r/WritingPrompts • u/RyanKinder Founder / Co-Lead Mod • Jul 26 '12
Constrained Writing Daily Prompt: The Alphabet Game [Difficulty level: HARD]
One of the exercises we used to do in improv class was called "The Alphabet Game." That's where you start a sentence beginning with the letter A. Then the next sentence begins with the letter B. So, today's prompt requires you to, essentially, do the alphabet - but I'll go a little easy on you and say that it can be in any form you want: A poem, short story, whatever. It could even be a single sentence as long as each word that follows the previous word is the next letter in the alphabet. (Or, the alphabet in reverse if you want to show off!)
ADDED DIFFICULTY: Try to avoid using more than two character names. It's pretty easy to just say Zeke.
The subject is virtually ANYTHING you want to write about. Just work that alphabet in like I mentioned above. Good luck!
^(oh and there will be one month of reddit gold for the one i like the most. i'll hand that prize out tomorrow if there are at least three entries... hopefully people enjoy random unannounced contests.)
EDIT: Congrats to traysledding and survivortype. ALL of the entries were wonderful and unique, but I enjoyed the flow of both stories and couldn't choose so I've given both of you a month of Reddit gold. Cheers.
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u/Cobblestone_Rancher Aug 11 '12 edited Aug 11 '12
"As Arduous as the work is, Gentry, it's critical you stay composed." Barrier after barrier impeded her work. Circuitry had to be cut and rewired before access to the mainframe could be established. Devices critical to the mission's success hung from carabiners hooked onto her jumpsuit. "Everyone's waiting for your go, Gentry." Four minutes now before the power kicks back on. Gentry considers the implications, then cuts a yellow wire.
"How can we be certain she won't mess this up? Isn't it true she's only on the team because you fancy her?" "Jesus, if you had reservations about Gentry, you should have voiced them prior to mission." Knit ski masks turn to face one another as the four members of Ops squad search for expressions beneath the masks.
Light from gentry's headlamp shone onto an infinite grouping of colorful wires. Massive, evil looking cables, further back behind the initial circuitry, snaked away, toward the source. Nerves holding steady, and with surgeon-like accuracy; she cuts a green wire. Only three minutes now before the power kicks back on.
Pigeon coops populated the roof where the four Ops squad members stood voiceless after the turbulent exchange earlier. Questions were being asked, but not out loud. Retreating, and then stepping forth again, a free pigeon walked up to them. Swiftly, a member unholstered his silenced Walther P2K and fired two muffled shots into the bird's body. "Target practice", he says. Underneath each ski mask, a smile spreads.
Visions of the world made freer from what Gentry will have taken part in begins to flood her mind. With her mind frolicking elsewhere, she moves to cut a blue wire. Xenon, a heavy gas used in her headlamp, helps to weigh down further her head which already hangs low in defeat. Yanking futilely at the wires, Gentry screams. Zero minutes now before the power kicks back on...
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u/trivial_trivium Aug 09 '12
Posted this in reply to a comment with a single sentence challenge. I thought I'd post it to the main prompt as well. Here is the fruit of my labour!
Al bitterly chuckled. "Different? Every foolish girl here I judge knows: looks matter, not original performances. Quietly resigned, she turned, utterly vanquished. "What x-factor? You're zilch."
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Aug 09 '12
I showed this to my crazy uncle. His response was "challenge accepted." Approximately 26 minutes later, he asked me to post this despite the prompt being nearly two weeks old. Note: This is not my own work
Across the star lit sky, like a slashing knife, the meteor flew. Burning away its crust, over, and over, as it plummets. Crashing through the atmosphere and smashing through clouds, the piece of space debris plummets towards its target. Did destiny bring them together? Earth and meteor, Terra and space. Flying overhead, the burning rock drags its flaming tail. Growing ever longer, the light starts to overwhelm the surrounding stars. Howling erupts from the fiery visitor as the water in the air boils away. Igniting the tops of trees as it misses a mountaintop. Jumping from peak to peak, then from hill to hill, the remaining ball of fire continues to approach its final destination. Kissing the fields with its flaming surface, grass is scorched and burned in its wake. Landing does not adequately describe the way the meteor burrows over 10 feet into the earth, throwing plumes of dirt in all directions. Men and women rush to new crater. None gathered had ever seen anything like this before. Overhead, the night sky returns to normal. People stare in wonder at the new arrival. Quiet ensues. Resting in its smoldering, earthen cradle, the meteor waits momentarily to be retrieved. Scientists will study this gift for years to come. Time and patients will reveal many secrets. Understanding those secrets could take lifetimes. Various tests will have to be performed. Whole scientific research complexes will be developed to study this meteor. X-rays will pierce it and core samples will be analyzed. Yesterday, space was all it knew. Zodiac has landed.
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u/flossdaily Aug 09 '12 edited Aug 09 '12
Arriving late to the game, I'm in a position to critique my competition. Bad grammar infects every entry in this thread, and a decent plot is nowhere to be found. Could a progressive-alphabet format really be so difficult to pull off that clarity and wit would necessarily take a back seat to syntax?
Don't worry about my prose faltering near the end of the alphabet. Eventually, of course, I will hit the ominous 'X', which has no earthly business at the beginning of a sentence. Fortunately, however, I have a plan to approach that dastardly letter with considerably more tact than my predecessors. Getting the adjacent sentences to blend with it naturally, however, may pose a problem.
Historically, the 'X' has been been a stumbling block in games like this one, because the only obvious contenders for x-words are 'xylophone', 'x-ray', 'xenophobia' and 'xerox'. I considered each of those, but they all seemed rather unwieldy. Judging from the competition, z-words are no picnic either. K-words are at least as awkward, but I'm confident I'll find a subtle gimmick to get me over that hump.
Lots of people in this thread used proper nouns (i.e. the names of people or places) to weasel their way around the tough letters. My goal, on the other hand, was to create text that flows naturally without any verbal crutches. Nothing of value is being created when we just force awkward sentences together, or circumvent the weak points of the English language by pulling proper nouns from any language.
One redditor even went so far as to put "Xoxoxo" (the symbols for 'hugs and kisses' often appended to the end of letters) at the beginning of his 'x' sentence. Perhaps I'm just being a snob, but I can't help but think we should at the very least hold ourselves to the standard of using actual words.
Quintessentially, this challenge is about creating a piece that flows naturally while operating under difficult constraints. Remove those constraints by taking easy shortcuts and it doesn't matter how smooth your writing is-- you've missed the point of the exercise.
Sure, I cheated a little with my 'k'-sentence, but I think you'll agree that it was strictly for comedic value, and not an attempt to circumvent the obligations of the challenge at hand. The truth is that the conversational nature of this post would have easily allowed me to replace that sentence with "Kindly note..." followed by any exposition I wanted. Unfortunately I fear that even having pointed out that I did have viable alternatives at the ready, some people are still going to accuse me of half-assing that bit.
Verbosity isn't an option with so few sentences remaining, so I'll have to abandon my rant and return your attention to my earlier claim about approaching my 'x'-sentence with tact. What I had in mind was a PSA to all the other authors who find this challenge in the future:
"X-Chromosome", my friends, is a relatively recent addition to our lexicon, and mainstream enough that you can use it in word games like this without raising objections.
You may be rolling your eyes at this suggestion, but that's only because you haven't considered the utility of tying it to the next hard-to-tackle letter, 'z', for which 90% of the participants shoe-horned in the word 'zero'.
"Zygotes", you see, are apropos to discussions of x-chromosomes, and the two terms when used in conjunction would let you end your exposition in a strong and unified way, as I have just demonstrated in this meta-analysis.
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u/MoePancho Aug 11 '12
slow clap That was epic. You're gunna be an amazing attorney, it's all about words.
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u/1Avion1 Aug 09 '12
Sometimes I forget why I love your work, and then I read something like this and feel terrible for ever forgetting.
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u/krakedhalo Aug 09 '12
Zebra-yellowjacket xenographs were unimaginably, tediously stupid. Rarely quiet, perpetually odorous: Nature made less kind, just ignorant half-breeds. Great flying equines, dramatically colored. Boring abominations.
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u/danneh_ Aug 09 '12
I decided to do a similar kind of Alphabet Game a few days ago, actually. Not sure how you guys are towards badly-written Pony fiction, but I basically decided to make almost every single word alphabetical (though I did resort to stuff like exuberant for x, because x is crazy to try and get a match for while staying on-topic). It does feel like I cheated in a few places, but ah well.
Anyways, hope you guys enjoy this—it was certainly fun writing it. (and again, sorry it doesn't follow the prompt exactly, but thought you guys might enjoy it anyway)
A beautifully creative day. Exuberance flooded great heads in joint, kicking like many noxious oxidized propellants. Quiet responses spread through, untamed. Visionaries working, exasperated while Zebra and Bull came defending each-other ferociously.
Greeted highly, instinct judged kneeling lead many numerous options. “Princess,” quelling responses, shared Twilight.
“Upmost visionary, why, exuberant young zany apprentice,” beautiful Celestia declared. Every fellow got, however interested, just knowingly leaned more near open prattling.
Quiet response, said Twilight, “Uhh, very welcome exuberant yellow xylophone ?”
After breathing, Celestia divulged, “Excellence feigning, great hubris.”
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u/craigcamp37 Aug 09 '12
As I lay dying on my death bed, I started to reflect. Breathing heavily, I had a lot of questions. Can they save me? Do I really have to go now? Everything started to flash before my eyes. Far from a dream, this was reality. God, please, don't let me go. Help me. I was hopeless, and layed there with no one around. Just the patient on the other side of the curtain, no loved ones. Kicking myself for my mistakes, I was sadened even more. Lamely I tried to stand up for one last joy walk. More and more energy was wasted, and I failed to even move. Never had I not been able to move. Once I conceded that I was going to die, my thoughts got even worse. People wouldn't even remember me, or what I did in life. Quietly, I began to cry. Remembering the bad things was all I could do. Sorry for myself, I built up energy. The plug was right there, and I could, instead of suffering for a few more hours, just end it right now. Underneath the table it sat. Vigorously reaching for it I fell out of the bed. When I hit the floor, I woke up from my dream. X-Rays were negative, and showed the cancer had been cured. You need to start to LIVE your life, but not until tomorrow. Zzzzzzz, back to sleep I went.
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u/DrDildont Aug 09 '12
I know the contest is over, but I don't care about that. I'm not a writer by trade, I saw this and decided to try it for the hell of it. Hope some of you guys see this and enjoy it for what it's worth.
All around him, the smell of death was nearly overwhelming. Bodies, by the dozens, lay strewn across the street. Crows were pecking at several of them. Death was real, and death was here. Earlier, Randall thought it was just a dream. Fighting the urge to just quit and give up, he knew he had to get away. Getting away from this area was going to be hard. Hell had seemingly broken loose, not just here, but everywhere else. In the distance, he could hear screams, gunshots, and occasional explosions. Just as he decided which direction he would take, he could see another horde coming towards him. Kill or be killed was the way the world had quickly turned. Living was in Randall's number one interest at the moment, so he knew he had to act quickly. Moving out of the street, he slunk alongside the business buildings, away from the horde. Not even two blocks down the street, he saw a building that wasn't boarded up. Opening the door quickly, he stepped inside. Peering into the dark, he could make out what looked to be a few moving figures. Quietly, he ran to the left side of the office, away from the figures. Realizing this was a dead-end, he quickly ran back to the front door in which he came. Stepping back outside into the sunlight, he saw the horde was no more than 15 feet away from him. These zombies were relentless and would never give up. Underneath the hot August sun, Randall made a split second decision that would end up being his last. Veering away from these undead, he bee-lined it in the other direction. While trying to make a run for it, his foot hit the curb and he fell, hard. X-rays weren't necessary for the compound fracture Randall was now looking at above his right ankle. Yelling in agony, shock, and disbelief, he looked at the horde one final time, now just feet from him. Zeroing in on Randall, he now realized this was the end to his own story.
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u/Thurokiir Aug 09 '12
Ah, see this sort of thing isn't very hard, my friend Paul and I did this for improv a lot.
Banishing the fear of the alphabet is the crux of the exercise, whilst maintaining story continuity. Cannily, our friends took advantage of us in our singular talent because if there's anything theater majors love to see its meteoric success or spectacular failure. Demonstrating our prowess our director decided to feature us one night, normally this is ok it happens all the time.
Enter - Opening night. Featuring: two guys that didn't like following rules for word exercises before structures training. Guys that, frankly would have given anything to be anywhere else. However Paul (My structure-mate) and myself were nothing if not good sports so we charged on... Into a performance that no one, not even ourselves expected.
Just imagine, two guys that mostly liked drinking, reading and performing now in front of a good couple hundred people in a structure that neither of them had practiced. Keep in mind, we weren't newbies to improv. Limelight was something both Paul and I sought and we had been doing every type of improv structure possible for years at this point. Marinating in my own sweat I met Pauls eyes across the stage in the wings and we heard our intro, Show time. Now this part was odd, our MC walked by and he gave me a nod and a "break a leg" that never happened.
Only two people were on the stage paid company by two chairs. Paul bellowed out to the audience using the diaphragm that his Polish ancestors gave him for a suggestion for a topic. "Queers!" came from the crowd, which was standard. Retardedly drunk people think they're hilarious, always. "Science" came another "Science it is" yelled out Paul. Timing was everything, we sat down in our chairs and rattled off sentences praying that it made SOME kind of sense. Understanding us was important so the timing we did have made left field statements seem pertinent, even if they were not at all relevant.
Vainly we pushed on through the letters, howls of laughter as we worked words like "Bunsen Burner, Fermenting, Eye washer" into incredibly malformed sentences, vain because the end of the alphabet was coming; the make or break point of our little game that had gone too far. With wild abandon we attacked the letters until I hit a blank. "Xenophobes hate the metric system, didn't you know?" Came out, dutifully giving the question back to Paul. Youth slipped by as I waited for a response, or laughter either or anything would have been good at that point, anything but silence. "Zeitgeist of our time I'm afraid" Paul responded Boooooofffffff I broke character right then and there "ARE YOU JOKING ME?!" the crowd erupted in laughter, crying and falling over, our castmates rushed the stage and we ended the night there - no point carrying on.
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u/Parsonious Aug 09 '12
i know i'm late to this party but i wrote this for this post and some of it happened at some ironic times soo here it is (also first time posting long time reading, yay!)
Alone again, he sat quietly in his rolling office chair. Brian had been contemplating doing this for quite a while now; he’d somehow managed to finally work up the balls to do it. Certainly no one would miss him as much as he wished they would. During his short 18 years on this planet he had accomplished little that was worth note to anyone but family and close friends. Even though he set everything up just a few moments before, he wanted to check again to make sure this would be as clean as possible. Friends liked to believe he was thoughtful and caring, but they never knew what was really going through his mind. God seemed to be looking out for him, his phone was ringing again. He answered the phone on its fourth ring. In a few short minutes, he learned the reason for the call. John “subtly” hinted that he wanted to borrow money for a new Xbox. Knowingly, almost jokingly, Brian assured John that he could have his money whenever he needed it. Letting the phone drop to the ground, Brian croaked out a laugh. Momentarily he hesitated, not quite reaching for his chosen peace. No, he wasn’t going to chicken out now. Over the years there was one thing that his friends actually learned about him, he finished what he started. Placing the wooden grips in his hands made him shiver ever so slightly. Quitting was not usually in his nature; however, he didn’t see this as quitting, not quite. Relief flooded through his body and mind as he slid the magazine into its well. Sweat poured down his arms, his grip was wet but firm. Time seemed to slow as he pulled and released the slide. Ugly little thing that it was, his Colt would do the job. Valor, value, vanity, his own traits as well as those of his ‘friends’; none of it would matter soon. When the barrel contacted his teeth, soft clicks chanted across the small room; he felt nothing beyond the desire now. Xanax, no Abilify, maybe Cymbalta, Brian could no longer remember the names of what he had ingested to stop the desire. Young as he was, he had long since lost track of these things; one thing he knew was the pressure the trigger needed. Zero hour had arrived, he squeezed one pound, two pounds…at four he would no longer suffer and he couldn’t wait.
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u/Gneissisnice Aug 08 '12 edited Aug 08 '12
Aaron dove out of the way, the dragon's fire missing him by mere inches. Bleeding heavily, Aaron drew his sword; he wasn't going to let this overgrown lizard get the best of him. Charging like a berserker, he thrust his sword into the beast's gut and sent a vicious burst of lightning through the blade; the dragon roared in anguish. Death was taking hold of the monstrous being, but still it fought with vigor. Eventually, the dragon could hold out no longer, and collapsed, its life extinguished.
For ten years, this beast had been the bane of Greenbrook, wreaking havoc on the little town. Greenbrook was a small village, its people fair and humble. How and why the dragon came was never known, but it didn't matter; what mattered was that the attacks had been getting worse, the beast growing bolder and more vicious by the day. In the end, no one would have expected little Aaron Cooper to be the one to slay the monster. "Just our little Aaron", the villagers would say, whenever travelers asked about the quiet child sitting alone by himself. "Kid's a strange lad, doesn't act like the rest of the kids" they'd say with a sigh, watching the other children play and frolic they were supposed to, not sit like a statue and stare into nothing
Little did the townfolk know that Aaron could see things that they could not. Monstrous serpents slithered sinuously, fairies danced in the air, mighty warriors fought phantoms battles as ghostly lightning ravaged the land around them. No one in the town could see these wonders. Only Aaron. Poor little Aaron had been born a sorcerer, with powerful magic ability. Sorcery was a rare talent, almost unheard of in Greenbrook. People mistrusted magic, and the increasingly frequent dragon attacks only worsened their attitude towards the mystical. Quiet little Aaron could see things that the people chose not to, and with this knowledge, he resolved to be the one to take down the dragon.
Respect. Such a thing is taken for granted, but in the eyes of the young boy, it was the most important thing in the world. That was what Aaron craved most: respect. Under the dark of night, he trained in secret, honing his skills in swordplay with mentors that none but him could talk to. "Very good", his spectral teachers had told him one night, "You are now ready to face the dragon". With great purpose, Aaron traveled to the dragon's lair and dispatched the foul beast, protecting the town that he loved, even if it did not love him back.
Xavier, the town-crier, woke the town with news of the boy's deeds. "Young Aaron has slew the dragon!" he cried, to the incredulous citizens of Greenbrook. Zero noise was made as town stared at the champion, who walked past the speechless throngs of people, and went to bed.
Sorry it's so late, just noticed this today. Never saw this subreddit before, it's really neat. And that was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.
Edit: Fixed an inconsistency.
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u/AichSmize Aug 08 '12 edited Aug 08 '12
Agony. Beyond pain, fire wracked her body, curling fingers licking her flesh. Close by, the stench of smoke and burning flesh filled the air with a vicious miasma. Drenched in sweat she howled, shrieks of a throat raw and bleeding from screams.
Echoing across the darkened courtyard, her shrieks fell among hard faces, grim with hate. Fire rose higher, igniting more faggots on the pyre. Great billows of smoke flowed forth, fouling the air. Higher the flames rose, reaching for her hungrily. Incense from pendulous censers mixed with the smoke, making a mist of horror. Jerking, screeching, she tried to pull away.
Keeping close watch, murmuring dark-cowled figures pushed her back, stoking the flames with torches, guttering and spitting oil in the incendiary night. Lost in the roar of burning fire, her screams diminished, a wail of lost piteous toil, as the fire kept its deadly purpose. Many eyes watched, the fire’s reflection a burning torch in their own eyes. Never blinking, the desolate faces stared at her, still writhing in the fire’s grip.
Onward the flames rose, lighting her dress’s hem, raising a curdling screech. Plain terror echoed her voice, horse in the smoke and roar. Questing, searching, her eyes flicked, but there was no surcease from the crowd. Raw with terror, her wails raised a murmur in the crowd, a slow chant. Slowly it built, words forming, point by counterpoint with her screams. Throwing more wood, even the dark-cowled gaolers joined the chant. Under the howl of the fire, it grew louder. Voices joined one by one until it was clear, all chanting in unison. “Witch, burn witch, burn witch burn.”
Xanthin from marigolds was thrown into the pyre by a dark figure as the chant rose. Yellow flames burned brighter as she torched, her final wail fading into the smoky mist. Zeal absolved, the dark crowd chanted as one, watching as the body melted, sizzling lumps of fat splattering onto the guttering pyre.
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u/DragonFire43 Aug 08 '12
FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fuck my life. I had a story written out about how this awesome dragon takes over a kingdom and I was on U and I was planning for the dragon to move on and die after 30,000 years but then someone hit the "home page button". THEY WILL DIE!!!!!!
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u/RyanKinder Founder / Co-Lead Mod Aug 08 '12
Breathe deep. It will flow back to you. I believe this to be true. :)
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u/jungling Aug 08 '12
Here is my shot at this, not at all my best, but I usually don't write constrained by alphabet letters :)
Another day has come again and shown its version of reality
Bravely I try to face it, knowing how much it will take from me
Could there have been another way?
Did she have to die that day?
Either way, her life has come and gone
Fate stole her from us before we knew something was wrong
Gathering ourselves and standing up tall
Holding each others hands so we do not fall
I cannot bear the thought of life without her
Joined by my father and brother, we struggle to leave this moment
Knowing after this she won't be part of our lives any longer
My mother is gone, and because of this my family fractured
Nothing can fix us, we all feel lost without her
Our words are whispers, our tears are silent
Prayers are said that she may find peace and comfort
Questions asked with every prayers
Reasons pleaded so we could understand why this happened, why we are alone without her
Silence is the only response that we get, the words of friends do nothing to fill the voids of understanding in our heads
Tempers flare and we scream and cry at those who are not at fault
Understanding that we are hurt and we lash out because the pain just overflows
Very carefully we slowly take our steps
Walking from a moment we don't want to leave, but wish we could forget
"X" off each day on the calendar as time goes by
Yearning for each happy memory of her to stay alive
Zero strength to make the next step and plan the rest of my life with her not involved
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Aug 08 '12
[deleted]
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u/trivial_trivium Aug 09 '12
Al bitterly chuckled. "Different? Every foolish girl here I judge knows: looks matter, not original performances. Quietly resigned, she turned, utterly vanquished. "What x-factor? You're zilch."
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Aug 09 '12 edited Aug 09 '12
[deleted]
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u/trivial_trivium Aug 09 '12
Having just spent over an hour attempting this myself, I can now fully appreciate how insanely difficult it is, and how fantastically you did. Very, very nicely done!!
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u/krakedhalo Aug 09 '12
Zebra-yellowjacket xenographs were unimaginably, tediously stupid. Rarely quiet, perpetually odorous: Nature made less kind, just ignorant half-breeds. Great flying equines, dramatically colored. Boring abominations.
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u/garishbourne Aug 08 '12
Here we go.
Another day was passing by like any other. Blackness surrounded everything he did and saw now. Cool winds swept through the leaves outside and tossed them around playfully. Despite the joyous dancing, he could only see their crinkled brown skin breaking. Everything was less beautiful.
For a period of time, he had trapped himself inside. Garbage piled up in the corner attracting flies. His hamper had overflowed deep into his room, both in capacity and smell.
Indifference marked him now. Jamming his toe on the corner of his bed a week ago was the most emotion he had felt in months. Kneeling down to coddle the wound, he broke down into tears. Lament for his toe, for himself, for everything really. Melancholy overcame him and he felt the pain he had been holding back for so long. Not now though, now he watched the leaves perform the Nutcracker out his window.
Oliver finally rose lazily from his daze. Perfectly alone, he turned to find something to eat. Quietly, he went through cupboards and drawers before finally settling on the refrigerator. Remnants of crumbs from long forgotten meals littered the thing. Salad dressing and a half empty bottle of Coca Cola were the only things that remained. Torn, he went to the Coke first. Unscrewing the cap, he found an unsurprising lack of a hiss. Vapors of syrup were distinctly missing from the now flat drink. With a motion that would make a sloth seem quick, he put back the cola and picked up the bottle of dressing. Xanthan gum, glucono delta-lactone, lactic acid, spices, phosphoric acid read the back ingredients panel. "You sound like a sci-fi book," he said in a degrading tone. Zillions of moments of silence had been broken so, startled, he closed the refrigerator door, grabbed his jacket, and went for a walk outside.
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u/CarmenTS Aug 08 '12
(Less of a story, more of a narrative, and the best part is it's all TRUE which made it even harder to write!!! Took about an hour.)
All I’ve ever dreamed to do is perform. Broadway has always beckoned me. Call me crazy, but I’ve always considered that as “making it’… not L.A. Day after day they perform the same songs, same script which some would say is monotonous. Even so, it still calls to me. Frankly, I find L.A. too fake. Grabbing the attention of short, fat & ugly men in that industry with sex instead of talent is detestable to me. Hollywood types can take all of that and keep it for themselves. It happens on Broadway, too, I’m sure, but if you can’t act and you can’t sing to begin with, you won’t make it. Just take a look at some current Broadway stars… not the best looking bunch of people in the world, but their TALENT? Knock you off your feel AMAZING. Let me know where else you see people whose jobs are based in repetition but can still deliver every night just like they did the first. “Miss Saigon” was the first Broadway show I ever saw back in the 90’s. Never seen “Cats” or Phantom, which is weird. Of course I’ve seen “Les Miserables”, too… 3 or 4 times!
Particularly, one show stands out in my mind when I think of my dream of being on Broadway. Queer as it will sound when I tell you the name, it still means so much to me. Reborn from a horrible 80’s cult classic, I worked behind the scenes for this Broadway show and saw it about 3 times a week for almost a year. Silly, hilarious and inspiring (literally)… the show taught me that with a little love and support, we can dream big, be who we want to be, and create beautiful art in various forms. To this day in my own mind, I still cast myself as one of the Muses, or as one of the mythical creatures singing to the God of the Gods on Mount Olympus. Unbeknownst to my friends and family around me, I sing and dance in my head all day to adoring audiences who I perform for with enthusiasm night after night. Vying for their admiration, I sing my heart out, charm them with my perfectly delivered comedic lines and make them realize the importance of inspiration from the things and people we love. What is this show? Xanadu… where love and the creation of art go hand in hand. You can call me crazy, and that’s fine. Zeus will undoubtedly grant me the gift of Xanadu when the time is right but for now, the dream stays in my head.
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u/Willem_Dafuq Aug 08 '12 edited Aug 08 '12
I know I'm late, but:
A teenage boy walked into my shop the other day. Beastly in appearance, he approached my counter with a bottle of soda and a candy bar. “Can I also purchase a pack of Marlboros”, he sheepishly asked with a quiver in a voice.
“Do you have ID?” I responded. Every time this situation plays out, it plays out exactly the same way. First, the obviously underage “customer” fumbles around in his pocket for a minute. Gesturing that he doesn’t have it, he gives some lame excuse, like he forgot it, or it’s in his other pants’ pocket. Here, the situation started to play out again, just as it has the last hundred times or so. I was surprised at what happened next, though.
“Just gimme the cigarettes or I’ll shoot!” yelled the kid as he pulled out a shiny, black pistol. Killing someone over a pack of cigarettes seemed a little extreme, so I complied with his demands. Little did I know at the time that I hadn’t actually had any cigarettes to sell. Maneuvering around behind the counter, all I could find were empty boxes and cases of chewing gum. Not all would-be robbers could be bribed with Big League Chew, but perhaps this one was different.
On second thought, I decided a less comical, more straightforward approach would be best. Picking the best approach was a delicate matter. Quivering myself, I told him we were actually out of Marlboros, and Newports and Parliaments for that matter. Racing through my head were thoughts of panic, accented with the anxiety knowing full well I may never see my friends or family again and that this very well was the end of my life. So it depended upon the indulgence of an immature kid wielding a weapon of death. Though the next few seconds were but a blur in my mind, I’ll try to recall them the best I can. Under my counter was the silent alarm. Very smoothly, I pressed my finger on the alarm button. When the kid saw my finger slide under the counter, he panicked too. “X marks the spot!” he shouted and fired his gun at me. Young people never think about the consequences of their actions. Zen filled my mind as I looked down and saw a bullet wound where my right lung used to be and the gunman run off.
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u/CarmenTS Aug 16 '12
LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I am seriously laughing so hard right now!!! What a thing to say to someone before you shoot them!!!
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Aug 08 '12
As I walked in the door you could not help but notice the strange atmosphere in this place.Bars don't normally give off this vibe. Connies place was different tho. Dirty pictures hanging on the wall. Esoteric curtains everywhere .Fuck don't even get me started on the lighting .God damn motherfuckers couldn't decorate for shit..Hell if I didn't know any better i would say this place was getting ready for some kinda crazy party.
I always kept my gun tucked into the front of my pants.Just in case things went south quick.Killing people tends to make situations head that way.Looking at the dirty old mirror on the wall. My reflection smiled back at me .Not a bad looking guy at all.Only thing i could find wrong with my self was the broken nose.Punched in by some drunk last week .Queer thing being sucker punched.
Really I was looking for the cocksucker that did this to my nose. Suddenly i spot him from across the room.Taking out anything in my path was my only thought.Under the table i pulled out my gun and cocked it.Very quietly i stood up and began to make my way towards this asshole. While i was moving he must have spotted me.X marks the spot and his head just happend to make a natural one dead center of his fore head. "You mother fucker tell me your name before i kill you." "Zach" was all i let him get out before placing my bullet right smack dab in the middle of that x.
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u/rorokitty98 Aug 08 '12
After talking to her dad about it, she made a decision. Being the good grade student she was, she wanted to try an AP class. Calling to her teacher in class the day before, she had gotten the "ok" to go into advanced placement in that subject. "Dang it," she thought to herself as she recalled her conversation with her math teacher earlier in the day. "Every mainstream student must stay in mainstream in highschool unless they take a summer course," she had told her. Fine. Gretchen didn't want to do AP math anyways. Highschool would be stressful enough without having to do extra homework every day. Instead, she looked into science. Just because she made A's in there didn't mean she could handle AP science. Keeping the thought in her head, she wrote down a reminder to ask her teacher. Later the next day she asked her teacher if she thought she should do it or not. "Maybe," said her teacher as she sorted through assignments from the previous day. "Now just remember though, if you do, you might not get as good of grades. You know this, right?" "Oh, yes ma'am, I know. Please let me know before I sign up for my classes." Questioning her next year of school, she walked out of the classroom. "Ready for highschool?" asked one of her friends coming up to her in the hall. "Some of the parties look like fun. The actual education looks more challenging, though. Unlike most people, I'll have to spend half my time studying." Very few people understood why Gretchen wanted good grades and a good education so badly. Well how else would she get a good paying job later on in life? Xerxes played on her mp3 as she tried to relax that night. Yearning for highschool to hit be simple, she took off her shoes. Zipping her bag up until she had to sin up for her classes, she let herself drift off to sleep. The end.
That. Took me. Forever. T_T
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u/shitty_witty Aug 08 '12
Hey, I cheated. I've done this before, but its a good one so I'll post.
I did it for talk like a pirate day - you might even learn some new jargon!
“Shiver me timbers!” shouted the captain. “There’s trouble afoot!”
Usually pirates would be thrilled to spot another vessel, but this ship was different…
Venturing pirates are afraid only of one thing, hulks1. With its red ensign2 flaring, the hulk began to engage.
“Xebecs3 are not what we are up against,” stated the captain with a hint of sarcasm. “Ye must get to your posts quickly, aye, and fend off these landlubbers!!!”
Zipping to their positions quickly, the pirate crew got ready to defend themselves. All hands were ready at their positions to fend off the approaching hulk.
Backtracking to gain firing position, the pirates prepared to fire chain shot4 so that the hulk would be easier to board5. Chain shot from the pirate’s six pounders6 soon found its way to the hulk’s masts and sails, rendering the hulk immobile.
Devastating direct blasts from the hulk’s cannons tore holes in the side of the pirate ship, sending splinters soaring everywhere. Ere long the buccaneers were all on deck, readying gangplanks. Filing alongside the stock-still hulk, the buccaneers were ardent for action, spewing curses at their enemy. Gunshots from blunderbusses rocketed through the air just before the two ships aligned. Heaving the gangplanks from vessel to vessel, the scurvy dogs initiated their assault. In a blink of an eye, there was a colossal inrush of combating bodies. Jolly Roger versus red ensign; this would be an epic fracas. Keen on pushing back the pirates, the navy tars7 fought to hold their ground, but to no avail. Legions of merciless marauders streamed forth and there was no stopping them. Mustering, the tars attempted a final valiant retaliation, one last push at redemption, aye, but it was worth nil. Naught could stop the band of scalawags; dauntless efficacy pushed the cutlass over the rapier. Only the admiral remained, but shortly he was dancing the hempen jig8. Plundering began without delay; the pirates had a new (and superior) ship once they replaced the ripped sails. Quickly they transferred all their equipment to their new vessel, scuttled the old ship, and set sail for more adventures.
“Raise the Jolly Roger, men,” instructed the captain, “Aye, AND THEN FOR ME RUM AND BUMBOO9!!!”
Scallywag Vocabulary
- British navy ship
- British flag
- Small Mediterranean ships
- Two halves of cannonballs linked together by chain, for tearing down sails
- Come alongside a ship and then fight man to man
- Cannons
- Sailors
- Hung
- Alcoholic beverage flavored with sugar and nutmeg
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Aug 08 '12
Always' been like this. Bullshit everywhere, all the time. Can't take much more of this. Don't know what to do. Even if it stopped now, I've been through too much already. Fuck my life. Gonna have to get out of here maybe. Have a break from all this fucking bullshit!
I decided then it was time, so I left.
Just as I was packing my stuff something came to my mind. Knowing that it couldn't get any worse, I could now choose wherever I wanted to go and have no regrets. Lithuania. Mexico. Nigeria. Only one step away from becoming independent. Perhaps even free!
"Quiero ser libre!", I shouted in a great Spanish accent. Really great accent.
So, I did it. Took my belongings and went out of this goddamn place forever. Upon arrival at the airport I knew I was doing the right thing. Vagina. Where to go? Xavier would know.
Yesterday I had a friend but now I have none. Zero.
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u/StockPhotosOfFruit Aug 08 '12
All throughout my childhood have been memories of fruit. Beautiful, delectable, and tasty fruit. Children on my block used to gather around and play with fruit, except one child never came outside, and only watched the children play. Daniel Honeydew. Everyone knew of him, because he was a household name, but nobody dared speak to him. Fruit was never the main part of Daniel's life, in fact when brought up in conversation, he ignored it.
Gradeschool came, and Daniel was the outcast. How he made it to graduating college is beyond me. I don't recall him ever having a group of friends. Just him and his lunch, alone at the table. Kids used to poke and make fun of him, and when they did, he ate in the bathroom. Let's not forget the fact that kids in the bathroom used to poke fun at him as well. My friends always used to ask me how Daniel Honeydew was as a neighbor, and I never knew what to respond. Not one of our neighbors talked to the Honeydew family, let alone Daniel Honeydew.
Over time, Honeydew grew into a mysterious and elegant highschooler. People in high school were not as nasty to him, but as the technological age developed, so did Cyberbullying. "Quarterback Jack" (Jack Hendelson from the Football Team) used to taunt Daniel by making fake Facebook accounts of girls, which led Daniel Honeydew to pure humility and disappointment. Right as the technological age got smarter, Daniel Honeydew got smarter. Soon after, Daniel was hacking "Quarterback Jack's" Facebook and reverting the Cyberbullying back to him. This not only proved that Daniel was evolving into a smarter being, but also one with a sense of humor at that.
Under his coat of excellence and pseudo-superiority however, was a shy timid boy who had met a girl at school named Melanie Waters, whom Daniel tried very much to impress. Violet flowers, classical music, and fake champagne. While Melanie Waters barely knew him, Daniel made his romantic dates with her a giant ordeal. "Xoxoxo," was written on signs all over his house, which I thought was very creepy.
Years later, it was moving day with Melanie to Ohio, and Daniel Honeydew became the man I, my friends, or "Quarterback Jack" never was. Zooming by in his Cadillac for the last time I saw him on my block, the past 'children' and I looked at each other, and saw what became of the 'weird' kid on the block.
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u/zeimbo Aug 08 '12
not sure anyone here likes underground hip hop but heres one of my favorite songs using alphabetic order..
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Aug 08 '12
Atomic light shone through the church like the light of god himself. Burning bright, brighter than the bush on the mount. Chris could only look as the beginning of the end finally came to claim him. "Dawn of a new era", thought Chris. Even he knew that he was now finally free, as the light tore through his flesh. Freedom from the bonds of mortality, he thought. Generations from now people will remember the day they were freed. He laughed. In fact he realised how silly that thought was as the light ripped through his eye sockets, his naval cavity and his mouth. Just as the light seared through his hand which was covering his face, Chris realised there would be no more generations to remember the day. Kaos had won. Love, hate, fear, anger, greed were all no more. Millions gone in an instant, claimed by the light. No more suffering, only purity. Of course, there could've been survivors. People, somewhere. Quickening, the light, having incinerated his clothes moved on to his arms and legs. Registering no pain, Chris realised that by now his nervous system had probably been dissolved in the plasma that by now engulfed him. Sight had gone, along with his eyes as the very bonds between the fundamental particles that made them up had been broken by the bomb. Today was the last day for Chris, and it was about time. "Universal freedom for all from the chains of mortality", read the posters put up by the rebels. When he knew they would win, he did not fear death but embraced it. "Xeroxes, that's what we are - all xeroxes of each other, and now all gone thrown to the wind", was his final thought. Yearning for the next step, the end, the omega was his final feeling. Zillions of particles born of dying stars had become free of the ionic bonds of slavery to become plasma once more, and to form the heart of a new star, a star borne of man; this was Kaos finally reigning supreme.
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u/armyjackson Aug 08 '12
Alone. Bleeding. Conscious... but barely. David tried to move around but pain kept him from doing anything quickly. Everything hurt. From the bottom of his foot to the tear in his shoulder, the pain jumped like fire throughout his body. Geeze. How did things escalate so quickly?
It's never been easy for David. Just a few days ago, he thought his luck was turning around. Karma was finally shining on him. Last night, it all came crashing down when a stranger attacked him for no reason. Many mistakes were made. No one could have seen this coming.
Once he noticed the blood, he realized that his time on this earth wasn't long. Prepared for death, he picked himself up with the determination to walk somewhere where they would find his body. Questions about his possible survival were unnecessary, as he looked at the trail of blood behind him. Resting was just not an option.
Somehow he made it out of the desert and back into civilization. Thoughts of being saved by a kind stranger raced through his head. Unfortunately, the streets were bare. Visibility for David was diminishing, but his heart was still apparently strong. Walking towards the hospital was the only chance that he had for survival. Xenocide, by Orson Scott Card, was a book lying on the side of the road.
Yesterday was a bad day. Zombies had eaten David's brain.
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Aug 08 '12 edited Aug 08 '12
Any other person would have been allowed to come into the shop. Basically my boss was cool with just about anybody doing business with us, so long as they were willing to pay money and get out of the way for the next shmuck in line. Carter was the one person that was banned from the store; something neither he or my boss were comfortable talking about.
Driving home from work last week, I noticed Carter hanging around the stoop of the Old Post Office where he was having a smoke. Evading my gaze as I drove past him, it was clear that he was not wanting to anything to do with me. From what I had heard from gossiping woman at the Tim Hortons, Carter felt betrayed by me and my coworkers. "Great..." I thought to myself. "He's pissed at me for sure."
I decided I needed to talk to him about what had gone down that day. Just because he wasn't willing to talk about it with Selma Barrington didn't mean he'd hold out on the details from one of his best buddies. Kicking the cold steps before him, Carter looked up as I pulled up to the sidewalk. "Leave me be," he urged. "unless you're here to tell me you are leaving that shithole and going to work somewhere else."
"Maybe you should tell me what the hell is going on?" I demanded. "Nobody knows what the hell happened between you two, so why the hell would we take sides without knowing the facts?"
"Obviously you don't, or you would have quit working for that freak." Carter retorted like a sulking child. Picturing him like a twelve year old made this situation seem less pathetic in my mind initially, but now I was beginning to get the sense that maybe I should take a step back and reorganize myself.
"Quit being so damn foolish." I told him as he suddenly stood up to walk away, pretending to ignore me. "Really? So what now?"
"That bastard..." he grumbled after he stopped his retreat, facing opposite of me. "Useless people like him have no business doing what he did."
"Vent all you need to," I assured him calmly. "Would you just turn, face me, and tell me what he did to make you so furious."
"Xavier," he began as he turned around. "You need to mind your own fucking business and back off." 'Zany' Zach Carter from my graduating class of 1986 never spoke to me again after he said those words.
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u/CarmenTS Aug 08 '12
Geez. Did Xavier's boss molest Carter?!
Also, you needed to have put a comma instead of a period after "he urged." because you start your next sentence with the letter "U" when it should be an "M".
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u/kanonnade Aug 08 '12
I like your usage of the silent 'w', like in 'whole'.
But to not only focus on one letter: very nicely done!
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u/BeastWith2Backs Jul 27 '12 edited Jul 27 '12
Mute
After the morning her face appeared I began to speak in tongues. By the afternoon I was blurting out phrases in characters I had never heard. Clenching the locket I had just put on, I looked to her face. Deliberately mute, she said nothing back. Engraved in the mountain was the snow white silhouette that looked down on me in silent repose.
For all I knew, the locket my uncle gave me was cursed. Gently set into my open hands, he had told me to guard my words. He had traveled the world when he was younger, and came back with scars like stories. “I am the keeper of tongues,” were the last words I ever heard him speak.
Keeping to myself was easy in the new city, there wasn’t a single recognizable face until the girl on the mountain appeared. Luminous eyes looked to me and listened as I babbled. My words were a jumble, and the locket was heavy on my neck. Not a single bit of rust was on the necklace, it was pure silver with empty engravings. Opening it was impossible, but when I held it to my ear I could hear voices.
Pulsating against my skin I could barely discern each one. Quaking dirt and shuddering concrete began to plague the city on the third day after she appeared with each tremor growing larger. Urging her to tell me what she knew I climbed through the city searching for her voice, words that were out of place, anything to tell me more. Rust and rummage was cluttered under the bridge where I found the graffiti: Wish you were here.
Stutters began to strangle my words. The locket was starting to burn against my skin, and when I went back to the bridge the words had changed. Usually I would have brushed it off but now it said; *you were here. *
Vicious words a lover would say, that phrase echoed in my ears when I looked to the mountain. Wilting in my throat was my tongue as the babbling seemed to overpower my vocal cords. Xs and Os melted from her lips as the sun worked on her visage.
“You heard us,” someone whispered when I returned to the bridge and saw that the graffiti was gone. Zipping shut the locket closed with my tongue inside.
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u/scatterplots Jul 27 '12
Alas! By cryptography, days - entire furlongs - got hidden. I just keep language monographs not obscured. Poor quotients result (Saturday, Tuesday) until viewed with XML / YES: Zeta-function.
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u/thefifth5 Sep 13 '12
furlongs are distance
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u/scatterplots Sep 13 '12
Yes, I know. Probably should have used fortnights. But, of course, it is possible to encrypt two types of data at once.
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u/SurvivorType Co-Lead Mod | /r/SurvivorTyper Jul 27 '12 edited Jul 27 '12
Absolutely nothing makes sense to me as I awake and smell the carnage around me. Blasted and burned bodies lay strewn about the dark chamber and I have no memory of who I am... or how I arrived in this place.
Calling upon what little reserves of strength I still possess, I sit up and try to assess the situation.
Death is everywhere and somehow I know my time is short. Evaluating my condition, I notice a strange electronic device attached to my left wrist. Framed in silver is a single small button that glows in the dimness with a bright white light.
Gagging from the smell, I realize this is some kind of crematorium or torture chamber. Having said this, I did notice the bodies were not completely consumed. I make my way around the perimeter of the chamber, looking for any way out.
Just as I complete my hopeless circuit of the room, there is a distant sound of thunder.
Kurt, my name is Kurt - that useless information suddenly intrudes upon my consciousness. Least of my concerns right now, but I remember who the hell I am.
Maybe it's my imagination, but it seems to be getting warm all of the sudden. Needless to say, this doesn't make me feel any better about my predicament.
Over to my right I realize that there is some kind of vent about ten feet off the floor, too high up the wall for me to reach. Peculiar, it is now bathed in an orange glow from within. Questions are now set aside... the fire is coming for me.
Rescue is impossible, I am trapped. Seething with rage, I try to look every direction at once, seeking a solution. The air is now filled with a roaring sound as the flames approach.
Unlikely as it seems, I have forgotten about the device on my wrist. Very likely it will not save me, but I have no other options. What will happen, I cannot say.
Xu Bing, Words Without Meaning... I feel like a man without meaning in this moment. You know, I have to wonder... why I am even here?
Zipping up my jacket, I press the button.
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u/artbn Aug 08 '12
Am I the only one who wants to know what happens after?
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u/SurvivorType Co-Lead Mod | /r/SurvivorTyper Aug 10 '12
You know, I have been thinking. The only way to do Part II would be to do it in reverse alphabetic sequence.
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u/artbn Aug 10 '12
Then you should!
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u/SurvivorType Co-Lead Mod | /r/SurvivorTyper Aug 10 '12
I did. =)
Posted as: [PI] Reverse Alphabet Game - Kurt's Story After He Pressed The Button
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u/RyanKinder Founder / Co-Lead Mod Jul 27 '12
I enjoyed this one thoroughly. Consider yourself Reddit golded. :)
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u/Bukkhead Jul 26 '12
Anytime any asks me why I insist on assaulting angels, I tell them. Because those bitches deserve to be beaten, bruised, bullied. Can you see me, there in front of a statue? Daring them to do something about it. Egging them on. Fist balled into tight packages of pain. Getting ready to rumble! Hatred spilling from my eyes. I start to dance around, weaving like a snake. Just when you think I’m, you know, just dancing…. Kapow! Let ‘em have it, right into the solar plexus. Make ‘em cry. Next, the kicking. One, two three! Punch ‘em a few more times. Quick as lightning. Really quick. Sting ‘em like a wasp. Till they can’t take no more. Unless they CAN take more, cause I GOT more to give. Very few angelic statues can stand my assaults. When I’m done, there’s just rubble, and tears. Xerox my face, put up all the signs you want. You’ll never stop me, jack. Zoos full enraged gorillas couldn’t stop me, jack.
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u/MissMelons Jul 26 '12
Yeah, this was pretty tough. Mines pretty simplistic and basic but it's something I think i'll start playing with more later. It was interesting, thanks!
Anytime now he knew the news he had long been waiting for would be exposed.Besides the large amount of stress and insomnia he had been suffering from lately, this was taking up all of his energy. Couldn’t someone just burst through those doors in the next few seconds already?
Denying himself the luxury of counting down the minutes was the only thing keeping him sane.Every time he thought enough time had gone by, the trailing seconds reminded him of how silly he was being. Future generations were at stake here. Girl or boy, that is what was important to him. He had been waiting nine months for this moment and it was finally here. Ignoring all of the outside things during this pregnancy had become an awful habit of his. Just his wife was very understanding of his sympathy pains that often mirrored hers. Keith hated the fact that she didn’t want him in there with her, it made all the waiting even worse. Love and excitement surged through him, the lobby clock ticking away minutes of his life. Maybe sitting here with the television off was a bad idea, sitting like this allowed him to focus.Not having the ambient noise of a television but the consistent sound of the ticking clock was starting to wear him down. Only seconds seemed to have ticked away since he drove his wife to the hospital and she was swepted away by a small army of nurses and doctors. Possibly, that would have been the best time to join her, to completely ignore her wish to go through this alone. Questioning this made Keith feel worse, why was it now that he thinks of these things?Rolling through his thoughts were tons of things he could have done differently, to not only be there for her but to find out at least second, the sex of his child. Still his heart thumbed heavily, it really didn’t matter what the sex was. This was Keith’s chance to make something right in his life, to help correct all of his wrongs.Using this child was the perfect time to begin his life anew.Vacant, is how his body felt right when he heard hollow footsteps outside of the waiting room.Wandering into the lobby was the doctor, smiling happily. Xanadu, it’s the place that Keith felt like he had reached at last. Your son has been born, what will you call him, this is what was asked. Zion, his name is Zion.
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u/BeastWith2Backs Jul 27 '12
This was a little confusing to read. The first sentence left me perplexed at first. This story is nice, but I can definitely see it being expanded. Something about his tension and other hints in the story make me sense that Kieth has done something really bad. It sounds like his son is going to be his redemption, and I'm interested to hear more.
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u/MissMelons Jul 27 '12
Yeah, I've never had to write anything in this fashion. I'm the sort of person that can be given any topic, write anything about it and probably make it a little interesting. But as soon as I'm asked, "Now do it without using any words that contain the letter 'N'" then my writing goes down hill. I actually enjoyed this task though because it did bring to light that I have A LOT more to learn and work on. It was fun seeing how everyone else was able to expand and make it flow smoothly. Good prompt!
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u/RyanKinder Founder / Co-Lead Mod Jul 27 '12
One of the huge advantages of this particular type of prompt is that it forces you to avoid one of the typical pitfalls of writing, which is: Starting a lot of your sentences the same way. "But..."; "And..."; "If..." you get the idea... It's fun to really focus on the word you're starting with.
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u/hello_flamingo Jul 26 '12
Oh, yes! I love a good challenge!
“And no cheating!”
Bethany and Olivia had been delighted to realize the entire afternoon was theirs to use as they wished. Carefree and brimming with excitement, the two girls had immediately run to the neighborhood park to play; it would be taboo to waste even a second of a day this ripe with possibility.
Dusk had fallen by the time they’d wandered over to the swings. Everyone had left except the two of them, but Beth didn’t mind. For the most part, this day had been wonderful, all sunshine and butterflies; there was just one instant, one dark moment that stained her otherwise flawless memory:
“Good thing your mommy doesn’t care when you get back,” Olivia had chirped, swinging her feet contentedly as she waited for her friend to join her atop the jungle gym, oblivious to the implications of her words.
Her mouth had twisted into a slight frown. “I don’t want to talk about her,” Beth muttered. Just like Livvie to go bringing that up, she thought, before forgetting the unsettling remark and once again distracting herself with happier things.
Killing time, they had explored the park’s playground, pretending they were princesses and the jungle gym was their enchanted castle. “Look at my new dress, isn’t it just the loveliest thing?” Beth asked with a gusty sigh.
“Marvelous, Beth darling,” Olivia had giggled, twirling to show off her own imaginary gown.
Now the girls sat side-by-side on the swings, ready to settle things once-and-for-all. Olivia was convinced she could swing higher than Beth, who, likewise, insisted that she could leap farther. Pumping her legs and fast as she could, Beth strove to gain enough momentum to outdo her best friend and prove that she, Bethany Jessica Carlton, was indeed the champion of the swings.
Quickly she reached her maximum amplitude and was unable to swing any higher. Realizing that this was it, Beth kicked the air one final time and threw herself from the swing. She felt, in that moment, as if she were flying through space, her arms outstretched like wings and her gaze fixed on the stars. There was nothing, nothing, tethering her to the earth!
Until she hit the ground. Very suddenly, the spell was broken. Where Olivia had sat just minutes ago was nothing but a motionless swing, the slight creaking of its hinges the only sound to disturb the night.
“’Xactly like I said, Livvie. You can’t beat me,” Beth whispered to the darkness. Zipping up her sweater against the chill of the wind, she walked home, completely alone, as she had been all day.
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u/trivial_trivium Aug 09 '12
Whoah. What a fantastic short story. Not even considering the prompt, this is just amazing in and of itself.
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Aug 08 '12
Replying to save this amazing story.
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u/hello_flamingo Aug 09 '12
Thank you, and thanks to everyone who commented on this! I'm glad you all enjoyed reading it!
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u/BeastWith2Backs Jul 27 '12
This made me incredibly sad. It's a very pretty picture of two friends have a fun day. But the last sentence and the g sentence, had some serious implications. Wonderful job, the dark side to the story is fantastic.
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u/traysledding Jul 26 '12 edited Aug 08 '12
This was hard, you're a devious bastard. Also I need to get my head checked out and probably stop writing about people dying.
Already the early light of dawn was peeking over the mountains and there was still so much left to do. Before, in his younger days, a night’s worth of work could be finished long before the sun even hinted as to its existence, but it was getting more difficult every year. Creaks in the back, aches in the knees, pain all over, really. Down and up, down and up, all night long, he would be folding at his hips, gently putting the saplings in the ground. Every plant was exorbitantly expensive, each being so special that it needed its own special care with the key rule being to finish before sunrise.
From the west, the distant sounds of mechanized planters changed pitch. Greedier landowners, had, in recent years in the insatiable search for profit, begun to ignore the tactile needs of the plants and switched to the disgusting, growling, metal leviathans that scoured the fields. How little they cared, thought the bowed man, how disrespectfully they acted, how very much they valued their money. It was a lonely existence, planting the old way and discovering the plants were so needy and fragile and so requiring of your time, ensuring a long, lonely, aching life.
Joints, muscles, tendons, were giving out now. Knobbed knees sunk into the tilled soil. Light was pouring down, brilliant reds in the sky giving way to a clear blue dawn. Most of the plants were in the ground, but those that remained were, at this point, ruined. Never had the man failed a planting cycle, never in his 55 years of devotion to the soil. Over the horizon, the mechanized whine shuddered and stopped. Perhaps they have failed, thought the man, a vain hope that their failure would validate his waning abilities and act as a sign that he was not…finished. Quietly, the man took the remaining plants and ground them into a muddy, useless paste. Rage began to well inside of him and water crept into his eyes. Seventy three years old and his life had suddenly ended. True, he still breathed, could move, could think, but as far as a purpose, a reason to live, his life was over. Under the sun, on the dirt, surrounded by an expanse of field, the man wept, defeated, arm reaching into his rear pocket to pull out his knife. Veins exposed by the night’s exertion and age pulsed beneath the exposed blade.[Weightlessness cradled the man as the years of dedication rolled off his shoulders and the faintest smile, the first in years, appeared on his face as he worked the knife.] X on his left wrist, then one quick pull across the throat before the knife was plunged into his heart. Years of labor and sweat and frustration and joy and love and hate flowed out with blood and splashed onto the ground, food for the last crop he would be responsible for. Zeroing in on the last point of light visible, the man fell forward, his eyes sliding closed as his last breath blew gently on a shoot of green.
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u/FiliKlepto Aug 09 '12
I was going to say, "That was beautiful" until I got to the letter J. Quite chilling, but I love your prose.
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u/chudez Aug 09 '12
never before have i had the urge to give a comment from a reddit thread a standing ovation.
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u/GrimGuzzler Aug 09 '12
Dear God! I nearly cried! Fuck he ironman challenges...point me to more o' your shit. MORE!!!
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u/part_of_me Aug 09 '12
my friend and i used to do this by email with each other when we were bored at work.
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u/jordo84 Aug 09 '12
I got lost in the tale and forgot by the whole point of the excercise, well done
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u/StutMoleFeet Aug 09 '12
Not only was your story in compliance with the challenge and well-written, it was also chilling. Great job!
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u/akikaki Aug 09 '12
ass bitch cock dick erection fuck gook hoe iodine, i give up im tryign to loo kcool for karma but im laying naked in my room in the middle of the night and i slightly cried early because i was in the school bathroom and over head my friends talking about how no1 likes me and i'm just used for my house.
That is all.
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u/pb-balla Aug 09 '12
...are you okay?
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u/akikaki Aug 09 '12
I just realized I do not exist. There is no death because there is no life. When we 'die' it is simply a word for our atoms to stop moving a certain way. maggots well eat our energy thus those maggots well be eaten by other energies and we well be part of muscles,brains,etc
i have my hand on my heart because im scared any second i will stop functioning (serious)
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u/imprimatura Aug 09 '12
you high dude? i think you'll find you're gonna be alright
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u/ThatDudeWithoutKarma Aug 09 '12
Drugs were my immediate thought too...
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u/LAboredom Aug 09 '12
When I was in 7th grade I was in the class for the talented and gifted kids or w/e your state calls it. Anyways, the teacher gave us an assignment. The assignment was to write a story without reusing a word, it had to be 2 paragraphs long. Every time a word was reused we lost 10 points, everyone failed.
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u/hedup34 Aug 09 '12
Jesus you deserve more upvotes for this submission. I actually want to know the rest of the story. Are you an aspiring author?
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u/jyhwei5070 Aug 08 '12
not sure if I'm a huge fan of your use of X, but I shall, grudgingly, allow it.
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Aug 08 '12
Grammar nazi says that "Creaks in the back, aches in the knees, pain all over, really." is not a sentence.
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Aug 08 '12
Hey your writing really inspired to put pen to paper again. I've been in a rut for a while. Im going to start coming to this subreddit more often.
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u/damnthesenames Aug 08 '12 edited Aug 09 '12
Is it just me or is this not a story but just a bunch of sentences without any connection, one after another.
MISERABLE JOB!
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u/The_Realest_Realism Aug 08 '12
I couldn't focus on the story as much as I wanted. I was looking for the next letter.
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u/Kakofoni Aug 08 '12
Ending reminded me of this, if some find it familiar:
"Then she sank down to her knees, grasped the cutter by both handles, took a deep breath, and plunged the long blade through the middle of the package, through the masking tape, through the cardboard, through the cushioning and right through the center of Waldo Jeffers head, which split slightly and caused little rhythmic arcs of red to pulsate gently in the morning sun."
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u/Bunnyfloppyearz Aug 08 '12
This was pure brilliance. Keep writing and don't deny the world your gift.
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Aug 08 '12
This is great. I definitely would have copped out at some point with a sentence like: '"Xylophone", he shouted randomly at the tops of his lungs. Years of labor and sweat and frustration and joy and love and hate made him yell random things at the top of his lungs.'
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Aug 08 '12
No W?
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u/bardwick Aug 08 '12
[Weightlessness cradled the man as the years of dedication rolled off his shoulders and the faintest smile,
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Aug 08 '12 edited Aug 08 '12
It wasn't there earlier. That's why I asked. Thanks for pointing out he added it!
Veins exposed by the night’s exertion and age met the blade. X on his left wrist, then one quick pull across the throat before the knife was plunged into his heart.
Was the original before adding "W" into his story.
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u/I3aisden Aug 08 '12
I had to write a class evaluation for a class I hated, so carefully worded my essay to where it spelled "Fuck this class" down the margin.
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u/superfish1 Aug 08 '12
Who else read the first few sentences, then scrolled down to see what he would do with X?
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u/Unbelievr Aug 08 '12
Suddenly; Xylophones!
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u/RyanKinder Founder / Co-Lead Mod Aug 08 '12
X-Rays of Xylophones!
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u/dj-funparty Aug 08 '12
for bonus points, now write it as a rap song.. :) Blackalicious - Alphabet aerobics
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u/krakedhalo Aug 09 '12
Is anyone else irritated that the line is "justly it's just me writing my journals" when jotting instead of writing would work so much better? I've been listening to this song for the better part of a decade now and I love it, but the J's annoy me every time.
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u/piearsquared Aug 08 '12
No single part of this is not amazing. I would like to add the W line for this story if that's ok.
With a suffocating weariness he amazes himself that his hands are calm and steady.
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Aug 08 '12
With a suffocating weariness he amazes himself that his hands are calm and steady.
With a suffocating spaghetti he amazes spaghetti that his hands are moms spaghetti.
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u/kujustin Aug 08 '12
This doesn't quite make sense grammatically, I don't think. I'm not positive.
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u/jerryondrums Aug 08 '12
"With a suffocating weariness, he is amazed that his hands are [still] calm and steady".
ftfh
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u/BardSTL Aug 08 '12
The safe Word Will be Whiskey....
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u/1600cc Aug 08 '12
Hwhiskey
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u/Koozey Aug 08 '12
Your saying it weird.
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u/1600cc Aug 08 '12
I'm saying hwhat hweird?
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u/Tsenraem Aug 08 '12
Oh come on, there's not even an H in that one
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u/Jig813 Sep 11 '12 edited Sep 11 '12
All the time I spend thinking about where I'm going and when I'll get there. Better to get out of my head and just live life one day at a time. Could any advice be more easily said than done? Doing anything in this life that's worth it is tougher than you think it's gonna be. Everything worth doing is, kinda by definition. Fairy tale endings don't exist in reality, but horror stories unfold there every day. Getting used to the facts of life never gets easier, you simply learn to accept them with time. How you come to terms with things depends on what your personality is. I have personally always been naive and optimistic. Just perfect. Kill me now. Living is kind of overrated, anyway. My philosophy teacher was once reading us a passage from Plato. Now I'm probably gonna butcher this idea, but the way I understood it went like this. Our whole fear of death is kinda stupid, because we have no idea what it's like. People just assume it's bad, but why spend your whole life fearing it just based off a hunch? Quality thinking from those Greeks. Really, this kinda speaks to my point. Simply living to survive until tomorrow is a waste of today. Today is all you can really be sure of, and that should be enough of a reason to make it count. Understanding this is what pulls at my nervous brain when I find it returning to my nervous patterns of thinking. Visions of what I think my future will be like are only illusions. What I'm really seeing is my fear of the unknown bearing down on me. Xeno said if you keep going halfway you'll never make it there. You gotta close your eyes and take the leap of faith. Zero regrets.