Day 262 Writing Short Stories

Embrace

She had embraced the Buddhist philosophy and was almost ready to forgo her suffering. She had arrived outside in the fields to contemplate life, existence, and suffering. And as she had sat there on the grass for hours, there came this divine light that emanated around her. It had suddenly appeared, and she had instantly known that it would be her salvation. She just had to let go, and she could step out of the now. But when she was about to step into the light, she was yanked back, knocked down on the ground.

She blinked and saw a man staring at her, lying on top of her.

“Ma’am,” the man said. He was in his twenties, looking like he had just arrived from an action movie in his leather jacket, combat trousers, and short haircut. “Thank God I was here; you were going to step into that alien beam.”

She blinked again. Unsure of what was happening.

“We need to leave if they come back.” The man stood up from her, and as he got to his feet, he yanked her up too with one swift move.

She blinked and saw what the man was talking about. A UFO hung in the air not too far from them, making odd zigzagging moves as if to counter the sudden change in position.

“Run,” the man said, and pulled her after him. Her legs followed the motion, but she wasn’t still sure what the hell was going on. It was like the world suddenly stopped making sense and was a cartoon version of reality.

Frog

The noises coming from her locker sounded like a nature documentary from the wetlands was playing inside. There came a loud splash, and then a croak. She looked around and was relieved to see that the hallway was empty and that no one had heard the noises. It was bad enough that something had invaded her locker. A social suicide on top of that would ruin her life.

She carefully opened her locker. She expected the content to explode. Instead, red, round eyes stared at her back, letting out a Ribbit.

She was stupefied. There was a green-blue frog with orange webbed feet. The red eyes blinked. She blinked.

“How the hell did you get there?” she asked. She had seen enough animal documentaries to know that the frog wasn’t native. It was a rainforest frog in the middle of an urban school that had winters like those on the North Pole.

The frog answered with another Ribbit sound.

She wasn’t sure whether it was poisonous. She glanced once again around to see if someone who had put the frog in her locker was looking. Still, the hallway was empty.

“What am I supposed to do with you?” she asked.

The frog said, “Ribbit.”

“That’s not really helping. I can’t understand what you are saying.”

“Does this help?” the frog said in perfect English.

She slammed the door shut and took a step back.

“Hey, that’s not very nice,” the frog said.

She stepped closer and opened the locker again. “You are not supposed to talk,” she said, feeling silly.

“And you are not supposed to see me, but here we are. We might as well initiate the protocol,” the frog said.

“What protocol?” she asked.

“The one that takes you to the galactic board. You have been chosen as a model human to represent the human race in response to accusations made by the intergalactic court for inhumane behavior towards your planet. Congratulations!” As the frog said that, the room warped around her, and she found herself standing in the middle of a huge podium, stared down by a roomful of strange creatures. The frog stood next to her, but it had grown a hundred times its size.

Secret Room

A man is on a tour of a Victorian mansion, and he falls through a painting into a secret room. I skipped this one. Not sure why? I didn’t feel like writing the story.

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

I slept badly last night. I woke up several times. My mind feels sluggish today. I think that reflects on the stories. Sorry. I hope you have more energy today! Thank you for reading ❤