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Warning: coarse language!
The Bible says the rains came for forty days and forty nights; looking up at the sky here in the north of England, I’m pretty sure we’re giving old Beard-Face a run for his money. It’s April, freezing cold, and my bare legs – lured out of their ever-present thick woolly tights by the promise of sunshine this morning – are damp and pasty in the watery grey light, and my glasses are in desperate need of those mini windscreen wipers I’ve still not got round to inventing yet. Maybe I’ll take them to Sir Alan and his boardroom for the next series of The Apprentice. He seems like a bloke with a good business head on his shoulders.
The puddles splash under my welly boots as I run for the bus; predictably it pulls out of the stop just as I arrive and bang hopelessly on the rear window, cursing at the driver and receiving a smug Fuck you, I’m dry smirk from a schoolboy skiving a day at Swallow Hill Community College. I resist the urge to send him a very unladylike one-finger salute as a red Volvo shoots by and sprays muddy puddle-water all over me – soaking me from head to toe, since I don’t even have a rain mac to protect me from the elements and dickhead Leeds drivers – and I decide, very bad-temperedly, to walk the way home.
Every step, or rather stomp, squelches. Bloody English weather. Bloody rain.
- Prompt #63: Bloody English Weather
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nerd_do_well- May 15th, 18:56
- Prompt #63
-
libbstarz
- May 15th, 14:20
The prompts for this week are:
- I Didn't Know
- Heavy Rain
Submissions will be accepted until 9pm on Monday 21st
- Prompt #62 Finalist Poll
-
- May 15th, 14:13
This is the finalist poll for this week. Please take a few seconds to vote for your favourite entry! The poll will be open until 9pm GMT on Monday 21st
Poll #1840439
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7
Which Prompt #62 Submission Is Your Favourite?
View Answers
A Hero's Burden by ashton_albright 
5 (71.4%)For The Greater Good by dulcedemon 2 (28.6%)For The Greater Good by khelekwen 0 (0.0%)
- Prompt #61 Winners
-
- May 15th, 14:10
The winners this week are
khelekwen and
nerd_do_well! Congratulations to them! Requests for graphics are welcome.
- Prompt #62: For the Greater Good
-
- May 14th, 19:25
A drink was being prepared. She knew that this drink would change the course of human history.
Scotch and soda. Seemingly ordinary. She being the only one who knew what it really was. Poison. Just a little arsenic.
Never had a single doubt flashed through her mind. She knew what she was doing. It was for the greater good. She could not possibly fail in her mission. The fate of the world rested on her shoulders. It was a terrible burden but one that she was willing to bear. It was her duty.
Balancing the fatal drink on a tray, she slowly neared her intended target. She was amazed at how easy it had all been. His protectors were obviously fools and she watched in fascination as the man grabbed the drink, brought it up to his lips and took a sip
She waited.
He smiled at her and took another sip.
Why wasn't anything happening? She dizzily rushed out of the room, and reached into her pocket where the bottle of arsenic was hiding. There was nothing there.
"Ms. Goode, what are you doing here?" asked a man in a white coat, approaching her, "Shouldn't you be in your room?"
"No!" she screamed, "I must kill him! It is my duty!"
"Yes, yes," said the man, whose nametag read 'Dr. Peterson', "There is no need to get excited. Why don't you tell me all about it?"
She sighed and followed the doctor. She could always assassinate the man tomorrow.
- Prompt #62: For the Greater Good
-
dulcedemon
- May 6th, 4:04
Acid etched skin,
softened to glass...
One rabbit skull was given to Geoffrey,
the other to his brother,
presented on an outstretched tarpaulin
depicting a map to my grave
-- a Promethean path lighting the way.
I kept only a hart's jawbone for myself,
a thank you gift for when I get to Hades.
- Prompt #62: A Hero's Burden
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- ashton_albright
- May 6th, 2:16
calm
The hero sat in the bar sipping a beer as the news rolled a story about Mr. Marvelous finally stopping the Demonic Doctor, for good, after all these years. He looked away from the screen as various pictures of them fighting began to play. He knew the story better than anyone.
“Hey Robert! Why do you look so down? Didn’t you here that ass that killed your brother is dead, Mr. Marvelous hit his chest and stopped his heart?” Robert, aka Mr. Marvelous, ignored his friend and stared into his glass until William sat next to him.
“My brother died today.” His friend made the proper noises before moving off to celebrate the villains demise. William was already six ways to Sunday drunk.
He was lost to thought again looking into the amber liquid. He fought for the greater good. That is what being a hero is about. It was about keeping the people safe from the ever present villain the Demonic Doctor. They had been fighting since they were children. He smiled remember how different he and his brother had been growing up. He drained his glass and through the money down for his tab. Slipping out of the bar he walked around the corner.
His flight to the monument that Dominic had made for his self seemed to take forever. The Demonic Doctor Dominic stood over him at twenty feet. Mr. Marvelous felt a tear roll down his cheek, “You know little brother I would never have meant to hit your heart.”
- Prompt #62
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- May 2nd, 22:21
The prompts for this week are:
- For The Greater Good
- Hit Your Heart
Submissions of maximum 250 words will be accepted until 9pm on Monday 7th
- Prompt #61 Poll
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- May 2nd, 22:17
This is the finalist poll for this week. Please take a few seconds to vote for your favourite entry! The poll will be open until 9pm GMT on Monday 7th.
Poll #1837827
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9
Which Prompt #61 Prompt Is Your Favourite?
View Answers
Never Trust A Gnome by khelekwen 3 (33.3%)Friendship, Interrupted by nerd_do_well 3 (33.3%)Shiny Things! by dulcedemon 2 (22.2%)To Be Continued by joanneswift 1 (11.1%)
- Prompt #60 Winners!
-
- May 2nd, 22:13
The winner this week is
pickingmybrain! Congratulations to them! Requests for graphics are welcome.Here is the icon for last week’s winner,
joanneswift:
- To be continued...
-
- joanneswift
- April 26th, 21:41
- optimistic
Unwanted, unneeded, unyielding in its depth, my heart longed, its broken, shattered shards still rough - having bled for months and months - somehow mended on its own. It turns out, surprisingly, it didn’t need you to beat for me. I can breathe again. I can feel...again. The memory of your voiceless face subsides, but your faceless voice haunts my dreams and mars my soul. Why? Why must I endure this for a lifetime or three?
Does it ever heal? Will I ever be able to take that secret path through the woods alone and still feel enchanted? Will I ever feel that part of me again for another? He’s out there, I know he is, the one who will fight for me, the one who will fight me for the rest of me I protect so ardently. He'll fight half the world to find me. Will I be ready? Do I even want to be found? Will I deserve him?
Maybe with time. Maybe it's not up to him, maybe it's up to me, what is left of me...
- Prompt #61: Shiny Things!
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- April 26th, 20:50
The road was dark no matter the time of day, kept in constant deep shade by a thick canopy of old, gnarled trees. A boulder along that road marks the spot where I promised the Devil half the world. I promised my heart and half the world; I was only nine at the time. The Devil got my heart and half the world in exchange for a kiss, a shiny pebble, a carved shell ring and a shot of milk from His left tit --the one He calls "Doris".
Fourteen years later, on that very same spot, I promised the Devil the rest of the world in exchange for a small piece of land, a silver ring with a red stone and my life's work. I have since lost the land. I have no idea what my life's work was, is, or ever will be. Not that it matters. All that matters is that the Devil holds the world. Oh, and I still have the ring. It's pretty!
- Prompt #61: Friendship, interrupted
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- nerd_do_well
- April 26th, 18:02
We’re so far apart, but it’s almost as though our fingertips are touching. I can feel your smile staining my cheeks red, the gentle glitter in your eyes as you laugh when I say something stupid, something I didn’t mean to let out. A moment of silence feels like a crucifixion; I’m terrified of scaring you away by revealing too much of the self I keep hidden, like the contents of Pandora’s box are held just behind my lips, and your caressing hand is the key to the lock.
I’m sick of people telling me you’re not a real friend; that it’s impossible to bridge the contact gap between countries, the oceans holding us apart feeling like less than an inch to me. Distance doesn’t bother soulmates, or the two sides of a coin; why would it cause us distress, other than the ache of not knowing when – if – we will ever see each other. I’m little more than a child, to my parents; you a dangerous predator who could be grooming me for any number of nefarious purposes.
But the first time I see your real smile – in person – the first time I see your eyes crinkle up like I had always imagined they would – the first time I hear your voice, the accent lilting on every syllable to come out of your lips – half the world away feels like no distance at all.semi-autobiographical, yay.
- Prompt #61: Never Trust a Gnome
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- April 25th, 15:27
The wood was eerily silent as the little girl walked through it. The sunlight dappled path stretched on ahead, seemingly endless. She had been walking for hours and didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Time itself had apparently stopped moving. Her watch declared it to be 8:00PM yet the light from the sun was shining just as brightly as it had been 5 hours ago when she had lost her parents. The sun was still shining, but the birds had stopped chirping and the wind had stopped blowing. She appeared to be the only living thing in the forest.
She sat down on a nearby stump, feeling miserable. "Where am I?" she asked aloud.
"I shall tell you." said a voice.
She jumped up and looked around frantically. She had been certain that she was all alone. "Who said that?" she asked.
"Why, I did, of course." came the voice again, and still she could not see to whom it belonged.
"Will you tell me where I am?" asked the girl, hoping that, whoever it was, they could help her.
"For a nickel, I shall tell you anything!" The voice sounded as though it were coming from behind a nearby tree.
One nickel was all the money she had on her, so she took it out of her pocket and threw it towards the tree. She heard a loud, gleeful snicker and a garden gnome went running down the lane holding her nickel aloft.
"Oh, drat!" cried the girl.
- Prompt #61
-
- April 25th, 21:02
The prompts for this week are:
- Half the world
Submissions will be accepted until 9pm on Monday 30th
- Prompt #60 Finalist Poll
-
- April 25th, 20:42
This is the finalist poll for this week. Please take a few seconds to vote for your favourite entry! The poll will be open until 9pm GMT on Monday 30th.
Poll #1836244
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7
Which Prompt #60 Submission Is Your Favourite?
View Answers
Confessions of an Insomniac by pickingmybrain 3 (42.9%)And Through The Open Door I See by shadow_ravin 1 (14.3%)Threshold of Grace by jim_lonsdale 1 (14.3%)Experiment No. 274 by dulcedemon 0 (0.0%)Wes Meets Mary by rymrytr 2 (28.6%)
- Prompt #59 Winners!
-
- April 25th, 20:36
Our winner this week isjoanneswift ! Congratulations to you! Requests for graphics are welcome ;)
Plus, this is the icon for the winners of last week's poll,shadow_ravinjim_lonsdale and
- Prompts
-
- April 22nd, 18:52
Regarding the lack of prompt this week:
Unfortunately I've been having combined computer and internet connection troubles, and haven't been able to even get the community up since about Tuesday. Hopefully everything's sorted out now, so there'll be some new prompts tomorrow.
Massive apologies for the week of absence! Hopefully everyone's raring to go on the new prompts tomorrow ;)
Much love and again many apologies,
- Wes Meets Mary - Prompt #60
-
rymrytr
- April 16th, 15:45
Wes Meets Mary
My Father choose 'Owen'; my Mom added the 'Wesley'.
During the 4th grade we moved in the middle of the School Year. My new teacher asked me which name I wanted to use. I don't know why I said “Wes”–since I was 'Owen' at home–but 'Wes' it was from there.
Then, at my 14th birthday party, my younger sister Rose, invited a new girl. Rosie was always trying to be the center of attention. That's why I called her 'Miss Clownette'.
Saying my name slowly and then speaking really fast, she said, “Owen - Wesley - Littlefield, this is 'marylouisestock'.”
“Uhhh... Hi Mary Uhhh... Letstalk?” I mumbled. Everyone's laughter rang out! I blushed so badly that I could feel the heat all over my face.
“Hi back.” she said, smiling, ignoring their laughter, and my blush! Then, taking my hand, she asked me to help her find something to drink.
As I handed her some Punch, she leaned in real close and whispered gently, “My name is Mary – Louise – Stock.” Her warm breath on my ear made my backbone shiver. I was so glad that everyone had returned to dancing because I was blushing – again!
` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
We've been married 15 years now, 'Mary Letstalk' and me, and when she reaches across to turn off the light, she kisses me and whispers in my ear, “'night Owl.”
- Prompt #60: Experiment No. 274
-
- April 15th, 17:17
Through the open door, a light is burning.
We are just dumb animals in cages to him.
Less than that --We are not supposed to have awareness let alone feelings.
Who is the lucky bunny?
--Not I.
- Threshold of Grace
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- jim_lonsdale
- April 13th, 11:44
I know that through that distant door,
Open to all but me,
Lies the solace I'm looking for,
The peace I know to be.
The price to enter seems so small,
Allegiance to the one.
Yet time after time I still fall.
For me it can't be done.
So it's here, outside, I will stay,
Knowing too well my place...
To never walk for all my days
`Cross the threshold of grace.
- And Through the Open Door I See
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- shadow_ravin
- April 12th, 20:08
annoyed
Taking a running start,
You stole my heart.
Came through my walls,
And broke my fall.
We were on fire,
The burn of desire,
It was unstoppable,
Anything was possible,
But love is weak,
And the future was bleak,
I had to prepare,
And end our affair.
You could never understand,
How I cannot stand
To be so visible and open,
And so I go within.
I threw you out,
And now go about
Rebuilding my walls,
Trying not to fall.
I look back on us,
And see we were nuts
To think we could ever be,
But I miss you and me.
It is only after it’s done
That I know what is gone,
And through the open door I see,
You were the better part of me.
- Prompt #60 Night Owl
-
- pickingmybrain
- April 11th, 10:09
Confessions of An Insomniac
Most people say they'd prefer to die in their sleep,
To pass away gently into the night in peace.
Not me.
I want to die with my eyes wide open,
To stare death in the face brazenly.
Stay awake.
Can't sleep, clowns will eat my eyes,
I'll never see again, blind forever in their torment.
Not me.
There is too much to do, and so little time,
Living life in the moment is all I want to do.
Stay awake.
Some people hold their feelings inside,
Too scared to find out what others might think.
Not me.
I want the world to know that I've survived it,
Ready to face what tomorrow might bring.
Stay awake.
I'm still awake.
Watch me fly...
- Prompt #60
-
- April 11th, 15:18
The prompts for this week are:- Through the open door
- Night owl
- Prompt #59 Finalist Poll
-
- April 11th, 15:16
This is the finalist poll for this week. Please take a few seconds to vote for your favourite entry! The poll will be open until 9pm GMT on Monday 16th.
Poll #1832881
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12
View Answers
In The Shadows by pickingmybrain 1 (8.3%)Divine...In The Shadows by anya98 0 (0.0%)Sappy Love Poem #27 by dulcedemon 0 (0.0%)Twilight by joanneswift 4 (33.3%)Shadow Monster by shadow_ravin 1 (8.3%)Unknown Shadows by khelekwen 2 (16.7%)The Divine by twhitesakura 2 (16.7%)In The Shadows by orgine 0 (0.0%)Former Divinity In The Shadows by ashton_albright 2 (16.7%)
- Prompt #58 Winners!
-
- April 11th, 15:10
We have three winners this week:shadow_ravin jim_lonsdale and
- Former Divinity In The Shadows
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- ashton_albright
- April 9th, 10:34
- chipper
She sat in the shadows silently letting her despair run down her face. Her golden locks streaked with gore of those that did not deserve her wrath. Her heavenly cloths soured by the same. Even her pure white wings were speckled or splashed. She was purity incarnate until…
The rage burned through her. The archangel wanted retribution. Her mind reared, “Retribution for what?”
Her battle lust answered then overpowered her logic, “EVERYTHING!”
She flew among the ones that she was to protect and slaughtered them with laughter on her lips. She sung a heavenly warble as she took each and every human down. She wanted them to pay for making her fell their every sin. She was purity not to be tainted by them that were less then her.
She felt another divine presence, “What have you done, child?”
The tears ran faster down the former angel’s face. “I am not sure, I was consumed by something other.”
“We cannot allow you to return. You will sacrifice your halo to pay penitence for this.”
She nodded her head her halo disappearing. The presence stepped around her drawing a sword, “For your pain I am sorry but do not dwell upon it, dwell instead upon what you ask forgiveness for.” The blade flashed and the angel’s wings hit the ground just before bursting into ash. The angel’s pained shriek rung through the empty city. She was once again alone, in the shadows.
It is fallen angel’s like these we feel sometimes, not everything in the shadows is evil, somethings are just not divine anymore.
Word count: 263
- The Divine
-
- twhitesakura
- April 8th, 19:49
Sarah sees the divine in the shadows of the noonday sun. The saints wave ghostly hands to her as she passes on the road with each arm loaded down with a bucketful of water from the town well. The first time Sarah had seen them, she had dropped one bucket in order to wave back. At home, her mother had caned and thrown her out into their crops, withered wheat baking in drought. Sarah cried, biting into the thin flesh of her childish palm, wanting no one to hear. In church, she covers her red curls humbly and casts her eyes on the stone floor while St. Sebastian peers from outside a window and sings the same prayers in a tongue she does not know.
“It wasn’t always this way,” says a man.
This one Sarah does not know, and she stops for a moment on the road towards home, the hem of her dress and her ankles coated with gritty sand. The man’s eyes are hollow and the surfaces of his palms are clotted with blood, the way Sarah’s hands are, walking with loads too heavy for her thin limbs.
“Who are you?” Sarah demands, despite herself.
The man smiles satisfiedly at her outburst, lips curling mysteriously as he fades from her sight. He is not the last one Sarah sees, but he is the last one Sarah pays any mind to.
- Prompt #59: Unknown Shadows
-
- April 5th, 18:50
- chipper
I skulked restlessly in the shadows, watching the gaslight on the corner, waiting for it to go out. I wished I hadn't forgotten my watch at home, but it really couldn't be helped. I didn't know what time it was, but I knew I didn't have enough time to go back for it.
A chill wind picked up and stung my bare hands. Where were my gloves? I seemed to be quite forgetful that night. My cold hands left my mind, however, when I noticed a hooded man walking towards the streetlamp. Reaching up, he switched the gas off, and immediately hurried away. As soon as he was out of sight, I made my move.
I didn't know what it was all leading up to; all I knew was my part. I took a chisel out of my pocket, walked out into the middle of the street, and pried loose several of the cobblestones. I put them in my pocket and walked away.
It didn't matter what it was for, as long as I got my money.
I had walked several yards when I heard a large carriage turning over and several screams. It didn't matter; as long as I got my money.
"Please! Somebody help!" A woman's voice. It didn't matter; as long as I got my money.
I reached home to find the maid still up.
"Oh, sir, I thought you might have been the Mrs. She went for a carriage ride and hasn't come back."
- Shadow Monster
-
- shadow_ravin
- April 4th, 12:10
Give it up,
Go away,
All the colors
Fade to gray.
Watch me flow,
Watch me fade,
Into the shadows
I have made.
Yell and scream,
Cry and fight,
Spending our
Family night.
All the pain,
I am numb.
Can’t you see
What I’ve become?
All the things,
That you say,
It’s your fault,
I’m this way.
Drink the poison,
In my cup,
Go to sleep,
Never wakeup.
The monster
Inside me,
Tearing me apart,
It will be free
To eat you
Like it ate me.
You’ll scream,
Help me!
But I have flown,
I have faded,
Into the shadows
That you aided,
So give it up,
And go away,
Let all the colors
Fade to gray.
All the pain
Has made you numb.
Can’t you see
What you’ve become?
- Page Summary
-
- nerd_do_well — Prompt #63: Bloody English Weather
- ashton_albright — Prompt #62: A Hero's Burden
- joanneswift — To be continued...
- nerd_do_well — Prompt #61: Friendship, interrupted
- jim_lonsdale — Threshold of Grace — 2 comments
- shadow_ravin — And Through the Open Door I See — 1 comment
- pickingmybrain — Prompt #60 Night Owl — 2 comments
- ashton_albright — Former Divinity In The Shadows
- twhitesakura — The Divine
- shadow_ravin — Shadow Monster
The prompts for this week are "I Didn't Know" and "Heavy Rain"
Submissions can be any format of 250 words maximum. Submissions will be accepted until Monday 21st, 9pm GMT.