Day 146 Writing Short Stories

Fear

We have this initial need for control to stifle the fear inside us. If we can just make sure everything goes according to the plan, then nothing can spook us. Imagine a society built around that fact. Certain predictability. Imagine your life in such a world. Now imagine what it is to fear the certainty. Imagine that terror is the only constant. Now imagine waking up. What do you see?

Do you see my face? Do you hear my voice?

If you want to survive, you need to move. You have slept too long. They are coming. And you know what it means when they catch you. They eat you, and everything begins again. And again. Again. Again. Again.

Now move.

Invader Kittens

It had seemed like an innocent afternoon. The sun was unusually low for the time of year, and the back garden was colder, but it still had been a lovely afternoon with a cup of tea steaming and the laptop open, ready to continue the book. All perfect. All set up for a good day.

Then the terror had started, first with a tiny black and white kitten. It had marched into the back garden full of wants, declaring it had arrived. He had scooped the little kitten into a cardboard box and put tuna and rice in it for the kitten to eat until he could take it to an animal shelter. But that hadn’t been enough for the writing gods. A second kitten arrived. The gray one was more shy, cuter, and fluffier. He had put it with the first one, and they had curled up at the top of each other to sleep. He had sneezed, knowing the cats would soon go away as soon as his wife got back from work and they could take them to the shelter.

It had been too good to be true. A third kitten arrived along with the fourth and fifth. Soon the garden was run by ten kittens, and the tea was cold, and the laptop was shut. He tried to catch them all, look for holes in the fence, and feed them all. It was impossible. All they did was create chaos, and finally, when his wife arrived home, he had fallen in love with every single one of them. His eyes were bloodshot red, and he was sneezing constantly, but the kittens would stay.

Lion

If there ever was a place for a lion, it was the yard of an elementary school full of scared children. The lion thought so. The little girl thought so. No one else seemed to agree. The police had arrived. The fire department was there. The zookeepers were there. The whole city, along with the girl’s parents, was there. But none could do anything as long as the little girl defended the lion and the lion defended the little girl.

To the horror of everyone else, they seemed to be playing. And there were declarations of eternal friendship.

The Prompts are from the book A Year of Creative Writing Prompts.

I almost forgot to write the prompts today. I have been distracted by the sci-fi book and am trying to get the last chapters right. I still have one and a half chapters to go, but I’m not quite happy with half of the chapter I edited today. It needs something.

Anyway, it was fun to write the prompts and test narrative voices. My cat is helping me to write, so the poor allergic writer had to keep the kittens. So it goes.

Additionally, I discovered a wonderful YouTuber discussing writing and storytelling. I have been watching her videos. You can find her through her channel: The Second Story.

Thank you for reading! Have a creative day ❤