Day 336 Writing Short Stories

Mermaid

The forgotten song, the melody of the deep seas, and then a lost step, taken, eaten. Such are the stories of the mermaids she grew up with. They were not kind. They were to warn of the dangers of the sea. She had always believed them to be stories of the fantastical. Stories of morals. But not real. Never real.

Yet, now the translucent creatures swam around her boat. Her men were tied to the mast to keep them following that melody so sweet that it even lulled her into taking that lost step. She saw their beautiful faces reflected on the surface. Their eyes filled with hunger and lust. She licked her lips and bit hard to taste her own blood.

She glanced at her men, their eyes filled with tears and pain as they tried to tear free from their constraints. Even if they survived this, their hearts would always lust after that melody.

She tied herself to the rudder and kept her hands steady.

A Woman

A man, frustrated with his marriage, signs up for a dating site. He falls in love with a woman there, who turns out to be far from a stranger. I skipped this one.

Demon

They fed the ducks together as any proper demon and angel bound to Earth was meant to do. They watched as the world moved past them, alternating between high and slow speed, depending on the mood of the conversation.

Today was especially a speedy day. He was in a foul mood. Tempting humans to their downfall was getting to him. He had been at it for enough centuries to know how things went, and how many souls would fall to the traps he set. Modern days were making it easier. People were less connected and more selfish. They were constantly looking at their phones, mirroring back a world they wished to obtain, full of others who were perfect. The souls he was sending to Hell had tenfold.

And the angel next to him looked as miserable as he did. They were only getting the saints to move to the heavens, and there was only a handful of those nowadays. Most souls were lost in the desert of limbo, stuck for an eternity roaming around without salvation or condemnation. Hell was better than the limbo they were stuck in.

“This will pass,” the angel said.

He sighed. He wished that too. There was no challenge left. Humans were soft and greedy.

“They are too good at it. The phone is too shiny, too fulfilling.”

The ducks were compliantly sitting next to them, not bothering with anyone else trying to feed them.

“This will pass. It has to,” the angel let out desperately.

He sighed again. “We could take it down.” He let out a smile.

“What do you mean?” The angel perked up.

“Just a tiny meteor shower to take out their satellite network.”

The angel looked him deep into his eyes. “But that would—”

“Yes, but what’s the alternative? Then they would be free for us to hunt them. You with the promise of the afterlife and me with all the luxuries they lost. Not phone though, never again. I will not make that mistake.”

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

I took it slow, spending time with my cats. Now both of them want me to feed them even when it’s not yet time for their meal. I’m hungry too, but at least I don’t instigate a fight just to make someone feed me. It would be fun if it were so. I just had to misbehave, and I would get food. The strange logic of my cats sometimes baffles me.

Now one of them is standing between me and the screen, making it hard to type.

Thank you for reading ❤ Have a good one! Don’t let the phones or mermaids lure you away from your heart’s desire.