Day 298 Writing Short Stories

Remote

The remote cabin she had booked was just what she needed. This couldn’t be more perfect. She had time to read and write without distractions. During the day, she could hike in the nature reserve just outside the cabin or into town to get her supplies. Either way, there was no constant hum of the city. There was just nature, her laptop, and the cozy cabin.

—

I didn’t know where the story was going. I had images of spooky and strange things in my head, but they would have taken too many words to appear, so I think I leave the writer alone to write.

Horns

At first, it had been the horns. Suddenly, they had pushed out of his head. He had gone to see a doctor, but the man had fainted, and he had stormed out of the practice, hiding his horns under his cap.

He had kept hiding his horns while searching for a cure. There was none. There was no scientific explanation for what was happening to him. He was ready to give up and be content living as a horned beast, but then a tail had come into the picture, and he knew this was not scientific; this was a punishment.

The tail was red. It had that cartoonist Devilish feel to it. He had tried to cut it off, but he had fainted from the pain. When he had come out of it, he had taken sick leave. He had his food delivered to his house, not leaving the house even once during that time. But he would soon have to go back to work. He couldn’t. People would scream and run away from him or faint as the doctor had.

He tried several times to call his boss and explain. He couldn’t. There was no sane explanation for what was going on. Even he didn’t know what was happening. He had called the local church, and the priest had laughed at his hypothesis, saying that God didn’t work like that. He had asked if the devil did. That had gotten another dismissal. So, he had hung up the phone and let the time run out on him. Finally, his boss had let him go.

A few months ago, he would have thought that would be the worst thing that could happen to him. He had loved his work. He had liked going in every day and helped his company to succeed. But the worst thing was leathery red wings twisting out of his back. They had been the last straw.

He had broken all his mirrors and covered all his windows so that he didn’t have to see his reflection. Feverishly, he tried to find a cure, a reason. He scrutinized every detail of his life to know what sin he had committed to deserve this punishment. The list was endless, and he didn’t know how to repent.

So here he was, as his last act for salvation, standing behind the priest’s home door. He knocked, and the priest opened the door. Instantly, the man screamed and fled from him just from the mere sight of his wings fully opened and his tail flicking behind him. He had tried to hide them under a huge jacket, but the things had a life of their own and refused to obey.

He watched the priest run, knowing that in his shoes, he had done the same. He was the devil to him. He collapsed on the priest’s front steps and began to sob. There was no salvation. He was to stay wicked.

Unpleasant Man

A merciless, sardonic, and generally unpleasant man falls head over heels for a peppy high school teacher who moved in next door. Oh, why, oh why? Why does such fiction exist? Why do we make good women fall in love with horrible persons, fantasizing about change in a very twisted way? This is not a healthy romance. I refuse to make a peppy school teacher fall in love with a merciless man. He needs to heal himself before he gets the teacher.

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

Writing was difficult today. Mind was all over the place, seeking focus, but finding none. It tried to latch onto something to feel secure enough to write, but nothing satisfied that itch. I’m not sure, but it feels like it is because I’m trying to solve two books at once while figuring out outlines for my friend’s advertisement, and that’s taking a toll on my mental energy. My friend wanted me to write a story proposal for her company’s product, and the assignment has vexed me for two weeks now. I should have said no and told her I’d done nothing like it before, but I wanted to say yes because I know that saying yes can lead to something good. I’m not so sure if that yes was a good thing or not, as clearly it has taken a lot out of me. I’m still not sure if I’m happy with what I have come up with, and the deadline is on Monday. And instead of working on it today, I’m going climbing. Silly bugger.

Still, I’m happy that I got the two prompts done, even though writing felt a little sticky today. Stories were birthed, and that is enough.

Thank you for reading ❤ Have a mindful day!