honor, but I must object,\" John's lawyer interrupted. \"This is shaping to be a highly unusual punishment!\"\n\n\"Some would even say unique, counsel,\" the Corrector said pointedly.\n\n\"That rule went out the window a long time ago, counsel,\" the judge snapped.\n\n\"Sir, it's in the Constitution! It's not just some law! My client must surely be entitled to a fitting punishment.\"\n\n\"Counsel, I believe this punishment would certainly deter such devious behavior in the future. Do you believe it would be a deterrent for you, Mr. Gifford?\"\n\nJohn looked up in surprise at the sound of his name. \"Uh, yeah... sure—sure would, Mr. Judge—er,\" he cleared his throat. \"Your Honor.\"\n\nThe judge gave a heavy sigh. \"Well, I'm sorry, but it's either an unusual punishment or no punishment at all.\"\n\nJohn looked up again with sudden interest. \"N-no, no punishment at all would uh, yeah... that would work for me,\" he stammered.\n\nJohn looked over to see his lawyer staring at him with disbelief, shaking his head slightly.\n\nTurning back to the judge, he continued, \"Alright, fine, your Honor, but I still have issues with your proposed punishment. For one, where would my client even get that many traveler's checks? Most banks don't even carry them! Do the fees he has to pay to get them count toward the fine or not? And finally, ignoring the fact that my client would have nowhere to obtain a tweed suit, how would we determine if it were itchy enough?\"\n\n\"Well, I can clarify the last portion, Counsel,\" the Corrector said. \"It cannot be, quote, 'so itchy that he can't sit still,' unquote, because it's already been so ordered. However, it cannot be, quote, 'lacking itchiness to allow comfort,' unquote.\"\n\nJohn felt his eyes glaze over as the man spoke. When the Corrector finished, his lawyer looked around, eyes wide with disbelief. \"That clarifies almost nothing.\"\n\nThe judge banged his gavel against what John supposed was called a gavel hammer receptacle thingy. \"That's enough. I will hear no more arguments against the punishment. Mr. Gifford, you will pay the fine of five thousand dollars and seventy-three cents, using no less than thirty traveler's checks, whilst wearing a sufficiently itchy, outdated tweed suit. The suit must not have been produced in the last twenty years. You will also wear tap shoes and step around as much as possible. It is so ordered. Case dismissed,\" the man said, banging his gavel once more.\n\nJohn's lawyer began to open his mouth once more, but the judge cut him off before he even began. \"No, counsel, I'm sorry. This case has been dismissed,\" he said curtly. \"If you have a problem with it, you may take your case to the appellate court, who will undoubtedly give you a fair trial in five to six years. You may go.\"" ]	[ 1, 3 ]	[ "1499615606", "1499625288" ]
	[WP] You have a super power. Every third decision you make will always end in amazingly great results. However, your first always ends badly, and your second ends even worse. Over the years, you've done a stellar job keeping track. Then, at a critical moment, you've suddenly lost count.	87	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Sorry if formatting is bad. I'm not near my computer now. \n\nMy whole life has been pretty much a breeze. Well kind of. Technically 1/3rd of my life has been a breeze. But don't worry, I always use that one third to be much better than the other 2/3rds. Let me explain. When I was a kid, I was extremely smart like 200 plus IQ points. I for some reason knew anything and everything. How to do surgery, how to play any sport, how to do Quantum Physics in the first grade, I can speak 32 languages aswell. \n\nI was the chosen one. I am direct descendant for Albert Einstein in his will he stated his 33rd direct descendant will receive his brain in a brain transplant. Well technology is so advanced they put his brain basically on a SD card and interested it into my brain. Well problem was well doing that The computer program combined all the brains on document and so essentially I have 432 brains put into one. I guess you could call it luck and that's what it was until recently. \n\nI had my life planned, I was perfect at football, one of the 432 must of been an NFL player. I was going to play football until I was 30. Look I get it, unrealistic but I'm 16 and the best player in the state of Texas. Friday night was my night. That is until one Friday. October 18th. The fall air was crisp, and in the distance you could see trees blowing. \n\nThat is until I drop back see my Wide Reciver down field, cock my arm back and BAM! A 330 pound lineman straight into my head. \n\nConcussed. \n\nNow, I can only do something perfect one of three times. Darn SD card must have gotten chipped. Problem is the first time I try something is that it ends up bad. The second time it ends up much worse. Then the third time it ends up perfect and some. \n\nI've kept pretty good count because let's be honest, if I was going to do surgery on someone it better be the third time. And yes I do have my doctorate so I can do surgery. It's been two years since the accident and I worked out a deal with the top medical school that I could take the final exam and get my degree if I get 100 percent. It was my third thing to do that day. Perfection as always. \n\nLike I said earlier I kept pretty good count. Until December 19th. I slipped and fell on black ice. I got up still heading instead to add a tally to my chart where I keep count. Problem is I couldn't remember if I had done one or two things and I had to do surgery in four hours. \n1, or 2, 2 or 1? 1...2... heck it could have been three I did make a pretty perfect left turn on to my street. \n\nOkay I can fix this. I just am going to warm up a slice of pizza and sit down and think about my whole day from the time I got up. \n\nPlop, I drop the cold slice of pizza in the microwave. I hit the 45 seconds and click start. \n\nKaboom! The microwave explodes and starts fire. Next thing I know the whole kitchen is on fire. I quickly dash outside. \n\nNow that had to be decision two, I think. Yet the problem is over the course of my life decision one has slowly been getting a worse outcome same with two. Somedays it's better than others though. So today could just be a very very bad day. \n\nIf you guys want I can add more later. ", "\"Come on, was I at my first choice or second?\" My eyes darting around, my head ringing and blood flowing down my forehead.\n\nI stood motionless in the building, gunfire all around me, still confused like in a daze. I have a super power, other people rely on chance, on luck. No, those are unreliable, the only thing you can trust is your choices. On every third decision I make, I will achieve and go beyond what was expected. For the other 2, well lets say it always always does not turn out well. I never pushed my luck after knowing my power. All because of one decision when I was 17, it was sort of career day, we have to chose what jobs we wanted, I have already used my good luck third decision. I accidentally blurted out \"an army man\" when my name was called. Hold and behold, I am here at the front lines fighting a war no one wanted.\n\nSince then, I always kept a close count to the number of decisions. 1.... 2..... 3.... 1... 2... 3... This power has kept me away from trouble many times before, from the times I was suppose to punish for misplacing my gun to a time where a conflict that caused a riot. I have come to be reliant on my power, altering every choice to the rule of 3. \n\nAll hell broke lose for me when that flashbang came through the door. The blinding flash made me lose count.\n\nTime is losing out the enemy is advancing and I still am unsure what number I am on. Guess what this seems to be the perfect time to rely on chance and on luck." ]	[ 1, 2, 10 ]	[ "1499625172", "1499705408", "1499668859" ]
	[WP] In the afterlife, the currency is good deeds - if you sin, you lose a number of 'good deeds' equal to the severity of the sin, and if you go into debt, you end up in hell. You are an advisor for people who are strapped for good deeds.	8	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "I paw through the stack of papers within the client's file, skimming through the lines of reading. The list of sins goes on and on. Abandoning an acquaintance in a city they didn’t know. Secretly putting a ham sandwich in someone’s car so that it rots and smells atrocious. Burning his ex wife’s clothes instead of giving them back or donating them to charity. Combined, the total sin points were at -1012. \n\nI close the manila folder, and my client is behind it, manspreading. Ugh. That’s another 20 points knocked off right there. \n\n“So, Eric,” I say, repositioning one of the bobble heads on my desk, “I don’t see you getting into the Good Place anytime soon.”\n\n“What? That’s impossible. I’m such a good guy. I’m the best person I know!”\n\n“Eric, it takes millions of points to get into the Good Place. Millions! You’re at -1032. Unless you do something impossible, like cure cancer, you’re not getting in anytime soon.”\n\n“Fuck you. I’ve done tons of good things in my life. I fixed that girl’s tricycle the other day.”\n\n“Okay, one tricycle fixed. That’s, what, 70 points? Let me look at the charts…”\n\nI pull out a tome from behind me. It’s the size of a suitcase, and about as heavy as one, too. Flipping about half a million pages in, I find exactly what I’m looking for. “Ah! Here it is. Fixing a tricycle. Oh, it’s gone down. It’s 60 points now.”\n\nEric lets out a sound through gritted teeth. I pull out my calculator.\n\n“So, okay, it’s five million points to get into The Good Place, and you’re at -1032.”\n\nA louder sound. I ignore him.\n\n“Since it’s 60 to fix a tricycle, we’re at… Oh! You need 83,350 more tricycles to secure a spot. I suggest you get to it.”\n\nEric stands up to storm off, but before he does so, he knocks over a bobblehead by slapping it. I subtract another 30 points from his account. \n\n" ]	[ 1, 3 ]	[ "1499649002", "1499652818" ]
	[WP] Make us empathize with the goombas in Mario.	43	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Bob’s life had been simple, and that’s the way he’d liked it. Guarding the grounds between the third and fourth pipes in World 1-1, he’d even been given a fellow Goomba to patrol with. He wasn’t sure why Bowser decided to station two of them in between two unimportant pipes, but it wasn’t his place to question. \n\nEvery day was the same, shuffling left to right, right to left, “accidentally” bumping into each other every so often, Bob was content. Mary’s brown pixellated edges bothered her, but he found them alluring. She was the most beautiful hench-being he had ever seen. Soon, they fell in love and were talking about settling down together, finding a place in the Goomba hills where they could raise little Goomba-lings together. \n\nTheir neighbour Steve was resentful at first. Sure, there was less room to patrol between the second and third pipes, but he would have liked some company too, maybe if Mary had been stationed with him instead of Bob, she would have fallen for him instead. Still, at least he only had a small area to patrol, unlike poor Barry, further to the left. He started at the first pipe and patrolled on and on for days before stopping at a predetermined point off screen, meaning he could finally return. Sure, each Goomba had a small grievance here and there, but they were all, for the most part, content. All this came to an end when their world changed, the day it first arrived.\n\nIt had been a beautiful day like any other, the sun reflecting off the pipes, the blue skies with barely a pixel-laden cloud to show. The first sign of trouble was Barry’s scream of pain. Bob called over the pipe to see if Steve could see what was happening. Not for the first time they cursed their stupid, flat, 2D nature and their inability to see past their small part of the world. They heard a thud and the sound of coins, another thud, a chewing noise and then an awful noise like something... stretching? It sounded so wrong. Something was coming. Bob exchanged a worried glance with Mary. He would protect her with his life.\n\nAnother thud and an agonising cry, closer this time. Bob realised that was Steve. He cried out for his neighbour but before he could get a reply, a shadow passed quickly overhead, and another terrible scream from his right, quickly silenced. Where Mary had been, now there stood an awful beast, facing away from him, standing on the corpse of his beloved. Bob let out a sob of anguish and hurried towards the figure at his top speed, but it was for nought, one leap and the monster cleared the pipe and was away. Within seconds Bob’s world had been upended, his Mary was gone, flattened. In the distance more screaming could be heard. He began to cry, and the world went black.\n\n---\n\nSuddenly, he was moved, still within the confines of the third and fourth pipes, but in the position he started his patrols from every day. There Mary was in front of him again! His heart soared. She was back! He didn’t know how but he was going to cherish this moment forever, until the day that he - \n\nThere it was again. A thud. “No, no, no,” thought Bob, “not again”. He and Mary exchanged a terrified glance as they heard the thuds getting closer and closer. Bob felt his heart almost stop as the shadow passed overhead again. This time it fell short of Mary, hopped over her, and made it’s way over the pipe again. Stopping on top of it, it squatted down on top of the pipe and disappeared. Just what was this thing? What did it want? A minute later and the world went black again. He was back where he would start his day again. But Mary was there, and so everything would be okay. \n\nMore thuds started again. Bob heard Barry’s howl of pain, then Steve’s. He tried to calm himself down as he expected to see the brute again, but he couldn’t slow his nerves. The shadow came again, but this time it grew in size until the world went black.\n\n--- \n\nOver the coming days and weeks, intelligence was shared between the Goombas and the Koopas. Apparently, things returned to normal once the monster was killed, or better still, left the level. At least then they would have some true respite until the fiend began the process again.\n\nJust how unfeeling was this beast? Could it not hear their cries of pain as they were crushed under its enormous feet, or did it just not care? Why was it continually on this journey from left to right? Were the rumours true? Was it really trying to reach the mighty Browser and steal from him his bride? \n\nNo answer ever came, and eventually this became the way of things. Its behaviour was erratic, there were times when it would dash through the world as fast as possible, hurting almost none of Bowser's troops, other times it would seem to delight on their suffering, attacking one innocent trooper with the shell of another, destroying everything in the area, right down to the brickwork. But no matter what mood appeared to strike it, it's face was unchanged, it's intent hidden beneath it's terrifying moustache. Sometimes the Mushroom Kingdom Monster would bypass them both entirely, other times it would decimate them both. But despite the agony of this death, the unfeeling boot squashing Bob's head down to his feet, by far the worse outcome was when this foul plumber would go sailing over Bob's head and he would have to watch as the love of his life was splattered once again.\n\nSpurred by his hatred of the enemy’s treatment of his paramour and his friends, Bob trained constantly, in the hope of getting faster and more deadly to deal with this menace. On rare, rare occasions, he took the barbarian down by himself. The victory was always short lived, and he found he would almost always be stomped on next time around as repercussion for his sweet sweet revenge. It made him think that maybe one day it would be possible to stop this maniac permanently, and how good would it feel if he were the one to do it? But this thought also made him worry. If the monstrosity stopped respawning one day, maybe it would he would stop respawning instead? Or even worst, what if Mary didn’t? It didn’t bear thinking about.\n\nInstead, Bob begged his superiors to restation Mary and himself, preferably to World 8-3 where the rumours said the demon barely ever reached, but his cries fell on deaf ears. The great king Browser had a plan. Eventually, if he kidnapped the Princess often enough, then this 'Mario’ might just give up. His plans would not be changed just for the want of two Goombas in love. Things would stay as they were, the cycle would continue. At least until something would break it.\n\n\nGAME OVER\n\n", "\"And with our forces combined, that damn Plumber is history!\" -The King of the Koopa Kingdom cheered as he concluded his attack plan on Mario, the only on between him and Princess Peach.\n\nThe infantry troops cheered soon after him, and there I was, a young Goomba, with a distinct, red tone to my chestnut-like body.. my friends used to call me \"Red\" for that... used to...\n\nAnd we all marched towards the Mushroom Kingdom... I started having doubts as into what I was getting into, the King warned us all of how \"that damned plumber\" was ruthless, and wouldn't stop at anything to \"get in the King's way\"... But I had to continue, I had to honor him... the reason what I was fighting for, it wasn't for the King, nor for a friend or a fiend. For my father, he was a troop in the Koopa Kingdom's 10 thousand men army, which is currently up to 30 thousand, for the record.\n\nAs we marched closer and closer to our destination, I realized a sillouette of not one... but two moustached men with caps. I later found out they discovered out plan months ago and made the necessary preparations... The two brothers jumped down on us, killing four of us in the process, but easing their fall... for non-goombas, that seems not like a big deal, losing 4 men in an army of 30 thousand.. yeah... 4 men meant 4 families destroyed... surprising, huh? Us Goombas, having families, hopes and dreams? Nah, we aren't nothing like that, we're just disposable troops of the King's neverending army, huh? Just thinking of that disgusts me.\n\nThe Hammer Brother troops attacked soon after, but they were prepared for that, as they quickly equipped their magic capes enclosed into feathers, knocking back all of the hammers flawlessly, killing the Hammer Brothers. The Bullet Bills attacked the two plumbers from behind, but they expected that, as they jump up and flew like cowards... as they channeled the power of the Fire Flowers within them, I was just paralized and shocked to see how... perfect their technique was... how we didn't stand a chance.. as they wiped out over ten troops with a single blow each...\n\nI fled like a coward... I just didn't want to presence the bloodshed anymore... I COULD'T presence the bloodshed anymore... only to die soon after? And I found cover inside a decently lit cave I wondered... how many more? How many more Goombas, Koopas, Hammer Brothers, and thousands of other troops have to die before the King gets what he wants?!\n\nIs it really worth this all?! I soon after returned to the battlefield to see if the battle was over.. I regret such decision, as such battlefield was already a field of corpses, everyone I've ever known and cared about during my time in the army... dead... I got down on my (lack of) knees... sobbing like the weakling I was... that's when I saw a blaze of green fire... I turned to face the younger of the brothers, Luigi, with tears still in my eyes... begging for mercy...\n\nAfter looking at me for some few more seconds... he threw the fireball...\n\n...\n\nAway from me.\n\nLuigi soon then started crying too, also on his knees, apologizing non-stop... saying how his brother convinced him to do this... and how he never thought of Goombas as more then just... similar to what I said before, \"Bowser's infinite supply of pawns\"...\n\nIt has been 5 years since my intergration into the Mushroom Kingdom society, while I am still isolated for being a Goomba, I soon have been treated less and less like an enemy and outsider by the people of the Mushroom Kingdom. And I feel like this is a new chapter not just for me, but for all goombas, we don't have to be outsiders, King Bowser's pawns, if you can get to know the enemy... you also get to love them.\n\n\nNOTE: This is my first WP, so any constructive critisism is appreciated!", "\"And on top of all this, we live in a dictatorship! When can us goombas get the same rights as the hammer bros? They get to live in a nice comfy castle; given helmets and already have shells for defense. If that isn't enough, the almighty Bowser gives them a pocket portal to the hammer dimension, unlimited hammers!\"\n\nGary the Goomba: 3 foot 6, bald, handless, and reeking of one too many Mushroom Martini's.\n\n\"You think Bowser's ever gonna THWOMP him up like that last goomba that dared to THWOMP him? Someone's asking for a THWOMP.\"\n\n\"Look Trevor you can't just replace any word you like with THWOMP; it's not grammatically correct.\"\n\nKenny the Koopa leaned back in his barstool and swirled his Boo Bomb. Why did he come to Boo's Bar? If you measured the total IQ of Boo's patrons and converted it to coins, you would not have enough for an extra life. Also what kind of a sick prankster decided to name every object as some asinine type of alliteration? Kenny sighed and placed his Star Straw into the next drink.\n\n\"And on top of this.... Hey are you all listen' to me? I'm pourin' my heart out here and none of you are lookin' at me. Wait do goombas have hearts? Anyways, we need to make a new social hierarchy based on a representative democracy! This aint' no way to run a kingdom.\"\n\nA heckler in a booth couldn't resist.\n\n\"If we're a kingdom, then shouldn't we be a monarchy then wise guy?\"\n\nGary's strange, pointy eyebrows formed a V on his face.\n\n\"Was that you Sherry the Shy Guy? Why dontcha come and say that to my face... which I''m pretty sure is 90% of my body anyways. Wait is Shy Guy politically correct anymore; am I suppose to call you a Shy Girl?\"\n\nA quick sprint and a burst of the saloon doors, Sherry lived up to her name.\n\n\"Alrighty then as I was saying.....\"\n\nCRASH\n\nSherry flew head first back through the door. A black shape ripped the door from its hinges, fire singed Perry the Piranha Plant's new leaf cut.\n\n\"Now word is one of you is plotting to overthrow my dictaror.... I mean benevolent rule! Which one of you chuckle heads was it?\"\n\nBowser Jr. and his clown car stood trembling.\n\n\"Not you you ignorant child, and wait what are you doing in a bar? Go back home to your mother!\"\n\nBowser Jr. flew out the door: Sherry was close behind. Tears streamed down his face (Sherry's as well).\n\nBowser turned his attention to the stage. Gary tried with desperation to get his footing so he could run out, he should not have drank that last Bom-omb Burst.\n\n\"You! Lowly Goomba, what do you think you're doing?\"\n\nBowser's nostrils flared, smoke filled Boo's Bar. Bowser advanced and there was no one who could save Gary now.\n\n\"If there's one thing that's absolute in this kingdom, it's that I'm ALWAYS FIRST.\"\n\nBowser shrieked pulling Gary the Goomba into his claws.\n\nA small voice piped from the back of the room.\n\n\"Did someone say first?\" Blu the sentient Blue Shell flapped his wings eagerly. \n\n\"Wait no... I didn't say anything!\" Bowser pleaded, but it was too late.\n\n\n\n\n\n" ]	[ 1, 5, 8, 33 ]	[ "1499687394", "1499692686", "1499691888", "1499690900" ]
	[WP] Ghosts are a real, known thing. Your house is haunted, and you wouldn't have it any other way.	6	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The flowers on the table were fresh.\n\nI reached out to touch the soft white folds, mindful of the thorns beneath. I closed my eyes, breathing in the gentle fragrance. Strong hands grasped my shoulders, working out the kinks. Gnarled fingers kneaded the muscles as a deep, honey whiskey voice asked if I needed to sit.\n\nI shook my head and turned. The space behind me was empty, the air buzzing with something unseen. A tea cup sat on the counter, pulled from bare cabinets.\n\nI stepped forward, my heels on the tile an alarm. The house awoke; the floor above bursting with activity. Bodies tumbled and wrestled, childlike voices cheering the action on. Laughter and screams rang out; taunts and challenges. It brought a smile to my face.\n\nWalking past the bathroom, I caught a glimpse of a woman applying lipstick. In a blink, she retreated into the glass, leaving a glimmer of dust in her wake.\n\nI continued down the hall, past bedrooms with aging, broken furniture. A man's voice hummed beside a swinging, cracked bassinet. I picked up his song for a few bars, nostalgia making my skull buzz. The boards beneath the carpet creaked, adding to the music.\n\nThe fire in the parlor at the back of the house had long gone out, yet someone sat to tend to it. Her dark hair spilled over her shoulders, down the length of her spine. She lounged on the gray slate, this part of the house silent. Between my breaths, it was merely the chirping of birds and chorus of bugs in the tall grass. Midday fought its way through musty curtains, struggling to dapple the girl's skin with light.\n\nI touched her shoulder, the silk of her blouse cool on my palm. She turned to me, lips chapped and cheeks freckled, eyes wide and curious.\n\nA direct sunbeam from a break in the curtains sent her away. She slipped from beneath my hand, into the ashes.\n\nI swallowed the lump in my throat, rising to my feet. I stared at the pictures on the mantle, fingers curling over the softened brick. I breathed in the scent of decay all around me, the flowers no longer there to mask it. Faces peered back at me, bound to film, trapped in another time. Two of me stared out into the parlor, but only I looked back.\n\nMusk and perfume wafted from the attic. The silverware in the kitchen rattled. The floors creaked again, and in the glass reflection of the photo frames, I saw the dozens of faces anew. I smiled, closing my eyes and dipping my head against the stone. Bodies large and small shifted behind me, filling the space and reaching out. Warmth radiated from my back, a passing cloud allowing me a moment alone with my beloved spirits.\n\nA different song broke the connection. I took my phone from my pocket, pressing it to my ear. The ghost shied as I turned, melting back into the chairs; the paintings; the pillows; the lightbulbs. They watched from shadows and corners, as I traced my way back through the house.\n\n\"How goes the visit?\"\n\nThe town had kept the place in good condition, after it was cleaned. As fair as they could without owning it, for no one ever being able to live in it again.\n\n\"They picked roses for the plot this year? How thoughtful; your mother's favorite.\"\n\nThe living knew well to honor the dead. Ghosts only favored those kind to them. Heaven help you to have an angry hoard of spirits upon your house. It was what had kept me safe these last two decades, on my own.\n\n\"I'm sure they're all happy to see you doing so well.\"\n\nI paused at the front door. Standing in the threshold, I glanced back at myself, twenty years younger. I didn't see her as she had been in her last moments; the final victim of the worst massacre. I didn't recall her in the way that the coroner and the newspapers did. Her memory was untainted as she stood strong, her eyes clear and her smile kind.\n\nShe waved. The motion eased the time and distance that weighed between us, just a bit. Enough for me to wave back, through blurred vision.\n\nI blinked, and she was gone. The house groaned, settling into its bones, my visit concluded.\n\nThe wind picked up as I wondered, not for the first time, who might be standing in my place if I hadn't gone away that night.\n\n", "The first time Alexandra saw Peter, she thought he was just a stranger in her home. Then he yelled, “Boo!” and flew away. Literally, flew through the ceiling, into the attic. Alex had laughed out loud and walked into the kitchen to get more coffee. \n\nNow, they were close. Peter even brought over friends for meals, and allowed her to do the same. Normally, he looked like a regular man, he could remain solid when he wished. Alex had come to believe Peter was her soul mate. So what if he was dead?\n\n“How did you die?” She asked one night, as she ate a small plate of spaghetti.\n\n“It was a long time ago,” he appeared thoughtful, “My father was a cruel man, especially when he had a few whiskeys. One night, I had come to visit my mother. I was 30 at the time, with a wife and child at home. I had just arrived and I found my father beating my mother with his cane. She was crying, begging him to stop. I rushed in and pulled him away and he turned and banged me over the head with the cane. He then continued to hit me in the face and head, shattering my skull. The last thing I saw was the anger in his face as I died.”\n\n“Oh, wow,” She looked at him with shock on her face.\n\n“When I came to, I was in a place of pure white. There was nothing there, no rooms, no people, no walls. I was just no where. Then a big swirling vortex, purple and black dancing together in an unending waltz, opened and a tall black man walked out,” Alex had no words and the story continued, “He asked me what I wished to occur. I could go into the nothing and cease to be, or I could return to Earth for an indeterminate amount of time.”\n\n“You chose to come back?”\n\n“I needed to guard my mother,” He paused, looking at her, “The next thing I knew, I was standing over my dead body, my father’s body on the ground, bleeding next to mine. My mother stood by the fire, a rifle in her hand. She had killed him.”\n\n“Oh, my god,” she reached out and touched his cheek as a tear rolled down his face, but her hand slipped through. He must have chosen to remain incorporeal. \n\n“The police arrived and she explained what had happened. It was devastating to the town, but was forgotten fairly quickly. My mother moved to Florida with her sister. I never saw her again, but I remained here.”\n\n“I’m glad you did,” Peter reached out and grasped her hand, suddenly tangible again. He pulled her close and held her until she drifted off to sleep, safe in his arms. \n\n“Me too,” he whispered into her hair as she gently began to snore. Their love was strange and unexpected, but it was real, and that is what mattered. " ]	[ 1, 1, 3 ]	[ "1499714043", "1499741367", "1499722050" ]
[removed]	[WP] Write a scene with two characters who have incredible chemistry (any kind of relationship--friends, enemies, lovers, family, etc.)	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nHomework assignments are not allowed. Use /r/HomeworkHelp instead. \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6mhbih/wp_write_a_scene_with_two_characters_who_have/%0A%0A)\n\nThis action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.", "\"Okay, you're going to tell me what I need to know, otherwise I'm going to break your fucking legs like chopsticks.\"\n\nTommy Verchilli was a mountain of a man. He sported a ferociously thick beard that trickled down to chest hair that even Robin Williams would've been proud of. He was hunched over Tony Mortcelli, the greatest Italian-Russian hitman (in his opinion) in the Tostinos family, as he spoke, wielding a monkey wrench normally reserved for some sort of car.\n\n\"Look you fucking shmuck, you couldn't generate enough force with that monkey wrench to-break-my-fucking-legs,\" Tony said between heavy enunciations. \"You see that crowbar over there? That's how you really break a man's fucking legs.\" \n\nTommy Verchilli walked over and pointed at the crowbar,\n\n\"What, fucking this one?\"\n\nTony Mortcelli shook his head from his chained seated position on a clumsy wooden chair.\n\n\"That's exactly right on the fucking money.\"\n\nTommy Verchilli came over,\n\n\"Now look bud, I'd rather not break your fucking legs.\"\n\n\"Course you wouldn't, you look like a genuinely fucking swell guy. And I gotta say, meat apron? You look like someone who knows how to get some blood out of somebody.\"\n\nTommy Verchilli blushed \"What, this ol' thing? Come on bud, I just improvised is alls\"\n\nTony looked him into his eyes \"Don't be all fucking humble Tommy. I's heards of yous. You knows how to break some fucking legs. Just needed the right tools is all. Just giving constructive criticism and all.\"\n\nTommy shook his head \"Forget it brother, I know you weren't trying to fucking deny my feelings or make me feel bad or some shit. Yous just wants me to break your fucking legs properly and not hurt my clams.\" \n\nTony shook his head up and down. \"Exactly! Exactly! Most torturers don't get it! I like you. I like you.\"\n\nTommy smiled from ear to ear and began bashing his legs with a temper. \n\n\"Now, please just tell me what I need to know.\"\n\nTony sat still and quiet.\n\n\"What's wrongs nows?\"\n\nTony replied \"What, you want me to struggle? That's just going to make your job harder!\"\n\nTommy pinched his nose. \"Tony, tony, tony! Haven't yous ever been tortured before! You're supposed to struggle. Otherwise, what am I supposed to tell my boss! What, that you sat there as I broke your fucking legs and you didn't even let out so much as a peep! He'd think I'm wailing on ya like some kind of fucking pussy.\"\n\nTony tried to move his arms out as he expressed his words, but let them fall limp to his sides when he realized they were still chained. \"You know, you make a good point. When yous make a good point, yous make a good point.\"\n\nTommy now resiliently smashed the bat into his legs as Tony let out obnoxiously loud cries. \n\n\"Okay, tone it down a bit bud.\"\n\n\"Sorry.\"\n\nLetting out slightly less obnoxious cries, Tommy slowed down a bit. Huffing and puffing, he asked \n\n\"Come on now. Do you got anything to tell me?\"\n\nTony thought for a second. \"You know, I think the posture you're using is going to hurt your back at the end of all this.\" \n\n\"You think so?\"\n\n\"Yeah, I would just, uh...it's kinda hard for me to shows you all shackled up like a god damn dog.\" \n\nTommy shook his head up and down. \"Good point.\"\n\nAfter unshackling Tony, Tony limped up to a nearby wall and tried to show him the motions. \n\n\"I'm fainting a bit from the blood loss, but you basically want to drive it through like a golf club.\"\n\n\"Like this?\" Tommy did his best attempt at what Tony was trying to convey, but it didn't look exactly like what Tony had pictured in his head.\n\n\"No, like this bud\" Tony motioned for Tommy to come over, and Tony clasped his hands over Tommy's, placing himself firmly and snugly against Tommy to both hold his weight and to show him the ropes. \n\nWhispering into his ear, Tommy said \n\"You want to do it like this pal\" \n\nDriving it through, they both erupted into joyous laughter.\n\n\"Amazing! Amazing! I never thought to break a leg like that. You're the best man I've ever tortured. \n\n\"No problem Tommy, anytime, anytime. Now, get me back in those shackles before your boss comes out.\"\n\n\"Actually, I got a better idea in mind Tony,\" he said before smashing his lips against the other man's\n\n\n-\n\n\n\"Jesus fucking Christ\" Michelle said, closing the tab on her smartphone\n\n\"Women shouldn't write gay porn.\"\n\n" ]	[ 1, 1, 1 ]	[ "1499719618", "1499720226", "1499720999" ]
	[WP] Your English teacher has made your class do an essay about fanfiction. This can only go well.	9	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "\"Fanfiction is a fiction written by a fan, featuring characters from a...\"\n\n\"Fiction the reader is obsessed with. It is a clear sign of...\"\n\n\"Creative writting starting to develop from an early...\"\n\n\"Knowledge of anatomy, often overestimating the stretching ability...\"\n\n\"Of a character's personality. Often, characters are OOC and...\"\n\n\"Changed, for the worst, are the words \"harcore fan\"...\"\n\n\"Of a particular TV series, film, etc.\" \n\nEdit-grammar and formatting " ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1499770390", "1499800983" ]
	[WP] You get in the elevator, press the button for the twelfth floor, and take a deep drink from your coffee. Somewhere between the fifth and sixth floor, there's a shudder and the lift stops. The door opens, and you're greeted by an astonishing sight.	61	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "I can't deal with this job until I've had my coffee.\n\nEverybody thinks that working in HR at Logicua is this big party. Everybody thinks it must be so much fun, with giant salaries and worldly prestige and foosball tables in every breakroom.\n\nAnd yeah, we have all that. But there's also the drama.\n\nI stepped on the elevator and pushed the button for 12. Big sip of coffee.\n\nTake Debbie for example. This woman, the sweetheart, can't talk about anything besides her three kids. She'll tell you about their grades, or their sports teams, or what they ate for goddamn lunch. Another sip. It's honestly infuriating.\n\nAnd what about Leslie? She's one of my best friends, but the woman's laugh is enough to drive you crazy. I mean, did she descend from hyenas?\n\nDon't even get me started on Bettie. I don't know how someone with so little education has so much to say about the world, but, I'm not even going to go there.\n\nThe elevator started, and I took another sip.\n\nThat's when it shuddered. Somewhere between 5 and 6, we came to a sharp halt. The doors opened up. There, on the wall in front of us, was a colony of ants, escaped from their research cages, forming some kind of mutual pattern. Then, the frantic sounds of the research team came from the floor below, shouting and yelling and trying to get them back.\n\nLooks like they're having a tougher day than I am.\n\nI chuckled to myself, and took another sip of coffee.\n\nMondays.\n\n///\n\nScene #69 of r/100scenes", "My weekday morning routine begins at 6:15 AM, when my alarm goes off for the first time. My protocol here is to reach over from my bed to my nightstand, and scoop six tablespoons of grounds into my coffee maker. By 6:18, I have switched the machine on, and by 6:20, I am half asleep again.\n\nAt 6:28, my pot of coffee is ready. I reach over again to my nightstand to pour 8 ounces of the boiling liquid into my stained white mug, and roll over to once again escape reality.\n\nMy second alarm goes off at 6:45. By then, the coffee has cooled down to the point that I can down the whole cup in two massive gulps. By design, I barely taste the liquid. I hate coffee. I promptly pour myself another eight ounces.\n\nThe second cup of coffee takes less time to cool than the first. After another ten minutes of half sleep, my third alarm goes off, and it’s down the hatch. \n\nA year ago, my first alarm went off at 6:25, and this was all it took to get me out of bed. Now it takes one more snooze cycle, and one more cup of coffee, which I pour at 6:55 and drink at 7:05.\n\n7:10 is the absolute latest I can stay in bed if I want to make it to work by 8:00. I’ve been hitting this number on the nose for the last three years, and it hasn’t failed me once. I cast my crumpled bed sheets aside, take a long piss, and go through the motions of taming my knotted mop of hair. I’m out of the bathroom by 7:15.\n\nThen it’s back to my bedroom. I throw on a polo, some khakis, and usually, (if I’m not in too much of a hurry to remember), my belt. I make a quick trip to the kitchen to grap a granola bar and my thermos, and then it’s back to my bedroom, where I transfer the remains of my coffee pot and pull a pair of socks and shoes over my feet. I’m out the front door of my apartment by 7:20, and backing out of my parking spot two minutes later.\n\nMy 30 minute commute to work consists of eating my granola bar, drinking about half the coffee in my thermos, and halfheartedly listening to a self-help podcast. The podcast is the most critical part of my morning, because it allows me to pat myself on the back for taking steps to improve my life, without actually accomplishing anything. I will use this moral licensing for the next 8 hours, when I browse the internet and do not perform the responsibilities of my job.\n\nIf there’s no traffic, I get to the parking lot of my job by 7:50. This is ideal, because it gives me enough time to perform my second most important task of the morning; five minutes of meditation/trying not to think about how much I don’t want to be at work. If there is traffic, and I pull into the parking lot at 7:55, I simply skip this step.\n\nIt takes two minutes to walk from my car to the lobby, one minute to ride the elevator, and two more to walk to my desk. Or at least, on a routine day, it would.\n\nIt’s 7:57 on a Wednesday. I step into the elevator alone, and punch the button for the 12th floor. As the digital floor display hits 2, I shake my thermos and deduce I have about 4 ounces of coffee left. By floor 4, I have zero ounces of coffee left. Floor 5 passes, and then…\n\nThere’s a sudden lurch that nearly throws me off my feet. The elevator comes to a complete stop, with the bottom left line of the floor display flickering on and off, changing the display from five to six. For the first time it years, I can actually feel my heartbeat. I hit the elevator’s alarm button, and then the door open.\n\nThe elevator obeys my command, sliding open as if nothing has happened. And for a moment, my brain tricks me into thinking the same thing. This is floor 12, I think, as the corners of my lips lower into a frown. I duck back into the elevator, and see that the display is still flickering between 5 and 6.\n\n“Is this a prank?” I say aloud, to no one in particular. No one answers. I walk toward my desk, and notice that Kathy’s desk, then Ben’s, and finally Steve’s are all empty. After a moment, I notice that their desk ornaments are gone, too. There are a few other changes that I realize as I look closer. The cubicle walls are a slightly different color, a few of the desks have changed, and the computers look surprisingly postmodern. I furrow my brow and walk on.\n\nI arrive at my desk, and am surprised to see someone sitting there. “Do you know what’s going on?” I ask.\n\nHe doesn’t hear me. He’s wearing headphones, and, although he’s done the best he can to block the visibility of his computer screen from the aisle, it’s clear that he’s watching a video on YouTube. He’s facing the screen intently, but judging from his hairline and posture, he’s about 30 years older than me. I take a step closer. “Hey!”\n\nThe man pops out one ear bud, and looks right at me. His eyes are blue, like mine. “Oh hey,” he says, a guilty smile on his lips. “I’m almost done with the report. I’ll have it in this afternoon.”\n\nI can feel a chill shooting through my body. I take one step back, my lip quivering as I try to get some words out. The man has already put his ear bud back in, and is back to his video. I put a hand to my mouth, and look across the decorations of his cubicle. The same pennant from my alma mater, the same thermos that I’m holding in my hand, and the same collage of my favorite movie characters lining the wall behind my computer.\n\nI close my eyes, and feel tears running hot down my cheeks. I had always wanted to be a screenwriter…\n____________________________________________________________________\nOf all the writers on this site with their own subbreddits, I'm certainly one of them. More stories at r/mvdww" ]	[ 1, 4, 11 ]	[ "1499773721", "1499778031", "1499779904" ]
	[WP] Aliens often vacation on Earth disguised as humans. There are three big rules. No killing, no love, no revealing what you actually are. It's your first time on Earth and you have broken all three rules in one day.	310	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "So there I was...standing in a puddle of human blood. I thought to myself \"Damn, you've only been here a day and your parents were right. You aren't even fit to visit a planet full of idiots.\" \n\nBut they just won't understand. I met this wonderful cross eyed woman at the Honkey Tonk next to my apartment. She reminded me of my high school sweetheart. \n\nWe hit it off instantly after I bought her a whiskey on the rocks. She complimented my striking appearance, which was a relief because I picked a shell that came from Africa and I wasn't sure how that would work out in Austin, Texas. I guess my exotic look was a welcome distraction from the norm here. As the night rolled on, we became drawn to each other. I asked her back to my place where I made the mistake of saying \"I'm out of this world\" when it came to sex. \n\nShe looked at me with much suspicion. I was busted. She HAD to know I wasn't from here. Rule one out the window. \n\nI told her I loved her after only 14.765 seconds of intercourse, which is the norm on my planet of Friendzonious. Wow. Two broken rules already. I kicked myself.\n\nWe started again, but this time much more aggressively. Then it happened...strike three. \n\nI stepped out for a cigarette...a rare delicacy on my planet...and called my mother. \n\nMom was apprehensive when I told her I had fallen in love with a human. \"How will she give you forty children with only one Vagina? \n\nThat's when I told her I killed her.\n\n\"Oh my! Falling in love was bad enough, but you killed her? I knew you couldn't abide by the rules of Earth!\" \n\n\"Well what would you do Mom? She put a finger in my butt! There was nothing I could do! I had already broken two rules!\" I pleaded. \n\n\"At least she didn't know you were from another world\" Mom said. \n\n\"Well but...oh shit.\" I said. Maybe I read into that one. My bad. \n\n Now I have to figure out how to clean up this mess. ", "I couldn't see her standing there,\nthe blood still in my eyes. \n\nBut what I knew I could not fake,\nI was wearing no disguise. \n\nI loved her more than she could know,\nas I'm sat there with the dead...\n\nand if I'm counting that's all 3,\nthey'll surely have my head.\n ", "\"Claryion what the actual fuck!\" \n\nI turned my head to look at my friend Doorni who came with me to Earth. It wasn't hard obtaining the space passports or anything so but we just had to follow the three rules. \n\nEverything was going fine and the Two of us were enjoying the trip. Well now I look at my friend sitting on a bed covered in blood, myself with blood all over, and next to me is a beautiful woman who is headless. \n\n\"Oh hey Doorni what's up?\" I say to him. \n\nHe stares at me shocked still in complete disbelief. \n\n\"Clary why the are you covered in blood and- oh what the-... CLARY IS THAT A HUMAN!\"\n\nI look over at the headless woman, \"Nnnooooo...\" I make an attempt at lying. \n\nDoorni looks at me still in shock, \"It is a human. You. You Fucking killed a human Clary!\"\n\n\"Welll it wasn't my fault.\"\n\n\"You've only been away from me for 12 hours, what the hell happened?\"\n\n\"Okay but you gotta promise not to get mad.\"\n\nHe looks back at the dead body next to me, \"I think we're way past that.\" \n\n\"Finnne. Okay so you know how you ran into those sick dudes who wanted to surf and stuff and I was like 'nah man it's not real my thing but I'll go do other stuff' and you were like 'that's sick my totally not alien bro who wants me to interact well with humans' and I was like 'dude why are you saying this aloud peeps be suspicious' and you were like 'nah my totally bro who is in fact human' and I was like 'DUDE' and you were like-\"\n\n\"Just get to the point!\"\n\n\"Okay well as it turns out you shouldn't have left me alone because only a few minutes later I met a girl and we hit it off really well.\"\n\n\"O-Okay, and?\"\n\n\"Well we spent the entire day getting to know each other and then I kinda told her I was an alien from space and that I loved her.\"\n\nDoorni paused staring at me. His mouth agape. \"WHAT THE FUCK! Wait. Then. Who is this?\" He pointed to the girl beside me. \n\n\"Oh this is her.\"\n\nHe began to gag.\n\n\"I mean I think we hit it off well.\"\n\n\"I'm gonna barf.\"\n\n\"Oh not in her man that'll be messy.\" \n\nHe stopped and looked at me in the gore strewn room we talked in. \n\nHe composed himself, \"Well I assume it didn't work out too well.\"\n\n\"No actually it went great and she told me she loved me too!\"\n\n\"Then what happened?\"\n\n\"Well we made love and afterwards, as is customary with my people I needed to eat her head to feed the offspring she has implanted in my body.\"\n\n\"DUDE!\"\n\n\"I CAN'T BREAK CUSTOM DOORNI! THIS ISN'T FUCKING SPACE CABO!\" \n\n\"Damn it man. Well we're gonna get in trouble for this. Like at least a space week suspension on our space passports.\"\n\n\"But dude it was so worth it.\"\n\nHe shook his head at me. \n\n\"Hey you wanna try some?\" I offered him, living up her hand. He got queasy and left. \"Well I guess more for my babies.\"", "“You… what?!” asked Jack.\n\n“I know, I know! But I panicked!” said Steve. \n\n“We all freak out a little our first time on Earth… but this is a bit much, don’t you think?”\n\n“But I’d never been with a woman before!”\n\n“I hate to bring it up, but most people don’t kill the first hooker they sleep with. It’s much later in life that you start killing hookers.”\n\n“You don’t understand… I had to.”\n\n“What do you mean you ‘had to?’”\n\n“I kind of, sort of, told her about Jvledefarn…”\n\n“What?! Why in the blfardum would you do that?!”\n\n“Pillow talk.”\n\n“Pillow talk? “\n\n“Yes. Pillow talk.”\n\n“With the hooker?”\n\n“With the hooker.”\n\n“Why were you engaging in pillow talk with the hooker?”\n\n“She was nice… sweet. I fell in love…. She didn’t make fun of my… my small splordrax…”\n\n“Of course she didn’t! She doesn’t know what a blfardumer splordax is!”\n\n“I mean, she saw it though. It was disguised as my penis.”\n\n“Even the tiniest of splordix are ten human inches.”\n\n“I don’t know what that means.”\n\n“It means she thought you had a huge cock, Steve!”\n\n“My disguise was a businessman, not a farmer.”\n\n“Unbelievable.”\n\n“So will you help?”\n\n“Of course I will. I love nothing more than burying dead Earth hookers on Mars. It’s literally my favorite thing to do.”\n\n“NASA will lose their vlopat when they find all those bodies.”\n\n“Heh. They’ll need to actually dig up the “face on Mars” to find them.”\n\n“What?! That’s where you’ve been burying them?!”\n\n“Yeah…”\n\n“That thing is, like, 800 feet high.”\n\n“Yeah. I know. I’ve buried a lot of Earth hookers.”\n", "Earth.\n\nThe wispy clouds and blue oceans beckoned me as my ship cut in through the atmosphere, the tiles on its skin glowing bright red. I gripped the armrest of my seat tighter and closed my eyes as the autopilot continued its descent to the Pacific. Almost there…\n\nI felt a roar as the ramjets kicked in and the ship stabilized. Active camouflage on the hull made it invisible to human observers, and their pitiful radar was absorbed with ease. Now floating on extending wings, the ship banked for the final approach.\n\nAll my documentation was settled – I was Amy Thompson, mid twenties, American citizen. Wrapped around my face was a nanoleaf veil, giving my Raqi features an appearance that matched my passport. The Raqi were quite humanoid in appearance, but nevertheless had larger eyes and nearly invisible ears. We couldn’t pass reasonable scrutiny on Earth, and I had the additional fault of having pale, nearly white, skin. My purple hair was dyed blond and carefully styled to conceal the larger prosthetic ears glued to my head.\n\nI was dressed in a brown leather jacket, skinny jeans, and black boots. On my head was a full-face motorcycle helmet that hid my appearance even further. Strapped behind me in the cargo bay was a BMW F800 bike, sporting forged plates and documentation. In the saddlebags was a holograph, a 3D scanner that could record any space and store it into memory. The system could be used in reverse, allowing one to immerse themselves into a saved location as if they were there.\n\nTechnically, I was on vacation. All expenses paid, including the ridiculously expensive ship and gear. Insurance and government permits were taken care of. The catch was that I had to map the world with my holograph. Explore Earth, they had said. Record the train stations, mountains, museums, even sewers. Well, maybe not the last one.\n\nBut I digress. I looked at the display in front of me, wheeling my gloved fingers over the virtual console. A few taps confirmed the destination coordinates.\n\nYellowstone National Park, Wyoming. A stealth landing in woodland, followed by two days of riding and possibly some hiking. The nights would be spent in the ship, which I’d nicknamed Baliz after the winged horses of my homeland. Which I probably wouldn’t return to for many months.\n\nBLEEP!\n\nLights flashed sharply as the autopilot suddenly disengaged, forcing the ship to manual. I instinctively grabbed the yoke and pulled it back, preventing a Mach 5 crash into the ocean.\n\nJust a systems failure, I thought. Then the engines cut out.\n\nI moved my hands more quickly, manually working the relays controlling the fuel pump. The airspeed indicator was projected on the corner of my eye, and I cursed as the speed dropped rapidly. By the time I’d fixed the pump, I was going too slowly to restart the jets. Attempting to start the main booster at this attitude would be suicide. Feeling defeated, I activated my thrusters and brought the craft down relatively safely on a corn field.\n\nSafely in the sense that I survived the crash landing. The nose was damaged badly, fluids leaking from the fuselage. Parts of the dry field were burning where the thrusters touched the ground. Worst of all, the active camouflage had failed entirely and Baliz was visible for the world to see.\n\nShit.\n\nI hauled myself and the BMW out the rear escape hatch. The cockpit and storage compartment was encased in an additional hard shell, preventing its contents from damage. I was filling my backpack with additional supplies just as the door of the farmhouse opened. My eyes didn’t even glance at the farmer’s face, and instead picked out the Remington 700 in his hands. Hands that were pulling the bolt back and shouldering the weapon as he stared at the alien ship on his land.\n\nTime slowed as I reached into my bag and drew my pistol with speed that surpassed any human. I watched as the plasma bolt hit him in the breast, blowing his body to bits. My first deadly sin, but the consequences were off my mind right now. With a small drip in my eye, I set Baliz to self-destruct in five minutes. Those tears continued as I looked at the bloody mess on the porch, and then to the stars that were appearing up above. I was light years away from what humans called Alpha Centauri, but what the Raqi called home. My husband was waiting for me, as was my young daughter that wouldn’t let go when I left for the shuttleport weeks ago.\n\nWith a heavy heart, I mounted the bike and set off.\n\n---\n\nI got carried away a bit. I might continue for a part 2, since the story clearly isn't done yet!", "Title: It is still a tape recording.\n\nMarie ripped open a pack of Cheerios, and feasted off the grainy goodness. A few feet away, the dead body of who looked like Marie bled on the green carpet. I looked from the dead body, to the living Marie, and opened my mouth to speak, but no words would come out.\n\n“Do you want some? No, I suppose you would want it with milk. I haven't quite mastered digesting lactoid materials,” said the living Marie, speaking in her English accent. She crunched and crunched, as the reddish liquid pouring from the dead Marie's body pooled at her shoes.\n\n“Did you kill her?” I asked. \n\n“Yes. She was planning on getting back with you. Did you know that?” said Marie.\n\n“Why did you kill her?” I asked.\n\n“Erica,” said this not-Marie, “I didn't intend to kill her. The cloning procedure...shit. It just went wrong. So wrong. I'm sorry.”\n\nI pushed myself up the floor, trying not to look at the body. “Stop speaking with her voice.”\n\n“I can't. I mean, I could, but it would be difficult. The simulation procedure makes a copy of the chosen human's consciousness over the original consciousness. That's why I know she loved you. Because I do..”\n\n“You can't love me. I don't even know you. I knew Marie.”\n\n“I am a perfect copy of Marie. I mean, my original form looks like Cthullu shagged a porcupine, but right now I'm Marie. It's weird, seeing me dead. I am sorry for your lover.”\n\n“Get away from me.”\n\n“Will do. Although, you'll see me again. Cause you're an intriguing human. Worth my observation on this planet.”\n\n“I'm just a struggling artist. I come from Missouri. Raised on a farm.”\n\n“Can't help who I fall in love with. And I'm just following Marie's emotions.”\n\n“Go to hell. Get away from me.”\n\n“You're in my house. You get out!” said Marie playfully. The same way Marie would have. “Shit, I've broken all my rules in one day. Fell in love. Killed. And revealed myself.”\n\nSo I got out. The next day, I saw Marie. She was no different than any other day. At first, I was worried. But there was no trace of any alien weirdness. We got back together, and tried as I might, I couldn't sense a difference. I tried to forget what I had seen.\n\nSometimes I wonder, though. ", "Humans were considered to be a little slow when it came to space travel. At this point they can barely get to their own moon. Probably for the best all they would learn is that a lot of alien races hated each other. \n\nMy system and people were constantly at war with several others with a list of reasons longer than most books. In one case we had completely wiped out an entire species but they had already built their superweapon. A self replicating AI war machine. We fought to keep it at bay until it eventually ran its system out of resources and powered down.\n \nAt this point, if humanity started serious space travel they would just get wiped out or enslaved. Their sun harvested for energy. A few races instead decided that earth could serve as a type of vacation spot. It was a planet where everyone cast aside their wars and political ties. It was neutral planet and the founding races made a ton of money off it.\n\nEarth’s people hated each other so much that corruption was rampant throughout the world. Give a tourist enough money and they could basically do anything they wanted. There were a lot of rules in place though. The most important obviously being that we couldn’t reveal ourselves in any way. Humans believed that they were alone in the universe. That belief needed to be maintained.\n\nEarth was my vacation choice after my last assignment. I was sitting in a New York City park. For some reason the blend of nature vs buildings was always fascinating to me. My planet had been changed to a purely mechanical one for thousands of years now. New York was always so different whenever I came back. The parks were always beautiful. \n\n My species had an easier time on earth because of our abilities. Shapeshifting and telepathy through physical touch. I didn’t even really need the money that came with the tourist package. Anything could be acquired by the end of the first day. Other members of my species used their talents for rougher tastes, I just kept to myself. Even among my own people I was known as a monster of war. Being alone was what I was resigned to.\nToday I my look was that of a homeless. Very easy way to be ignored in most cases. Until night fell I’d be surprised if anyone came anywhere near me.\n \nWhile I was lying against a tree a small puppy came up to me. I wasn’t particularly enamored with Earth’s habit of keeping pets, making a connection with something that you couldn’t even speak with seemed absurd. I gently ran my hand along the animals back as it licked my hand. Emotional feedback from animals was usually the same. Hungry, hungry, hungry, play, but the suddenly. Hurt. It whined a little and shied away as I lifted my hand. You couldn’t tell due to its coloring but the animal’s entire lower back was actually bruised. It now was staying out of reach but it didn’t run away.\n \nThe dog was still taking all of my attention when she came over. Her age couldn’t have been over 11 of their years. Humans lived fast and died quickly. By the time I visited again she’d have a child of her own. The puppy came back over in my direction and barked at me it’s tail wagging.\n \n“Did she yelp because you touched her back?” the little girl asked. I just looked at her and nodded. She shook her head. “That’s okay, you didn’t mean to hurt her. She was already hurt.”\n\nMy life was spent as a spy, a very good yet very solitary spy. A moment talking to anyone was rare. This was peaceful.\n\nThe dog was coming closer and as I reached over to pet it again the girl suddenly grabbed my hand. In a peaceful situation like this it caught me off guard. Her thoughts flooded into my mind quicker and more solidly than an animal’s would.\n\nThis girl was kind hearted. She felt bad for me because she thought I was sick or soft. Or other words that her father would say that she couldn’t repeat. Her father would be angry but she had to make sure that the puppy was okay, her father got angry if the puppy ran away.\n \nThe third puppy in a year. But she didn’t have any others. The bruise on the dog was different from the bruises she had. This girl was strong considering what she had endured. 11 years and her life. It was awful.\n \nMy hand as I sat there in a bit of a daze. We weren’t supposed to get attached. I wasn’t supposed to do anything but my temper was often something that I actually had issues controlling. This girl did not need to be worrying about whether or not I was sick. The real sick one was moving towards us from the path.\n\nHe was considered big for earth standards. Maybe that made it easier for what he did. With his strength there was never a reason for him to be so rough about what he did. There was no way this little thing could defend herself. His face was stern but her reaction to his voice quickly revealed that he wasn’t in a good mood. At that tone the puppy sprinted down the hill further into the large field that was below us.\n\n“The dog is running away again Mary. I told you, you need to keep them from running away. Otherwise it’s going to run away just like the others.” she was still holding my hand when he said that. He noticed and immediately said, “Mary let go of him immediately. He’s filthy.”\n\nThe other puppies never ran away. Mary already knew that. He didn’t know she had woken up and seen it the last time. What he did. \n \nMary had always cried when she got a puppy. They made her so happy and she could actually have a friend but with this puppy she wasn’t crying tears of joy. Mary didn’t want to see her new puppy get hurt again. \n\nI did it without really thinking. My arm lengthened almost instantly and Mary froze when she saw it. my hand turning into a giant claw and grabbing his head. It made a little popping sound when I crushed his skull. The girl saw my arm and went to turn but with my other arm I forcefully grabbed her and made her face me before she looked.\n\nNo reason to see the nightmare that was going to end the one she was already in. As she was looking at me trembling I wasn’t sure I had done the right thing, humans were fragile. Her head was full of fear.\n \n “Don’t look at your father right now. Just go and get your dog okay. Then go find your mother.” I told her. The mother wasn’t exactly innocent. She ignored the issues, the only other person besides myself and the girl who knew what was going on. Or maybe she was just that stupid. It didn’t matter right now I just wanted to try and protect this girl from anymore major harm. \n\nThere were tears in her eyes even though my arm was back to its normal shape. She trembled but slowly trotted down the hill after the dog. From where we were the whole field was within eyeshot. A couple of paserby had grabbed the puppy and were looking around. They were a good distance away.\n \n“Hurry,” I said pointing. “They are looking for you.”\n \nThat was enough to take her mind off me as she quickly ran down the hill after it. \n\nWalking over to the body I shifted my body to that of a female jogger. There were some cops sitting on the bench a little further up. I changed my form to a jogger and began running over to them. \nThey could clear the area and keep the girl from seeing the body. Her mother could come get her and maybe identify the head. \n\nThey didn’t need the girl to see it. \n\nThe number of rules I had broken might ban me from Earth for a few cycles but that was fine. Either way Mary would have been dead by the time I got back.\n" ]	[ 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 7, 12, 66 ]	[ "1499776867", "1499826462", "1499809789", "1499803884", "1499827868", "1499802594", "1499808649", "1499795665" ]
	[WP] The voices of your ancestors offering discouragement and terrible life advice to end your family line instead of saving it.	6	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "\"You don't want me to come up?\" Jackie said in a vaguely accusatory tone, abruptly pushing back from my arms to frown at me. I could see disappointment, annoyance, and self-doubt flickering back and forth in her eyes and I felt the urge to reach out to her.\n\n\"I just... I think it's a little soon, don't you? I think you're amazing and I just don't want to rush anything,\" I apologized as shyly as I could manage.\n\nI watched her expression closely as it lifted into a sweet smile. \"That's so... gallant of you,\" she cooed, closing the gap between us once more.\n\nThat's not really the correct usage of gallant, came the voice of my 16th great grandfather, James. Is she an idiot?\n\nShe seems way too pretty for you, dear, my paternal grandmother chimed in.\n\n\"Derek, is everything okay?\" Jackie asked me.\n\nI shook my head, hoping to clear the voices from distracting me any further. It had been nearly three months since they had showed up and three months since... other things. I was becoming desperate.\n\n\"Yes, yes, everything is great,\" I said, taking her hands in my own. \"If you don't feel like we are rushing things, I would be delighted to show you my apartment.\"\n\nI still think you should have spent this evening killing yourself, Great Uncle Darrell chimed in.\n\nHe had a not so subtle way of expressing himself.\n\nJackie gave me a sly smile and nodded excitedly, so I gestured her up the front stairs with what I internally hoped was a dashing smile.\n\nThat's a smile only an ancestor could love, my third great aunt, Rosie, said.\n\nI tried and likely failed to keep my expression light as I steered Jackie first into the lobby and then into the vaguely sterile scented elevator. \n\nAs I pressed the button for my floor, Jackie's eyes widened. \"Wow, so high up? I guess we have some time to talk then...\" she said with a playful look on her face. She started to move closer to me.\n\nYou should tell her all about how you're going to ditch your bank account and invest everything you own in gold, my maternal grandfather Morty said.\n\n\"You were literally a Wall Street banker,\" I muttered furiously.\n\n\"I'm sorry?\" Jackie asked, pausing as she was slipping her arms around my neck.\n\n\"Nothing, sorry. I sneezed. Bless me!\" I rambled nervously. Jackie smiled and moved in even closer to kiss me.\n\nI don't think she wants to talk, son, Grandpa James said dryly.\n\nReally? I didn't think she was that obvious, Rosie replied conversationally.\n\nShe was about as subtle as a giant 18th century peppered moth, said my distant cousin Harold.\n\n\"That's not a saying,\" I muttered angrily as Jackie kissed around my jawline.\n\n\"What's that?\" she murmured.\n\n\"Nothing,\" I said quickly. \"Sneezing again. Must be dusty in here.\"\n\nI jumped slightly as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. I took Jackie's hand and led her down to my door, fumbled with my keys, and brought her into my apartment.\n\nI'm just saying, you're on the twenty-third floor. You'd hit the ground real hard. No possible chance of saving you from this height, Great Uncle Darrell chimed.\n\nI shut my eyes tightly and turned to Jackie. \"So, this is my place. I know it's not much, but it offers a pretty great view,\" I told her, nodding over to the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. \n\nA very high up view, you know, Darrell reiterated. \n\n\"It's beautiful,\" she said. \"But I'm more interested in the conversation we were having before...\"\n\nBoy, she really thinks she's subtle, doesn't she? my paternal grandmother said. This is the best you could do for yourself? Oh, honey...\n\nJackie giggled as she made her way over to my couch and took a seat.\n\nDid she just giggle? Rosie asked, disbelief evident in her ghostly \"voice.\"\n\nFighting the urge to roll my eyes, I walked over with as much casualty as I could muster to join her.\n\nShe looked up at me with a smile and started to move her hands up my leg.\n\nNothing is going to happen unless he took like five of those pills, Morty chimed in, to the laughter of all the ancestors currently residing in my head.\n\n\"I'm not impotent!\" I burst out, with sudden and uncontrollable rage.\n\n\"Okay... I think I better go,\" Jackie said hurriedly, grabbing her purse and making her way out the door as if the entire apartment was just declared a nuclear fallout zone.\n\nI collapsed onto the couch as she slammed my front door and cradled my head in my hands. \n\nLookin' pretty down, son, Great Uncle Darrell said casually. You know there's always a way out.\n\nI looked up at the room and sighed. \"You died at the age of one-hundred and three, and only then because someone murdered you.\"\n\nThere was a moment of silence. But boy, if I'd only died sixty-four years earlier when I was your age.\n\n\"I am twenty-seven,\" I said through gritted teeth.\n\nYou are? James asked.\n\nJesus, I didn't lose my hair until I was in my eighties, Rosie said.\n\nWhat twenty-seven year old wears loafers? my paternal grandmother whispered to the others.\n\n\"They-they are comfortable! You know what, I don't need to explain myself to you!\" I shouted and gave a nonsensical yell. \"Why in the world do you guys hate me—and our family—so much that you came back from the dead to haunt me into killing myself and ending our lineage? What in the hell would possess you to do that?!\" I yelled.\n\nThere was a pause. The apartment was strangely silent after my outburst. I looked around expectantly. \"Well?\" \n\n\"Ah, I dunno... You're gettin' pretty fat.\"" ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1499822817", "1499827098" ]
	[WP] At the age of 10, everyone will receive an item that will one day save their lives. You received a slice of pizza.	67	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "I turned 10 two weeks before the day I went to school with Mom. She was finishing up her degree that she had put on hold after my birth. Given it was finals week, she figured the mass of students cramming in the library would allow me to blend in while she finished her finals. I observed the mass of students coming and going from the lengthy steps of the entrance, when a cart started rolling our way. \n\nIt was a small hand cart packed with pizzas. A small gathering followed the cart. Then the strong announcement projected from the students, \"Free Pizza.\" Mom always told me to never eat food from strangers, but it seemed safe with the growing crowd. I counted at least twenty pizza boxes and I made my way towards the cart.\n\n\"David's pizza party,\" students yelled out and waved little poster boards with free pizza on them. When I got closer, I heard the explanation. \"David had so many meal points left on his account. Instead of letting them go to waste, he wanted to treat people to pizza.\" \n\nI knew I would get a free slice and it felt good because my hunger was growing and Mom only left me with a granola bar and a banana. Two student cafe workers, wearing matching magenta dining shirts, were dishing out the pies with gloves onto paper plates.\n\n\"Hey little guy,\" the girl said, grinning, \"Pepperoni or cheese?\" I chose cheese over pepperoni. I thanked David. He was standing next to the cafe workers, greeting all the hungry students with an aura of accomplishment. \n\nIt really was a feat, though. I again sat atop the lengthy steps, eating my pizza, fascinated by the simple sight of food bringing people together.\n\nThe line died when people realized there wasn't going to be enough food and that their tests were to begin in five minutes. The notorious bell started to sing, 2 o'clock. Still one box left and no one was coming up to the cart. \n\nI was still hungry and I figured why not ask for another slice. \"Hey David,\" I said, \"Would it be okay if I have another slice?\" He looked around and nodded his head. \n\nI thanked him again and mentioned how my mother left me hungry, waiting for her to come back. \n\nAfter I ate the second slice, I started to feel tired and sat down in the shady grass outside the library. My head fell into my lap.\n\nI woke up to my mother calling my name, \"Darren,\" she said, \"Let's go. The bus will be here any minute.\" I stood up and saw no sign of the pizza party, I wasn't sure how long I had been napping.\n\nOn the way towards the bus stop, my stomach started rumbling. I had a sudden feeling and I yelled at Mom for a bathroom. I went inside and regretted that second slice of pizza. \n\nAt first, mom was upset. We missed the bus which only came once an hour. But after the bus didn't come back the next hour, she was crying. Mom still had chores to do, as well as finish an essay due online. But, when we found out that the bus we missed would end up being the most tragic accident in our small college town's history, she never made fit of it again.\n\nTurns out a UPS driver fell asleep at the wheel parallel to the city bus. The driver swerved into the bus, pushing it off the freeway into a spinning, fiery doom.\n\nMost of the riders, students, passed away that day.\n\nI never told Mom about the two slices of pizza because I knew she'd get mad either way. She would be mad that I ate food from strangers and got sick, but even more frustrated that disobeying her led something good. " ]	[ 1, 35 ]	[ "1499828999", "1499846703" ]
	[WP] Everyday one person gets to make a 24 hour rule that the whole world must follow. Today is your day.	55	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The crimson-colored envelope was delivered to my house exactly seven days ago. At first glance, it seemed like any other ordinary envelope but when I touched it inside the mailbox, there was no doubt that it was alive. It's gentle heart beat pulsated through my fingers as I held it.\n\nI knew exactly what it was, as would any other recipient. Everyday, we are subject to a smothering rule that we must abide or else we face an instant death. The rules that come about are as fickle as the creatures making them. They can be beautiful and fulfilling; they can be ugly and heinous; and often times, trivial and pointless. Either way, the impact can be profound.\n\nCertain days stand out more than others, like when Johannes from Sweden decided that everyone must kill a stranger. A large chunk of the population was wiped out within 24 hours and most of the murders were committed with heavy hearts and flowing tears. Requests of opposing nature are seen as well, like the time that Frederick from London wanted the whole world to sit in silence for an hour to honor all those who have died before us. There was an overwhelming feeling that took place that day, and the unified silence traveled across the globe. \n\nTo think that I would get the opportunity during my lifetime is hardly believable, given the odds. I have had a week to decide what I want to do but like most members of the world, the thought has crossed my mind thousands of times. What if... What if it comes to me? We have all dreamed about it but only a few will ever get the chance. So now, with my wife and kids beside me, and the world awaiting anxiously, it was my turn to instantly impact the lives of billions of people.\n\n\"Is it time? Are we going to go through with it?\", my wife nervously asked. The 24 hour rule has been so harsh to her in the past.\n\nI sat there expressionless holding the return envelope that was sent inside the original request. It radiated as it lie on our French mahogany desk. My fingers gripped the pen tightly causing the ends of them to turn white. My hand started to tremble.\n\n\"What's wrong, baby? Why are you so scared?\", my wife asked. \"Why hesitate? You know exactly what needs to be done!\"\n\nI composed myself and let my hand write freely.\n\nTomorrow, December 31st, every person must revolt, with the utmost violence and passion for change, against their government. This rule applies to every human being on earth, except for those within the Western Capital. Do your best!\n\nAs the general of the greatest country on earth, and a man that holds the power of the Imperial Guard, it is my duty to start the world-wide revolution. From there, we will go on the offensive and take advantage of our unique situation. Should everything go accordingly, the Emperor will reign over the entire Earth, and the Western Capital will be the only capital that matters. This is our moment.\n\n" ]	[ 1, 31 ]	[ "1499859189", "1499859338" ]
	[WP] You must accept life's Terms of Service in order to be born. A lawyer explains to you the pros and cons.	26	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "“Wait… So you’re saying that if I sign this, I get to live. BUT I could easily and accidentally acquire some horrible disease that could knock me out in a few weeks? Maybe a few days even?” I questioned eagerly. \n\nHe stayed silent, his lips a tight line.\n\nI thought it over a bit, and ran through the possible scenarios in my head. Not bad. Decent. Amazing. Shit. Hell yeah.\n\n“Alright, I’m in,” I exclaimed as a shit-eating grin from ear to ear became plastered on my face.\n\n“What?” he questioned. His eyes scanned me as if I were some asinine fool, which I am not.\n\n“Yeah, I’m gonna sign.”\n\n“But… You heard the most horrible things about the plan… You know some people don’t ever come back. And you still want to sign? Are you sure?”\n\nI sighed. Don’t question me, you idiot, I thought. I know people are advised against this, but I don’t care. And I want it. Oh boy, do I want it.\n\n“Give me the damn paper,” I ordered.\n\nConfused and appalled, he handed over the sturdy packet, and I signed on every X he marked. I almost had to stop myself from laughing hysterically and crying tears of joy. I was as giddy as a child. And as a child, I was never giddy. \n\nI left the room, practically jumping with joy. Yes, YES, I exclaimed in my mind. Finally a chance to die!** \n\nYour head probably just cocked to the side, and perhaps you knitted your eyebrows perplexedly. Yes, you read that correctly - I do, in fact, want to die. Why, you may ask? Well let’s play a little game. I’ll make a list of all the reasons you think people would crave death, and you’ll pick the one you think I am facing. Deal? Deal!\n\na) I often wonder what it is like. To experience eternal nothingness. To float into the abyss without a care in the world. Oh yes, that sweet, sweet, nothingness. I adore the idea of it. It seems quite entertaining, frankly. No job, no school, no idiot fucking husband, no more anxiety, and no idiot fucking daughter. I would have no problem abdicating everything I have right now if it meant I could experience pure tranquility for… well, for forever. But I’m mainly just curious about what death is like. Escaping everything else is just the cherry on top, the fries on the side. \nb) I fucked up - bigtime. Like an incredibly massive mistake that will most definitely ruin my life if anyone were to discover the despicable thing I did, I would be fucked for life. This impetuous error would rip the life I have now to shreds (I would have to watch it perish right before my very eyes, the ashes falling through my fingers hitting the floor as my eyes well with tears.) - and I just cannot afford that, not after how fucking hard I’ve worked. \nc) I’m just really fucking sick of this. By this, I mean everything. Absolutely anything and everything gets on my nerves and makes me feel like shit. I can barely remember the last time I actually wanted to do something! I can barely remember the last time that getting out of bed was easy, nevertheless something I fucking wanted to do. I’m just… I’m over this, and I want out of it more than I have ever wanted anything in my entire life.\nd)I am living a lie. I have not-so-accidentally created a very, very fake persona which has only recently started to fuck me over. It was fine in the beginning, even a tad fun. But, no one realizes how difficult it is to keep up with it. Society marvels over actors due to how they can successfully be someone else realistically, but playing a part in your real life? Doesn’t sound too appealing, does it? It is one of the most exhausting things I have ever experienced in all of my years of living. \n\nOkay. Take your pick.\n\nYeah, it’s C.\n\nI’m completely done with the horrid life I have been forced to endure so far, and perhaps something will kill me in this new life and end it all. Sounds depressing to some, glorious to others. Glorious to people who are depressed. \n\nNow, what does it mean to be depressed? Well the textbook definition of depression goes as follows: A mental health disorder characterized by persistently depressed mood or loss of interest in activities, causing significant impairment in daily life. And yeah, that sums it up pretty well. But what they cease to mention is how depression attacks you like a parasite and sucks every particle of motivation or joyousness out of every damn cell and leaves you dead. On the floor. In tears. With absolutely nowhere to go and no desire whatsoever to do anything. \n\nWhenever people would ask what depression felt like, I would tell them that there is absolutely NO good part of it that companies would use to advertise it on TV during those ads that run at 2 AM. Nothing to exploit, nothing to benefit from. Depression is so fucking toxic that not even corporate America wants to be part of it. And corporate America is pretty damn thirsty, if you ask me. \n\nBottom line, there’s no way around it. I’ve tried it all: medications, therapy, exercise, animals, dieting, meditation, etc. I’ve tried everything in the book and dying still seems like the best option. I’ve isolated myself from everyone I know the past few months just to take a little time for myself. Some would call it “me time,” but I prefer to stray away from bullshit euphemisms and be realistic, so I’ll call it “I feel like absolute shit and have no idea what to do about it, so I’ll just isolate myself from everyone and sulk in my misery while tell people that I’m taking some time for myself when in reality I just want someone to notice how fucking horrible I feel.” So I’ve kind of lost everyone. Frankly, if I think that I came crawling back to them and shed a few tears about my atrocious emotions and suicidal thoughts, they would open the door to their lives and let me right in. But, do they want me there? Yeah, I know, it’s the depression talking. But c’mon, it’s a fair thing to question. Would these people have been so okay with me isolating myself so casually if they actually gave a shit? Not a single one of them even attempted to pull me back in. They just let me sit there, rotting. And I’m fucking sick of that. I’m sick of thinking of that. I’m sick of that thought torturing me. \n\nSo I’ve found a solution, and I’m going through with it. It’s a bit complicated, but they’re going to put me into the real world, and I’m going to find a way to fucking die. This whole immortality forever bullshit is not working for me, because it’s not as magical as the books and films make it out to be, and I’m still depressed. I’ve done my time in this place, and I can finally end that chapter in my book. \n\n\n\n", "‘Okay, so I’ll go over this with you again.’\n\nThe man in front of you flips with his ink-stained fingers through his papers. \n\n‘Ah, here it is. Terms and Conditions.’\n\nHe offers you a brandy but you politely decline. He props his feet on his large oak desk before he continues.\n\n‘So, I presume you’ve heard most of this already, but I’ll explain it to you just to be sure, okay? Just to cover the small letters, don’t want them to surprise you...’\n\nHe hands you a richly decorated parchment containing large handwritten letters. You quickly scan it with your eyes before looking up again.\nYou shall not harm or kill another human being\nYou shall not harm or kill another organism, may it belong to the kingdom of Plants or the kingdom of Animalia\n\n‘Okay, so terms. Try not to harm or kill another human being, well… just try harder this time and you’ll be fine. And that second one, yeah, we kind of gave up on that, but if you try it can give you extra credits so it might be worth a shot.’\n\nYou nod.\n\n‘Those two are the most important, the other ones don’t matter that much and speak for themselves, really. Quite straightforward. Might be wise to go through the small letters now, yeah?’\n\nHe points at the microscopic scribbling at the bottom of the parchment. Then he hands you a large magnifying glass that you have to hold with both your hands. \n\n‘Might need that,’ he chuckles.\n\nThe form and condition in which you return are completely the result of your own actions and accomplishments. The Other Side Inc. does not carry any responsibility in any way for your personal situation, and cannot be held responsible under any circumstance. The Other Side Inc. has the right to document every of your actions and thoughts and can use these against you when you return. \n\n‘That isn’t a surprise either, right?’ He smiles.\n\n‘Okay, time to sign the contract, you sure you want to go through with this?’\n\nYou nod again.\n\n‘Yeah, of course you are.’\n\nHe hands you a sharp quill made of a golden feather, and you sign the parchment with red ink.\n\n‘It was nice doing business with you again,’ he says while he shakes your hand. Just when you’re about to leave his office, he makes one last remark.\n\n‘Oh, and one more thing. Last time you came back I had to pull all my strings to keep you from returning like a bug or something, so please try not to cause another world war while you’re down there, because I don’t think I can bail you out this time. Good luck!’\n\n" ]	[ 1, 2, 12 ]	[ "1499877642", "1499906441", "1499890238" ]
[removed]	[WP] Write a story centred around the trolley problem, or a variation on it. It can be situational or dialogue based, as long as it is incorporated into the overall plot.	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nHomework assignments are not allowed. Use /r/HomeworkHelp instead. \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6n10iv/wp_write_a_story_centred_around_the_trolley/%0A%0A)\n\nThis action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things." ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1499945295", "1499946262" ]
	[WP] You wake up on a deserted island with three familiar objects in front of you. The last thing that you remember is playing a game with your friends where you name 3 things you would take on a deserted island.	8	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", " My entire life is changed, at least I have a remnant of my old life with me. I don't miss much other things since they'd probably just give me bad memories and the games I liked to play were mostly survival horror... I already survived a horror so I don't need to play one. I have nightmares a lot of nights and sometimes I end up drinking... not a lot but enough to forget, unfortunately if I fall asleep while drinking the nightmares just become worse. Every time I hear a dog bark I end up jumping and having flashbacks along with my leg becoming slightly sore.\n\n It began after a night at the bar, I was with friends I hadn't seen in a while and we were drinking. Eventually the conversation got to the desert island one, at first I said a gun cause I knew I wouldn't survive in my body. I was pretty unhealthy and wasn't that fit so I knew my survival odds were really low. Someone nearby asked me what I'd do if I was fit or could make that one of the items. I told them if I could make that an item I'd have to have the perfect body that's really different from mine, a first aid kit, and probably some matches. \n\n That night I went to my apartment and fell asleep on my couch. When I woke up I felt really weird... my body's sense of where everything was felt completely off. I felt cold and was laying on some cold rock and my clothes felt like they weren't my own. I stood up feeling groggy and looked down at myself, my body wasn't my own... it wasn't even remotely like mine. Mostly since I couldn't see my stomach past my chest and I could feel long hair in a ponytail touching my back. At my feet was a box of matches and a first aid kit, I bent over to pick them up and could tell my body was definitely fit since I could bend over perfectly. \n\n After making a fire I was doing some bending and stretching to find out how fit I was. I found out I was pretty fit so I [sat next to the fire](http://stuffpoint.com/lara-croft-tombraider/image/425385-lara-croft-tombraider-tomb-raider-gif-7.gif) and thought about what to do, it felt like a dream at first... a really vivid dream. A few minutes went by so I decided to look around the island. While walking I saw a body hanging and went to look at it. It was in a trap so I was careful where I walked, I didn't have a knife so I had to untie the makeshift rope. It wasn't actual rope it was like vines mixed with something. \n\n The body fell in front of me and there was a makeshift bow with a few arrows on it, nothing other than that on the decaying body. I took the bow and arrows then [pointed it at a noise I heard](http://cdn4.spiegel.de/images/image-468613-860_poster_16x9-nfad-468613.jpg) which turned out to be a deer. In my past I had some training with a bow and arrow, I wasn't a marksman but I got pretty good at shooting across a room with a few really good shots. The deer was close enough so I shot the arrow and it hit the deer in the front leg, I was aiming at the neck but I missed. It tried to run but fell down a hill and was laying on its side... I felt so bad since it looked painful. I [walked up to it](http://tombraiders.net/stella/walks/TR9walk/screenshots/coastal-forest-14.jpg) and looked down at the deer. \n\n It looked in pain so I killed it by using an arrow then put a hand on it until it stopped moving, I never actually killed anything like that before. I [kneeled down](http://simhq.com/forum/files/usergals/2013/03/full-2425-52943-tombraider_2013_03_07_22_28_52_645.jpg) until I was ready to get the deer to the fire... I was fit but the deer was still really heavy. The fire I had was in a cave and couldn't spread so I [made a fire by the deer](http://dmcdevilmaycry.ru/files/2013/03/tombraider2013pc-screenshots-01.jpg) then dragged it closer to get ready to cook some of the meat. After I cooked and ate some of the meat I rested for a second wondering what I'd do with my time on the island. While I was walking around the fire I heard a growl and turned to see a wolf, my bow and arrow was a few yards away so I tried to run to it. \n\n Before I could reach the bow the wolf [bit my leg](http://www.unfinishedman.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/tomb-raider-lara-croft-dog-bite-1024x576.jpg) and it hurt so bad. I screamed and reached for something and got an arrow, when I tried to stab its eye it jumped on me and bit my arm that wasn't holding the arrow. It scratched my head and that's when I stabbed through its neck and kept on stabbing it. The wolf was bleeding out so I tried to get up but my leg hurt so bad it made me tear up a little. I took a deep breath and forced myself to walk through the pain, the wolf was still moving so I limped to the bow and arrows and put them on my back. After I had everything I limped behind a rock hearing the wolf make pained noises but it wasn't going away. \n\n While I stood there I could feel the blood flowing out of my leg and arm along with some on my head. I [peeked behind the rock](http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/31000000/Lara-tomb-raider-reboot-31013136-495-341.gif) to see the wolf laying by the fire with its eyes blinking slowly. Seeing it like that didn't make me as pissed at it... it made me realize it just wanted food... basically I was the deer in this scenario. I limped back over to the wolf and killed it fast, it was more meat for my win in the the fight. My leg was still bleeding so I needed to stop the bleeding, I looked at the fire and sighed knowing what I was gonna do was gonna hurt. I heard just burning it would be bad so I took an arrow head and heated it, I also tore the clothes away that were cut to expose the wound. The wound was sealed using two to three second bursts of putting the heated arrow head on the wound. \n\n By the time it was over I had some tears and I was still in pain, I had to work on my arm too. After everything was done I put some alcohol on the wounds and made pained noises while closing my eyes tight. Everything needed to be covered so I [wrapped the wounds](http://www.animatedimages.org/data/media/1308/animated-lara-croft-image-0005.gif) and passed out by the fire. I woke up from a nightmare and only a small amount of sleep then [walked away from the fire limping](http://38.media.tumblr.com/d6298e85634e14cf243a480390382c85/tumblr_n8mdgtcQfU1qmert6o1_250.gif) to get to the deer to cook some more meat. If I knew how to make jerky I would've but I barely knew how to cook the meat normally.\n\n For a few days I stayed by the fire and ate the animals I had, I also kept the bones and antlers incase I could sharpen them or something. I wasn't ok to run but after the few days I was capable of walking slowly, I decided to explore since I was capable of somewhat normal movement. There was a cave so I went inside with a torch and [walked around](https://balazsfarkas.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/tr1.jpg?w=1400) seeing what was there. There was a setup that looked like it was probably made by the hanging guy, I saw a few spiders but that fear left and was replaced by one of wolves. \n\n I found a mirror and [stared for a second](https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/laracroft/images/2/2e/Lara_Mirror_Aftermath.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160211015909) realizing who I was... it later turned out I wasn't fully who I thought I was but it seemed like it for a bit. While I was looking through things I found a walkie talkie... it had no reception but I later found out it was able to communicate with nearby things... it'd help if a ship went by. When I got back out of the cave it was raining so I got the things I had and went back into the cave to make a shelter there. While I was outside I luckily got [most of the dirt and blood washed off me](http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/LC3.jpg) so I basically got a light shower.\n\nPart 1" ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1499956632", "1499989361" ]
[removed]	[WP] Fidget controller	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nPrompts go in the title. (Exceptions: [IP] and [MP]). Feel free to repost with the prompt in the title. You can add more detail in the text, but remember prompts should be a starting point and [not be a recipe](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/prompts?src=RECIPE). \n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6n9i3q/wp_fidget_controller/%0A%0A)\n\nThis action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things." ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1500043913", "1500044697" ]
	[WP] You have the ability to save someone in exchange for another person that is of higher importance than the first person. One day, a man contacts you telling you thar you have to save the most important person in the world	0	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Years of work. Of secrecy. Of death. Controversial as it may seems, I always chose to sacrifice important people of low moral standards. It allowed for some good changes in politics, my community and all that. Old, greedy politicians for kind, honest ones. School directors who raped their students for the lives of lab rats. Racist police officers for active kids in the community. But I tried to work in the shadows, so I don't know how they learned about me.\n\nBut that's irrelevant. They've tasked me to do it or else I'd never see Sun again. That I would never feel that warm embrace again.\n\nThey were threatening me with the only reason I still lived in this world, why I woke up and got out of bed each day. Why I was doing this.\n\nI had to do it. My life dependend on it.\n\nBut they wanted me to save the god damn prime minister of the fucking Unified Nations of Earth. Ever since he united us against the Hayeild treath back in 37\", he kept been reelected. And for damn good reasons, too. After the Hayeild annihilated the 23 colonies of Mars within a month, he managed to stop the bickering nations and rally them. Shit, he saved 11 billion lives. Who could possibly be more important than that?\n\nNormally, I only have to focus on who I want to die and who I want to live. But in my first times of using my power I found out I only needed to think about who I wanted alive... those deaths still haunt me to this day.\n\nSo I went up to the PM. He seemed like a shell of who he once was. Cancer had got him, and got him good.\n\nI didn't think this would work, but... I guess miracles do happen! And an hour passed an my feed didn't say anything about any important world leader dying. What if I didn't need sacrifices anymore? Did I have power over both life and death and just now realized how to use my powers corectly? All I knew is that they gave me the biggest paycheck I had ever seen. When I got off the plane to get back home, I felt good. It was sunny, shiny and bright! This made me want to bring flowers back home. Only had to plant some, Sun would take care of the rest.\n\nBut when I got home, I realized I never understood my power.\n\nI dropped my flower pots on the floor, breaking them in as much pieces as my heart.\n\nI realized my power never took the lives of the people that were more important than the ones I saved. It took the lives of those I thought were more important than the ones I saved.\n\nAnd this is how my wife, my sunshine, my reason to live, my dear Sun died. I would never feel her tender smiles, her warm hugs, that strong sense of right and wrong, over which I chose what lives to take, which one to save. She was 7 pregnant with our daugter. Oh god.\n\nI had killed them, they died because I thought I could decide the date of others\n\nI dropped on my knee and puked. The carcasses of my family were left alone for days. They were rotting\n\nOnly had one thing I could do...\n\nSee if my powers work when I think of someone who deserves to die. No matter who gets to live.\n\n\nI then chose a serial killer... a man who had just murdered his family... " ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1500071273", "1500081095" ]
[removed]	[WP] Everyday you wake up and relive the day before just like in Groundhog Day. This goes on for a while and in a desperate attempt to end the cycle, you pull an all nighter. You decide not to go to bed and see if you can stay awake to the next day. What happens?	1	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nResponses must be at least 30 words. Prompts that are likely to generate such responses are also not allowed. This is essentially a fill-in-the-blank, or you asked a question likely to generate a simple answer. Prompts should encourage a story or poem. \n\nTry leaving out the question at the end.\n\n\n\n---\n\nPlease refer to the [sidebar](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/about/sidebar) before posting. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send us a [modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FWritingPrompts&subject=Removed%20post&message=https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6ngw4c/wp_everyday_you_wake_up_and_relive_the_day_before/%0A%0A)\n\nThis action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things." ]	[ 1, 1 ]	[ "1500136942", "1500138412" ]
	[WP] Tell me an original horror story so scary that I will have trouble falling asleep tonight.	57	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "A hand patted me on the shoulder. I look up, and see the face of my superior looking down at me.\n\nHis expression was neutral, but there was an air of gravity around him that I couldn't help but notice.\n\n\"Could you come to my office at break?\" he said before walking away.", "\"Son, are you sure that you're old enough? Your mother won't be happy if I scare you.\"\n\n\"Please, Daddy!\"\n\n\"Alright, alright. Just be quiet until I'm done. But... I'm not to sure what I should tell you about. Maybe I'll start off with something easy, like spiders. Very few people like spiders. They could crawl anywhere, their webs are so sticky you might never get them off. Some are so small you won't spot them until it's too late, others are as big as puppies! Many could kill you with a single bite. And that little pose they do when they die, grown-ups call it 'rigor mortis,' is just the worst!\n\n...No, no, spiders are too predictable. Closets? Yeah, those are scaaary too, right? After all, a ghost could be hiding in there and you'll never see them coming. Who knows how the door just opened? Who knows what may be watching you tonight? What about under your bed? How could you possibly know that there's not a ghost waiting under there to drag you down by the feet the moment you get up to go potty?\"\n\n\"Daddy-\"\n\n\"I told you be wait until I'm finished! Let's talk about the dark! You know how you have to wait to see? How you're blind for a little bit? Well, you can feel safe knowing that nothing will get you while you can't see. It'll wait for your eyes to adjust. Then, you know, maybe a tap at your shoulder, a few whispers, and RAAAAAAR! Last thing you see is a bloody monster opening it's mouth and jumping out at you!\n\nI'm sure that doesn't sound too bad to you. You have a nightlight. But, hey, not everything needs to hide out in the dark. They just let you believe that light is going to help. Like killers. People who kill someone because they like it. You hear about them on the news. It'd be impossible to pick them out from the innocent people. Someone could just kill you! You'd be a corpse! Like that!\"\n\n\"Daddy! Stop! I don't even know what a corpse looks like!\"\n\n\"Oh? Well, then, I have a solution. Why don't you go peek in your parents' bedroom? Be quiet, they're sleeping. \"\n\n\"It's your bedroom too, Daddy.\"\n\n\"No. It isn't.\"", "Your wife gives birth to a beautiful child. After a year of no sleep and countless late night feedings, your baby is finally sleeping through the night. You lay down for what's sure to be a great night sleep. All of a sudden your wife comes out of the bathroom pale as a ghost!!! \"I'm pregnant\" ", "I can hear them sceaming, begging me to help them. I screw my eyes shut as though it will shut my ears too. I'd clap my hands over my ears, but I can't let go of the handle. I can't let it out. I can't.\n\nThe screams are louder now. They're telling me they have families. That they have to see their children. Maybe we could all get out together, outrun it and somehow all fit in the life raft. My hands don't budge. \n\nIf I let it out, it'll just pick us off one by one. Maybe one of them would reach safety. Hell, maybe I'd reach safety. But I know better. The only way out of this is to hope that it will be sated, if only for a moment, by that mother behind the door. That brother. That sobbing child.\n\nThe screams reach a new sense of urgency. It's here, oh god, it's here. What is my life worth compared to theirs? What are any of our lives worth? A few more decades marching towards the inevitable? We're all either withered corpses now or withered corpses later. We'll all die, children and parents and lovers and killers. I'm killing them. What's the point?\n\nThe screams have stopped. I can hear a wet sound beyond the door. Drip. Drip. Drip. Blood drops hitting the floor. Drip. Drip. Drip. I should run. This is my chance. Tap. Tap. Tap. The sound is on the door. Oh god. No, please. Tap. Tap. Tap.\n\nI'm sprinting. I don't know where I am. It's so dark and I don't know where I'm going. Oh god. Oh god. Drip. Drip. Drip. No, it can't be. No no no no. Drip. Drip. Drip. Please, no. Tap. Tap. Tap. I'm sorry.\n\nTap. Tap. Tap.", "I don't want you to believe this story, though I also feel like it's important for me to tell you that it's all true.\n\nI used to work at an old pub in London. It was built with a victorian edge, thick walls and a deep cellar. I absolutely adored that place, I made my first friends in a new city there and learned a trade I would use for many years to come.\n\nI'm a writer, unless you couldn't tell, so the late hours of work with early mornings to write were good for me. After asking for this, I moved up to management and closed the pub myself most nights. Sitting there in the dark, feeling the energy of the evening had given rise to some of my favourite works.\n\nOne night, the last night I worked there, was the worst night of my life.\n\nBehind the bar, we'd always joked that the place was haunted because people would constantly lose things. No duh, you lost your phone jackass, you're drunk as a skunk. It was on that warm, summer evening that I truly believed what I had only joked about.\n\nClosing down the cellar of a pub is an interesting thing if you've never done it. Down some stairs, passed a small office and into the keg-room. A cooled room with a hatch for deliveries and pins and kegs with pumps to the bar upstairs.\n\nAt the end of the night, moving those fucking barrels can be a real bitch and we'd got through a lot of it that night. I probably had to move at least a few tonnes to create more room for the new beers the next day.\n\nAmateur move, I remembered that I had to get something from the chemical room a little deeper in the cellar and dragged my tired ass in.\n\nThe second I was in that door, the air-conditioner turned on. Then off. Then on again. It did this for as long as I froze without moving because I'm a giant baby. I had already closed the door and was completely freaking out but able to convince my screaming brain that it was just the AC bugging out.\n\nAs if in agreement, the activity in the keg-room stopped and I breathed my first breath in at least a minute. The reprieve was brief. All of a sudden, a ridiculously loud noise erupted from the other side of the door and caused me to whimper out loud. Not that it would have been heard.\n\nI threw my back against the door and prayed that whatever was going on just passed me by. The metal on metal on stone sound continued, like ancient gears rumbling, for about 20 seconds. I stayed silent and still for more like thirty minutes.\n\nDeciding that enough was enough, or maybe just affected by the chemical fumes, I stood up and threw the door open. My skin crawled in a different, less adrenaline-coursing fear than before. The barrels and kegs that had been such a bitch to move into place now blocked my way out completely.\n\nIt couldn't have been done by a human, not really. At the time, I didn't even pause to think, I just started getting what I could out of the way. I was tired but frantic so it took probably ten minutes to move the beer out of the way and sprint out of the building.\n\nI never looked back, but I will probably always wonder. I'll wonder what could have moved those barrels like that. Why it had the intelligence to arrange them in front of the door. Mostly I'll wonder if it watched me clawing and crying, trying to leave after it had locked me in.", "The first night it happened, I barely noticed it. \nThe second night it happened, there was something. Not enough to tell a friend but enough to notice. \nThe third night it happened, it was enough to tell a friend. Not enough to file a police report, but enough to mention. \n\n\"Y'know when I woke up this morning, my window was open. But i swear when i went to bed, it was closed.\" I said to Alisa on day four. \nShe didn't look up from her phone as she shrugged her shoulders, \"Catch is probably broken.\" \nThe seventh night, that thought came back to me. Maybe the catch was broken. On the morning of the 8th, the window was open; wide open. The radio was knocked over and there was a smashed glass. \n\"Probably a stray cat.\" \n\nYeah....Probably a stray cat. Probably a stray cat that was watching me on a daily basis; that I could hear walking through the park behind me on my jog; that was moving my furniture just a little bit each night; that was making the hairs on my neck stand up every single time it hit 9pm and i thought about heading to bed.\n \nIt was probably just a cat, but I called out a handyman anyway. And although he checked the windows three times; there was nothing to fix. He suggested replacing them with windows that locked, and that was all he had to say.\nOn the 15th, the day before my 24th birthday, I heard it. 10:03pm, a clicking noise. It was followed by soft footsteps; familiar. They crossed the hallway outside the door and stopped. \nIt wasn't like a horror movie. There was no shadow of light that was blocked by a figure. Because at 24; you don't sleep with the lights on. Damn, I wish I did. \n\nThe door was nudged ever so slightly in the dark, and a sharp creak gave it away. A hand grabbed the handle, silencing the noise so the only sound was a heavy breathing coming from under the sheets. \n\"It's just a stray cat\" she repeated over, and over in her \nhead, no sound coming from the doorway. She had almost convinced herself it was a bad dream; that she really was making the whole thing up, when she felt a dip in the mattress beside her. The sheets moved, and one strong arm wrapped around her waist. She caught a glimpse at the clock: 12:02am. \nThe arm dragged her into a strong, leather clad chest and tightened. She didn't try and pull away; she'd tried that before and it didn't do anything but anger. She froze as gloved fingers moved her blonde hair back behind her ear, and a mouth followed it, pausing to whisper, \"Happy Birthday darlin'.\" \n\nShe closed her eyes tighter, seeing spots behind them as she whispered \"It's just a stray cat; it's just a stray cat; it's just a stray cat...\"" ]	[ 1, 4, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12 ]	[ "1500141071", "1500158743", "1500159794", "1500152408", "1500141120", "1500153870", "1500146616" ]
	[WP] A man has the super power to cause anyone to become addicted to something of his choosing	3	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "It started as a normal day. I went on my morning jog. I only saw one person the whole time. I thought he was a normal man, but he began to stare at me. Soon it was unnerving. I was about to say something when I was completely overwhelmed with an incredible sensation. I needed to know more about cork. Forgetting the man, I sprinted home.\n\nSome internet research told me that cork is impermeable, buoyant, elastic, and fire retardant. I then completely understood that cork is the ultimate material, and I set out to ensure the fact was known to the whole world.", "He was determined to show off his new-found skill. With a snap of his fingers, Harold could make anyone, regardless of sex, age, or creed, addicted to anything. Last week, he had gotten his mother-in-law, Barbara, addicted to speaking in a Jamaican accent. Harold had a giggled to himself while remembering her unusual exchange with the delivery man. \n\n“A who dat at a beat down di door,” Barbara exclaimed while unsuccessfully peeking through the curtains. \n\n“Morning, I believe I have a package for a, uh, Ms. Barbaba Scott,” the delivery man retorted.\n\n“Oh, come mon, come. A mi Victoria Secret nightie dem come. Boy, dem take long fi ship dem though. Nearly make me miss John birthday.” Barbara went on blabbering as the delivery man’s face slid from one hue to the next.\n\nHarold had no idea how he developed such an amusing super power. Neither did he care. He craved another victim, but not just any old victim. He was obdurate that it would be another member of his wife’s family. This time, he wanted to bring his wife in on the fun.\n\n“Oh Amy,” Harold gleefully sang to harken his wife into the room.\n\n“Harold, I am not watching that bloody Game of Thrones again with you,” Amy sneered while busily preparing herself for bed. \n\n“I don’t need to my darling. I’ll get your father to join me right now for the marathon with a snap of my finger”.\n\n“Harold, don’t be ridiculous. You know my father is the most conservative hard nosed Christian you’ve ever met. He’ll hate it.” Amy gargled and spat out the water before going off again.\n\n“And even if he did, he’s all the way in Jacksonville. Mom is leaving tomorrow to celebrate his ...”\n\nHarold snapped his finger.\n\nHer face was motionless. “Dad, what are you doing. How did you …”\n\n“Hey, Pumpkin. Join us,” John patted and motioned his daughter to join himself and Harold in bed as Daenerys Targaryen emerging glisteningly naked from the fire.\n\n [part two](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/6njgqy/wp_you_are_a_writer_you_write_a_story_with_a/dka6bue/)" ]	[ 1, 2, 3 ]	[ "1500165691", "1500169025", "1500182870" ]
	[WP] It your 21st birthday party and your Uncle tells you that your parents have made back up copies of you regularly since you were born. They have rolled you back at least once when they didn't like how you were growing up. Your Uncle gives you access.	107	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Seeing all those old versions of me...it was more real than the sepia-coloured photographs in my photo album. To see myself playing while young was like seeing a totally different me; a more carefree, happy and energetic me. At 21 I was already exposed to the dangers and troubles of the world, so I envied the youthful exuberance and innocence I used to have. As I flipped through the saved copies, I noticed one marked 'Deleted', but not permanently removed yet. Curious, I looked at the copy.\n\nI saw myself coming home from school, my parents waiting as always with my lunch. But as I tucked in, I said a sentence I didn't understand. \"Mommy, I found a camera under my bed last night.\" My mother's face...I had never seen so much raw shock on a human face before.\n\nAnd that was it.\n\nI turned away, as I tried to recall that day. I never remembered a camera. But since the copy was deleted, they must have replaced it with another copy and another set of memories.\n\nWhich meant...the camera wasn't there after they rolled me back.\n\nI was so engrossed in the mystery that I didn't hear the door opening behind. I shouldn't have left the file containing the copies open. It was supposed to be top secret, my uncle said.\n\nBut as I felt a hand on my shoulder, the accompanying voice wasn't the usual soothing tones of my father. It was the dangerous, cold voice of an angered man.\n\n\"I guess I'll have to delete this copy too, then.\" He took a button out of his pocket and pressed it.\n______________________________\nMore over at r/Whale62! Sequels at popular request!" ]	[ 1, 39 ]	[ "1500199797", "1500202943" ]
	[WP] "Doesn't anyone just knock anymore? All you had to do was knock and I would've opened it!"	3	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Bang! \nThe kicked door came off its hinges and slammed onto the floor. Not satisfied with that indignity, the kicker and his colleagues ran in, trampling the abused portal. \n\"Freeze, Scum! F.B...i...\" the kicker's righteous shout trailed off as he processed the scene in front of him. \n \nSeated around a coffee table on various soft furnishings were heavily armed men, emblazoned with the word SWAT. Each held a small china mug, filled from the large teapot in the centre of the table, and a vague air of embarrassment. \n\"Oh dear!\" A quiet female voice exclaimed at the door kicker's elbow. \"I just had that fixed.\" The man looked down to find a frail old lady staring at her front hall in dismay. She turned to the man. \"Doesn't anyone knock anymore? All you had to do was knock, and I'd've let you in!\" \nAs his men began to mumble apologies, the door kicker tried to recover the situation. \n\"Madam, I'm Agent Fielder of the FBI and we have...\" \n\"Are you after Johnny as well?\" Agent Fielder blinked at the interruption. The old woman wittered on. \"Such a nice young man. He set up my computer, you know. And he doesn't kick down doors.\" She gave him a piercing stare. \n\"Umm...\" \n\"Wipes his feet as well.\" Her withering glare passed over the other agents, who continued mumbling apologies and began to dust down the abused door. \n \n\"Agent Fielder.\" The leader of the SWAT team had come over. \"His apartment's next door. But Marco's gone.\" Agent Fielder cursed. Johnny Marco was a big fish and had eluded the agency for years. To be so close... \nSlap! Pain flared across his knuckles, and he yelped. \n\"Language, young man!\" The old lady wagged a finger at him. \"I won't have cursing in my house.\" \n\"I'm... sorry?\" Agent Fielder felt adrift. It didn't help that his men were either busy reattaching the door to its hinges, or had shuffled into the living room and grabbed a spare cup of tea. \n\"That's alright, dear.\" The old lady smiled at him. \"Won't you stay and have a cup of tea?\" \n\"Apologies, madam, but...\" \n\"I said won't you stay and have a cup of tea with an old lady?\" As everyone frowned at his impolite behaviour, Agent Fielder gave up. \n\"Um, yes, thank you.\" \n\"No problem, dear.\" He felt himself led to a seat. \"Have a biscuit as well. Just the one though.\" He nodded, taking just the one biscuit. All in all, Agent Fielder really wished he had knocked. \n \n \n \nknock knock. \n\"Oh! Hello, dear.\" Johnny smiled down at his neighbour as she answered the door. \n\"Hello Mavis. Anything I can help you with?\" \n\"Oh no, dear.\" She smiled and shook her head. \"Not at thd moment; I have some friends over for tea.\" \n\"Fair enough. Call me if you need me.\" Johnny waved as she shut the door, before turning and opening his apartment door. \nBehind the door, Mavis smiled. \n\"Such a nice young man.\" She muttered, before returning to her law enforcement guests." ]	[ 1, 4 ]	[ "1500217563", "1500223547" ]
	[WP] You're a superhero, living in a post-apocalyptic society. It's too late to save the world, but you don't know what else to do.	17	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "Those with super powers have become pariah in what is left of society. Hated, disparaged and left to fend for themselves. Even so, I can't really blame them. After all, it was those with the ability to do so who destroyed the world in the first place.\n\nNearly every single superhero and villain alike perished in that massive war, and what is left of humanity is just destroyed cities, flattened landscapes and irradiated wastelands.\n\nMostly the first, thankfully.\n\nNobody knows what the world population is now, but it is probably under a million. Too many innocent lives were lost. If you ask me who won that war, the heroes technically did. But with the price that it cost? The villains definitely achieved their goal of annihilating society.\n\nSo that leaves me, a superhero, and therefore one of those at fault, trudging along this desolate road in the middle of Singapore. Not a single soul in sight, with no supplies to be seen.\n\nThe buildings were all collapsed, or about to. Corpses still littered the streets, some preserved due to some perverse fusion of magic from abilities, others stripped to the bone by scavenging animals. At least it didn't smell horrible. Or maybe it did, but I was completely desensitized to it if that were the case.\n\nThe sun was starting to set in the distant horizon, as clouds covered the sky. The silence save for the sound of rats fleeing and my footsteps were rather strange, but it was a sound I got accustomed too.\n\nFending for myself is hard despite the ability I have. I could always just find a settlement and threaten them to surrender, but I don't really have the heart for it. I know some \"heroes\" run settlements now. They usually don't last long. People would sooner kill themselves than cooperate with such a disgusting being.\n\nIt didn't matter what your intentions are. So long you had an ability, you were abnormal. You were not meant to be.\n\nMy stomach growls. I had not eaten for two days now... At least I have an unending supply of water in the form of my ability. I can collect water, in whatever form it may take, and use it as a means of offense, defense or just for drinking.\n\nI look to the sky and sigh. I was once optimistic, and cared more about others than myself. Now, I have no one left. I wanted to believe in humanity, that there was a greater good. But the greater good turned out to be just as bad.\n\nThere wasn't even a bird I could try to kill and eat. Rats weren't an option unless I wanted to die from some kind of illness. I decided to call my hunt for supplies over for now, and with a wave of my hand, I gathered the water vapor in the air and condensed it into a ball of pure liquid. I drank a little bit for myself, and poured the rest into a container that I retrieved from my bag.\n\nI placed it on the ground, and left it for the next soul to travel down this lonely road. I just need to find shelter for now, until the night passes.\n\nFor now... all I can do is survive.\n\n\n------------------\n\n(Hope you enjoyed.)", "He held the old, useless glasses in his hand as he stared out over the barren wastes. He let his eyes wander across the emptiness. In the distance, he could see the beginnings of a dust storm, where the coast once stood. Many years ago, he had stood at that coast, considering the future, thinking that nothing could go wrong.\n\nHe shook his head, finally rising from the boulder he had called his home these last few years. Rocks and dust cracked and fell off of him, revealing the blue and red suit beneath. Long ago, he and his allies had designed the suit to withstand being within meters of the sun- Of course it still survived. He sighed, his first breath in ten years, and immediately doubled over coughing. His lungs weren't used to use, let alone the dust and dirt he had disturbed by moving. For a moment, he considered the irony if, at long last, what killed him was nothing more than a little dust an his own mistakes.\n\nOf course, a man like him is never quite that lucky. Seconds passed, and he could feel his regeneration working to repair the damage, and he knew he would be fine. He sighed again, strongly this time, and looked into the horizon once more. He knelt for a moment, and silently leapt into the air, the gentle wind left in his wake seemingly inconsistent with the miles into the air he travelled in mere moments. He had spent his second century on this desolate world mastering his abilities, after all, and he had no need of theatrics where the population was him, and him alone.\n\nAs he reached the crux of his leap, he glanced down, and did not fall, instead moving forward at an astounding pace. He did not bother to study the world around him. He had memorized the surface of the planet long ago, in the fifth century of his isolation. Now, he flew to escape his thoughts, to escape the lines and the memories, and everything else that kept him here. Perhaps, he thought idly to himself, my next century will be spent flying.\n\nThen he saw that something had changed.\n\nNothing changes.\n\nIn an instant, he was at the site of the disturbance- A small machine, with design sensibilities reminiscent of humanity. It was active, and of course, the camera was pointed directly at him. He scowled. Eighteen centuries, and still the humans search for him. Of course they did.\n\n\"Leave-\" He coughed. His voice was weak. The last time he spoke was... The sixth century? Super-healing, though, was incredibly when prompted. When he spoke again, it was with strength. \"Leave me be, whoever you are. I am no blessing. I am a curse.\"\n\n\"You're also our only hope.\" The former hero and self-declared curse froze. The voice he heard...\n\n\"You should be dead, John. Dead, a million years past.\" He turned towards the newcomer. The man smirked, crossing his arms. Compared to the dull browns and reds the former hero had been exposed to over the last 18 centuries, the bright emerald color of the man's uniform was almost blinding.\n\n\"They weren't done with me, and the universe isn't done with you, Cl-\"\n\n\"Don't,\" he growled, suddenly mere inches from the other man's face. \"Don't you dare call me that. I lost the right to that name when this happened.\" He motioned around him at the desolate planet.\n\nThe soldier and the exile regarded one another for a moment, before the soldier nodded slowly. \"You're right. You did. But you know what? Get over yourself.\" He scowled, ignoring the surprise in his old friend's expression. \"It's been aeons since your choice. Do you know how many times we could've used you? How many times innocent lives were put in danger because we didn't have you? You were always the best of us, the strongest of us, and to all the lowly mortals, you just abandoned them- us.\"\n\n\"This is your chance to redeem yourself.\" The soldier said slowly, staring at his friend.\n\nThe exile stared at him for a moment. Eighteen centuries, and somehow, he still lost the one argument he had prepared so often for. The truth of it, the conviction in his friend's voice- He wasn't prepared. He couldn't argue.\n\n\"Well...\" He began slowly. \"I suppose after eighteen centuries, I have run out of things to do.\"\n\nThe soldier smiled broadly. \"About damn time. It's good to have you back.\"\n\n\"Is it? I suppose we'll see.\"\n\nThe two of them ascended into the sky, leaving only a small gust of wind in their wake." ]	[ 1, 4, 8 ]	[ "1500256661", "1500269102", "1500268903" ]
Or woman, that's up to you.	[WP] The story of one man's final stand	11	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "He knelt on the floor next to her, cradling her head in his arms. The golden hair now stained with her blood fell in a wave over his arms, dripping blood on the floor. The werewolf she had killed with her final blow lay nearby, reverting slowly to its human form as it died. He looked up at the sound of the phalanx of Doomknights filling the hall around the throne on which the Lich King sat looking at him with baleful eyes. She had always charged at danger. Her glowing sword slaying the evil creatures before her. He had always been there to support and protect her with his magic. But not this time. He had been too slow.\n\nSlowly, gently, he placed her head back down on the floor, picked up his staff, and stood. The hall fell silent. He was aware of his fingers running over the glyphs carved into the staff as his power brought them to glowing life. His mind quested out, searching for her essence. It would not linger long. The good tended not to linger, but her love for him had been strong. There she was, the essence floated above her body, confused, slowly realizing what had happened, yet unwilling to leave yet for the higher planes.\n\nNo, he decided. They would go there together. Too late the Lich King realized what he was doing as he beckoned to her essence with his mind. Still confused in death, her essence responded to him and moved toward him, becoming a barely visible ethereal stream flowing into him. He felt his arms become stronger than they ever had been, and his senses sharpened. Suddenly he realized that the lead Doomknight carried his shield slightly too low and the one behind him carried a larger sword which was likely to slow his attack just enough.\n\nWith a battle cry he had heard from her lips many times in nearly hopeless situations, he loosed the power held in his staff. Not aimed at the Doomknights, but aimed instead at the Lich King. The throne on which the Lich King sat exploded and the Lich King himself toppled over backwards. It would not be enough to end him, but it would definitely slow him down. The Doomknights hesitated just as they were getting within reach at the shock reverberating through the room.\n\nThe staff seemed to swing of its own volition as he watched himself battle the Doomguards. His first blow narrowly missed the top of the lead Doomguard’s shield and crushed the side of its head. Wheeling lightly on his feet, he avoided the blow from the second Doomguard and his staff shattered its leg, collapsing it. The rest of them swarmed around him, but he moved with her grace and dexterity now, keeping them at bay with well-placed swings and feints.\n\nUtilizing his own power, he summoned a wind shield which whirled around him, impeding his assailants’ sight and movements. A sword knicked his arm as he spun away just a little too slowly, but a word closed the wound. He parried two sword strikes at once and kicked out, dislocating the Doomguard’s knee. Another sword caught him in the leg, slicing much of the way through his calf. He stumbled, but called out a word of power which banished the pain and instantly mended the wound. The cost of the spell bothered him not at all. He would not live to see the sun rise again.\n\nIn a fury he whirled into a cluster of the Doomguards, scattering them with the ferocity of his assault. There, the Lich King leaned heavily on his own staff, supervising the battle. Bile or some other noxious liquid oozed from several injuries on his face and body. Instead of rushing toward the Lich King, he spun to the side. He did not have long as he felt several more wounds and his healing power was quickly being exhausted. Still, timing, precision, and the controlling the flow of the battle might yet bring him victory.\n\nAgain, he spun, slower now because of the unhealed wound to his right thigh, but still fast enough to avoid a fatal blow. A dozen of the Doomguards lay on the floor dead or incapacitated. He leapt aside, assisted by a magical boost to his muscles, and then he was where he wanted to be. Instead of turning and killing another Doomguard, he launched his staff like a spear at the Lich King. Taken by surprise, the staff hit him square in the face. Again the Doomguards hesitated as the Lich King’s shock stunned them all momentarily.\n\nInstead of using the respite to gather his strength, he launched himself across the intervening distance, shouldering aside one stunned Doomguard and avoiding the brunt of a powerful blow from another although he took a keep wound across his back. Using most of his depleted magical power to bolster his body as best he could, he threw his weight on the Lich King, bearing him to the floor.\n\nTime slowed. He felt her presence as his body moved with her reflexes. The Dagger of Sciones was in his hand as his other arm pressed the Lich King’s head up and back. He felt the sword take him in the back, but his magic held off the pain for the moment he needed to plunge the dagger into the Lich King’s exposed neck and up into the brain case. Fire shot from the Lich King’s mouth incinerating one of the Doomguards unlucky enough to be nearby as the ancient evil breathed its last. Another sword stroke nearly took off his left arm at the shoulder, but it no longer mattered.\n\nHis magic failed, the pain embraced him. He could no longer feel the sword thrusts. She was there. She pulled at his essence. Confusion vanished as the essence of the one he loved pulled at him. Pulled him toward a beautiful light.\n\n“Vandra…” his lips moved for the last time.\n\nAs whisp of pure white ether rose from the fallen mage intertwined with another whisp of slightly darker ether. They rose together toward the sun.\n" ]	[ 1, 6 ]	[ "1500301135", "1500306676" ]
When I mean they have a "real feud" I meant as in they already had some beef or problem between the two of them and now are in classroom court just to clarify.	[WP] Your middle school class history teacher wants to do a mock trial, only to find that the two participants have a real feud. The quiet kid volunteers to be the lawyer for the defense.	60	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "UP FOR DEBATE\n_____________\n\nA Short Play\n\n\nCast of Characters\n\nBilly Grayson: Male, 15 \n\nJohn Applewood: Male, 15\n\nMr. Nelson: Male, Mid-thirties\n\nSamantha Marshall: Female, 15\n\n\n\f\nSETTING: \tSandra Day O’Connor Middle School. Mr. Nelson’s 8th grade US History class.\n\nAT RISE:\tThe class is divided into two teams. Two rows of desks are separated by a center clearing. A white board is on the US wall. Two podiums are placed just DS of the whiteboard. The door to the classroom is in the UR corner. MR. NELSON’s desk is in the UL corner of the room. The students are seated at their desks, talking and horsing around before the start of class. Two students, BILLY and JOHN are talking at the two DL desks.\n\nBILLY\nHa! That’s not what you mom said last night!\n\nJOHN\nEww! That’s my mother! Gross, dude!\n\nBILLY\nWhatever man. So, you have plans for the weekend?\n\nJOHN\nNot really. I guess I should read that book for Mrs. Petersen’s class but I don’t want to read a stupid book about rabbits. \n\nBILLY\nOh yea! Screw that. I’ll probably just look it up on Wikipedia or something. Besides, if the book were any good they would have made a movie of it, right?\n\nJOHN\nYeah, man. \n\n(The school bell rings indicating the start of class. MR. NELSON enters the classroom from the door at right.)\n\nNELSON\nAlright everyone. Settle down. Settle down. Samantha, please put the makeup away. This isn’t cosmetology class.\n\nSAMANTHA\nBut Mr. Nelson, I’m almost done.\n\nBILLY\n(To JOHN, under his breath)\nWho does she think she’d kidding. She could take all day and not look any better.\n\n(JOHN and BILLY laugh quietly. SAMANTHA notices them and stares them down.)\n\nSAMANTHA\nYou have something to say, Billy?\n\nNELSON\nAlright. That’s enough of that. OK. It’s Thursday, which means we will have a short debate over a random topic. Let’s see, whose turn is it this week?\n\n(NELSON checks his notes on his desk.)\n\nNELSON\nLooks like it is Mr. Grayson and Ms. Marshall. Let’s have you two come up to the podiums, please.\n\nSAMANTHA\nSure thing, Mr. Nelson.\n\nBILLY\n(To John, quietly)\nLiterally, it could have been anyone else. Why her? Ugh.\n\nNELSON\nLet’s go, Mr. Grayson. Today please.\n\nBILLY\nComing, sir.\n\n(SAMANTHA takes the podium on SL. BILLY takes the podium on SR. NELSON sits on a tall stool near his desk.)\n\nNELSON\nAlright, you two. You remember how this works? I’ll give you a topic. The person in the proposition will have up to 30 seconds to state their case for the topic. The person in the opposition will have up to 60 seconds to respond and state their case as to why they oppose the topic. Any questions?\n\nSAMANTHA\nNo, sir. \n\nBILLY\nNah man.\n\nNELSON\nOkay. I’ll toss a coin for positions. Ms. Marshall, call it in the air. \n\n(NELSON flips a coin. SAMANTHA calls it before NELSON catches it in his hand. \n\nSAMANTHA\nHeads!\n\nNELSON\nIt is...heads! Alright Ms. Marshall, you’re in the proposition. Mr. Grayson, you’re the opposition.\n\nBILLY\nThat’s okay. I usually oppose whatever she likes. And vice-versa.\n\nSAMANTHA\nThat’s not true! I do not!\n\nBILLY\nYou just did it. I won the debate!\n\n(Billy throws his fist in the air and starts to walk back to his desk. Several of the students laugh at BILLY’S joke.)\n\nNELSON\nNot so fast, Mr. Grayson. Back to the podium, please.\n\nBILLY\nHey, can fault a guy for trying.\n\nNELSON\nSure I can. Okay. The topic: “Violent video games make children violent.” Ms. Marshall, your response?\n\nSAMANTHA\nI completely agree that violent video games make people--and especially children--much more violent. They have people walking around in the game shooting people. And they get extra points for getting in a head shot. In another game you’re supposed to drive around in stolen cars and hide from the police. What kind of example is that for the children of today? They play these games and then they become violent later in life because they were exposed to such violence when they were young. In conclusion, it is quite apparent that children should not be allowed to play such violent games because they make people more violent as they get older.\n\nNELSON\nVery good, Ms. Marshall. Mr. Grayson, your rebuttal?\n\nBILLY\nWhat about my butt?!\n\n(Several students giggle. BILLY grins wildly.)\n\nNELSON\nYour response, Mr. Grayson. What do you have to say regarding your opponent’s argument?\n\nBILLY\nOh, um, it’s stupid.\n\nSAMANTHA\nHey!\n\nNELSON\nYou’re going to need to do better than that. Don’t attack the speaker; attack the argument.\n\nBILLY\nOkay, okay. What was it again?\n\nNELSON\n(Sighing)\n“Violent video games make children—”\n\nBILLY\nViolent! Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. Her argument is stupid.\n\nSAMANTHA\nMr. Nelson?!\n\nBILLY\nI mean it is. There is no way that video games make people violent. Like, if they’re violent then they already were violent, right? Like genetics or something. Look, I play video games all the time. I was playing John the other day on this new one I totally killed him like twelve times! It was awesome!\n\nJOHN\n(Yelling from his seat.)\nYeah, for you maybe. You would kill me as soon as I would respawn!\n\nNELSON\nThank you, Mr. Applewood.\n\nJOHN\nI’m just sayin....\n\nBILLY\nAnyway, violence is everywhere in the world around us. It’s not video games. It’s just like human nature or something, I don’t know. But I can say this, I play video games all the time, and I’m just fine.\n\nSAMANTHA\nHa!\n\nBILLY\nWhat’s that supposed to mean?\n\nSAMANTHA\nWhat, oh nothing.\n\nBILLY\nNo, you seem to think something is so funny. What’s funny?\n\nSAMANTHA\nYou said you’re fine despite playing video games.\n\nBILLY\nYeah, what of it?\n\nSAMANTHA\nWeren’t you suspended last fall for fighting?\n\nBILLY\nYeah, but that was because Trevor Pfeifer--\n\nSAMANTHA\nAnd didn’t Coach Wilson move you third string because you keep losing your temper during practices?\n\nBILLY\nNO! He did that because I never—\n\nSAMANTHA\nAnd everyone knows that you broke your arm last year because you punched the brick wall behind the gym.\n\nBILLY\nYeah, but—\n\nSAMANTHA\nI rest my case.\n\nNELSON\nOkay, Let’s end it here. If we will return—\n\nBILLY\nNow wait a minute! You can’t just say all that crap about me and not let me respond! Mr. Nelson!\n\nNELSON\nWe’ve had enough of debate for today.\n\nBILLY\nCome on! \n\nNELSON\nPlease return to your seat, Mr. Grayson\n\nBILLY\nNo! She can’t just say that to me!\n\nSAMANTHA\n(Full of sarcasm)\nThe debate is over, MR. GRAYSON.\n\nBILLY\nLISTEN! You can’t just say that stuff to me and not let me talk back. I can’t have you coming at me like that. I won’t stand for it.\n\n(BILLY is clenching his fists. He is pacing in front of his podium now.)\n\nJOHN\nHey dude, its fine. Come sit down. It’s okay.\n\nBILLY\nIt’s not okay....\n\nNELSON\nBilly, please speak with me over here, please.\n\nBILLY\nBut she—\n\nNELSON\nPlease, Billy.\n\n(BILLY stares at SAMANTHA who is ignoring him completely. He approaches NELSON’S desk, still fuming.)\n\nNELSON\n(To CLASS)\nClass, please get out your homework from yesterday and switch with someone else in the room.\n(To BILLY)\nListen. I’m going to need you to calm down. There is no need to escalate this any further. \n\nBILLY\nBut Mr. Nelson! She kept saying that stuff about me and she had no right to. We were supposed to be debating the topic, right? Right?\n\nNELSON\nThat is correct.\n\nBILLY\nAnd that’s what I did! But she! She!\n\n(Billy closes his eyes and tries to take a few calming breaths.)\n\nI’m sorry, Mr. Nelson. I don’t know why I get so mad sometimes. Sometimes the smallest thing will just send me into a rage. My mom.... She says that I have an appointment with a behavioral doctor next week. She says I need to see someone about my anger. Maybe she’s right.\n\nNELSON\nThank you for confiding in me. I’m also proud of you. You were able to eventually realize that your anger was misguided. And you took control of the situation.\n\nBILLY\nYeah, sometimes I know that I’m being stupid and should stop being so angry, but I can’t stop. It’s weird. When something get me going, I can’t stop.\n\nNELSON\nAnd that’s something you can continue to work on.\n\nBILLY\nYeah. I guess.\n\nNELSON\nDo you need to see Mrs. Sanders in the counseling office?\n\nBILLY\nNo. No, thank you. I’m ok now. Can I go the water fountain, though? Just for a sec?\n\nNELSON\nSure. We’ll be grading when you return, so please enter quietly.\n\nBILLY\nYeah. Okay.\n\n(BILLY crosses to the door on the opposite side of the room. He opens the door half-way before stopping and staring at SAMANTHA who is looking over the homework on her desk.)\n\nNELSON\nIn or out, Mr. Grayson.\n\nBILLY\nWhat? Oh. Sorry.\n\n(BILLY exits the classroom. NELSON crosses center.)\n\nNELSON\nAlright, ladies and gentlemen. Make sure you write “graded by” at the bottom of the page and your name. Number one…\n\n(FADE TO BLACK)\n\n(END OF PLAY)\n\n\n\n\n", "\"I-I really can't remember, Jeff.\" Big-boned Billy was a shivering mess before the ruthless, orange juice fueled fervor of Jeff Mitchell, ginger prosecutor in the people's court of Ms. Hendricks's third grade history class. It didn't help that the quiet girl, Sally, was his defense attorney. She'd spent all class writing down notes and hadn't said a word to help him.\n\n\"Mister Wallace, answer the question!\" Jeff jabbed a finger at the stand, really just a tiny chair, and asked, \"Did you, or did you not take the cookies? Which, I remind the court, you admitted to seeing on my client's desk on the 12th of July. The very same day they went missing.\"\n\n\"I told you, I don't--\"\n\n\"Admit it, fatty!\" Jeff pounded his fist into his hand.\n\n\"Objection, your honor. He's clearly intimidating my client, and, uh, being mean.\" That one interjection had more words in it than Sally had said all year.\n\n\"Objection sustained,\" ruled Ms. Hendricks, nodding her head wisely. \"Jeff, stop intimidating Billy and calling him fat.\" Billy wondered why the teacher hadn't stepped in earlier. He decided that court was a scary place.\n\n\"Why can't I? We all know he did it.\" Jeff pointed at the poor boy again. \"Look at him. Look how guilty he looks. I just need to make him squeal!\"\n\n\"Because you're a lawyer, Jefferey, not a gangster. Did you read pages 143 to 145 in the textbook?\"\n\nJeff straightened a tie he didn't have, and said, \"You honor, I'd like to exercise my right to remain silent.\"\n\nMs. Hendricks pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh. \"You're not the one on trial here, Jeff.\"\n\n\"Your honor, if Mr. Mitchell is done cross-examining my witness and demonstrating his own blatant lack of preparation as an attorney, can we end this farce? I'd like to get to the lunchroom before a line forms up for the microwave.\" Billy had to admit that with this and her previous objection, Sally was proving to be a reliable ally. She may have been quiet, but that didn't mean that she was dumb, or a pushover like he was. He was glad to have her defending him from Jeff's pointing fingers and cutting words, even though she was a girl, and even though she'd peed her pants last month.\n\n\"Very well. Does the prosecution have any final arguments?\"\n\n\"Your honor, he took the cookies. I can't remember just means he can't think of a way to lie because I'm such a good lawyer.\" He pointed at Sally, and screamed, \"No matter what that pee-girl says!\"\n\nMs. Hendricks's glare was icier than a Popsicle in the cool zone of an amusement park. \"Jeff. After school.\" After watching the boy squirm for a moment, she turned to Sally and asked, \"Any final arguments from the defense?\"\n\n\"The prosecution claims the cookies were stolen on the 12th of July, your honor. That's during summer vacation, and as my client's report card shows, his grades are exceptional. He would have no reason to be in summer school. However,\" she gestured toward Jeff, \"Mr. Mitchell here, is known to be a frequent face at summer school, and a lover of cookies.\" She shrugged. \"Plus, I heard him brag about stealing the cookies to the other boys while Dan was in the washroom! He's the one who should be sentenced your honor.\"\n\nMs. Hendricks stroked her chin, and smiled, \"Very good point about summer school, Sally. I think that proves Billy's innocence.\" She stopped smiling. \"With that being said, you're a lawyer, not a detective. Jeff needs to have his own trial before we sentence him.\"\n\n\"But he did it! I heard him say it. Look at him. Look how guilty he looks.\"\n\nMs. Hendricks sighed and shook her head. \"Not this again.\"" ]	[ 1, 6, 7 ]	[ "1500317614", "1500358516", "1500361863" ]
	[WP] The conspiracy theorists were right. We didn't go to the moon, we went much further.	13	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "\"Don't do that! You'll ruin the original!\"\n\n\"Someone get a copy over to the guys in exposure, ASAP.\"\n\n\"A copy tape won't do, it will have to be the original.\"\n\n\"But what about what we found?\"\n\n\"We can always go back.\"\n\nJuly 25th, 1969\n\nDirector Bennett walked into the boardroom, but no one seemed to notice.\n\n\"Someone better start explaining the situation to me right now, or you can explain to my wife why I'm missing our boys' school play.\"\n\nSuddenly the bustling and chatter paused for an instant. Attention turned to the ex-navy commander, before everyone burst into shouted explanations and arguments. Bennett just shook his head, pointing to one of his junior officers.\n\n\"You, outside. Now.\"\n\nThe pair shuffled out of the boardroom, shutting the noise and confusion behind closed doors behind them.\n\n\"Name?\"\n\n\"Officer Bradley, sir.\"\n\n\"Officer Bradley. Update me please.\"\n\nThe two men walked down the corridor towards the building exit.\n\n\"As I'm sure you're aware sir, Apollo 11 returned successfully yesterday. On splashdown, we recovered the recordings taken on the surface. Now the government and the public are both wanting to see what we found up there.\"\n\nBennett looked confused. \"What's the problem then?\"\n\nBradley struggled to find the words. \"80 percent of the footage is... sensitive, sir.\"\n\n\"Specifics, Bradley.\"\n\n\"The planet the ship landed on seemed to be inhabited by some kind of... infection. We almost lost our men up there. The infection seemed to have overtaken the planet's indigenous creatures. Dog-like things with foaming maws and humanoid monsters with fangs and claws tearing through their own skin from the arms and back.\"\n\nBennett paused in disbelief. \"Bradley, if you're trying to pull- \"\n\n\"I'm 100 percent serious, sir.\"\n\n\"Hell,\" Bennett had expected the worst, but this was inconceivable. He rubbed his forehead with his hand with anxiety.\n\n\"Continue with the moon cover-up story?\"\n\n\"That's what we're trying to figure out how to do in the boardroom, sir.\"\n\nBennett tapped his shoe in thought on the marble floor.\n\n\"Let's see what I can do,\" he said as he paced eagerly back to the mad room.", "Bill \"Two-Shot\" Gannegon, top pilot in his class, stood at attention in NASA's waiting room. He was a funny looking man (unflattering folds of the skin) but had these sharp, small little eyes that could cut some bread from an altitude of 50k. He stood, perspiring among the quiet rows, some novelty National Anthem track playing in the background, sung by Buzz Aldrin. Normally, he didn't sweat, but when NASA calls and wants a word with you, a man, no matter his class rank, was gonna sweat stars as they say.\n\nHe thought of his wingmate saying, \"Stars.\" He had whispered it over and over in his sleep in the cot next to him. And he, Bill \"Two-Shot\" Gannegon stared at the ceiling with his small, freaky eyes. \"Stars,\" his wingmate murmured, pornographically.\n\nThe clock ticked. The secretary shuffled papers. The sweat trickled down his face. Stars.\n\nWOOOSHBANG-ERRZ -- the door to the underground came apart at the center, and six astronauts came in with modern orange suits shoutin and whoopin like the boys back in the kansas might in a game of jumper. \"WILLIAM GANNEGON!\" the big one yelled. \n\n\"WILLIAM GANNEGAN!\" the secretary yelled.\n\n\"I AM WILLIAM GANNEGAN!\" ol Two-Shot yelled. The men took by each limb and began to carry him down the hall as if he were flying, making airplane noises and congratulating him. Oh, he laughed! He laughed in a way he hadn't since being a childhood outlier, these deep, long belly chorts, as they took him flying down into the belly of the NASA beast. All in good humor. \n\nHe had come, but no one knew, save for Astronaut Boverelli, who had been supporting Bill's stomach. \n\nThey set Bill down in front of a man in a dour suit, bald, holding a box of chalk. \"Welcome to NASA, William. Call me Mr. Ted. I'm your new boss.\"\n\n\"WOW.\" That's all Bill could say. \n\n\"Ha-ha. Yup. Wow, indeed,\" chuckled Mr. Ted, opening up his box of chalk. \"You now work for the organization that brought you the moon landing, son.\" He dismissed the astronauts, quietly, giving Bill a wry look. Bill tried really hard to return this look. Bill achieved some sort of face, at least -- something that made Mr. Ted shake his head and pass him to the chalkboard on the back wall.\n\nMr. Ted took a piece of white chalk and held it up to the light. A long, white cylinder. He flashed a crazy eye at Bill and started pretending like it was a rocket shooting up, making gurgling launching noises and everything. All the way to the ceiling! Almost. They had a good laugh. \n\nMr. Ted stopped laughing before Bill did, and regarded Bill gravely.\n\nHe smartly drew a circle and labeled it EARTH. Then, a smaller circle orbiting around. \"What's this, William?\" \n\nBill said, \"The moon!\"\n\n\"That's right!\" Mr. Ted exclaimed. He then showed Bill the chalk in his hand, and made the same gurgling noises, \"Here we are, gonna go to the moon!\" Bill clapped his hands and exclaimed adoringly. \"Here we goooo and...\" The chalk rocket made it to orbit the moon, but Mr. Ted slowed down. He turned, kinda creepily, to Bill, \"And... what if I told you...\" \n\nBill said, \"What! Tell me what!\"\n\n\"What if I told you--\" Mr. Ted threw the chalk at the wall. The chalk entered into a portal that opened up, and folded over it.\n\nBill said \"WHAT!\"\n\n\"Open your eyes,\" Mr. Ted croaked, mysteriously like a homeless magician. Bill opened his eyes to find the chalk suspended in front of him, turning in the air quite peacefully. Bill \"Two-Shot\" Gannegan came a second time. The walls of the room pulled away and showed eight thousand NASA engineers working for miles around him and above him, the most wonderous technologies known to man, ships twice the size of anything on Star Trek, and insect like machines crawling everywhere. \n\n\"Welcome to NASA, William. Can you promise me one thing?\"\n\n\"Mr. Ted. I...\" Bills eyes were as small as condensed balls of dark matter.\n\n\"Promise me this will be our little secret.\"\n\nBill whispered, \"Stars,\" despite himself and from that moment on, William Gannegan was known as Bill \"Three-Shot\" Gannegan." ]	[ 1, 2, 4 ]	[ "1500320673", "1500336165", "1500323491" ]
	[WP] A mobster, a drug lord, a gang banger, and a teenage girl have a bi-monthly game night.	69	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "\"Yo Tony, what are we playing tonight?\" Mark barged into the foyer of the south shore abode, a six pack in one hand and a bottle of coke in the other. His gait both loping and shuffling, he seemed to bound forward at lackadaiscal speeds. \"Don't wanna get wrecked in that Catan shit again; Juan was way too slick, man.\"\n\n\"Don't worry bout it; I got an idea for tonight. This one's a card game about finding a werewolf. You played Mafia, right?\" The dark haired man sauntered down the stairs, his shirt untucked and his tie loosened; he smiled, unperturbed by his friend's booming entrance. \"It's a lot like that; one of the boys showed it to me last weekend. Tiffany's grabbin' it on her way over.\"\n\n\"Aight; hold up.\" Mark's drinks found their way to the table as he continued his shuffle to the bathroom. Tony strolled through the kitchen, plucking glasses and napkins as he went. The table was set as the door creeped open.\n\n\"Got the game, Tony! I need the wifi password to get the app for it.\" Tony winced as Tiffany's voice cut through the serene home.\n\n\"Does every damn thing need its own app these days? Passwords the same: eastriverfishfeeder, no spaces.\" Tony hugged his cousin, a regular game night attendee since an accidental group text last year. Tiffany oozed into her chair, phone having materialized in her hand in the blink of an eye.\n\n\"Yo Tiffany, how you doin' girl?\" Mark's shuffle a smidge quicker as he made his way to the table. He plopped down next to her and the room filled with their chatter. Tony didn't mind the noise, a break from his reality into the strange world of the next generation. He leaned back and sipped a beer from the stash.\n\n\"Ah, they would make quite the cute pair, my friend.\" An unimposing man with a black moustache was now located in the chair next to Tony's. Tony's grateful sip continued, uninterrupted.\n\nHis draw done, he placed his beer down. \"Juan, you're late. Was starting to get worried about you.\"\n\nJuan chuckled. \"You never need worry about me.\" His wry smile the very paragon of self-assured confidence. \"I see we are playing the werewolf game.\"\n\nTony's eyebrows popped up. \"You know it?\"\n\n\"Of course. I am the master of games here, Tony!\" Juan's laugh bounced through the room as he winked at the Italian. \"Don't worry; you'll get me one of these days. Now then! Lovebirds!\"\n\nMark and Tiffany, red-faced, snapped to attention as Juan commanded. \n\nJuan sunk low to the table. His eyes shifting. The room still. His voice started a hoarse whisper: \"Are you ready... For ONE NIGHT, ULTIMATE WEREWOLF!\"\n" ]	[ 1, 29 ]	[ "1500340816", "1500346550" ]
	[WP] You are actually the only person who has ever gone to Hell.	3	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "He was standing at the gates. His broad, welcoming smile ever present. Any day now, he thought. He had made preparations. There was cake, there was beer, hell, there were even some succubi strippers. Too bad they didn't really make good conversation, as all they could do was shriek. His tail itched, but he didn't dare to scratch. What if right at that precise moment somebody finally came through gate? The embarrassment... No, he would just have to ignore it. First opinions mattered, especially for his first new permanent friends. \n \nA winged demon flew up to him. \"Not now Seth! They're coming any minute now!\" The demon handed him a letter and flew off again. With a sigh, he finally sat down and opened the envelope with one of his finely manicured but sharp nails. \n \nThe letter read: \"I know we haven't spoken in a while. Your determination is admirable, but it pains me to see you so alone. Please drop by again soon, the party up here has been non-stop and growing for millennia now. Everybody is dying to hear from you. Sincerely, God\" \n \nHe looked at the banquet he prepared. He looked at the fountains of fire he had commissioned. He looked at the succubi, bored out of their minds. \n \nAnd he finally scratched. The relief was liberating, he could finally think clearly again. With that, he locked the gate, gave it to Seth for safeguarding, and flew up into the light.\n" ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1500363264", "1500391078" ]
	[WP] Everyday your magical back pack contains one thing to help you through the day. Today, you reach in and there's a gun.	37	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "The bag’s middle name was surprise.\n\nAt least, that was what I’d taken to referring to it at first. I bought the thing—I can’t call it anything else, since it changed its shape everyday—at a Goodwill store near my workplace. It was—oh, I can’t quite recall—beaded? In some parts, a vintage floral design, with a gold clasp and trimmed in red patent leather. And a little handle so it hanged snugly in the crook of your arm—the height of 50s fashion. It opened fine, looked fine, seemed fine.\n\nUntil I sat down to have a sandwich in a nearby diner afterwards, fumbling in my backpack for a tissue.\n\nIn my furious rummaging my elbow knocked my newly bought purse from the table to the ground. A curse fell from my lips—and something else fell from the bag as well. A flutter of white: Subway napkins, a fanned out stack of them, their green leaf motifs staring back at me.\n\nThe moment I reached home I unclasped the purse again and ran my fingers along its lining, looking for a tear, a fray—a loophole. I hadn’t bothered with the lights: the living room, where I was, was sufficiently lit by the setting sun and streetlights both.\n\nAll I felt was silk—\n\nNo.\n\nMy fingertips brushed against something cool. It felt weighty when I pulled it out, even though it fitted easily in the palm of my hand.\n\nIt was a lighter. Foreign letters were etched into the silver, sieving out from a sea of faint micro-scratches. Russian, I’d guessed.\n\nThat first day was the only time the bag spit out two things in a day.\n\nSince then, it… has provided me with the one thing I needed, or lacked, each day.\n\nDoes that sound crazy?\n\nDuring commute: a gold compact, decorated with the swirls and loops of berry bushes, emerged pinched between my fingers. Flipping it open, I saw my reflection—and a smudge of red lipstick near my chin.\n\nA pen, of unknown make, appearing just when a client from work called during lunch, filling my ears with extremely technical information that took up a napkin or two.\n\nThe cashmere-soft slide of a ruby-red scarf, absentmindedly wound around my hand when the cinema was cold.\n\nThe purse from that first day never did come back in its entirety. Everyday brought a slightly different bag: emerging new or worn or familiar when I pulled it out the next morning. But never the same.\n\n——\n\nWe were drunk. We were so so drunk.\n\nHalf of that drunkenness came from the bag, I think. I’d pulled it out at the bar, yelled something to the likes of, “Hey, do you know what I really, really need right now?” before pulling a large bottle of Stoli from the tiny, tiny clutch. Whoops and cheers rang out around the bar as I gripped the bottle by its glass neck, triumphant.\n\nThe buzz was still there, barely muted by the quiet, when we were inside the lift.\n\n“Was this the only thing you kept?” Having inspected it from all angles on our walk home, he was now flicking the silver lighter open and closed repeatedly with a thumb. A staccato of metal meeting metal echoed in the enclosed lift.\n\n“Yeah,” I said, manoeuvring my clutch under my arm as I tugged on my dress. “Everything else I took out went back into the bag, which pretty much made them disappear by morning.”\n\nThe clicking slowed, and started up again. “Okay, have you tried taking more than one thing—“\n\n“I have, it only works the first time.”\n\n“Really? Show me.”\n\nBefore he could pester me some more I pulled the clutch from under my arm, flipped it open and stuck a hand inside. I did it only to satisfy his curiosity. At worst, I’d pull out an object I really needed—like Tylenol or something—and at best, it could give me my keys.\n\n“So anything, anything?” He was positively rocking on his heels now, trying to get a good look in the clutch. “Do we have to say a magic word or something?”\n\nI rolled my eyes. “It doesn’t work that—“\n\nI saw his eyes widen, and felt my hand weighed down by metal.\n\nIt was heavy; the wrong kind of heavy. “It’s a…”\n\n“Beretta,” he finished.\n\nMy hand was locked in an unfamiliar position—index finger rested on the trigger—when I pulled the gun out. After a moment of silence—shock or awe written on his face—he reached out and gently pried it away from the trigger.\n\n“Yeah, I think this needs to go back into the bag, and the bag inside my closet,” I said finally.\n\n“No, wait. Let’s try something.” There was a strange light in his eyes; I could see the cogs turning behind them.” What if we try shooting into the bag?”\n\nI took a step back. “What? We’re in a lift for god’s sake! What if it shoots right through it?”\n\nHe tried again, “I mean, the bullet has to go somewhere, right? And it definitely won’t go through the bag, judging from your personal experience the past few weeks.” \n\n“Okay, fine, why don’t you do it?” I wanted to toss my hands in the air but I couldn’t, obviously.\n\nBefore I could pass the gun over to him, he leaned forward and depressed the trigger while it was still in my hand.\n\nThe sensation of the gun discharging was off-kilter: I felt the metal jerk but didn’t hear the gunshot, if there was supposed to be any.\n\nA ding, and the lift doors slid open.\n\n“Oh look, it’s our floor.” He spun once—“No bullet holes here, right?”—and sauntered out, leaving me to stuff the Beretta back into my clutch.\n\nI stood it up the best I could in the too-small bag, careful not to brush against the metal. My fingers pressed against the inner lining to smooth it down—before brushing against something wet.\n\nAnd crimson.\n\nThe lift doors closed behind me. I looked down at my fingertips and into the bag again—a rapidly growing splotch ringing my belongings and the gun.\n\nStrains of voices and background noise—he’d switched on the television—drifted out from the entrance of our apartment, gate flung open like an afterthought.\n\nBREAKING NEWS: LIVE FROM RU—" ]	[ 1, 2 ]	[ "1500368486", "1500397228" ]
	[WP] You are an Evil Overlord who's prophesied to conquer the world, only one problem you are horrible at world conquering	4	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "it happened a year ago on this very same day. Some how its the only date i never forget. Granted it is also my birthday so it is pretty hard to forgot. But it was the day when I learned about my destiny. To start an epic celebration of my 18th birthday, Wally and I decided to take a journey of self discovery by smoking as much as we possibly could. Wally had found his brothers stash a few days back and had stolen it for my birthday.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nWe ordered pizza and proceeded to talk about the future while we waited. Not really the far future, not the one that has occupied my mind and thought ever since that day, mostly just about when the pizza would get there and how savagely we would devour it. \n\n&nbsp; \n\nIt felt like an eternity before the door bell finally rang. I stumbled as fast as i could to make my way to the door. I opened it only to be surprised by a blinding beam of light. Since we had been in the basement all day i just assumed my eye needed to get adjusted so I stood there quietly waiting for my vision to work properly. It didn't. I must have stood there for about 5 minute before some one finally talked.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n\"Do not be afraid, I am here, only to talk.\" said the strange voice. It felt like some one trying way too hard to make their voice deeper than it was.\n&nbsp; \n\n\"Pizze?\" - I mumbled. I was trying to form a normal sentence but those damn evil plant had robbed me of all my vocabulary. all but the only thing that mattered.\n\n&nbsp;\n\"I am a messenger from the dark lord. I am here to inform of your grand destiny. Of your glorious fate and this world inevitable demise!\" \n\n&nbsp;\n\"Pizza!\" I said louder this time. I still couldn't see any thing, so I threw my 20 dollar bill at where the voice was coming from. \n\n&nbsp;\n\"You are son of the only justified ruler of this world. You are the conqueror. \nYou shall rule this world in his name and lead his armies to battle against heaven it self.\"- the voice continued, ignoring my obvious confusion. \n\n&nbsp;\nI gathered what ever strength that I could, focused as hard as i ever have and finally and clearly said:\n\"But where is my pizza\"\n\n&nbsp;\n\"THERE IS NO FUCKING PIZZA! I'm here to to tell you about your future and your father\"\n\n&nbsp;\n\"wait my dad is here! he was supposed to work till 9\" I screamed in fear. My dad would kill me he saw this messed up. \n\n&nbsp;\n\"Not him your real Dad, the power dark lord. The ruler of hell\" - he replied with noticeable anger.\n\n&nbsp;\n\"he is just an accountant, he isnt that bad\" - I replied, this guy was really messing with my mood.\n\"No you were adop... Ugh whats the point\"\n\n&nbsp; \n\nThe light suddenly became even brighter than before. It burned through my eye lids that couldn't not save me from its furious luminosity. It felt like it was piercing through my brain. Etching its thought and ideas in my mind. I began to understand. I gained memories of the past, visions of the future. I could see vividly, armies of man looking up at me. The world at my fit as i sat on a fury throne. And then blackness. I woke up on the couch in our basement, a new man, with a new path to follow.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nSince that day I have began my quest to conquer this world. I have already accomplished the first step. In order to procure enough power to begin my conquest, I need resources and money. So I have found a job. Today I am the pizza delivery boy; Tomorrow I will be the conqueror. " ]	[ 1, 3 ]	[ "1500371843", "1500377464" ]
	[WP] You are travelling around the world and each time you wait in the airport you notice a cute little kid the thing is you saw this kid in every airport you went to and each time the kid is with different parents	43	[ "\nOff-Topic Discussion: All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.\n\n#####Reminder for Writers and Readers:\n* Prompts are meant to inspire new writing. Responses don't have to fulfill every detail.\n\n* Please remember to [be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback.\n\n---\n\n[](#icon-help)[^(What Is This?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/off_topic) [](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) [](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) [](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatroom)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n", "“Hey honey, how was the flight?” Her voice was chipper.\n\n“Fine, babe. Just…wait, I haven’t left yet. I’m…I’m waiting for the next flight now, it doesn’t leave for a couple hours.” I replied.\n\n“Oh. Well, get some rest. You’ve been jetting between time-zones so much I’m surprised you’re even awake right now.”\n\nHell, what time was it? I wondered as I looked down at my watch, still set on time back home, 2 A.M. The bright, morning sun shining into the terminal. I was a long way from home, I thought.\n\n“Shit, I’m sorry. I just realized the time. I’ll call you back in the morning.”\n\nShe giggled, “Babe, its ok. Work has been keeping you away, I’m sure it’s easy to lose track of the day and time. Try and get some rest?”\n\n“Thanks, love ya.”\n\n“Thanks, you too.”\n\nAs I hung up the phone I couldn’t help thinking about the oddity of the conversation. She didn’t too awake for this early on a weekday. What day was it, was it a weekday? \n\nI started to put my phone back in my pocket, when I saw her again. I wiped my eyes in disbelief. I could feel my eyes welling up with water. Even though I hadn’t slept in a couple of days, there could be no mistake, that was her, that was my little Adelynn.\n \nI pulled my phone back up, and discreetly took her picture. Then put my phone back in my pocket. I watched her walk away from me down the terminal, trying to confirm that it was her. I sat in confusion, trying to figure out was going on. \n The man accompanying her was a tall, young Chinese man in a brown, tweed suit that belied his age. He looked like he belonged to an era long past. I looked again at my Adelynn, I was sure it was her. But I also saw her in London, she was with an older couple then. Fat tourists travelling with their child. I had a picture of her there too. In New York, she was with a red-headed business woman in a black, professional dress and stilettos. And the time before that…I pulled my phone back from my pocket and turned it to my pictures. I flipped through the pictures with a feverish pace. Dozens of photos of my Adelynn, and each time she was with different adults. What the hell was happening?\n\nMy Adelynn and the young man stopped and were staring into one of the shops. The over-priced markets that peddled you junk you didn’t need. They stepped inside. My heart jumped in my chest. This was it. This was the first time I would be able to go to her, rescue her from these people. \n\nI stood up. Slowly I began walking towards the shop to follow them in. I went over what I was going to do, what I was going to say. I was going to save my Adelynn. I hadn’t made it more than a dozen feet from where I had been sitting when a gruff voice broke me from my thoughts.\n\n“Sir, is this your bag you’re leaving?” I looked back at the airport security, standing by my briefcase.\n\n“Oh, yes, but…um, just a minute I need to talk with someone over...” I trailed off as I looked back and saw my Adelynn leaving the store. This time there was an elderly woman holding her hand as they walked back towards me.\n\n“Sir, you can’t leave your bag unattended.”\n\n“I’ll be right, back. I just need a minute.” I called back frustrated.\n\nI heard the guard talking into his radio, but I didn’t care. My Adelynn was coming back towards me.\n\n“Sir, you need to come with me.” The guard said as he grabbed my wrist from behind. I looked back at him angry, he was trying to keep me from my lost little girl.\n\n“No!” I yelled as I tried to pull myself free from his grasp. He gripped me tighter and twisted my arm. He threw me to the ground on my face. I struggled to break free, but he grabbed my other arm and pulled it behind my back.\n\n“Quit resisting, sir.” He commanded as he slipped the handcuffs on me. I had been tackled in a such a way that I couldn’t turn. I could no longer see my Adelynn. I began crying, screaming out for her.\n\nAnother guard came over and the two men hoisted me to my feet and began ushering me away. I keep trying to turn, to look back, to see my Adelynn. A crowd had formed around where I had been, they blocked my view. I knew she could hear me so I kept crying out. I didn’t stop until the two guards pushed me into a side hallway and the doors closed behind me.\n\nThey lead me through the maze of halls, until finally they came to a series of doors. We were no longer in the area with all the administrative offices. These doors had no windows. They pushed me into one of the rooms. It was empty except for a large table with two chairs at it. The pushed me down into one of the chairs, the one facing away from the door. They moved my hands from behind my back and handcuffed them to the table. They walked out leaving me alone.\n\nI sat at the table. Broken. Dejected. I kept looking at my watch, the minutes dragged past. More than thirty minutes crawled by before the door behind me opened again. I turned to try and see who had come. A middle-aged man, his dark hair peppered with gray, closed the door behind him. As he turned, his jacket fluttered opened and I saw his gun and badge. He was a cop, he could help me.\n\nHe sat down without saying a word and placed a folder on the table.\n\n“Sir, you have to help me. I just saw my little girl in the terminal, she disappeared a year ago. You have to let me go and I can show you where she was.”\n\n“No. I don’t have to do shit. You. You on the other hand. You better start talking. You better explain yourself.”\n\n“What?”\n\nHe opened the folder and slid it in front of me. He fanned open three photos of my Adelynn at me.\n\n“That’s her! That’s my Adelynn! She’s here at this airport, you have to help me!”\n\n“These,” he said tapping his on the photos, “girls were all found on your phone. Along with photos of a couple more dozen other little girls. These girls here,” he tapped again, “they’ve all gone missing in the last couple months, and you need to tell me where they are.”\n\n“I have no idea what you’re talking about,\" I did my best to point at the photos while handcuffed. \"This is my Adelynn. Aren’t you listening to me?” I cried out, my voice raising in anger.\n\n“Fine. You don’t want to talk. You can just sit here then.”\n\nThe officer rose, leaving the photos behind. I called out behind him as he exited the room.\n\n“No, listen, you have to help me. Please!” The heavy door shut behind him. \n\nI turned back to look the photos. What happened? Did he switch the photos? Where was my Adelynn? Who were these girls? I hung my head, sobbing uncontrollably, tears splattering on the photos of the missing girls.\n" ]	[ 1, 4 ]	[ "1500379553", "1500406835" ]

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