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Prompt: 015. hasten
1. Though she would never do anything to hasten his passing, she wished he wasn’t in so much pain.
A. Though she would never do anything to hasten his passing, she wished he wasn’t in so much pain. She could see the agony in the tense lines of his body, in the grooves carved into the sides of his cheeks and the shadows under his eyes.
He was wasting away a little more each day. It made her afraid that one day he was going to disappear.
She hoped that seeing him like this wasn’t going to taint all the memories she had of him. Because once he was gone, the memories would be all she had left.
2. At the sound of screams, he hastened his steps down the hallway.
A. At the sound of screams, he hastened his steps down the hallway. As he drew closer, he also heard heavy thumps and scuffling from behind one of the doors. It sounded like someone was being murdered.
He hesitated for a long moment, wondering who would even know if he just walked away and pretended that he hadn’t heard anything.
There was a woman’s shrill scream, the loud SMACK! of a fist against flesh, then the terrified wail of a young child.
There wasn’t time for second thoughts.
3. The teachers tried to keep the children together and moving forward, hastening them as much as possible.
A. The teachers tried to keep the children together and moving forward, hastening them as much as possible. Older children pulled ahead with their own teachers, their longer legs eating up the distance.
“Oh no, they’re going to leave us behind!”
“Don’t worry, honey. Nobody’s leaving you behind. We’re all making it out of here, I promise.” It tasted like a lie, but she had to say it. The last thing they needed was a bunch of crying first graders that refused to keep moving.
If anyone stopped, they would die. And she would have to leave them behind because there were twenty other children depending on her to keep them moving out of the disaster area.
There was a distant rumble that became a painful roaring sound that made her clamp her hands over her ears and open her mouth in a silent scream. The ground twisted and shook under her feet. Several children tumbled to the ground, and they all looked terrified, but there wasn’t anything she could do to sooth them.
Not when the ground still shook and shuddered, and there were explosions tearing up half the city skyline.
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