Showing posts with label writing prompt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing prompt. Show all posts
Prologue

You never would have noticed it just peeking out like a giant pearl lost in miles of white sand.


The second you first touched it though, you knew. You could feel how powerful it really was and how little every tomorrow would resemble its yesterday.

Its strength emanating from an unburdened mind, bringing you a whole world straight to your fingertips. Its voice reaching back through the decades, taking you on a musical sojourn through time. And its face transporting your to your own memories, brought to life through crystal-clear hues and shadows.

All this from something that was, at long last, not only a                 .

*Fill in the blank and finish the story*

My response:

All this from something that was, at long last, not only a flute.

You lifted it up, admiring its flawless craftsmanship. Tentatively, you blew into it, immediately noting the high, clear tone. Superb. In the empty, oddly fresh attic of your grandmother's creaky Victorian house, you felt blessed to find such an amazing instrument. Although you were a flute player in your school band, you had never seen any flute as wonderful as this. You wondered if you could keep it, and made a mental note to ask your grandmother when she woke up from her nap.

Putting it down gingerly, you shivered with the eerie luck of finding a new flute in your grandmother's attic - it seemed to be the only thing not covered in stereotypical attic dust. When you had pushed open the heavy door, it had been just sitting there on an open table. You had sworn you could almost see a halo above its mouthpiece and the cheesy cinematic opera "Aaahhhhh".

Your thoughts returned to the present as you heard your grandmother's light steps wafting up through the echoey house. Scrambling out of the attic, you tried to smile as she passed. It must not have worked, though, because your grandmother frowned and looked you up and down, taking in the dust on your jeans and in your hair. The strangest thought passed through your head - you must look like you have dandruff.

"Have you been in the attic?" she said, her shrewd, bright eyes immediately noting all of the important details. It was actually kind of creepy sometimes, but you loved her anyway. You hung your head a bit; your grandmother had told you not to go into the attic, but it was really your grandmother's cautioning that had driven you to explore the attic of all rooms in your grandmother's spacious house. Plus, you had already peeked into most of the other rooms, and they looked boring. The long, lazy summer days when you were dumped at your grandmother's house would became more monotonous each year as your grandmother became less active and you explored more and more of the house.

You hung your head a bit, though not regretting a thing. "Yes," you said truthfully. Your grandmother despised liars and you knew that if you lied, she would catch you and punish you twice as much. Then you smiled playfully. Your grandmother smiled back, and you knew that she wasn't too angry.

"Did you find the flute?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did."

"It's okay," your grandmother said, giving you a hug. "I just wanted to give it to you at the right time."

"You mean... I can have it?" you asked, incredulous. She laughed, a deep chuckle that made you feel bubbly and happy inside.

"Of course. I had it made specially for you. Happy thirteenth birthday, Lenmana," she replied.

Oh! You had forgotten all about it. It was your birthday, and you were a teenager! The fact that this had completely escaped you surprised you more than a little. With a little squeal, you rushed forward like a five-year-old at Christmas and took the flute that your grandmother was holding out to you.

For the rest of the day, the old Victorian house was filled with the joyful music of you and your flute.

*The writing prompt was taken from a Kindle special offer - a promotion for the HTC One X phone. The original blank was "phone".*

According to the I Write Like software:

I write like
Kurt Vonnegut
I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!
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May it be an evening star

Stars... I remember when you could see the stars at night. Little twinkling lights, blinking at you, and you could imagine you could hear them laughing, a wonderful laugh, like it said in that book, oh, what was it called? Before the smog floated up and the stars went away. Now the night sky is dull and does not laugh, no, not anymore.

Shines down upon you

What a wonderful wish for days past. The light of the stars, a reliable guide in dark times, when you must sail a stormy sea or walk a rough road. A beautiful blessing for times of old.

May it be when darkness falls

Darkness has fallen on our earth now, nothing can save us, no, nothing. Smoke billows into the graying sky; the world is suspended in perpetual twilight. If we ever needed a star to shine down, to light the way, it would be now. A fervent plea rises up towards the heavens in this darkest hour.

You heart will be true

Will it be true? Darkness changes people, twists their hearts. Whispers to them in the dead of night. But I'll hold on to that shred of hope.

You walk a lonely road

All of us do, today and every day. We are so tightly packed together, and yet each to his own thoughts. So alone. No one knows how to reach out anymore, how to comfort, how to smile. In our clumping together we've undergone an ironic separation. And the road stretches out before us, countless miles walked but so many more still.

Oh! How far you are from home

No home for anyone in this world. As we travel we lose that feeling. Of embraces, of a good hearty meal in front of a leaping fireplace. Everyone is far from home, always, to try and get away from feeling trapped. But it's always the same, always trapped. Nowhere for us to run to now.

Mornie utulie (Darkness has come)

Oh yes, ever does the darkness hang over our weary heads. Ever do we yearn for the stars, twinkling in some heavenly garden above. Ever to we look to the skies only to be greeted by a curtain of smoke.

Believe and you will find your way


If only it were true! But no one has the strength to believe anymore. No, no, no hope left. We have almost forgotten the meaning of that word, so cool and strong on our tongues. We have almost forgotten how to speak it in harmonious unity. Maybe if someone had the courage to utter that one word, a shaft of light will break the ceiling of the earth and lead us to a new life where people believe and are happy.

Mornie alantie (Darkness has fallen)


Darkness deeper than the night shrouds our days. We no longer fight to live. Eyes dead, limbs creaking, our heads barely lifting to scan the heavens one last time. 

A promise lives within you now

The only promise I see is that of death, soon, very soon, to relieve our misery. In a ruined world full of shadow, how can a promise glow in the new day? 


May it be the shadow's call

The shadow calls us, everyone, to death, and more go every day. In the unending darkness just like a storm, countless souls float away, throwing themselves into the murky, fast-flowing river. They go all the way out to the salty sea with its stinging water and nasty smell. I hear the water was blue once, but now it's greenish-brown, foul with all the waste of a dying earth.


Will fly away

Some days, I wish a great strong torrent of wind would blow the clouds away so that we could see what the sky really looks like. 

May it be you journey on


Nowhere to walk, nowhere to journey to bring back a casket full of hope and good things. Endless roaming around the earth, once, twice, five times and nothing to bring back with a smile and warm feelings. 

To light the day


I don't even know what light looks like anymore.


When the night is overcome

Only the hateful shadow.

You may rise to find the sun


Where is it?

Mornie utulie (Darkness has come) 
Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantie (Darkness has fallen) 
A promise lives within you now

A promise lives within you now


(Song is "May It Be" by Enya - written by Howard Shore, Enya, Nicholas John Ryan, and Roma Shane Ryan)

According to the I Write Like software:

I write like
Neil Gaiman
I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!
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I'm falling. That much I can sense. At first my senses blur in confusion, jarred by the biting speed of my ineluctable path--I'm on a crash course with the pavement. What am I doing here again? The sun is blinking, climbing up over the top of the skyscraper as I ask myself this question. I can almost hear it yawning. So serene, so peaceful. For a moment I'm numb to the searing wind branding marks into my bare wrists, whipping at my jeans. I smile, and think that this might be the most beautiful moment in my entire depraved life.

Depraved?

It comes crashing down on my soul, a tidal wave of emotions and memories burning into my heart. Someone, then another someone, just endless people beating me. Then fists flying, landing solidly, and sirens in the distance. A broken figure. Me, unconscious on a creepily white hospital bed. 

That was when I decided to submit to death.

In the last moments before the sunrise, I struggled to sit up. I was wearing a dress--not one of the party dresses I'd always dreamed of wearing, but a disgusting, old-lady hospital dress. Nevertheless, it was airy and more or less comfortable. In a chair, white like the rest of this uncomfortably sterile room, is a bundle of what looks like clothes and a small slip of paper. I already know what it says. 

"Meet me outside. I have a surprise for you."

Kira thought she was so clever. My best friend in all the world. The only reason I would be sorry to leave it. But today I couldn't go out to her. Because today I was going out to death. Slipping into the clothes that Ki left me, I crept into the hallway of the hospital, my steps echoing through the passage. No one was about this early in the morning. I pressed the up button on the elevator and its cheerful ding! made me smile a little. Just a very little. 

The ladder up to the roof wasn't too hard to find. The slightly thinner air was refreshing after the oppressive, white-lit hospital. I imagined that I could hear the birds chirping, heralding a new day that would start without me. Hearing frantic footsteps behind me, I rushed to the edge of the building's top. With no regrets, I hurtled over. Down, down, down.

A fraction of a second passed. Against the sky that was now splashed with fiery oranges and pinks pushing back the receding night-blue, Kira's face appeared. Words flew from her mouth, but I couldn't hear them. I just smiled up at her. As she realized that this was my own doing, tears began streaming down her face. One touched my cheek as it rushed down, gravity summoning it to the ground. Like rain, I thought as my consciousness splintered.

"Ari!"

I'm still falling. I guess I've just jerked awake after a spell of falling unconscious. Sadly, I paint the lines of Kira and me in all of our happy times--the only happy times of the life of Ariana Hatfield, I think sadly. But now I'm in a train, speeding towards the sidewalk, where hopefully there is a light at the end of this despairing tunnel. I can almost hear the clickety-clack of the tracks and the steam issuing from the top. 

I've heard that your life is supposed to flash before your eyes just before you die. I really don't know if that's what's happening to me. All I see is moments, of laughing, of running, of crying myself to sleep. Of darkness, and sunlight. Kira, me, the various abusive foster parents. The social workers. The nurses. Another memory, another smile, another vaguely nostalgic recollection. I decide that I want to close my eyes as I die. I can feel the earth now, rushing up to greet me, to take me to a better place.

Just before I hit the ground, my eyes snap open to a dull thud on the sidewalk beside me. Kira -! She must have thrown herself down when I blacked out. Kira... the light is already leaving her eyes, her bones and body broken. She didn't have to. She didn't have to. Please... no...

But I'm strangely comforted by the thought that, wherever she's gone, I'll soon follow. Then we'll spend the rest of our afterlife in some light-filled place, among what I'm sure will be a glade of many-hued wildflowers, tinkling like fairy bells filled with sunny laughter. My heart warms at the thought of the place that I'm heading to, that I'll find when I finally die in this stupid world. Peacefully, I stare up at the brilliant sky. It really is a beautiful morning. A slight pang fills my chest as I realize I won't be there to live out that pretty summer day. Light glares at me over the metal skyscraper. 

I see Kira's body on the pavement, beside and just below me. Then a violent shove. Unbelievable pain. In the agony I scream, though in that sleepy morning, no one can hear me. Do I really make a sound? Somewhere in all of that suffering, in the crack of my springy bones and long-forgotten bruises hurting again, I clasp Kira's hand and the world, with one last boom that I'm probably imagining, just goes out. I wait for the meadow, the fairy bells. I wait for the same blue sky in another, better place. I wait. And wait. And wait. And that's when it hits me, more painful than hitting the ground:

I'll have to wait forever.

According to the I Write Like Software, in this story

I write like
Arthur Clarke
I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!
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I've decided to use one of my own prompts to write a sort of flash fiction. You're welcome to use the prompt and enjoy the story!


People bustle, frantic to finish their business before the rise. Children are hurriedly put to bed. Lights blink out. They have only the nights to live. They are forsaken.

The sky lightens with the first tinge of orange. Talking gets faster. Doors slam. Windows lock. A last goodbye to neighbors, until tomorrow night. In all this rush, a quiet settles. No one dares to break the hush. Floating serenely on its island, the city goes away. The sun peeks out from behind a faraway hill. Already the outskirts of the city threaten to disappear.

Stray dogs bark before becoming no more. A red ball bounces one final time. The curse still holds. The sun rises. The city fades.

According to the I Write Like software:

I write like
Stephen King
I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!
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This story is from a writing prompt. The prompt is in bold while the story is below the prompt and not in bold. You're welcome to use the prompt.
At a Chinese restaurant, your character opens his/her fortune cookie and reads the following message: "Your life is in danger. Say nothing to anyone but your dearest friend. You must leave the city immediately with them and never return. Repeat: say nothing." ...
There's no sense in this whatsoever. A Chinese restaurant? What was I thinking? As Lan leads me excitedly to the red and gold doors of the restaurant, the unfamiliar smells are making me uncomfortable. Lan seems just fine, jabbering in Mandarin to old ladies who smile at her effervescence. The normally confident, calm, cool, and collected Brooklyn Parker is feeling unstable. I mean, Lan is my best friend and all, but... Chinese food? Real, honest-to-goodness Chinese food? Not takeout?
New colors and sounds blend into a soup of foreign flavors. Really, a soup. It tastes much better than I expected. The time bleeds by in a stream of conversation, mostly about school and the Chinese exchange student that Lan can't talk to for some reason. I find myself kind of dizzy, but with a mild feeling of contentment. Somehow I manage to tell Lan that the food is great, thanks, and we should come back sometime. The bill comes, and Saint Lan pays, as usual. Then the waitress hands us both fortune cookies? I look at Lan quizzically, because I read somewhere that fortune cookies aren't traditional Chinese.
Lan laughs and says, "We are in America, you know, Brooklyn. Even Mrs. Wang has to keep up with the times." She rips open her fortune cookie. I hesitate a little, because these might be "more Chinese" than other fortune cookies. Oh well, I think. It's still a fortune cookie, right?
Oh. My. Gosh. Is this some kind of cruel joke?
I open up the crinkled paper inside the fortune cookie and read: "Your life is in danger. Say nothing to anyone but your dearest friend. You must leave the city immediately with them and never return. Repeat: say nothing."
Just about to tell Lan about this weird little cookie, my mouth freezes. Sure, there's plenty of times in a high school junior's life where your mouth seems to freeze, but seriously, it freezes. That's when I start getting kind of scared. Like maybe whoever wrote this fortune really means it.
"Lan, uh, where's the bathroom?" I hope I sound normal.
"Oh, it's over here," Lan smiles and points to a tiny corner that I didn't notice. I walk over there and step in. After running the usual check-over of my long, wavy blond hair and my makeup and whatnot, I look around. There on the wall it reads: "Take Lan and run. Tell no one of your flight. Stay with her, for you will need her in times ahead."
Whoever is trying to creep me out is doing really well. I'm getting more and more convinced that it's true. Without thinking, I half-run out of the bathroom and tap Lan on the shoulder.
"Meet me outside. It's serious," I say breathlessly.
Concerned, Lan comes outside. Behind the restaurant, I launch into my short narrative, telling her about my fortune, the wall, and how scared I am. Instead of reassuring me like I expected her to (I must sound completely delusional), Lan looks horror-stricken.
"What?" I ask.
"When I was small, my grandmother told me that my life would someday be jeopardized, and I would have to run away with my closest friend - which would be you. I..."
Suddenly, it starts. Explosions rock the restaurant. We hear cries of pain, and then the gruff voices of burly-sounding men.
"You seen two sixteen-year-old girls, one long blond hair, blue eyes, other Chinese like you, long black hair as well? We looking. You seen?" The oddest thing is, I think, Great linguistic skills, huh?
There is no answer. A sob and a crack. Lan grabs my hand and we sprint, faster than the school sprint, faster than when we were late for the school dance. Two terrified teenage girls, clutching to each other, fleeing to the outskirts of the city. We must look crazy. It's a Friday night, for crying out loud! The ominous sounds of clanking boots and weapons only spur us on. Trees loom ahead. Cover. Bruising and scratching our knees, we flee into the woods.
Comment on whether you think I should continue. It's just a start. :) Thanks for reading!

When this post was analyzed by the I Write Like software:

I write like
Mark Twain
I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!
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