Day 353 Writing Short Stories

Hunt

To be a hunter, one has to know the prey. And to hunt, one has to be silent, patient, and observant.

You don’t get born as a good hunter, you train to become one. You hone your instincts, make your silence, patience, and observations part of you—a second skin. You tune down the voices in your head and be present.

And that was what I was doing as I looked my prey down the barrel of my gun. I had the deer locked in; the hilt pressed against my shoulder. I squeezed slowly and fired. The deer buckled, and I licked my lips.

I could smell the smoke, taste the blood and herbs.

A Spirit

I have been cursed. That was how I knew there was more to life than science and the material. It started as a normal flicker in the lights. The kind that makes you call an electrician. But it was not the wires, nor the lamp. It came back again and again. Then things started moving, and I thought I was losing my mind. I wasn’t. It was the girl who had lived in my apartment before. Dead. Murdered. The only way to get rid of her was to find who did it.

She consumed my entire life. When I wasn’t at work, I was tracking her every move, her life. It was a miserable one. She had been so alone in the world. And as I pieced together her life, it was no wonder. Her past was full of ghosts and unwanted things. She was killed because she was her, and she could see behind the veil as I did now.

The deeper I got, the more trouble followed me. I was sure the killer was onto me. I had to become more than just a back-office clerk. I needed to find a way to defend myself against the dead.

Left Hand

The tale of two thousand pirates and their tattoos. If you had asked me before all started, I would have said no picture can hold magic. Yet, I witnessed just that as I stepped on the boat of the last pirate, carrying the history of all pirates.

Her tattoos shone on her body, alive and effective. They could alter the course of the seas and sway the hearts of men.

— This prompt was about writing a story with your non-dominant hand. I would have loved to write more, but it was so slow, and I could barely read what I wrote. Fun exercise nevertheless.

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

I’m back. I slept so much better last night. I went to bed early and read my books before falling asleep. I started a new book by T. Kingfisher. She is a magnificent writer. With just a few words, she entraps me and makes the story, the setting, and the characters shine in my head. I have to study her, strip her writing down to the bare bones, and understand how she does it. I want that power too. I want to know her tricks. She makes the stories come alive so well.

Thank you for reading ❤ Have a day of exploration!

P.S. The cat is well. It was just a hairball. A hairball of doom!