Prompt: 049. bubblegum

1. “Mommy/Daddy, I got something in my hair.”

A. “Mommy/Daddy, I got something in my hair.” It was with a sense of trepidation that I looked up from my book.

There was pink bubblegum in the baby fine hair. What had once been a single wad had been smeared and tangled by careless fingers into something out of a nightmare. The gum was everywhere, all the way down to the scalp.

2. The little girl wore a bubblegum pink helmet. That was the first and last thing he noticed about her before he felt the impact of her and her bike against the front of the car.

A. The little girl wore a bubblegum pink helmet. That was the first and last thing he noticed about her before he felt the impact of her and her bike against the front of the car.

Then he was focused on staying on the road, which was hard with the way his left front wheel was bent and sparking against the asphalt. The brakes squealed and he felt the car going sideways before smacking into a copse of alder trees.

3. She felt a smoldering rage as she looked at the bubblegum pink spacesuit. It looked ludicrous amongst the plainer black and gray suits; and she knew that it was a taunt from all those that expected her to fail.

A. She felt a smoldering rage as she looked at the bubblegum pink spacesuit. It looked ludicrous amongst the plainer black and gray suits; and she knew that it was a taunt from all those that expected her to fail.

She didn’t let any of her feelings show on her face as she walked over to the locker with her last name on the front. She stared blandly forward as she stripped down to her shipsuit and began pulling on the pink spacesuit. It fit perfectly, showing that someone was willing to pay for quality even when hazing the agent nobody wanted around.

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Prompt: 048. vomit

1. What started as a fun trip to the fair ended with embarrassment and a hoodie stained with vomit. But the worst thing was that she’d been there to see.

A. What started as a fun trip to the fair ended with embarrassment and a hoodie stained with vomit. But the worst thing was that she’d been there to see.

He’d had a crush on her for years, though his feelings had only become intense within the last few months. He wanted to impress her more than anything.

And instead she got to witness him throwing up all over himself.

2. The dog began to vomit a little after breakfast and it went on all day.

A. The dog began to vomit a little after breakfast and it went on all day. When she got off work and saw the state the dog was in, she wrapped him in a blanket and drove him to the emergency veterinary clinic downtown. The whole way she stewed over the irresponsibility of her family, that they could see the dog suffering like that and not do anything about it.

When she got home, she was going to ground everyone. Because even if they were of an age to know better, they were obviously still a bunch of children.

3. With a last compression of her chest, the girl coughed and vomited a gush of salt water.

A. With a last compression of her chest, the girl coughed and vomited a gush of salt water. Her eyes were closed, the tender skin of her eyelids looking bruised. Her hair was stringy and dark with water where it clung to the side of her face and neck.

“Medic!” Toni screamed. Then she used her hand to sweep the girl’s hair back from her face, checking her pulse while she was at it. “It’s going to be okay, sweetheart. You’re out of the water. Just keep breathing.”

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Prompt: 047. inherited house

1. An aunt she hadn’t even met before had died and left her a house. The aunt and uncles she’d known her whole life probably wouldn’t have pissed on her if she was on fire.

A. An aunt she hadn’t even met before had died and left her a house. The aunt and uncles she’d known her whole life probably wouldn’t have pissed on her if she was on fire.

“Are you sure she meant to give her house to me?” she asked. “Maybe she meant another niece and got the names confused.”

The lawyer shook her head. “No, your name is right here in her will, and you are her only living family. She left the house to you.”

2. It was with a sense of guilt that he signed the paperwork accepting ownership of the family home. He knew his siblings would be pissed, but it wasn’t his fault their mom had left the house to him alone.

A. It was with a sense of guilt that he signed the paperwork accepting ownership of the family home. He knew his siblings would be pissed, but it wasn’t his fault their mom had left the house to him alone. And honestly he was extremely surprised that she had.

For his whole life, he’d known that he wasn’t his mother’s favorite kid–that was his older brother. He wasn’t the smartest–that was his youngest sister. He wasn’t the most charming–that was his middle sister. And he wasn’t the best looking–that was his older sister. Yet his mother had left him the house. And in the letter accompanying the will, she’d called him her sweetest child, the one that needed and deserved the most love.

He wasn’t sure if she’d been getting one last dig in, but he was grateful that she’d thought of him. Even if his brother and sisters were probably going to murder him once they found out he’d gotten the house, he was grateful to have this bit of proof showing that his mother cared about him.

3. “What do you mean he’s left me a house? I don’t know this man at all.”

A. “What do you mean he’s left me a house? I don’t know this man at all.”

“He was your great-great-uncle on your mother’s side, and he’s been estranged from the family for many years. In the letter he left, which I have a copy of here, he said that he met you once when you were a child and that he decided then that you were the only member of his family worth anything.”

“I don’t remember ever meeting him.”

“You were three-years-old at the time.”

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