Day 237 Writing Short Stories

Desert

The sweat was snaking down his back, pooling everywhere it could. The heat was getting to him. He lifted his hat and wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead. They had arrived in the desert two days ago, building the barracks into the sandy ground. The tents kept the direct sun away, but there was no escape from the heat. His clothes smelled of sweat and dust, and he just wished he could be back home and dive into the cooling waters of the Highlands.

There were snakes and scorpions everywhere. All venomous. Bastards from the hell he had been welcomed. Other men shot them with their pistols, finding it amusing. He found it distasteful and a waste of a good bullet.

The only good company he had was the whiskey he had brought from home. It made hell less hellish.

Heist

She saw it in their eyes. They were going to leave her behind. They had accidentally set the alarm, and she had been caught in the cage that had come down from the floor. There was no way out.

They expected her to continue the heist and get them the jewelry they were after. There was no point in letting the bad thing get in the way of the objective.

She counted ten to calm her nerves and turned to face the glass casing. She took her tools out and cut into the glass. She held the ruby necklace in her hands for a fleeting second before she handed it away. It was the cost of her freedom.

She watched it disappear into the backpack they had brought. She gave the rest of the jewelry away and watched the crew disappear out the way they had arrived.

She took a seat in the middle of the cage, waiting for the police to arrive.

Couch

A family is buying a new couch from a sleazy salesperson. I skipped this one.

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

I found it very hard to concentrate today. I just finished writing a game story proposal, and I got all wired about it. I have been working on it for two weeks now, and finishing it and handing it over made my head spin. I’m a nerve ball. That I have come to realize. I read excitement cues as anxiety, and it makes me feel uncomfortable and jittery in my body. I need a lot of nervous system regulation to function.

It was fun to write a game story design. I got to view a story from a really different perspective, and wonder what kind of elements make a good game story. Not sure if I did justice to the idea, but I’m happy I tried and learned from the process.

Since the nervous system was in overdrive, my prompts were short today.

Now I will take a short nap, and then I’m off to climb.

Thank you for reading ❤ Have a serene day!