This week’s prompt is a free write, so take the seed below and run with it. It doesn’t have to turn into anything (unless you want it to, of course), just let the words flow and see where they go.
Take this situation and see where it goes:
The protagonist wakes up and everyone is gone—except for a strange girl who wasn’t there before.
The details are up to you. Write as much or as little as you’d like.
Gregor woke up when someone shook his sleeping body, "Who are you?"
ReplyDelete"I am Clarissa, your guide," answered the woman.
"My guide?"
"Yes, your guide to your next life."
"My next life?"
"Yes, you died in your sleep and I am here to take you to your next life."
Gregor stared at Clarissa, "You look like the Fairy Grandmother from a Cinderella movie."
Clarissa smiled, "That's to help you be comfortable with me."
Gregor looked around his bedroom. "I don't see Janice. Where is she?"
"Your wife is sleeping next to your body. She is on the Life Plane. She will find you when she wakes. You are on a transition plane."
"I see. Where are you taking me?"
"Through that door," said Clarissa pointed to a brightly lit door.
"There must be some mistake. I won't go. I don't want to die. It's not the right time," said Gregor pulling himself upright in the bed.
"I am sorry, you have no choice. There is no going back."
Gregor leaped from the bed, pushed Clarissa aside and bolted for the bedroom door.
Clarissa reached within her gown for her net and threw it. Gregor dodged right and the net missed him. Clarissa ran for her net then pursued him into the hallway. She threw the net on the run. Gregor moved close to the wall but the net caught him in the narrow space.
Gregor fell and cried out, "I don't want to go."
Clarissa approached and knelt, placing her palm on his shoulder, "I know."
"I want to appeal, to talk to a higher authority, an Angel. I want to talk to Saint Peter."
"I am sorry. Your former life was weighed against The Feather. It is time to move on to the next step in your spiritual journey."
Her palm on Gregor's shoulder began to glow. "Oh Dear!" She shook her head. "You must have been truly lacking in your previous life to go from man to butterfly."
Clarissa picked up Gregor, heaved him onto her shoulder and walked back into the bedroom towards the brightly lit door.
Sue Gamage groaned, head throbbing. Was she on the floor? Yes, it felt like it, her left arm was asleep underneath her. She opened her eyes.
ReplyDeleteThe apartment was empty. Had everyone else woken up and gone home?
A girl spoke behind her. "Helluv a party, huh? Is there anything you won't take? Anything you won't do? Some of that stuff"--the girl shivered-- "didn't it hurt?"
She rolled over, her left arm tingling painfully as the blood returned to it. A girl was there, maybe twleve, cute, brown eyes, curly black hair. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"I'm Jacqueline Gamage. Pleased to meet you, again."
"Gamage? Are you a relative?" She didn't remember having any cousins or nieces named Jacqueline.
"By blood. Or at least, I will be."
"Is one of my relatives getting married?"
"No, you are, although not for a while."
"What? Get out of here, kid."
"You're marrying me."
"Kid, you're crazy. You're not even legal, and in this state, you could only be my domestic partner anyway."
"Call me Jack, will you? It's what I'm used to."
Sue snorted. "Hit the road, Jack."
"No, Sue, listen to me, this is important. We fall in love in six years. In ten years, three months, and two days, we get married. We have wonderful life together, raise four kids, and they go on to do great things. I'm 84 now, and I'm doing what you told me to do on your deathbed: having the old gypsy woman send my consciousness back in time, to make sure you get the life you'll love. How could I not? I love you."
"Prove it."
"The party last night, you threw it because you finally worked up the nerve to tell Mary Ann Fleagle you knew she was gay, and that you wanted a relationship with her. But you were wrong, she's straight, homophobic in fact, and she's cast you out of her life. So you decided, what the hell, let's have an orgy."
No one could know that. She hadn't told anyone, wouldn't have. The kid had to be on the level. "So, what, the law changes? We get married?"
Jack snorted. "This state, allow gay marriage? Not in my lifetime."
"Then how do we get married, how do we have children? Our own children, not adopted."
Jack smiled. "So you like me?"
"Yeah, you're alright, I guess."
"The life I described, it appeals to you? You want it?"
"Of course I do!"
"I'll tell the gypsy. You won't remember this, and neither will my younger self, but I'll see you in six years."
"Wait, come back--"
The girl's expression went blank, and then her eyes widened as she took in the trashed room and Sue, half naked on the floor. "Lady, what am I doing here?"
"Jaqueline--'
The child stood. "How do you know my name?"
"You told me. Just--"
The child looked around wildly. "No!" She spotted the door, and ran to it, pulling it open and vanishing into the hallway, slamming the door behind her.
Well, Sue hadn't done anything to her, so it shouldn't be a problem. At least she hoped not.
But she felt strange. Her body was changing, her panties were too tight, and the front of her shirt was deflating like someone had popped her implants.
Quickly, she pulled off her shirt. Her breasts had been replaced with pects, and there was a bulge in her panties.
The damn Gypsy had turned her into a man.
Sue was going to be Jack's husband.
She thought about it. Hadn't she always wondered, ever since she'd discovered her interest in other women?
Ah, who knew? And who can fight magic?
After a decade of trying everything and anything a woman could, she had a whole new toybox to play with.
Bonner woke with a start, to bright lights and a klaxon sounding off in the distance. The smell of old sweat and urea filled his nostrils as his eyes quickly adjusted, and he sat up slowly to catch his bearings, being careful with the chest-mounted diagnostic harness and an IV still embedded in his left arm. The transparent half oval of his sleep pod was opened and fully vertical, and as he scanned the starship’s hypersleep chamber to the left, he noticed the other three sleep pods were also open, although apparently empty.
ReplyDelete“What the f…”, was his first thought, as missing crew mates were not the expected visual he should be seeing when hypersleep was programmed to end. A small noise to his right caught his attention and he swiveled his head hard to follow the sound, and was further startled by the sight of a young girl, sitting in a…rocking chair????..., holding what appeared to be an opened, old fashioned paperback book. She was wearing a prim white dress, splattered with blood, holding the book opened in her lap, and had the most evil looking eyes as she watched him intently with a wicked grin, blood staining parts of her face and appearing to be dripping from one corner of her mouth. The red was a stark contrast to the whiteness of the room and its contents.
“Who are you? Where is my crew?”, Bonner yelled. He pulled his IV and ignored the blood flow, fighting off vertigo, and unsteadily got out of the pod and focused on gaining balance and composure. The girl slowly started rocking and held her grin, and Bonner heard her voice, barely discernible as it came out with each breathy exhalation. “You…are…next…you…are…next” she repeated over and over. Bonner fought hard to swallow a growing panic, and went over to the closed doorway and punched the open button. Nothing. He pressed it again, and again. But nothing.
Bonner’s training and instincts took over. He took the five steps back to his pod, reached under the pillow, and pulled the phase pistol he always kept by his side, regulations or not. Swinging the muzzle towards the girl, mind racing and worrying about the other crew members, Bonner went back to the door, and activated the ship wide intercom. “Crew, this is Captain Bonner. I am in the hypersleep chamber. Please report!” Immediately, a primitive howling sounded from the corridor on the other side of the door, raising the hairs on his arms as his mind scrambled to understand what was happening. The girl rocked faster and faster and spoke louder. “You’re..next. You’re…next.”, she repeated over and over again.
Suddenly she rose from the chair, transforming mid movement into a thing of horror, alien in every way, perhaps resembling a wolf sized slimy spider with two tentacles from an octopus.
That is as far as I got until I was interrupted. Can anyone finish this?
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