Day 236 Writing Short Stories

Want

She swirled out of the blade’s way and then ducked down as the blade rushed at her. She took dirt from the ground and flung it at the guard, who was already regaining his momentum.

The guard staggered backward, wiping his face.

She got up and thrust her blade into the chest. There came a gurgle as the man dropped. She took him by his collar and dragged him back inside his tower.

The east wall was empty now. There were only the stars and the silver moon above her. The air was crisp, and the heat from the battle was already cooling under her black fur clothes. She put her sword back in its sheath and slowly crept along the wall’s edge towards the castle entrance.

No one is foolish enough to steal from the Queen’s castle, she heard an echo in her ears. It had been just the line she had needed. A dare, which she now had because of her carelessness, led to the death of an innocent guard. But she reasoned that they should have chosen their professions more carefully, so they wouldn’t run into people like her. It was only a matter of time before he would die.

She made indoors. The clothes she was wearing were too much inside the castle walls. But the winter outside was cold, and she would have frozen her nipples off without them. If she were fast enough, she wouldn’t have to mind the heat too long.

She was there for the Queen’s jewels. The one they spoke of possessed powers beyond this world. She made her way to the chambers, avoiding the guards and the noblemen residing in the castle. It was easy. They didn’t expect her to be there, and there was enough tapestry, statues, and fireplace to hide in. And she was good at hiding.

She was also good at picking locks and doing it silently. She was in no time in the Queen’s royal treasury. The black wooden locker, she had heard, was on the back wall. At the back of her head, she was sure this shouldn’t be this easy, that she wasn’t this lucky. But then again, she was the best there was, and she could steal anything, even an egg under a dragon.

But she wasn’t that lucky. Before she reached the black locker, there came a cough. She spun around, expecting to see a guard. But the Queen herself stood there.

“You don’t disappoint,” the Queen said.

She wondered how deep in trouble she was if she just killed the Queen.

“I wouldn’t do that,” she said, reading her mind.

She launched forward, but there was a snap of fingers, and she tangled in the air, held by an invisible force.

She struggled against it, but there was nothing to grab, nothing to do.

“I forgive you for that. But that is all the leniency you will get from me. You are here because I wanted you to come.” The Queen stared at her with cold eyes.

She wanted to correct her, that there was no asking or anything, but there was a vision in her head. And she saw how the Queen had planted the idea in her head.

“Keep out of my thoughts,” she snarled.

The Queen laughed. “I would hold my tongue if I were you. I might have asked you here, but you are replaceable.”

She swallowed.

“If I let you down, you will behave.”

She nodded.

Live TV

A sleepy anchor stumbles on live TV. I skipped this one.

Babysitter

The two little nuggets were hiding. They had been tormenting her all night, thinking their behavior would drive her away. She begged that they were hiding in the mother’s closet. She could hear their whispers.

She turned the TV on and hopped onto the master bed. She searched for the channel with a horror movie on. There was always a horror movie on. That was the law of the late nights and babysitting. She turned the volume high as the blond woman screamed. There was always a blond woman in the horror movies. Nowadays, they sometimes turn out to be the hero, but they were there nevertheless.

She let the movie blast loudly as she tiptoed next to the closet. She turned her face to the wolf that lived inside her, and she snarled and yanked the door open. The two nuggets of a boy screamed. The terror in their eyes made her hunter instincts kick in, but she reminded herself that she was a human, earning human pennies from human tasks.

She tricked the boys into believing that the wolf stayed, and she, the babysitter, stormed in and hit it in the head with a poker. Then the wolf was gone, and she stood before the boys as they continued to tremble. She spread her hands wide, and both of them stormed in. She wondered if they could smell the wolf in her.

She hugged them tight and whispered, “That’s why we do as is told.”

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

My fight scene study ran too long and didn’t go where I wanted it to. I planned there to be another fight scene, but the thief didn’t want there to be. I try to write the stories in one sitting, and I got annoyed with the first one towards the end. I wonder if it shows that my writing got sloppy, and I stopped trying to get the minutiae and the words right. I decided that it was better to cut the scene short before my frustration got the better of me. I’m glad I got even the small fight scene in and held my promise to myself to test more fight scenes in my writing. To be continued.

Thank you for reading ❤ Have a terrific day!