Day 314 Writing Short Stories

Bay

I skipped this one, too.

Landslide

A landslide leaves hikers stranded on a mountain in a storm. I skipped this one.

Dance

The men hopped around the fire in circles, waving their sticks. They had dressed themselves as monsters. The music coming from the woman behind them filled the New Year’s Eve with awe.

She watched the dance in fascinated horror from the shadows of the town’s buildings. She had never seen that exact dance before. There were other dances she had recorded and read about. They held cultural significance. And this dance was most likely blessing the year to come.

She didn’t dare to step out of the shadows and intervene in the dance. She would ask the villagers tomorrow morning what the dance was and write down the details in her journal. For now, she was just happy to watch.

When she finally got to bed, she had no memory of leaving the dance or even seeing the dance end.

After washing up and dressing, she headed downstairs to greet her host, who always had made her breakfast ready. She was here to study the rural village and its culture. Thus far, the dance was the only thing that she had seen that departed from the rest of the country’s way of life. Even here, TV had shaped the culture and values. More and more young people wanted to move into the bigger cities to try their luck.

As she had expected, the breakfast was ready. She took her spot, and soon enough, the older woman appeared with a coffee.

“Morning,” she said.

The woman nodded and poured her coffee.

“So, do you dance the dance every New Year’s Eve?” she asked.

The woman shot her an odd look and shook her head. The woman barely spoke English, and their mutual language was gestures. She let the woman leave and sighed. But as she made her way through the town, interviewing the villagers after breakfast, everyone told her the same story. There was no dance. Everyone had been indoors, at home, sleeping. They offered her that maybe she was tired and had dreamed the whole thing up.

When she got back to her room, her head was spinning. The villagers didn’t seem like they were lying to her. They had been genuinely bewildered when she asked about the dance.

She glanced out of her window at the darkening street. There was no one out there walking. As she was about to step out of the window, she saw a horned beast run through the streets and then disappear.

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

I slept so much better tonight. The taping on my shoulder is helping with the pain. Now I will have to hurry to work. See you tomorrow!

Thank you for reading ❤ Have a day full of wonders!