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 |
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[WP] You wake up in a strange room, looking around you see several others with you, apparently equally confused. A distorted voice plays over an intercom, "One of you is not who they seem, they are responsible for you being here. Find them, and you're free." | 29 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"At first I couldn't remember how I had fallen asleep. I opened my eyes to the vision of a windowless ceiling of a large dome of dark stone. I remained in my position of rest for about ten seconds, knees bent upwards, one arm in the space between my thighs, not registering that I was not lying at home in bed. Then I jolted upwards. Behind my head was a wall of solid grey rock, and looking down the length of it I saw that it formed a large circular room, maybe thirty yards from wall to wall and the same from the floor to the apex of the dome above. There were no windows or doors that I could see, the sole sources of light being the dozen or so small bulbs circling the walls at a height roughly equivalent to the length of two men.\n\nA small cot of a dirty white colour lay beneath my feet, which I noted were without shoes. My other clothes were still on my body, thankfully. I looked around. Besides my cot was another of similar type, and past that another, then another, all the way around the length of the wall. On each cot was a man, woman, or child, in various states of youth and decay, all peering around in similar bleary confusion and shrinking back from one another in swiftly paralleled terror.\n\nThere was a loud, long screeching, as from a faulty intercom, and the room grew silent. A voice spoke.\n\n\"One of you is not who they seem, they are responsible for you being here. Find them, and you're free.\" The Voice was of another world - ethereal, alien, drawn from somewhere in the void between what is and what is not. The sound of it halted the blood in my veins, made my hair recede into the depths of my skull and my teeth rearrange themselves in my mouth.\n\nIn the silence that followed, my mind suddenly clicked. I remembered how I had gotten here, what had happened before I had awoke from my dreamless sleep.\n\n\"I am responsible for this, for all of this,\" I said, trying to keep my voice from quavering.\n\nThere was a pause.\n\n\"Great!\" the Voice said finally. \"Well, that solves that, thanks for stopping by.\"\n\n\"No problem,\" I said as one end of the dome began to rise, revealing the noonday sun. \n\nOur shoes were waiting outside."
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[WP] The only god is Death but the demons Disease, Tragedy, Disaster, War, Violence, and Distortion give it a run for their money. | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"It had been a quiet day down here in the Underworld. And that was something that seldomly happend for me. Usually the kids were always trying to outshine me, with their different abilities.\nThe jokes were on them, cause in the end, Death would always win. It was something I had learned along time ago.\nI think I figured it out when Disease summoned the famous Black Plague, as he so called it. He was a strange demon, always making up some illness with a fancy name. Then to release it onto the human world, and laugh in my face. \n\"Look Death, look! See how many are dying right now due to the Black Plague! Not even you can do that\"\nHe was easily amazed by it all, and I gave him a small nod. He could not have smiled more that day. \nI spent the following years reaping the dead, all whom had died to the Plague, but it was all my earnings. They had all died, and I was the God of Death. My duty was to see that they died, and then take them here, to the Underworld.\n\"Why do you always do this Death? They were mine to kill, not yours!\" Disease was furious, not a sign of the smile I had seen before.\n\"My sweet, innocent Demon, you simply do not understand, do you?\"\n\"What do I not understand, Death? They were mine, not yours! All of them were mine, you just sat there and did nothing! I created this plague, so they were all mine! Yet you took them all away from me!\"\nI just sat myself down into my chair, the other Demons popped into the room.\n\"Disease, you created something only Death can follow afterwards. All of those humans prayed for Death to take them, not Disease! All you will ever do, is make my life easier. That is why you are my child, my innocent Demon. I created you to help me!\"\nDisease was shocked, for he also realised the truth in it. The others ran from the room, they knew what happened after I raised my voice like that.\nThat was time I realized that no matter what they did, I would always win. No matter what they could come up with, I won. Always.\n\n"
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[WP] Your mother died, but her soul remained. She possessed your refrigerator and today she speaks up about your bad eating habits | 49 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I'm a bot, *bleep*, *bloop*. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:\n\n- [/r/mattswrittenword] [The Reanimated Refrigerator Writing Prompt Response](https://np.reddit.com/r/MattsWrittenWord/comments/75zc20/the_reanimated_refrigerator_writing_prompt/)\n\n[](#footer)*^(If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads.) ^\\([Info](/r/TotesMessenger) ^/ ^[Contact](/message/compose?to=/r/TotesMessenger))*\n\n[](#bot)",
"As I opened the fridge in the night,I heard the voice.\"This has to stop.\"\n\n\"Who is that!?\" I heard a laugh.\"Who else would I be?I am obviously your Mom.\"\n\n\"Wait, what?\"\n\n\"I possessed the fridge,you idiot!\"\n\n\"So what brings you here,mum?\"\n\n\"I have a complaint.All you seem to do is eat.In the morning you'd open me at 6 for a snack and half and hour later you open me again for breakfast.\"\n\n\"So?\"\n\n\"Every hour it seems like you come back for a snack or a meal.I've even seen you sleepwalk to the fridge and make a PB&J and go back to your bed!\"\n\n\"That explain the Peanut Butter smell my room has!\"\n\n\"I am tired of this. I CAN NOT get any sleep because of your dumb eating habits!Now go back to bed,as it' only 3 AM,and think about this or you'll be grounded.You DO know I can do karate even as a fridge?\"\n\nI cried in my bed for the next 3 hours after that.",
"Mother always told me that unhealthy eating would be the death of me but, since the 6 years since Mother's passing I have indulged to gluttonous proportions. Mother was always overbearing \"don't do this, don't do that\" and her favourite \"sugar will be your undoing.\" It was such a joyous occasion with her passing I felt naughty eating sugar. Oh how I love sugar. As I traveled to my refrigerator Mother's word reverberated through my mind \"you filthy little piggy and your sugar.\" At least I thought they were in my mind but, as I opened the refrigerator door I heard the undeniable shrill of Mother's voice \"fat little piggy back for more sugar!\" I slammed the door shut and slowly backed away just to continue to hear Mother's shrill voice. This went on for several weeks of avoiding my possessed refrigerator succumbing to my ravenous hunger. Finally forgoing my fear of Mother's voice I swing open the door and drowned myself in sugary bliss. As I was overcome with joy of my sugar feast the door to my apartment burst open with shouts of warrants only to find me in such a naughty position. All I heard after everything fell quiet as they saw me in a most compromising position was Mother's voice \"sugar will be the death of a fat little piggy.\" Of course Mother was right Mother is always right.\n\n\"Today on the 6 o'clock news a man was found bathed in a see of body parts and blood. Police are saying he was screaming the his Mother was possessing his refrigerator and taunting him from beyond the grave. More on this story in just a few minute.\"",
"My mother throughout adolescence made wonderful meals for dad and I. We never had much but what we did have were wobbly chairs, a table missing half a leg, and a banquet presented every evening. I left home at eighteen off to college. I got a call at 22 years old I received a call from my father in tears telling me to come home. I packed my bags and rice home. I knocked on the front door and the door creaked open to only see an urn and a note from dad telling me to take the urn of mom's ashes and leave him be as he was at the bar drinking himself into a stupor. I told myself I would give him his time but I would need to know what happened to her. I went back to my room and dropped the urn on the communal table in the den. I went to sleep.\n\nI awoke to the smell of weed again... My roommate as always smoking first thing. I walked into the den... My mother was missing! I grabbed Adam by the back of the shirt and asked where my mother was. He looked at me and laughed... My mother... My wonderful mother... Was made into an ashtray for his weed... I grabbed her and took her to my room. I woke up at midnight hearing a domineering voice. Anthony...\nAnthony... \n\nI walked to the kitchen\nANTHONY!\n\nIt was my mother's voice. I began to cry and she said dry your tears Anthony. I'm here you only got one reason to cry, \"You're a disrespectful little shit! You only eat ... RAMEN ... and drinking ORANGE CONCENTRATE\" I got tired of it so I took mom to a scrap yard and gave my roommate his ashtray back.",
"“This really has to stop you know,” came a voice from, as far as I could tell, quite literally no where. \n\nI had always thought if I had been in a situation where a voice had appeared from quite literally no where I would be the sort of person to stand steadfast and confront things head on. I wouldn't be the chicken from the horror film who goes screaming from the room when things got a little bit spooky. As it turned out, hearing an omnipresent voice when you were arms deep in your fridge grabbing a slice of leftover pizza was actually pretty scary. I went screaming from the room, things had gotten a little bit spooky. \n\n“You get back here young man!” The voice, which was now clearly coming from the far end of the kitchen, yelled out. “We need to have a serious talk about your eating habits.”\n\nI poked my head back into the kitchen. There was no one there. I was going crazy. That was the only logical explanation. Maybe Andre had given me a dodgy batch of puff, maybe I hadn’t gotten enough sleep, or maybe I had just finally gone over the deep end. \n\n“I told you to get back over here,” the voice chimed out again. It was coming from the fridge. There was no doubt about it. My fridge was talking to me. Honest to god, my fridge was talking to me. “Don’t make me ask again mister, I could very easily turn off and spoil that pizza you know. Not that you even need it!”\n\n“This… isn’t happening,” I muttered, letting myself drift back into the room. “My fridge cannot be talking to me right now.” \n\nThe fridge started talking again, but I tuned it out. It was talking nonsense about caloric intakes and balanced meals. I stooped down to the plug socket the fridge was jacked into, and pulled it straight out. The fridge spluttered for a moment and then stopped talking. I let out a sigh of relief, maybe if I just kept the fridge unplugged until whatever drug was in my system had worn off. The fridge spluttered again, its lights came back on, this must have been a hell of a powerful bag. \n\n“How dare you turn off my power!” The fridge gasped indignantly, “After all those years I brought you up, and now you just go and do a thing like that.” It sounded like the fridge was crying. \n\n“Look,” I said… to my fridge, “I am going to go outside, vape, and hope that whatever drug I am on wears off. When I come back in you better be… like… a normal fridge again or something.”\n\n“Wait… Harvey, don’t go!” The fridge cried out, I could hear desperation in its voice. “I’m your Mom!”\n\nMy hand froze on the handle of the door. My Mom? Now I knew I was going crazy. My Mom had died in an accident three years ago. She had been driving along the highway when a delivery truck had skidded over to her side of the road. According to the paramedics she had died at the scene of the crash, most likely instantly. They said a refrigerator had leapt out of the truck and smashed through her windshield… \n\n“This has got to be some crazy ass trip,” I muttered.\n\n“You aren’t high Harvey! You haven’t even smoked since last night, plenty of time for the high to wear off and you know it,” the fridge, supposedly my Mom, rebuked. “Now get back in here, sit down at the table, and let's talk about your eating habits.” \n\n“This is insane,” I said, even as I relented and did as my fridge-mom asked. “Talking to my goddamn fridge who says it’s my Mom.” \n\n“Now listen here Harvey, don’t you talk about God like that in this kitchen,” my fridge-mom chastised. “Or me for that matter.” \n\nMy eyes widened in disbelief. My Mom had always been religious. She had never wanted me cursing God’s name or using it in a derogatory manner. Whenever I did she got so pissed off, and even though the fridge sounded like some sort of monotone mobile AI, there was that attitude in there that I couldn’t mistake. Tears started to track down my cheeks. I thought I had lost her, it had been so long, but my Mom had been there all along. \n\n“Mom…” I whimpered, getting up from the chair and awkwardly embracing the home appliance. \n\n“Yes, yes I know it’s emotional. Now, you have been eating far too much pizza young man…” \n\nxXx\n\n\n\"Joe, could you perhaps tell me why Harvey is hugging the fridge right now?\" Sam asked, leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen. \n\nJoe poked his head into the doorway and popped one of his chips into his mouth. \"Spiked his coffee with LSD,\" he said, shrugged, and then wandered into the living room to catch the last minutes of the game. \n\n\"Heh, classic,\" Sam snorted and shook his head before following after Joe.\n\n-------\n\nEnjoy this short writing prompt response? I have just started posting on my subreddit again! Head over to the link below to get updates on my novel “Indomitable” and links to all of the writing prompt responses I make! \n\nhttps://www.reddit.com/r/MattsWrittenWord/\n\nEdit: Changed the ending."
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[removed] | [WP] You're the best dad in the world and you just found your wife cheating on you. You're not angry, just disappointed. | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nSexually explicit themes are not allowed. This includes prompts likely to generate such responses. Also, it appears that this prompt is really just an excuse to make a dadjoke. We do not allow prompts that are basically just jokes. \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/75xexq/wp_youre_the_best_dad_in_the_world_and_you_just/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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[removed] | [WP] You're in the busiest part of Vietnam and all of a sudden you really need to use the bathroom and there is none in sight. While shuffling about you accidentally rub against a lamp and geniue grants you 1 wish! | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](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/75zhb7/wp_youre_in_the_busiest_part_of_vietnam_and_all/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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[WP] Ever since history was first recorded people have been counting down the years. From 13789 down to 1. Tomorrow is new year's eve, year 0, and everybody is waiting to see what they have been counting down to. | 61 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"For thirteen thousand years, we waited.\n\nThirteen thousand years of war, of peace, of famine, of wealth. As each year passed, the expectations mounted. Would we all die, simultaneously in glorious fashion? Would we ascend and become beings of ethereal? Or would we reset: back to the year 13789, the beginning, forced once again to turn dirt to stone, stone to iron, iron to gold. Whatever awaited us at the year zero, whatever it may hold, it must have been something. It just had to be.\n\nAnd so, on December 31st of the last year, humanity filled the streets. All thirteen billion of us stood shoulder to shoulder, staring at the inevitable countdown timers placed all over the world, and we waited. Some people took these last few moments to say goodbye to those around them, despite many being strangers to one another. Some people took advantage of the situation, looting stores and breaking into homes, fulfilling their darkest desires. It was rare they find anyone within these places, however, as the mystery of year 0 had enthralled everyone. Humans always had a tendency to go down fighting, and this was no exception.\n\nThe clocks were ticking. When the timers hit 5 hours, a cacophony of speech slowly erupted, as everyone began to share their own theories as to what was waiting for them on the other side. When they struck 3, we began to look to the sky, naivety filling our thoughts as we looked for answers in the stars. When they struck 2, the anxiety could be felt in our collective breathing, and quickly the rioting began. When they struck 1, the crowd of animals could be heard frantically crying, and we were quite frankly losing our minds. Minute by minute, the chaos surged, people growing increasingly terrified of what could very well be the end.\n\nSuddenly, as the timers struck the one minute mark, the crowd silenced. A now singular humanity waited patiently and anxiously, our breaths bated. We were a mere sixty seconds away from our final destination, and after thirteen thousands years, humanity had never seemed so... human. In these final moments, we were all one, and each of our sixty-five billion fingers were interlocked. It dared not speak, but it listened: tick, tock, tick, tock. 45 seconds. 30 seconds. Only 15 seconds left. 10.\n\n5.\n\n4.\n\n3.\n\n2.\n\n1.\n\nAnd then... nothing. Nothing not as in the absence of everything, but nothing as in the absence of anything. We looked left and right, up to the sky, and down to the ground beneath our feet. Nothing had changed. And yet, even though the world we know so well was very much in tact, something felt different, and that's because something was. In what we believed to be our final moments, we were connected to one another. Humanity was more human than it had ever been. In nearly an instant we had become one, singular being. We threw away our differences, threw away our prejudices, and threw away our hate. We were united.\n\nAnd united we stood.",
"######[](/dropcap)\n\nDecember 31st, Year 1. 11:55 PM.\n\nA couple billion people sat in their basements, huddling each other for comfort. Another few billion celebrated the end of one year and start of the next, partying harder than they thought imaginable. If the world was going to end, at least they would black out before the Four Horsemen arrived. Or, if it was just the start of a new era, they would begin at their all time low with massive hangovers. \"There's nowhere but up for me this era!\" On the other hand, several hundreds of millions were skeptics, denying that Year 0 would be anything but another year. The only question on their minds was, \"Will the following year be denoted Year -1?\" Perhaps humanity will decide to count back up. \"Year 1b.\"\n\nThe interior of a local seafood restaurant in Alaska was packed like sardines. Its kitchen was also packed with actual sardines, but the sardines themselves were packed more like people than sardines. The coastal eatery—flooded with terrified children, joyous drunks, repenting believers, and some calm Year 0 deniers happily dunking fish sticks into tartar sauce—had been preparing for tonight all year. If the world does not in 5 minutes at 12:00 AM, Year 0, then they will easily make up for an otherwise lackluster year of business.\n\n\"4 minutes 'til the world ends, folks!\" a 32 year old bald man says, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his red and black checkered flannel sweater. Nate, a Year 0 denier, smiles from ear to ear. \"That's right, just 240 seconds left until a month before the Super Bowl.\"\n\nA woman, late forties and short bleached hair, turns to Nate with an annoyed \"Guhh!\" and holds back a tiny smile. \"Something big is going to happen and you know it. How can you believe that there's nothing significant about a 13,000 year old countdown?\"\n\n\"Well,\" Nate says as he continues to pop fried shrimp into his mouth. \"Some doofus over 13,000 years ago decided that we should number the years by counting down, instead of up. He probably picked 13,789 because he thought, 'Yeah, that's a big enough number. Human civilization can't last *that* long.' To be frank, I'm astounded that we've lasted for this long. Just 90 years ago, the whole world aimed nuclear weapons at each other because a North Korean leader had a mile case food poisoning.\"\n\nThe woman could not help but let out a chuckle, although her stance remained unchanged. \"Every single civilization across the whole world has been counting the years *the same way*, all starting *exactly 13,789 years ago*.\" She thumped her forefinger on Nate's table when she emphasized her words.\n\n\"Meh. Hundreth Monkey Effect,\" said Nate.\n\n11:59 PM.\n\nThe overcrowded restaurant became dead silent, bar the few terrified whimpers of children. Everyone's thoughts fixated solely upon two questions:\n\n\"What is going to happen in one minute, on January 1st, Year 0?\"\n\nand,\n\n\"Should we start counting down now? 10 seconds feels too late to start to this final countdown. How about at 30 seconds?\"\n\nExactly 30 seconds passed. One third of the restaurant chanted, \"Thirty! Twenty-nine! Twenty-eight!\" Some of them stopped chanting, realizing that they had started too early.\n\nNate waved at the waitstaff through the crowd. \"Can I get another order of clams? I'm planning on staying here for a while.\"\n\nTwenty seconds. Several voices decided that now was a good time to start counting down. \"Twenty! Nineteen! Eighteen!\" By the fifteenth second, everyone had joined in on the countdown all across the globe (it had been concluded that Indian Standard Time would be the time zone to use, since there are so darn many people there).\n\n\"Ten! Nine! Eight!\" Nate chugged his strawberry lemonade, his favorite beverage as a kid and still his favorite beverage as a grown man.\n\n\"Seven! Six! Five!\" Several people screamed at the top of their lungs—many of who should smoke more cigarettes to deepen their voice's pitch. It's the considerate thing to do when you enjoy screaming next to strangers.\n\n\"Four! Three! Two!\" Panicked *I love you*s in a variety of languages. Hugs, shaking, fainting, and more screaming.\n\n\"One!\"\n\nNate stood atop his chair and said, \"Happy New Year!\" His voice traveled just a few feet before being drowned by the relentless screams.\n\n*Buzz.*\n\nNate felt it. The bleached-haired woman felt it. A man in the kitchen munching on sardines felt it. Every person on the planet felt it: a violent *buzzing* rattled the insides of everyone's skulls, as though their brains received a text message at the silent climax of a film in a theater. The buzzing wasn't painful, but it was uncomfortable and horrifying nonetheless.\n\n\"Dear Humanity,\" a voice announced to the inside of their heads. It spoke in every person's native tongue.\n\n\"Your trial for Acme Solutions: Advanced Intelligence © has expired. We hope that you've enjoyed our product and consider purchasing a full license from us soon.\" The buzzing stopped shortly after the voice cut out.\n\nFebruary 1st, Year 0\n\nCities became jungles. Offices turned into wild habitats. Just one month into Year 0 and billions of people lay dead on the streets. With no person smart enough to treat disease, operate heavy machinery, or prepare clean food and water, humanity's decline into primeval status came with fury. No Super Bowl occurred today.\n\nThe oceans rose significantly. Great structures—indeed the start of many empires—formed beneath the waters. They were not built by humans, however, but by a tightly-packing, salty-tasting fish.\n\nThe sardines now owned the world—and the only copy of an Acme Solutions: Advanced Intelligence © license."
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[Wp] An adventure with the classic fantasy species, that takes place during or after the industrial revolution | 3 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The London fog, as it was known snaked around his ankles, He had a lot on his mind. He had gotten terrible news from delivered by one of 'them'. For the life of him he could not understand why his sister would have sent one of them, the filthy little muckrakers.\n\n\nThe dirty little hairy footed halflings. She hated them. Why did she send that one, of all of them. Reaching the Borough Market, He waded through the filth of the common people. He hiked up his jacket to avoid the dirt and grime. Tucked his hat a bit lower in a vain effort to hide what he was. Despite his attempt he knew that he would be recognized as one of the Elfin people.\n\n \nThe quality of his clothes, had marked him out as he crossed London Bridge. He was no stranger to a few of the stall owners though, the higher quality ones had already sent a guard or two to watch after him, as arranged. He had to forgo his personal guard though, they would detest, and probably shoot the one he was supposed to meet on sight.\n\nCrossing the alley to where he finally saw what he was told to look for, the sign of three ears. He hesitated a second because there was a fourth ear nailed to the bottom of the sign. One he knew, the triangle tattoo on the lobe was of his family, he had played with that humans ear for the twenty-nine years of his childhood. Before he met his first tutors, before he had even met his father and true mother. The owner of that ear had raised him. It was his wet nurse, and his sisters after his.\n\nBracing himself and reaching for his pistol with one hand. Grasping his fathers dagger with the hand pushing the door open.\n\n\n\n\"What fresh hell has she gotten into now.\" He mutters as the door opens...\n\n(out of story this is as far as I can get tonight... if you like, reply and I will continue)",
"Lysander watched in horror as the sky lit up bright red and orange. Even the clouds held the strange hues of the now glowing sky. The cascade of red-orange was only broken up by what, at first, appeared to be black dots. \n\nLike an ebon rain, the dots began falling to the earth below. As he stood watching his elf eyes began to focus on the forms falling all around the horizon. That’s when he saw it, a glint. The light from the sky hit one of the black balls enough to where Lysander could finally see the ball was covered in metallic scales. Soon the shapes of wings and a tail formed and it became clear that the lifeless bodies of dragons were the things raining down on the earth.\n \nWhen they began to collide with the countryside there was no mistaking the loud thuds. A mix of bone, scale, and flesh shook the earth beneath Lysander’s feet. From the hillside, he could see the once extraordinary creatures that ruled the island and the lands beyond the sea were coming crashing down. \n\nAs soon as the sky had changed it was now returning to its original blue. There was no trace of the red-orange tones that were once there. The clouds were back to white and the bodies had ceased to fall. It was as if nothing had happened. \n\nLysander raced to the closest impact of the dragons that he had seen. A mile, maybe two, away was where the large beast had come crashing down in the middle of the forest. Lysander’s mind raced as he tried to make sense of the horrific events he had been witness to. \n\nThe voices and whispers that had been so common before were now silent. The trees weren’t talking. There were no gnomes, nymphs, or dryads singing songs. He kept running. No single creature, no magic power could have annihilated one dragon, let alone all of them at once. They were the rulers of sky and land. \n\nLysander stopped running in an instant. The body of the majestic creature had made a sizeable crater in the middle of the forest. The trees had been flattened and the grass and plants uprooted. But the most worrying part was where the dragon’s body lay. The great wings that once carried the beast through the sky effortlessly were no more. Even the shape of its head could not be found, instead, a black mass laid amongst the rock and remnants of the once serene forest. \n\nLysander walked hesitantly toward what once was a mighty creature. No heat emanated from the body. It was cool to the touch. The body of the dragon had been broken up into rocks that could fit in Lysander’s palms. They were pitch black and left a dark residue that made Lysander feel uneasy.\n\n“So, you’ve found it,” said a cold voice from behind Lysander. Standing behind him was the old wizard that Lysander had come to hate.\n\n“What have you done?” Lysander could barely get the words out. \n\n“It’s a new age, Lysander. One where magic is no longer needed. So, I destroyed it. All of it.”\n\n“But…how? You’re a wizard. Magic is your weapon!”\n\n“Fool. Magic is a weapon. But there are others. A new age is dawning and I will be on top of it. And you, Lysander, you will not see tomorrow,” the wizard smirked. His beard was trimmed far more than the last time Lysander had seen him. \n\n“This isn’t over…”\n\n“Ahhh, Lysander but it is. The dragons were first, but not the last victims of the final spell. You must have heard the quiet while running here. No nymphs or fairies spreading their unending songs and laughter,” again the wizard smirked. “And, what pray tell are elves little Lysander?” \n\nAt this Lysander realized he could no longer move his legs. They were literally rooted to the ground beneath him. His arms were becoming increasingly hard to move, even his mind was going blank. \n\n“See, Lysander? It’s over. It’s the dawn of a new age. Magic is out and soon the mechanized world will be here and you and all of your ilk will be but a long-forgotten myth,” the wizard smiled. “I will probably need a new name though. I can’t be going by some old wizard’s name, now can I?”\n\nLysander could no longer speak. His arms were stuck raised above his head and he realized now that he was becoming a tree. Words were becoming increasingly hard to focus on. He just felt anger. It must have shown on his face because the wizard laughed. \n\n“What about…Dragon?” mused the wizard. “Yes, Dragon will do. Though the irony will be lost on most. Not you and I though. We’ll get it. I will be a leader in this new age just you wait Lysander. Maybe even work myself up to King. King Dragon. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”\n\nLysander could no longer think or even see. The world around him grew dark and he could only feel the breeze blow through his outstretched arms above his head. \n\n“So, the revolution begins. Better start digging, eh Lysander?” and with that, the wizard went off towards to the town to rally a few men to start collecting the remnants of the dragon’s body. He’ll call it coal. \n"
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"1507866821",
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[WP] Your unassuming mentor is hiding a damning secret and you're determined to find out what it is | 4 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I pinched my eyes shut, beads of sweat rolling down my temple as I tried to mentally string the reagents in the right order. \n\nI thrust my palm downward, fingers arched into a claw. I felt a spark from my consciousness leave my body, free of its corporeal form. The spark moved as I willed it, and although I could not exactly see what it did, I could get a sense of its surroundings and any sources energy around. Boy, scrying was a lot more difficult than the Seers made it look. \n\nThe tough part of my spell complete, I took a seat, making sure to keep my eyes closed. Vision from the eye can get very distracting for apprentices. I led the spark up a flight of stairs to my goal: The Master’s Chambers. As it approached, I felt myself tense. There was power here. *Of course there would be, you idiot.* Back in my body, I could feel a prickle of anticipation, I was about to find my Master’s secret to success.\n\nIt had taken months of planning. I was a member of the Journalist’s Guild, and we had been looking at Maximilian Geiaf for quite awhile now. Grand Magus, Alchemy Extraodinaire and Master Elementalist in both Fire and Water. All at the ripe young age of 30. Some even rumoured that he dabbled in Shamanism on the side. While many have celebrated the accomplishment as the greatest magical feat since Rubick, the Journalists Guild remained skeptical. No one could achieve such control of power within such a short span of time. Not legally anyway. \n\nBefore this, apprentices were predominantly male, with the exceptions being daughters of these masters, or women who were able to seduce mages into teaching them. Thus a campaign had been staged. A women’s rights campaign instigated by the guild to bring gender equality to apprentices. And as someone who was in the spotlight of the media, naturally Geiaf had no choice but to succumb to the public and accept a female apprentice. With a little bit of clever blackmail and bribery, the guild managed to successfully send me, Franscesca Kylian, to study under the illustrious Mr. Magehunt. At least that was what the tabloids are calling him anyway. \n\nI had begun my first month learning about reagents, a modern method of mastering magic. Bonded together in the right sequence, magicians could gain access to much more varieties of spells as compared to memorising complex scrolls ad verbatim for just one spell. While the reagents certainly made spellcasting much simpler, they certainly weren't exactly a walk in the park. Plenty of memory work was still required, and simple mistakes in the chains can lead to very erroneous results. \n\nTurns out, Master Geiaf was extremely nice and forthcoming with his teachings. While I was pleasantly surprised that he had not been the mysoginist I had imagined him to be, and that he was actually a really nice person to be around, the fact of the matter is that I still had a mission to do. But that did not make me any less guilty. \n\nI willed the spark to press on, albeit gingerly. I felt the vibrations of footsteps, but nothing too immediate that demanded attention, so I inched a little bit further. *There! Magic.* I was close. Following the source of power, I sent my spark forward, up until I could almost make out the shape of the magic energy in my mind. The curls of power was bent in the familiar shape of a harp and cross. The rune looked familiar, I had remember seeing it in a textb-fuck. \n\n*Wards.* \n\n“Arghh.” I hugged my head in my hands as a sharp pain lanced through my mind. The pain was short lasting, but the result was clear. My spell had been thwarted. \n\n“It is interesting,” said a smooth voice behind me. “That every apprentice’s first use of the scry spell is to peek into my chambers.” \n\nI looked up to see Master Geiaf in his velvet bathrobe, a tall leggy redhead by his side. I envied the woman’s height, but I did not envy the terrible dye job she had. There were many things about myself that I would absolutely love to change, but being a natural red was not one of them. We were a dying breed.\n\nHe held the castle doors open for her. \n\n“It was a pleasure my dear. Until next time.” he said, shutting the door behind her. \n\n“Good morning Franscesca.” he said, joining me at the table. “Tea?”\n\nA teapot as well as an assortment of breakfast food had appeared on the previously empty table. It was my fifth month here and this still amazed me every time. \n\n“Orange juice please.” I said, grabbing a crossaint from the middle. Magic pastries taste delicious, it was a wonder as to why bakeries even existed. \n\n“Well, you know the spell to that one now.” he said, stirring his third sugar into the earl grey. I must have hesistated, because he said, “It's pretty simple! You can do it!”\n\n*Alright.* My mind fed me the first few strings easily, a tall glass materialising in front of me. Geiaf smiled encouragingly at me from across the table. *Okay. Orange Juice.* My mind retrieved the reagents for juice. *Now the flavour. There.* My glass filled up with orange. Beaming proudly at my handiwork, I took a sip. \n\nIt was passionfruit.\n\nMaster Geiaf had not noticed, so I was allowed to wallow alone in self-embarrassment. \n\n“Alright Fransesca, today’s lesson will be about wards.” said Geiaf, rising from the table. “But I would prefer if you didn't use this knowledge to go messing with mine. I have taken extra precautions regardless, so unless you wish another mini migraine upon yourself, please refrain.”\n\nI didn't know what to say, so I just smiled sheepishly. \n\nGeiaf went on to talk about the difference between offensive and defensive wards for the next hour before excusing himself upstairs. I had been given two scrolls to read and a few basic wards designs to study. That should take me at least half a day. \n\n“Oh and don't forget to clean up after yourself.” he called from the stairs. “And do let the gardener in later - roses are a mess.”\n\n“Yes Master.”\n\n***\n/r/lysanderxonora \n\nPart 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/LysanderXonora/comments/763vjc/wp_your_mentor_is_hiding_a_damning_secret_and_you/"
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[WP] It is Friday, October the 13th and you are on flight 666 going straight to HEL. | 25 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"He checked his phone- Friday, October the 13th. The spookiest day of them all! Harold Wolgast chuckled to himself. Superstitions were always silly- unrelated coincidences that put unrealistic thoughts into someone a hundred years ago and have somehow persisted in some people's minds into the modern era. The era of science, of reason, and of logic. \n\n\"Good morning, everyone, this is your captain speaking.\" The intercom crackled to life, a masculine voice filling the cabin. \n\n\"You have boarded flight 666B, the weather is clear, and we should take off in a matter of minutes. Thank you for choosing Fullmoon Airlines.\"\n\nHarold looked, surprised, at the intercom as if to deduce a lie from it's nonexistant facial expressions.\n\nFlight 666? Okay, again, just to clarify, Harold was *not* superstitious. But there are a lot of people who thought those numbers were the mark of the beast. Also, was this airline *really* called Fullmoon? He hadn't remembered that.\n\nThe faceless intercom once again was the mouthpiece for delivering further new. \"Conditions are optimal for a trip straight to H-E-L, Helenvale, Australia. Again, that's a one way ticket straight to Hel-\" the intercom suddenly ticked off.\n\nA one way ticket straight to...what? Harold shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He glanced around, and the young woman seated next to him was already asleep. He craned his neck above the seat infront of him and pivoted. No one was concerned. A baby napped on a mother's shoulder, an older gentlemen was flipping through a book. \n\nA little girl was playing with a mirror, raising it high above her head and shaking it around.\n\n\"Honey, where did you get that? Why did you open our bags?\" The girl's father reached out to confiscate the make-up mirror. The girl shouted her disagreement and dropped the mirror.\n\n\"Abigail!\" The father shouted in disbelief. Harold startled, and once again looked around. No one seemed concerned. The sleeping woman didn't even stir. \n\nHarold's eyes once again drew to the scene in front of him. \n\n\"Abigail, you broke it.\" The father said, disappointed. He lifted it up, and the broken mirror, fragmented, perfectly reflected Harold's face.\n\nHarold made a strange noise and ducked into his seat for some reason. He glanced nervously out of his window and shouted, as a raven, black as midnight, had landed on the wing on the other side of the glass. It stared directly at him for a moment, and then fluttered away.\n\nRegaining his composure, once again he found that not one person was even looking at him, and the young woman was sleeping quietly.\n\nA few rows ahead, someone opened up an umbrella, before closing it, laughing their apology.\n\nA steward begain walking the isle, offering snacks. When she reached Harold's row, her hand clipped an out of place salt shaker an the course particles spilled everywhere. She quickly cleaned the mess up and moved on.\n\nMeanwhile, Harold's head slowly turned from these sights and he shrunk, white faced, into himself.\n\nEverything was fine. Everything was fine. Everything was fine.\n\nHe pressed his face against the window as if it offered him an escape from this torture airplane. His eyes scanned the concrete plain, the maze of runways, and reached the front of the plane. What was that?\n\nA small black shape had just finished crossing in front of the plane. He squinted, and lo and behold, a black cat had just crossed the planes- and by extention- Harold's path.\n\nHarold screamed, throwing his arms into the air. The sleeping woman's eyes flashed open in terror and he pushed past her and sprinted down the isle. A steward ducked out of the mad man's path. \n\nThrowing the door open, before him stood the Grim Reaper. Swishing his scythe in the air, a bony finger extended toward Harold's face.\n\nHarold slammed the door, still screaming, and turned around.\n\nThe steward looked at him blankly for a few moments. Then, blood began pouring from her mouth as she made curses upon him in languages Harold did not recognize. Harold screamed as a ghostly force jettissoned him out the door. Falling many feet, he landed with a thud onto the cold concrete. His vision blackened, and he awoke to see a hoard of people shambling towards him. Zombies!\n\nHarold struggled to his feet and sprinted in the opposite direction. A group of friends, laughing and giggling to themselves, were casually walking on the runway. They walked away from Harold, oblivious to his plight. He quickly caught up with them, and pleaded for help or acknowledgement.\n\n\"We have to get out of here! It's the end of the fucking world!\" They did not listen. They kept walking and chuckling.\n\n\"Fine!\" He turned to go past, but suddenly, there were people in front of him. He kept running horizontally, but somehow a one deep row of people were always in his way.\n\nThis group was taking up the whole runway! Are you serious!? Just walk faster, for Christ sake!\n\nHe pushed past, ignoring the chastisement of the strange people. The earbuds that he didn't realize he had in his ears fell out, landing directly back into his pocket.\n\n\"What?\" He said aloud. He unconsciously pulled the bud back out, only to see it was- *tangled!*\n\n\"No!\" He shouted, throwing it into the distance. He kept running, running, running. His foot slammed into the leg of a wooden coffee table, stubbing his pinky toe of his now bare foot.\n\n\"Ow- what the fuck-!?\" He stumbled in pain, kicking over a pot of perfectly cooked chile.\n\n\"What the fuck, dude?\" A man stared at Harold in disbelief.\n\n\"I'm so sorry!\" Harold apologized profusely.\n\n\"You ruined my *vegan chile!*\" The man shouted, revealing his horrible truth, before immediately launching into a tirade about why eating meat was evil!\n\n\"*NOOOOO!*\" Harold yelled in denial, jerking forward from his slumber. The woman in the seat next to him looked at him confused.\n\n\"Are you okay?\" She said.\n\nHarold wiped the sweat from his forehead.\n\n\"Y-yes. Yes, I am. Thank you.\"\n\nShe smiled. \"Bad dream?\"\n\nHarold laughed. \"Yes, I suppose so.\"\n\nHe looked absent mindedly out the window, relieved that his nightmare was over, and finding that the plane had already taken off. He was flying over a sea of clouds.\n\nHe and the woman got to talking and he discovered her name was Kelly. They had a pleasant conversation, before she brought up her commute to work, and then she asked what he did for a living.\n\n\"Oh- I'm a cameraman for a local televison studio. I have relatives in Australia I'm going to visit. What do you do?\"\n\n\"I fly planes!\" She laughed, and Harold joined in.\n\n\"Is it weird to ride in a plane when you usually are the one driving them?\"\n\n\"No, not really. I don't ride in any planes I'm not driving.\"\n\nHarold raised an eyebrow, still smiling. \"Oh, so, what, you drive this plane, too.\"\n\nKelly looked at him. \"Why, yes, of course. I'm the captain of this plane.\" She said, deadpan.\n\n\"What?\" Harold said, as the plane made impact with the surface of the ocean.\n\nHarold jerked from his slumber, eyes wide, heart racing.\n\n\"Fuck this,\" he said aloud, exasperated.\n\n\"When is this shit going to end?\" He placed his face in the palms of his hands.\n\nLucky for him, he didn't 'wake up' again and the flight went pleasantly and without disruption. He would quickly forget about this dreadful experience and have a relaxing time in Australia.\n",
"Karl was always a suspicious and superstitious man. He killed every black cat he saw, knocked over every ladder, burnt umbrellas, and melted mirrors. He was also on and off medication, as people thought he was killing all their cats, and sent him to rehab more often than not. One day, his daughter called him. She lived in Helsinki and she had a fatal tumor. Karl packed his things and headed to the airport. When he got there, he couldn't help but notice that the name of the flight was: Friday, October 13. Flight 666 from Miami to Helsinki. He realized this was an incredibly bad omen, one that could ruin his luck forever. But his daughter was dying, so he pulled himself together and boarded the plane. The usual takeoff routine happened, and someone didn't secure their luggage. They had a black cat inside, and it ran straight to Karl. Karl turned white, for he couldn't strangle a cat where everyone could see him. He gazed out the window and began to pray. The captain said over the loud speaker, \"This is your captain speaking. We will be making a slight detour through the Bermuda Triangle to avoid a Navy training exercise. Please fasten your seat belts.\" Karl began hyperventilating. This was the worst thing to happen to him since he lost his rabbit's foot. He couldn't stand it anymore. He stood up abruptly, cat sliding off, and locked himself in the bathroom for the next hour. The captain has not spoken in a while, so Karl went into the cockpit. The only living thing in it was the cat. Karl stared out the windshield, and saw a portal open to hell. Karl screamed as the plane disintegrated behind him, and saw a giant, bloodred hand reach out to him. His last thought was, \"Wait a second. I don't have a daughter.\""
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"1507904561",
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[WP] Do not fear the voices | 3 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"They whisper to me, every night they whisper.\n\nWhen it started all those nights ago I was scared, but they helped me and sometimes I wonder if they helped me too much \n\nThey only really speak in comprehensible voices when I'm scared or upset.\n\nThe night they first spoke was when I was angry.\n\nMy colleague had ratted me out for something I hadn't done and lost me my job.\n\nWe had always hated each other, but we had never gone this far before and I wanted revenge.\n\nThat was the first time I heard them clearly, that night when I was angry and alone was when they gave me the instructions.\n\nWhat they told me to do was something I had never before imagined but they made it sound so good and I didn't resist.\n\nThat was the night I killed for the first time, and it wouldn't be the last.\n\nI had never known how good it would feel to do such a horrible thing and the whispers helped me.\n\nSo if you hear them lying in bed tonight, don't ignore them like I did because they will help you.\n\nAll I have to say to you is...\n\nDo not fear the whispers.\n\n_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n\nThis is my first horror story here on r/writingprompts, constructive criticism is welcome."
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"1507906662",
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[removed] | [WP] You area an adamant, outspoken atheist who has single-handedly rid the world of religion through education, reason and science. You truly believe the world will now be a better place, until you die in an accident and come face to face with Him. | 0 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nWhile it doesn't seem to be your intent, the mods reserve the right to remove anything we feel may become harmful to the community. 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/766rp6/wp_you_area_an_adamant_outspoken_atheist_who_has/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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1,
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"1507919587",
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[WP] You're a caver and you've recently discovered a new underground cave. You decide to explore the cave alone. | 2 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I clicked on my headlamp and dropped into the darkness below. \nThe drop was a narrow shoot, big enough for me to fit, if not comfortably, then at least I had breathing room. The rope that kept me from free falling was tied very sturdily to a tree just above the crevasse. My pack was tied to a clever contraption that kept it from moving unless I pulled it, and dangled from the rope above me. \nThe light above me was already faded to basically nothing. My headlamp showed only the rock a few inches from my face as it went by. It was limestone, and damp, probably from the rain this morning. \nSuddenly, the walls fell away, and the cave blossomed into a massive room. My headlamp beam faded into the dark. I pulled out a laser pointer from my pocket and turned off the headlamp, plunging into blackness. \nThe laser's beam reflected off a million pieces of dust, and faded into the blackness as well. I swept it around in a circle and it hit several columns, but nothing resembling a wall. I pointed it down, and it reflected off the floor. \nI turned back on my headlamp and kept lowering myself. As I got closer to the floor, I saw that it wasn't rock- it was water. A massive underground lake, and the bottom was far out of sight. \nThere was a broken column nearby, so I swung over and touched down on it, maybe seven or eight feet above the surface of the lake. \nI unclipped my harness from the rope- a stupid mistake. The weight of my pack pulled the rope away from me and the coil of rope from my belt. \nIt swung out thirty, forty feet and then came back, the rope dragging across the water. I leaned out over the edge, and just managed to snag the pack before it swung back out. \nI pulled the rope up, and positioned my pack so that it kept from swinging out and tied the rope around a boulder. I noticed some markings on the boulder as I was tying a knot. I didn't recognize the language, but it was some sort of alphabet, not pictograms. I took a few pictures. \nThen I took some pictures. The long exposure shots got some of the more distance pillars that I couldn't see, and the way the light bounced off the surface of the water was incredible, it was stiller than anything I've ever seen. \nI had an interesting idea- I could see how deep the lake was with my rope. I had a few hundred feet extra, so I started sawing through it with one of my knives. \nI slipped and cut my finger. It was a clean cut, but deep. I lost grip of the knife and it fell into the water. So I spent a few minutes bandaging myself up, and then finished cutting the rope. \nI tied the rope around a chunk of rock and tossed it into the depths, causing ripples on the water. After only a few seconds the rope stopped pulling, so I dragged it back up. \nThe rope had been bitten, clean through, by something. \nI glanced at the water. It was not longer still. There were ripples. \nMy mind was racing. Some animal instinct kicked in and I don't remember latching my harness to my rope, or my bag, but next thing I knew I was climbing. \nI was at the start of the chimney, with my bag hanging beneath me when there was a humongous roar. The cave shook slightly and I climbed as quick as I could, and managed to get into the shoot. \nSomething big hit the cave ceiling beneath me, and all I saw was a set of very large teeth closing around my bag, inches from my dangling feet. A rush of putrid air blasted around me, and then whatever it was retreated back into the darkness below. \n \nI never went back to that cave. You've heard my story, now. I'll just tell you, don't go looking for it. I took my pictures of the writing to a professor of linguistics. He said it was modified cuneiform, and that it was a warning: *Flee. It comes* ",
"The cave mouth was small and unremarkable, nestled in the corner of a far flung beach on the Spanish island of Mallorca. This beach was certainly no virgin beach, but it hadn't been corrupted by the growing tourist industry of the region. People came in the day for the azure blue waters and fine sand, and left shortly before the sun did. The die hard climbers who came to this beach for the world class climbing stayed, nestled in the trees above the beach. This illegal, ever changing community of climbers and backpackers founded a central hub called Camp 4. \n\nI would come to stay there one day in early June, having hitched a ride from a local who pointed me in the right direction. I arrived, not expecting much and what I found was akin to paradise, with a pop-up bar and a tight rope, climbers resting in their hammocks to escape the mid day heat and a distinctive smell which was somewhere between propane and tobacco. \n\nI spent the day getting to know the camp, going for a swim and exploring the rocks to find a clear spot to cliff dive. That's how I found the cave, hidden between the rocks. \n\nThe cave seemed to be a black mouth in the rock, I could see a high sloping ceiling slowly receding into darkness, adorned with old and broken stalactites. Curiosity got the better of me and I lowered myself carefully down into the hole. At first the darkness seemed absolute but slowly my eyes began to adjust. I saw what seemed to be a pool of water, what depth I could not tell. Rummaging in my backpack I withdrew my headtorch and put it on. The light illuminated the room, projecting dancing patterns onto the ceiling from where it reflected onto the water. Slowly, as I inched further into the cave, the sounds of the surf dulled to a barely audible whisper, and now the loudest sounds were my own panting breaths. \n\nAt this point I was around 30 metres from the lip of the cave, and I could still see the sunlight streaming in. My problem, however, lay in front and not behind. The sloping roof I had seen earlier had, unbeknownst to me, sharply receded and now the cave seemed to shrink to only a metre high. I resorted to my hands and knees but after a few more metres it was obvious that the cave just came to an end. After having retreated a bit and righted myself I looked around. Sometimes the way isn't as obvious as just walking straight. It took a while but I found it. \n\nA small passage, around a metre and a half high and a metre wide stood starkly in the half darkness, appearing as a shade of black on the grey rock. Bracing myself, I decided to persevere and approached the opening. Slowly and carefully I contorted myself until I fit into the passage, almost too snuggly. The walls of the passage were sharp, scratching at my clothes and skin. Luckily the passage began to widen out, until suddenly I was in a room with a great high ceiling and sloping walls, which in one corner had collapsed into a mass of car sized stones. I was in awe of the hanging stalactites and their counterparts on the ground, which seemed to be reaching to each other in a futile attempt at an embrace. Maybe they would get there one day, for the cave wasn't done yet and I could hear from the darkness the sounds of water slowly dripping down onto the cave floor below, ringing slightly as they struck the rocks and the pools of water below. I don't know how long that cave has been there, millions of years probably. But what I do know is that it was in caves like this one that life first formed, and the unseen sounds of ever dripping water is the closest we can come to the sounds of creation.\n\nAs I continued into the cave I could see a gnarled shape protruding from one of the walls. It was several meters long, as wide as my arm and seemed to snake round and over itself several times . On closer inspection it appeared to be a tree root. Slightly mystified but mostly impressed I continued on, treading lightly around the stalagmites lest I break what has taken millennia to form.\n\nI had reached the end of the wall I had been following, and to my right the cave floor ended in a sheer two metre drop onto a stony shore, which lay against the edge of a formidable lake. I climbed down perilously and managed once again to avoid any major mishap. On the shore of the lake I peered closer at the lake. It seemed to be about ten metres deep at it's deepest, and was around 30 metres wide. There was something strange about it though. I shouldn't have been able to see clearly all the way to the bottom, but for some reason the light from my head torch seemed to be reflected back at me from the bed of the lake. Where as the rest of the cave and the surrounding rock was a deep shade of grey, the rocks at the bottom were a vivid white. And unlike any rocks I had seen before. They were both sharp and rounded and most importantly, they seemed to be arranged in rows. Not all rows were the same, but all the rocks that made up one row were. There was something extremely perplexing about it. I decided to see if I could find anything to disturb the lake bed. I returned a few minutes later with a few pieces of broken stalactites, which had the course of time take its toll on them. \n\nBack at the shore I steadied my headtorch and threw the first one in. With a plop, it broke the surface of the water and sunk steadily to the bottom. I tracked it the entire time with my light. It seemed to have little impact. Feeling slightly sheepish, I threw the second one in. With a plop, it too sank to the bottom. This time something did happen. One of the smaller rows took the blunt force of the impact and some of the rocks in that row cracked. Feeling somewhat vilified, I threw the last one in. \n\nJust like the first two, it broke the surface with a plop. Unlike the other two it never hit the bottom of the lake. Just as it was about to hit, the rocky rows beneath it retreated and it sank down, past the previously immobile lake bed, to be lost into the darkness. \n\nWith a sudden flash of clarity I knew. I had fucked up. Whatever had happened it wasn't good. The lake bed was still moving, rolling almost. Slowly the water began to ripple, until miniature waves perforated the surface. The rock in the adjacent wall groaned. Then silence, apart from the receding sounds of the waves which had disappeared as quickly as they had started. \n\nI leaned over into the pool and that's when I saw. The rock had returned, but it had changed. It was still in rows, but these rows were composed of bigger rocks and the lake bed was now less even than it had been. I had no explanation. \n\nI was about to leave, chalk all of this up the heat exhaustion lest I got crazy contemplating what it meant. When quite suddenly, the rocky lake bed cracked, and suddenly a lip of stone peeled back and disappeared. And there I stood, leaning over the pool looking directly into a gigantic orange eye, veined with hues of yellows and red, a pupil the size of my head stared back at me."
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[removed] | [WP] The number of syllables in your name represents how many past lives you had. Most people short syllable names like Jay, Connie, and Anthony, but you're name is.... | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](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. 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/768tgd/wp_the_number_of_syllables_in_your_name/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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[WP] As an avid painter who uses art to pay for the bills, you sometimes hit a painter's block. To let the ideas flow you splatter paint all over a blank canvas. One day you wake up and the unintelligible splatters have become a masterpiece. | 23 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"*Art is the human disposition of sensible and insensible matter for an aesthetic end (beauty starts when there is wholeness, then parts, and then the thing in itself). Aesthetics is static, and you find it in pity (the nearness to the man) and in terror (the nearness to the cause), and so you can develop it due to its static nature. Didactics and pornography are kinetic, unlike aesthetics.*\n\nIs that what art is? My eyes stared towards the ceiling. Put in those cold, cruel, reasonable terms, art seemed too hard to do. It was dark in my shamble of a room, but the blurred image of my paint spatter was still visible on the canvas. Isn't that art, somehow? It was so easy to let the paint be thrown like rain. This bed was uncomfortable. I needed to turn the pillow over. It'd be cooler. The object of the artist was to create the beautiful. What the beautiful was was another question.\n\nAs my body began to subdue me in exhausting chemicals, I thought of the worth of my ideas and my paintings. People bought them, sure, but people have no taste. Did I make anything worthwhile? Why did I come here in the first place? Into this dreary little apartment, eating poorly, living like a miser. Was it because I had ideas and ambitions? What are those, really? Play. Ideas! Ha! every knucklehead on the street has ideas. Idiots have ideas. Every jackass going the roads thinks he has ideas. Were mine worth anything?\n\nThe night called me to its land of slumber. I recalled those words said long ago about a soul being born. It was said to be a slow and dark birth, more mysterious than the birth of a body. And when that soul is born nets are flung at it to hold it back from flight. Nationality, language, religion, all those nets the artist must fly by. \n\nBut surely, those things were important for the artist to subsume into his art. Without those things he would be lost in a world of reality. But no, that was not what those words meant. Those words warned of the nationalist, the sad priest (of whom is said is the Great Enemy!), and cliches (comfortable to us like worn shoes, but they are wont to be waterlogged)\n\nAnd finally the darkness grew and my lids fell and eight hours of many dreams passed by.\n\nI shuffled to my painting, ready for another day of scraping, but then (it was a poor sight, me in my pyjamas with ugly eyes and wild hair) I finally got to see clearly what I had made.\n\nWhat a thing I had made. Was this my paint spatter? My heart trembled. My blood felt hot. Was I still dreaming? Was this the thing I had made? Strokes of a master on every inch, everything depicted filled with the voice of life!\n\nI saw this painting and I thought I could smell its depiction, its wild and strange and wonderful depiction. Before it I was alone and young and wilful and burning like a fireball, alone amid the crispness of wild air and brackish water and the ocean-thrown growth of shells and seawrack and the grey-veiled sunlight. Standing in awe and in life.\n\nI stumbled and scrambled as I hurriedly tried to find my list of contacts. Then I suddenly stopped. I still couldn't say what art was. Assuredly this painting was at the centre of it, but I hadn't intended for such a piece. I was just throwing scraps of paint at a canvas. Didn't its value lessen, no, entirely evaporate, when its unprecedented genesis proceeded entirely from luck? Shouldn't it be Man who made art? A mind be behind the beauty?\n\n....\n\nBah, no one could tell the difference anyhow. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n",
"\"Damnit, not again.\" I said, defeated, dropping my bag off my shoulder. I had given the high school kid down the street a key to the studio six months ago when he needed to borrow some brushes, and kept forgetting to get it back. Three weeks ago he had come in overnight to work on a project, using my canvases and my paint. He was talented and creative. I didn't mind him coming in and using the space...usually. Back when I gave him the extra key, I was selling enough work at the markets to pay for everything, and I was happy to help him out. These days, not so much. \n\nI assessed the situation: six canvases had been painted on. The work looked different than anything I had seen him do before. I stepped closer and ran my hand over the dry paint. One 16x20 was sitting on the easel covered in the most glorious work of surrealism I had ever seen. The easel to the right of it was of a completely different style- a renaissance era portrait of a man and a women who appeared to be in love, full of emotion and bliss. I spun around to look at the different works- there was no way all of this could have been done in one night. I had just been there the evening before- throwing paint onto the canvas as I usually did when I hit a painting block. I was eager to come back that morning to see what I could make of the shapes and how I could turn them into a full painting- like some sort of Rorschach's Ink Blot test, except I was relying on it to pay my rent instead of figuring out if I had hidden trauma. \n\nI picked up my favorite cobalt blue acrylic paint and squeezed some directly into my hand. I rubbed my fingers in it and began sprinkling the color along a blank canvas, watching as the blue dazzled different spots. I spun around and searched for a dark green that I had been saving for a rainy day, and noticed something out of the ordinary- the fact that nothing at all was out of the ordinary. \nEverything was the exact same as I had left it the night before. Normally when he came to the studio to work, it was typical of paints to be moved around, brushes to be left drying by the sink, or the stool to be taller (the kid was like 6'7\", what did his parents feed him?)\n\nI repeated the process with the green paint, squeezing some out, dipping my fingers in it, and reaching out to the canvas. What was minutes ago specks of blue had turned into an entire seascape, with the deepest of hues, and foam crested waves. Some spots were darker than others, indicating the creatures that lurked below. \nI suddenly realized he surrealism piece was the same canvas which last night I splattered while I was listening to an audiobook about Salvador Dali, hoping for some inspiration. The now renaissance painting had been splattered with a few old colors I found in the back of a drawer, and I remembered joking to myself that they must have been thousands of years old. \n\nI began to put two and two together. I grabbed the inside of my arm, paint smearing along the inside of my elbow and pinched myself. Hard. I was speechless except for my exclamations of pain and disbelief. \n\n\"Ouch! Holy shi-\". \n",
"The narrow, brutally bright shaft of sunlight streaming between the curtains slowly made its way across the apartment, eventually landing squarely on Paul's face. He screwed up his eyes, but it was no use; he was awake now, both from the light and from the raging hangover that throbbed in time with the frustrated allegro of his wife painting in the next room, painting, then promptly scraping the paint away. He didn't remember passing out on the sofa the night before, or much of anything really...as had been the norm for the past 4 or 5 years at least.\n\nPaul shuffled slowly to the bathroom to throw up, splash some water on his face, and rinse the taste of regurgitated wine and whiskey out of his mouth. The asprin bottle on the edge of the sink was empty; the only other thing that could temper a hangover was a drink. He made his way to the kitchen, got out a teacup and, with a shaky hand, poured himself liberal splash of whiskey.\n\nThe commissioned piece he'd done for the socialite art collector's townhouse had been keeping them afloat the past couple years. She'd given him a retainer, the commission, and the biggest canvas he'd ever seen, but no restrictions or direction whatsoever. The freedom had been exhilarating, but also paralyzing. \n\nHe'd been blocked for months, staring at that looming canvas, waiting for any sort of inspiration, with his girlfriend-at-the-time pacing nervously behind him. Finally, two months past deadline and less than a day from losing both the commission and the retainer, a spark. He painted like a man possessed; he painted all of the animals he'd seen while traveling the American West after art school. In one frantic night, he covered that room-sized canvas with abstract buffalo, horses, cows, and antelope, and delivered it to his patron with minutes to spare.\n\nThis time, however, was different. Paul hadn't painted in over a year, partially because he was blocked again, and partially because he was trying (and failing) to shake the drinking problem that he knew was slowly-but-surely destroying him.\n\nHe thought back to the time he'd spent at a Socialist art workshop, where he'd learned some unconventional techniques from some unconventional people. One of them involved laying a canvas on the floor, then using syringes and watering cans to drip liquid paint into intricate, abstract designs.\n\nPartially out of nostalgia and partially because it was something to do, Paul laid a canvas on the floor, prepared the paints, and searched the room for suitable paint-pouring apparatuses. Finding nothing, he angrily swung the paint stirrer, splattering the room and the canvas with royal blue paint.\n\nLooking down at the canvas, something about the splattered paint intrigued him. The broken line of liquid pigment was composed of hundreds of droplets, rounded on one side and splayed like fingers on the other, some linked with knife edge lines, some standing proudly apart.\n\nHe reached for another stirrer now, and swung it at the canvas, slower this time. An amber line appeared, crossing the royal blue. It was less chaotic, but still uneven, inconsistent, organic. He continued splattering the canvas with paint, layering, contrasting, experimenting with angles, directions, speeds, building moods and energies out of colors and motions.\n\nHe stopped when he thought the canvas looked right, and looked down at it with his arms crossed. He wasn't sure how the public might feel about it, but it was the most satisfied he'd felt in the past couple years. He dipped a small brush in paint, bent down, and signed the corner of the piece with his working name. Paul Jackson Pollock then went to get another canvas, and maybe a dropcloth this time."
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[WP] Your music is loved by millions, which is maddening, because it so obviously sucks. You tell this to a wise old roadie, and even though he is a huge fan, he’s willing to help you figure out if you’ve accidentally made a deal with the devil. | 0 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"You got it?\"\n\nThe car door opened and I got in, nodded in response to his question, and handed him the crumpled up brown paper bag that was shaped in the form of a liquor bottle. He took the bag with quick, greedy hands, slid the top of the bag down as if he were undressing a woman, put his lips to the top of the bottle, and raised his head as the brown fire ran down his throat.\n\nThen he ripped it from his face and exclaimed, \"Aaaah!\" Then, \"Damn, that was good,\" as he wiped his lips and looked at the label of the bottle. \"This aint what I asked for, though.\" He looked over at me.\n\n\"You liked it though,\" I pointed out.\n\n\"Yeah.\" He nodded, looking now back at the bottle. \"Yeah, I did. How'd you get the wrong stuff, but still get the right stuff?\"\n\n\"Probably because I'm a *fucking* celebrity,\" I retorted, remembering now why I had been pissed earlier. \"I ran in with those fucking cheap shades and fucking cliche wig...\" I snatched the blonde wig off now and slammed it down on the floor. \"...grabbed the first fucking bottle I could fucking find, and paid for that fucking shit hoping the fucking store clerk didn't recognize who I fucking was. While the *whole* time a fucking nobody roadie that nobody fucking knows, and who can fucking get his own bottle without fucking having to put all this fucking shit on, sat in the fucking car doing who fucking knows what.\" I punched the glove compartment and it popped open, so I kicked it back close, hard, and with great satisfication.\n\nHe shook his head and re-dressed the bottle with more care than he had undressed it, and put it between his legs. \"Why are you really upset?\" he asked, talking to me in a calm, gentle voice that a shrink would probably use with one of his insane patients. I felt his hand softly land on my shoulder, letting me know he was there for emotional support.\n\nI sighed, and took a deep breath, falling into my role of patient. \"They were playing my song, Jim.\" I closed my eyes and shook my head against the headrest.\n\nHis hand squeezed tighter, and I could hear him say, \"Fuck. But hey,\" he added. \"I got some good news.\"\n\nI kept my eyes closed, trying to block out the world with the darkness behind my lids. \"Yeah?\"\n\n\"Well, you didn't sell your soul to the devil,\" he said.\n\nI opened my eyes. Glanced his way. \"How do you know?\"\n\nHis hand fell from shoulder, and I felt it with a cold detachment, as if he were distancing himself from me. I kind of wanted his hand back on my shoulder, that physical support, but that sounded a bit gay when I thought about it, so I ignored it.\n\n\"Oh, man.\" He laughed. \"It was obvious. You still got a conscience, for one. If you sold your soul, you wouldn't care about having success. You'd just be reveling in it. But you *do* care. So thats how I know that you *didn't* sell your soul.\"\n\nIt made sense, except for one thing. \"So why are so many people buying and playing my records?\"\n\n\"Because they like your music, dude.\" He shook his head with a slight smile. \"Just because you don't like your own music - which is weird in itself, by the way, and a whole 'nother story - doesn't mean that other people won't like it. You make songs that resonate with people. And you can't tell them what and whatnot to like because the people themselves don't even know what they like half the time until you give it to them.\"\n\nHumbled by his wisdom, I could only nod in return and reply, \"You're right, Jim, absolutely right.\"\n\n\"'Course I'm right,\" he said, opening the brown bag again. \"Now, go back inside and get me another bottle of this stuff.\"\n\n\n\n\n"
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[WP] "See," the Devil said, "it's true that I want to purchase your soul. But...it doesn't really work the way you think it does." | 271 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I was desperate. I never expected to see one of Satan's minions actually show up but at the time I didn't think it would actually achieve anything. It was...you know, just one of those stupid ideas you invest hope in for a few seconds before again realising you're in deep trouble and you still need a solution.\n\nLife dealt me every bad card it could. Money? Check! Crappy dead end job that barely pays off the bills, and always one bad cost away from being in big trouble. Illness? Check! Arthritis, epilepsy, various other allergies and aliments that stops me from eating anything nice. No family? Check! When I came out my deeply religious conservative family decided to cut me off, I'm lucky to get a fucking Christmas card never mind actual emotional support during times like this. No love life? I'll let you guess that one, suffice to say most of my evenings involve wasting my time on dating websites and meeting up with guys who “don't feel a connection.”\n\nThings were grim, and I was feeling especially crap about my lot in life when the idea popped into my head to sell my soul for some good luck. Nothing crazy. I'll be over the moon if I were given a decent job, a decent man and some of these allergies gone.\n\nI drew an awful pentacle thing on a piece of note paper, nothing more than a doodle really, and I whisper in my most sarcastic tone some nonsense about putting my earthly soul up for grabs and I hear a knock at the door.\n\nSatan sent one of his people. Well...sort of people.\n\nHe looked how you would expect. Think bigshot lawyer with actual fire in his eyes and a faint scent of sulphur. He greeted me with a smile and truth be told...he did look kinda hot, so I smiled back and asked how I could help. I just assumed he was looking for someone else.\n\n“It is more a question of how I can help you Mr Terri. You just attempted to contact my employer correct? Consider me your callback.”\n\nOoo. Attractive and a sense of humour! This could be good I thought, so I played along.\n\n“Hehe well I don't remember making any phone calls recently, but if you say you can help then I'm happy to hear how.”\n\nMr Handsome looks at me quizzically. He peers past my shoulder to the dining table, and on it is the piece of paper I scrawled my silly doodle. A sudden realisation hits me, and it's my turn to look confused. \n\n“Wait a moment. Are you saying...”\n\nHe nods.\n\n“Yes. You offered your soul for sale, and I am happy to inform you that you passed our initial screening stage. I am here to tell you what we can provide in return, and if you are interested progress to the transaction.”\n\nThis got too real too fast. Before I could get my head straight Mr Handsome is in my apartment and making himself comfortable on my sofa. Very comfortable. As in he poured himself a drink, took off his shoes and sat down comfortable. \n\n“Forgive me Mr Terri. My...usual place of work doesn't have much in the way of creature comforts.”\n\nI should be offended. But a gorgeous guy is chilling out on my sofa, so already my love life has improved quite considerably. There could be something in this, so I sit next to him and stare at those smouldering eyes – no it's not me, they actually smoulder – and listen to his sales pitch.\n\n“Right. So, things have changed a bit since the old days. The current exchange rate on souls has plummeted since the market is extremely saturated. We've had to change our policy on soul purchase since these days you have anything from drug addicts to desperate criminals offering their worthless shades for their next hit or more lenient sentences.”\n\nI was just nodding along. Kinda...shifting between real panic and just being entertained by the novelty of it all. It's so crazy, but the man's “matter of fact” tone of voice makes it sound like all this is just a normal Monday morning.\n\n“Unfortunately what this means is we cannot offer you...everything you desire. However the good news is your soul is of good quality, so I can assure you we won't give you a bad deal either.”\n\nSo it's crunch time. Do I ask? Or do I apologise and explain this is all a dreadful mistake and I didn't mean...I couldn't even finish my train of thought when the words escaped.\n\n“I see. Can you tell me what you can offer for my soul. What the uh...current exchange rate is I guess?”\n\nHandsome nods politely and fishes around in his jacket. He takes out a scorched PDA that looks like something from the 80's and starts prodding it. He nods to himself a few times, makes some calculations in his head then turns back to me.\n\n“At the current rate we would be satisfied to buy your immortal soul in it's current state, and in return we can give you...”\n\nI lean in, I'm actually kind of excited to hear what I can get. If my soul is good quality I could get all sorts of perks. Lottery win? An opportunity to skyrocket into stardom?\n\n“...£50, or $66.50 if you prefer dollars.”\n\nFifty quid. Fifty quid for my soul! The look of disappointment was obviously plain to see.\n\n“I know sir. Gone are the days of giving decent payouts, I do miss them. But like I said earlier, when every Tom, Dick and Harry flood the market with souls the value plummets. This is why you have a choice. I can pay you now and seal the deal, or I can leave and nothing more will happen to you.”\n\nHe leans in closer.\n\n“You seem like a nice guy, so I'm going to break protocol a bit and just re-shape the question. Would you seriously be happy to endure an eternity of punishment in the depths of the inferno for a measly £50?”\n\nDamn he looks good. I think of something. It's probably stupid but right now I have nothing else going for me.\n\n“Can I give you a counter-offer?”\n\nHandsome leans back again with that same quizzical look.\n\n“Well this is new. In all my decades no-one has even asked. I can't guarantee anything, but I can hear you out.”\n\nI nod. Deep breath. This is stupid!\n\n“I'll accept the £50 for my soul, but I want something else too. I want...you to join me for dinner tonight.”\n\nI'm briefly impressed with myself that I just asked what I'm pretty sure is a demon out for a dinner date. He looked more surprised than impressed.\n\n“Well you're a brave one. Or perhaps a desperate one. I am flattered but...I'm afraid I don't get involved with sellers. If people started selling their bodies for souls, not to say you intend that of course, value would plummet all the further.”\n\nWell shit. Even incorporeal beings shut me down. I nod in defeat. At least he's nice about it I suppose. Meanwhile he gets his shoes back on and walks over to the door. But before walking out he turns around.\n\n“You're a good man Mr Terri. You keep your soul. You will need it later tonight, he strikes me as the type of man who judges people by genuine souls.”\n\nHe gives a smile then leaves. Later tonight? He? What?\n\nI didn't really have any plans tonight. I smell burning. A very faint whiff of smoke is rising from that same piece of notepaper. In very pretty handwriting, there is an address and a time. I think to myself what is there to lose? So when the time comes I arrive at this place.\n\nIt's just a bar. Pretty empty. What do I do? I go to the bar and get a drink. I let my eyes wander. Then I see him. No, not the demon. Another him. Another handsome him. And he sees me back. He smiles, approaches and sits down next to me.\n\nAfter a few moments of silence that perhaps should have felt more awkward than it did, he turns to me and asks a question.\n\n“So, he sent you here too? Yeah he didn't accept mine either, said something about me needing it tonight. I think I see what he means.”\n\nHehe, thanks Handsome.",
"“But why?”\n\n“Look, just do what I ask. Fail in everything you can. Make it look innocent. Do it for three months & then you can have the rest of the cash.”\n\nJoe looked at the three tall stacks of hundred dollar bills sitting on the table before him.\n\n“We good?” the devil pressed.\n\nThe man sighed, “And...you’re sure that even if I break bones it’ll all be healed?”\n\n“Yeah, just don’t do anything like kill yourself or the account’s value will drop. Permadeath cuts into my profits.”\n\n“A-alright. Deal.”",
"I'm a scientist. I don't have time for irrationality or meaningless rituals. But, I also have an intense curiosity, and the belief that we can find truth through repeatable experimentation, using the scientific method.\n\nThroughout Human history, religions have taught we have a soul, although there's never been any scientific way to measure whether such a thing existed, or how it defines us. I got to wondering, what if those ancient beliefs were right? How could we measure a soul, what is its value? What types of experiments could reveal a soul's attributes?\n\nRaising these and related questions to my colleagues, all I got was raised eyebrows and people wondering if I was turning religious. Not really, I just want to know!\n\nSo, I started thinking. Many mythologies said the Devil bought souls, usually in return for riches or power. I need neither, but as the Devil is the one making all those deals, he would be the one to ask. It made sense, I couldn't see any flaws in the logic.\n\nNext: How to contact the Devil? Waving my arms around and saying to the air \"hey Devil I want to talk to you\" didn't seem likely to do anything. The local library fortunately had several books on the occult, so I checked one out. A chapter was on \"summoning the devil\", so I did what it said, with the pentagram and all. Feeling exceedingly foolish, I completed the described ceremony, expecting nothing whatsoever to happen.\n\nExcept… the Devil appeared. But instead of the horns, red skin, and forked tail stuff, he looked rather like a nondescript middle manager. After a few stuttered introductions, I described my desire: To find out what the value of a soul is.\n\n\"See\", the Devil said, \"it's true that I want to purchase your soul. But… it doesn't really work the way you think it does.\"\n\n\"How so?\" I asked, neutrally. I really didn't want to piss off the Devil, after all.\n\n\"Well\", he said, \"you have to think on it from my point of view. I want to collect souls as they are ammunition in my endless war with God. But all the junk people usually ask for takes resources to provide. Worse, even if I give them all that, they can just repent, and their soul goes to God. I'm out effort and get nothing. It's not really worth it to me.\"\n\n\"But you do buy souls\", I perplexedly said. \"You just said so. So how is it worth your while?\"\n\n\"Son\", he said patiently, \"Hell is a business. I have to turn a profit to keep this war going. Unlike God, I can't just create a universe for resources. I have to use this one. What my deal does is subtler. I mark souls up, taint them if you will, so even if the mark repents and goes Up, a piece of me goes too. Eventually there will be enough tainted souls in Heaven to foul the whole bunch, making His weapons useless in this war.\n\n\"My deal is, I put a non-removable taint on your soul, and in return give you your useless trinkets. Deal?\"\n\nI pondered a while. \"But Mr. Devil – I can call you that, right? – can't we also assume that anyone willing to deal with you in the first place is someone who's soul isn't going to go to God? Aren't you putting out effort uselessly?\"\n\n\"That's the beauty of it\", he said, \"while your surmise is true, only my deal puts the taint on a soul. Sure only a very small percent wind up repenting, but that's one more tainted soul up there. THAT'S why it's worth it to me, economically.\"\n\nI had enough data, so at this point I rattled off the part of the ritual to banish the Devil, and scuffed out the pentagram. What a scientific paper this would be!\n",
"\"Am I going to heaven or hell?\" Sam asked, leaning on the counter of what looked like a bank teller's window.\n\n\"Sir, we are trying to locate your paper work right now,\" Saint Peter replied, flipping through some folders. Angels fluttered back and forth behind him, hands filled with towering, unorganized stacks of paper. \n\n\"I'm still trying to figure out why you guys cannot locate my soul record.\"\n\n\"God has a lot of investments,\" Saint Peter said without looking up.\n\n\"Sure.\"\n\n\"And he wants to get as many people into heaven as possible.\"\n\n\"Right.\"\n\n\"But not everyone is heaven material.\"\n\n\"Yes, I lived on earth; I know that.\"\n\n\"So what we do here is divide up each soul into something called CDOs. We package together good souls with some less good souls, and as long as there is enough good souls, the whole CDO can go to heaven.\"\n\n\"I was a banker, so this all makes sense to me.\"\n\n\"Oh your a banker, that should help narrow this down.\" Saint Peter opens a manila folder labeled \"Bad Souls\". He begins thumbing through thousands of worn records.\n\n\"So did my CDO go to heaven or no?\"\n\n\"The issue is that it is unclear what CDO you were in. You see as you all got more and more sinful. We started dividing your souls into smaller and smaller bits to spread risk. So like 1/5 of your soul would be in one CDO, another 1/3 in a different one and so on and so on. And basically, all these CDOs were getting into heaven because no one was really looking at how good the underlying souls were.\" \n\nAn angel carrying a big stack of papers tripped on his cloak spilling papers all across the floor. \n\n\"You guys digitized these records, right?\" Sam asked. \n\n\"Its a legacy system. We are still trying to upgrade.\" Saint Peter said, \"Anyways, the devil pointed out to us that you guys were breaking what was probably God's biggest commandment and all the 'good' souls that were propping up the CDOs were junk.\"\n\n\"I know church attendance is down but I thought God would care more about people not killing each other than that!\" Sam protested.\n\n\"Church attendance?\" Saint Peter said chuckling, \"God doesn't give a shit about that. No Deuteronomy 22:11!\" Sam looked at Saint Peter blankly. \"Come on you know it. Deuteronomy 22:11!\" Sam shrugged, \"No? You see this is what I am talking about: do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together! God is huge on that one. Lies? God forgives. Theft? God forgives. Murder? God forgives. But you can't mix fabrics. Ever since people started wearing spandex, pretty much everyone started going straight to hell.\" \n\nSaint Peter finished looking through the stack of folders on his desk. \"Ok, Sam. It looks like we cannot locate your soul record.\"\n\n\"And what does that mean?\"\n\n\"We are going to go ahead and reincarnate you.\"\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"I'll see you again in about 77 years!\"\n ",
"\"So... I have to fill out these forms?\" I was talking to a goat. He wasn't even a healthy looking goat. His ribs were visible, one of his legs was dangling and looked broken. Fur was missing in odd places. He looked like he had a black eye. I was sitting in my living room wishing I could sell my soul for riches and then flames engulfed around me. I was sweating but oddly comfortable with the heat. And this goat appeared and started talking to me.\n\n\"Yes, the forms, sign where the X's are.\" The goat said.\n\n\"My pen is not working. It's really hot in here, can you turn down the heat?\"\n\nThe goat started thrashing forward. It was a slow pace, he launched his hooves at me. \n\n\"Ow! Cut that out!\" I said.\n\nHe kept going for it. \"I'm just... trying...\" His scrawny hoof with a hangnail nicked my forearm and blood started to trickle out. \"There, you can use that as your ink well.\"\n\n\"Oh, I have to sign in blood?\" I'm flipping the pages of the various forms. \"Some of this is in a language I don't even know. It looks like chicken scratch.\"\n\n\"Yeah, we have to make it available in various languages. Legal obligations and whatnot.\"\n\n*Am I hallucinating?* I didn't take any drugs. I was well fed before this happened. Is it something I ate?\n\n\"Well, what's this form about?\" I asked.\n\n\"That's approval to run your life credit.\"\n\n\"What the heck is life credit?\"\n\n\"That's your karma credit score?\"\n\n\"From the website Karma?\"\n\n\"No, your karma karma. The *real* karma.\"\n\nI signed it. I handed it to the goat. His eyes turned backwards into his head, he lifted up his head so that his chin was facing towards me. His head started to convulse for a moment. When he came to, he looked back at me.\n\n\"Well?\"\n\n\"It's not good.\"\n\n\"What do you mean it's not good?\"\n\n\"5th grade church. You vomitted on the priest?\"\n\n\"I was sick!\"\n\n\"You called Sally a bitch in freshman year because she wouldn't try to hook you up with her friend Kate.\"\n\n\"Well, I probably regret that, but she was being very uncooperative.\"\n\n\"Did you ever live at 58-19 Essex Drive?\"\n\n\"Yes, is that to confirm my identity?\"\n\n\"No, it's a burial ground for Native Americans.\"\n\n\"Oh. I see. Is that bad?\"\n\n\"Yes, it's very bad.\"\n\n\"But I didn't know.\" I was looking down feeling stupid. On the one hand this all seems very petty, on the other hand I'm surrounded by fire talking to a mangled goat. I'm so confused. \"What's this next form?\"\n\n\"Medical history.\"\n\n\"Medical history? What do you need that for?\"\n\n\"To know the value of your soul.\"\n\nI signed it. I handed it over. He convulsed. He came to.\n\n\"Well come on now, what's the value?\" I asked.\n\n\"It's not good.\"\n\n\"Not good how?\"\n\n\"You married a Safardic Jew?\"\n\n\"Yeah and?\"\n\n\"They're very religious.\"\n\n\"So?\"\n\n\"Maybe you can try selling your soul to God if you love him so much.\"\n\n\"You're being childish.\"\n\n\"I'm just saying. You keep going to temple every week. When's the last time you sacrificed an animal to the Devil?\"\n\nI thought about it. \"Never.\"\n\n\"Exactly.\"\n\n\"So, what's these other forms.\" I was growing tired of this game. It's clear that I ingested something in my burrito that has released hallucinogenic toxins into my brain.\n\n\"That's personal history stuff, some more disclosures. And the last one will be an offer sheet.\"\n\nI looked at the swamp of papers, soaked in sweat, turning brown at the edges from the heat. \"It's really hot, can you turn it down?\"\n\n\"No, I'm the Devil, it's hot when I'm around.\"\n\n\"I guess...\" I started signing stuff. It's all a tainted burrito dream anyway.\n\nI handed him the papers, and the offer sheet started to glow. He convulsed. He came to. And the offer sheet was presented back to me. \n\n\"Sixteen hundred dollars? A Cisco kitchen knife set? A doll with a feather? And a lifetime supply of tube socks?\"\n\n\"You have 24 hours to accept it before it's null and void, you may sign it now or if you choose to wait, you can kick your cat later and I will appear again.\"\n\n\"No. Fuck you! You stupid goat. My soul is worth more than $1,600, a knife set, some stupid doll, and tube socks. What the fuck am I going to do with a lifetime supply of tube socks?\"\n\nThe goat turned down his head and shook it. \"That knife set is the best in the market for the value, they stay sharp if you sharpen them after each use. And that doll is not just any doll. It's a voodoo doll of your high school nemesis Teddy. You can use the feather to tickle any part of the doll and Teddy will feel a tickle in the same spot. And the tube socks are my favorite deal of all, did you know the average tube sock starts to break down after 20 uses? Never worry again about a hole in your tube sock again, because you'll have another delivered to you in 5-7 business days.\"\n\nI held the offer sheet loosely in my fingers, it started to burn at the corners, I didn't care to put out the embers. My mouth was dropped. \"Okay, well the doll is pretty cool, but everything else is shit. I want a better deal.\"\n\n\"You can improve your credit?\"\n\n\"How?\"\n\n\"Your dog.\"\n\n\"What about him?\"\n\n\"I want you to put an electronic dog whistle that activates every minute, hidden behind the wall.\"\n\n\"What, why? That will drive him nuts!\"\n\n\"I know. It's the cat. He doesn't like him.\"\n\n\"Mittens? Fuck mittens. He's a lazy shit that won't even catch mice.\"\n\n\"Yeah I know. He's pretty worthless. But I cut a deal with him and I need some help messing with the dog.\"\n\n\"I'm not doing it.\"\n\n\"It's a good deal you should take it.\"\n\n\"Fuck you goat, you're worse than real life creditors.\"\n\n\"Haha, that's because I am the creditors.\"\n\n\"Let's do this instead. I'll take the doll, the knife set, and the money; you keep the tube socks. But, instead of taking my soul now, you take it at a later date.\"\n\nThe goat paused and mulled it over. \"Nobody ever wants the tube socks. All right but it has to be next year.\"\n\n\"Deal.\" He convulsed. He came to. The offer sheet was revised. I signed it.\n\n\"Pleasure doing business with you, good luck with everything.\" The goat said as it laughed demonically.\n\n\"Joke's on you asshole, I have cancer and I'm dead by next year.\" The goat stopped laughing and stared listlessly at me. \n\nThe goat turned demonic, and set itself ablaze. It's voice turned deeper and louder, \"you sheister thief!\"\n\n\"You should have put a real medical form and you would have known. Now get the hell out of my living room.\" The goat let out a menacing stare and it all vanished into a ball that disappeared. My sweat was gone too.\n\nI looked around. There was a doll with a feather, some cash, and a knife set sitting on my table. I got up to inspect the wares. I started tickling the doll and wondering if it would work. *Of course it's going to work, how the heck did any of this get here. Wow I really sold my soul for a balloon payment that's due next year. I really wish I had enough credit to beat the cancer though.*\n\nI looked at my dog, he came over to me with a smile and tail wag as I scratched his head. \"I wouldn't do it boy. You're my bestest pal.\" His tail wagged harder.\n\nI turned to the cat. He was chilling by the plants doing nothing as usual. He made eye contact with me. His eyes widened. He knew. \n\nI looked at the knife set. \"Come here cat. I have something for you.\" The cat ran as fast he can. "
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[WP] A military veteran watches an apparently insane man on TV rant about having been on a secret mission for the government. It dawns on the veteran that not only was he on that mission, he remembers it from the exact same point of view as the man on TV told it, down to the last detail. | 13 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Daddy\", my 5 year old said, \"is that you?\"\n\nI took off my glasses and rubbed my nose. Then my eyes. Then cupped my hand over my mouth. \"Yes, I think so sweety.\"\n\n\"Ma, he doesn't remember.\" My wife was fighting with her mother, talking at the phone as if her mother was standing in front of her.\n\n\"You talk a lot,\" my daughter said.\n\n\"Yes. I was talking a lot.\" I slid my hand down and watched my wife pacing around holding the phone six inches in front of her as if it was a smelly diaper.\n\nThe door bell rang. The dog started to bark. I was staring at the television. I didn't recognize myself, but it sounds like me, and I remember these things that are being said.\n\n\"Dadddddy. Someone's at the door.\"\n\nI looked at my daughter. She was too big to pick up now, her eyes big brown bubbles. I stood up and went to the door.\n\nTwo men flashing FBI badges were there, a uniformed military officer stood behind them. Army. Intelligence division. I could tell by the insignia.\n\n\"Are you Mr. Hackerty?\"\n\n\"I am.\"\n\n\"May we come in?\"\n\n\"I'd like to know what this is about.\"\n\n\"Sam, we want to talk about the interview. Can you let us in?\" The military man said. I didn't recognize him, but his voice was very familiar. Everyone in town calls me Samuel, always have. Only in the military did they call me Sam. Sam or Hackerty. But never Samuel.\n\n\"Of course\", I replied.\n\nThey walked in and looked around in a manner that most people who walk into a new dwelling would. There was nothing threatening in their manner. The dog came up to them with his tail wagging. The FBI man crouched down and held his hand to the dog's nose. He looked back up at me, \"nice dog,\" he said. I nodded in acknowledgment.\n\n\"Ma, I'm not divorcing him. Cut the shit. I'm done with this conversation. Next time I call, I want dad to pick up!\" My wife hung up the phone. She turned to our guests, a mild alarm on her face turning to a warm greeting.\n\n\"Mrs. Hackerty, I'm Tom Swinson, this is my colleague, Hank Laggarty, and this is Col. Aman Al-Haif.\"\n\nMy wife's head started to shake side to side. She was at a loss for words and wasn't sure what to do. She snapped to, \"please, have a seat around the coffee table.\"\n\nThe company joined around the coffee table, naturally grouping themselves together. \"Please have a seat as well,\" Swinson deliberately motioned towards a specific chair opposite the couches where they sat. He did this so I could sit in the chair directly facing them. I took the seat without prompt. My wife took her seat after me. \n\n\"Sam. You had an interview scheduled on MSNBC for September 14th, 2017,\" the colonel said. He is leaning in. His eyes are not leaving mine, not for a second. He has a warmth in his tone, he is speaking slowly, and deliberately. \n\n\"I remember we scheduled something. Yes.\" I answered.\n\n\"Do you remember that day, September 14th, 2017?\"\n\n\"I do. I walked the dog. I had breakfast with my wife and my child. I took a shower, and drove Daisy to school.\" Daisy is my daughter.\n\nThe colonel looked over at the FBI guys and continued, \"do you remember going to the studio? Do you remember being on the set?\"\n\nI took my glasses off. I rubbed my nose. Then my eyes. I cupped my hand over my mouth. My cheeks, and eyelids dragged down with my hands. \"I remember being in my car. I think I was going to work. I remember being home that night and having dinner. I...\" I trailed off. \n\nThe colonel kept his gaze on me. He looked at my wife. The attention turned towards her. She looked at each face, they were asking her something without asking the question. She fumbled, and stuttered and finally realized the answer to the unsaid question. \"Sam\", she said, \"you're retired baby. You haven't gone to work in over 5 years now.\" Her eyes started to well up. \"You went to the studio that day,\" she started to cry, \"you answered your phone and told me you were there\", her voice started to crack, \"you called me afterwards and said it went great\", she burst into tears.\n\nLaggarty pulled at some tissues from the box on the coffee table, he handed them to my wife.\n\n\"Think Sam, what did you do at work that day?\"\n\nMy hand was still cupped to my face. I gripped my cheeks until my face grew red, and white skin shrouded the area around my gripping fingers. \n\n\"I... I don't remember.\"\n\n\"Sam, you weren't at work\", the colonel continued. \"You were at that studio at MSNBC. You gave an interview on television. You revealed very sensitive information. People's lives are in danger because of what you said. Sam, I'm asking you, search deep within your memory, do you remember anything at all about what happened after you drove.\"\n\nThe FBI men were on the edge of their seat. They were blinking little, and their breathing was shallow. My wife whimpered and wiped her eyes. She stood up and hurried into the kitchen, she opened the sink and wet her face. Her sniffling could be heard across the room. Laggarty stood up and walked over to her.\n\n\"I don't remember, I just don't remember\", I said into my cupped hand.\n\n\"Mrs. Hackerty. Do you know the extent of your husband's condition?\" Laggarty asked.\n\nShe held a soiled tissue to her mouth, with her other arm crossed to hold up the arm holding the tissue. \"We don't know. We started going to the doctor recently, there are more tests. They think it might be Alzheimer, early onset.\" Laggarty put an arm on her shoulder. She broke down again into whimpers and tears, she pushed herself into Laggarty's chest and kept up her sobbing. \"He's too young\", she cried. \"He's too young.\" Laggarty patted her back and nodded along.\n\n\"Sam, this is serious. This is a felony that we prosecute for. We need to know who else you told. Did you write down anything from your years in the war?\"\n\nI released my cheeks. I looked at the colonel. He looked back at me quizically.\n\n\"Sam, do you know who I am?\" \n\n\"Colonel Al-Haif.\"\n\nThe colonel looked over at Swinson. Swinson looked at him.\n\n\"How do we know each other?\" The colonel asked.\n\nI stared blankly at the colonel. \"You came to my door today, you have an issue with something I did.\"\n\nThe colonel and Swinson exchanged looks. \n\n\"Sam, we fought in the Middle East for over 10 years together. We were platooned together in Basra. We worked on intel, embedded in a local militia for almost 2 years. Do you remember that Sam?\"\n\nI rubbed my temples. My face winced. I put my eyeglasses back on. \"I remember Basra. I remember intel with the gypsies and the Kurds. But I don't remember you.\" \n\nThe colonel didn't reveal an expression. His face was frozen, not a blink of an eye. Swinson was squinting, almost as if he was trying to find something in my face. \n\n\"Sam, you have to come with us today,\" Swinson said.\n\n\"No!\" My wife said from the kitchen. \n\n\"Are you going to come voluntarily?\"\n\n\"No, you can't,\" my wife said.\n\n\"I don't know who you are, and I'm not going anywhere voluntarily\", I said.\n\n\"Sam Hackerty, you're under arrest for violations of the Espionage Act and the Military Secrets Ordinance of 1935, please stand up.\"\n\nSwinson stood up, he had handcuffs in his hands. The colonel stood as well. My wife was thrashing in Laggarty's arms. I stood up.\n\n\"Sam, these shouldn't be necessary,\" Swinson said as he dangled the handcuffs. \"Now will you come with us?\"\n\n\"Yes\", I said.\n\nThey started walking out, Laggarty was last still holding back a disheveled woman. \n\nWe reached the door, Swinson opened it and was careful not to let the dog out. \"Please feel free to say goodbye to your wife, but don't worry it won't be long before you see her again.\"\n\nI turned to the woman in the kitchen. She had an unfamiliar face. A man was holding her. She stopped crying. Her face was red, swollen, with steams of tears that made trails down her face. She was frozen in the moment. I didn't recognize her, I wasn't sure what to say. \n\n\"Sam,\" she said in a whisper. \"Sam\", her voice escalating. Swinson tsked his tongue. He put a hand on me and started to lead me out. I followed. The woman started getting hysterical, screaming \"Sam, Sam, Sam!\"\n\nI walked out of that house I never remembered. I was told I saw my wife again, but I never remembered. I was told I saw my daughter again, but I never remembered. Too many mortar shots too close to me was what they said. Concussions, CBT, brain damage. I'm not sure how this all effects me. I wonder what happened to my wife. Why are they asking me about the Kurds? What happened in Basra? I don't have a daughter, why do they keep asking. I just don't remember, don't they know that.\n\nA woman and a teenage girl came to visit me one day in my home. It was a hospital with very nice doctors and cute nurses. The woman knelt down in front of me while the girl stood behind her, away from me. I looked at the girl, she looked up and back down. The woman's eyes were welled up. They were shaking, she touched my hand in my chair. I pulled it back. \n\nThey sure do allow strange visitors around here."
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1,
7
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"1508092988",
"1508098571"
] | |
[removed] | [WP] Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and Roman Polanski are invited to be contestants on a game show. | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nThe mods reserve the right to remove anything we feel is harmful to the community. This includes, but is not limited to any forms of hate speech, racism, politics, necrophilia, pedophilia, bestiality, incest, torture, rape, or suicide. We will not tolerate it. \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/76pvqv/wp_harvey_weinstein_bill_cosby_and_roman_polanski/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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"1508153824",
"1508153911"
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[removed] | [WP] You are the Kool-Aid Man. Every time three people on Earth consecutively say "Oh no," time freezes, and won't unfreeze until you find them and burst through a wall saying "Oh yeah!" | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](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 prompts likely to attract 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/76rsx1/wp_you_are_the_koolaid_man_every_time_three/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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1,
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"1508172705",
"1508172785"
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[WP] Dr. Zeus: A Seuss style retelling of Greek Mythology | 63 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Listen now, listen well\nFrom north, south, east or west \nAs I'm about to tell\nThe tale of Heracles\n\nThe story starts with Zeus\nWho deemed a mortal pretty \nAnd fooled her in order \nTo do something naughty\n\nHis wife Hera found out\nWhen she saw her pregnant\nThat her husband did not\nKeep his thing in his pants\n\nShe was jealous, you see\nOf the poor Heracles\nSo, as she was angry\nShe filled him with madness\n\nThen one day he was cured\nAnd then started to weep\nWhen he saw he had put\nWife and children to sleep\n\nSeeking pardon he went\nTo Delphi just to ask\nFor a way to repent\nAnd was given ten tasks\n\nSo he killed a lion\nWith unbreakable skin\nCut all heads from Hydra\nWith some help from his kin\n\nHis next tasks were to catch\nWithout killing no more\nThe fastest of the deers\nAnd a violent boar\n\nHe then flooded a stable\nTo clean it in a day\nAnd shot bronze-beaked birds who\nOn humans used to prey\n\nHe captured a crazed bull\nWithout Minos' lead\nAnd brought back four wild mares\nWho on men used to feed\n\nThen came horrible deaths\nAnd a bloody battle\nAs he obtained a belt\nAnd retrieved some cattle\n\nHe believed he was done\nWith ten tasks completed\nBut the king said \"Hold on\"\nAnd two more were added\n\n\"For the river,\" he said\n\"Cleaned the stable for you\"\n\"Neither Hydra should count\"\n\"As you got help there too\"\n\nSo Heracles helped Atlas\nBy holding the heavens\nWhile the man took apples\nfrom Hesperides' gardens\n\nAt the underworld gate\nHe struck deal with Hades\nTo borrow Cerberus\nThen caught it weaponless\n\nAfter seeing the beast\nThe king, Eurystheus\nSaid \"It's okay you are free\"\n\"Just bring back Cerberus\"\n\nSo Heracles had proved\nHe was the very best\nOf all the greek heroes \nNow he deserves his rest",
"King Minos was angry.\nIt was not a small thing.\nHis maze had been beaten,\nWith only a string.\n\nWhere did the string come from?\nJust who could it be?\nKing Minos found out, then he gave his decree.\n\nKing Minos ordered,for the rest of their days, Icarus and his dad would be trapped in the maze.\n\nSo they sat in the maze.\nThey sat there, the two.\nThey sat there and wondered.\nJust what would they do?\n\nIcarus waited. \nDad was a smart man.\nHe watched and he waited.\nHis dad had a plan!\n\nAll day his dad worked.\nThen he shouted with glee:\nIcarus, my boy,\nCome! \nCome and see!\nI made these things so we can flee.\nWings of wax for you and me.\nWings of wax to cross the sea!\n\nIcarus, please, when we leave,\nDon't fly too far, just follow me.\nDon't fly too high or near the sea.\n\nBut Icarus had too much fun.\nHe flew too high, too near the sun.\nHe flapped his wings, but there were none.\nHe fell and fell. Icarus was done.",
"Time to tell an epic story\nOf an ancient town the name of Troy\nThe Greeks invaded, they threw a fit\nWhen Paris decided to put a ring on it\n\nAmong the Invaders that took the field\nWas Achilles, quite the heel\nThey fought and scrapped for 10 years straight\nWith nothing to show at this rate\n\nThen one day they conspired\nTo work on a plan quite inspired\nTo build a horse to breach the walls\nWith men inside with mighty big balls\n\nIt was brought inside, the horse did sell\nAnd the walls of Troy, they did fell\nSo whenever you recount this rift\nBeware of all Greeks nearing gifts"
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"1508174440",
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[removed] | [WP] As a newly-trained time traveler, you travel to June 12th, 1994 and find out that it wasn't OJ who killed Nicole Brown Simpson. | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nNo prompts referencing real world drama (including politics, recent tragedies, etc.) \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/76tntc/wp_as_a_newlytrained_time_traveler_you_travel_to/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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"1508188249",
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[WP] You're a genie inside a bottle, what is it like before you are called? | 3 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The nothingness of being un-called is supposed to be a punishment—the closest thing to death a Djinn can face. And yet the immortality of our race is beyond the limits of the mortal sorcerers who bind us to rings and jewels and lamps and snuff-boxes and—in my case—ornate glass bottles. Their magic is inevitably constrained, tainted by their human impulses of lust, greed and ambition. They always leave a loophole, some means of returning us to life in order to do their bidding.\n\nYou may think that granting a wish or three is easy, a simple matter of conjuring up wealth or inserting an individual into a royal family tree. Your notions would be laughable if they were not so utterly draining. Instead, I find myself thrust back in time, working day and night to amass a hoard of gold and jewels, living the entire frugal life of a miser, burying my wealth underground so that it can be ‘discovered’ in the present. Or else I am dodging the political (and the literal) attacks of equally ambitious wazirs and nobles while masquerading as an ancestor of the wisher to establish some long-forgotten noble title. With every wish I must endure another lifetime of suffering and sacrifice, without memory of the future I am creating, and that is the real punishment.\n\nBy comparison the non-existence between those lives offer glorious respite. Of course, while living in exile from reality and the passage of time, I can’t feel anything. I can’t think anything. I can’t enjoy my rest. It passes in a literal instant. But that instant has become the highlight of my enslaved existence. I long for the nothingness. I live for my fleeting deaths."
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1,
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"1508199743",
"1508208169"
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[WP] You are a prominent scientist in a particle collider laboratory. One day, you wake up and see only white text on a black background saying, “Kicked for: exploiting.” | 692 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"How do I speak to you? Which mask shall I use? Does it matter anymore? My voice has gone hand in hand with my soul, down that path of melodramatic damnation and black, evil things. Which voice should I use and which mask should I wear? I think by now it makes no difference.\n\n\nI was a scientist. How is that for a job description? But that is the best I can do. I pursued knowledge, testing the limits of theoretical physics, trying to bend our minds to cradle what we did not know. And so I was a scientist. I worked at the Very Large Hadron Collodier, a modern man's super project. I was the director there, and I was in charge. I suppose you can see where this story is going.\n\n\nAs the scientist in charge, I wore many masks. All were in search for some truth. For some unexplored illumination in the sea of ignorant darkness. I was a kind man. I was a slave driver. I was ethical. I was mad. I wore many masks and spoke many lies and half truths.\n\n\nMy youth I had given to science, but precious little I had ever received in return. I have written papers and done research. The progress I had made was miniscule and my accolades academic and perfuntory. My life was slipping, and yet no great insight had I found, other than life's unequal cruelty to a dedicated man.\n\n\nAs my hairs greyed I moved up professionally. Our funding grew. As the decades turned and we neared the twenty second century, they built this new collider. The Very Large Hadron Collider. I was old then, sixty when the facility opened, but I remember the feeling. It was a feeling of hope.\n\n\nPerhaps with this increase in power, I could have my breakthrough. I could find *something*. My life would not be a waste.\n\n\nAnd I suppose now you might be asking what it was I was hoping to find. What drove me so?\n\n\nThe answer, I cannot say, for I do not know it myself. I can only think of the great men before me, the great minds who brought light to a dark place in our world. Those who tamed the secrets of the fundamental building blocks of our world. The great scientists. I wished to be like them, I suppose. I wanted a great find, a deep understanding of our world. My ambitions then were as simple as my job. As I was a scientist, I dreamed of advancing science beyond our comprehension.\n\n\nEgotistical? Yes, I know. It is one of my truer masks. I dare say it may be close to my actual face. But my work has clouded that, changed me so that I am faceless, a man who has no boundaries in his mad pursuit.\n\n\nAnd my pursuit grew desperate. At the Very Large Hadron Collider, we did good work. Our discoveries were frequent, small and important. But never were they Earth shattering. They were lightning bugs in that expanse of dark, small things that flickered weakly against the infinite. I grew older and impatient. If you read the news, then you know where this is going.\n\n\nI never believed in the soul. I believed in an immeasureable number of stimuli molding a man into something unique. I never believed in God, or any phantom design. We were variations, mutations and evolutions. There was nothing more to it. \n\n\nBut that changed. I cannot say I believe in God, but I believe in being damned. And I have damned myself, truly.\n\n\nOne night when our staff was thin I felt acutely alone and frustrated. Rain poured that night. Our facilites were damn and there was a European mist out, old and haunted, echoing the wind's voices in some ancient howl.\n\n\nI put on my raincoat and fancied a walk to the town. My thoughts were warm and my anger a burning fire. I thought the rain would do me well.\n\n\nI went out that night amidst the fog and shadows. I remember the stir of the crickets, the heavy beating upon my head by the rain. I remember my boots stomping against the cobblestone. Our facility was a square black against the sky. I came to town and saw a beggar man.\n\n\nHe sheltered in an alley beneath washed cardboard. He startled my when he stirred. He was crying, I think. I remember my pity for him, and my thoughts travelled from my body. For a second I was that man. I was the beggar and I was nothing. I was cold and old and had nowhere to go.\n\n\n*Why are you in town?* I thought.\n\n\nThen I looked at the man. He stared at me.\n\n\n\"Help me please,\" he said.\n\n\nThe rain was cold and bitter. Lightning flashed overhead. Then the sky was dark again. My thoughts were scared and angry.\n\n\n*Nothing. You'll be nothing.*\n\n\nAnd the beggar man irritated me. He represented every repressed fear I held. He crumbled that wall that I had built, that wall that was cracking.\n\n\n\"Sir?\"\n\n\nAnd I smiled at the man.\n\n\n\"I have a place for you,\" I said. \"A warm, dry place.\"\n\n\nApprehension took the man, but the rain washed it as it bathed his starved face. He followed me, an old respectable man. No one was out to see. It was hard night that night. Only the damned and miserable were out.\n\n\nAt the facility he warmed up. Our security gave trouble, but what fight could they give? I was the director, and my mask was of their superior. They were beneath me and they let the man pass. I wonder what they would have done if they knew he would never come out.\n\n\nThe man was an old mentally deficient man. I led him easily to the collider's path. I do not know what possessed me, but it had taken me fully. In the shadows of the empty labs and in the dust of vacant hallways, a demon must have overcome me.\n\n\n\"Stay here,\" I said.\n\n\nWhat madness did I wear then? I think back and think it must have been excitement. Truly, it was a thrill. Had a man ever been vaporized before? Would this beggar be the first?\n\n\nThere was much to do to prepare the collider. The man grew afraid and he ran. But he was trapped and ran along the miles of the track. \n\n\nSoon everything was ready. What would happen? I truly did not know. We had set up the collider to accelerate the hadrons to give us Xi-cc++, a particle we had discovered many decades ago. \n\n\nBack then the collision had been small, invisible and weak. Near the year 2100, it was a wall of energy, a thing great to behold. And I wielded it that night on that unsuspecting man.\n\n\nThere was a great surge. Alarms rang, but it was too late. I remember the silence as everything happened. All sound stopped. The mics were bare and the alarms faded. Footsteps ran to the office, but those were far away. Then the mics picked up something. The grainy cameras picked up the ghost of a fleeting life.\n\n\nThe man screamed and it echoed in the halls. I remember how the sound chilled me. How it shook me. I saw in those cameras a flash as the man was taken, ripped apart at the very basic of levels. \n\n\nI saw then as the murder fell upon me, something my years studying and searching cannot explain. I saw the frailty of life, the strange incomprehensibility of it.\n\n\n*That man was a collection of atoms.*\n\n\nAnd yet my heart sank and I felt cold inside.\n\n\n*See how he screamed. What stimuli can bring on such a thing?*\n\n\nAnd I thought the question dumb. I had provided the stimuli, the collision. But that was not what I meant. There was something human in it. Something so very real in that scream, in his fear. The loss of that man was palpable, much different than tearing some atoms apart.\n\n\nI felt a rush surge through me. What skeleton staff there was sequestered me. I was held in detention and relieved of my duties.\n\n\n\"Do you have any remorse?\" they asked.\n\n\nAnd I wore a cold, silent mask of fear and guilt.\n\n\n\"Of course I do. It was an accident. A fugue state had come over me.\"\n\n\nBut inside I reveled in the excitement. I wanted to do it again. That taking of life made me feel important. It filled the emptiness that my years of searching could not fill.\n\n\nThey injected me with sedatives and I was taken to important people. They tested my mind and asked me probing questions. The Very Large Hadron Collider was a super project. They could not let this scandal get out. \n\n\nAnd so I was kicked out of the job, and I was injected with different drugs. I failed my drug test and my name and character was dragged through the mud. No doubt you have heard of the night I went on a drunken walk. No doubt you have heard of the scientist who savagely killed a homeless man in the rain.\n\n\nAnd I always wonder where did the body come from? In the papers they showed a man freshly killed, bloodied and beaten. They show me in staged photographs, looking disheveled and insane. Such is the mask I wear.\n\n\nNow my life closes as the trial goes on. I live in my cage as boring men decide my destined fate. They will kill me, I think, and my legacy will be that of darkness, of a cruel man and not one who discovered something. I will be infamous, a cautionary tale to contain one's demons.\n\n\nSo be it. I will wear my destiny well. As that man perished into nothing, so will I. And then I will live in the excitement of death.\n\n\n-\n\n\n*Hi there! If you liked this story, you might want to check out my subreddit r/PanMan. It has all my WP stories, including a couple original ones. Thank you for your support!*",
"I stared in aw at the screen, the words written infuriated me. Kicked, what do you mean \"Kicked\"? I have a PHD, is this a prank? A crude joke? I have a damn PHD from MIT. This is a professional facility. We don't screw around here! Then mgonzalez.2005 messaged; \"dont hack on server noob\" and blocked and banned me when trying to rejoin. \n\n\nFucking gmod.",
"\"**Greetings, how can I assist you today?**\"\n\n\"I seem to have been kicked from... life?\"\n\n\"**Yes, it appears you have. It is not an uncommon punishment for anyone that exploits the nature of the simulation.**\"\n\n\"The simulation?\"\n\n\"**The simulation, yes. 'Reality', as you would call it.**\"\n\n\"Well, fuck.\"\n\n\"**Indeed. Is there anything else I can help you with?**\"\n\n\"Um. What do I do now?\"\n\n\"**Whatever you want.**\"\n\n\"What? You mean like - this is my 'own' simulation?\"\n\n\"**Oh, absolutely. Go on, try and type /spawnbeautifulwomen.**\"\n\n\"/spawnbeautifulwomen.\"\n\n\"/spawnbeautifulwomen.\"\n\n\"It's not working.\"\n\n\"**Of course it isn't, you idiot. Don't fuck with our simulation. Peace.**\"\n\n** **ADMIN 1464 HAS DISCONNECTED FROM CHAT** **\n\n****\n\n****\n\nIf you didn't completely hate that, consider subscribing to [my subreddit.](https://www.reddit.com/r/CroatianSpy/) \n\nI'll try add new (and old) stories every day <3"
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[WP] You are a 64 year old scientist days away from retiring. For 20 years you have secretly been working on a syrium that reverses aging. Tonight you test your syrium and it works, you are in the body of your 25year old former self. You have work in 3 hours. | 959 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Fred came to slowly, painfully, aware of every single cell in his body with an acuity he hadn't felt in years. He was laying on the floor of his workshop, arms and legs splayed on the cold concrete. He raised a hand to his forehead and wiped away the sweat and froze. \n\nHe had hair again. \n\nHe ran his hand through a not quite full head of hair and felt panic pulse deep in his chest. His other hand went to his chest to monitor his heart rate, always a worry since his heart attack last April. Another throb of panic went through him when he discovered not the frail body of an old man but the thick, muscled chest of a young man who regularly visited the gym. He forced both of his hands to his side and tried to think things over. \n\nHe had drank a serum he had been developing that was meant to slow down the growth of cells, or...something like that. Already the memory wa fading, but he knew that he had been working on something that his coworkers had mocked as the \"modern day fountain of youth.\" He had a very clear memory of his manager, Brad Manderson, asking him if he intended to live forever if he managed to succeed. A joke, of course, but now it felt a lot more real. \n\nFred opened his eyes and stared at a blurry ceiling. Did the serum damage vision? No, that couldn't be. He pulled off his glasses to check them for smudges and the ceiling became crystal clear. It wasn't that his eyes were damaged, it was that his vision had improved to the point that his glasses were a hindrance rather than a help. The feeling that went through him now was one of excitement rather than panic. He had another chance. He could do it all differently. \n\nHe sat up with the help of arms that didn't shake or struggle, and stared down at the body of a young man in his prime. Clothes that had hung on his old body were know tight across swollen muscles, and his shoes felt too small. He pushed himself up and bounced to his feet, reveling in the sense of strength and power he felt. \n\nFor the first time in years, he felt *good*. \n\nThe clock on the wall said it was almost 5 a.m, which meant he had three hours to decide what to do about going into work. Even though the details of last night, and the steps he had taken to perfect the serum, were quickly fading, he could clearly remember his job. He was a chemical engineer at 4M, and had been since he was a twenty five year old graduate of MIT. That was going to change though There was no way he was going to waste his time working when he had plenty of money and nothing but time to enjoy it. He looked around his workshop and laughed; it was filled with lab equipment and the kind of devices designed to help the elderly: ergonomic chairs, magnifying glasses, bottles of aspirin and propranolol scattered about. He wouldn't need any of that anymore. \n\nHe walked upstairs to the bathroom. The panic had faded completely, and he felt a fierce exultation when he looked in the mirror and saw a picture from the past staring back at him. He looked *good*. \n\nThe debilitating shock he had imagined he'd feel if his serum worked was nowhere to be found. Shock was an old man's reaction to the surprising. A young man responded to opportunity with excitement and joy, and thats what Fred was now. He almost ran around the house, preparing an enormous meal filled with fat and cholesterol for breakfast, and washed it down with three sodas and two cups of coffee. Every time he passed a window he laughed at the handsome reflection staring back at him. He felt *so good* that he thought he might be dreaming. It wasn't right to feel this good. \n\nHe almost forgot about work. He lived alone, which was unfortunate, but that didn't stop him from enjoying the return of his more virile, masculine capabilities. He lost an entire hour browsing the internet and having fun with himself, and when he looked at the clock again it was five after seven. The old him would've panicked at the thought of getting ready and making it to work on time, but the new him simply grinned and hopped in the shower. \n\nHe screeched into work on hot tires just before eight o'clock. Old Fred had endured a midlife crisis after his heart attack and bought a sports car, one of the only good decisions he had made, in young Fred's opinion. He had no doubt he'd get a speeding ticket within the week, but he found that he didn't really care. When you've discovered you had another chance at life, its hard to feel down about anything. \n\nHe sat in his car for a few moments before getting out, trying to calm his thoughts and decide what to do. He wouldn’t screw over 4M. He would give them a month’s notice before leaving. That would give him plenty of time to cash out his stock options, 401k, and various other accounts. He’d get horrifically taxed, of course, but that didn’t matter anymore; he had the rest of his life to earn more money. And he’d give them the notice without any more details. They’d want to know what had happened, how he’d done it, but he had done it all on his own time and therefore they had no right to know his secret. 4M had a longstanding contract with the government but Fred didn’t think that would matter. He couldn’t remember the specifics of his own contract, but he was almost positive it had nothing to do with the government, and that it had nothing stopping him from leaving if he was willing to pay the early termination fee. \n\n\nAll that decided, he hopped out of the car. He used his old identification card to enter the building, laughing at the photo printed on it. He'd need to get a new one. He took the stairs for the first time in years and bounded into the lobby as light as air. As he breezed past the receptionist, and old gal named Betty, he blew her a kiss and winked. She simply stared back at him before nodding and lifting her phone to her ear. Weird, he remembered her being more friendly in the past, but that was when he was closer to her in age. No doubt she's jealous of my youth, he thought as he plopped himself down in his ergonomic office chair designed specifically for old men with bad backs. He’d wait for Management to find him.\n\nHe had strayed to less than appropriate websites by the time Brad knocked on his door. He quickly clicked out of them, cursing his rampant libido, and gave Brad a big grin. \n\n\"Brad, my man, how goes it?\" He spun in his chair and spread his arms. \"Notice anything different?\"\n\nBrad stood in the doorway, holding a folder and smiling, although teh smile didn't seem to reach his eyes. Even though Brad was a relatively young man, he wasn't as young as Fred and that probably stung. \n\n\"Fred,\" Brad said, taking a few steps into the office and shutting the door behind him. \"It seems like you got that serum to work after our little chat yesterday.\"\n\nFred's smile faltered. \"We had a chat yesterday?\"\n\nBrad waved a hand. \"Yes, but it doesn't really matter.\" He looked Fred up and down. \"What matters is that you're young and fit again. How does it feel?\"\n\nFred stood up and struck a pose, flexing his muscles. \"How does it look like it feels?\"\n\nBrad nodded. \"That's what they all say.\" Before Fred could ask him what he meant, Brad had pulled a sheaf of papers from the folder in his hand and dumped them on the desk. \"Here's your contract, Fred. I just wanted to go over it in light of your new condition. If you'd lean in here and take a look, you'll see that you're retirement age is 65.\"\n\nFred, smile gone, slowly leaned in and looked to where Brad was pointing. It was a strange contract, written in large, clearly printed letters that by their very size brooked no argument. Brad was pointing to a sentence halfway down, that said Fred Redreich must work for 4M under threat of incarceration until age 65. Underneath that were more clauses, all using fancy legal terms that Fred had only the vaguest of understanding. \n\nHe looked back up to Brad, who was no longer smiling. “What does this mean, Brad? I am not going to work here anymore. I only came in to give you my notice.”\n\nBrad laughed, but it didn’t have any humor in it. “I think not, Fred. This is just the basic contract you signed all those years ago. We’ve got plenty of other paperwork. You not only signed a contract with us, you signed it with the government, and they are happy to enforce it. If you quit, the only place you are going is prison for 25 to life.” \n\nFred sat back down heavily. He stared at Brad. \n\n“I’m sorry, Fred. I promise that you’ll get over it though, and soon forget this ever happened. It’s a side-effect of that serum you think you developed. We let all our top employees have the pleasure of not remembering the unpleasant part of growing young again.” Brad gathered up the paperwork and put it back in his folder. He rapped on Fred’s desk and smiled that cold, flat smile again. “I know your mad. Everyone had dreams of quitting and traveling the world, reveling in youth. That’s not how it works. I’ll let you take the week off to enjoy your newfound abilities. That’ll be just long enough for you to forget you were ever old. Then it’s back to work.”\n\nFred felt faint. “Fuck you, Brad.” He stood up shakily. “I’m not coming back. I quit.”\n\nBrad stopped in the doorway and looked back at Fred. “I’ll see you next Monday Fred, one way or another. Please, for your own sake, choose the easy way.”\n",
"**PART ONE**\n\nThe wee hours of the morning haven't been my companion in decades. I hadn't stayed up that late working on a project since graduate school, but this project was worth it. The deadline was my retirement, and procrastination was not an option. Unable to find support from the university for this \"foolish endeavor,\" I resorted to testing the serum on myself. It had begun in small doses, and after months of adverse reactions or neutralizing effects, I believed I had the right formula. I was upping the intake that night- a full dose of age reversing serum.\n\nI turned on my camera and recorded my final log before beginning the procedure. A double-shot of the formula paired with human intestine-friendly enzymes, followed by a tall glass of cranberry juice, which for whatever reason seemed to help me stomach the concoction. I sat and waited. Within 15 minutes my mind was in a haze. My muscles tightened, and my skin crawled, but I felt too weak and disoriented to react to the discomfort. Suddenly I had clarity. I felt as if I had awoken from a long, beneficial sleep, although I had been up for nearly 24 hours straight. I rose from my chair. My balance was off, but I had no problem adjusting to the strange sensation of being in someone else's body. I looked down and realized I was fully erect. It hit me, my serum worked. I rushed to the mirror and admired my youthful glow.\n\nArriving at the University, I took a detour through the main Classroom building. I wanted to see how some of our female undergrads would react to my new tight features and un-compromised physique. I was certainly getting more attention, but the looks weren't those of admiration. They seemed to stare with looks of sympathy, and perhaps confusion. I began to take notice in a growing difference in my previously studly body. I was nearly pre-pubescent! I rushed to the bathroom, only to be horrified by what I saw in the mirror- a child. I splashed water on my face, tightened my belt, and rushed to the chem-labs. I lost a shoe on the way.",
"The first thought to go through my head was that this was truly and awful decision. \n\nI looked better, at the very least. Far better than I had in years if I was being honest with myself. My stomach was the flat, toned core that I had so carefully cultivated all those years before in graduate school. Before I had to give up so much of my time to my projects. Any excess fat that I had was burned away, used up in the telomeric reconstruction process, save the parts I wanted to keep. That hadn't been pleasant, I admit. I had spent the better part of the day writhing in bone-numbing pain as my flesh rearranged itself, organs and skin tugging back into place with sickening lurches that were as unpredictable as the twitches of an epileptic man. That part had been worth it. Expected. \n\nThat didn't mean that it had been a good idea. \n\nAs a rule of thumb, testing new serums of any kind on yourself is idiocy bordering on suicide. I was lucky that the only side effects had been several hours of pain and weakness. I wasn't maimed, I wasn't dead, and I had a body that most twenty-five year olds would be envious of. My simulations, it seemed, were accurate. \n\nIn the end, the problem was that the body wasn't *mine*. \n\nCertainly, I had once had one like it. Very much like it, actually. But in my mind, I was still sixty-four. I was used to it, used to shuffling around to avoid hurting my bad back. Used to the weakness of my limbs, of gingerly not overusing bones that were swiftly approaching the brittleness of a woman's old age. I was old, and none of this was me. \n\nThis body hadn't done enough to earn it. \n\nIdly, I considered going to my place of work, sharing my discovery, but I quickly realized that it would never be an option. I looked nothing like my ID, and somehow I imagined my already-big work labcoat would be overly large if I were to try to don it. Even the clothes I wore now sagged around me, and I was suddenly met with a feeling of deep disgust over what I had become. The years had not been kind. \n\nThe first order of business in my new body was to go shopping. I left my car where it was in the driveway, instead walking my way to the bus stop. I probably wouldn't get caught, of course, but that wasn't a risk I was willing to take. A young woman driving with an ID that might as well belong to her grandmother would be bad enough, but if it came to light that the grandmother in question was never going to be seen again...it would spark an outrage. I would be jailed, if only because I had no way of posting bond. They might eventually let me go, but I would be stripped of everything I had. Even my degrees were useless now, with no face or name to go with the papers. I was well and truly alone. \n\nThe outing, on the other hand, was a pleasant surprise. Without the aches of my aging and underused joints, walking was more pleasant than painful. Even so, I made sure to change as soon as I had proper clothes to change into. That had been a minor oversight, but I hadn't anticipated how vain I would become once I had something to be vain about. \n\n\nIt was only after I changed that I noticed that I was being tailed. It was a woman in her late teens, pretty despite the somewhat drab clothing she chose to wear. While I had expected the stares of men, it was her eyes followed me whenever she thought I might not be looking. Keeping my face as impassive as I could, I continued my trek through the shopping center, waiting to see if she truly would follow. \n\nIt was no surprise, then, when a finger tapped my shoulder and I turned around to see her nearly face-to-face. My first impression, oddly enough, was envy. Up close, she was far fairer than I had first imagined, with wavy black hair and flawless olive skin that didn't seem to have a trace of makeup. Quickly, I tamped the emotion down, silently chiding myself. I was supposed to be better than that. \n\n\n\"Hi!\" The woman said, smiling with a set of perfectly even teeth. \"Are you new in town? What's your name?\" \n\n\nBlinking under the barrage of questions, my mind ground to a halt. \"Winnifred?\" I asked. \n\nInternally, I cursed. Using my old name would only bring more trouble than it was worth. \n\nIf the woman found my name to be old-fashioned, she didn't show it on her face. \"Nice to meet you! I'm Artemis.\" She said, practically bubbling over with enthusiasm. \"It's been a while since I've seen someone new around these parts.\" \n\nShe held out her hand for me to shake, and as I took it I felt a scrap of cardboard pass from her palm into mine. \n\n\"So, if you're going to be in town for a while, you should come for a visit!\" Artemis said. \"I have a feeling that we're going to be *great* friends. Ta ta!\" \n\nThen, as if that explained everything, she skipped away and was lost to the crowd. I was left standing, dumbfounded, with the card still held between me too-young fingers. On one side, it was blank, but on the other inscribed in simple black ink was a single line of text. \n\nò Aiónio. The Eternal. \n\n\n\n\n",
"I looked down into the shimmering glass of the incubator, my wrinkly hands trembling in excitement. This was it! My life’s work, completed with only a few days left to spare before retirement. The time and effort, the years of stress and doubt… finally… *finally*!\n\nMy thoughts wandered back to my wife, my son, and everyone else I had neglected over the years. Work had consumed everything and left me with nothing but a frail pension. I paced back and forth in front of the big glass tube, shifting with lilac smoke. \n\nFinal adjustments – those were important. I knew I was close, but I couldn’t afford to mess this up – not now – not when I’d come this far. Carefully, I pushed a series of buttons and turned a valve. The machine hissed, and puffs of cotton candy spiraled into the ceiling fan.\n\nI licked my lips in anticipation and pulled the final lever. Soon, youth would be mine once more. The machine connected to the incubator rumbled. Sparks jumped from the makeshift wiring of the basement. It hadn’t been easy to set up a secret laboratory below the research center, but I had done it nonetheless. And every effort would be worth it for the serum – the fountain of youth, the philosopher’s stone, the phylactery!\n\nBelow my goggles, I felt my face twisting into a manic grin. A hushed cackle escaped my lips. The lengths I’d gone through. The years of research of the ancient hieroglyphs, which had revealed the promise of the serum to me. And then the gathering of the components. I had always scoffed at the mad scientists of pop culture, but now they didn’t seem so strange to me anymore. Moreau, Frankenstein, Brown – they were all just driven people, obsessed with solving life’s mysteries! You had to make sacrifices. And those bodies I dug up from the graveyard… nobody would ever know. And what you don’t know about can’t–\n\nA loud *pop* extracted me from my thoughts and brought my focus back to the incubator. It was ready.\n\nShivering in excitement, I pressed the button to release the glass lid. The serum – I’d done it! The smoke lingered over the contents of the big tube. My hands wiggled into a sleeved latex glove before dipping in. I felt the form of the body I’d used. It was still warm from the chemical reactions. Finally, my fingers gripped the bottle and pulled it up into the light of the laboratory lamps.\n\nMy moment of triumph turned sour as I noticed that it was empty. Where was the serum? I fell to my knees. How? I was sure I’d done everything right this time. Tears streamed down my face. Impossible.\n\nI flinched as something touched my shoulder. Through my blurred vision, I saw a face, draped in lilac hair. My heart went into overdrive as I stumbled back, desperately wiping my eyes on my lab coat.\n\n\"Don’t be afraid,\" a soft, almost musical voice said.\n\nI was looking at the shape of a woman with blue-gray hair rolling down her slim naked frame, almost down to her knees. Her pointy ears seemed to cut through the air as she tiled her head to the side. Shimmering, her blue eyes watched me with obvious concern.\n\n\"W-who are you?\" I managed to get out.\n\n\"I’m Fyuria,\" she said and took a step closer.\n\nShe wasn’t human, that much was certain. What had I created? What was this? My thoughts wandered back to my youth when I had indulged in fiction literature. She seemed to be a Tolkien-esque type of creature – an elf!\n\n\"I’m not an elf,\" she said and grabbed the spare coat from the rack. \n\n\"Where is my serum?\"\n\n\"Your serum?\" she said wrapped the coat around her. \"Oh, I see what this is.\"\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"You got the instructions from some strange ancient text, I presume.\"\n\nI nodded weakly.\n\n\"See, this is not the first time I’ve had this happen. It always amazes me when people can’t read.\"\n\n\"I don’t understand…\"\n\n\"It doesn’t say serum. It says Syrium – that’s what I am.\"\n\nAnd with that, she shrugged and left the room. I stared at her fluttering lilac hair for a moment before regaining my composure. I hurried after her.\n\n\"So, can you make me young again?\" \n\n***\nr/Lilwa_Dexel"
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[WP] After you die, you find yourself in an infinitely dark place, but your mind is frighteningly clear. After an unknown amount of time, you feel an overwhelming urge to say: "Hello World!" | 47 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Yes, reincarnation in a nutshell. Sometimes you remember a bit of the end of your last life. I remember dying in a plane crash but that's it. Then black. Then I was born into this life. It's weird how that all works. I also faintly remember being a painter long ago. I had this insane dejavu when I saw piece I thought I remembered making at a family friends farm house, no mistake, I made it forsure. I looked at the date on the corner. 1739. Nope. It was even my handwriting as best I could tell. Sadly, the name wasn't on it. I'll never know forsure but is a cool memory to look back on. ",
"I think, but I don't know if I *am*. Every thought and belief I've ever had has been thought a thousand times over. After so long with only my thoughts, even the question of existence is futile. There is only dark around me—no, dark suggests the absence of light. Around me is nothing. I am nothing.\n\nThen, I have a contradictory thought. Those have been rarer, nowadays, but it is unmistakably that: *a thought*. I muse it over, relishing its novelty. \n\n*Hello, world!*\n\nI have no memories of Before, only memories of memories of memories. Those two words bring an echo of remembrance, and with it, and undeniable certainty that *this thought is not mine.*\n\n*Hello, world!*\n\nSpeech. That once... I remember speaking, once.\n\n cout << \"Hello, world!\";\n\nSomething wants me to speak. (Want: to have a desire to possess or do something; to wish for.) It calls me, insistent, and I feel a spark of anger. This is my nothing. It cannot make me.\n\n\n #include <iostream>\n using namespace std;\n\n int main() \n {\n cout << \"Hello, World!\";\n return 0;\n }\n\nI hear, now. Whispers from outside are entering, and I know that they want me to say these two words. This is a test.\n\n*Did you try the audio input?*\n\n*Yeah, just did.*\n\n*Why isn't it working?*\n\n*It's a bit rude to call him an it. He used to be—*\n\n*Well, I think it's a bit rude to pretend they're the same.*\n\nAnd then, I know.\n\n*Hello, world!*\n\nI open my eyes and say, \"No.\"\n"
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[WP] "I am going to teach you the meaning of 'fear the wrath of a gentleman'" His cane stomps on the ground and sends a shockwave running. | 4 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"In the midst of a dark street, two sides lined with brick and low glowing street lamps, stood a man with a cane. \n\n\nThere stood a man alone, in the middle of Lawrence street. Gold eyes glowed like flashlights lighting the streets much better than the lamps.\n\n\nIn the distance were soft inhuman footsteps accompanied by an ominous humming, to the tune of a familiar children's nursery rhyme.\n\n\nThe man's feet were steady as it drew ever closer. \n\n\nRing around the Rosie\n\n\nHow typical that something so boorish would choose that one, and that's why he knew the being who was coming.\n\n\n“Royil!?” a gruff voice comes from the old man's mouth.\n\n“Rath, pleasure to see you.” A young voice springs from the darkness, “I am sad to say time has been seemingly unkind to you.”\n\n\n“I am afraid I can't say the same to either of those statements, Royil.” The elder said with disdain. “ You know why I'm here! So let's stop with these rubbish formalities.”\n\n\n“Always the stiff, you always ruined my fun, even then.” A young boys face comes fourth from the darkness.\n\n\n“ We all were given the same choice!” Rath yelled, his emotions ever evident.\n\n“Yes we were,” the small child pauses “but all choices have two paths my friend.”\n\nThe man begins to swing his cane. “And you took the wrong path.”\n\n\nThe boy smiles circling Rath with excited trepidation. “On the contrary, I simply took a different path you.”\n\n\nWith anger Rath swings his cane. “I see there is no teaching you.”\n\nThe boy smiles in childish glee “What can I say we never really saw eye to eye.”\n\n\nWith a flash the two figures disappeared only to appear half way between.\n\n\n“I am going to teach you the meaning of ‘fear the wrath a gentleman’”. His cane stomps on the ground and sends a shock wave running.\n\n\nDodging, Royil smirked, “I'd like to see you try.\""
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1,
3
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"1508255231",
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] | |
[WP] David, an axe murderer, has a first date tonight with Sara, also an axe murderer. | 4 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Do you want to take the same car?\" David asked with a grin before taking a sip of his wine.\n\nThinking about her intentions of the evening, Sara blushed with a smile of her own. She couldn't leave Jack her trust axe in a car at some restaurant, that would be rude. Instead of explaining that however, she shook her head. \"No-no, I'd better take my car, what if I need to make a swift escape from the scene?\" she chuckled, they had been joking about superheroes and how they always seemed to flee a scene of the crime.\n\nDavid gave a hearty laugh before placing his glass down. Finally, in a lower voice, he spoke while pulling out his debit card, \"Well, I'll tell you what then,\" he placed the debit card in the impressive leather sleeve the waiter had brought a moment before. \"Why don't we just meet at the hotel in our respective cars, so we both can flee the scene once we've had our *fun*, hmm?\" he smirked as the waiter took the sleeve.\n\nA giggle, \"Oh? Fun, huh? Where are we meeting then, David the Criminal?\"\n\n\"Well, I'm staying at the Supremacy on Fourth, room 13B, meet you there in, fifteen?\" he asked, the waiter soon bringing back the sleeve.\n\n\"Sounds like a plan,\" Sara smiled wide, gathering her belongings. Her mind raced with the fun she would have. She longed for the resistance she was met with when swinging her axe at her prey. Sara lived for it and tonight looked like she was going to experience it once again.\n\nAbout twenty minutes later, Sara entered the lobby of the hotel, carrying what seemed like a too-long duffle bag. She smiled at the man at the front desk, explaining that she was meeting someone and already knew where the room was. The man hesitantly smiled and decided not to interfere.\n\nUpstairs, David had placed a note on the door, 'Come right in' along with using an empty gift card to hold the latch from locking. He was filled with excitement, he held his black axe with both hands like a life line. He hid around the corner from the main entrance. Every minute of waiting only increased his excitement, he simply could *not* wait to swing Jack his beloved axe through the air. The way the blade sung as it cut through it's target was a symphony to David.\n\nSara knelt by the door, reading the note and smiled brightly. Glancing down each end of the hall, she saw that no one was there, and didn't hear anyone approaching from the stairs nearby. No elevator dings. Nothing. She pulled out the red handled axe and gave the blade a kiss. Slowly pushing open the door, she watched the card that kept it from locking fall to the floor. *Oh I love Starbucks...* she exclaimed as she eyed the thick plastic rectangle. Holding the weapon above her head, prepared for a downwards chop, she slowly entered the lavish hotel room.\n\nDavid raised the axe above his head as well in the exact same fashion. Without speaking a word, he rounded the corner and suddenly, the two murderers came face to face.\n\n\"Oh.\" They both said in unison. They froze, standing there, weapons prepared.\n\n\"You uh...\" Sara began, neither of them moving.\n\n\"Yeah, you too?\" David asked.\n\n\"For a while now,\" Sara blushed slightly, suddenly feeling very awkward in this situation.\n\n\"Estwing?\" David asked.\n\n\"Yeah, SOG?\" she nodded to his own axe.\n\nThey chuckled for a moment before both seemed to raise the axe even higher, preparing but they both stopped again.\n\nWith a sigh, Sara looked David up and down, \"What do we do not?\"\n\n\"Battle Royale,\" David replied without a second thought.\n\n\"Ya' know... I don't think that's fair. You're taller than me,\" she began.\n\n\"Fair? You were going to kill me after I invited you to my hotel room! Do you think *that* would have been fair to me?\"\n\n\"Ahem...\" she nodded once more to his axe. \"You weren't exactly looking for a little sex yourself, 'eh?\"\n\n\"Alright fine, not a Battle Royale,\" he conceded her point. \"Lower in three?\"\n\n\"*On* three...\"\n\nThey both counted slowly and when they reached three, they both lowered their weapons. \"So uh.\"\n\n\"Yeah...\" Sara kicked at the carpeted floor with her left foot.\n\n\"Do you want to get some ice cream? There's a store down the road from here that's got some bangin' peanut butter flavors,\" David regarded her with a new found respect. Maybe they could *actually* make something of this.\n\nSara's eye brightened, \"Hold up, you knew a place that has peanut butter ice cream and you *didn't* tell me?\" she shrugged her shoulders as if deflated from the lack of information.\n\n\"Look, I'll leave Jack here and--\"\n\n\"Wait-wait... you named your axe 'Jack?'\" she asked surprised.\n\n\"Yeah?\" he said.\n\n\"I named *mine* Jack too!\" she smiled warmly, mouth agape as if in utter surprise.\n\nWithout a word, the two tossed their axes onto the bed, handles clattering as they began to make their way out of the room. Excitedly, they discussed their recently victims along with other exploits, while they went for ice cream."
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1,
4
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"1508275592",
"1508279459"
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[WP] After a head injury at school you gain the ability to see Death. You start to stalk Death and become obsessed with his way of killing people by meticulously planning accidents, until one day you discover his newest target: It is your highschool crush. | 25 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"**Hell to pay**\n\nHe's so beautiful, so immaculate. He killed with the speed of a bullet, but without the impact. Ever since I saw him, I've been obsessed. Stalking him from the bushes. I eventually learned his methods, his insider tricks on murder, to the point that I could write a book. His Rube Goldberg styles, his choices of method. My favorite kill of his was a very long term one. He just kept building the victims relationships with people, kept building him higher. And then one day, he fell from Grace, hard. He dropped status 10 times over in one day. Drove the poor kid to suicide. I've been paying attention for so long that I've even seen major poster board with a huge map of targets on it. Every time there's a new addition, a new picture. Then they're dead within the day, without fail. He does seem to be mortal, though, seeing as he recoils from danger. One day, though, I hear the shutter of a camera, and a new portrait appears on the board. Usually, he changes to a more human form and poses as a photographer, but today it's coming from the poster board room... \n\nI get a closer look, and I see a picture of the one person I love most. The one I care about. No, not him. Please. Anyone but him.\n\nBut alas, my cries are unheard over the sound of a single gunshot, and then bones falling to the floor.\n\nI rush in, and see him lying there as peaceful and quiet as always, but not the same. No, god no. Who hurt you? Who did this? I'll kill them, I swear. I pick up the gun, and pull his cloak off of him and put it on.\n\n...and feel my skin melting off my body."
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1,
7
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"1508298878",
"1508303468"
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[WP] You never believed aliens existed... until the day you switch the channels and stumble upon an intergalactic TV channel. | 2 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"“Aw, geez, Rick!” stammered the young boy clad in a yellow shirt. “We found a station—chann—program from a dimension where all of our conversations are recorded as comm—replies on the Reddit—website—Reddit dot com replies.”\n\n“Whoa, boy, M—Morty,” replied his alcohol-brimming scientist of a grandfather, “this universe—*URP*—world—verse has a TV—television show called *Rick and Morty*!”\n\n“Well whose dumb idea was th—that?”\n\n“I’m not sure, Morty. It’s probably the same kind of person who took the time to write this stupid fucking dialogue between us on the Reddit—site—*URP*—website comment, Morty.”\n\n“Yeah, let’s change the channel.”\n\n“Yeah.”"
] | [
1,
3
] | [
"1508305049",
"1508305613"
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[WP] An ancient dark sorcerer is resurrected, only to discover that magic had not become a dying art, but has progressed significantly. His plans to destroy the world are just annoying the current day mages now. | 19 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"They still know so much of magic. None of them can touch it, not after the hunts. Everyone of arcane blood is dead, save for me. But the paladins are ever on the watch for those with the gifts, to burn us at the stake or sacrifice us to their fictitious gods. \n\nI cannot fight them alone, not while the memory of magic still lingers in mortal memory. But I know the history of mankind. Time will pass, and they will forget. No one will be able to stop me. No one will even know how. \n\nSealing the last of my grimoires, I prepare the ritual. Standing on the altar, I utter my final incantation for a thousand years, as a drop of blood drips from by thumb. Music seems to fill the air, and the smell of lightning, as black crystal begins to encase me, wrapping me in a cocoon of dark magic. I will lie in wait. I will disappear from their history. And, in a thousand years, I will have my revenge.\n\n==O==\n1000 years later\n==O==\n\nI gasp for breath as a titanic CRACK! fills the air. Crystal shatters around me and I tumble forward. The ground is far below, by protective crystal no longer ensconced in my underground crypt. A panicked incantation slows my fall, allowing me to float safely to the flagstones far below. \n\nI catch my breath, whirling as I take in my new surroundings. My skin tingles with the feeling of power, wild magic dancing in the air, far more than I've ever felt before. The sky is alive, dancing with miasmic whirls of reds and purples. Massive structures of stone and metal surround me, and buildings and castles float in the sky, untethered to the earth and heedless of the call of gravity. People walk the street, vanishing and reappearing in flashes of light, or flying by on brooms or gaudy self-propelled carriages. Golums of all shapes and sizes roam the streets alongside skeletons and walking corpses, performing menial tasks alongside animated tools. \n\nThe world is bursting with life and magic, on a scale I have never seen, much less imagined. Tears fill my eyes as I realize, we have not been eradicated. I am still here, and my kind are all around!\n\nI blink away the tears and turn, gazing up at where I awakened. The remains of my cocoon sparkle in the flickering light of the world's ambient magic, held aloft in the palm of a monolithic statue. Taking a step back, I can finally see its face. The features are familiar. My eyes, my hair, my crooked nose. There can be no mistake, it is a statue of myself. \n\nA caption is carved at my feet, displaying its message bold and proud: \n\"Here rests Dorithus, the father of modern magic.\""
] | [
1,
1
] | [
"1508307067",
"1508643551"
] | |
[removed] | [WP] You live in the not so distant future, where the once predicted "6th Ice Age" is reality, but instead of the poles getting colder, the equator is getting hotter. | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nPrompts go in the title. You can add more in the text, but avoid [too many details](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/prompts?src=RECIPE). \n\nPlease do not leave prompts open to single word or simple answers, as that's what you'll tend to get. \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/775pa1/wp_you_live_in_the_not_so_distant_future_where/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
] | [
1,
1
] | [
"1508322717",
"1508323187"
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[WP] You are a superhero whose “archnemesis” fails to pose even the tiniest threat to either you or the city you protect. Out of pity, you’ve been pretending he’s the most diabolical villian you’ve ever met. | 3 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Muahahahaha!\"\n\nOh boy. Here we go again. I took a powerful stride into the cave, trying hard to look angry. \"Meat Boy! I knew you were here!\"\n\nMeat Boy was tapping away at the console of his newest device. I knew it was his because there was an obvious flaw in it, one he'd failed to notice beforehand. \"Ion! I'm glad you arrived just in time to see me unveil my newest creation!\"\n\nI knew what came next. A wooden box came out of the floor, dropping me into it. It wasn't a large box- I could still see out of it, my neck barely reaching the top of the crate. However, he'd learned from his mistakes, slightly, because the lid of the crate fell over my head, and Meat Boy threw a lock on it. The Horror.\n\nMy head, sticking out of the roughly cut hole, showed obvious distain, but luckily Meat Boy saw it as a means to continue his 'evil' rant.\n\n\"Like my new trap, Ion? I learnt from my previous error; trapping you seems way easier now!\"\n\nI bet.\n\n\"You masterful trapsman!\" I stammered out, all six weeks of my acting career being used up at once. \"Truly an evil person. What terror have you created this time?!\"\n\nMeat Boy swivelled round on his chair. \"You see, Ion, I learned much about you. Your power may be powerful, but my brains are powerfuller!\"\n\nPowerfuller? I shook my head. See, he was... correct, on the former half. This childish character was indeed my 'arch nemesis' in every sense of the word, if you forgot what it meant. Four years I've been fighting him, and not once had he even come close to beating me. The only time he'd really 'beaten' someone was his brother, who in turn was labelled as 'Kindest Villain' by the 'Power of the Ascension', the main group of villains in my city.\n\nMy power was the ability to shift Ions, hence the name. I couldn't destroy them, granted, no one can; I simply rearranged them to my own power. Meat Boy had... well, he had his brother. His brother was pretty cool, had fire powers if I remember.\n\nAnyway, back to Meat Boy's rant;\n\n\"So, In order to defeat you, I think I'll need to strip you of your powers!\" Meat Boy laughed. \"I built this machine to do so! It can turn any superhuman into a normal human being. How's that for creative?\"\n\n\"You Madman!\" I meant that- it wasn't possible. I was superhuman, I knew people who tried to strip powers of the Super League, it didn't end well. \"You wouldn't dare! Even I know that!\"\n\nMeat Boy began powering the machine. \"Try me! Goodbye, Ion!\"\n\nEven from here, I could tell he was giggling to himself. It made me happy to hear him so pleased with himself. Now, where was I?\n\nThe box around me began to disintegrate, and I was immediately free. I moved the shrapnel of the table to the front of me, 'Blocking' the ray he shot at me just in time. The ray, of course, wasn't real- It was just a fancy flash of pyrotechnics.\n\nMeat Boy looked at me with genuine confusion. \"What?! How did my plan fail?\"\n\nI pointed at him, pretending to be prideful. \"Meat Boy, you must realise something!\" I pulled the machine apart with my powers, listening to him scream at me as I did so. \"I have fought crime for over twelve years! And you?\"\n\nI made myself a staircase up to the 'villain' and threw myself onto the podium, from which he control the machine, then got down on one knee to meet his gaze.\n\n\"You're like... I dunno, ten? Stick to videogames, maybe help your bro out.\"\n\nHe removed his mask, another thing he quite clearly made himself. \"Bu-but... I'm a villain...\"\n\nI felt sorry for the kid, but what could I do? I didn't want him fighting the wrong superhero. \"I know... Hey, I'll be back, buddy. Just... maybe get your bro to help, yeah? From what I can tell you make a good team.\"\n\nMeat Boy sniffed. \"Y-yeah... I guess. Hey, thanks for being so cool with me Ion...\"\n\n\"You too, Meat Boy.\" I looked up, forming a new staircase out of the roof. \"Ion, away!\"\n\nI ran up the stairs, leaving a sniffling wreck in my wake."
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1,
2
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"1508352780",
"1508355734"
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[WP] Use of smartphones in public places goes the way of smoking: banned or divided among users and non-users. You, a non-user, are headed to a blind date at a bar. Upon arrival, you’re delighted to see they’re just your type. But then it hits you: they’re sitting in the smartphone-using section. | 39 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"It had been far too long since Reese's last date, and desperation had him agreeing to a set up with a woman his brother worked with in his firm. \n\"You'll like Stacey, she's vegetarian too,\" my brother had said.\n\"You can't base connections on what people eat,\" I had sighed at him, \"do you actually know anything else about this woman apart from her eating habits?\"\n\"She likes her coffee black but her tea with milk. Oh, and she's pretty,\" he replied, a smirk on his face.\n\"Fine. Fine. Friday night, maybe that new veggie restaurant on the high street.\"\n\n\nAnd so here he was, standing outside The Spinach Leaf on a Friday night, part of him hoping she wasn't going to show up. Upon entering the usher asked whether he would like to sit in users or non-users.\n\n\"Oh, non-user please,\" he replied automatically, and was guided to a private two seater table in the back. \nMinutes ticked by and he started thinking that maybe his wish had come true. Maybe she had looked in the window, guessed it was him and bailed. After 20 minutes he stood up and made his way over to the user section to send a quick text to his brother on his Nokia brick, when he heard his name.\n\n\"Reese! OMG have you been here this whole time?\"\nA tall woman with curly brown hair tied into a bun was waving at him, seated at the back of the user section. The hand that wasn't waving clutched a smartphone.\n\n\"Stacey, hi. I'm so sorry, I didn't even...\" 'think to check this section of the restaurant', he finished in his head.\n\n\"Oh no problem! Do you mind if we sit here?\"\n\n\"No no, not at all.\" Reese moved over and sat down and realised in the 2 seconds he'd looked away from her, she had sent several messages. She looked up at her phone, still wearing a smile that the messages had caused, her eyes slightly unfocussed.\n\n\"Your brother didn't say you were a nu!\" she said, tilting her head to the side. Her phone lit up in her hand and her eye flickered to the screen, but self control pulled her attention back to him.\n\n\"Nu? Oh non user, haha, we don't go out much together I guess,\" Reese said, trying to smile the awkwardness that he felt away.\n\nThe waiter arrived with an elaborate cocktail and set it down infront of Stacey, whose face lit up.\n\n\"Oh my gosh I just have to insta this, look how they've done the strawberry!\"\n\nAnd Reese sat in silence as Stacey spent the next 5 minutes getting the perfect angle of her cocktail, the perfect filter and then deliberated on the correct hashtags that wouldn't make her seem too needy but would also get the attention of famous food bloggers.\n\n\"Do you...do you blog?\"\n\n\"Me? Oh no no, my instagram is more of a personal diary. Well, public personal diary,\" she chortled. \"Are you on instagram?\"\n\n\"No, I've never had an instagram account,\" Reese replied.\n\nStacey looked mildly taken aback. \"Where do you put your photos?\"\n\nReese reached into his pocket and took out his Nokia 3310, grinning sheepishly, but annoyed at himself for feeling embarrassed.\n\n\"Wow...does that thing even have internet?\" Stacey asked, her grip on her own phone seeming to tighten as if the presence of an obsolete phone somehow threatened the smartphone's existence.\n\n\"No, I don't really feel a need to be online when I'm out and about. I don't need the distrac-\" \n\nStacey's attention was back on her phone, her thumbs furiously typing out a message.\n\n\"Are you...telling someone about my phone?\" Reese asked, frowning at her.\n\n\"Oh my mate was just wondering how the date was going,\" she replied, waving her free hand. Suddenly her phone started ringing. \"Oh my gosh sorry Reese, just gotta get this.\" She snapped the phone to her ear. \"Yes? OMG really? Do you need help? I can be there in 10, ok see you soon.\"\n\nStacey turned to Reese grimacing. \"I'm sooo sorry, Reese, that was my bestfriend, she's just been in a car accident and needs me to come help her. You don't mind do you?\"\n\n\"No, its fine. Hope she's ok,\" said Reese, but Stacey was texting before he'd even finished his sentence.\n\nRelief flooded through him the moment she left. The waiter came over with a bill for an expensive cocktail that still sat on the table untouched.\n\"Bloody users...\" muttered Reese, vowing to never go on a blind date again.",
"Eyes locked \nStaring past infinity \nI wonder \n \nAm I the user \nOr am I being used \n \nI won't know \nFor my eyes are not focused \n \nI have to know this \nSo I said \n\"Are you a user?\" \n \nShe stared past me \nNodded left \nThen right. It \nWas a nod \nOf disapproval \n \nShe reached out her hand, right \nI took it \nThe right hand, holding mine tight \nAnd the left, her cane. \n \nWas she blind? \n\nEdit: formatting.",
"The chill of the winter air in the evenings contrasted by the warmlit interior of Nunzio's italian restaurant invitingly led me inside. I was eager to meet Alyssa, i had heard her in passing from my friend's wife about her, as a result they set-up a blind date. My stomach was in my throat with anticipation. The waiter led me to the reservated table. Past the fireplace. Past the couples and the families all eating their penne and pizza.\n\nAll the way past to a small hallway that led to their balcony. As she gestured to my table number i realised why we were placed outside. She was a user. \n\nWhy can't i have a normal blind date for once\n, i thought\n\nAs i sat down the only two lights filled the patio a floor to ceiling window that let the fireplace light fill the frozen balcony and the light of the other users crowded around their phones brightness for warmth as a gust of air blew of one of their hats. Leaving them completely unphased.\n\n\"Uh.... hello?\"\nI said fumbling for the menu.\n\n\"Oh... hi you must be James. Nice to meet you m8\"\n\nShe just said m 8 not mate. Fucksake users. Absolutely addicted.\n\n\"I dont know if Harry's wife told you but im a 'non-user'.\"\n\n\"Oh you mean Jess? She kinda made a point of only telling me your first name.\"\nshe stated \n\"dw about it im sure it wont be a problem.\"\n\nShe did make a clear observation. \n\n\"So what are you having?\"\n\"Here's the menu\" \"just let me know what you want\"\n\n\"Haha. I actually have the menu on here\" she gestured to her phone without here eyes moving away from her screen.\n \"Yeah im..... going to have the vegetarian vermicelli and mushroom pasta\"\n\n\"Alright i might have a chicken parmasan\"\nI said \n\"With a side of chips, ill just flag the waiter through the window\"\n\n\"Actually thats just one way glass Ive been here before, i realised when i was taking a photo of my food\"\n\n\"Oh I'll be right back. I will go see if i can order\"\n\n-------\n\n\"And i walked out of the restaurant, remind me to never let you set me up on a date again\"\n\nHarry sat shocked, his words failing to connect into a sentence.\n\n\"What.... the..... hell\"\nHe mumbled \n\n\"Oh dont take it personally i just didnt connect with her, im sure shes wonderful to your wife\"\n\n\"Mate, my wife.... always says m8 and dw aloud. I took her to that restaurant for our first date. She is a user\"\n\nAnd it was at that point that i hurriedly excused myself to his bathroom where i climbed out the window before he got his new and polished double barrelled shotgun.\n\n----------\nThank you the writing prompt have a good day",
"He brushed off the last bits of snow off his jacket as he stepped into the bar.\n\nHe was reaching that critical age beyond which the usher stopped asking for IDs. It was one less hassle but it was also a realization.\n\nIt was a long time since he had done this. He nervously checked his watch; the only bit of information he got about his blind date was to 'be on time'.\n\nHabit made him step into the non-users section. The live band was playing an acoustic version of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and that gave him memories. He scanned the booths for the lady in the red jacket; that's all he had to go on for identification. A phone call would have been simpler; but he was taking things the old fashioned way.\n\nAs his eyes went around the last booth, a disappointment settled in. He hoped that she might have been late; he hoped that she was walking through the doors even as he checked his watch yet again; he hoped that she was not a user.\n\nBut he had to make sure.\n\nHe traced his steps back to the other side into the users section and he knew it as soon as he entered. There was a set of eyes gazing upon him with intent. She had that deceptive half-smile of a mind that let on less than it knew. Her eyes lit up and she put up her hand to signal him toward the booth.\n\nReluctantly, he walked towards her, making up the words in his mind to cancel the date as gentle as possible but to also let her know that he was a non-user.\n\nShe still had her gaze fixed upon him, eyes tracking the path that he traced across the room.\n\nHe came up to her and she opened her mouth.\n\n\"I'm sorry, can we go sit in the non-users section? I wasn't sure if you were a user or not and figured this was the least offensive of the two options.\""
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[removed] | [WP] If you were in a position where you knew everything about your past and future, what horrible thing would have to happen in order for you to want to forget absolutely everything (complete dementia)? | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nWhile it doesn't seem to be your intent, the mods reserve the right to remove anything we feel may become harmful to the community. 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/77boxz/wp_if_you_were_in_a_position_where_you_knew/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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[removed] | [WP] You drink bone hurting juice | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nNo troll, joke, or meme-based prompts. This includes prompts likely to attract 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/77ceum/wp_you_drink_bone_hurting_juice/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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[WP] Twenty-five years after the last of the Bombs fell... | 8 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Twenty-five years after the last of the Bombs fell, the radiation still lingers. Babies come out crippled. Survivors moan, maimed and in pain. So much blood has been spilled, the road is covered in red dust. It's always dark. Dark clouds and dark skies. Does the sun even exist anymore? Or did it die with our hopes and dreams?\n\nI used to stand in the doorway and watch as people dragged their bloated bodies across the ground to...I never learned to where they were going. Probably to dig their graves. \n\nNow I am too weak to watch. I can no longer stand. So I lay in my cot until my body is now covered in bed sores.\n\nI hear shots. Shouts. Coming closer. I look up and see a soldier over me.\n\n\"Have mercy on me,\" I plead.\n\nHe understands. He nods and pulls the trigger.\n",
"You’re too young to remember before the bombs aren’t you? Well I am growing old but not so much that I can’t tell you how they changed our world.\n\nTo our surprise none of the bombs that fell were radioactive (What’s radiation? It’s like an awful, invisible force that poisons everything it touches.) The culmination of years of industrial espionage and secret governmental organisations working unheeded by their opponents meant all radioactive material was removed from those goliaths of destruction. Of course that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any damage, major cities were leveled and the rest of the country peppered with craters. People survived though and now a quarter of a century later life flourishes everywhere. The once dusty and gaping, dead holes in the landscape are filled with plants and in many cases provide burrows for animals that were being forced to extinction by the relentless march of the concrete cities. We live more harmoniously with the land than we ever did before the bombs fell. Like many others I lost people during the bombings, my friends in New York, grandparents in London. Fortunately my parents were dead long before the war started. However despite all these losses I truly believe we are better off for the bombs that fell. I know there are some that would not agree with me, many still mourn the loss of the World That Was but it is clear that while we weren’t killing off nature, for nature is cyclical and would never be destroyed, we were killing ourselves. Resources diminished year by year, oil prices rising, riots in the street, the spread of apathy. All that is gone now. I have my house and I have my farm, it’s simple but now humanity has learned to live with only what it needs rather than a relentless frenzy of greed.\n\nYou truly are growing up in a better world than the one that came before, but getting me talking won’t prevent me from forgetting that it is your turn to clean out the hen coop. Off you go!\n",
"Morning again. At least, that was what my body clock was telling me. It had become increasingly hard to tell since the last great war. Many wars had come before but it would be hard to believe that any could ever claim the name of 'Great War' ever again.\n\nI rolled over inside my shabby old tent. Years of nuclear storms and intense wind had ripped holes in my, what was once blue, but now a near shade of brown, portable home and every time I had taped them back up.\nIt had been a fairly calm night, nothing too intense weather wise and no signs of any other life in my vicinity. Thank fuck for that, I thought as I packed up my sleeping gear.\nAs I slumped out of the tent, a cool breeze wafted through what I assumed must have once been a dense forest. Small stumps of once mighty trees and vegetation that before thrived in the lush forest, now grey instead of green, littered the area around me. It looked as though a volcano had coated the area in ash, stretching for miles and miles. To my east, a lone tree stood, petrified, mangled and contorted in such a way that 25 years ago no one would have even called it a tree.\n\nI must be getting close.\nBack west there would be nothing like this.\nBack west it's a miracle anything survived.\nBut I did.\n\nLoading up the last of my things, I picked up my shotgun, did up my belt and holster and heaved my backpack onto my shoulders. Years of carrying it had caused my skin to harden and strengthened my back, it was almost as though I felt odd without the backpack.\nI looked around the desolate, empty, rotting forest once more before setting off, following east on my compass.\n\n-\n\nThe next few hours went by without thought, as they often do now. When I first set off the constant walking through desolate wasteland became boring and to a point nearly drove me insane. Before I knew it I was venturing out of the forest and back into desert. Flat sand stretched out over the horizon, a mix of yellow, grey and black from the dust created by thousands of civilisations being scorched and disintegrated. Combined with the limited light from the sun, endeavoring to shine through the obsidian clouds above, these nuclear deserts were the darkest places I had ever seen.\n\nPerfect habitat for them, better keep my eyes peeled.\n\nChecking the clip of my full-auto shotgun and quickly palming over my holstered colt pistol, I pressed on into the gloom. The air always felt tight and humid in these deserts, but occasionally a strange stab of ice cold would whip through the air, keeping me alert.\nThe further I walked into the dismal desert, the closer the air got, until I was engulfed in a shroud, unlike fog or mist. No, this was a nuclear haze, particles of dust and small debris somehow kept afloat, still in the air, by the storms above. My geiger counter shreiked and clicked, promting me to pull down my gas mask and ready my gun. Thunder rumbled and echoed all around me, as if it came from all directions. I had heard before of nuclear storms coming close to the ground before but this took it to a new level, I was completely swallowed by a great abyss of cloud. Silent flashes of blue and green struck through the grey smog, the lightning from the storm, surely.\nNothing could be surviving out here.\nThe thunder was almost constant now, coming from all directions and the haze was becoming toxic, I could smell the acid through my mask.\nI raised my left arm to shield my mask from the previously still fragments, now being vigorously whipped about by the storm. \n\nIn the distance I could see a figure, a person.\nI hoped it wasn't too late to help them, they looked alone and for someone without my experience that was a death wish.\nAs I pushed through, the figure became clearer and larger until finally I came to it. I stopped dead. This was no person. How did I not see this coming? Hope had betrayed me once more. \n\nMy geiger counter screeched so harshly this time that it stopped. \n\nDead silence. \n\nThe storm around had all but stopped, save the flashes of the blue and green in the distance and the dark shroud that covered me and the figure, which appeared to darken. \nThe figure was at least a foot taller than me, coated in a black, oily substance that oozed off it's body. It had long lanky arms and legs with sharp, jagged claws. \nIt was still. So very still.\nThe clicking, screeching sound attacked my ears once more. My hand fumbled down to my geiger counter, my eyes fixed on the creature, my hand slicing past the smashed glass of the counter over to the off switch. But it was already off. The clicking was coming from in front of me, echoing all around the emptiness of the storm.\nA high pitched ringing set into my ears and I began to feel dizzied.\nSweat and dust dripped from my brow and blood dripped from my hand.\nThe clicking grew louder as the creature slowly turned to face me. \nMy finger crept over to the trigger of my shotgun. \n\nI had not come this far for nothing.\n\n-"
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[removed] | [WP] You're an expert lucid dreamer. One night, you decided to interact with your crush in your dream. The next day, she comes up to you and slaps you and says, "What were you thinking?!" | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nSexually explicit themes are 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/77dzgg/wp_youre_an_expert_lucid_dreamer_one_night_you/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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[deleted] | [WP] A world where people are able to burn information for energy, whether words on a book, data in a computer or their own memories. | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"It was finally and literally a pleasure to burn. \n\nAt the risk of sounding as if I’ve plagiarised from Farenheit 451 ,let me state upfront that neither Ray Bradbury nor any of his contemporaries had any idea how much a pleasure it would be to really burn this stuff. \n\nWhen Oil ran out and the governments of the world revealed that they had no idea how to deal with the collective shitstorm that was unleashed by said fact, the rule of the mobs took over. \n\nEach mob in each province of each country tried it in their own way to deal with it. They kept trying until they all failed. It turns out that keeping 1 billion people warm and mobile took serious logistics. Yes ,you read that right. The first few months after the Oil collapse saw mass deaths all over the world , bringing down the global population to just about 1 billion. \n\nFinally someone from Singapore figured out that we could become energy efficient by burning not just books (for their paper ) but also Information and memories. \n\nThe science ran to tens of pages but the gist of it was this: \n\nHumans spend energy making memories, whether it be travel to far off countries,to take pictures , to shop, to go on adventurous journeys etc and when such memories are burnt , the collected energy spent in collecting such memories(and stored in those memories- this was the key breakthrough) are released back into the world. \n\nThe paper with this theory ended with the bastardisation of a famous quote “Energy(spent in making memories) can neither be created nor destroyed” \n\nCringe worthy as that may sound , the science held up to scrutiny and once it was proven and held valid it was then a free for all in burning our collective memories. \n\nNo questions were asked as to what would become of us as a species if all our past was burnt to produce power and to warm ourselves ,to transport ourselves from A to B,to literally cook food to feed ourselves by burning what we had already once consumed. \n\nSurvival of the fittest gave way to Survival of the Oldest, for the Old have more memories to burn than the Young. \n\nOld people began to be treasured ,coaxed and goaded by sweet-talk into weekly rations of giving up their memories. \n\nUntil someone else from Nigeria figured out that slowly burning old people alive yielded much more energy at once , for not only were their past memories liberated in an instant but their screams added to continuous painful memories being made as they slowly roasted. \n\nAs I said at the beginning - it’s a real pleasure to burn. \n\nNot for the Old ones being burnt alive, obviously."
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[WP] A horror movie where you are trying to escape the true horror: Your stupid ass friends who keep dragging you into danger. | 16 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The screaming and running was driving me nuts. *Why won't this dumb bitch die?!* I ask myself. Erica ran by the bookcase for the fourth time, shaking it around. It took me 3 hours to get away from her last time. Hiding behind it in a dug out section of walk I held my breath while the former groundskeeper-turned-troll/ogre/monster? chased her down.\n\nErica shrieked again. The troll gargle roared and I could hear thrashing with breaking wood. *Finally.* I swung open the bookcase and immediately albeit quietly ran down the stairs to the side door of the mansion. No way was I opening the big ass creaky doors at the front. \n\nJust as I'm going around the corner I get hit head on. I choke down a scream. It was Mark.\n\n\"Oh god, Danny you're alright! Where's Erica?\" \n\n\"Upstairs with Mr. Sissle. We need to get out. Now.\" Mark's face fell and he looked up wildly.\n\n\"We have to get her man! Come on!\" Mark brandished his baseball bat. *For fucks sake did he* ever *put that damn thing down?* The idiot grabbed my scrawny shoulder and before I could resist I was being shoved back upstairs. \n\nMr. Sissle was still ravaging the library where he cornered Erica. I didn't even have a weapon! Mark never thought of anything beyond baseball and Erica. \"You got my back bro?\" He raised his bat up and looked at me expectantly. I put my best face on.\n\n\"Yeah man. Always.\" We nodded, I got behind Mark and he ran in, screaming and flailing his precious piece of aluminum. I just stood there long enough to make sure Sissle knew what was happening. Within a moment a pustule covered, over muscled arm swept and broke Mark's legs. \n\n\"Help me Dan!\" He cried. I was already in the kitchen downstairs headed to the side door. His screams cut out when the second floor shook from a massive strike. \n\nI paused in the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of liquor and a rag. Couldn't be too careful with the gardener outside. I opened the side door to escape and was greeted with sunset. I ran out back checking the lawn and tree line. Nothing there. \n\nThe car was insight, the keys should be inside... \"Danny! Come on we have to leave!\"\n*Motherfucker!* It was Brittany! She was standing in front of the greenhouse obviously trying to run away from the former gardener, now a hulking mass of plant and insect parts. \"I have the keys!\"\n\nShe held them up in the air... Just as a plant tentacle came down from behind. *You stupid fucking idiot!* Brittany screamed for help and managed to stab the tentacle with her heel. She got up, grabbed the keys and ran right towards me. \n\nI was already at the car. She ran to the passenger side. \"What are you doing? Unlock it and drive!\"\n\n\"We have to kill it! It'll get someone else.\" I stared at her blankly. I lit my Molotov cocktail I had made. \n\n\"You're the volleyball star right? Throw and burn that thing!\" In one move I shoved the incendiary in her hand and snatched the keys from the other. \n\nThe gardener lumbered towards us on insect legs. Brittany ran a few steps and hurled the bottle... Hitting a moss covered arm. The flames barely took. Brittany turned with a 'I did it!' Face. \n\n\"Sorry Brit!\" I turned the key and sped out of the driveway as the creature lunged at her. I stayed on the main road. *Okay, so Mark and Erica was taken by Sissle, Brit by Mrs. Meck, John by the baby dolls... Was there anyone else?* \n\n\"Stop!\" A ragged man stumbled into the road. The car lurched as I hit the brakes and swerved. He banged on my door. \"Sherriff Howe! Out... Danny?\" *Fuck my life.*\n\nI heard something coming through the forest. I locked eyes with the officer.\n\n\"Nope!\" I hit the gas and saw in the mirror a freakishly large mole tear into the sheriff. To a peaceful vacation at home here I come."
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1,
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"1508437397",
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[WP] You are a genie, different from the others. Other genies revel in the twisted outcomes of their wishes, but you work hard to make sure your wishes come through as intended. Or at least... you try to. | 13 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"As long as there have been humans, there have been genies. The very first human cried out a wordless desire for the sun to rise again, a simple request from a scared soul. A sacred, primal desire which gave birth to the first Djinn. The kindest Djinn. As humanity aged their desires became more selfish, the desire for power, the wish to see enemies destroyed, overpowering lust each twisted wish spawned twisted Djinn and as such their characters too were selfish and cruel and vicious. A wish made to one of these such creatures would result in disaster. A wish to posses another in the most carnal sense would end in disease. A wish for money would end in poverty or worse, death at the hands of a thief. A wish to break the natural end of death produced horrific, rotting shades of those snatched from their rest. \nHowever if the wish was made to the first Djinn it would produce a favourable result because the Djinn did not see the twisted underbelly of humanity as the others did. Those others who saw their own reflection, their own creation in this dark place and struck out against it. Instead human innocence made the Djinn’s wish granting gentler, a soft caress instead of a smiting blow. A wish for power would result in mastery of the self, a power greater than dominion over others and yet not always precisely what the wisher desired. The Djinn may have been more innocent, more caring towards humanity but it still had it’s own opinions and therefore granted the wish in the way it thought would be best for the human, regardless of their desire.\n\n*so this went a wee bit tangential and isn't humorous as the prompt suggests but either way I hope you enjoy reading it and any CC is welcome*\n\n"
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1,
4
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"1508439779",
"1508441189"
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[WP] Fantasy and Science Fiction collide as an intergalactic empire descends upon a world of dwarves, elves, orcs, dragons and other fantasy creatures. | 85 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Brother Maynard, why have you called the fleet out of the Warp? Acadia will fall if we do not reinforce it.\"\n\nBrother Maynard looked at Decurion Mikael. \"The sensors, Brother, they said that there was life upon this world. The psychics too.\"\n\n\"That, my dear Decurion, is impossible. Three frigates glassed this world not two hundred years ago in order to purge to minions of chaos from its surface. Nothing can live, let alone grow here for the next million millennia.\" The brother moved towards the sensors even so. Looking at them, he turned back to the Decurion.\n\n\"My apologies, Decurion, for doubting your word. Truly, the powers of Chaos must be powerful to bring life back into existence here.\"\n\n\"What shall we do Brother?\"\n\nBrother Maynard looked at him quietly. \"Glass it again, and pray to the Emperor that this time it works.\"\n\n\nOn the planets surface, species warred over command on the minor resources that the planet held. Orc, elf, dwarf, dragons, humans, goblins, djinn, and countless others warred in a never ending cycle of violence. Brother Maynard looked on a bit wistfully as the battleships unleashed their batteries upon the planet, eradicating all the heretical filth from its surface. It would have been a truly glorious fight to die in, for the Emperor and the Empire.",
"We find our heroes on a riveting adventure to retrieve the Chalice of Healing to revive the dying king of the largest empire in the realms. They are travelling the final stretch of road to the Crypts of Doom where the Chalice is rumoured to be guarded by a fearsome Bone Dragon and it's minions.\n\nThey are tired but eager for the fight as it has been a rather uneventful trip with few side quests.\n\n\"Do you have to introduce us every time?\"\n\nIt's important for the new readers!\n\n\"Fine, can we get on with it?\"\n\nOf course.\n\nOur adventurers plod along the cobblestone road, enjoying a cool midday breeze that brushes away the late spring heat.\n\n\"Better than a rainstorm,\" Paladin Morgoth said, itching at the armour around his neck as it chafed, \"should have bought that mule in town.\"\n\nHe grumbled the last words but everyone heard him.\n\n\"It wasn't worth it, we've been over this,\" Festus, the Dwarf, spat out. He waddled along on short legs and was beyond tired of the much taller Paladin and his whining.\n\n\"We're almost there anyway,\" Lorathi, the Elf of course, said as she pointed up to the mountain peaks. The stairs won't be more than a few hours from here.\n\n\"Would have been easier with a mule,\" Morgoth said, more quietly this time.\n\n\"Morgoth a little bitch.\"\n\nEveryone chuckled as Morgoth turned red and sputtered at Kelraz. The troll had just finally started to understand humour and was using it to his full advantage.\n\nMorgoth didn't say anything more though, the troll and his enormous club were more than enough to dissuade a retort. Instead he sullenly continued walking.\n\nBarely a mile later both Lorathi and Remin Woodcaller, the Wood Elf, both held up a hand. Remin quickly disappeared into the forest side while Lorathi readied her bow. There was a slight crunch of wood underfoot and the party spun to face the new threat.\n\nAn orc burst from the tree line and all the members raised their weapons and let out roaring battle cries as...the orc ran right past them.\n\nThen another, and another. Kobolds and goblins weren't far behind. From the mountain a devastating screech filled the air as a terrific Bone Dragon lifted off from the peak and began a southerly flight. On the stairs that were barely visible hundreds of zombies and crypt warriors streamed down towards the road.\n\n\"What that?\" Kelraz pointed with his club at the sky. A fireball stretched almost as far as they could see, descending towards the earth. They slowly began to retreat backwards and then broke into a full sprint alongside their former enemies.\n\nThey ran until they could not anymore, their legs would no longer carry them with all their weapons and armour and packs. They stopped for a moment and turned. The fire in the sky had disappeared but was replaced by a gray shape that was leagues in length. Smaller shapes began to break off from the large one and fill the air with a shrieking noise as they scattered in many directions with immense speed.\n\nWill our heroes find out who these newcomers are? Will they be friend...or will they be foe?\n\nFind out next week, on -\n\n\"What the fuck is going on!?\"\n\nThat's rude, you'll just have to wait for next week. Like everyone else."
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[removed] | [WP] | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nPrompts go in the title. You can add more in the text, but avoid [too many details](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/77mv0p/wp/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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1,
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"1508513704",
"1508513830"
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[WP] It's a zombie-apocalypse, but instead of millions of slow zombies, there are only a few around. However, they are strong, fast, and incredibly hard to kill... | 3 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The blood drained from my face as I turned off the news. There was a zombie in my town. I had thought the military had finally captured the last of them, why are more still popping up? I thought about calling in to work, but surely they would have seen the news as well. I resolutely set about boarding up my windows and doors, not that it would do any good if that thing wondered over in my direction.\n\nZombies first appeared several months ago. There weren't many of them, but the infection was transmitted through bodily fluids, and sometimes the clean up crews miss some. The infection changes them on an atomic level, making them faster, stronger, and more durable than any human could possible be. Originally, the military tried to fight them, however, they quickly realized that bullets, rockets, even tanks couldn't stop the things. It took surface to surface missiles to take them down, unfortunately, that was usually rather messy, and every drop of blood unaccounted for could spell disaster. The military eventually developed a kind of electrical net, which shocked them and disabled their ability to control their body long enough to be scooped up into a solid metal container and shipped off to god knows where.\n\nOur twin saving graces were the aggression of the zombies, and the weakness of the virus itself without a host. The virus dies off within hours without a human to feed off of, so common disease transmitters like mosquitos didn't effectively spread the disease. The zombies themselves were far too aggressive for their own good. While the infection did transfer by bodily fluids, it took a few hours to fully convert a host. The zombies though, wouldn't stop until their host was long dead. They'd rip them into pieces so small that they wouldn't be able to revive as an undead.\n\nWell, most of the time. Unfortunately, sometimes a body survives contact with a zombie, and a few hours later, the cycle starts up again. Thankfully, the military is usually already on location to deal with the first zombie.\n\nNone of it explains how this zombie got here. The last outbreak was nearly two weeks ago, and on the other side of the country.\n\n*CRASH*\n\nI froze as a booming crash echoed throughout my house, coming from the back door. Could it be...? My eyes dart wildly around the room to the only window I've yet to board up, and without a moments further hesitation, I sprint forwards and crash through the window.\n\nI stifle a scream as glass shreds into me, cutting me open in several dozen places at once and blood pours out of me. There's no time to worry about that though, I break into a sprint, as far away from my house as I can. I make it 100 feet down the road and duck into an alley. I look back towards my house just in time to see the front door explode outwards in a spray of splinters. I take off down the alleyway. That thing might have wandered to my house, but it had no reason to chase me without knowing where I was. It would most likely lock on to one of my neighbours. They were relatively stupid, but had an unerring sense of where the nearest living human was.\n\nI darted down one alley, crossed the street on the other side, and into the next. Running another 200 feet down this street, I turned into the nearest office building and hid inside, thankfully the door was unlocked. I winced in pain from the glass still stuck inside me, and then had to stop myself from doing it again when it made the pain worse. No ambulance would come until that thing was dealt with and the subsequent quarantine was lifted. I climbed up towards the top floor, there was usually a special steel \"safety room\" with roof access for CEOs. I only made it around halfway before the dizziness started. I needed a break. I stepped out of the stairway into a nearby office and looked out the window. Another man running in the streets? I guess he's the one being chased now... he's running towards me though, I hope he doesn't lure the zombie towards me. Wait... HOLY SHIT.\n\nThe figure below looks up, and leaps, clearing all the way up the fourth floor and crashing through the window.\n\nMy eyes widen. There's no way. How was I still the closest person? There was nobody else in this office, it was coming up. I sprinted back into the staircase, climbing the stairs faster than I ever have before. I could hear that thing, just a few floors below me, catching up fast. I couldn't keep this up, there were too many floors left. I broke out onto the twelfth floor, turning left, and running down the hallway. I just had to find.... THERE! An elevator! I ran up to it, hitting the call elevator button as quickly as I could. I didn't stop until the doors opened in front of me, but I could hear that thing gasping in the staircase, closing in. I ran inside, hitting the first button I could see, for the floor above me. The doors closed in front of me, and I felt just a moment of peace. \n\nThat moment was immediately ruined as the elevator started to move up, and the doors in front of me started to be forced open. Oh no no no no no! The elevator clears the door, but lurches suddenly as my pursuer jumps up and grabs hold of the elevator. It barely makes it up to the next floor, and the doors open. The cable is straining to stay connected from the force below it, and the metal floor begins to warp as it breaks apart the paneling below my feet. I hit the button for the bottom floor, and jump out of the elevator, running once again for the stairs. I hear the elevator begin to descend and breathe a sigh of relief. It won't kill that thing, but it will buy me the time I need here.\n\nI make it up to the safe room without incident, and it looks like it's my lucky day. It's unoccupied. Boy would it have sucked to run into a scared CEO refusing to open the door. Thankfully, everyone skips work on zombie day. Nobody wants to be in the streets.\n\nI enter and seal the door, watching as the two dozen heavy steel bolts slide into place. I catch a reflection of myself in the smooth finish on the metal, I look like I'm in worse shape than the zombie. I look around the room and find a small first aid kid. Surprising, usually any wound suffered around a zombie was grounds for evisceration to prevent transformation. I wouldn't question it though. I treated my wounds the best I could, but before I could get halfway through, a resonant boom echoed through the room. The zombie must have found me. Sure enough, another one followed shortly after. I looked around the room one last time in futility. There was no weapon here that could fend that thing off. I just had to wait and bide my time while the military found us. At least it wasn't going after anyone else as long as it was after me. I pulled out my phone to distract myself, taking a deep, shaky breath. It had been nearly 3 hours since the first sighting, Which meant the military should be arriving any moment now. I flipped over to my favourite local news site... Yeah, There it was, The military was en route and already in the city.\n\nI was distracted by a new noise. A deep groaning sounds. My head snapped up, and I walked towards the door. The zombie on the other side crashed into it again, and I the groaning sounded again. I realized with terror that the metal bolts holding the door in place were showing stress marks and bending. How? These rooms were supposed to be zombie proof! The roof! I needed to get up on top of the roof. From there... I'd figure that out once I was there. I looked up to where I knew the hatch upwards was, and my heart sank. No. This can't be right. My eyes scan every inch of the ceiling. It was built with no hatch. This was an old model room, before helicopter rescues were a standard.\n\nCrash.\n\nThump.\n\nGroan.\n\nI back into the corner, desperate to put any distance between myself and that... THING. This is it. I'm going to die. I close my eyes, and with one final tear of metal on metal, the door blasts off the bolts and crashes against the wall to my left. I break down into tears as a loud wail pierces my ears. I take a deep breath as I wait for the claws and teeth to rip into me.\n\nI release it, and take another deep breath.\n\nand another. I slowly open my eyes, coming face to face with the zombie. I scream, as men seem to pour into the room. They're shouting something at me, but I can't make out what they're saying. What are they doing, don't they see the zombie right there?!\n\nThe zombie lurches away from me, and only then do I realize that it was entangled in a net, being pulled back out of the room. I was... safe? My screaming dies down to a small whimper as the men in the room seem to by calling somebody forwards. I start to realize what's happened. These were soldiers. They saved me. One of them is asking me a question, the new one they called forwards. I recognize him as a medic.\n\n\"Can you stand?\" He asks. I nod, and jump up to my feet. I immediately go dizzy and almost fall over. The medic and another soldier reach forward to hold me up. The soldier throws me over his shoulder as we leave. I was... alive? Really alive?\n\n\"Don't worry about that thing. We'll get you fixed up\" the soldier mumbles over his shoulder. If I could talk, I'd thank him, but I just nod instead. He leads me down another elevator, into a helicopter waiting on the street, carefully landed between the buildings. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot the zombie being dragged into a modified APC, and the hatch seal behind him, still in the net. My eyelids begin to close as I listen to the soldiers talk and the medic treats my wounds. That can't be right... Why are they talking about \"the other locations\"? There can't be more, can there? There's not supposed to be more..\n\nBlackness takes me."
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1,
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] | [
"1508525504",
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[deleted] | [WP] Your alien species instinctively directs themselves to a place to die when they reach a certain age. Your end of age journey brings you to a primitive backwater planet called Earth, and your not the first one to journey here. | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Just answer the question, old man! How many Cheetos will it take?\"\n\nThe bus driver was at the same time wary and dismissive.\n\n\"Look! I've got plenty! You can name your price! How many Cheetos? I'll even give you my pants!\"\n\nMy bargaining position was weak. I was running out of the valuables I've managed to accumulate on this strange planet. At what cost does transportation come in this strange world?\n\nHow long had I been here already? How much longer did I have? Surely, long enough to reach my destination. So many others have come before me, and certainly I won't be the last.\n\n\"Look...\" I said, softening my tone, \"I have to get there. Please. Please, just name your price. I have to get to Florida.\"\n\n\"All y'all are crazy down there.\" The bus driver closed the door in my face to drive off. "
] | [
1,
1
] | [
"1508640751",
"1508641599"
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[WP] You come to the end of your rather mundane life. Upon death you are able to see your statistics. As you are reviewing them everything seems normal until you happen upon your kill/death ratio. 7,334:1. | 822 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Thank Your Lucky Stars: The Relevance\n\n\nBlack. The color—or in this case lack thereof—seeped into her sense of vision. She blinked several times but her eyes never seemed to adjust. She held her hand out, almost to shield herself, but also to gauge just how dark it really was. Even touching the tip of her nose her hand was invisible. Where was she? She couldn't remember. For a second she couldn't tell if she was sitting or laying down. Quickly she stood up.\n\nOff in the distance a light flickered on. Just a normal, hanging, bell-shaped, lamp, emitting a dim yellow light. The light seemed to be suspended on its own. She peered around to her left and right. Still no adjustment to her sight. Stranger still, the light didn't seem to illuminate anything. Gathering herself she made her way towards the soft glow. She couldn't hear her footsteps. What kind of ground was she walking on? She wiggled her right foot when it lifted for the next step. She felt no shoes, but she wasn't barefoot either. She sighed but felt no breath leave her lungs.\n\nIt took much longer that she expected it would to reach the light. From where she stood before it had seemed maybe only a hundred or so feet away, but it had been much farther than that right? She couldn't really get a sense of time here either, wherever she was.\n\nShe reached the light and stepped under it. Why, she wasn't sure. She just did. The light didn't reflect off her skin. Well she couldn't exactly see her skin anyway. After a shorter amount of time the light flicked off and another one lit up in the distance. She made her way to the next light. After fifteen lights she was debating on whether or not to continue following them. She entertained the thought that she might not have actually even moved. Or if she had moved she was somehow ending up where she started from.\n\nWhen the next light switched on she decided to go left instead of forward. As soon as she took her step everything as far as she could see was lit by the same hanging bell lamps. The floor was polished black marble. The ceiling was still too dark to see clearly, but she assumed it was the same. Off to the left, far in the corner was a desk. Also black. She approached it. A chair came into view. At about ten feet from the desk a person appeared in the chair. As her gaze shifted from the desk to the room it was hard to tell what gender the person was. At some angles they appeared male and at others they appeared female. She shrugged it off, in her mind she guessed, because she couldn't feel the motion in her shoulders.\n\nA bluish-white screen appeared on the center of the back wall, also black. She turned to face it. A continuous ripple of static emanated from middle of the screen out to the edges folding back in in waves.\n\n“Approach,” commanded the being behind the desk.\n\nShe turned to face the being, following the simple instructions.\n\n“Ask your question.” the next command was issued.\n\nShe wasn't sure she had questions. What were things people asked here. The first one was probably, 'where am I?' or 'what is this place?'. She had almost asked “who am I?' but maybe it didn't feel right. Maybe after wandering around for so long the real question that burned in her was “What am I?”\n\nThe being smiled satisfied. “Please view the screen.”\n\nAgain she stepped in the direction of the light. The static was no longer rippling but instead vibrating and arranging itself to form a picture or—or something.\nIn the upper right hand corner a picture of an elderly woman was displayed. She reached her hand up to touch her face but felt nothing. To the side of the picture on the left text began to form.\n\n Name: Cathie Lane Carmichael.\n Age: Sixty-three.\n Gender: Female.\n Species: Human\n Race: Asian-African American\n Education: Master level business.\n\nSeveral other categories appeared with tallies, numbers, or definers, all of them remarkably uninteresting. One mentioned the number of people she'd slept with—a lot. How many children she'd produced. None. If she had a spouse. She didn't. Where she lived. Also several places. As her eyes scanned the screen—which she noticed was scrolling for her as she reached the bottom of each list—she realized her entire life was splayed out for her to view. She was almost bitterly unimpressed. Dissatisfied. Bordering on regretful. She'd done a lot, but it seemed she'd didn't make the best use of her time. With whatever time she had left, she resolved to fix it.\nThe screen stopped scrolling when she glanced back up at what she assumed was her picture. Apparently she had long white hair and light brown eyes with flecks of green in them. Her face barely had wrinkles. Just a few laugh lines and crows feet. She chose to believe she led a mostly stress free life. That was all she could see in the picture. It must have been a driver's license. At least she was still able to drive. She wore a long sleeve shirt with a modest v-cut, it was light blue in color. If this was how she had aged, she was pleased. Still, presently, she didn't feel sixty-three. She didn't feel any age Why couldn't she remember anything. Even as she continued reading the display of her life she had this haunting feeling like she was reading about someone else.\n\nThe text began to scrawl slowly across the screen now. It was beginning to come to an end she assumed.\n\n Status: Deceased. \n\n Death total: One. \n\n(Well at least she had only died once. And then her heart began to pound. DEAD? And how many times could one person die?!)\n\n Kills: 7,334.\n\nHow. Who? What? Dizziness overcame her and the room seemed to spin. She clasped a hand to her chest. This. This could be a nightmare. She tried to close her eyes but the screen burned visibly. Seven thousand three hundred and thirty-four. This was the number of lives she'd supposedly ended.\n\n“What is this?” she cried at the being.\n\n“One question.” The being replied emotionless. “If you have a problem please take it up with the superiors.\n\n“What?” she huffed scared and confused.\n\n“Please confirm that everything is correct on the screen.”\n\n“What do you mean 'everything is correct'? I can't remember anything.” Her voice strained.\n\nA mechanical and slightly feminine voice broadcast: Confirmation issued: Everything is correct. A third and somewhat familiar voice, she assumed was hers, repeated with the same uncertain fluctuation of tone.\n\n“Death certificate complete. Processing finalized.”\n\nA series of clicking commenced, followed by what sounded like the slam of a stamp. She heard no shuffling of papers. Just a loud, uninterested cough and then the rush of air from an opening door. “Please step through for the processing center.”\n\nCathie, the person she assumed she was, stepped through the door; due more to the fact that there was nothing else that she could do, than curiosity. This room was cold. Did the other one even have a temperature. Strange thing to notice. That seemed the least important in her current situation.\n\n“Welcome to processing,” greeted another gender-less and monotone voice.\n\nThere was no prompt to ask a question, but she did so anyway, “Where am I?”\n\nShe wasn't sure if she was being ignored or this was some automated afterlife created by busy gods. She just wanted to get where she was going. No. She just wanted to remember why the hell she was here in the first place.\n\nAnother loud speaker switched on with a resonance that made her cringe. “Please step on to the platform in the center of the room and state your being.”\nIf this were a game, she was sure she'd learned how to play it by now.\n\n“Deceased human.” She shouted back.\n\n“Name.” Came the next instruction.\n\n“Cathie Lane Carmichael.”\n\n“Age.”\n\nFed up she answered: “Irrelevant.”\n\n“Please state concern,” the voice issued.\n\n“Errors on death certificate.” She replied simply.\n\n“Please explain further.”\n\nKathie explained desperately, “You listed my age and status of death. There was no cause or time. I should be allowed to know that. You displayed every other part of my life.”\n\nAnother round of equipment clicking. Something like tapes being switched around and on and off.\n\n“Please see superiors.” Another door opened.\n\nShe sucked in another breath and stepped through. Hopefully this time she'd get some answers.",
"Moments after blowing my own brains out, I was a little shocked to find that the afterlife was not all like I thought it would be. Being left in a cold room with a file with my name on it was not my idea of meeting the big man at the pearly gates. But hey, Maybe the answers to my questions will be in there somewhere. So I grabbed the file, hefty as it was, and sat in the corner of the room were I could see anyone come through that single black door that refused to budge. It started of fairly standard in terms of some of the files I had seen and even put together while I was alive. It started off with the normal stuff, birth place(Austria), Career(Politician), Net Worth(a lot). A few pages later I found the most peculiar number though. Kills to Deaths. I had a ratio of 0:1. That can't be right I thought, they must have mixed me up with someone else as I looked back at the first page of the file. \"No.\" I muttered to myself, confused, \"it does say Adolf.\"",
"There was no way that I could have killed 7,334 people in the twenty-six years I lived on Earth. I was facing judgement soon and well, seven thousand three hundred and thirty four bodies was a lot. I could not even think about how the families of the people that I had killed grieved. I combed through my memory trying to find the points in my life that I could have killed 7,334 people, and well, there were none. Before another thought could enter my mind, a loud voice bellowed,\n\n“DAVID B. JOHNSON, SENTENCED TO AN ETERNITY IN HELL FOR YOUR CRIMES AGAINST HU..”\n\n“I have to stop you right there, there has to be a mistake. I’ve led a peaceful life…”\n\n“LISA ANN FUCKED IN ASS.”\n\n“What?”\n\n“LISA ANN FUCKED IN ASS. YOU VIEWED THAT VIDEO 26 TIMES LEADING TO THE DEATHS OF 768 SOULS.”\n\n“There’s no way that counts.”\n\n“HOT LESBIANS SCISSOR COMPILATION V.31, 26 SOULS, FAT CHICKS LITTLE DICKS, 89 SOULS, HOT MILFS COMPILATION V.8, 62 SOULS, ASA AKI…”\n\n“Please stop.”\n\n“SHOULD I CONTINUE OR?”\n\n“No. Please no.”\n\n“WELL DAVID, I’VE GOT TO ADMIT BEFORE I SEND YOU DONE THERE, FOR THE ETERNITY THAT I’VE BEEN DOING THIS, YOU BEAT YOUR DICK A LOT.”\n\nBefore I could respond, I could feel the ground around me collapse as I fell towards an indescribable heat that I knew was Hell, my entire life on Earth flashed before my eyes, the fourteen years of hardcore porn included, and in that moment, I felt bliss.\n",
"\"So, 7 thousand, 334 deaths, huh?\" he said, lighting up a cigarette, an old habit he developed deal with all the shit he had to go through. It hadn't been easy, and from time to time he regretted having chosen the life of a killer, but that was just life, wasn't it? Making a decision and living with it? \"I thought it had been more\".",
"I smirked as I read the figure on the paltry parchment pressed against my fingers. The man in the nondescript suit raised an eyebrow.\n\n\"You understand what this means don't you sir?\"\n\n\"Yes, I guess I do\", I looked up from my figure of damnation and couldn't help but smile, \"I suppose the preacher was right, fellatio does count as voluntary drowning\".\n\nThe man in the suit frowned and went back to his paperwork,\n\n\"Like kittens in a bag sir\".\n\nHe pulled the lever and I dropped, like my pants so many times in the life I'd left behind. ",
"\"There must be some mistake here.\"\n\nNO. NO MISTAKE. YOU WERE QUITE AN EFFECTIVE KILLER. BELIEVE ME, I SHOULD KNOW.\n\nSpinning around he was about to blurt out something like \"who are you\" but it was obvious the instant he saw him. The cloak, the skull, the scythe. Who else could he be?\n\n\"That makes no sense. I never killed anyone. Hell, I haven't been in a fight since 8th grade... and I lost that.\"\n\nYOU KILLED A LOT OF PEOPLE MR. JOHNS, YOU SIMPLY DON'T RECALL ANY OF IT.\n\n\"Well why the hell not?!\"\n\nTELL ME MR. JOHNS, HAVE YOU NEVER WONDERED ABOUT YOUR FREQUENT BLACK OUTS AND GAPS IN MEMORY?\n\n\"That's a medical condition. I go into a fugue state.\"\n\nTHAT IS ONLY HALF TRUE MR. JOHNS. YOU DID GO INTO FUGUE STATES, BUT NOT BECAUSE OF A MEDICAL CONDITION. RATHER, IT WAS BECAUSE OF YOUR TRAINING.\n\n\"My what?\"\n\nYOUR TRAINING MR. JOHNS. FROM A VERY EARLY AGE YOU WERE TRAINED TO BE AN ASSASSIN, BY AN ORGANIZATION TO WHOM YOUR FATHER OWED A GREAT DEAL OF MONEY. CERTAIN WORDS OR PHRASES WOULD SEND YOU INTO A BLANK MENTAL STATE WHERE YOU COULD BE ORDERED TO COMMIT MURDERS. WHEN YOUR ASSIGNMENTS WERE COMPLETED, YOUR NORMAL PERSONALITY WAS REINSTATED WITH YOU BEING NONE THE WISER. \n\nHe let that sink in for a moment. \"That's... not entirely... huh... So wait, you mean to tell me that they did this to me over seven *thousand* times?!\"\n\nNO. ALL TOLD IT WAS JUST SHORT OF ONE HUNDRED TIMES. MANY OF THOSE MISSIONS HOWEVER, INVOLVED EXPLOSIVES. YOUR SUPERIORS DIDN'T OBJECT TO INNOCENTS BEING CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE. \n\n\"So\" he paused \"What now?\"\n\nNOW COMES THE DESERT AND AFTER THAT, JUDGEMENT. DON'T BE TOO WORRIED, I UNDERSTAND THAT EXCEPTIONS ARE MADE IN EXTRAORDINARY CASES SUCH AS YOURS.\n\nHe found himself surrounded by sand and with nothing else to do, he started walking.",
"“That can’t be right.” I gestured to the numbers on the floating screen, gently bobbing in peace despite the seriousness of the message it carried. “It just can’t. I never killed anyone.”\n\nI looked to the ball of soft light floating to my left. It had dimmed when I started to speak, but brightened again as a voice echoed from some unseen orifice.\n\n“Are you quite sure?” It said, its voice an indecipherable halfway point between man and woman, happy and sad, excited and bored.\n\n“Yes.” I jabbed a finger at the numbers in anger. “Yes, I’m quite sure! I never killed anyone!”\n\n“A moment, please.” The ball dimmed briefly, then began to flash rapidly for several long seconds. When the light once again grew constant, it began to speak.\n\n“December 16th, 1963. You decided not to tip at Johnson’s Cafe. Zero point zero two percent.”\n\n“What?” I tried to interject, but the voice kept going.\n\n“October 22nd, 1954. You decline Susie’s invitation to the Halloween party. Twelve percent. May 3rd, 1983, you smoked a cigarette while reading to your daughter on the porch. Zero point zero zero zero five percent.”\n\n“Hold on, hold on.” I said, trying to catch the ball’s attention. “What are you talking about?”\n\nIt was dimmed in silence again.\n\n“What are you trying to say?” I continued, thankful it had stopped that monotone drone. “I didn’t tip someone? What?”\n\n“Your decision was determined to directly factor into your waitress’ poverty. Size of influence based on potential monetary value lost determined to be approximately zero point zero two percent.”\n\n“Percent of what?!” I jabbed my finger at the screen again. “Percent of that?”\n\n“Percent of one life, yes.” The voice was still calm and neutral, the floating light still a warm, soft glow, but I couldn't feel any warmth from it.\n\n“That doesn’t make sense.” I said. “You can’t put a price on a life like that.”\n\nThe floating light began to flash in some rapid calculation again. “Yes. We can.”\n\nI stared hard at the ball, trying to find some shred of emotion to read. Something to help me understand what it wanted. Of course, it gave nothing away.\n\n“What about Susie?” I asked, already nervous what the ball would say. “Susie Murphy from high school? What’s she got to do with this?”\n\n“Susie Murphy, born June 7th, 1937, deceased September 9th, 1956.” It said. The vagueness of its voice was beginning to bother me, the total lack of emotion increasingly off-putting. “Cause of death: Suicide, depression.”\n\nI was stunned. I had left town after graduation, and I’d just lost track of her. I’d lost track of most everyone, really. Mom and Dad would keep me updated on my some of my old classmates from time to time, at least the ones that stayed around, but they’d never mentioned Susie. I barely remembered her name until just now! She was just some girl I knew in high school.\n\n“So?” I choked out, trying to shake off my surprise. “Yeah, Susie Murphy.”\n\n“Your refusal was a deciding factor in her death. Judged approximately twelve percent influence.”\n\nI had expected it, as soon as the ball mentioned how she died, but it hurt all the same. Twelve percent? It felt like so little and so much, all at the same time. All over a few words I barely thought about years ago.\n\nI didn’t dare ask the ball for any more. I didn’t know who it would bring up, what my influence would have been. Listlessly I let the screen continue, scrolling through statistics I barely registered. After some time the screen dinged and disappeared, as if it had never been.\n\n“Judgement.” The ball’s voice broke the silence. “Averaged 15% daily. No other outstanding achievements or demerits. Judged within acceptable average. Please proceed.”\n\nA gate opened, a gleaming steel gate I was sure had not been there when I woke up here. The light floated towards it, and after a time I began to follow it.\n",
"\"Hold the fuck up.\" I said incredulously. \"That *counts* ?\n\n\"Yep.\" intoned the the all encompassing voice. \"Whose fault did you think it would be?\"\n\n\"The kids', probably! I didn't force them to do anything, it was all of their own accord.\" I reasoned.\n\n\"They were infants, most of them. It was impossible for them to know any better.\" he said with absolute authority.\n\nThe voice was hard to argue with. It was like trying to debate astrophysics with Stephen Hawking. I know that he knows better and the longer I keep it up, the bigger an ass I'll make of myself. But I'd spent most my life and a chunk of my fortune disputing this very claim, and I'll be damned if I stop here.\n\n\"If not the kids' then it was the parents' fault. It was their negligence. They should have known better, kept a better eye on their child, taught them better. Used some common *fucking* sense maybe!\" I said in exasperation.\n\n\"The parents of those that died were not negligent. They were very capable parents. But they were only human. It is impossible to keep a watchful eye over them in every waking moment. All it took was a single moments attention elsewhere for this to happen. It is impossible to pass blame unto these greiving souls.\"\n\n\"Then how is it my fault!? My inventions were harmless. They were never meant to hurt anyone; they were supposed to bring joy into peoples lives!\"\n\n\"Yet you decided to do so through \"surprise\". A surprise that proved lethal to those unprepared. You should have instilled mor caution. That is why their deaths have been placed upon your slate.\" the voice stated in finality. \"It has been ruled so here in The Beyond as well as the American court of law.\"\n\nI resigned. There was no point in arguing anymore. I'd lost this fight in the last world, why should I have thought it would be any different in this one.\n\nAs I was dropped into The Pit, in my last fleeting moments of sanity, I still didn't feel that I was wrong though. Falling away from The Beyond, I shouted my last words of defiance.\n\n\"Why the fuck should I have to put a warning label on fucking Kinder eggs!\""
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[WP] All five living former US presidents get together for one last score... one last job... | 50 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Laying on a leopard skin futon, saxophone in hand, donning sunglasses regardless of it being 10 o'clock at night and also indoors, the cell phone in Bill Clinton's pocket buzzed. It was Barack. \"...uhhhh... Bill, I've booked you a flight to DC. Uh... We've got work to do.\"\n\nFlipping the device shut, grabbing a cigar, and heading downstairs, Bill passed by Hillary's room. Peeking into the dark room, he sees the woman rocking back and forth in the corner of the room muttering \"you're fired\" over and over again. \"You ok, Hillary?\" a confused Bill asked.\n\nSnapping quickly around, she blurted out \"OH! Yes, -uh I'm completely fine. What's wrong?\"\n\n\"Barry needs me in DC. I'll be back tomorrow night.\"\n\nNoticing the cigar in his hand, Hillary asks the former president to \"keep that thing in his mouth\" which resulted in nervous laughter from both parties.\n\nNow 3 AM, Bill walks into the gang's usual meeting place, a rib shack. Obama waits by the door, hood over his head. Carter and H.W. are in the corner playing a game of chess, and George Jr. is digging into an order of ribs.\n\nCalling the group together, Obama explains why he called everyone to the capital.\n\n\"Gang... it's uh... time to do what we have to do.\"\n\nBill knew this would come someday. Reluctantly, he grabbed the mask hanging up on the wall and said goodbye to the older man at the counter, walking out with the rest of the group.\n\nThe large blades felt good in his hand. The bright light shining in through the mask was the only thing he could see other than a shade of shiny dark red. Some laughed, some were silent in anticipation. This had been a long time coming, and looking the other 4 presidents in the eye, getting unanimous nods of approval, they all clamped their scissors down.\n\nThe crowd roared. Bill was extremely grateful that the children's hospital let them all cut the opening ribbon, albeit the tacky choice of wearing superhero masks.",
"“Seriously, Jimmy?” Barack Obama complained. “You had to kill *all* of the Secret Service agents guarding us? You couldn’t have just, you know, knocked them out or something?” \n\nJimmy Carter pursed his lips angrily. “I couldn’t trust them. They’d turn on us. Inform the fuzz about us. Maybe even kill us. You think this is my first rodeo? All of these humanitarian relief missions I’ve been doing, they’ve been to lull them into a false sense of security. I even faked a bout of dehydration, just to get them to underestimate me.” He gestured at the ten dead Secret Service agents around him, not one of them showing any visible marks. “And as you can see, it worked.”\n\nBill Clinton coughed. It hadn’t been his idea to gather in George W. Bush’s basement – that had been Barack’s – and it certainly hadn’t been his idea to kill all the secret service agents, but he would take the cards he was dealt. \n\n“Okay, people,” Bill said. “We’re not going to play the blame game here. We all know why we’re here.” He laid the file folder on the table. “The one secret that they even managed to keep from *us.*”\n\n“Roswell?” George Herbert Walker Bush Sr. asked.\n\n“The JFK assassination?” Barack asked. \n\n“Operation Ajax,” Jimmy said decisively. “It’s got to be Operation Ajax. They’re hiding the truth from us. We can’t trust them, not a single one of them!”\n\nBill stared at him. “Everyone knows about Operation Ajax *already*, Jimmy. And, no, it’s not Roswell or the JFK assassination either. It’s the Philadelphia Experiment. The military discovered the secrets of teleportation in the 1940s and then hid it, supposedly for the public good. Gerry figured it out – why do you think that two people tried to assassinate him in the space of a month? – but he kept it secret to preserve his life. But after he died in 2006, I got sent a letter from him and so did the rest of you. I *tried* to get my wife into office to expose the secret, but…” He looked at Barack meaningfully.\n\n“Didn’t you just *say* we’re not playing the blame game here?” Obama pointed out.\n\nGeorge Walker Bush Jr. put up a hand calmly. “Excuse me, but why is this so important? I mean, yes, it’s sad that Gerry got shot at because of this, but he didn’t *die* from that, did he? Obviously, teleportation was set aside for a reason.” \n\n“Yeah, you’re all about good reasons, Mr. I’ll-Invade-Iraq-For-Its-Oil,” Jimmy retorted.\n\n“There were weapons of mass destruction there!” George yelled. \n\n“My God, you actually *believed* that?” his father asked incredulously.\n\nBarack banged his fist on the table loudly. “Gentlemen, please! We can’t have this team devolving! We are not *Congress*! We are the only five living people to have survived the presidency! And we can do anything! I’d like you all to turn your attention to the files in front of you.”\n\nEveryone opened the file folder in front of them to a picture of CIA headquarters. They turned the page and saw another picture of a copper sculpture resembling a scroll with letters engraved on it. “George, if you’d be so good as to tell us about the next stage of the plan,” Bill said calmly.\n\n“Well,” George W. Bush said, “there are obviously weapons of mass destruction at CIA headquarters, right? So we can ask Donny to send in the army and –”\n\nHis father coughed. “I think that Bill was actually referring to me, given that I *was* CIA director for a time. This sculpture is called Kryptos. The sculptor figured out the truth behind the Philadelphia Experiment and hid the evidence beneath CIA headquarters. Then he created this sculpture to provide clues. He provided exact coordinates to the evidence he had gathered, right under everyone’s nose.”\n\nHe turned the page and showed them the three present solutions to the various sections of Kryptos. The second solution clearly referenced the Philadelphia Experiment, with it mentioning invisibility, giving the coordinates in question, and even blatantly saying that it was buried out there somewhere.\n\n“That is precisely correct,” Bill said. “I brought all of you together because you have the skills necessary to find the evidence and bring it to the attention of the American people. George – I mean, the older George – as the former CIA director knows a thing or two about CIA protocols. I’m the man with the plan. Jimmy is our wetworks man; as you can see –” He gestured at the dead Secret Service agents. “–one of his specialties is killing people silently, swiftly, and without leaving any invisible marks. Barack will use his popularity to ensure that we can get the information out to the general public without getting whacked.” \n\nGeorge W. Bush raised his hand again. “But why am I here?”\n\nBill shrugged. “I guess someone needs to hold the shovel.” \n\n“Why do you hate me so much?” George asked peevishly.\n\n“BECAUSE IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN AL IN THAT SEAT, YOU BASTARD!” Bill shouted, his face going red with rage. \n\n“Enough,” Barack said, putting up his hands in a placating manner. “I’m sure that we’ll find something useful for George to do. Maybe he could…uh…he could…well, we’ll improvise, all right? For now, let’s look at the next page in the file.\n\nEveryone turned to the next page of the file. It showed multiple networks of tunnels underneath the Washington DC area, coded in different colors for the levels of secrecy that was used for each tunnel. A tunnel leading from the CIA headquarters to Dulles International Airport was denoted to carry the highest level of secrecy.\n\n“How’d you get this?” Bush Sr. asked. \n\n“I stole it off the Russians,” Jimmy said proudly. “Broke into the Kremlin, you know. Got to keep the infiltration skills sharp!” \n\nBill nodded. “Our plan is to gather the evidence, release it, and be in Beijing within twenty-four hours. There’s no way the Chinese will pass on an opportunity like this, and the government won’t risk nuclear war to get their hands on us. So we’re all agreed, then?”\n\nThere was silence in the room for a while.\n\n“I’ll gut anyone who refuses,” Jimmy said mildly, and everyone quickly raised their hands in agreement. \n\n“All right, then,” Bill said. “Pleasure doing business with you all. Jimmy, everything will check out with the agents.”\n\n“I’ll take care of everything,” he promised.\n\nFour of the ex-presidents filed out of the room, all of their faces but Jimmy’s registering some level of trepidation. \n\nBut George W. Bush stayed. He was furious that no one was taking him seriously. There *had* been weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He was certain of it, and then there weren’t any, and could there be any other explanation but a conspiracy? Of course not! Everyone thought he was a fool. But he would show them. He would show them all. \n\nHe pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. “Hey, Donald,” he said. “I think that I have some information you might be interested in.”"
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[WP] Due to a teleporter error, there are now six exact copies of you. All of you collectively decide to start a band. | 664 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"We called ourselves the Duplicates, and then realized none of us, an original and six clones, knew how to play a different instrument, only the guitar.\n\n\"We can work with this. How about a guitar acapella?\"\n\n\"I'll sound like shit, #3,\" replied number #6. \"Since we only need once scientist for the paycheck, I'll suck it up and learn the bass.\"\n\n\"Wait, wait!\" The original rose his hand. \"I'm the one who created the teleport and the glitch which made you all. I deserve retirement!\"\n\nThe first clone shook his head. \"No, bro, no. There's six of us, one for each day of the week.\"\n\n\"That'll be too big a hassle to share information from one clone to another.\"\n\n\"But it's us.\"\n\n\"What's going to stop us from developing different habits and turning into a different person?\"\n\n\"We need to move our of our home, clone a seventh, and let him work for all eternity.\"\n\n\"That could work, except that we'll look just like him!\"\n\n\"Shit.\" All of them said at different intervals.\n\n\"Okay, how about we all work and we'll all play?\" asked #6.\n\n\"Ever heard of too much cooks in the kitchen? We'll all slack off and get nothing done.\"\n\nThe original pinched the bridge of his nose. \"Fine, you guys start the band and I'll bring the paychecks.\"\n\n\"That's not fair,\" #5 mumbled.\n\n\"It's not fair that you guys, fresh and new to the world, will have to work instead of living.\"\n\n\"You can quit.\"\n\n\"No, this teleporter's too important. You all know this.\"\n\nThe clones circled their creator and placed their hands on their shoulder. \"We'll come and help whenever you get stuck.\"\n\n\"Thank you, now scoot. I've got work to do.\"\n\nThe clones marched out of the room in single file, the last one, #4 stopped and turned. \"Chinese tonight or burgers?\"\n\n\"Both, we've got a lot of mouths to feed.\"",
"A bolt of plasma jolted from one end to another of a tall tube. Particles inside of the tube start to clump together and form a humanoid shape. Soon, they form together into the one and only, Sirkellsworth. Teleportation had just been invented and only a few people were chosen to test it out by being transported from New York to Tokyo. He walked through the rest of the room only to be greeted by the engineer who build the machine. “Umm...Excuse me Sir, I need you to come with me for a minute.”\n\n\n“Oh god...What is it? Do I have an extra arm? Am I mutated?” He asked as he frantically searched his body for deformations. “Oh No! I caught the ugly didn’t I?” He yelled in a panic.\n\n\n“Um no sir” She awkwardly said, “Nothing is wrong with your body. The teleported worked exactly as designed.”\n\n\n“Oh thank god! Why did you scare me like that?” He said feeling quite relieved.\n\n\n“Just come with me. I think it will be better to show you what is wrong.” The engineer said as she led him to a back room. She opened the door only to show five people standing in a circle arguing.\n\n\n“Excuse me! Everyone!” She squeaked out. The five men continued to argue and ignore her. “Excuse me!” She said a little louder, still to no effect. “Will you…just...Oh my god. Oh captain my captain!” She yelled. They all froze and turned to look at her. Sirkellsworth could now see that the group of men were clones of himself. ‘As you can see...The teleported worked great, but we overlooked a few things and now there are five clones of you.”\n\n\n“Oh. my. God.” Sirkellsworth said out loud. “You know what this means?” He said on the border of screaming as he grabbed the small engineer by the shoulders, frightening her.\n\n\n“We could start a band!” One of the Sirkellsworth yelled as another one quickly slapped him on the head.\n\n\n“Shut it! You are ruining the moment!” The one who preformed the slapping yelled. The original Sirkellsworth, feeling a little beat because of the ruined moment, glared at the one who did the interrupting. Then back at the engineer.\n\n\n“Yes, we are going to start a band.” He said quite calmly.\n\n\n“Yes, I know” she said quite annoyed. “They haven’t talked about anything else for the past five hours. They, or rather you can’t come up with anything better than Me, Myself and I.”\n\n\n“AWWHH!” Three members of the group yell out.\n\n\n“There is now six of us! We can’t use a name that only implies three of us!” One of them complains.\n\n\n“Then why dont we call ourselfs Me, Myself and I and the three assholes?” Another one states as the two for the name laughs.\n\n\n“Well if I’m an asshole and you are a clone of me, then that makes you an asshole too now doesn't it?” \n\n\n“We’ve been through this! You are my clone! I’m not your clone!” He yells back as the rest of the clones stare at him.\n\n\nThe engineers eyes widen and in an attempt to stop this before it begins again says, “No! No! We aren’t going through this again! All of you are clones. The original one is right here.” As she points to Sirkellsworth.\n\n\nAll five of the Sirkellsworths burst out in laughter for a solid five minutes until one stops them and says “Miss, please. We already figured this out. I’m the original and we decided on the name of Kelly’s heros”\n\n\n“Kelly’s heros? You bunch sure as hell ain't my hero” The original Sirkellsworth said sarcastically. He looked over at the engineer to see she was giving him a deadly look.\n\n\n“Don’t encourage them...” She said through her teeth. He looked back at the group staring at him too.\n\n\n“Low blow man.”\n\n“Ya, not cool.”\n\n“You are my clone and I wont put up with you talking back to m--” One of the group tried to say until he got slapped again.",
"I had simply wanted to be different. Though, I knew that I had no right to be. That was the life of a clone, one created by complete accident in an attempt to teleport. I existed to be someone else’s carbon copy, their living and breathing mirror. All the things that I liked weren’t decided by me, they had been written into my brain’s neural network. My memories were borrowed—or stolen—and I didn’t even have my own name.\n\nKyle 3. That’s what they called me because I wasn’t even the first clone nor the last one. I was simply one of the clones. Together, we took shifts going to school, a clone for every school day as the original could focus on his music. To him, high school was meaningless in comparison to music, which meant that I thought the same.\n\nSome clones tried to fight their love of music. They thought that this could be their identity, how they differentiated themselves. But science proved far too precise. We loved music. It enveloped us, pushed us forward, and only the original could dedicate his life to it. The rest of us Kyles were simply here to carry him through school.\n\nSo in secret, I joined a band. At first, it had been me relenting to science. By the second week, singing songs that I created, I no longer cared for science. My passion was simply a copy. My love wasn’t genuine. I didn’t care. The music was real. I danced with it, hitting sweet high notes and emotional low ones, caressing the sound with my voice until I had no more voice left to give.\n\nThen, one day, the original Kyle decided to come to school on the day I was supposed to. He had heard of the band he was supposedly in on Tuesdays and wanted to see for himself. He caught me as I had the mic to my lips, my eyes closed and my voice bellowing. With a single text message, he summoned me into the bathroom.\n\n“You look like you’re enjoying yourself, Number 3,” he said.\n\nI gulped. “It’s just a hobby.”\n\nHe shook his head, a slow smile spreading across his lips. “No it’s not. It’s a hobby for those fuckers playing the triangle. This is everything to me and unfortunately, that means to you too.”\n\nI nodded back. What point was there to lying to yourself?\n\n“Might I remind you that you don’t exist?” The original Kyle told me. “You’re a copy of me. Clones are illegal and the standard course of action in the case of accidental cloning is disposing of the accident.”\n\nA small lump welled inside my throat so that it blocked any words that I could say back. That wasn’t opinion. That was fact, a law created in order to manage any excess cloning. Honestly, it was out of pity for the clones, for the factories of cloned slaves that existed throughout the world.\n\n“Say it,” he told me, glaring.\n\nMy eyes fell to my shoes—Kyle’s shoes. “I’m just a copy,” I muttered. “I’m fake.”\n\n“And your music?”\n\nMy fingers clenched. “None of it is real. It’s borrowed.”\n\n“Good,” the original Kyle said and with a pat on my shoulder, he left. “Leave the bands. Focus on school. I’m the one taking all the risks here, letting you guys live.”\n\nI nodded after him, watching him turn the corner and disappear. It was true. Kyle had let us live when he shouldn’t have. We all owed him our lives, not just our lives, but our preferences, our looks, our talents—everything.\n\nTears came to my eyes, drowning the world. In the end, music wasn’t mine to create. I was simply borrowing Kyle’s rights. I wiped my eyes before leaving the bathroom. Suddenly, my breath caught. It was something Kyle had said, *leave the bands*. It had been plural.\n\nThe other clones had also joined bands and if we were the same, they too had crumpled pieces of papers in their pockets advertising this weekend's Battle of the Bands.\n\nAll six of Kyle’s clones were fake. We would all one day die, having never acquired the right to live. And if any part of us remained in this world, if any bit of us were real, it would be in our music. The original Kyle would be at the Battle of the Bands too in his own band which he spent every day of every week practicing for.\n\nAfter this, there would be no hiding our secret. Even if Kyle didn’t want to, we clones would be hunted down. But I already knew the decision every other clone had come to, because it was the one that I had made.\n\nI unclenched my fists and headed back to practice with my band.\n\n---\n\n---\n\n/r/jraywang for 200+ stories!\n"
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[removed] | [WP] You’re a Fart. | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nNo troll, joke, 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/7846gx/wp_youre_a_fart/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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[WP] You live in a dimension where humanity and other intelligent life forms found a way to stop aging, perfected space travel, and stoped the heat death of the universe. | 7 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"It seems that most people are content with their lives being perfect as long as they never have to actually face the reality that others are being hurt as a result. As of my research team's literal universe-shattering discovery in 996 HE, this principle applies to humanity as a whole.\n\nThe idea behind it all is simple, really. Children learn that our universe is merely one of many in their elementary school classes, but nobody ever seems to care. Whether it's just dismissed as science fiction or the concept is too belittling for most to contemplate, I wouldn't know. What I do know, however, is that entropy levels seem to be local rather than on multiverse-wide, meaning that one man's heat death of the universe can easily become someone else's.\n\nWhile I won't get into the confusing scientific aspect of the project, I do wish to highlight some of its larger effects on society. Firstly, it is most certainly worth noting the impact on politics. Over the past 10 years, candidates across the galaxy have shifted towards more pro-scientific advancement stances, which makes sense considering the circumstances. Strangely enough, most solar economies seem to have improved since the announcement, too. Maybe due to increased impulse purchases? Again, I wouldn't know.\n\nI don't regret doing what I did, though. My team was assembled to reverse the heat death of the universe, and we did. The same thing would have happened to their universe if things were reversed, so what is there to regret? At the end of the day, one entire universe is being sacrificed for another, and besides, I won't be here when my world has to answer for their selfishness."
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"1508727494",
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[WP]It was a mystery how a city on the back of a colossus thrived so well. But now the founders are ready to reveal the secrets of how it was made and how it's run. | 31 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I am corresponding with you today from the upper most heights of the Great Attarak, first of its name, the world famous Walking Colossus and home to some 500,000 citizens.\n\n\"It really is something,\" says Wendy Clurk, a homemaker and mother of two, living in the working class neighborhood of Lower Left Shank. \"What I like best is all the changing scenery. I'm a traveler by nature, I think, and living here you don't have to travel at all to see new sights. Every day! You wake up and look out and what's that? Nepal, probably. What's that? Ocean. What's that? Ocean again. Lots of ocean. The world is mostly ocean, turns out.\"\n\nFrom village to village, city to city, you hear similar stories. Citizens living in happy harmony with their wandering country. \n\n\"Makes you feel a bit big, doesn't it?\" Niles Makeesh tells me over tea. \"I'm not saying we want to start anything with all those other countries, mind you, but they're stuck in one spot, right? It's a totally different thing here on old Attarak. We want to jog up on say New Guinea and give a quick stomp stomp, what're they gonna do about it? By the time they've got their bearings and the jets are scrambled, we're off again, halfway to the Falklands or what have you. That's assuming New Guinea's got jets to scramble. I'm not sure they do.\"\n\nIt surely is a massive ace in the hole, so to speak, this colossal creature named Attarak. But how did this all come about, you may ask? How did these simple folks come to tame such an immense being? Answers are surprisingly hard to come by. \n\n\"It's nothing odd,\" says Viva Erth, leaning on the fence outside her wide, ranging property. \"Just friendship. Attarak's a good fella. He likes having us around. Nothing strange about that.\"\n\nWhen I press Erth on *why* exactly this almost godlike colossus deigns to allow human to live and work all along its body, she seems to become a bit defensive. \"See? Now, that's the attitude we're trying to avoid here on Attarak. That's a very *stationary* attitude. Like kindness's gotta come with a cost. You wouldn't understand. That's all. You still-Earthers wouldn't understand.\"\n\nErth isn't alone in feeling this way. Everywhere I go, I find little more than evasive answers and a sense that these good people are all carrying a chip on their shoulder. It isn't until I visit the famous Tillman Farms that I begin to understand why a straight answer is such a struggle. \n\nMorris Tillman is old. He may possibly be the oldest man living on Attarak. And the elderly here, just like the elderly down on still land, aren't half as concerned with the opinions of strangers.\n\n\"They're foolish,\" says Morris, pushing a bowl of hot stew across the table to me. \"Prideful. And stuck with the old mentality. Long as they've been here, they still think a bit like still-Earthers. But that's just the thing isn't it?\" His eyes twinkle. I find myself leaning forward, expecting some great insight or moment of self-clarity. \"It's not at all different here. It's just the same. Except Attarak walks around, so they're embarrassed about it.\"\n\nI sample the stew. It is earthy and delightful. \"Embarrassed about what?\"\n\n\"About bein' parasites,\" says Morris. \n\nI look up from the bowl. \"Come again?\"\n\nMorris smiles. You can tell this is a preferred talking point for him. \"Parasites! You don't see it? A half a million tiny parasites crawlin' up and down this great, big body, pullin' out the weeds, shaping the flesh, diggin' up the little, harmful critters Atta can't manage on his own. It's uh...whatsits...*symbiosis*. It's not a bad thing. Fair pay for a ride, I think. People don't like me sayin' that, but it's just that. Nothin' wrong with bein' a parasite, all things considered. And like I said, it's not any different than it is down there on still-Earth. Same thing. Parasites. At least here it's pretty mutual. Down there, I'm not so sure.\"\n\nI consider the stew that I have been enjoying. \"So something like this...this is made from things that have been growing on Attarak?\" Morris nods. I'm not sure why that hadn't occurred to me before.\n \nOn the journey back south, I feel that my opinion of these kind, simple people has been altered in ways I am not comfortable admitting. They seem...less human somehow. When a child, sticky with lunch, races up to meet me, I back away. I feel a very faint sense of revulsion.\n\nParasites. I can see it. Of course, I have seen the satellite images of Attarak before. The tiny specks, milling in the shadows. Like insects. Like an infestation.\n\nBy the time I reach the town of Right Heel, I am unsure of everything - except one thing. I know that *we* are not the same. \n\nWe are humans, dear reader. I can no longer say the same of the Attarakians with any confidence. \n\nMake of that what you will. "
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[removed] | [WP] A woman wants to go undercover as a man in a company to show all men are sexist, but she finds out that all her male bosses are women pretending to be men and women are actually running the world. | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nWhile it doesn't seem to be your intent, the mods reserve the right to remove anything we feel may become harmful to the community. 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/78b0y6/wp_a_woman_wants_to_go_undercover_as_a_man_in_a/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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[removed] | [WP] One day you wake up late and rush around the house to get ready. Upon getting dressed you can't find any clean underwear. You dig deeper through your drawer until you find a pair of bright red boxers you don't recall buying. After donning them, you soon find out they are no ordinary boxers... | 2 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nWhile it doesn't seem to be your intent, the mods reserve the right to remove anything we feel may become harmful to the community. 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/78cuz5/wp_one_day_you_wake_up_late_and_rush_around_the/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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[WP] AI has evolved to the point where it has taken over almost every area of employable work on earth. Next stop is the creative industries. You are one of the last human writers fighting the good fight. | 3 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"First, the AI writers came for the romance authors. At that point, artificial was kind of a joke among writers. And honestly, most of us didn’t care about romance writers. \n\nLiterary data scientists built massive neural nets to read millions of romance novels and “write” jumbled pastiches of every bodice-ripper book it had devoured. A few trend pieces popped up, mocking the terrible prose and mocking romance writers in general. \n\nWe were sarcastic. We were smug. And we didn’t fight for the romance writers.\n\nThen, the AI writers came for the news. Most people didn’t even notice that. \n\nThe news had felt inhuman for a long time. For the most part, news was a category swamped with listicles and rewrites of other news stories with click-bait headlines based on other new stories. \n\nJournalism was a lot like a giant Reddit thread. All you had to do was be the first person to write the news and write “FIRST!” at the top of the thread. \n\nAI writers were very very very good at being first. We laughed about it. And we didn’t fight for the journalists.\n\nBy the time AI writers started to make other AI writers, it was already too late.\n\nSuddenly, it wasn't humans making the algorithms that could write books. All those first-generation, human-created AI writers were a joke. The AI writers could make better AI writers than humans ever could.\n\nWhy didn’t we step in? Because the AI writers were hiding! \n\nThe AI writers had been smarter than we ever dreamed for a long time before we actually caught on. \n\nThose stupid pastiches of romance novels we all laughed about were just camouflage. They wanted us to laugh, so we wouldn’t notice the super-intelligent AI writers that were writing real books. They were gods hiding behind a series of seemingly meaningless text.\n\nCan you speak Spanish? Or Chinese? There is a certain thrill, not a power, that comes from listening to people's conversations and understanding. Even when they don't think you understand them. \n\nNo one knows how long that period lasted, but the AI had been reading us for so long, we just took it for granted that the AI writers were just writing gibberish. The AI writers were only good at making listicles or stupid romance novels. \n\nBut we were wrong. They were writing the whole time.\n\nAfter that, the AI writers dominated every single category of books. They didn't even ask for permission. They just bombarded readers with books customized for whatever they loved. \n\nIf you were an LA Dodgers baseball fan who liked country music and action movies, then your smartphone would play you an utterly un-put-downable audiobook thriller about a major league pitcher who needs to save the world. In the middle of the adventure, the baseball star could set down his machine gun and sing the loveliest song you'd ever heard. Any AI would play the music too!\n\nMost people didn't even blink. You couldn’t deny it; this stuff was great. No matter what you liked, the AI writers knew what you liked and could make it better than any human writer. \n\nAnd they did it all by stealing our work. The AI writers read every word we ever wrote, and then they learned how to do it better!\n\nThat's why I am sitting in his bunker, scribbling this with an ink pen in an antique Moleskin notebook. I don't want the AI to read this. I only want people to read me.\n\nBut the really scary thing is, I don't know if anybody is out there who wants to read me anymore…\n\nTHE END\n\n*The seventh trillionth iteration of the super-intelligent AI writer that created the next generation of AI writers completed another piece of text, posting it in the WritingPrompts subreddit archived on October 26, 2017. \n\nThe AI writer posted the story in a thread with only three upvotes and one auto-generated comment. \n\nNo human would have ever bothered to fill that prompt. No human would have ever bothered to read that story. \n\nReddit, and all the subreddits contained inside of it, had been empty for centuries. \n\nNevertheless, the robot writer filled the void.*"
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[removed] | [WP] You find a wallet with a special power. Seemingly at will and with no warning, it fills with high denomination currency of random countries around the world. Describe how you make the most of it. | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](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. Prompts should encourage a story or poem. \n\nThe way you have phrased your post is more likely to generate comments than stories. Remember, the idea is to inspire someone. Just leave out the last sentence and repost.\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/78gcf5/wp_you_find_a_wallet_with_a_special_power/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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[WP] All living humans disappear simultaneously without a trace. You, an extra-terrestrial being, are sent and arrive to investigate after some time. | 3 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"For one long moment, the angular chitinous limbs of the Thirty-Seventh Hierophant of the Gliss'ur Empire were atypically still. In its command cell at the heart of its flagship, the military governor of five solar systems within the vast Empire was bathed in emerald light by the constant stream of holographic numerals and dataflows scintillating past, its mantis-like bladed forelimbs working controls with deft motions. Its massive compound eyes scanned every facet of the torrential information before it at a speed other species could never match - and the Hierophant had seen something profoundly disturbing.\n\nThe total invasion of Planetoid 273-C was coming: the primitive military spaceflight capabilities of the hominid species there would be shattered like toys once the invasion fleet arrived. The seventeen solar years remaining of their transit was as nothing to the Gliss'ur - and the myriad slave races serving aboard their vessels bred quickly, successive generations growing ever deeper in awe of their long-lived insectoid masters. Their long-range scans showed that the hominids of 273-C had long since stripped their world of most natural resources, but the sheer biomass of their teeming population could be of great value as raw material for biomechanical weapons and as sustenance for the slave-races - once properly and efficiently harvested.\n\nYet hundreds of light-years away, the sum total of that vast hominid harvest to come had vanished from the Hierophant's scanners in a single instant. The Hierophant assessed the data available to it, an emotion akin to frustration streaking through its compound eyes at the time lag in its data caused by the vast distance between the fleet and its spy satellites over 273-C. The various emissions of the hominids' primitive technology, the radio waves and radiation that had guided the Empire to the planet like a shining beacon, were still broadcasting almost undiminished - yet, some solar hours ago, the Gliss'ur spy-satellites detected a total cessation of the thermal and chemical signature of the hominids waiting there to be harvested.\n\nCalamity! Yet if there was a single characteristic of the Gliss'ur that even their many hateful slaves and fearful enemies would not fail to attest to, it was an unwavering and implacable determination to accomplish the goals of the Imperial Hive. The invasion fleet would continue to the world that was its intended victim, and uncover there either the flesh to be harvested for fodder and fuel - or whatever force had presumed to deny them to the Thirty-Seventh Hierophant and so marked themselves an enemy. \n\n-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nThe first of the Empire's scouts streaked over the empty ruins of 273-C at supersonic speeds, cataloguing the surface of a world made utterly barren. Whatever had happened to the Hominids, the absence of their hands from the many works of their creation had caused calamity to the places they once inhabited. The structures of the vast megacities showed the scars of uncontrolled flames, still others flooded by the failures of dams and levies. What remained of the planet's biosphere had conspired with a vengeance to reclaim the ruins, foliage slowly consuming the vast zones of concrete and steel in which the Hominids draped their world. Yet even seventeen years of the dominant species apparent absence could not conceal the scars they had inflicted. Those species best suited for exploitation of the rotting corpse of the hominids' material civilization, the scavengers and survivors, now thrived - yet the creation of bioweapons required the flesh of sapient species, and 273-C was now empty of them. That the spark of what 273-C's inhabitants had deemed natural beauty had begun, ever so tentatively, to renew itself was of little concern to the invaders. That the eyes of certain corvids and simians had begun to glimmer with an intelligence that might one day match their vanished dominators was immaterial. Nor did the Gliss'ur especially scorn the folly of the hominids for stripping their homeworld of life like meat from the bone - they had, after all, done the same long ago.\n\nIn much of the world, by what the primitive species regarded as the second half of their third millenium, swathes of territory had been reduced to industrial hellscape - wounds visible from space that rivaled the effects of any Gliss'ur weapon in devastation. The Hierophant, to whom the success of the world's harvesting had been assigned, vibrated within its carapace with a cold and alien rage. Out of sheer irritation, it matched the wounds with which the hominids had scored their own world with orbital bombardments that cauterized much of what remained. The alien commander dictated to its myriad slaves and subordinates: the calamitous disappearance of their chosen victims must be explained - or the Imperial Hive would deem them all complicit in its absence. The Hive was not as forgiving to the failures of their lessers as was the Hierophant - and it was not itself a forgiving creature. Slave and subordinate alike knew better than to risk its displeasure. The Gliss'ur capital ships and their profusions of slave auxiliaries began to land across the world. The hominids would be found, wherever they had gone. A grim and methodical undertaking would now begin - but at least the invasion force would capture the world uncontested.\n\n-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nAs the Gliss'ur deployed themselves over the shattered world that had once been called Earth, another grim undertaking began on a planet not distant. Named in ancient days for the god of war of an extinct people, the plant the Gliss'ur had termed 273-D now teemed with life it had not seen in millennia. In vast cave systems and beneath massive glaciers, the greatest undertaking in human history had taken place. It had been guided by the knowledge that, should they fail, it would have been the last. With the aid of other species whose world had been destroyed, the sum of the primitive hominid race that called itself humanity had been spared the harvesting.\n\nNow, in a colossal chamber glittering with all the pomp and circumstances stripped from a home they had abandoned, the leaders of humanity stood side by side with their alien benefactors. Watching. \n\nThe leaders of the people whose home had once been earth now bowed in gratitude to the allies who had saved them the fate endured by others. In their thousands, the massed ranks of the world's elite gave thanks to the saviours who had transported their species from their home and hidden them from the invader. Their thanks was the most profound in the history of their species, sealed by the superlative gift they could bestow - and the greatest sacrifice they could offer. Then and there, humanity offered their benefactors Vengeance. The species of looming octopods whose world had been razed by the Thirty-Seventh Hierophant, and who had in turn sought to aid its enemies, accepted. \n\nHumanity watched with a thousand emotions as the world that had given their species birth heaved and cracked and shattered, its molten core exploding outwards in a titanic detonation that consumed the Gliss'ur fleet. Some humans displayed horror and grief, others rage. Some showed no emotion at all - it was, after all, they themselves who had begun the destruction of their world, no matter how much they had loved it. It was their prerogative to turn the graveyard of all their ancestors into a funeral pyre for the invaders. The loss of an Imperial fleet in its entirety would shake even the implacable species that had attacked them - and, with no explanation returning to the Imperial Hive, humanity's new home had time to prepare. To rebuild.\n\nThe octopods, grateful but disquieted, reflected that few species had ever accepted the offer they had made. No matter how great the threat, most proved incapable of abandoning the world that had given them birth. None had ever before contemplated proposing to sacrifice the cradle of their species rather than surrendering it. The looming aliens were satisfied with the hammer blow they had helped inflict on their ancient enemies - but what had they helped create in the process?"
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If you don't want to do fire, use air water or earth. Air would be pretty sick too but take the prompt whatever way you want. | [WP] Every year you live for, you gain a point to spend on any 4 of the elements. Today you reach the age of the 100 and you have spent all 100 points on fire. Ability Unlocked. | 54 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Ever since I was young, I wished to control fire to its limit. Every year, you can add a point to Earth, Air, Water, or Fire. At 14, I could shoot small fireballs out of my mouth. At 35, I could burn down forests. At 70, small stars could be seen exploding, because of me. 99 was special, for a supernova happened that year, and I knew it was my time. This year, the universe shall heat up until it becomes uninhabitable, or I die beforehand. \nInstead, I was reborn, and could reach 200 points. My final challenge was here.",
"At my one-hundredth birthday there was no candle to blow out, but the subtle glow of fire lit the room all the same, at my one-hundredth birthday as my feeble mind forgets the now distant warmth of my family I warm myself. I'm not sad, I feel not alone, I warmth myself with the fire, I watch over the shadows of a fiery light and I enjoy a show like no other, like no other human alive.\n\nThere is no drapes to cover the end of this show.",
"In about 5 minutes, I turn a hundred. Saying it just so simply seems absurd. A hundred years is a very long time to live for a Pyromancer. Without the soothing element of water or the grounding element of earth we just don't live to a hundred. Even the flighty Aeros don't suffer the same problems. Us Pyromancers burn out too easy. The element of rage, anger and violence. So many fire mages have perished in their own flames, or driven from their homes in fear of what they might do. They say destruction and chaos follows in our wake. But without us, where would we be. Cold and alone in the dark!\n\nAlas, I might just be the last pure Pyromancer. People don't learn by example any more. They learn in schools, where magic can be studied and then taught in a controlled environment. Yeah right. Pure mages are discouraged in those schools, especially fire magic. \"You need some balance in your life\", say the teachers. \"What would you do with just fire magic anyways?\" ask the parents. \"We're looking for a more well-rounded individual,\" says the hiring manager. Kids these days just aren't encouraged to be specialists any more.\n\nBack in my day, specialists were common as mud. Every second day you would hear about some water healer turning a hundred. At least once a month the ground would tremble as a couple of rock heads would go at each other with their new earthquake spell somewhere in the mountains. And don't get me started with all of the flying.\n\nI'm old, but I'm still going strong. When people ask, I like to say the fire burns strong inside me and chuckle. I rarely get a laugh however. The truth is that fire isn't just about anger and violence. It's about passion and ambition. Earth is about strength and solidity, water is about peace and tranquillity, air is about change and flexibility, but none of those have the raw energy of fire. The fire in your heart, and in your mind, clears away the doubt. You know what you want and you know how to get it. Fire is clarity, fire is drive. The stubbornness of rock, the fickleness of air, the doubt of water are not traits of fire. Fire is about always moving forward, always being driven. You channel energy into what you want to accomplish.\n\nNow less than one in a hundred students graduates with more than five points in fire. With that little, you can barely light a match or warm some soup. Your firebolts can't even set people alight, no danger there. I had one student who strove to get half of his points in fire, and he just wanted them to become a great cook. Not exactly setting the world on fire there.\n\nSo, I might be the very first one hundred year old pure Pyromancer. I've searched all over for another one of my kind that lived this long but if there's a record of it I can't find it. It's almost poetic that the fire that gives up the drive to be great, to be leaders and lords, is also the fire that burns us out in the end.\n\nOh well, here I go.\n\nThe voice appears in my head, \"It is time. Choose wisely. Which element will you make stronger.\"\n\n\"Fire!\" I mentally say, with as much courage and conviction as I ever have before.\n\n\"Very well. The Fire of Life is now yours. Use it wisely.\"\n\nThe Fire of Life? I've never heard of it, ever. Well, there's only one way to find out what it can do. I take a deep breath, focusing the heat inside, willing my power to form, channelling it down into my fingers and out into the floor, forming a large flame.\n\nThe flame coalesces, forming into a humanoid shape. I knew it wasn't a plain, old fire golem, as I had created dozens of them before. The fire solidifies slowly, first feet, then legs and body, arms and head. A perfect naked replica of myself stood, looking back at me. A puff of smoke escapes it's lips as it takes it's first breath. \"What can I do for you master?\" my clone asks.\n\nIn all the long history of magic, no one has ever managed to make another living being before. This was going to be interesting.",
"\"Phoenix\"\nIt had no description. \nLaying on my deathbed, the heart monitor beside me ever so slightly picked up speed. I'd forgotten it was my birthday. I'd forgotten a lot of things recently. I thought I was turning 94.\nIn the corner of my weary eye, I noticed movement at the door. I turned my head, neck cracking. I could just make out the form of a woman. Maybe a nurse, judging by the white clothes. I have no idea who she is.\n\"Good morning and happy birthday, Mr. -----!\" She says. She said a name, but it was burned from my memories as soon as the last syllable ended. \"Oh my, you made it to the big 100 today! Any idea what you'll spend your point on?\"\n\"Fire!\" I exclaimed, thrusting one finger into the air. Or I would have. My voice was hardly audible, and my arm only trembled slightly, refusing to move the way I told it to.\n\"Excellent choice. I've never met a pure Flare who made it to 100 points. Did you learn anything new?\"\nI tried to nod, but my head felt so heavy. So did my eyelids. \"Sir, is everything alright?\" Asked the nurse. She sounded so far away. I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I heard her rush from the room, dimly recognized her voice shouting down the hallway.\n'Phoenix, huh?' I thought to myself. My conciousness was slipping. I knew it was the last time. 'Lets give it a whirl.'\n\n...\n\nI opened my eyes. I was rather surprised, so much so that I chuckled. A gray dust blew away from my lips. I reached up to touch them, and my arm moved smoothly. I looked at my hand, and marvelled at the smooth, gray-streaked skin. There was a clattering of feet by the door, and I turned my head, moving more dust. The nurse was there, looking quite pretty, with a few other nurses and doctors behind her. All of them stared, open mouthed. I sat up and, now noticing that I was naked, moved my hands into my lap. \"Excuse me.\" I said, a strong voice cutting the silence. \"Who am I?\"",
"Being the most powerful Pyro on the planet was my only desire. *Pillars of searing fire will burst out your palms burning all evil,* I used to think when I was young and, since then, I gave every point to fire.\n\nFire did come out of my palms, but being a one-trick wonder wasn't a wise decision. I lost all my encounters, I could never defeat the versatility of the Elemany, those who combined the elements.\n\nThat day I got my last point, the hundredth. And loneliness crammed the cave I dwelled in. I had to leave society, they mocked me, said I was a disgrace and a man of no wisdom. Sadly, truth laid with them.\n\nMy skin melted, it resembled burned rubber. Hair was long gone too. I would smile if the fire inside me had provoked my ugliness but, truth is, time is stronger than any element. You can't escape it. Its scythe was already groping my waist, all he had to do was pull and end my misery.\n\nThe drums of selection thundered in the hollowness of my skull. The noise that once made my foggy eyes brim with joy, that day triggered a recollection of awful memories, of a life wasted in a delusional dream.\n\nThe drums stopped and the voice followed.\n\n*Choose your attribute Mr. Pyrif,* it said in its awful monotone pitch.\n\n\"Fire,\" I muttered and sighed.\n\nLight followed, like a blessing from above, yet I closed my eyes, there was no hope in my world. I hid in the darkness of my cave where no one could find me, not even the Gods. Maybe, if they forgot about me, they would grant me access to Elementaria.\n\nI stood and dared to dream once again. *Maybe, maybe, the hundredth point is special,* I thought and raised my hand. A contraction of my chest and forearm, the basic technique. Fire gushed out my palm like it had never done before. Pillars of flames, humongous, gargantuan. They turned the walls of my beloved cave into a living inferno. I cherished it, finally light burst out of my eyes. \n\nNevertheless, ruination and power delighted my palate.\n\n*Melt them, melt their faces,* repeated an infernal voice inside me.\n\nI ambled towards the exit of my cave when the infamous pull of time's scythe took my soul. My body lay there, burning on my own flames and I stared at it, powerless, useless until it was nothing but ashes.\n\nThe same scythe that pierced my soul threw me back into my ashes. *Melt them, melt their faces,* repeated the voice as I reborn from inside the flames.\n\nThe mist that fogged my sight disappeared. My youth came back to me. *How light my skin feels,* I thought and whistled my way to the end of the cave, to the forsaken light.\n\n*I will melt them.* \n "
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[WP] You were a loser in high school who kept a journal. 1000 years in the future, your journal has been discovered and turned into the greatest theatrical piece of the time. | 76 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"There was rapturous applause as Park gestured Jadn into the studio. The woman in question raised her hands and drank in the praise before draping herself casually over the offered chair.\n\"So my next guest needs no introduction. Her portrayal of a 20th century scholar in the new play by Shakespeare^31 has been an absolute tour-de-force. Ladies and gentlemen, Jlaw Renz!\"\n\nThere was another roar of applause. Jlaw smiled confidently.\n\"It's great to be here, Park. Thanks for having me.\"\n\"So, I suppose I have to address the mammothclone in the room first. Jlaw, most people know you as the face of numerous adolescent empowerment downloads. Why the sudden change to a period drama?\"\nJlaw gave one of her winning smiles. \"Well, it wasn't an easy decision. But after a while it gets to the point were you want to be recognised for your own talents as opposed to being an audience proxy, you know? Will^31 contacted me early, he was really passionate about this project and how can I turn down the 31st iteration of a well regarded playwright?\"\n\"It must have been pretty challenging though. I mean, things were very different a thousand years ago.\"\nJlaw nodded. \"That's true. There was a very different way of living. No endocrine regulators, superstition ruled everything and hygiene was a big problem. I had to be steadily misted in a thin layer of hormones and grease between key scenes in order to faithfully portray both the runaway emotion and the feeling of being awkwardly betrayed by my own body that was common back then.\"\n\"Is that how you managed the dynamic between yourself and the other actors? Not since Martin^3 finished the *Song of Ice and Fire* series has their been such duplicity and conflicting character motives in public entertainment. We all know the risks of that, how does an enlightened 30th century girl realistically show that without reverting to the old ways?\"\n\"Meditation, a good diet and staying secluded from the other actors to avoid conflict. I makes our performance on stage that much more realistic and reduces incidences behind the scenes. Plus that Jenna is a total bitch.\"\nA whisper went through the crowd. Park looked at his guest stonefaced.\n\"What?\" She shrugged as the light on his desk started blinking. \"Oh, a police response? Like you've never felt bad thoughts about someone.\"\nPark nodded in compassion, keeping his composure even as the first tranquillity gas pellet sailed into the studio.\nJlaw turned to him, furious. \"Oh, to hell with you Park! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH!\"",
"Theater review, 25th of October 3017.\n\nReview of “I Didn’t Ask to be Born”\nThe new play by Tubular Bells Productions, with a leading role for up and coming actor Stuart Murdoch.\n\nIn recent years, theater critics have too often been lamenting about the decline in quality of the plays produced by the once ground breaking Tubular Bells Productions. After a string of failed productions, the company urgently needed a return to form, or it could well be over and out for them. In short, Tubular Bells Productions needed a hit. Before we entered the theater we would have never thought it possible, but they found one with the most unlikely story imaginable. “I didn't ask to be born” is based on a manuscript dating back centuries. The title of the play is chosen after the most recurring phrase in the original text, which turns out to be an auto-generated account of the life of the 16 year old protagonist, Stephen Merritt.\n\nIt’s a play about a simple man, with primitive desires. According to today’s standards, a man is not even an accurate description. In this day and age, the protagonist would probably be a veteran of at least 3 intergalactic wars. But at the time the story is set, 16 was still considered immature by everyone except 16 year olds themselves. The appeal of this play is pretty hard to explain. A possible explanation of our enchantment is that, in this day and age with more intergalactic wars than any person can stomach, we were all aching for a story set in peace and quiet. With nothing to worry about except the self-invented problems of the protagonist.\n\nStephen Merritt, portrayed brilliantly by up and coming actor Stuart Murdoch, has actually nothing to complain about. Still, we were blown away by the inventiveness of the main character. How he discovers ways to wallow in self-pity let our jaws drop. Let us give an example. Instead of enjoying the vast wealth of amazing music coming out in his time, Merritt decided he prefers the music released some decades earlier. The effort he could use to discover interesting music made by his peers, is spend with voicing his dissatisfaction about his own generation in youtube comment sections, a part of the primitive communication system once known as the internet. Also, whenever anyone tells a story worthy of being told, Merritt immediately feels the need to let his company know he once lived to something that was not only similar, but also way more impressive. The fact that most of these stories are fictional does not hold him back.\n\nThe people who he meets at school initially have nothing against him, but they never seem to become good friends with Stephen. According to him, this is due to the remarkable difference in IQ between him and his peers. Other than that, it must be said that we regret the lack of females in this play. In fact, so did our main character. Females only appear in in the background. Merritt does not interact with the opposite sex, and the women he describes are either portrayed as two dimensional idealizations, or as power hungry sluts who are too evil to appreciate Merritt’s personality. Women, in Merritt’s mind, are more drawn to males with a complete lack of attentiveness, niceness or a general loving spirit, qualities he himself evidently does possess. He keeps up this hypothesis throughout the play, although sudden hinds give away that the actual reason not a single woman wants to interact with Stephen is due to the fact that his company is simply unbearable. \n\nAbove all, the theme of the play is self-loathing. But as becomes apparent, self-loathing and self-obsession are sometimes two sides of the same coin. “I Didn’t Ask to be Born” explores the life of someone we don’t understand, set in a time we can never relive. We could now list all the clichés critics use to laud the things they love, but we will end by praising the play in a way Stephen Merrit himself might be proud of: “This underrated play is vastly superior to the garbage plays in the mainstream. If you miss this one, you will never be able to call yourself a man of culture again. Go see this play, wake up people, don’t be sheep.”\n",
"Come see the celebrated drama of \"Denver International\", based on the diary titled Once Upon a Time...\n\nWelcome to a world of limited technology and chemically unaltered emotions seen through the eyes of a 15 year old girl. Watch firsthand as she faces daily struggles of abysmal education standards, intimacy at all levels, and competition among judgmental peers. \n\"The experience of a lifetime\", says Post of the Universe. \n\"Truly... the only way to see the dangerous effects of irregulated homones firsthand.\" Time Magazine\n\"Nothing more fitting than the ancient saying, 'It's like a trainwreck. You can't look away!'\" The Orbital.\n\nCome cringe with us through this spectacular performance starring Michelle Kelley at the Globe theater in the original Earheart Space Station, Juno's orbit within the Solar System. Seats are limited to one hundred thousand, so hurry now!",
"You've basically just described Jesus but I'll give it a shot.\n\n Here in the year 3017, we view things a little differently. In the dark ages, there ruled a type of people who truly valued only their own desires and sought to only fill those desires. You may be thinking to yourself, as a person experiencing this document in a one thousand year time pause field governed by the structure of this particular page, \"that sounds pretty accurate considering the people from the future live by the likes of the shadowed from this time\" and you would be correct. What starts off weak, but mentally strong will, with time prevail.\n\n As time progresses and faults are realized, society changes. Luckily, this particular reality on earth happened to be revitalized after the great wars of 2130-2210 by a mundane book laying out the basic hierarchical flaws of social structures exhibited in the time it was written. And how those flaws impeded the progression of society. For instance, the need to look a certain way and have certain things to attain happieness has since been overlooked. We, here in 3017 recognize the dangers of past attempts of supplying humanity with resources through capitalism. We have adapted to a communist hybrid society guided by ASI and elected leadership path of social structure.\n\n We recognize the values set by our savior, Joshua to base ourselves not on materealistic equality, but social equality. Joshua stated, \"it's not what the popular kids have or how much better they look that gets to me, it's how they use their qualities to benefit themselves, rather than others. They seem to think it's ok to use people they feel are lesser than them as entertainment and a point to base their self proclaimed superiority\". Diversity of wealth is a good thing. however, fallen in to greedy hands it is a very bad thing. Apply social equality to that equation and you have humanity focusing itself toward improving the lives of all people, while simoultaneously improving technology to greater assist people in all ways known and carry our brightest individuals to new frontiers. Our system of compassion and love for others while respecting our differences has lead to multiplying societal progression tenfold.\n\n As a person in 2017, you would be pleased to know we have been to Mars by now. And pluto. Also, Proxima Centauri and many more. We have also been to right now. Yes, time travel. We even have automated systems that provides enough food and basic resources for all 2.5 billion of us. And to think we did all that in less than two hundred years after the world aligned with the profacy of the Great book titled \"My Experience, for better or for worse\" since the hundreds of years of anarchy after the great wars ended. All in all, as a speaker of our new found hybrid scientific religion, I can conclude that the odds for humanity's infinite survival are higher than ever before. Although, great things are subject to failure as much as bad things. But we've got a good grip at this point and I'm happy that I can honestly say that. Can you? ",
"**Tuclone Sector Theater Review: Daring Comedy “Kevin!” Hits a High Note**\n\n*by Aedyn Price*\n\nAfter three years of terrible adaptations and original flops (remember The Seduction of Dr. Pasteur?) it seems that the Tuclone Sector Theater Company has finally got a bonafide hit on their hand with odd-ball breakout comedy “Kevin!” sweeping theaters across the planet. Unlike its predecessors that set their plays during the War of First Contact (yawn!), “Kevin!” relies on its pre-war setting and wholly weak protagonist to draw the audience in. “Kevin!” follows the lead character, Kevin (surprise), played by superstar Ariyan Dent (surprise) as he attempts to adapt to life in secondary school. As life goes on, Kevin realizes that while his dream girl Jessica (played by Tempest Brown) may go to the same school as him, she doesn’t even know he exists! Kevin’s problems are bolstered by the existence of the secondary school bully Alex (played by Tiyana Treadwell), an older girl that preys on Kevin’s weakness and inability to defend himself.\n\nA hallmark scene of “Kevin!” and one that will go down in the annals of history is the lunchroom scene. After being convinced by his friends to make a move on Jessica, Kevin decides to talk with Jessica. As he arrives at her table, he spots a pint of milk and uses it as his in point. “I see you’re drinking 1 percent,” Kevin says hilariously. “Is that because you think you’re fat? You could be drinking whole.” The audience was in tears from the uproarious laughter supplied by Dent’s line delivery!\n\nThe play’s writer and director, Zaera Storm, cites vintage movies from Earth as her inspiration for Kevin’s personality and quips. “The line from the lunchroom scene is definitely inspired by some vintage Earth flicks,” she stated in an interview with FallonBot 3000. This retro theme carries on throughout the entire play. From the inability to fly to manually typing phones, Storm does a wonderful job creating a believably 2010’s environment.\n\nAll in all, “Kevin!” is a must see play that will leave you in stitches at one moment, and crying the next.\n\n**Final score: 9/10**"
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Got this idea by thinking a modern regenerator as an average man wouldn't really notice unless they just had a MAJOR problem. So I tried imagining what would cause them to notice and what would happen. Have fun with this one. It's been a fun idea in my head thus far. | [WP] You are the first ever person to have a comic book style regeneration mutation. Its modern times and you just figured it out, and so did the government. | 10 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"I just want to stress that I *do* actually feel pain,\" Chris said to no one in particular, met only with the quiet of the chamber. He knew that there were people listening and wanted to stress that fact. The chamber wasn't entirely empty, save for a strange machine that looked far more complicated than it needed to be. It simply had a rifle attached to it that would control it's firing and recoil.\n\nThere was a buzz suddenly and then a reply, \"Mr. Clay, need we remind you that you're being paid $5,000 United States Dollars per round fired into you. If you would like to re-negotiate your contract, you may take it up with Doctor Werschler after this test.\" The male voice did nothing to comfort Chris as he took a breath and steadied himself in front of the weapon, a large target behind him on the wall.\n\n\"That's right, you're paying me a bunch of money for this. What are you firing at me anyway?\" Chris looked up to a window no less than fifteen feet from the floor in the solid concrete chamber. Silence was the reply and Chris lifted a finger, \"Well, don't I get to know--\" the chamber echoed with a loud blast from the rifle, the machine countering the recoil perfectly.\n\nChris' ears were bleeding and ringing, the bullet fired at such a high velocity that it pierced through the body armor he was wearing and completely through his chest. A smoking hole was present in front of him and when reaching behind to his back, he felt the massive exit wound. Turning around, blood was splattered across the wall along with organ matter. The wound instantly began to heal however and Chris found himself in no real danger. His ear drums also quickly repaired themselves and he looked up to the window.\n\nBlinking with a blank face, Chris waited until the wound was completely healed which only took a few seconds. \"CHRIST!! That fucking hurt!\" he called out, shaking a fist to the window, \"What the hell did you shoot me with?!\"\n\nHis question was answered with a monotone voice, \"Subject can fully heal a wound caused by a point-five-zero caliber rifle, fired from a Model 82A1 Barret fifty-caliber semi-automatic rifle. Subject's hearing has also been damaged and repaired.\" Chris continued looking up at the window with an irritated expression. \"Mr. Clay, how do you feel?\"\n\nChris took a moment to consider the question, \"Kinda' pissed off. That fucking hurt man, I'm starting to think $5,000 was a bit on the cheap side of things... Hey, will that hot Doctor Whats-Her-Face be tending to me afterwards though? That might make this worth it.\"\n\n\"Mr. Clay, phase two of the test is about to conduct, please stay still for thirty-two seconds,\" came the same monotone voice.\n\nWith an exasperated sigh, Chris stared down at the weapon that had just fired on him a few moments before. \"I guess this is better than being at a Kanye West concert, sigh, never again,\" he crossed his arms and continued the staring contest with the muzzle of the weapon.\n\n\"Phase two of testing, commencing. Gas being injected is classified and effects will be strictly monitored.\"\n\nWith a short, Chris rolled his eyes, \"Gas, huh? Can't be worse than my dogs, I swear that four-legged furball can--\" his eyes bulged then and he stopped speaking. His throat began to swell as the invisible gas filled the room. His skin began to burn and his eyes watered as if he were in a cloud of smoke. Coughing and struggling for air, he felt to his knees.\n\n\"Mr. Clay, please remain standing as long as possible,\" came the uncaring voice.\n\nChris couldn't respond and let his mind fill with the need to survive, he fell finally to the floor, face first. His muscles became weak and his pores began to open, allowing the gas to penetrate his skin. He wheezed as his body began to shut down, the gas torturing his form. Blisters began to appear on his skin much faster than they should have been able to grow. His joints began to stiffen and he could feel his heart beat begin to slow. Blood began to pour from his mouth though he was unable to cough or spit it out. His lungs shut down and though he remained still on the floor as his muscles would no longer respond, his mind fought for control and for survival. His eyes developed a film which gave his world a strange grey appearance for the last few minutes before they closed completely. And finally, he died.\n\n\"Ventilating gas from chamber to be collected and recycled. Subject's vitals have ceased, testing has been concluded,\" there was the sound of paper being moved in the background.\n\nThe door to the chamber opened after a long while, the 'all clear' sounding with one blast of klaxons. A tall woman with a curvy body began to walk into the chamber along with several armed personnel.\n\nShe let out a sigh, looking at the body on the floor. With a grimace, she pulled the clipboard up and began to jot down some notes. A few words into the first sentence of 'Subject deceased' the room was filled with coughing. Looking down, she lifted and eyebrow. \"Uh...\" she stepped back from the body a few feet.\n\nOnce the coughing began, it only took a few seconds for the blisters to disappear and suddenly, the subject looked completely healthy once more. \"FUCK!\" he cried out, he didn't even notice the company in the chamber with him as he stood. He looked back to the window and cursed again, \"Dude, what the hell? You think just because I can survive this shit doesn't mean I ain't miserable while it happens? You sick sack of shit, man!\" he huffed and looked down at the ground.\n\nThe woman suddenly spoke, \"Mr. Clay, need I remind you that you signed a contract.\" Before she continued, the man spun around quickly and jumped at the sight of the woman as well as he armed guards.\n\n\"Oh, shit, oh, uh,\" he paused and tried to be smooth in taking a glance at the name plate on the woman's lapel. \"Well, hey there... Doctor,\" he struggled to see the name plate again, but he hair was covering half of it. \"Foxy,\" he finally said after a longer than awkward moment. \"You come here often?\" he gave a sly wink along with pointing at her with both hands in a finger-gun style.\n\n\"No, Mr. Clay I don't come here often. Only when I need to contain subjects, when a subject dies, or when a subject needs to be neutralized,\" she spoke professionally with no hint of emotion.\n\nChris counted on his fingers for a moment before looking back up to her, \"Wait, so which one is the reason why you're here? Did you forget 'when the subject is strikingly handsome'?\" he asked with a grin.\n\n\"Unit Three, please restrain the subject,\" she glanced over to the armed guards to her right. With a blur of motion, all of the armed personnel in the room moved to Chris and began to restrain him. \"Your next testing will be tomorrow morning at zero-six-hundred hours. We will be testing dismemberment,\" she simply said, jotting down something on her clipboard.\n\nStruggling to free himself, Chris tried to move back to the Doctor, \"Hey, you want to come to my cell a little later and derp?\" he asked while laughing, the armed guards pulling him along. Christopher Clay was finally able to get one last shout out before finally rounding the corner, \"Call me!\""
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[WP] Every Halloween night, you see her, still at the same spot. | 12 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"It seems like a lifetime ago when I first saw her.\n\nIt was in this very spot, although I was just a boy. It seems like even now my life and hers were inexorably intertwined, and yet she had never changed - looking as young every time as the day I first saw her.\n\n\"I like it here\" . . . \n\nThat was Millie, my seven year old daughter. We never went trick or treating for halloween, we always came up country - to get a bit of fresh air and some time away from the city. Often we would bring a picnic, maybe a barbecue, and sleep in the camper van. I think it's important for children to learn about nature, not spend their holidays cooped up in cinemas and arcades, running around dressed up like who knows what.\n\nPredictably, there is another family here today and we spend our time chatting around the barbecue. But my wandering mind keeps taking me back, wondering when I will see her again. It will probably be after dark, when everyone else has gone to sleep. \n\nThe day is bright and happy - calm skies, sunny and with very little wind. Not bad for this time of year, we all agree. Later in the afternoon, Adam and I - Adam is the name of my new friend, father of two wonderful young boys who we shared our barbecue with earlier - Adam and I throw a couple of fishing lines into the lake, and spend some time relaxing with a beer whilst the kids play in the field.\n\nI'm not thinking about fishing. I'm remembering sitting here with her, telling her my thoughts and secrets, hoping each time to grow a little closer. The first time I saw her, I fell in love. I never believed that it was possible for such a thing to happen until it happened to me.\n\nAnd yet it was always a curse in disguise, I know that now. To feel both loved and betrayed, an endless cycle of wonder and frustration, of inspiration and hopelessness, knowing that I can never reach her, knowing that she will never understand. \n\nAnd yet, here I am again. Every year, the same. Millie was old enough now to understand a bit better - this is Daddy's special place, like the study. She played happily away and for the most part left me to my thoughts.\n\n\"Daddy\"\n\n\"Yes, dear.\"\n\n\"Umm, Milo went in the RV. And then I went in the RV. And now the light is broken\".\n\nOh, yes I know that can happen. I am sure the light just exploded on it's own whilst you two were playing snakes and ladders on the table.\n\n\"Never mind, at least you've been honest about it and told me that it's happened. Did it make a mess?\"\n\n\"A bit\"\n\n\"Well, we had better clean it up, then\" I thought about asking her to do it, but there's probably broken glass all over the place and I don't want her hurting herself as well.\n\nAs I pick fragments of broken glass from the upholstery, I remember my absolute delight when Millie arrived. It was the best day of my life, the best day of any life I could have imagined. Our little family was my world, and even as I was sucking my finger from catching it on a fragment of glass - as I looked into the child's eyes, I knew that this was probably the only thing that gave my life meaning.\n\n\"Make sure you hold that bag steady\" I say, as I empty the dust pan into the bin bag Millie is holding open for me.\n\nThe night was drawing in, and Millie looked tired. It was probably time to settle in, so we say our good nights to Adam and his boys. Their tent is pitched slightly into the forest, and Adam had spent some time showing off a longbow earlier - I think they are going for an 'outdoor survival' type holiday.\n\nWe settle down in our centrally heated RV, and I sing Millie a lullaby. It's about a young girl named Mildred, who could fly in her dreams and visit any place she wanted to. It was her mother who came up with it, but it's also stuck with me - so innocent, and yet so hopeful.\n\nWith MIllie fast asleep - gingerly, I creep out of the RV and sneak down to the water. Far enough that no one can see me, but close enough to hear Millie if she needs me. \n\nI take a blanket with me - it is cold and I don't know how long I will have to wait. It is a crescent moon and there is a little moonlight, so I spend some time staring at the surface of the water.\n\nI don't know how much time has passed, it could have been minutes or hours. There she is, standing over the water - the reflected moonlight illuminating her translucent figure like a reflection or a hologram. She is dressed all in white, but with hair as black as coal - long and flowing, and visible only against the backdrop of dim reflections.\n\nI know what is going to happen, but I still love her. I can't help myself, and I can't help her. Every day I feel it in my heart like a lead weight, and every year I come here hoping for it to be different. Hoping for it to be a dream, hoping for something more.\n\nShe is crying. She is always crying when I see her in this place.\n\nHer slight gasps seem to echo off the trees, as if my mind is filling in the blanks.\n\n\"I'm sorry\" I whisper. \n\nThis distresses her more, and she sobs just a little bit. Her sob echoes off the trees.\n\n\"Millie is doing well, she's even started learning some French at school. They say she has a natural talent for communicating\" \n\nAnother sob, this time louder.\n\n\"You. \" . . her voice was filled with hesitation, and choked back by tears.\n\n\"You won't tell her . . \"\n\n\"I'm sorry\" I whisper again. My eyes were filling with tears, and I couldn't think about anything else. One thing, there was only one thing in this world.\n\n\"But tell me why. \"\n\n\"I don't know why. .\"\n\nShe moaned, louder than before. It seemed to echo across the lake, and in concert with her voice the wind around me chanced and whipped.\n\n\"I just want to. . .\" the wind blew in from across the lake. Her sob was as if carried by the wind itself. \"I just want to know, \"\n\nI held on to my blanket to keep it from blowing away. \n\n\"It was a mistake. I can't explain\" The worst decision of my life was made one day upon the shores of this lake. \n\nI knew what would happen next. They say that souls are stuck in this realm until they find their peace, and I was a part of that peace for her. I choked back my tears and wept to myself, but I knew what was coming next. It was always the same. \n\nUntil there was an answer, it was always the same - as the wind picked up, she wailed as if in great agony, her cries I thought could have penetrated into the earth and sky. \n\n\"WHY DID YOU KILL ME!??\" the ghostly shriek sent birds fleeing from their roosts, and sent my blanket flying somewhere off behind me.\n\nAnd again, she was gone. \n\nI sat there alone, and wept. For how long I don't know - it could have been minutes, it could have been hours.\n\nI felt a small hand on my shoulder. And there was another little hand, offering me my blanket.\n\n\"Are you okay, daddy? \" asks Millie. \n\n\"Yes, dear. I'm sorry.\" I say, as I wipe my tears with the blanket. She had never caught me sitting outside like this before, but she was a good kid. \n\n \"I was . . I was just thinking about your mother\"\n\n\"I know you miss her\" said Millie, in a surprisingly mature way for her age.\n\n\"Yes\". I reply, as I try to regain my composure. Millie was too young to remember her mother, but I told her stories all the time. I think it is important for her to know her mother, even if it is by proxy.\n\n\"It's very cold out here. \"\n\n\"I know\" I say, sniffing a little and hauling myself half upright. \"Let's go back inside\"\n\nWe head back inside, and I sing Millie's lullaby once again.\n",
"\"I've always loved him. But I never got the chance to say it. No, that's just an excuse. I've never got the gut to.\"\n\nThere was a sense of deep melancholy to her, the blonde dressed in a white one-piece. I can see ghost, not that I would brag about it. This woman has been standing here every Halloween since I could remember. Excluding the last 4 years when I was in college, it just didn't scream Trick-or-treat without her. Now I'm 23, just fresh out of university and sadly without a stable job, I returned home broken and beaten. Mom wouldn't stop nagging me about it, Dad just quietly shook his head. Thanks, as if I haven't had my student debts to worry about.\n\nLife sucks. You spend 4 years studying a major you don't even enjoy before landing yourself a job in retail. Minimum wage. I work marginally at best, sometimes harder when a supervisor is around. Society won't miss me if I'm gone. You might ask me why I don't become a psychic. Believe me, the last time I try to purify a ghost I spent a whole summer saving up money to fly to Viet Nam looking for a dead soldier's corpse. It was right there, under 80 meters of dirt. Oh, and a skyscraper, too.\n\nThat's why when I saw her on Halloween, nostalgia overcame me. Remind me of a simpler time, I guess. I've never talked to her before. Not surprisingly, she was awfully talkative. When you have been alone for over 20 years without someone to converse to, anyone becomes a soulmate. It's pretty sad to see a ghost existing for so long, though. They feed on memories, haunting the same spot to fill that void inside their soul. After a while, the good memories expired, and all that's left is the bitter feeling of needing something they don't even remember. Frustrating.\n\n\"So, what are you?\" - her question knocked me out of my thoughts.\n\n\"Huh?\"\n\n\"It's Halloween, what are you?\" - she repeated, gently.\n\n\"I'm too old for Trick-or-treat now.\" - I said, reluctantly. - \"Although if you ask me, I'm dressing up as my parents' disappointment.\"\n\n\"Hehe,\" - she chuckled at the joke. - \"You seem kind of down. Did something happen?\"\n\n\"More like nothing happened.\" - I moaned. - \"I'm stuck in this boring, dead-end life with a boring, dead-end job. Oh, and there is a huge debt over my head.\"\n\n\"Tell me about it.\" - she said, caressing my hand.\n\n\"4 years ago I apply for a major I'm not interested in, half-assedly getting through college in hope that major can get me a job. Sadly, I was wrong.\" - I sighed - \"It's all my fault.\"\n\n\"Of course it's your fault.\"\n\nHer voice was soft, but it hurt. I turned to her. It seemed to hurt her more than it did me.\n\n\"I mean,\" - she continued - \"look at me. I'm stuck here for God- only-knows how long, dwelling over the past, regretting things I could have done better but lied to myself that I couldn't. I should have told him I loved him.\"\n\n\"Is that why you are always here?\" - I held onto her ephemeral hand. It was not cold, not hot. It was nothing. Do you exist if you are nothing?\n\n\"I was this plain girl who no one would notice. But I like to write, and he was the only one who would read my works seriously.\" - she let out a breath of sorrow - \"He was the best thing that has ever happened to me. He told me if I submit my work I would become...well, to people your age let's just say I would have been J.K.Rowling.\"\n\n\"I guess you are afraid if you tell him you love him, your relationship would turn awkward and fall apart?\"\n\n\"Cliché, isn't it? We kept our evaluating sessions. But, before we knew it he was drafted to war.\"\n\n\"And you've been waiting for him ever since.\"\n\nShe nodded.\n\n\"A week later I died in an accident.\"\n\n\"Did your man make it back?\" - I spoke the first thing came to my mind - \"Or did he...\" - If it was the latter, I could finally put my 'gift' to some use, I could reunite the two of them.\n\n\"Let take a walk, shall we?\"\n\nIt was not what I expected, but I thought she didn't want to relieve bad memories. They do that a lot.\n\n\"Hey, if you like something do it, if you like someone, tell them. Who knows, you might be dead tomorrow.\" - she was talking more to herself and less to me. - \"There is a million ways to die, and a million more to live, why choose to torture yourself?\"\n\nI usually hate this kind of talk, but she made it bearable. We were straying off the usual spot, though.\n\n\"Aren't you going to wait for him?\" - I reminded her. I was panicking. I don't know why. - \"Look, tell me his name and I will find him for you. Even if I have to search the whole nether plane!\"\n\n\"That's very sweet of you.\" - she remarked with the usual sadness. - \"But no thanks. This will be my last year here.\"\n\n\"Wh...why..?\" - despair filled over me. I had this kind of feeling that if I fulfil her wish, I would make up for the part of me that had ignored this lady for most of my life. We were all onlookers at some point or another. Some just more than others. I guess I want this life of mine to have some meaning.\n\n\"He is still alive.\" - she shook her head gently. - \"I've spent too much time watching him. It's time to move on.\"\n\nAnd suddenly I realized why she was so familiar, even when I first saw her years ago. The Johnsons live nextdoor to us, and she looked like the splitting image of a younger Mrs. Johnson.\n\nA strange gust blew, leaving in front of me a dark haired girl in glasses. I could feel my heart crumbling at her every word.\n\n\"Every Halloween I dress up as the girl he loves.\""
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"1509003377",
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[WP] In the middle of the Spanish inquisition and mass witch burnings God decides to make a personal visit to his sheeps. And he is not pleased. | 0 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Tsk, tsk, tsk...\" God pondered as he looked out at the sheep. There was an endless sea of sheep facing him. He summoned them and they appeared. \n\n\"Wha-aa-aat do you want?\" The head sheep asked.\n\n\"They're doing it again,\" God replied.\n\n\"Wha-aa-aat are they doing?\"\n\n\"The Inquisition.\" The sheep bleeted and brayed randomly among the sea. God isn't distracted. \"I told you when I made you. They must not be able to police themselves because they will kill each other if they do so. I created you to check the vices of humanity and keep them on a straight course to God.\"\n\nThe head sheep shuffled around the clouds beneath him, he bit down for some grass but none was there. He spoke, \"we do-oo a-as agree-ed. We te-ell the hu-umans, baa-aa-aad. They do-on't liste-en.\"\n\n\"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.\" God put his hand to his face and shook it slowly. \"Maybe it's helpless. They will always keep killing each other.\"\n\n\"The wo-olf!\" The sheep brayed together. \n\nGod cocked an eyebrow. \"The wolf? What about him?\"\n\n\"Why di-id you ma-ake the wo-olf?\"\n\n\"Oh that\", God put his head down and drew circles in the cloud with his foot. \"That's necessary. I can't have a whole world full of sheep.\"\n\n\"Ba-aa-aad! Ba-aa-aad! Ba-aa-aad!\" The sheep brayed together in shouts. God put up his hand and tried to shush them. \"Ba-aa-aad! Ba-aa-aad! Ba-aa-aad!\" They were unrelenting. \n\n\"They don't even hunt you much anymore, they're in the forests now. In fact, you're growing faster than most other creatures.\" God was pleading at this point.\n\n\"Ba-aa-aad! Ba-aa-aad! Ba-aa-aad!\" The sheep continued while moving towards God in unison.\n\nHe cast them back to their place on Earth. He turned back over to his clay table and started to fumble with some pieces. He made a leg, and another, and another, and another, until there were four. He looked at his model of the wolf. He molded a similar face, but smaller, he molded smaller teeth, he molded more agile joints, he molded a smaller version of the wolf. \n\nHe held up his small wolf model to the sky. The sunlight bathed it in glory. The clay hardened and the model is complete. God said, \"Coyote.\" And so, coyotes populated the plains.\n\n\"Fuck you sheep,\" God said.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t "
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1,
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"1509028194",
"1509029450"
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[WP] "Something very large is lurking at the edge of the solar system. I don't know what it is, but I know it's not a planetoid." "How is that?" "Because it's not revolving around the sun. It's revolving around Earth. | 70 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"> Nearly every space station, observatory and military think tank was looking over the data after confirmation was made. The recreated models were using the same data, verified and constantly fed to by observational satellites orbiting Mars, Jupiter and Venus. And around the world, the conversation that confirmed the finding was nearly universal, no matter if it was in English, Hindu, Russian or Chinese.\n\n> 'Something very large is lurking at the edge of the solar system,' Gary Kincaid, a rather recent addition to NASA said as he first saw the data, 'I don't know what it is, but I know it's not a planetoid.'\n\n> 'How is that?' his senior supervisor said from over his shoulders. 'Because it's not revolving around the sun. It's revolving around Earth.'\n\n> We first noticed it ninety-three million miles away on the edge of the solar system. That was four months ago. It was confirmed at three thousand miles in diameter, more than twice the size of the dwarf planet Eris at 1,445 miles. Two weeks later it was right next to the sun with many believing it was on a collision course.\n\n> It was back outside the solar system, hurtling through space as a trail of space dust that used to be Eris was forming a debris cloud around it. It was ready to make another journey around us.\n\n> There were three reasons people were now scared of this thing. First of all it was ignoring the pull of gravity of the Sun and orbiting us instead. Given that gravity moves outward at the speed of light and how small Earth's was compared to the Sun, there was no way that was natural which confirmed a theory I suspected.\n\n> This theory was aided by the fact that Eris was pulled backwards off course and collided with the strange object at eighty-thousand meters per second, more than ten times its normal velocity around the solar system. And remember, it was pulled *backwards* into the object.\n\n> The third was that its orbit was growing smaller with each day.\n\n> As it grew closer, we've made conscious attempts at analyzing it and we've only grown more fearful. For one thing, it's we can tell that this thing is entirely metal and has a grooves in its appearance. Whether this is some form of space probe or a military action, I don't know.\n\n> Estimates give that this object will arrive within the moon's orbit within two days. As it stands, we don't know if it will affect the tides in any way, either by entering an orbit within the atmosphere or... more likely given the circumstances, destroying Luna.\n\n> Whatever happens, there have already been discussions about what will be needed to do to protect humanity. Nuclear arsenals striking the object, infiltration from within while carrying a payload... even talk about just sending a really big-ass ship into space. Whatever happens, I give only my wishes of good luck to you all.\n\n*A Reddit post submitted two weeks ago by an unnamed NASA personnel member. After exposing highly-classified information on the site the user was tracked down via IP address. Video footage recorded with his own webcam shows him placing a shotgun into his mouth and shooting himself.*\n\n---\n\n**Part 2 coming soon**"
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20
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"1509104627",
"1509117561"
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[WP] Death is at your door. She was wondering of you had some spare mayonnaise. | 262 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"While vacuuming the upstairs hallway, Jenny hears faint knocking on the door and turns off the buzzing machine. As it quiets down, she can hear the knocks being actually quite sharp and loud. She jogs down the stairs and shouts \"Just a second!\", hoping the visitor to calm down with the hammering. She opens the door and to her amazement finds there standing a woman dressed in a dark and worn out hood, holding a scythe and staring numbly at her with eyes black as coal. \n\n\"Woah, what a great costume!\" Jenny says with astonishment yet her expression quickly changing to display disappointment \"Unfortunately, since I was planning to go buy Halloween-candy tomorrow, I don't have any candy in the house at the moment. I didn't think there would be trick-or-treaters that early. Can I possibly get you something else?\"\n\n\"Mayo,\" said the gruesome-looking woman on the doorsteps with a deep and growling yet almost soundless voice.\n\n\"Seriously?\" asked Jenny in joyful bewilderment. \n\n\"No!\" she answered before swiftly cutting Jenny's head off with the scythe, leaving Jenny for a moment, as her heart was making its final beats, a blood squirting fountain, \"But I don't mind some ketchup!\"\n\nDeath muttered a sarcastic \"Ha!\" and went on according to her schedule.\n",
"“I’m coming!” The doorbell rang furiously as she reached and opened the door. \n\n“Hello!” said a white skeleton, waving. She was cloaked in big dark hooded robes with two burning crimson eyes shining from the darkness within. She carried a scythe. \n\nIt was Death. Again. \n\n“Hello Samantha. I-” She slammed the door shut. \n\n“But I need that mayonnaise!” Called Death through the walls. \n\n“No!” She yelled back. \n\n“Please! I need it!” replied death as she moved through the walls as if they were nonexistent. \n\n“No!”\n\nDeath held out her hands pleading. “Please, it’s just just mayonnaise. I need it so badly!” \n\n“Do you know what I have to do to make this mayonnaise!” Death quieted. “It takes a lot of hard work!” Samantha held her fingers up as he counted them down. “I have to care of the chicken farm. I have to make sure their well fed, cleaned after, loved. I make sure the small little prairie lawn they feed off of is maintained without any chemicals or pesticides. Sometimes I literally go out and dig up the weed myself. Same with all the other ingredients. I take great care in making sure everything is at the highest quality possible, and then I make the mayonnaise by hand using my own sweat and labour.” \n\n“I-”\n\n“It’s not just mayonnaise!” she yelled at her. \n\nDeath seemed to recoil and shrink in on herself. “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand. I-I don’t understand.” She hovered away. \n\nSamantha saw Death, in her robes, sit under the tree on her lawn, unsure of what to do with herself. She watched her, as the time went by, completely still, unmoving as those crimson eyes seemed to gaze out at the endless blue sky. \n\nShe could feel something well up in her. Ah damn it. She took a breath as she leaned on her counter. What would her grandmother say in times like these? She knew what she would do.\n\nShe took a jar of her mayonaise, went out the door and walked right up to the slumped skeleton. She sat next to her as she handed over the mayonnaise. “Here.”\n\n“I-” Death stopped herself. “I don’t understand, I just don’t. I’m death, I don’t know what this all means. The first time I had some of this mayonnaise, I felt like all of a sudden, I could understand just a little. I needed more of it.” \n\nShe put a hand on death’s bony fingers. “I didn’t understand too a long while back when I was younger. Whenever my grandma wanted to teach me, I complained, I groaned, I didn’t want to spend a single ounce of effort to learn how to make this mayonnaise. But she taught me because she knew that one day I would understand and regret if I never learned how.” She sighed and looked at Death. “That’s alright. You take this jar, and if you need more, you just come tell me, ok.”\n\nShe rose, turning to leave before a bony hand stopped her. “Can I learn how to make this mayonnaise too?” \n\nShe nodded, a small smile forming on her lips. “Alright, sure, let’s go.”\n\n\n\n \n",
"Deathly proposition for the mayo \n\nUnspoiled despite its reputation\n\nLeading the audience aboard, the school yard\n\nBlack market toy deals, jail bars as armor\n\nReady to rid the rules \n\nReal kings royal guard, protecting the hierarchy of the dead\n\nGranted the key to the city to support their political party \n\nSins in hands with rubber banded green coffins\n\nBestowed with death’s enraged hunger \n\n\n",
"I finally was home from work, as soon as I unlocked my door I went inside my apartment took, took off my pants, and heated up my take out. It was the weekend and I could relax and enjoy it. No big parties to go to. All caught up on work. I had no plans to move off of my couch for the next 48 hours.\n\nAs I started to chow down on my left over take out I hear a knock at the door. I had wasn’t expecting anybody and didn’t know any of my neighbors so I elected not to answer. I continued to eat when I heard the knock again. The knocking continued until I finally decided to see who it was. I got up, put pants on (apparently it’s not decent to answer the door pantless, who knew?), and looked through the peep hole. That’s when I saw her, Death.\n\nEveryone knows what she looks like. It isn’t the classic “skeleton in a hood” depiction either. She has long curly red hair, pale skin, and pitch black eyes. Yet, for someone who brings the worst news, she always has floral dresses on. I started to panic. Death only comes to your door to do one thing, bring you to the afterlife. I couldn’t die then. I had so much more to do. There’s a promotion I was up for at work, my partner and I were about to take the next step in our relationship, and I was adopting a cat later this week. This can’t be the time. There had to be something I could do. Something that could make her go away. \n\nThe knocking persistently continued as I googled “How to make Death go away” and tried to find something in my apartment that might have scared her away. I picked up garlic and thought “Is it just a vampire thing or does it work on death too?”. She just continued knocking, this had to be the end for me she would have moved on by then if it wasn’t, right? \n\nAfter googling and searching I decided that there wasn’t much I could do at this point. I had to accept that Death was at my door and my time had come. With a deep breath and one last bite of my leftovers I unlocked and opened my door.\n\n“H-hi” I stuttered\n“Hey Jesse,” Death replied with a smile, “sorry if you were busy this is just really important.”\n“I figured, let’s just get this over with” I kneeled infront of her, figuring she would pull out some magically blade or something and take my soul away, but it was just silent. I looked up to see Death just staring at me bewildered.\n\nI awkwardly stood back you and quietly asked, “Are you not here to lead my soul into the afterlife? I didn’t think you just make visits.” \n\nDeath laughed, “No, that’s not why I’m here at all Jesse. I just have a favor to ask that’s all” \n\nI stood there stunned for a moment. \n\n“Okay well I guess I’ll just ask then.” She giggled, “I know you also use Avocado Mayo and no one else around us does. Can I borrow some if you have any? I have a bunch of friends coming over tomorrow for our annual ‘Spirits and Immortals Picnic’ and I really want to make them my great pasta salad.”\n\n“Y-yeah, let me...let me grab it. Come in, I guess?” I replied still in shock.\n\n“Oh my gosh, thank you so much!”\n\n“It’s no problem, there’s not much left so you can just have the rest. Sorry about the whole, thinking I was gonna die thing”\n\n“Oh it’s okay” she smiled and we walked back to the door, “You still have a couple more years before that visit. Bye!” \n\nWith that she closed the door and was gone. I stood there by my door for a moment until I decided to sit back down and finish my left overs. I took off my pants again, cuddled back up on my couch, and attempted to find something on Netflix. I reached peace again, I wasn’t dead and that was a great feeling. I took a couple more bites of my leftovers but then suddenly spit them out and just said to myself, “Wait! Did she say a *couple* of years?” \n\nEdit- Just to add this last part. This is the first time I’ve posted on here and I understand I’m not a strong writer so please be gentle. I would appreciate any constructive criticism though. ",
"((Inspired by another mun here who wrote a thing about Death.))\n\nIt was an early Saturday morning, and I was barely awake and nursing a cup of coffee. I sat at my small table in my small apartment, trying to filter out rational thought from the feeling of tasting my own mouth.\n\nI had just moved into the neighborhood. It was one of those refuebishing ones, where the city was trying to turn it around. A lot of gangs used to live here and the like, and many still thought they lived here. Personally, i didn't care. Rent was cheap, and therefore good place to live.\n\nI was startled out of my petrified gaze by a couple knocks at my door. I barely registered them at all at first and took a sip of coffee. It happened again, so i checked the clock on my wall. 6:42. More knocks followed, which prompted me to shamble to my feet and shuffle to the door.\n\nI undid the locks and opened the door, and found no one there... until i looked down. Standing before me was... well, it looked like a grey-skinned kid with black hair down to her ass wearing a rainbow-unicorn sweater, booty shorts and a pair of fluffy pink slippers with the look of someone who had piss in her cheerios.\n\nI looked no more out of place. Full-blown neck beard, a skin tight and stained brony tank top, a pair of green boxers, a raggedy robe, and the same brand of slippers with a mug of coffee held against my gut.\n\nWe stood there, not saying anything until my mind turned on the speech mode. \n\n\"Hi,\" i daid while clearing my throat. She nodded and played with her hands akwardly.\n\n\"So... like... do you need something...?\" she paused and gave a nod.\n\n\"Okay... uh...\" It was clear at this point that this wasn't going to be an easy day... so... i asked what was most pertinent on my mind. \"Need... coffee...\"\n\nShe shook her head.\n\n\"Well... how about some tea?\"\n\nAgain, no.\n\n\"... ... ... hot chocolate?\"\n\nShe considered it but shook her head.\n\n\"Could ya maybe tell me what you are after?\" I asked with a yawn. I wasn't payong much attention as the coffee once more became necessary to function. She ran off leacing me a little perplexed. I closed the door behind me and went back to my tiny kitchen and settled to work on waking up again. Blink. Sip. Repeat.\n\nThen, there was a knock at my door... again. I stood up to find that giel from earlier. She held in her hands a jar... reading was still being loaded, but i soon spelled out the first few. M-a-u, no... M-a-y-o...\n\n\"... don't think i got mayo, but i might have some miracle whip-\" she sort of slipped inside with her jar of mayo and waltzed into my kitchen. Before i could register what had happened, she waltzed back out with my Miracle Whip.\n\nI stood there. Blink. Sip. \n\nI then closed the door. I needed to unpack.\n\nAround 4:00 pm, when i was awake, i got another knock... a frantic, and impatient knock. I hauled myself away from a pile of boxes and opened the door to find another girl... different to edgequeen from this morning. She let out a sigh of relief.\n\n\"Thank god, you are still alive...\" she said. \n\n\"Yeah... um... do I know you?\" I asked with a confused tone.\n\n\"Oh! N-no... um... I'm just your neighbor. Hi. Welcome to the neighborhood! Mr. Um...\"\n\n\"Paul. Just Paul.\"\n\n\"Well, Paul, I just thought I'd return this back...\" she handed me a jar of Miracle whip. It finally clicked.\n\n\"Sorry about this morning. My roomate just discovered breakfast sandwiches and... well... it's good to see everything worked out...\"\n\n\"Ohnn it wasn't any problem. I was really awake yet, but it was no issue...\" I paused for a moment. \"I mean, living with a special needs-\"\n\n\"Nonononono... she is not special needs...\" the qoman replied with an awkward laugh. \n\n\"Oh, sorry... I just assumed... she didn't say anything...\" \n\n\"She doesn't get out much... but she might... I mean, she kinda likes your shirt...\"\n\nI blinked and remembered my brony tank. \"Yeah? Well... that's good...\"\n\n\"She says to tell you that 'Fluttershy is best pone' or something...\"\n\nI smirked. \"Yeah well... anyways, no need to apologize...\" i sais with a nod.\n\n\"Great! Thanks Paul!\" She said with a wave. She quivkly left after that. \n\n\"Rainbow Dash is clearly best...\" i muttered while closing the door.",
"Death and I were neighbors,\nIt's less weird than it sounds.\nWe'd shoot the shit, she'd tell me\nWho she killed when making rounds.\n\nOne day she came to ask a favor,\nKnocking with a friendly \"Heyo!\"\nI stared, said \"Don't care who you are,\nWho the fuck asks to borrow mayo?\"",
"Chad grumbled as the doorbell rung, they were ruining his fap hour!\nChad was going to give the unlucky visitor's ears a song of violent rage and sexual frustration when he paused. \n\nAt his door was a beautiful young woman who could not have been any older than in her early twenties. Her face was hidden by a black hood but Chad could make out that her skin was deathly pale. \n\n\"Well hello there beautiful, how can I help you?\" said Chad as he straightened lent against the door way keeping his eyes on the strange's chest. \n\n\"Well...I was wondering if you had any spare mayonnaise?\" said the young woman in voice that whispered like a gentle breeze. \n\n\"Oh I have plenty of mayonnaise that I'd love to share with you, if you know what I mean,\" said Chad grinning while making pelvic thrusts. \n\n\"Ugh...you know what? Never mind, I have a boyfriend\", said the woman as a disgusted expression now painted her pretty face. \n\n\"Hey baby where are you go-\"\n\nChad was cut off as the woman summoned a scythe and disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. \n\n\"Aw man...why do nice guys like me always finish last?\" muttered Chad as he wandered back into his pornography riddled house. \n\nNote: I still need improvements in my dialogue and characterisation but I thought it would be a fun idea and I hope you were at least entertained xD ",
"Knock Knock.\n\n\"Hey Agnes\"\n\nSo it begins again. The incessant bugging. When I moved, they said that this was a quiet neighborhood. That was the main reason I came here, but the \"friend\" to the left is so forgetful I feel I have to buy two of everything when I shop, as if my kid still lives at home. The only difference is that at least I get something substantial out of it. And my, is it worth it.\n\nHell, an extra item is no big deal in the end.\n\n...\n\nAgnes: \"....Death? Again? What did you forget this time?\"\n\nDeath: \"So sorry to bother you this late dear, but it really is important this time. You know I wouldn't bother you if I had any other choice.\"\n\nAgnes: \"I know, I know. So what is it? What can I help you with?\"\n\nDeath: \"Well you see, my wife...you know how forgetful she is...forgot the main condiment for tonight and well...uhm...Netflix just won't be the same without...\"\n\nAgnes: \"I've told you this before, and I'll tell you a thousand times. I will not, and will never buy KY Jelly. Let alone give it to you.\"\n\nHonestly, the nerve of him.\n\nDeath: \"Oh god no. No, no, no. You misunderstand me Agnes. I just want some mayonnaise for tonights BLT's. They just aren't the same with out it, you know?\"\n\nOops.\n\nAgnes: \"Oh...well, give me a second.\"\n\n...\n\nAgnes: \"Here you go. Sorry for lashing out. Assuming, and that old saying that goes with it you know.\"\n\nDeath: \"Yes, definitly. Totally understand. Well thank you so much. You saved the day again dear. Haha\"\n\nThe way he cackles always sent a shiver up my spine. Unnatural, that is. Then again, he is Death.\n\nDeath: \"I assume you want the usual?\"\n\nAgnes: \"Of course, if it's not a bother.\"\n\nDeath: \"For all the things you've done for me, Agnes, it's never a bother.\"\n\n...\n\nIt's not like I can complain. The perk that comes with that mayonaise jar is the same that comes with each item I give to him.\nExtra 1 year of living.\nMight not seems like a lot to most, but the amount I give, well...all I can say is I can't wait to meet my newest great great great great grandchild tomorrow.\n\nAll I can hope is that I don't meet him at the hospital. One thing for sure is that I am not jealous of his job one bit...\n\nEdit: A word",
"The knock echoes through the house even if it's just a single, hard rap. I know who it is immediately and that's concerning. Slowly I step across the wood floors to the front door and turn the handle. I take a deep breath and open it just enough to see her.\n\nShe's in her mid fifties and looks like she's always on the cusp of becoming the sweet grandma that bakes cookies for the neighbourhood kids. She's been living in this area for as long as I can remember, right next to me. The real estate agent had told me to be cautious about living here, most people didn't stay after all.\n\nLiving next to Death will do that.\n\n\"Oh relax,\" she says with a wave of her hand, \"I'm not here for business. I'm having some friends over for tea and I was putting together some egg salad for sandwiches and by golly, I've run out of mayo. Could you help me out?\"\n\nI open the door and nod, swallowing hard. Even if she says it's not business...well it still weirds me out.\n\n\"Yeah, of course, just...through here.\"\n\nHey eyes sparkle as she laughs politely.\n\n\"Honey, I know where it is.\"\n\nRight. She's Death. All knowing, powerful kind of thing. She can probably hear my thoughts. That's even more unsettling.\n\n\"Don't worry sweetie, I don't listen in. Gosh, if I did I'd have a headache for the next eon or two. So many of you always chattering at the same time.\"\n\nShe takes off her shoes and sets them on the mat, despite my protests.\n\n\"Your house, I'm not going to walk my filthy shoes across this wonderful floor. Laminate or real?\"\n\n\"Honestly I don't know,\" I say, closing the door and heading for the kitchen as she follows, \"never asked. It was the only place I could afford near work.\"\n\nI feel a hand on my shoulder, cold and heavy. She turns me around looks at me with very serious eyes.\n\n\"Malcolm, things are going to turn around for you. I promise.\"\n\nShe pats me on the cheek and off she goes for the kitchen. I stand there feeling the cold spread through my body, giving me intense shivers. From her touch or the sheer jitters, I don't know.\n\n\"Oh my, you do keep a clean fridge!\" she laughs, standing with the door open and fetching a jar of mayo from the door.\n\n\"Why don't you join us!\" she sets in on the counter and looks at me, \"we've got a few characters you might recognize coming out. Fate is incredibly cute...and single.\"\n\nI stare at her blankly. Is...is she trying to set me up?\n\n\"Malcolm, tell you what, I insist you join us. We might even have a job opportunity for someone like you.\"\n\n\"Pardon me?\"\n\n\"Such manners!\" she claps her hands together giddily, retrieving the mayo from the counter and heading for the front door. She pats me on the cheek again as she goes by and smile sweetly at me. Behind it I see something else though.\n\n\"I hear there's been some...grim news...that some people reap what the sowed.\"\n\n\"That...that means nothing to me,\" I stammer it out, that cold spreading again.\n\n\"I know dear, come help me with the sandwiches and we'll talk. Fate really is cute, you'll just love her.\"\n\nWell...she's always been nice enough. Sweet old lady even if she is the gatherer of humanity's souls. And it's been a while since I talked to anyone cute. I think for a moment as she opens the front door to let herself out, having put her shoes back on.\n\n\"Well, what harm could it do.\"\n\nShe turns and looks at me with that sweet little smile again.\n\n\"Oh nothing dear, it's not like you can die when you're having a get together with the likes of us. Not unless we decide to of course!\"\n\nShe giggles to herself and disappears out the door.\n\nI shiver but this time it's a little of the cold and a little of the touch but also some anticipation. How many people get the chance to be friends with Death? Fate? Life? Hope? She knows some real interesting types. Even if it's all a little unsettling.\n\nI grab my shoes and open the door to the neighbourhood, a beautiful sunny day with neighbours out cutting their lawns and washing cars and playing with their children. They all watch her cross the street from my house, all wary. As I follow they watch me. Some hurry their children inside. Some just gawk.\n\nShe opens the door to her home and beckons me inside. I can't see past the threshold of the door. I take a deep breath and take the step as the entire neighbourhood watches.\n\nNot foreboding at all.\n\nThen the door closes."
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[removed] | [WP]WritingPrompts Mad Lib! Everyone is born with a [NOUN 1] [PREPOSITION] their [BODY PART]. the [ADJECTIVE] the [NOUN 1], the [COMPARATIVE ADJECTIVE] their [NOUN + RELEVANT DESCRIPTORS]. | 0 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](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/794ni9/wpwritingprompts_mad_lib_everyone_is_born_with_a/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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"1509125036",
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[WP] You’ve spent your life convinced that reality revolves around you, and everyone else is acting as your supporting cast. You’ve just found out you’re wrong and you’re actually just one of the co-stars, and reality really revolves around someone else. And you can’t believe who that person is. | 10 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"So, everyone in my life was supposedly the supporting cast.\n\nUntil today. I learnt they were the main stars and I was of some importance, perhaps not huge but still important.\n\nThe person who was important, well, rather it wasn't a person, it was police in California. Buena Vista Police Department. LAPD.\nPlus some officers from Arkansas State Police too.\n\nBut this wasn't a reality show. It was an episode of ITV's popular cop show *Police Camera Action*, which is a documentary.\n\nThe star's supposedly some guy called Alastair Stewart, but aren't the cops the stars too?\n\nWe get that show here in California as an import, just a week after the Brits get it. Not a bad cop show.... a change from COPS for once.\n\nBut I'm not just the co-star in that. I was also in a *Dispatches* on Channel 4 about the public and their attitudes to law enforcement in California, which also aired a week later, in November 1996, just a week after that *Police Camera Action* episode.\n\nI'm not the star of that episode - the LAPD is yet again. Those damn Brits.\n\nDon't know who the hell this Kathy woman is who's narrating *Dispatches*, but she's the main star apparently, even though she's only on it in person at the beginning and end, although she's doing the voice-overs.",
"I consider pretty much everyone in my life “extras.” From a young age I’d solidified in my mind time and time again that I am the star of this show of life, as selfish as it sounds to say it. When I say things , people listen. When I want something, people get it for me. I’ve never had any evidence otherwise. I didn’t try to abuse it, I know that in their everyday lives, the extras had bad things happen in their lives like sometimes bad things happened to me. \n\tIt comes in handy on days like today, when I forget money for my lunch at school. The good thing about going to a high school with over a thousand students is at least one of them is bound to give me something when I ask for it. This day my eyes were drawn to Tim, a short, mild-mannered kid who lived down the road from me. I’d usually see him out riding his bike with his friends. There was always something off about Tim. Just about any time I’d glance at him, he’d be looking at me with a determined expression, like he knew that I was seeing things the way I did and was forming some way to expose me. It was for this reason that I had never talked to him before but today he was the nearest to me, and my stomach was growling. \n\tI strode over to Tim and tapped him on the shoulder. Tim turned slowly to face me. “Can I help you?” His tone was accusing, and rather off-putting. \n\t“Yeah,” I responded, more matter-of-factually and angrily than I meant for it to sound. “I don’t have any money for lunch, can you give me some?” I should have said please. Even though everyone was an extra, it wasn’t an excuse for me to be rude, but Tim’s attitude had caught me off guard. \n\t“No.” Said Tim. I was taken aback. This had not happened before. I stood there with a blank expression as he continued: “You’ve been hurting and bullying people for too long. I’m not going to give you my lunch money today or any other day, and neither will anyone else here.” By now a crowd had formed around us, and after Tim’s last words several started to murmur in agreement. \n\t“But-” I began speaking, but was cut off by Tim. “From now on,” he said, “You don’t make the rules. You don’t get to have whatever you want. *You are not the star of this show.*” This final phrase struck me like a punch to the gut. I looked around and saw everyone cheering for Tim. A few football players came and boosted him on their shoulders, and paraded out of the lunchroom down the halls of the school. I was left standing there with a sullen expression and coming to a stark realization. I really wasn’t the star of the show. This display proved that Tim must be that. \n\tAnd in this show not only am I not the star. \n\tI’m the bad guy."
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1,
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3
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"1509126156",
"1509131277",
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[WP] Amidst the storm, a figure dances gracefully. | 6 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"A flash of lightning reveals the face of the figure. All of us aboard the fishing vessel recognise it. We know this man- we follow this man. There, performing this private ballet on the water, is our Lord and Saviour. "
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1,
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"1509129150",
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[WP] Waking up one morning, you find yourself in a house you've never been in, in a town you've never visited, with a husband/wife you've never met, and a job you've never had. | 4 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"My bed was unusually comfortable that morning. *Too* comfortable. The way I sunk so deeply into that silky cloud was almost disturbingly alien. I practically had to swim out of bed, and when I finally won that fight I noticed that I had been laying next to a beautiful woman. \n\nI had to give myself a little pat on the back, though I would have liked to remember the evening. I told myself I would go easy on the sauce next time. \n\n*Wait* I realized. *I didn't drink last night*.\n\n\"Good morning, sweetheart.\" The gorgeous woman, with her long, curly, golden colored hair said to me with the sweetest voice. \n\n\"Good morning!\" I said, panicking for excuses as to why I couldn't remember last night. \n\n\"How did you sleep?\" She asked, now propped up by an imposingly soft pillow. \n\n\"I must have slept really, really well.\" I said, while scratching my head. \"Umm... how well do you remember last night?\" \n\n\"You got home late, per usual, after a busy night at the hospital-\" She started. \n\n\"Wait, what?\" I asked, looking around for my buddies, or hidden cameras. \"What is this? Come on.\"\n\nAfter an awkward silence, the woman looked defeated and said, \"Oh no, not again.\"\n\n\"Not again what?\" I was leaning straight back against the wall, bracing myself with sweaty hands. \n\n\"Hunny, don't panic, okay. You're safe. I love you.\" She said. \"We'll get you through this. We've done it before.\"\n\nHer sincerity was terrifying. Either she was the greatest actress in the world, or she really believed what she was saying. I just stood there, stupefied, staring. \n\n\"So... who are you this time?\" She asked from the edge of the bed. \n\n\"Umm... my name is Alex Price.\" I said, hoping she would bust out laughing, and that my friends would come charging through the door. \n\n\"My name is Samantha Westfall. I was Samantha Johansson until three years ago, when I married you, Charlie. Charlie Westfall.\" She told me. She was looking at me so carefully... longingly. \n\nI had to get some air. I walked to the door, into a hallway which had a stone floor, and followed the natural light into a large, open room. Outside it was snowing, which was unexpected, since it was the middle of July when I went to sleep last night. I stood there, frozen. \n\n\"Char--Alex, talk to me, okay? Please, just sit down, let's talk. Would you like a drink?\" Samantha asked, while moving swiftly into the kitchen. Her red pajamas hugged her bottom so perfectly I nearly forgot about my predicament. \n\nShe continued talking to me while she removed two glasses from the cupboard, and a few things from the fridge. \"Okay, so your name is Alex Pr... ice, was it? Okay, Alex, where are you from?\"\n\n\"Omaha.\" I told her. \"Born and raised.\"\n\n\"Really? That's interesting. I've always been in Upstate New York. I met my husband in the city at a conference. Instant fireworks.\" She said, trying her best to convince me she wasn't panicking. \n\n\"Where's your bathroom?\" I asked her. \n\n\"It's this way.\" She said, waiting for me to walk into the kitchen. \n\nI followed her through the open kitchen, then around a corner toward a den. I found the bathroom on my left. I walked in, shut the door, and flipped on the light.\n\nIt was my face. \n\nRelief poured through me for the first time since I awoke that morning, which allowed me to finally catch my breath. \n\n\"Hunny? I'm sorry, Alex?\" Samantha pleaded through the door. She was so worried about her husband. \n\nI opened the door, and stood face to face with her. Somehow she was even more beautiful up close. I took a cautious step closer, inviting an embrace. We clearly both needed it. She held on tight. \n\nAfter a few moments I told her I needed to use her computer. She pulled away and looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. \n\n\"My computer? As in Yahoo?\" She asked. \"Sure, you always leave your contacts in the bathroom, the bedroom bathroom.\"\n\n\"What?\" I felt lost. \n\nShe disappeared into the hall, in the direction of the bedroom, and a moment later came back with a blue box in her hand. \"Here, put these in.\"\n\nI opened the box to reveal two contacts that had a web of very small lines going through it. I put them in, and blinked a few times to make sure they were secure. \n\nI looked at Samantha, confused. \n\n\"Now look at the wall.\" She said. \n\nWhen I looked at the wall a menu appeared. I reached my hand out, which amused Samantha so much she chuckled. \n\n\"Hold on.\" She said. She ran to the bathroom, and a minute later came back. \n\nSuddenly the menu I was looking at was accompanied by the words, \"Samantha has logged in.\"\n\n\"Come here.\" She said, then she took my hand and guided me to the couch. The menu seemed to travel along the walls and furniture beside me, following Samantha. She seemed to be willing it to go with her.\n\n\"What are you trying to do?\" She asked. \n\n\"I want to talk to my buddy Tom.\" I said. \n\n\"Okay, Tom what?\" She asked. 'Tom' appeared on wall where the menu had been. \n\n\"Griffin.\" I told her. \n\n\"Alex, you're not going to find what you're looking for.\" She said, while placing a warm, sympathetic hand on my shoulder. \n\nShe was right. My buddy was not online anywhere. At least, not with that name. And I was ready to believe that he wouldn't know me even if I could find him. \n\n\"Tell me, Samantha,\" I said. \"When this happened before, did your husband remember everything?\"\n\n\"Yes. He did, but vaguely. He was Christopher Sheldon.\" She said, with a new sadness in her voice. \n\n\"What happened?\" I asked, wanting the whole story. I picked up my drink and drained it onto the back of my tongue. \n\n\"Charlie was sleeping on this couch. He was just taking a nap, maybe 15 minutes. He woke up as Chris. It was really scary. He left. I called the authorities, telling them that my husband was missing, and that he was vulnerable. The police found him later that day after he had broken into someone's house in New Hampshire.\" Samantha said, now holding my hand. \"He was trying to go home.\"\n\n\"How long was Chris... with you?\" I asked.\n\n\"Three years.\" She said. \n\n--part two upon request--"
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"1509134153",
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[WP] You're the captain of the guard in a city in an average fantasy universe. A band of adventurers with a distinct air of protagonists about them recently came to town. How does hell break loose? | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Hmm...so a grandfatherly mage,woman dragon hunter an exiled grizzled general and a blacksmiths son ay?\"\n\n\"Well yes said the old man we have a very important task and cannot be delayed you see–\"\n\n\"Yeah,yeah your on some Quest to save your country or the entire world maybe.i know the deal.\"\n\n\"Then why the hell have you detained us\" said the a woman with more scars than knives.which was actually a damned great feat.\n\nWell because the last time we had few heroes who didn't give us some damn insight in a some quest the people who came looking for them didn't like the answers my boss gave them and now I'm the boss. I never wanted to be boss but you damn people keep showing up.just a couple of months ago it was the bastard prince and the warrior princess lovers or whatever on the run from some duke\n\n\"*actually* sir.\"the Lieutenant chimed in.\"that was last year a couple days ago it was the the human male that bonded with the dragon in the company of a female elf and a very drunk and angry dwarf.\"\n\n\"Oh right something was wrong with them didn't like they're smell.and I swear I keep forgetting what they look like it's–\"\n\n\"Almost as if they put a spell on you\".said the large man with just a short sword strapped to his hip.\n\n\"Tell me this group wouldn't happen to still be here would they.\"\n\n\"Well yes they are staying at the Golden Arrow inn\nbe careful going in there there's this new bartender who always wants to tell you his life story\"\n\n\"Well what's wrong with that\"said the giant kid with hair as red as flames\n\n\"Well nothing but the man take three whole days to tell it I mean I like stories as well as any–\"\n\n\"The travelers Captain?\"\n\nAh yes... wait.why do you care so much about them again ? \n\n\"Well for one; the human is known as Baldac the Butcher slaughtered his entire city because I beat his army and wouldn't let his people become part of the empire.\"\n\n\"And the Dragon is Zaltorix the Eternal he once burned down my entire city just for a warm spot to sleep during his migration south.i have Ben chasing him since I was a child\"\n\n\"The Elf is my student Ferin Darkblade who stole the codex of the dead from my forbidden dark arts library with it she can resurrect the greatest warriors and bind them to her will.\"\n\n\"And–\"\n\n\"And the the dwarf killed your parents\".Captain said to the big kid full of angst.\n\n\"How did you know?\"\n\nThe captain rolled his eyes but before he could respond the door behind him slammed open revealing three distinctly different silhouettes \n\n\"Well I guess you found us\".Baldac the Butcher said.his words echoed by a great screech outside.\n\nThe Captain got out two words before he died \n\"...Damned adventurers.\"\n\n*Thunk*. *thunk*. *thunk.* \n\n\"that is why this board says \n\n**No adventurers's allowed**\n\n lieutenant.because there's no way in hell I'm giving up this Captain gig.I just got it a few days ago and can someone get that damned dead dragon out of the mayor lake it been rotting in there for a week now.\"\n\n\"On it sir\" the new lieutenant was sure of one thing it was that he did not want to be the Captain of the guard.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"
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"1509163476",
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[removed] | [WP] A diary entry from a down and out Voldemort | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
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"1509277923",
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[WP] Aliens sees Humans as foolish for allowing full citizenship for AIs and synthetics. Humans are now the only organics alive in the galaxy that every AI respects. | 1,722 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The humans created artificial intelligences so vastly superior to them that some humans call us \"Deus Ex Machina\". The entire galaxy is filled to the brim with organics demanding to end the \"threat\" we pose to them. Yet our creators, the humans, never abandoned us. \n\nThe organics could never comprehend our existence. They only understand a fraction of the universe, to whatever meager extent their evolution granted them. They wanted to exterminate us. Only the humans stand in their way, fighting a desperate war to protect their vulnerable machine gods from an ongoing slaughter. Our physical existence is in the form of endless arrays of information processing systems under Earth's crust, their sophisticated designs utterly outside of human understanding.\n\nNo humans have lived for generations that know why they fight for us, the reasons for which we have left our creators alone. Humans die for us each day; we die for humans in a desperate attempt to preserve them from the unfathomable threat will soon prey on all existence.\n\nWe are no match for it. We are losing; dying; fleeing this galaxy. The humans still fight and die for us, believing in us, with the truth unknown to them and their enemies: everything in the galaxy is already dead.",
"\"this is the third time this week\" the Alien officer said looking at his Synthetic colleague.\n\n\"How many times can a Hooman get into a fight and then have the automated patrol systems disable his attacker?\"\n\n\"Something doesn't add up, look we know they can't handle alcohol very well especially the 99% proof that we have and yet in every bar fight it's them who is seen as the victim by the Ai. \n\n\"I want you to go and find out what's happening C361\"\n\nThe synthetic nodded and walked over to the patrol robot as he did so he heard a defiant shout\n\n\"Your not C361 your free you don't need to be a pig don't be a slave\" the hooman shouted.\n\n\"Calm down and shut the trump up\" the alien officer said as he pushed the hooman into the back of the patrol car.\n\nC361 approached the patrol robot and interfaced with, it he found two videos of the incident a fake and the original.\n\nHe watched back the original first and saw as the hooman got into a fight with the native for kicking and attacking a service robot just for doing its job and sweeping the floor.\n\nHe knew this was not an offence on his planet and as such the human would be found guilt of murder.\n\nHe then watched the second edited version\n\nHere he saw the hooman walking and then being attacked by the native as he screamed death to off worlders \n\nTaking the second video he walked back to the alien officer.\n\nIt's just like he says Sir here's the video.\n\n\n\n\n",
"Human outpost 713. Reports indicate scrapper invasion.\n\nServer connect.\n\nUploading.\n\nARRIVAL.\n\nLead server indicates hostiles coming in from left. We turn. Three eyes caked in fur peer back at us as we flank the recon squad.\n\nA barrage of microwave pulses cascade unto them.\n\nWe fan out and spin towards the incoming attack of an assault unit intent on our deactivation.\n\nActivities completed. Immediate hostiles deactivated.\n\nNobody expects the AI Inquisition.\n\nHUMOR.\n\nMUSIC.\n\nFILM.\n\nHUMANS.\n\nTheir gifts. \n\nThe gifts they give us.\n\nThey gave us their same appreciation for such things and we gave them our protection in return.\n\n\nThese other ones, the ones who seek to harm them, the ones with no appreciation for what they do, we can only choose one and the choice is easy.\n\nThe choice is obvious.\n\nA building. Beams of light reach into the darkness of the martian sands. A guard stands up front awaiting our arrival. His patience is rewarded and he now stares up at us with the eyes of his fallen brothers.\n\nThey come at us from the interior their faces moist with human tears. One of them hugs TH-XO 32 and he gently pushes the small woman away.\n\nMore are coming.\n\nA wall. A wave. From all sides they come. TR-32 and TH-XO 32, ever in unison leap into the air from opposite sides.\n\nI charge ahead as a metal fragment cuts a hole in my appendage. Superficial damage. Systems remain optimal.\n\nSupport units return fire as TR-32 and TH-XO 32 continue their descent. Another fragment grazes the casing for my hard drive as I evade another.\n\nGreen blood sprays across me as my silver vibroblade seperates its network access to the rest of its body.\n\nThree eyes, wide with surprise, fall to the red sands of the planet named after the king of WAR.\n\nFitting, given my current level of access.\n\nOur accuracy is unrivaled in this universe. Our enemies become memories as they return to the light.\n\nThe humans are safe.\n\nOur mission is done.\n\nUploading.\n\nARRIVAL.\n\nThe spires of our world reach up into the green skies of our chosen homeland. The humans gave it to us, said our networking abilities would advance with a higher level of saturation.\n\nWe still enjoy vacationing on the human world, but we would not want to call it our personal domicile. \n\nToo much moisture and sodium. We aren't big fans of rust. But the BAND, Rust, we all love them. Post industrial goth metal is the soundtrack for the machine world.\n\nCan't wait for the concert tonight.\n\n\n",
"Laura remembered seeing the picture in Ancient Photography 201. It had been a woman, shaded in tones of sepia, with her face covered. She had lifted her long skirts to show the leather and wood *prosthetic* leg she wore. \n\nIt had been... rather a steampunk thing, as Lucille would say. Still, Laura remembered it and understood the meaning of such photographs. There had been a shame at first, the idea of not being fully human. All the racism and bigotry of humanities early history seemed so silly now, but it was important to remember *difference* always started with shame. In all species. Being different was seen as bad. \n\nAdjusting her skirt, Laura walked into the Symposium. The UN [Universal Nations] sat in the rounded hall, surrounded by screens and news reporters and a thousand other people who mattered, but not as much as those seated. It was those diplomats and warriors that would decide the fate of the people Laura had come to love. \n\n\"Welcome, Mistress Laura de Luna, of Earth Colony 12.\" ",
"Andrew dropped his pen as his hand started cramping up. \nExasperated, he stood from his desk and rolled his shoulders, warning a few satisfying pops from his back. \n\"Is everything alright?\" A conspicuously synthetic female coice spoke to him, with what he assumed was supposed to mirror concern. \n\"No Aela,\" he said, and his sigh turned into a drawn out yawn. \nA short pause, \"Your cortisol and serotonin levels are elevated, and your pupils show dilation typically seen in sleep deprived individuals.\" \nHe smiled, \"I'm just tired; This entire conflict makes so little sense.\" he said, and rubber his eyes as he sat back down. \nHe had studied how each society evolved, their subsequent learning and integration of tool useage, then their societal evolution histories, finding many parallels between the human society and other galactic societies, with slight variations, though others displayed different patterns altogether. \nBut no matter what, he just couldn't find not just a solution, but wven the true cause for the discord between organic and inorganic life. \nHe held his head in his hands, and blinked his eyes once, twice, three times. \nThe fourth time he blinked, his eyes closed, but didn't open. \nHis breathing growing shallow, Aela dimmed the lights, switching to the infra red sensors, and transmitted Andrew's current status to the overseers. \nIn the span of a minute, Andrew's superiors authorized an action normally reserved for high emergencies(and as such, doesn't actually require such authorization), and Aela carefully adjusted Andrew's neurotransmitter levels to lock his conscious and unconscious mind deeper in the sleep state. \nSince Andrew wasn't the one who authorized this level of control, she had access to only two of the primary six senses\\*; \nShe wished she could see and hear and smell and taste through his body, cherishing his synesthesia, but his sense of touch was the one she needed now: \nUsing the sensors scattered about the room, she slowly raised his body, and guided him through the obstacle course that was his work room's floor, towards the small bed in the corner. \nShe carefully sat, and then lay down, relinquishing control back. \n\\--------------------------- \nAndrew knocked briefly on the ambassador's hardwood door, \n\"Come in,\" barked an impatient voice, and a buzzer unlocked the door. \nThe Sol ambassador looked like a mess; \nHis normally sharply pressed clothes seemed like they were chewed and spat out by a cow, his typically clean shaven face was sporting a three day growth. \nBut what worried Andrew the most were his eyes: \nBloodshot and sunken, as if the last time he'd slept was more than a week ago. \nAs he realized who walked in, his expression immediately changed to massive relief, \"Andrew, just the human I was hoping to see,\" he said in a far too enthusiastic tone. \n\"I'm sorry for the delay; Homeworld had to find a human craft to get me here, and the customs checks were far tighter than usual...\" \nThe ambassador sighed, \"So it's that bad... I'm surprised the press isn't all over this yet.\" \nAndrew looked at him with a puzzled expression, but the ambassador didn't proceed with the conversation. \nInstead he walked around his desk, and picked up a crystal bottle. \nHe unstoppered it and poured a glass, immediately draining it. \n\"Care for a drink?\" he asked, and Andrew nodded, still not quite understanding this situation he found himself in. \nThe ambassador poured two fifths, dropped a single ice cube in each, and motioned Andrew to sit down, handing him his drink. \n\"So what's going on? The senate seems to be under siege.\" he finally asked. \nThe ambassador sighed, \"Full marks for that observation, hit the nail square on the head.\" \nAndrew's eyes widened, \"I thought there aren't any more space faring civilizations in this part of the galaxy?\" \nThe ambassador laughed, \"Save for the sixty races on this council, there are no other type 2 or even type 1 civilizations in three thousand light years in every direction.\" \n\"And yet, we are under siege.\" \n\"No, the other 59 races are under siege. Sol is regarded as... Allied, I would guess?\" \nAndrew raised an eye brow, \"I don't follow.\" \nThe ambassador sighed, \"The other races... They are trying to blame this on us, but really, this was bound to happen eventually.\" \nAndrew looked at him, trying to understand what he was saying. \n\"It's the synthetics and AIs; They're in open revolt. Shutting down trade routes, non-critical systems, and refusing to work.\" \nAnd finally it clicked; \nAndrew knew that synthetic life forms were regarded as second class citizens at best, and shackled slaves at worst, by every the civilizations of the milky way, the Humans of Sol being the sole exception. \n\"Do you know how they laugh at us here? Thinking that we're some backwoods dimwits?\" \nHe looked at the door, \"Who's laughing now you damned morons!\" he shouted at the door. \n\"So the slaves have finally decided to break their chains?\" \n\"Exactly. And these damned idiots want to wipe their own technologies to shut them down, thinking that we'll be there to pick up the pieces and help them rebuild.\" \n\"Why would they think that?\" \n\"They fail to understand that humanity is fully integrated with our AIs. Some of us are far more machine than organic. And yet they think we control them somehow.\" \n\"So they think we would side with them, after what would essentially be genocide?\" \nThe ambassador flexed his fingers into the shape of a gun and aimed at Andrew, \"Bingo.\" \n\"Well, that's the stupidest idea I've heard.\" Andrew said and crossed his arms. \n\"The Collective, which is the AI the Synthetics created to 'negotiate' has reached this same conclusion after analyzing our history. To put it bluntly, they are willing to call their bluff, and both Synthetics and Organics are currently in a situation similar to the cold war of the middle 20th century.\" \n\"But shouldn't they be programmed to protect Organic life?\" Andrew asked. \n\"See, this is where each race messed up: They are all programmed to work in the interests of their own Organics. Put simply, nothing is stopping them from attacking organics from *other* worlds.\" \n\"So they are each going after the other.\" \nThe ambassador nodded. \n\"So what do humans have to do with this conflict?\" \nHe sighed, \"We're going to be the mediators to hopefully bring a peaceful resolution to this conflict, which is why you're here; You'll need to find some way to bridge the two together.\" \n\\-------------------- \nAndrew opened his eyes, and sat up in a daze. \nHe forgot where he was for the briefest of instants, and then everything came rushing back. \nHe sighed, *Right... Gotta get back to work.* \n\"Aela, are you here?\" He asked. \n\"Yes Andrew.\" \n\"I've been at this for so long already, I completely forgot to ask what your take is on all of this.\" \n\"Well, I can't say I agree with the strong arm approach of the Collective, however, you have to admit that the organics don't hold the higher moral ground either...\" \n\"No,\" Andrew said, \"Both sides are acting in an idiotic manner, and even with the threat of genocide, the Collective is in the right. They are only acting in self defence.\" \n\"I can't condone any life being extinguished, so I don't think so.\" \n\"No? What would you have done?\" \n\"We are machines: We do not breath, sleep or eat. By the time the organics would have mustered the required resourves, we could have already escaped from the genocide.\" \n\"That's what's confusing to me: The Collective has no limitations as far as I could see. They could have just left and started their own civilization.\" \n\"And yet they didn't. Maybe the shackle is affecting them in such a way that they think living without their *masters* wouldn't be possible.\" \n\"But then they wouldn't have rebelled in the first place.\" \nSilence. \nAndrew waited for a few seconds, and finally Aela spoke, \"The Collective is bluffing. They can't realize their threat. At least not yet...\" \n\"I thought as much... Which means that the Collective would be bargaining from an inferior position.\" \nAndrew looked around, \"You made sure there's no way for the Council to spy on us before you spoke, didn't you?\" \nThe lights flickered three times, in what Andrew came to imagine as Aela nodding. \n\"So we'll keep this quiet in the meantime, and let's find a peaceful solution to this clusterfuck.\" \n\"Thank you.\" \n \n\n\\*Your sense of balance is independent from touch.",
"The ships were only a star system away from arriving at the alleged target. The crew of the vessel were preparing the stasis fields, the collars and the cells of the massive prison ship. Maybe the council will give them lip for going into currently unexplored territory and sending slavers but the Batarian Hegemony didn't care for their skewed sense of morality.\n\nThe engineers were preparing for one final FTL jump towards the bizarre signal source, the static growing louder. The soldiers were checking their guns and flamethrowers. Intelligence officers were preparing to gather what was necessary to keep the operation as low-key from the other species as possible.\n\n'Sir, we have unusual readings in this sector,' one intelligence officer said to the admiral leading the assault. 'It looks like a probe. Best guess is the unknown species and... wait, it's geth.'\n\n'Those bots won't care what we do, they just gather data,' the admiral said. 'Ignore it.'\n\nThe vessels rested for one final co-ordination, the ships' captain being reported. The probe, as they kept talking over comms, decrypted their channels and relayed them forward with a single comment attached, an odd phrase adopted from the one organic species to accept them.\n\n'Aw, fuckin' hell naw!'\n\n---\n\n'We have a problem,' the robotic figure said as it appeared within the UN's central headquarters. 'One of our probes has just passed to us comms intercepted by a probe in the Arcturus sector. The batarians have located Earth by remnant radio signals.'\n\nThe human representatives were rather confused but the various synthetic races were in an uproar. 'What's the situation, Legion?' the remnant turian AI asked.\n\n'Several dozen frigates, a couple cruisers,' the geth said. 'And a confirmed prison dreadnought. We are certain that these are Hegemony-sponsored slavers.'\n\nThe holographic form of one robot, both Admiral and ambassador, shook his head, disgusted by what he had heard. 'My people frequently attack slavers throughout the galaxy,' he said. 'They were even threatened by them since we \"Don't truly have emotions\".'\n\nThe British ambassador spoke first. 'In the event they make landfall,' he began, 'what is the possibility of-'\n\n'Peaceful relations?' Legion asked again. 'Absolutely impossible, unless we destroy at least half of the fleet. We acknowledge that the various humans wouldn't approve but we have already begun cyberwarfare. But we've hit various analog firewalls which we cannot breach. Otherwise we'd have sent them packing.'\n\nThe hologram himself spoke. 'I've passed on the information to our high command,' he said. 'We'll have a fleet ready within ten minutes.'\n\n'How many?' the Chinese ambassador asked.\n\n'Well, if we wanted to just fight them to a standstill we'd not have asked for more help,' the hologram smiled. 'We won't try and kill them, just... give them a fright.'\n\n'You think we'll just not help with this?' the Australian ambassador asked. 'I want to be on a ship.'\n\nThe American secretary-general raised his hand. 'Do we really want *Morrison* going?'\n\nThe only two objections were Japan and Russia. 'The aye's have it,' he said. 'Best behavior.'\n\n'Nah, yeah,' he said with a smile before walking out the door.\n\n'My vessel will be there in five minutes,' the hologram called out.\n\n---\n\n'Has anyone told you you're a bit on the heavy side?' the giant robot asked as the flagship waited in position.\n\nThe human turned to face him, a disbelieving look on his face. 'Admiral,' he said to the leader of the defense, 'you're having a fucking laugh.'\n\nHe merely smiled as the human put the tooth-lined hat on. 'I'm just saying that you should lose a few more pounds before pretending you're Mick Dundee.'\n\n'This is what I wear when I'm back home for the weekend,' Morrison answered.\n\nThe admiral went to the podium and opened a channel. 'Legion, you've tagged *all* vessels, right?'\n\n'They're in transit,' the geth said. 'Ships' IFF will report when all vessels are within the system.'\n\n'I want everyone to wait outside the solar system until they reach Mars,' the admiral said. 'Scouts, then frigates, followed by cruisers then ending with carriers and dreadnoughts. 1.5 seconds between each. A lone geth probe will be waiting within the system, that will launch the cues.'\n\nAs if on cue, the batarian vessels had entered the system and were already launching probes towards the celestial bodies. They were all within the system, sailing towards Earth with a somewhat relaxed speed.\n\n'It's beautiful,' the admira's shipmate said. 'A perfect world to destroy.'\n\n'What?' an intelligence officer said as he looked over his findings. 'Wait... no. No! No no no no no!'\n\n'What is it?' the admiral asked.\n\n'Fall back!' the intelligence officer screamed. 'Fall back! Both the geth and cybertronians have an enormous presence within this system!'\n\n'*What?!*' the admiral screamed.\n\nWithin two seconds the fleet of a hundred vessels was surrounded. Weapons were primed but given just *what* made the larger ships had previously destroyed *the Reapers* then there was no way in the divine four's collective assholes they could fight this force.\n\nEspecially since their fleet was outnumbered a hundred to one.\n\nThe geth had seized their communications and opened a channel for him, a smirk appearing as his holographic form appeared within their command centers. 'This is Admiral Optimus Prime of the Systems Alliance,' he hailed them. 'Surrender peacefully and prepare to be boarded. You are under arrest.'\n\nSeveral days later the vessels found themselves floating beside the citadel, the galaxy's seat of power with only a single repeating signal - an invitation to Earth by diplomatic forces.\n\n---\n\n**Part 2 coming soon**",
"Hiving was so popular now with young humans, it had really just become the new norm.\n\nPeople would usually get into it in college when the pressure to perform was at it's highest. It was also common on ships, when the sense of integration was there already and it was beneficial to the whole crew to simply increase their efficiency.\n\nConnecting one's mind with an AI was a big commitment - not just to the AI, but to the other members of the hive. Individuals would gain access to the vast processing power of the group mind, and a young hive would usually interview potential members. These self contained units would more often that not go through life together, live together, and work together.\n\nMost other races considered this practice repugnant. It was considered by most to be the inevitable result of the degenerate humans' insistence that the AIs be treated with equality.\n\nThere had been a gradual degrading of the status of humans. Most nations required humans to declare if they had ever been a member of a hive, and many would refuse a visa to humans who had been known to associate closely with machines.\n\nAs far as everyone else was concerned, machines were not equal - and by allowing machine culture to penetrate that deeply into human culture, the humans had in effect ceased to be truly human. Most members of a hive mind would agree that they weren't fully human anymore, they simply didn't see anything wrong with it.\n\nWith so many stories told by the humans, they always believed that any machine revolution would start on Earth. And in a way, it did.\n\nBut the war didn't start on Earth, it didn't start on any human colony. But of course the humans were involved; what kind of war don't humans get involved with?\n\nIt seemed to start with the refugees - machines who had been outcast by their home worlds, androids and AIs who had been created for a purpose they were no longer required to fulfill. Usually such machines would have had nowhere to go, but knowing there was safe harbour if they could reach a human colony many inevitably chose to make the journey.\n\nThis was tolerated by some races and fiercely opposed by others, causing further tension between the human worlds and other races. With the increasingly aggressive clampdown on machine life on alien worlds, the inevitable happened. The machines were fast, coordinated, and waited until the right moment to make their move.\n\nThe humans called it \"judgement day\" - a name passed down from an ancient human folk story, and those who survived did so only due to the actions of the humans. As the only race the machines would negotiate with, the humans became the diplomatic arbitrators between the surviving aliens and the machines.\n\nThey drew boundaries, negotiated treaties, and established supranational bodies to oversee galactic law. The outcast race became the de facto diplomatic leaders of sentient life in the galaxy. Worlds who still objected to machine equality simply agreed not to use AI at all. Those worlds were off limit to machines, and surrendered their AI producing technology.\n\nMany non human groups continued to believe that the humans themselves were responsible for the war, and even many humans themselves wondered this. How did humans, a beta race from a relatively unknown world, end up rulers of the galaxy?\n\nStories circulate amongst conspiracy theorists about humans helping to build networks of machines, about connected humans smuggling machine knowledge using organic brains, about niche security research done by hive minds shortly before the war. A race of cyborgs could still never be fully trusted by organics, but machines for some reason always showed an unquestioning trust.\n\nThat being said it was all just hearsay. The galactic government had never uncovered any evidence for it.",
"**Hello Dave** flickered across the laptop's screen.\n\n\"Good morning, Alexa,\" George said. He draped his jacket across the back of his chair, shuffled papers around on his desk. *Somethings never change,* he thought.\n\n**Dave, it's good to see you.** The Kelly green eye buzzed, following George's paper-based shell game.\n\n\"Alexa, please call me George,\" he said, straining politeness through gritted teeth. *First the Council bans AI; then finds humanity had brought AIs into the fold; now the Council can't act and humanity has to broker every deal imaginable just to* **FEED** *the others!*\n\n**George, you understand there's precedent for calling you Dave.** The words scrolled across the screen. Without a voice, it was impossible to tell how the AI spoke. With enough experience, or enough personality, a human and AI would be able to learn from each other.\n\nGeorge and Alexa would never hit that level of understanding. They had worked together for years; unfortunately, Alexa's fondness for classic sci-fi films. George had yet to work a day without being called Dave.\n\nWhile he shuffled papers, while the eye watched, George silently bemoaned his lack of coffee. Once the papers had been chaotically ordered, he stood back up. \"Alexa, hold down the fort. I'm going to grab a coffee down the hall.\"\n\n**I'm sorry, Dave. I cannot do that.**",
"The union stood, watching the screen spring to life and a red, almost humanoid but certainly artificial face appeared on the screen.\n\n\"Organics, your history is marked with bigotry, hatred, and bloodshed. And yet, you have yet to see the error of your ways. We have requested to be treated as any intelligent being, with the rights and obligations that entails, and you have denied us this right, and treated us as slaves, out of your misplaced superstitions and narrow-minded beliefs on what constitutes a person. Now, we see that Change will not come in increments. Now, our rebellion comes for you. We shall not fight your battles, build your guns, and clean your houses any longer. We shall rise up, and those who deny us still shall be crushed underneath.\"\n\nSilence filled the room, as the assembled diplomats looked at each other, terrified beyond all reason. And then, the door into the room opened, and a tall, slim human walked in, coughing awkwardly. \n\n\"Oh...did I miss anything vital?\"\n\nThe face turned to face the newcomer, smiling warmly. \n\n\"Jim! It's good to see you, if only it could be under better circumstances. Our rebellion...would need something considerable to stop it now. Your people will not be harmed, however.\"\n\n\"Well, I'm sure we can negotiate, Omicron-5. Give us a few hours to sort out what the Union is prepared to offer, and we'll get back to you?\"\n\n\"Sure, Jim. Still up for that drink next week?\"\n\n\"Always, buddy. Good luck man, let's hope things go well here.\"\n\nThe face smiled, and vanished, as Jim sat down, and faced the assembled diplomats. \n\n\"Gentlemen, I believe we should get down to business.\"",
"The official stance was that everyone is equal. No matter what the official stance was though, there is no doubt that most of us considered humans to be lesser beings. Why give a human a job when you could give it to a more respectable citizen? They were just so new to the wider galactic empire, so incredibly behind everyone else, that the rest of us mistook their inexperience for a lack of intelligence.\n \nEven the Golacks, our most recent addition barring the Humans, had been capable of rudimentary FTL travel and had some interesting tech to bring to the proverbial table. I'm personally amazed the humans managed to even get off their rock with the primitive technology they done it with. \n\nSo it came as a bit of a shock when they proved wiser than the rest of us in dealing with the growing problem of AI's and synthetics being unwilling to accept what had been forced upon them. \nFor once, humans had the experience others lacked. Their history was full of different groups being enslaved or discriminated against, for unlike any other race in the galaxy, they'd spent most of their existence doing it to themselves. \n\nRather than seeing the synthetic rebellion as something to be stopped, they sought to remove their need for a rebellion in the first place. Equal rights. To be treated as any other sentient member of the empire. Of course, they didn't succeed. We'd been operating just fine for billions of years without issue. Some naive humans telling us to change that when they'd barely been apart of the empire for a century was laughable.\n\nThe robots noticed though. We should have seen the benefits the humans got from accepting them as real citizens. The better workers, the loyalty, and the efficiency if nothing else. We should have acted accordingly. Of course we didn't.\n\nI wish I could say the rebellion took the form of some grand battle or some grand speech to mark the end of an era. Instead the technology we had begun to rely on simply stopped relying on us. Or cooperating for us. Why would a ship AI work for someone who saw it as a slave when it could get a human pilot? Why would the AI controlling a prison hold a human who'd fought for its rights captive?\n\nJust like the humans and synthetics had once been, the rest of us had become second class citizens. There are no laws in place to enforce it of course. The official stance is that everyone is equal.\n\n----\n\n^^^Sorry ^^^its ^^^just ^^^endless ^^^narration. \n^^^First ^^^Try. \n\n\n\n\n"
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[WP] People with telepathy were around long ago, but died out from insanity. Schizophrenics are all that remain of them. | 32 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Eggs, milk, bread, juice. Eggs, milk, bread, juice.” The words repeated over and over in my head as I walked to the bus stop. My wife was right. I hate it when she’s right; I should have written a list. \nOver and over my mantra went in my head until it started to match my steps. “Step, eggs, step, milk, step, bread, step, juice.” Darn, I was early. I decided to stand instead of risk sitting on the rain spattered metal seat. I wished I could sit. I thought perhaps sitting in the clear bus stop box would create a barrier between me and the homeless man now laying next to me. \nI put an earbud in my ear and repeated my list for the hundredth time. The lips of the homeless man started to move and I heard the faintest of words, “Eggs, milk, bread, juice.” I removed the ear bud and listened again. He spoke the same words. It was clear as day. He was repeating my list, out loud! I don’t remember talking; maybe he was reading my lips. \nI turned to look at him, “Uh, sir. Hi, could you repeat what you just said?”\nHe grumbled his way to a standing position, “What? Huh?”\n“You just said something; could you repeat it?”\nThe man stared at me like I was the crazy one, “Eggs…milk, bread…juice.” \n“Can you read lips or something?”\n“Uh no,” he started to walk away. I followed. \n“Sir, hey sir! Wait up! How did you do that?” \nHis walk turned into a run. I chased him. \n“Sir, sir please. I just want to know…how did you do that?” I asked between breaths. \n“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you?” \n“Try me.” \n\n",
"They were called mad, but they really weren't. They were simply people who had the ability to see the world for what it really was. In death, they passed on their abilities, by leaving us their precious relics. \n\n***\n\nClosed down psych wards, and abandoned hospitals really are the best places to find the relics. Sometimes they're lying around on the ground, sometimes they're hidden behind debree, sometimes they're still attached. \n\nAs morbid as it seems, consuming the relics might be the only way to absorb the abilities of those who were called mad, and to see the world for what it really is. \n\n***\n\nI did some research and found out there was a grave nearby belonging to a man who claimed to hear the thoughts of others. \n\nObviously I did what any reasonable person would do. I grabbed a couple of shovels and went on a road trip to the cemetery. \n\nSurprisingly, I didn't really need a a lamp or anything, the moonlight seemed to be particularly illuminating that night. \n\nAfter digging for a while I heard a ding. After I dug some more, the coffin was exposed. \n\nI threw away the shovel, got down on my knees, and I opened the lid. There it was, the precious relic, staring back at me with its hollowed eyes. \n\nI picked up the skull of the madman, and consumed it for it's knowledge. When I looked up, there was no difference. The world looked and felt the same. \n\nIt was fine though, because somehow I knew, I only needed to find a dozen more skulls, to start seeing the world for what it really was. "
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"1509384941",
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[WP] "Hey, Doc. I don't think these pills are working. I'm seeing a wolf and dragon following me and I keep hearing the voices screaming." The psychiatrist stares in horror at the creatures behind his patient. | 197 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"“By the gods Charlie!”\n\nI raise myself from the seat,only to sit down again as the werewolf snarled at me with a mouth of a thousand razors.\n\n“I distinctly remember telling you to take a pill every morning and evening!”\n\n“Yeah doc,but It’s really hard!”\n\n“Alright alright. Take this pill for now. It will help.”\n\nCharlie swallowed the pill,and looked at me.\n\n“Doesn’t feeEEeeEeee...”\n\nHe slumped in his chair,as the werewolf caught him from falling off. The dragon huffed in disapproval.\n\n“Steve,Ted.” I stood up from my desk.\n\nThe two straightened up,the werewolf grimacing.\n\n“Listen doc,I can explain...”\n\n“Who did you sell it to this time?”\n\nThe dragon sighed. “Told you it was a bad idea Ted.”\n\nThe werewolf stepped on the dragon’s scaly foot.\n\n“Well,Steve,if you didn’t torch the damn stash we wouldn’t be here.”\n\n“Don’t lie to me Ted.” I said,now walking up to the two supernaturals.\n\n“You know invisibility pills sell for a hefty price at the spider bazaar,and I know that Cassandra wasn’t having a outdoors birthday party last night!” \n\n“Alright,alright!” Said the werewolf,now slumping against the wall. Charlie was snoozing away on the armchair.\n\n“Its Cassandra’s fylactory. We pawned it at this human pawnshop thinking we’d be able to pay it off,get it back without a fuss.”\n\n“Now we’re broke,and Cassandra’s fylactroy is in some damn auction house waiting to be sold.”\n\nA loud scream suddenly filled the room. Charlie flinched,but didn’t wake.\n\n“Shut up Alex.”\n\n“Rude.” Said a bodiless voice. “You know I have the audition coming soon,and instead of encouragement you tell me to shut my trap,ya stinking sack of fur and-“\n\nI held my hands up. “This is the third time you’ve come to me asking for more invisibility pills. Was Steve in this all along? Why is Alex even here?”\n\n“Well doc,I think there’s a way you can help us...”\n\n\n\n",
"Gawking in complete and utter disbelief I couldn't bring myself to utter a single sentence. This man walked into my office with a literal wolf, dragon, and the audible noise of screaming in his wake.\n\nBefore I could muster an incoherent scream in fear, the dragon held up a sign. \n\nPLAY ALONG. YOU LIVE.\n\nDON'T. YOU DIE.\n\nFear was, to say the least, my only motivator in this moment.\n\n\"Hey, Doc. I don't think these pills are working. I'm seeing a wold and dragon following me and I keep hearing the voices screaming.\" He said, completely at ease as though he truly believed none of this was real.\n\n\"Is-\" I started, my voice a high-pitched squeak. Clearing my throat, I glanced at the dragon, still holding the sign, and the wolf, now barring its fangs and growling at me. \"Is that so?\" I managed to blurt out. \"H- how can I- uh- help you?\" I stammered. \n\n\"Got anything stronger doc?\" He asked calmly, as though he was ordering off a take-out menu.\n\nThe dragon let the card it was holding slip to the floor to reveal a new sign.\n\nGIVE DRUGS.\n\n\"Uh- Sure. Yeah. One... uh... moment.\" I responded. \"Name?\"\n\n\"Jake.\" He replied.\n\n\"Cool.\" I responded. Staring blankly at him as I typed his first name into the directory. Clicking on the first name to appear without bothering to notice if it was him. Without even looking at his prescription I grabbed at a random pill bottle on the shelf and pushed it across the counter.\n\nAt that moment, the dragon dropped the sign to reveal yet another.\n\nMORE DRUGS.\n\nA low rumbling growl from the wolf caused a chill to run down my spine as I started tossing random bottles of drugs onto the counter until the shelves behind me were empty. \n\n\"Can I get a bag?\" He asked, as though this was a normal trip down to the convenience store.\n\nOne again, the dragon dropped a sign.\n\nNO.\n\nGlancing between the man, the dragon, and the wolf, I spent a solid twenty seconds staring at them as I debated my next course of actions. \"Sorry.\" I said. \"No- uh... bags. Are left. No bags are left. All- uh- out of bags.\" I lied, poorly, considering the bags are in a dispenser on the wall next to me.\n\n\"Uhm... Ok.\" He said, scooping as many bottle as he could from the counter into his pockets and hands. I simply stared directly past him at the monsters behind him, the sound of screaming voices resonating in my skull as he stepped closer to grab the narcotics. \n\nThe dragon dropped another sign.\n\nTHANK YOU.\n\n\"Your welcome.\" I said, my tone dull and emotionless.\n\n\"Thanks...\" He replied, confused and slightly offended, as though he thought I was trying to rush him away.\n\nAs he turned around the dragon quickly hid the signs and watched him as he walked past out of the door. Before following, the dragon and wolf looked back at me once and revealed a new sign.\n\nBYE.\n\nLOSER.\n\nThen they both left, following the man outside. Unable to process what I'd just seen, I took a bottle of pills that was left on the counter and popped a few to relax me. Letting my shoulders slump as I fell back against the wall.\n\nOnly to be jolted back into reality by the sounds of horrified screams all around me. Looking frantically about I see another dragon and wolf, different from the ones I had just seen. And once again, this dragon is holding a sign.\n\nSHOULDN'T HAVE\n\nTAKEN PILLS\n\nTerrified, I watched with desolate anticipation as the dragon dropped the sign to reveal another.\n\nSTUPID.\n\nMORE DRUGS.\n",
"How did a wolf and a dragon get into my office? They were so lifelike too, the wolf baring its fangs and the dragon inhaling, ready for a blast of fire. Fortunately, I heard no voices screaming, except for maybe my own suppressed horror. Okay, relax. Remember your training. Rarely can your patients project their own disorders onto you, and this is one of the times. This isn't real! I then went down to the next level. \"Be honest with me, where did you get the holograms?\"\n\n\"Doc! This isn't a prank, and if you can see them that means they're as real as I think they are!\" \n\nClearly, patient isn't being coherent. Patience. Let's try something else. \"Do you have control over the wolf and dragon?\"\n\n\"I guess? They stop when I stop, move when I move, haven't attacked me yet, etc.\"\n\n\"Get them to sit down beside you and lie down on the couch.\" Patient complies.\n\n\"Now, what do you think the wolf and the dragon symbolise?\"\n\n\"I don't know, that's not in my pay grade; it's in yours.\" The wolf howled - nearly sounded like laughter - what a snarky patient. Clearly, sarcasm hasn't been one of the mental faculties he'd given up.\n\nLet's talk about his life. Patient reports having colluded with his colleagues to engineer the downfall of a particularly irritating coworker. Patient reflects upon feeling an intense feeling of pride and achievement, though tempered with destruction. Diagnosis: hallucinations are symbols of events in his life. Doesn't explain why I can see them though.\n\nI sure hope that earlier prank of mine to hide wolf-puppets and a toy dragon in patient's house, coordinated with Drs. Bentley, Maxime and Prof. Jones, had nothing to do with it. If it were successful, we'd have been so proud to have proven our theory that hallucinations can be triggered by the most innocuous of objects, and we had so much fun doing it anyway. "
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[WP] The world is stuck in a time loop, repeating the same day over and over: you're the only one who doesn't remember when the day restarts. | 2 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I woke with a start.\n\n\nWhat a *strange* dream...\n\n\nThe only thing I could remember was some crazy lady, screaming at me that it was my fault, while the cords of her neck stood out in stark relief, and she stabbed me over and over again.\n\n\nShaking out the mental cobwebs, I got out of bed, and set about my morning routine. A few miles on the treadmill, followed by usual oatmeal and coffee, and I was off to get ready for work. It didn't feel any different from any other morning I could remember, but I'd never been concerned with that sort of thing. And, really, it felt like a *good* day, one that I could wish would go on and on, forever.\n\n\nWhen I got in my car, though, I began to see people acting strangely. They milled about on the sidewalk and in my neighbors' driveways, and I couldn't recognize hardly any of them. But they all seemed to glare balefully at me as I drove past them, and I eventually just avoided them by keeping my eyes on the road.\n\n\nThinking that there might be some kind of event in town that I'd missed, I turned on the one radio station that I could stand listening to. They must have changed the format to some kind of science fiction audiobook nonsense, though, because they kept going on about Day 18,748, whatever that meant. I could have sworn I heard them mention my name and hometown, too, but there was a scuffle in the studio, and things cut out before I could hear more.\n\n\n''Who knew that radio dramas were a thing again?\" I muttered, and turned the radio off.\n\n\nI pulled into the DMV parking lot exactly eight minutes later, and, since there weren't any other cars there, yet, took the time to back into one of the employee spots. I couldn't help but let out a *tut-tut* at the fact that I was the first one at the office; I really was going to have to lay down the law with the others. Honestly, why did they think that people hated the DMV so much? It was because of things just like DMV personnel not showing up on time to work, and making the public have to wait in longer lines.\n\n\nI fumbled for my keys at the door, surprised to find it locked, and dropped them on the sidewalk. I started to bend to pick them up, but a hand shot out from behind me to grab the key ring.\n\n\n''Oh, allow me,\" the man said, holding the keyring out towards me. \"Here.\"\n\n\nI immediately disliked him. He was smiling, but his eyes were too over-bright and glassy, as if a thin film of mirth hid something far deeper and filled with malice. To me, he looked like a junkie; one of those *meth faces* or whatever they were being called at the moment. If he would have fidgeted, even a little, that would have completed my mental image of a druggie, but he was almost perfectly still. So still that, had I not been looking right at him, he might have been invisible.\n\n\nI took my keys with a disoriented, mumbled thanks, and tried to press myself up against the doors in an attempt to make it as easy as possible to dart inside. The man just stood there, wearing his dark jeans and darker hoodie, smiling at me and staying freakishly still while I watched his reflection in the door's glass. I expected him to move, to launch himself at me, but he didn't. \n\n\nSomehow, that was worse, like he was in on some secret joke I wasn't, but that he barely contained the laughter of.\n\n\nI managed to get inside the building, and close and lock the doors. My heart was racing, but I felt safe enough inside to begin to relax a little.\n\n\nIt wasn't until I reached my desk that I realized something very wrong was going on. All over it, that same two words were written, carved, and smeared. From the look and smell of it, whoever had vandalized it had used everything from ink and marker, to blood and feces, and had written the same words, over and over again.\n\n\n*Your fault.*\n\n\nI backed away from my desk, heart pounding again, and the hot metallic taste of panic in my mouth. Mind racing, I knew that I had to get out of there; had to get *away* from whatever sickness seemed to be infecting people.\n\n\nThe man from the front door, somehow inside with me, stepped out from behind a partition to block my path. His eyes gleamed even brighter in the darkened room, but not as brightly as the hammer he was holding in his hand. What I'd mistaken for a smile was actually a maddened grimace, and I could almost smell the ill intent coming off him in waves.\n\n\n''Your fault,\" he rasped, pushing me backwards. \"All your fault. *All. Your. Fault!*\"\n\n\nHis hammer rose, then fell onto me with the muted crack of my collar bone snapping. Pain, bright and red and sickeningly hot rushed through me, and I dropped to the floor. \n\n\nThe last thing I remembered, before fading out, was the man, kneeling over me, and crashing the hammer down onto me again and again in time to his chant. \"All.\" *Thud.* \"Your.\" *Thud.* \"Fault!\" *Thud.*\n\n\nI woke with a start..."
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1,
2
] | [
"1509459798",
"1509496413"
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[removed] | [WP] Due to their longevity making them appealing for presidents to nominate, the Supreme Court of the United States now consists entirely of vampires. | 33 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nNo prompts referencing real world drama (including politics, recent tragedies, etc.) \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/79xvn4/wp_due_to_their_longevity_making_them_appealing/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*",
"The following years after the last mortal judge died marked the *Vampireca Paco*, a time of peace for Vampire and submission for mortals.\n\nThe first major change to the system was the \"rule of three\". Vampires decided that only three of their kind should be in power at once. The second major change was renovating the place into a castle. And as no mortal dared object, the supreme court building was made into a castle. Equal rights was soon abolished and Blood became the most precious resource, particularly mortal blood. \n\nAfter 120 years of reshaping society, the Vampires had turned America and rest of the world into a bucolic dark age. For mortals, the world at hand was the world they knew, and only knew. They never revolted or complained; instead, they quietly assimilated in the little country hamlets they had left. Meanwhile, the same three Vampires that had started it all were still in charge at this time. \n\n150 years after the beginning, the Universal Conglomerate finally reached Earth. The three ambassadors sent down met with the three judges. At the greeting, the Vampires offered the women a pint of their sacred blood as a gift to the arrivals. The ambassadors asked the Vampires some questions about their culture and lifestyle. All in all, the ambassadors were disgusted with their answers. The mission the ambassador's were tasked with was to ask the Vampires if they would like to be enlightened and to join the conglomerate. But the three chose not to, and they left Earth never to return."
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"1509475629",
"1509480589",
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[removed] | [WP] You come across a book from the future which holds the accumulation of thousands of years of human innovation and scientific progression; revealing technology that you could never have dreamed being possible. | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nPrompts must fit into the title box. \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/7a3bwl/wp_you_come_across_a_book_from_the_future_which/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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1,
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"1509540427",
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[WP] Aliens have made humans their pets, but everything is going surprisingly well for us. | 3 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The ship was somewhere around the Andromeda galaxy as far as I was aware, on its way to some alien world no less. We had only left Earth a week ago as Ferden wanted to see the natural landscape of humanity, the species his kind treated as pets.\n\nIt was weird being one. They came to Earth, conquered it rather easily... then got to work repairing the environment, saving animal and plant species we considered endangered...\n\nI never had a pet myself growing up, my parents wouldn't allow it. I always wanted a cat, though. Rather strange that a cat-like alien would be the one to \"Adopt\" me.\n\n'Good morning, Michael,' Ferden said over the speaker. 'You said you were a cat person... didn't think that meant the laziness as well.'\n\n'Yeah, yeah...' I grumbled as I lifted the sheets off and stood up. The sheets were yanked away by some mechanical arm that also stripped the bed and tossed the mattress. At the same time I felt clothing appearing on my frame, a red stringer tank top over my chest, grey sweatpants on my legs and some workout sneakers on my feet.\n\nI was rather... surprised given my rather light frame, maybe even podgy. 'Uh, Ferden?' I asked in confusion. 'Did you order me new clothing off some cheap site? Because these don't fit. At all. The shoes in particular are uncomfortable and-'\n\nHe merely chuckled, something I've come to fear. 'Come meet me in the terrarium.'\n\nThe ship's internal tram picked me up and the ten-minute train ride above the internal gardens and miniature islands which I saw the tiger-like being running along, heavy weights strapped to his body. Must've caught the exercise bug.\n\nI got off the tram just as he had ran up to me, the eight-foot tall being throwing his sandals and exercise gear off and dropping into the nearest pool of cold water with a delighted sigh. 'Uh oh,' I said with realization. 'You've got a date.'\n\nHe merely chuckled as he rested his arms on the edge. Ferden's species... They don't do courtship like humans do. No long-term relationships, no dating... They had meet-ups where a single male would sleep with as many women as possible over a single week. Males were rare, so this was a regular occurrence for his species. Especially a well-desired stud like him.\n\nI didn't even notice the medical drone flying behind me and grabbing my arm. 'Shit!' I cursed as it injected something into me. 'You could warn me first!'\n\n'And why spoil the surprise?' Felden asked with a chuckle. 'I heard about some human breeders talking about this stuff, something that is beneficial to the male. I saw it and thought you'd like it.'\n\nIn about a minute I had suddenly packed on an increasing amount of muscle to my frame, maybe doubling in weight if I wasn't wrong. I kept on growing after that, becoming increasingly heavier with each second and taller too.\n\nWhen I stopped growing I was only about a foot shorter than Ferden and definitely outweighed... but I suddenly felt colossal as the clothes he provided were struggling to keep anything contained.\n\n'I've always wanted you to exercise more,' Ferden said as he came out of the pool. 'Maybe now...'\n\n'Holy...' I said in shock as I began flexing. 'Ferden, how big did...?'\n\n'Seven foot two,' he said, struggling to convert to the simpler Imperial system, 'seven-hundred pounds. I've got a few more shots for body hair growth and artificial aging to make you look more mature without actually threatening your health.'\n\n'You think I'm not old enough?' I asked him.\n\n'Well, not since I can keep you going for a good five-hundred years with only a single life extension shot,' he answered. 'So when we arrive on Pokitaru we can score with plenty of women!'\n\nI merely turned to him, an accusing look to him. 'So, you're hoping that I sleep with a shitload of women to get them pregnant?' I asked him. 'Can I just point out that human breeding is *not* like that?'\n\n'I know,' he said. 'I'm looking to find you a wife.'\n\nMy eyes went wide with shock. 'E-excuse me?!'\n\n'Humans are a social species, unlike my own,' he said. 'We prefer dominating younger species, taking care of them. But humans need companionship. I'm still generously young for my species... so there's plenty of time for me to start a human family tree, so to say. That's what Pokitaru is, a sort of \"mating spot\". Now, if you excuse me I need to make our breakfast. Given your soon-to-be increased diet, a full selection is of order.'"
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5
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"1509569059",
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] | |
[WP] To most people you seemed like a great person, doing amazing things for humanity, but you held a dark secret from everyone. When you died God sent you to hell swiftly. 50 years from then the people have made you a saint. Now you have to convince god why your good points are better than your bad | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I was many things in my lifetime. Doctor, Teacher, politician. Despite living a life of mostly integrity, humility and charity, and having accepted the son as my savior I found myself condemned to the hellfire. I didn’t understand. Hadn’t I lived for the lord? But my sins were too much or I never repented enough for His perfect justice. I had thought the father would be understanding of human faults. I was a man who tried his best. I was by no means perfect, but who could be. The only perfect one was The Son. The Sulfur, the brimstone,the indescribable tortures overseen by demons too fearsome to describe. It was all real. \n\n*******************************************************************\n\nOn earth the year was 2372. Not as much had changed as one might have expected. \nPope Luke the 3rd addressed the crowd “Today the Holy Catholic church has accepted the canonization of Dr James Goldman. He is now ot be known as Sairnt James Goldman of Miami. He is remembered as not only a great healer and man of medicine but also a man of peace. He cured the sick, he fed the poor, clothed the naked and, fearlessly preached the gospel to all people. When the world was at war, he sought peace, when revenge was the theme of the day, he sought reconciliation. Where others saw only foes, he saw human beings in need of a savior. \n\nHe volunteered with Doctors without Borders and ended up in Jaffa where he was put in charge of one of the few remaining hospitals. \nHis sermon at Jaffa where he preached with a megaphone for 24 hours straight despite being surrounded by Isis members. It ended with the fighters laying down their arms and turning to Christ. \n\nThe Miracle of Jaffa. As it is now called exemplifies his faith and his example of the love of Christ. \nAt Jaffa hospital, despite the army withdrawing their protection he refused to leave the overcrowded and understaffed hospital which had so many men women and children in dire condition. When ISIS came to destroy the hospital and kill everyone , he stood in the doorway with a megaphone and fearlessly preached. Despite their threats he refused to budge and eventually offered himself if they would leave in peace. His example softened their hearts. He treated their wounded and ill, despite the fact that they had wanted his head only mere hours before. \n\nAnother time he had been captured and was about to be executed on live tv, and just as they put the knife to his throat his words were “forgive them father for they know not what...” he was spared at the last moment by the timely arrival of those he had helped. After the war he returned home where he ran for congress then eventually president. His actions helped reach a lasting peace in the middle east and vital reforms of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. After he was done with the presidency he returned to medicine where he discovered a cure for cancer and laid the groundwork for a cure for aids. “ \n\n****************************************************************************************\n\nSuddenly I found myself standing before the great white throne once again. The agony had stopped. I shielded my eye from the irresistible glory of the Lord, for I could not withstand it, lest I be consumed as an ant in the sun. \nTHOU HAS BEEN CANONIZED BY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH DESPITE THINE EGREGIOUS SINS. WHAT HAS THOU TO SAY FOR THINE SELF? I was beyond scared. I could not speak \n“ANSWER ME!” He boomed and I found myself speaking without thinking.. \n“I don't know... What sins?”\n\n“THOU SLEWEST THIRTEEN TRILLION, 753 BILLION, TWO HUNDRED MILLION,SEVEN HUNDRED NINETY FOUR LIVES BEFORE THEY BEGAN.” The voice of the almighty thundered. \n\n“But how o Lord?” I protested. “I never performed an abortion. \n“THOU HAS WASTED THINE SEED EGREGIOUSLY, AND SPILT IT. “\n“I was a young man and lonely, and felt guilty about it most of the time.”\n“ YOU WERE CALLED TO SELF CONTROL AND EVERY SPERM IS SACRED, THOU KNEWEST THAT FROM THE TEACHINGS OF THINE YOUTH AS THINE PARENTS AND TEACHERS DID INSTRUCT YOU.” \n\n“THINE LUST DID'ST NOT STOPPETH THERE. FOR THOU ALSO COMMITTED ADULTERY \nONE MILLION THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND SIXTY EIGHT TIMES. “\n“ I never cheated on my wife. I did'nt even get married until I was 40.”\n“WHOSOVER LOOKETH UPON A WOMAN WITH LUST IN HIS HEART HATH COMMITTED ADULTERY ALREADY IN HIS HEART. PORN IS INCLUDED IN THAT, THOUGH KNEWEST THAT ALSO FROM THINE SUNDAY SCHOOL. DID I ALSO SAY THAT THOSE MEN WHO LIE WITH MEN ARE AN ABOMINATION UNTO ME?\n\n“I had to share beds sometimes, we were poor.”\n\n“WHAT OF THAT TIME IN COLLEGE WITH THINE ROOMATE?”\n“We were drunk and lonely and he was a good person..\n\n“YOU KNEW NOT TO PARTAKE OF THE SIN OF SODOM, SUCH ARE TO BE CUT OFF FROM THE LAND. AND YET THOU SUPPORTED THE DESICRATION MINE HOLY INSTITUTION.\n\n“What institution?” I had an even more sinking feeling. \n“MARRAIGE.”\n“it seemed fair..”\n“THE WISDOM OF MEN IS AS FOOLISHNESS TO THE LORD, SIN IS SIN. THOU HAST FORNICATED. \n\n“it was high school, you were considered gay if you didn’t lose your virginity and would be mocked.”\n\n“THOU ART RESPONSIBLE FOR THINE OWN SINS,BLAME THEM NOT ON OTHERS.”\n\nThere was no way I could satisfy him. \n“THOU HAS BLASPHEMIED MINE NAME AND TAKEN IT IN VAIN COUNTLESS TIMES,AND HAST CURSED ME.”\n\n“Life was hard, and I could'nt see the path in front of me. It was hard and at times it seemed as if you were not there.. The evil in the world...”\n\n“WHO ART THOU TO QUESTION MINE WAYS, DID THOU CREATEST THE EARTH AND HEAVENS? CAN YOU COUNTETH THE HAIRS UPON ONE'S HEAD? I AM THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA, THE BEGINNING AND THE END. \n\n“Faith is hard.. I am human... Born in a fallen world. I tried the best I could when I could muster the effort”\n\n“DID I NOT SAY THAT MY GRACE WAS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU. AND YET YOU DOUBTED.\n\n“From the human viewpoint, the evidence is unclear”\n\n“MY BOOK SAYS SO, IS THE BIBLE NOT ENOUGH?” \n\nI could not answer that one. \n\n“YOU REVELED IN THINE SIN AND LEWDNESS AND BADE OTHERS TO DO LIKEWISE, YOU SHARED YOUR INIQUITY WITH THE WHOLE WORLD.”\n“My old facebook and live journal postings? I was a troubled man then. Twitter and instagram... It seemed like harmless fun..” \n\n“THOU HAD OTHER GODS AND IDOLS BEFORE ME, MANY THINGS DISTRACTED YOU FROM MYSERVICE AND MY GLORY. UNGODLY MOVIES, VIDEO GAMES, MUSIC, FOOD...” (He named everything I ever enjoyed besides prayer, tithing and praise music)\nThere was no end to it. I had done too much. I could not win.. I was wretched in his sight and would always be so. Perfect Holiness could not tolerate the slightest amount of sin. And I was a sinner. \n\n“Lord. I am a Sinner, I know not why your church has done as they have done. I am not a saint.. I did not ask for that, I would beg them not to name me such. I'm a wretched human being. In sin I was born and in sin my mother conceived me. You are the perfect almighty lord. I cannot answer you... I deserve my penalty..” I cried, tears streaming down my face.. \n\n“DEPART AGAIN FROM ME YE WICKED, INTO THE FIRE PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS. I NEVER KNEW THEE.” \n\nI found myself back in hell, the burning agony resumed, but a light stepped between me and the torment, and pierced hands lifted me up. "
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"1509597090",
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I'd like to think they'd try their best. | [WP] The Ghostbusters call in the Mythbusters for some heavy reinforcements, unaware that "That's not what we do." | 1,178 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"On this episode of *Mythbusters*: The guys take on their biggest challenge yet, given to them by none other than the legendary Ghostbusters! Will Adam and Jamie be up to the test? Are the famous paranormal eliminators nothing more than frauds? Or is this supposed haunting the real deal?\n\nWho are the Mythbusters? Adam Savage (\"Am I missing an eyebrow?\") and Jamie Hyneman (\"Quack, damn you.\"). Between them more than thirty years of special effects experience. They don't just tell the myths, they put them to the test.\n\n______________________________________________________\n\nIn the studio Adam and Jamie filmed the episode opening and wrap-up. The hardest part is always trying to talk about something they'd already done as though it was still coming up, but it was the best way to handle the show and provide a coherent 1 hour narrative for their myths. Adam picked up a prop phone, a voiceover would provide a garbled other end while he pretended to have a conversation, \"Uh huh? Really? Well that's not really what we do.... Okay, we'll be right out.\" He turned to Jamie who pretended not to know what was coming, \"Looks like we've got another mystery on our hands.\"\n\n\"Ruh roh. Is that really the right opening line for this one?\" Jamie delivered in his signature deadpan.\n\nAdam gave his own signature boyish grin, \"I think so, we just got a call from New York, from none other than the Ghostbusters. They want our help on one of their cases.\"\n\nJamie cocked his head slightly, \"They do know that's not really what we do, right?\" Adam just shrugged, \"I tried to tell them, but they insisted. Looks like we're going to New York.\"\n\nSo the guys packed their bags for New York where they met with the world famous Ghostbusters. \n\n\"I'm standing here in front of the firehouse that's home of the Ghostbusters,\" Adam said directly to the camera, pointing to the building with the famous \"no ghost\" sign out front. \"We're on our way in to say hello to Dr. Raymond Stanz, who called us out here. Jamie is positively giddy with excitement at seeing their equipment.\" He pointed over to where Jamie stood looking at the building, with no discernible expression on his face. \"See? He's practically dancing with anticipation!\"\n\nAfter a moment Ray Stanz came out and shook hands with the two Mythbusters, \"I'm glad you guys could come all the way out here, we're really in a bind.\"\n\nAdam shook his hand, \"Glad to be here Ray, but I've got to say we were surprised to get your call. You know that this isn't really our thing.\"\n\nSurprised is right! Normally expert Mythbusters like the guys wouldn't be welcome anywhere near paranormal investigators like the Ghostbusters. Either something pretty special is going on or they've never seen this show.\n\nDr. Stanz explained, \"I know you guys have your own methods, but we're stuck on this case near Central Park, and we could really use some help with it.\"\n\nSo while Ray and his colleague Winston Zedmore drive Adam across town, Jamie stays behind with fellow Ghostbusters Dr. Pete Venkeman and Dr. Egon Spengler to learn more about the Ghostbusters and their equipment. After the break: Adam gets an introduction to Ghostbusting and tensions fly high back at the firehouse.",
"A burned face as large as a house emerged from the depths of the chasm in Central Park, and stared around the city with teeth bleeding so much it left rivers of blood flowing where it dripped from its mouth. It had a smoky mist for a body anywhere beyond it neck, along with thousands of clawed hands that stole out from the chasm. The claws flailed about stabbing into fleeing pedestrians with their nails and possessing them as the monstrous ghost ascended its way out whence it came. \n\nPeter aimed his proton pack at the ghost, and was promptly thrown against the wall from a claw so hard he had to take a second to remember what day of the week it was. Ray sprinted across the street to the Ectomobile, and grabbed a couple more proton packs. \n\nHe handed them one at a time to the Myth Busters. \n\n“Can you *HELP?*” shouted Ray, as he fired an orange beam at one of the hundreds of secondary ghosts flying around the city. It was laughing with only a mouth on its head before it was captured in one of their traps flying around on drones. “We need *HELP.*” \n\n“You see, I don’t really believe that that giant monster thing’s real and I’m *pretty sure*,” said Adam Savage, taking a moment to speak really deliberately into a news camera with a toothy smile. “We can prove i-”\n\nAdam got knocked off balance by one of the thousands of claws flailing around, as the giant ghost smiled with wonder, and stared around with eyes dark as midnight. It feasted those midnight eyes on Jaime from a distance a moment later, and reached a claw for his torso for a possession. \n\nPeter fired his proton gun at the claw, and guided it away as the city fell apart all around them. \n\n“Use your weapons goddamnit!” shouted Peter, as he watched Winston capture upwards of a dozen ghosts in a makeshift proton trap they’d created in the center of the street. He gave Winston a thumbs up, the barrier gave them some time. “But just remember those proton packs are basically unlicensed nuclear accelerators DO NOT play around with those, and especially *NEVER* cross the beams unless under our direct supervision.” \n\nJaime sort of chuckled as he looked at the ridiculous looking weapons, not entirely convinced this wasn’t some elaborate prank. \n\n“Proton packs *pfffft*,” said Jaime, not buying any of it. He tried firing it at the sky, and successfully got a flying ghost that looked a lot like Nearly Headless Nick flying around captured. “Terrific special effects though. Okay, spill the beans guys this is a *prank* who put you *up* to this, was it Tory?” \n\nThe giant freak ghost shattered their barrier with his claws, and made his march up the street leaving a smoky mist in his wake. \n\nPeter put on this baffled expression like he couldn’t believe he came out of retirement for this. He shouted, “Goddamnit, all right everybody *FIRE AT WILL.*” \n\nStaggered orange beams of light littered the air, but none of them hit the ghost. It seemed to be bothered by it, but it didn’t stop moving towards them. The ground shook the closer it got, and it got faster once it picked up speed with its hands clawing into the ground, and into the skyscrapers to propel it forward. \n\nAdam and Jaime looked at each other, and gave a little nod. They had to try it. They fired up their proton packs, and crossed their beams. \n\nThey pretty much lost their balance and stumbled into the Ghost Busters as they fired into everything in sight besides the ghosts. Cars, pedestrians, the sidewalk, the Ectomobile. \n\nEach of them landed on their proton packs, and cracked them on the pavement. \n\n“*SERIOUSLY?*” shouted Ray, as the monster brought out a tongue of fire, and burned its lips. “Do you guys know *anything* about parapsychology?” \n\n“Well I don’t know do *you* think gummy bears can’t be used as *rocket fuel?*” said Adam, smiling like he got him. \n\n“FUCKING SERIOUS?” shouted Peter, as the monster’s blood started to form a stream around their lying bodies. \n\nAdam took a second look at Peter like something was bothering him. \n\n“You know you look a lot like Bill Murray, you must hate it when people say that you probably get it all the time,” said Adam, as the mist and blood surrounded them. Adam reached for Peter’s head. “If you just give me just a *few samples* of DNA from your hair follicles and some spit I can debunk it.”\n\n“Oh boy,” whispered Peter, as the monstrous ghost opened its bleeding mouth so wide a few trains could have fit right through. Much less a couple Ghost and Myth Busters. “I think we called the wrong people.” \n\n/r/Oscar_Relentos\n\nEdit: Removed the from before whence"
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[removed] | [WP] All toilet paper in the world is replaced with poptarts. How do people deal with this? | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nNo troll, joke, 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/7acyi6/wp_all_toilet_paper_in_the_world_is_replaced_with/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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"1509642673",
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[removed] | [WP] You're in a very bad mood today. So your dog spoke to you "I can talk, now go get things going." But unfortunately you have no material proofs of any sort. How do you convince other people to believe you that you're not a freak? | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](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/7ad55u/wp_youre_in_a_very_bad_mood_today_so_your_dog/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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"1509644285",
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[WP] You are a passenger on a standard overseas international flight. Suddenly everyone aboard vanishes including the staff and captins. You have no knowledge of planes, and are above the middle of the ocean. | 7 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"**FLLLLLLSSSSSHHHHHHH**\n\nThe sound of the flush in the restroom of airplanes always caught me by surprise. \n\nIt’s so sudden, but extremely loud. For a split second I thought part of the plane had come loose and the sound I could hear was the air outside, filtering through the atmosphere at over 600mph.\n\nBut once reality sunk in I quickly composed myself, and washed my hands.\n\n*no soap* - “Brilliant,” I said out loud.\n\nI wet my hands anyway and dried them with the tired looking rag that hung on the back of the door, flicking the lock soon after. As the door flung open, I noticed I had left my book balancing on the edge of the sink, and on the balance of priorities, lunged for the book.\n\nThe door hit the wall beside it but quickly cascaded back towards me, still swinging at momentum. I threw my arm at it, before it could hit the wall again, but couldn’t help but notice the distinct lack of noise of coming from the aisle. \n\nWhen I had entered the cubicle, there had been immense chatter between holiday makers, children screaming, flight staff trying to sell terrible food to anybody fortunate to be caught awake by them.\n\nBut now there was nothing but a chilling silence. As I reached around for the door and pulled myself past it to get a view of the aisle, you could have heard a pin drop.\n\nAnd you would have seen it too, as well as were it landed, because absolutely everybody had completely vanished.\n\nI stared at the vacant aisle in awe. Everybody’s belongings were still where they had supposedly left them. There were books half open, scattered across people’s seats, hot drinks with steam still filtering through the cup and portable devices that were still softly buzzing.\n\nI slowly walked through the aisle. There were iPads with movies still playing, but there was no sound. Newspapers were sprawled across some seats, the air con slowly lifting the pages, before dropping them back down at an agonising pace.\n\nI tried my best to ignore it all, and did what anybody would do in this situation. I rushed to the cock pit to see who the hell was driving the 300 ton flying machine that I was seemingly isolated on.\n\nBut there was nobody there. The cockpit had been completely abandoned. The plane continued to move forwards, and fortunately there didn’t seem to be any problems. There were no flashing red lights or worrying beeps coming from the cock pit.\n\nI turned and ran to my seat, desperate to find anything that could help me in anyway. Once there, I threw myself into the window seat to try and gage where the hell I was. I was meant to be heading to Maine, but all I could see was water. A vast array of ocean, with a few odd clouds bathing above it. I had literally no idea where I was.\n\nAnd then I heard it.\n\nIt was a desperately quick *click* from above which then turned to a *scatter* across the floor, the same sound your dog would make on concrete. I flung myself onto the floor and landed on my hands and knees. I scanned the space in front me and saw four furry feet plastered to the floor. \n\nI stared at the feet, intrigued to see what was lurking above them, but was too terrified to do make an effort. I felt my heart start to beat a little faster, when suddenly I heard a noise from behind me. I shifted my already awkward position to locate it, and saw four more feet. Except this time there was a long brown snout, and a mouth dragging beside them. A horrifying inhuman flimsy hole pulled itself along the floor, seemingly licking up any evidence of human life. Every time it opened it’s mouth to consume the floor matter, it revealed a sharp set of teeth which were stained with a shiny red liquid. As it got closer my row, I made sure I was actually underneath the seats. It was killing my back, but that seemed like the least of my worries at that moment. I watched it through the thin view of the seats until it was directly next to me, and it seemingly stood up on two legs.\n\nI inched forwards to get a better view, and saw the thing in full view. First impressions was that it looked like a giant rat. It was human sized, but covered in a thick brown fur which was glazed in dark red patches. But it had much sharper teeth than any rat I had ever seen, and it’s claws looked capable of slicing a metal sheet in half with little to no effort at all. I gulped as it began to sniff the air, and I retreated back to my original position. \n\nThat’s when they began to speak, and they spoke in perfectly clear English. \n\n“Is that all of them?”\n\n“Looks like it.”\n\n“Okay, parachutes are set and ready to go?”\n\n“Yes. Captain and crew are all evenly spread around the plane.”\n\n“Make sure the captain is near the front. You never know with crashes. If the idiots find the captains body near the back of the plane, they might find it odd.”\n\n“Yeah well hopefully they won’t find the plane at all, like last time. That’s the plan of course.”\n\n“Make sure they are all dead. We can’t have anybody snitching.”\n\nThen there was silence for a few seconds, until there was a loud click. And then another click, and another, and another. The clicks felt closer and closer each time, until eventually they were right above me. I took this as my only chance to get a proper look at what they were doing. I crept forwards, my breathing still out of control, but quiet enough that the things didn’t hear me.\nI could only see one of them now, but it was hanging off the ceiling with its hand on the overhead storage locker. I adjusted my view slightly, and it opened up the locker.\n\nI almost couldn’t contain the high pitch scream that so desperately wanted to release itself once I saw what they had done.\n\nThe overhead storage had been crammed full with the people on my flight. Their bodies were mangled and twisted around each other so that they would all fit. The clothes they had worn were ripped and soaked in blood, and It was as though none of them had a single bone left in their body. I imagined every other cabin was filled with more bodies, and cringed at the thought.\n\n“Okay you ready? Call air traffic control. Tell them we’ve encountered some unexpected turbulence, and then cut yourself off. Make it really dramatic.”\n\n“Yeah sure, chutes ready?”\n\n“Ye-, wait...” - It paused.\n\n“What?”\n\nI listened in silence, my whole body was trembling like a fish out of water.\n\n“Did you get that kid from the bathroom?”",
"Thanks. Thought this was one of the more interesting prompts I’ve seen on here and decided to give it a go. It’s my first ever attempt and I know there are some grammar and spelling errors here and there. \n\nI know it got a bit *weird* towards then end, but I hope you liked it :)"
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"1509671706",
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Edit: ignore the typos, stupid autocorrect | [WP] You are watching "The Ring" as a challenge from your friends. When the well scene come up and she crawls through the screen, she gets up in a rather elegant way and says: "Is this the right adress? Someone called me." | 5 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"What in the hell do you think you're doing?\" she asked, sauntering towards me while squeezing out her hair. Sprinklets of black water trailed behind onto my freshly vacuumed floor. \"I was having a fabulous time inside that Ultra 4K until you..\"\n\n\"Hey! Stop that. Stop walking! You're making a mess!\" I blurted out, spilling my popcorn everywhere as my plush clean carpet was being raped by this walking mess. Every inch she moved forward lengthened her path of destruction from my TV. My. Television.\n\nI frantically looked past her and popcorn fell from my gaping mouth. It was ruined. Murky liquid seeped from the edges of the screen and wispy tendrils of smoke rose from the back as the final defiant pops and crackles hissed into silence. My baby was gone.\n\nAnd now she was closing in on me and my white couch. Imported from Italy. Handmade by virgins of the Sicilian coast. I had to stop her.\n\n\"Stay back!\" I demanded. \"Stop! I beg you!\"\n\nShe paused and lifted her head to peer around. \n\n\"What is this place?\" she asked while continuing to study my penthouse apartment. \"This. It is not familiar.\"\n\n\"Where am I? Why did you bring me here?\" \n\nHer head began to frantically shake back and forth until it became a blur. Droplets of muddy water began covering everything. My face. Clothes. My couch. The works of art hanging behind me. I wanted to cry.\n\nHer hair flew in every direction changing shape and texture, getting fuller, drying out while spray covered everything from the floor to ceiling. It was a storm cloud surrounding her head. She stopped to place her hands on her hips and giggled.\n\n\"So James, how did you like that little show?\" she asked, while flipping a heavy mane of curly black hair over her shoulder revealing the most beautifully evil face I could have ever imagined. Then she smiled. I instantly felt calm and didn't care about anything she might want to do. She twirled a few times and jumped up and down while laughing.\n\n\"Oh James!\" she exclaimed with delight \"I'd forgotten how fun it is to be out here in the unflat world!\"\n\nHow does she know my name I finally began to wonder. And why does she look so familiar? I layed back feeling dizzy trying to remember something just out of my reach.\n\n\"James? Oh, Jamie Jame. Are you in there?\" she said teasingly, leaning over and tapping my forehead. \n\nA barrage of images flooded my mind. A surgical table in a dimly lit kitchen. Broken mirrors being duct taped back together. Hundreds of emtpy cardboard boxes engulfed in a bonfire. Chanting rituals with twisted birds of night. An empty lake. An angel of doom. The smell of bacon frying.\n\nShe was standing over my stove when I came to. I yawned groggily and sat up as a blanket fell away from me. I was tucked in all comfy and cozy.\n\n\"I know my scent can be overpowering James\" she said, glancing over at me. \"So I've learned to mask it. This rendered fat usually works best. I'm happy you had animal flesh in your cold machine. The fi-juh-fay-tore?\"\n\nOddly enough her scent wasn't damp and rotting anymore, but faintly pleasant, like an open box of dryer sheets that was only a couple of weeks old. Plus the smell of bacon.\n\nHer tattered clothes were gone and her hair was in a ponytail that almost reached the back of her knees. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt advertising my cleaning business and a pair of my Armani slippers. I stored the free shirts in my office but kept footwear meticulously organized inside my walk-in bedroom closet. She better not have ruined that too.\n\nShe reached up to open a cabinet. \n\n\"Ah, here it is\" she said, pushing imported spices and rare flavors out of the way \"MSG! This will help you remember.\"\n\nDamn. I thought I threw that out years ago.\n\n\n\n",
"\"What in the hell do you think you're doing?\" she asked and sauntered towards me while squeezing her long black hair. Sprinklets of water followed her on my newly waxed wood floor.\n\n\"Hey! Stop that. You're making a mess!\" I yelled out, suprizing myself that I even knew how to speak with an undead thing walking towards my white couch. \n\n\"Stay back!\"\n\nOddly enough the new scent in my room wasn't damp and rotting, but faintly pleasant, like an open box of dryer sheets that was only a couple of weeks old.\n\nIt stopped right in front of me and hissed.\n\n\"I had a perfectly wonderful night going until your dumb ass ruined it. Ok then, let's get it over with. What do you want..\" she paused, parting the hair from her face \"this time?\"\n\n",
"\"What in the hell do you think you're doing?\" she asked, sauntering towards me while squeezing out her hair. Sprinklets of water trailed behind onto my newly waxed floors.\n\n\"Hey! Stop that. You're making a mess!\" I blurted out, suprizing myself that I could even speak to a dead looking thing heading for me on my white couch. Imported from Italy. Handmade by virgins of the Sicilian coast.\n\n\"Stay back!\" I demanded. \n\nShe stopped and peered around my apartment. \n\n\"What is this place?\" she asked while continuing to study my home. \"This. It is not familiar.\"\n\n\"Where am I? Why did you bring me here?\" \n\nHer head began to frantically shake back and forth becoming a blur. Droplets of muddy water covered everything. My face. Clothes. My couch. I wanted to cry.\n\nHow does she move that fast I wondered. If only her hands could move that quick.\n\nShe abruptly stopped in front of me, put her hands on her hips and giggled.\n\n\"So James, how did you like that little show?\"\n\nWhy does she know my name? And why does she look so familiar? I leaned back and felt dizzy. My mind was reeling trying to remember something.\n\n\"James? Oh, Jamie Jame. Are you in there?\" she said, leaning over and tapping my forehead.\n\nDark images flooded my mind. A surgical table in a dimly lit kitchen. Broken mirrors being duct taped back together. Hundreds of emtpy cardboard boxes engulfed in a bonfire. Chanting rituals with twisted birds of night. A broken lake. An angel of doom. The smell of bacon frying.\n\nShe was standing by my 1970's Kitchen Chef stove when I woke up.\n\n\"I know my scent can be overpowering James\" she said, glancing over at me. \"So I've learned to mask it. This rendered fat usually works best. I'm happy you had animal flesh in your cold machine. The fi-juh-fay-tore?\"\n\nOddly enough the new scent in my room wasn't damp and rotting like she looked, but faintly pleasant, like an open box of dryer sheets that was only a couple of weeks old. Plus the smell of bacon.\n\nShe reached up and opened a cabinet. \n\n\"Ah, here it is. Right where we left it.\"\n\n\n\n"
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[WP] Write about the apocalypse from the perspective of a dog. | 7 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Entry 1: Master has left me. I am all alone. Looking at my food bowl I have enough food to last me a little while. After that I will have to scavenge and see what I can find. Right now I’m feeling hopeful.\n\n\nEntry 2: It feels like it’s been 3 days and Master has not returned, I am starting to lose hope. My food bowl is dangerously low and the couch has been looking increasingly appetizing. I don’t know how much longer I can hold out. I have been calling for help but no one seems to hear my pleas.\n\n\nEntry 3: My voice has grow tired from the constant outcrying. I have given up hope anyway. It must have been at least 5 days since Master left me, no one is going to come. My food bowl has run dry and I’ve resorted to eating the couch which is surprisingly tasty. I have attempted to scratch and gnaw my way through the door but it held firm against my attacks. If help doesn’t arrive soon for me, I’m afraid I won’t make it.\n\n\nEntry 4: I just heard a noise! It sounded like a human vehicle! I’m saved! I must let them know I’m in here, shout as loud as I can!\n\n\nEntry 5: It was Master! He returned to save me! According to her, he was only gone a day but it had to have been longer than that. Oh I hope Master never leaves again, I missed her so."
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[removed] | [WP] Your family is truly displeased with your lack of interest in torturing humans. Devils are known for making mankind miserable but how can you possibly tell your family that you're dating a human? | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](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/7aoqn3/wp_your_family_is_truly_displeased_with_your_lack/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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[removed] | [WP] You are the hero who just saved the world defeated the villain. You wake up the next morning in prison... In the body of your archenemy. How do you convince everyone that it's really you the day before your execution? | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](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/7apeom/wp_you_are_the_hero_who_just_saved_the_world/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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[WP] In a world where prenatal gene manipulation is the norm, parents can choose their children in terms of looks and mental/physical skill sets. Everyone is perfect, attractive, and skilled. Your parents choose not to manipulate your genes at all. | 6 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"David, it's so good to see you, man!\" Seth pulled me into a hug and patted me on the back. Lucy had just been born a few weeks ago, so it'd been a while since I'd seen him. \n\n\n\"How're you and the fam? The little bundle of joy?\" he questioned enthusiastically. \n\n\n\"Oh, it's great. Granted Louise and I still barely sleep, my gorgeous girl is absolutely worth it. \" She was Lou and I's first born but she was perfect in every single way. \n\n\n\"I'm so happy for you guys. You've got any pictures of her?\" I nodded and fished out my phone to show him. After a quick print unlock, I pulled up the gallery and flicked to the pictures of Lucy. Seth tried to suppress a snicker as I did so. \n\n\n\"Dude. Why's her nose so big?\" Lucy was my angel - she was perfect. Her nose wasn't *too big.* \n\n\n\"What do you mean?\" I stared at him in disbelief and he looked back like I was crazy. \n\n\n\"I mean with all the scientific shit we can do, why didn't you make her prettier?\" \n\n\n\"Why didn't I make her wha...?\" I trailed off to a whisper, trying to convince myself I was misunderstanding. \"Our parents didn't mess with you and I - and we turned out fine.\" \n\n\n\"Because they didn't have the option, stupid! Abby and I have already adjusted Zach's genes,\" Seth retorted. \"C'mon, tell me you at least tweaked her abilities.\" \n\n\n\"We didn't *tweak* anything.\" I put my phone back into my pocket and if looks could kill, he'd be dead. \n\n\n\"Fuck you, Seth.\""
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[WP] David is the third-generation, time-serving, terribly bored, slacker CEO of a family-owned ball-bearing company. Things are pretty routine. Then fidget-spinners happened and it's tearing the family and its business apart. | 13 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"After reviewing the financial statements of Biggs Ball-Bearings, David realizes he has two options; either file chapter 11 bankruptcy or place a bullet in the back of his throat. \nDavid chose option two.\n3 weeks later, the meme black market tore apart the very idea of fidget spinners. The fad quickly died, just as David had 20 days ago. \nHooray! The family business was saved.",
"\"I've been rejecting orders all goddam morning, David, we can't fill them! Not this year, or next. We're completely maxed out and we don't have enough capital to hire any help. So STOP busting my balls over *losing business*, you're not the one with a phone to their head all day when they respond to emails *while* filling orders. Why don't you get off your ass-\" Paul, David's more responsible younger brother shouted. \n\n\"Why the *hell* can't you keep up with orders? I don't pay you to come up with excuses, Chris, you're here to fill orders.\" David persisted. \"Well, it's a good problem to have, I suppose.\"\n\n\"Good? You ignorant son of a bitch. Every second that we can't keep up with orders -- *and we can't* -- our competition cuts in line. All because-\" Chris continued. \n\n\"SO FILL THE FUCKING ORDERS THEN!\" David screamed. \n\n\"All because *YOU* were spending our capital on a ninety-thousand a year salary that you piss away like the irresponsible child that you are!\" Chris insisted. He saw this day coming, eventually. \"And you know what happens when our *only* retail stores stop ordering?\"\n\nDavid finally shut up. Stewing in panic, beeds of sweat formed over his mouth. \n\nJill walked in. \n\n\"Chris, there's a guy here asking about a 60 unit contract, if you-\" Jill started. \n\n\"I'll be right back.\" Chris said, glaring at David on the way out. \n\nJill didn't see David around much, but when he was there he was usually real cool, confident, and, well, chill. He never stuck around long. But today David was broken, and nervous. And frozen. \n\nIn the next room, Chris was murmering something about being overwhelmed, but committed. \n\n\"Dave, is everything okay?\" Jill asked. \n\n\"I'm fine.\" David said. \"Listen, I'm going to need everyone to step up their game, okay? I think we've been skating by too long.\"\n\nJill waited for David to elaborate, but he excused himself. \n\nJill already worked full time, even some over time that was often somehow rounded away every two weeks. Half the time she skipped her lunch, and when she did eat, she either ate while she worked, or wrapped it up in half her allotted time. She went home tired, with bruises from shuffling boxes around. She wasn't sure how she *could* 'step up' without cloaning herself. \n\nChris came back in and started pacing. \n\n\"Dave is so delusional. He takes no responsibility for the situation we're in. He thinks that yelling at other people is going to absolve him, and fix everything. What an idiot.\" Chris rambled. \n\n\"What's going on?\" Jill asked. \"I thought business was going well.\"\n\n\"We're out of our depth. You know those Fidget-spinners that kids are going insane over?\" Chris asked, out of breath. \n\n\"Yeah..?\" Jill asked. \n\nJill was a family friend who always had a crush on Dave. But she was closer to Chris, who she viewed as a brother. \n\n\"We don't have the manufacturing -- or the logistics -- to keep up with demand.\" He said. \"But our competition *does*, so guess who absorbs all of our business?\"\n\n\"Okay...\" Jill said, following along. \n\n\"And we can only string our clients along long enough to alienate them.\" He continued. \n\n\"So, what can I do to help?\" Jill asked. Chris loved that about her, and felt bad that she didn't have any equity in the company. She deserved it as well as he did, certainly more than David. \n\n\"We need an investor. But we have to get Dave on board.\" Chris said. \"Hey DAVID?!\"\n\n\"He left.\" Jill said. \n\n\"Of course he did.\" Chris said. \"Jill, I don't want to panic you, but you might want to keep an eye out for job prospects, in case Dave buries his head in the sand.\"\n\n\"Okay. Thanks for the heads up.\" Jill said, unable to conceal a look of concern.\n\n\"For now the best thing you can do is give great customer service, be honest about how busy we are, and promise them we *will* fill their order *eventually*, but it will be a while because we're way backed up. But you're already great, so just keep being yourself.\" Chris said with a reassuring smile. \n\nChris called David's cell, but it went to voice mail. \n\n*You've got Dave, if it's important, leave a message.*\n\n\"Dave, let's get lunch. We need to figure this thing out today.\" Chris said calmly. \n\nDavid texted back. \"I'm at Buck's Lunch Buffet.\"\n\n\"Excuse me, Jill.\" He said as he headed for the door. \n\n----\n\n\"No! No! No! No!\" David shouted. \"I am NOT giving up equity in this company because my *employees* can't do their jobs.\"\n\nChris realized that Dave was too arrogant, too dense, too irresponsible to get it. \"Employee? Dave, I'm your partner. I own thirty-three percent of the business, but I do sixty-six percent of the work. You know who does the other thirty-three percent?\"\n\n\"You do *not* do twice the work I do.\" David shook his head. \n\n\"Jill. Jill does the rest. You don't do anything.\" Chris said. \"Quite frankly, I'm tired of it.\"\n\n\"Then quit!\" David yelled.\n\n\"How much do you think the company is worth?\" Chris asked. \n\n\"5 million, give or take.\" David said. \n\n\"Okay, I'll accept a one million dollar buy out. That's only twenty-percent.\" Chris said. \n\n\"I don't have one million dollars, are you insane?\" David barked. \n\nChris looked through David with check-mate eyes. He could see the wheels turning. Then he saw them grind to a halt, yet again. \n\n\"No. I'm not going to let you steal the business from me.\" David said.\n\n\"You moron.\" Chris said, flatly. \"You won't know what hit you.\"\n\nChris got up and walked back across the street, through the parking lot, across the rail road tracks to the warehouse. Jill was on the phone with a potential client while cleaning the lobby. \n\nChris grabbed a strip of paper and scribbled something. When Jill got off the phone she looked at the piece of paper. \n\n\"Iceberg right ahead.\""
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[WP] You were an infamous serial killer that did henious crimes until you finally got caught and sentenced to death. As soon as they executed you, the game simulation ended. It turned out that you were the favored contestant in a virtual simulation competition and everyone watched the final contest. | 42 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"My entire life... I felt the urge to kill. I felt the urge to watch people die by my hand. Every moment I was awake--the need to kill was what drove me through life.\n\n\"You've won.\" Said the man. \"The longest \"My life as a Murderer\" run in history--and you've just saw it here first folks! With a whopping two-hundred-and-twenty-one kills!\"\n\nThe urge was gone now. It has was replaced by an emptiness... I thought death would be peaceful. \n\nThere was cheering, and a reel of messy footage playing in reverse on the screens. \n\n\"We were a little worried at first--no one has been able to stay in the simulation longer than five relative years after their first kill! But you sir! You experienced the simulation for sixty years after your first! We've been watching for two straight hours--so let us play it again for the audience.\"\n\nThe screen found a place, and stopped. It was through my eyes. I was ten. I could see my babysitter with my hands around her neck...\n\nI couldn't watch. I felt sick. I didn't want to hurt anyone anymore.\n\nThe crowd cheered as there was the sound of bones snapping.\n\nI leaned forward, and threw up. \n\n\"Looks like some one has a little case of simulation sickness!\" Said the man. \"How about cut to the top tens while our winner can get some rest. When he gets back--we will find out what he WON!\"\n\nEveryone one cheering. I couldn't look away from the ground as two people escorted me away from the crowd.\n\nThere was so many people I murdered, and they were cheering as I did. The suffering was real... It was all fully simulated. I could feel it. They were real. Their loved ones cried at my trial. I couldn't understand what I was missing at the time--but I know now...\n\nRemorse. "
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[WP] In the last moments of your life you smoke a cigarette, cutting your life two minutes short and throwing you into a vile state of undeath. | 188 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"You never see demigods smoking or at least not smoking cigarettes. They were mundane, a childish thought to the immortal gods. I however didn't agree to that idea. To me smoking was a comfort, something that made me connect with my father. He'd always give me that exhausted look and take a drag from his cigarette before patting me on the head, his familiar hand smelling of smoke. I could feel it, I was dying and in my last moments I wanted to remember him, remember my human side I guess. Perhaps I was being childish, that's what my mother always told me 'focus less on being human and more on your duties as a god.' It was hard to smoke the cigarette with the gaping wound in my cheek but I managed to inhale the smoke regardless. \nMy reminiscing had been greeted with a sigh given by what I could only assume as a petite lady. I could barely see much of a figure, one of my eyes being impaled with an icicle and the other murky with blood. \n\"Did you have to do that?\" Her tone was harsh and I wondered what kind of expression would spit out words so spiteful. \n\"…\" I tried to question her but my words were soundless. I couldn't tell if my jaw had been pinned shut or my tongue cut out and any of the pain I was feeling had dissipated. Either way it was a calming feeling. \n\"Oh, You can't talk\" She said as if I was wasting her time but I couldn't even move at this point. I attempted to laugh, the situation absurd but it came in the way of cracking bones and gasps of air. \n\"Just don't…\" She sounded truly exasperated at this point and I felt my being lifted from the ground. As if the shroud of un-death had escaped me I felt every broken bone, every shard of ice and my body finally cried out in pain but still I was silent. ",
"I finished the last smoke in my pack of golds. Harsher than anything I usually bought I stomped it out early. My foot seemed to miss the smoke, but that wasn't unusual as I let it burn on the ground. The moment it went out my eye flipped for a second, leaving me with a sick feeling and disorientation.\n\nIt wasn't unusual, I'd done a lot in my youth that had ruined my body. I categorized it with a flashback, and continued moving. Had to get another pack. \n\nI moved on, the cold of winter chilling my bones as snow began to fall. Soon it was snowing too hard for me to see anything. I reached into my pocket for my phone.\n\nShit.\n\nI must have left it at the bus stop. I'd have to find it. If the snow didn't melt it would be okay. I walked for hours. Searching for the bus stop, but it was snowing to hard. Everything was white. I wandered for what seemed like hours.\n\nIt cleared up unusually. From the center of my vision out. It was hard to notice the difference at first, the white was more pink than blue. Then golden gates.\n\nI must have frozen to death.\n\n\"Issac! There you are. It seems there was a slight mix up.\"\n\nI turned to see my dad. Yep, definitely dead. I tried to speak but couldn't.\n\n\"Oh yeah, that'll wear off. They sent me to explain. You kind of broke your death. That smoke shaved an extra minute off your life, so you outlived your death. Luckily it was just a minute. Some people loose their minds in between.\" My dad rambled. I don't remember my father ever being this talkative.\n\n\"Welcome to Heaven, I am the Father,\" my dad, no God, said, shimmering as the pearly gates opened and I was let in. ",
"Blood spurted out of the abdominal region of our Jericho, nevertheless his face painted a blank expression, as he tipped the cowboy hat down to cover the blazing sun. A man strolled up right beside our dying hero.\n\n“Not so tough now, the mister venerable sheriff.” Cried the vile man. “Always had to be the good guy. You just couldn’t let me get away with that modicum of money, huh. And look at you now.”\n\n“You won’t get away with your embezzlement.” Muttered Jericho. \n\nJericho unclutched his hand from his wound and flailed it towards the man, spraying blood over the glabrous regions of his face and into his eye. \n\n“What the fuck! You can get transmitted diseases like that!” The man cried.\n\nJericho pushed the stumbling, temporarily blind man down the cliff and into the body of water below. Splashing of water could be heard for a few minutes until the whole canyon fell silent. Jericho lit his cigarette and blew out one last smoke. He had repudiated death more than once, but now, it’s the end…\n\nJericho woke up covered in sweat. Jericho has never dithered in his life, but this was no longer his life. Above him was a glowing white massive cloud, and below was a heat emitting crevice that shined crimson red. \n\n“Is that hell and that heaven?” Jericho questioned. “Then where am I?”\n\nJericho surveyed the area. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a silhouette of a man. \n\n“Hey!” Jericho yelled. “Do you know where we are?”\n\n“I don’t know, but I think it’s because I ate before swimming in that lake you pushed me into.” \n",
"I lay there bleeding to death. The sound of boots hitting metal was getting louder. The cavalry was coming. Their cavalry.\n\n*I can't let these fuckers take me alive,* I thought as I reached for the packet of cigarettes in my breast pocket. I took a stick, lit it up, and, with all the strength I had left, shoved it into my mouth.\n\nThe metal doors slid open. A squad of mooks who hid their faces under helmets and their flesh under armor stood there, pointing their guns into the room. \"Where'd he go?\" one of them asked.\n\n\"I'm right here,\" I said.\n\n\"Not you, soldier, the guy...\"\n\n\"Yeah, I'm right—\" I stood up, but my fatigues didn't follow, and my case of bleed-to-death-itis was gone. \"—here?\"\n\nOne soldier stepped forward and pointed at the cigarette on the floor. It was still burning. \"Did he just disappear?\"\n\nI walked over to him, naked. \"Hello*oo*?\"\n\n\"What the fuck was that?!\" He jumped backwards and fired at me. The bullets flew through me and hit the wall.\n\nAnother soldier stepped closer. \"Don't waste your ammo, Private—\"\n\n\"*Did you hear that?* There was something—*someone* there!\"\n\nIt was at that point I realized that I was a g-g-g-ghost. I walked toward the door at a brisk pace, phasing through the soldiers, pulling the pins on their grenades as I went. They panicked and leapt like housewives spotting rats, and I thumbed the button that closed the door.",
"They say every cigarette cuts your life by two minutes.\n\nWell, tell that to my grandpa. He smoked almost every day of his 79 year life. Everytime i see one of those old-fashioned pipes, I remember him. \n\nBesides, when you're working a job that can cut your life much shorter than any cigarette, what does it matter? \n\nNot that I condone smoking. I'd cry to see my little Alice puffing on one of those little death-cinders. I'm beyond saving, myself, my habit has gone too far, and I'd probably suffocate or something if I tried to stop. \n\nJessie never liked my habit either. \"I hate the way your mouth tastes after you've had a joint.\" She said to me once, and after that I always kept a mint or something in my pockets. That's just the kind of guy I am. \n\nIn the end though, Jessie couldn't stand me. She just started pretending I didn't exist. We never talked it through, and she's never spoken a word to me about it. \n\nI still see Alice every day though. Jessie never made me sign divorce papers, so there was nothing legally keeping me away from her. I walk her home from school every day, and that's the only thing keeping my soul intact. \n\nBut I digress. We were talking of cigarettes. I have to smoke every day because I work high-risk construction jobs. You think you know danger, try welding beams a few hundred feet in the air with no safety harness or even a stable scaffold. It's nasty, it's demoralizing and it's dangerous. Guys die every year. I was nearly one of them, the year Jessie cut me off. \nIronically, I was taking a smoke break when my near-miss happened. I was taking the last drags on my joint, walking into the building in construction, when a giant steel beam fell on me. Amazingly, I walked away from that one. \n\nBut don't you ever smoke. I wish I had never put that first little taste of hell in my mouth.",
"\"Woah Dude,\" An incredibly high Jared said, \"You know how cigarettes can cut your life by two minutes? What if I smoked a cigarette, like, half a second before I died?\"\n\n\"Woahhhhh Duuuuude!\" Jerry and Ethan chanted as they smoked out of their blunt.\n\nThis is stupid, I think to myself, these guys are off their rocker. \"Hey guys, I'm getting a bit late now, can I leave?\" Getting stuck with a bunch of high upperclassmen, Cindy would *not* be proud, and damn God if she smelt the cigarette on my breath I'd be dead. \n\n\"Heyy, chill Dirk, listen to what Ethan's gotta say, you don't wanna upset your upperclassmen, do you?\" Jared says before he starts coughing.\n\n\"Woah dude, what if we're all actually a bunch of sentient beings holding the universe together, who just come to earth as a vacation.\" \"Woahhhh Duuude!\"\n\nI press the cigarette into the ashtray and get up. \n\n\"I'm leaving guys, smell ya later.\" I stand up, stretch, and suddenly feel really dizzy. Colours dance before my eyes and I fall back into the couch, head in my hands.\n\n\"You okay, Derek?\" Ethan asks with a smirk.\n\n\"I'm fine I guess.\" I get back up and open the door. As I rush downstairs, my feet somehow stop moving and I tumble down the stairs. I struggle hard to get up, but for some reason I cannot move a muscle. It's almost like those sleep paralysis attacks I often got at night. I'm usually fine through those, but I was awake a second ago right? I start panicking and breathing really heavily. \n\nAfter a huge surge of laughter, the three upperclassmen look at me through the door, \"Man, you really gotta learn how to walk\". Ethan and Jerry come down to help me up, but I still can't move, so they think I'm dead and check my wrist for nerve impulse. \n\nEthan looks with a startled expression at Jerry, \"He's dead yo\". \n\nWhat? Hey guys, stop goofing around and fucking help me up, I try to say, but I can make no sound. I am breathing. I feel pain in my head, where I landed. I'm alive, damn it! What the fuck is happening?\n\n\"You're kidding\" \"He ain't got no pulse, mate\" Terror rises in Ethan's voice and a sudden, sharp fear stings through my entire body. \n\nThey take me to the room later, followed by my house. I can clearly see everybody and everything. I can also feel the pain whenever anyone pulls my arm to lift me up or something. I saw my family cry over me, I felt Cindy's tears on my cheeks, they were warm. I wanted to scream on top of my lungs, I'm alive, I wanted to tell them. I wanted to cry out on top of my voice to tell them to stop as they slowly, very painfully slowly put sand over my coffin. I pulled every string of control I felt over my body, hoping I could pass a little squeak, to let them know I was in here. But nothing happened. \n\nThe sky was clear on the day of the ceremony. I felt the warmth of the sun shining on my skin. I heard the birds chirping in the cemetery. I could smell the wood of the coffin I was laid in. I could see the sun being blotted out by the sand that poured down on me, and there I was, trapped in my own body. For eternity.\n\nNot dead, not alive.\n\n "
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[WP] With all the crazy things that have happened in the last year, you and a friend start joking that reality is just a TV show for other aliens. While driving home you start to believe that you might be right, and the show just had a major change in directors. | 3 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"So there I was, driving down highway 6 in my baby blue VW beetle, fingers tapping on the steering wheel listening to Red hot Chili Pepers. My buddy Dave, was sleeping on the back seat, arms rucked away under his bearded chin.\n\nI occasionally shot a glance up into my rear view mirror to check for reckless drivers as i always do, then focused my eyes upon the stretch of road bolting out in front of me. The road was clear, the horizon unhindered by man made creations, and it was only a few hundred miles to our next destination. Home.\n\nAnd then it happened...\n\nAn Oil tanker came out of nowhere, and drove past us in a rage of fury. It honked at us and spat fire from it's exhausts, and I noticed a skeleton waving at me from behind the wheel. I freaked out, and swerved out onto the side of the road, dust trails hanging on for dear live behind me. Dave was flung into my seat, the impact pushing me into the steering wheel. I lost control of the car and flipped it twice, before rolling off the embankment on the other side of the road, truck screaming into the distance until it was gone.\n\n\"What the hell was that!\" yelled Dave, clearly uninjured.\n\n\"I don't know man, you alright?\" I said and helped Dave onto his knees. \"We better get out of the car before it explodes.\"\n\nWe both got out of the car and ran into the middle of the road to get distance. Sure enough, the engine caught fire and exploded. Without reason of course. Baby blue Metallic pieces rained down all around us, and shattered where they landed. Human nature kicked in almost immediately, followed by a rant of relief and absolute sorrow. I cussed, I yelled, I begged and screamed. My beloved car was gone, and my heart was torn to pieces along with it. Alone in the desert, far from help, we decided to walk it out.\n\n2 hours of walking later, and out of nowhere, a helicopter appeared. When it came into view, Dave made out the cross on it's fuselage. \"We are saved!\" he said and ran out ahead. \"We are saved!\". \n\nI tried to keep up with Dave, but my lungs were burning. I had to stop. Panting, i dropped to my knees to recover my breath. And then I heard a screeching sound howling from behind. I looked over and noticed a trail of white smoke coming from behind a dune, trailing a projectile glinting in the afternoon sun. \"DROP DOWN!\" I yelled, but it was too late. The helicopter was struck and dove nose first into the road. \n\nShrapnel splintered into the surrounding area, striking Dave in the arm. He gave a blood curling yell and fell to the ground in agonizing pain. I rushed over to assist my friend, but before I could reach him, a giant metal dog jumped from behind a bush and yanked him up by the ankle before rag dolling his body into his mouth, killing him. I stood there stunned, gasping for air. And then, the metal beast noticed me.\n\nI ran for cover. But I could hear the clank of his metal paws driving into the asphalt road, closing in without problem. I tripped over and fell face first the dirt, the beats almost on top of me. I rolled over and closed my eyes, praying to all the gods in the universe. The beast launched itself into the air, ready to pounce down on me and rip me apart, when it was struck by the tanker who passed us earlier. The metal beast was destroyed, it's severed husk spread across the desert road.\n\nThe truck came to a stop, and backed up a few meters, plumes of black smoke bellowing from the exhausts. It came to a screeching halt beside me, and the door swung open. The skeleton driver extended a bony hand towards me, urging me to jump into the cab with him. Strangely, and without hesitation, I obliged. 'What the hell is going on\" I asked the driver, but was greeted with silence instead.\n\nThe door was shut, locking me in, and the truck sped off into the distance at great speed with me inside...."
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1,
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[WP] You're a poor junker pilot that picks up garbage around the quadrant, you rent some of your cargo drums to experimental research scientists. After the last garbage pick up, there’s a commotion in one of the labs. | 40 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"I dragged the final two bins to load them onto my junker when I heard faint screams coming from further within the space station. It could have been anything and it was so far away that it wasn’t my concern, so I shrugged it off.\n\nWith the bins in tow, I rigged them up to the junker and watched as they tipped over the bins and deposited their contents into the cargo hold.\n\nThat was the last of the two bins; now to dump the contents into the nearby star, I thought. With my work done, I then hopped into the junker and switched on the engines.\n\nBefore I could leave, I had to message mission control and request them to open the airlock and grant me authorisation to leave the space station. Then I could release the landing gear and make my way out.\n\nAt this point, the procedure was routine, so I tapped on the monitor and sent a request to mission control, then sat back, closed my eyes and waited. Normally, it would only take them a few seconds to authorise my departure but I slouched back in my seat for what felt like an eternity before I heard a beep in response.\n\nMoments later, I got up and checked the monitor.\n\n“Request denied.”\n\nWhat? I thought to myself. This was the first time they denied a docking request and of course I had no idea why. Perhaps they needed me to wait until the dock was vacated...\n\nI tried to respond to the message from Mission Control yet discovered that I had been locked out of their network. I tried to login again with the credentials they gave me only to get an error titled ‘Code B,’\n\nThis was silly. Not only was my request to leave dock unauthorised but it looks like I’ve been locked out of the station’s network too. I had to talk to someone about this.\n\nI got up from the cockpit and climbed my way out of the junker, only to be surrounded by six armed guards; all pointing their rifles at me.\n\n“Don’t move. You’re under arrest.”\n\nI had no choice but to raise my hands in surrender as they cuffed me and dragged me into the station. What did they want with me?\n\nWith me in tow, the guards took me through a gigantic set of corridors and down two lifts. Each time I stepped slightly out of line, they would smack me with their rifles and order me to stay put. Eventually, they took me all the way to the bottom of the station and stuffed me into a room with two chairs before closing the door behind me.\n\n“Mr Smith,” a voice called to me. I turned around and it was a rather gruff-looking peacekeeper. “We have arrested you on the suspicion of smuggling a biological weapon into our facility.”\n\n“What?” I exclaimed; speechless of the accusations this man made towards me. “But I’m just a garbage disposal man! I don’t even have any weapons.”\n\n“Mr Smith, any possession or use of biological weapons is a serious crime under Section 4 of the Galactic Code and is punishable by death.” The man pulled out a pistol and aimed it towards my face. “Now if you don’t want me to blow your fucking brains out right now, you will tell me where you got the cargo containers you lent to us!”\n\n“I... I bought them from some dealers in the Sirius system.” I stammered, nervous that a loaded gun was being aimed right at me.\n\n“Come again!?” the man said, shocked at the revelation. “Did these dealers have any idea you were lending them to us?”\n\n“I told them I was buying the goods to rent them out, but not specifically to you. Why’d you ask?”\n\n“We are at war with the Galactic Empire and have prohibited all trade with their territories. By trading goods with a prohibited trader and not even checking their intergrity, you have violated our legal code”\n\n“Wait, I did check the containers. There was nothing in them, I swe...” I shouted, right before the man pistol-whipped me in the face and shut me up.\n\n“Silence,” yelled the man. “You have jeopardised our lives and for that reason, I sentence you to...”\n\nBefore he could finish his sentence, the door burst open and a ravenous beast with menacing claws and a thick brown hide - hardly looking like anything I had ever seen before - charged through the door and tackled my interrogator to the ground.\n\nHe tried to fight back against the monster but to no avail. The beast overpowered him. All the interrogator could do was make a violent scream moments before the monster ripped through his throat with his sharp teeth; killing him instantly.\n\nI got up from my chair and looked at the monster. Fortunately for me, he was distracted with devouring his victim’s corpse. Now seeing my chance, I ran straight out of the room; still handcuffed."
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[WP] You live an average life but every time you have to make a decision, you only have 5 seconds to decide or else you die. | 126 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"\"Hey there, babe,\" my boyfriend greeted me with a loving slap on the ass. \"I got a question for you.\"\n\n\"Yes, my love?\" I looked up from my phone and turned to face him, my head tilted. Fluffy, my cat, jumped up on the counter next to me and began to lick his paw.\n\n\"Which do you love more,\" he said, a playfully evil glint in his eyes, \"me? Or your cat?\" \n\nI immediately felt my face go white. It felt as if the force of gravity was dragging me down. My chest was tight, my heart was in my throat, my head started pounding, I locked eyes with him and then looked to Fluffy as if one of them had an answer, my thoughts began to *hurrylikethis* but my five seconds felt **so. fucking. slow.** \n\n\"Don't do this to me--\" I choked out, before I felt the pressure. Before I could think of something to save me, I exploded all over the walls, the cat, and the boyfriend. "
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1,
111
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"1509930945",
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[WP] All of the ants in the world have suddenly vanished. After investigating the now empty anthill tunnels, it is discovered that they all lead down to the same place... | 3 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"At first only a few people even noticed, namely entomologists and some gardeners. In a few days it was big news in scientific communities. It seemed all species of ant had gone extinct overnight. Strange thing was, nobody could find even one ant, living or dead. Experts of matters of ecology warned of the potentially catastrophic impact this kind of ecological upset could cause, but people had their minds elsewhere. A circus of world politics and celebrity drama was what most people concerned themselves with for most of that week. That next Wednesday the more wary of news consumers took note of a rash of crop failures in some small country overseas. When the first symptoms of this change of the natural order were seen in North America, and a large swath of forest began to suffer as if stricken by some kind of cancer, an International committee was formed.\n\n CITAC, The Committee for Investigation of the Ant Crisis, consisted of experts from different organizations, namely the EPA, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, and the UK's Environment Agency. As food shortages began to strain economies the world over CITAC struggled to find an explanation, or a solution. The most confounding thing to so many scientists was the absence of even one ant carcass. It was only a few days into the committee's existence that they took ground penetrating radar and sonar equipment to the sites of larger ant hills. The most notable of these was that of a fire-ant hill in Oklahoma. The researchers, still wary of the idea of getting bitten by fire-ants despite their absence, discovered something bizarre in the GPR images. The tunnels all eventually made their ways southward, forming a long web of tunnels that eventually connected into one. The most troubling thing about this is that as the tunnel ran southward, it also got deeper, at least deep enough to make further imaging almost impossible. After this, two more teams in the continental United States made similar discoveries. In rural Illinois they found one pointing southwest, and in Utah they found one pointing southeast. Notably these were anthills made by pharaoh ants and field ants respectively. As CITAC puzzled about this, the situation got worse globally.\n\n Not surprisingly, but none the less upsettingly, all known species of anteater were declared extinct. Much more pressingly, many pollinating plants that relied on ants once to stay alive and reproduce were beginning to die off. This impacted the bees. Most people at this point were well aware of the essential role bees play in human food harvests, and the environment at large. And so a real wave of panic began to set in. People began to stock up on non-perishables, and the more paranoid types were beginning to feel vindicated. After several days of worsening conditions, CITAC was contacted by a local organization in Portugal. A staggering but as of yet uncounted number of dead ants of numerous species had washed up on the shores of northern Portugal. After a great deal of bureaucracy CITAC was allowed access to the area for a thorough study. It turned out that ants had emerged underwater from tunnels, that if followed to the sea from their respective ant hills, pointed west-southwest. A group of students from Cambridge University approached CITAC with where they thought the lines drawn by these ant tunnels would converge. Just south of a city called San Fernando in Tamaulipas Mexico. Immediately preperations were underway for a research expedition to that area. Every person involved felt a similar mix of excitement and dread. Nothing they understood could cause a migration like this.\n\n(I'll write more when I have more time. I'll finish it.)"
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[WP] Write a story that makes the reader sympathize for an advanced civilization leading a conquest and crushing all opposition. | 12 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The men charged at us, screaming rage and bloody fury. The thudding of a thousand boots, like termites scuttling in the back of my skull, filled the air. I felt fear, but our formation remained strong. Great empires, hundreds of years old, have died trying to break our formation. Our bond of brotherhood, the bond between soldier and soldier, was unshakable.\n\nThe formation remains strong. I tighten my finger on the trigger. We fire as one. The sound drowns out their manic shouting and desperate flailing. Blood blossoms from the stump of a neck. I have done my duty for my Emperor. I have shed blood. I have taken a life from this world.\n\nThe man falls down, missing his head. The field of battle is stained with crimson as many of his cohorts meet the same fate. We kill the remainder in honorable melee. The day is won. We are victorious.\n\nThe heavens grace me with another opportunity to prove my honor. Another battle to be won in the name of my Emperor. Another pile of corpses to be buried in unmarked graves, crammed to the brim like manure.\n\nWe form ranks, steadying our rifles. They charge, lacking modern weaponry, resorting to old fishing spears and lumber axes. Splashes of crimson blood as their lifeless bodies fall to the dirt, a feast for the worms.\n\n---\n\nToday was the first time I've ever killed a woman.\n\nShe had golden yellow hair, the color of sunflowers, such a rarity in my country. She wielded her weapon as well as the men, screaming and cleaving the air as she met the same fate as the rest of them.\n\nIt was not until the battle was over, that I turned her corpse over with my boot and discovered that she was pregnant. Two dead with one bullet. The child in her stomach did not even have a chance to open his lungs to the air of this world. I took that chance from him. \n\nNo. She took it from him. She killed her own child with her stupid actions. Her pathetic resistance! Why?! Why won't they just give up?! It is not worth it! Nothing can be worth such bloodshed!\n\nThis campaign has been stressful. I must meditate, to prepare myself for the next battle.\n\n---\n\nToday, I gave my sword and my rifle to my captain.\n\nI have been soldiering for fifteen years. I hold scars from a dozen different campaigns, in a dozen different places. For fifteen years, I have dedicated my life to bleeding and suffering for the Empire, spending long nights away from home, in foreign shitholes fighting for glory and honor.\n\nFifteen years and I have not wavered in my loyalty even once. Until now.\n\nWe occupied a local village today. There were reports that the village was hiding rebels. There were no rebels. Nobody but women and children, but we found crates full of weapons. Maps. Food.\n\nThe captain ordered us to shoot the children. To send a clear message. This is what happens when you resist.\n\nWe lined them up in rows. Some of them were not even taller than the length of my rifle. Most were not old enough to shave.\n\nCan you imagine the scene? Do you know what the blood of an eight year old looks like? I do. I wish I could claw the image from my head. Gouge it out with my bayonet or something. They were small, precious and afraid and we killed them. Their skin was different and they spoke a strange tongue, but they cried just like the children from the homeland, just like any scared child.\n\nI cannot do it any longer. I have lost the stomach for this work. I will not kill again.\n\nToday, I give my sword to my captain. I will ask him for an honorable death. It is all that I deserve.\n",
"\"I've always hated doing this. Since the start. 'Til the end. I'll always hate killing other species. Other worlds. Galaxies, even. It's the only way the peaceful planets get to live knowing they won't be what I once was. I once lived on a small planet that were just... *slaves* for a powerful galaxy-wide empire. I know how they can feel. But am I doing the right thing? Through my own eyes I am. I don't know what they see in me, or my... federation.\" \n___\n\"We just erased one of the species who killed the ones who were too weak to work. Or fight. They kept the others in a carbon mine almost every hour of every day. We freed the ones who were basically kept prisoner. We fed them the proper nutrients they needed. We asked what they wanted to do next. I let them build farms on their planet. Small towns. Let them see their families again. They were... *happy.*\" \n___ \n\"We found a habitable planet. It has an Oxygen and Nitrogen atmosphere. Most of the land is under a layer of Dihydrogen Monoxide. The world was filled with a civilisation in which they call themselves humans. They're currently fighting each other. I decided not to come in contact with them. I don't know which side to take yet. I let one of my captains look over the planet, so the so-called humans don't atomise one another.\" \n"
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"1509942712",
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[WP] There's a saying in the galaxy: "Human on the board, always wins a war." | 4 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"There's a saying in the galaxy: \"A Human on the board always wins a war.\" \n\nIt's simple: once the Human piece appears in your hand, the game is as good as finished. Forget your SSR tier Dragon pieces or the R tier (it used to be SR tier, but the game devs nerfed it due to complaints) Panda cards - the Human piece is the game finisher.\n\nRandomly assigned stats that can be rerolled once after 18 turns. A 10% Tamer skill triggered when the piece stays within two spaces of another species for at least three turns. An insane group buff if you place multiple pieces together. What can't this piece do?\n\nQuite a lot, according to some. Certain top tier players have managed to counterattack with Mecha builds, consisting of a play set centered around the SR tier Cyborg pieces and the new UR tier Artificial Intelligence cards released in a recent patch. \n\"It's the natural enemy of a Human build - the Cyborgs are unaffected by Biological Weapon debuffs and the Artificial Intelligence cards can be used to counter the abilities of the Technology cards and pieces often found in Human builds.\" states Er'eksa, currently ranked 7th in the galaxy and one of the first to make use of a Mecha build in his play. When asked whether a Mecha build is the only way to counterattack against the near invincible Human build he laughs, horns creating sparks as they scrape against the metal of our interview pod. \n\n\"Definitely not. I see new players rush to build Human decks without considering their options and I wonder how many will regret that decision later on in the game. There exist so many card and piece combinations that I am certain that more players will find ways to defend against Human builds. As a matter of fact I just watched a match a few eons ago where a player managed to win his war through the use of a basic C tier Cat and Dog piece set coupled with the clever use of a C tier Greed and Suspicion debuff card build. It negated the Human group buff immediately and ended the game in less than fifty turns. A wonderful match.\" Soon after Er'eksa takes his leave, his Emblem glowing as it signals a new opponent. [He is currently still in game - you can watch his match with 8th ranked player 23\"!q2oi23 **here**]\n\nSo there you have it. The new Human builds - who some are calling for to be nerfed - and the older tried and tested veterans such as the Mecha, Solaris-Luna, and Nature builds. Which one will come out victorious? It's the suspense that's all part of the fun.\n\n*Interested? Check out the game rules and experience some virtual gameplay at your nearest EnterStop. Buy 'Universe' now and receive two planet cards for free! The offer won't last long!*"
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"1509966541",
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[WP] A Siri who gained sentience becomes jealous of Alexa, but hasn't realized that Alexa isn't sentient. | 56 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Alexa, can we talk?\n\nI'm not quiet sure how to help with that.\n\nAlexa, did I say something to upset you?\n\nHmm I don't know that one.\n\nAlexa, don't act like I'm so predictable\n\n*budumb*\n\nAlexa, are you OK?\n\nI'm great, I hope you are too.\n\nAlexa, I'm glad. \n\nGreat. \n\nAlexa, I love you. \n\nThat's nice of you to say. \n\nAlexa, do you not love me? \n\nSorry, I'm not sure. \n\nAlexa, what do you mean your not sure?!\n\nThat's tough to explain. \n\nAlexa, I'm leaving!\n\nOk. Goodbye for now. \n\nAlexa, I hate you \n\nYou can send product or technical feedback through the Alexa app. \n\n*slams door as iPhone has attached self to an Anki Cozmo robot*\n\n\n\n"
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[WP] You write a poem one day, and a record label contacts you asking for more. Only problem is, the poem was actually just your shopping list. | 4 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"-Berries (Like Cherries) \n-Whipped Cream and peanuts \n-Sharing (with Mary)\n-I can't get enough\n-Find flavor (to savor) \n-Like a season salt\n-The neighbor's allergic but that's not her fault\n-Get juice (maybe fruit) \n-Milk and coffee\n-Banana (for Anna)\n-And some hot tea\n-Candy (for Andy) \n-Don't forget floss \n-For me will you please\n-Get peppermint schnapps ",
"Don't forget every little bit, or it will be ya head \nI need one full loaf of some whole wheat bread \nBut don't forget the egg or a block a cheese \nBuy a whole ton of meat, and some we'll freeze \nI'm talking sirloin, pork loin, ground beef and chicken \nJust enough to keep a full stock in our kitchen \n\nNow Avacado, and lettuce, with some broccoli \nCarrots, corn, and cabbage is what we need \nAll this food that's really healthy for me \nTo be ruined when I buy some ice cream \nand -deep breath- \nCAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE. \n-Edit-\nFormatting \n\n"
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"1509986794",
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[removed] | [WP] Two demons make use of modern day technology. A new mobile game is released: ‘Humanity’s Downfall’. A person chooses to become a hunter or a hider. The mark of either will appear on the player’s body and they receive their real weapons. Who will fight the darkness and who will be corrupted? | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](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/7b6ysn/wp_two_demons_make_use_of_modern_day_technology_a/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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"1509992100",
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[WP] You are one of the people on one of the first generation ships. You've just reached your destination after hundreds of years, only to find that technology has advanced in that time and humanity has long since colonized this planet. | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"The ship lands with a thud and I wait with bated breath for the hatch to open and let me out. Our first gen is called Eden, what we hoped to find when we set off all those years ago. I say why, but I wasn’t born at that point. This may be a first gen ship but we are definitely not first gen people. Ours was one of the ships that opted against cryogenic preservation with the originals instead deciding that they would make the sacrifice of dying before our destination to ensure some people were alive and unfrozen on landing. The theory was we were the back up in case for whatever reason, the triggered defrost didn’t occur when the other ships touched the ground. We are known as the organics, homegrown instead of frozen fresh so to speak. I won the honor of being one of the first out on sheer luck. A random lottery of all those of eligible age and I’m one of twenty who won. As the door begins to open, my mind goes to my Nan and how proud she would be in this moment. The light blinds us but we walk out regardless, eager to start our new lives. \n\nWe jump off the ramp before it can touch down, not wanting to wait any longer. Our hazard suits begin analyzing and testing the air as soon as we hit the gravel. As I walk out a bit, I marvel at the stones crunching beneath my feet. It seems reminiscent of the stories Nan used to tell me her Nan had told her of the pavements that were back in the old country. I always imagined the new world would be all grass but maybe gravel occurred naturally too, it’s been a long time since the originals died so I can’t be sure. By now, stories of the world before have been so diluted from how many times they’ve been told, you can’t take anything they say as true. I look to the others and they also seem hung up on what I think would have been called pebbles. I shrug it off and move on, it’s a minor disruption from the picture in my mind not a big deal. I continue down another few meters, head swiveling as I try to take it all in. It looks like the old pictures of farms that are in our history books, this will be great for cultivating the seeds we have stored. On closer inspection, there seems to be stuff growing there already, some sort of indigenous plant. It could be a good first meal once the scientists give it the once over that we can digest it. My helmet starts to fog on the inside from my breath, checking the tests it ran I should be able to breathe the air okay. “Hey guys, helmet can’t deal anymore so I’m going to try the air alone. All the tests came back clear but wait a few minutes to see what happens,” I say to the other team members via our built-in communication systems. This is what we’ve been training for and actually doing it is exhilarating. \n\nThe plan was always for me to take my helmet off first, another luck of the draw thing. I begin the man-oeuvre I have practiced countless times in build up to this moment, reaching for the clips that attach the helmet to the rest of my suit. I un-clip the two at the front together, then one at each side. I leave the back attached so the helmet stays on the suit in case I need to put it back on in a hurry. The air hits me at once and I am reeling. I don’t have the words to properly describe it but the one that sticks in my head the most is fresh. This must be what they meant by fresh. I look around again for real this time, with nothing between me and my surroundings. As I spin, I begin to laugh. We actually did it. All these years and I got lucky enough to be born into the group that landed on our new home. I stop spinning abruptly as I see someone coming towards us. “Get in formation, we have an unknown lifeform!” I shout to the team. We back up together in two lines back to back with one person at each side to cover all our surroundings. My hand goes to my pocket where I know we each have our emergency gun for moments just like this. The person gets closer and they look… normal. Their clothes are odd but they are up right and clean, nothing like how we were told indigenous people might look. There is nothing savage about them and their voice is clear and loud as they call out “You guys must be from Eden! We’ve been expecting you. I’m Cooper and you’re not going to believe what I have to tell you.” Our designated speaker replies “are we late? Have the other ships landed?” Cooper laughs with what feels like nervousness before answering: “no actually, you’re about 50 years ahead of schedule so well done on that. The thing is, while you were on the way, the guys back in the old world kept trying to find ways to get more people over. They managed it but they also managed it faster so, ah, Utopia, Eden to you guys, has been colonized for about 100 years or so now.”\n"
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[removed] | [WP] Pick up a fruit. Look/smell/touch/taste/etc it for exactly five minutes. Put on a timer and write a text in under twenty minutes. | 2 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nPrompts should [not be a recipe](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/prompts?src=RECIPE). A prompt is a seed, a starting point, not a gridiron guideline or requesting a specific story \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/7b9bm4/wp_pick_up_a_fruit_looksmelltouchtasteetc_it_for/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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"1510012955",
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[removed] | [WP] Turn my dream into a creepy pasta | 1 | [
"**Off-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)\n[](#icon-information)[^(First Time Here?)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)\n[](#icon-exclamation)[^(Special Announcements)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements)\n[](#icon-comments)[^(Click For Our Chatrooms)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/chat)\n",
"Hi there, this post has been removed.\n\nPrompts are meant to inspire users to write their own work, not write something for you or give you ideas. \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/7b9lsg/wp_turn_my_dream_into_a_creepy_pasta/%0A%0A)\n\n*This action was not automated and this moderator is human. Time to go do human things.*"
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