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Prompt: 018. siege

1. The siege lasted for six years. Some children had never known any other life and had no concept of freedom.

A. The siege lasted for six years. Some children had never known any other life and had no concept of freedom. They’d never been outside of the castle walls and had never enjoyed a day without a besieging army keeping them locked inside.

It was a strange day when the gates were finally opened and people streamed outside. It was an overcast sky, but sunlight was peeking through the clouds like hope.

2. The armed reactionaries held the embassy under siege. They threatened violence if their demands weren’t met.

A. The armed reactionaries held the embassy under siege. They threatened violence if their demands weren’t met. They’d already shot down and destroyed two escaping helicopters. Only one of the embassy’s helicopters had escaped, though neither the ambassador or her personal staff had made it aboard.

3. Two adults and forty-seven children in a gift shop wasn’t a good day. It was a siege.

A. Two adults and forty-seven children in a gift shop wasn’t a good day. It was a siege.

“How did this become my life?” she groaned out of sight of the customers.

Her coworker Gary laughed. “Suck it up and make a buck. These are kids with money to spend and no parents to tell them No.”

“Yeah.” She eyed one of the adults–a man with short dark hair and a powder blue wool sweater–and couldn’t help thinking that he looked completely overwhelmed.

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Prompt 017. sleepless

1. There’d been too many sleepless nights and too many cups of coffee. It hadn’t been the best idea to get behind the wheel.

A. There’d been too many sleepless nights and too many cups of coffee. It hadn’t been the best idea to get behind the wheel.

A blink that lingered too long and a car driving the opposite direction. It was a head on collision, that’s what they said later. In the hospital with two police officers, both looking serious and maybe a bit condemning.

2. They said the Sleepless were stirring in the South. Whispers carried on the breeze, speaking of the nightmare creatures waking from their long slumber to slaughter a handful of villages on the border.

A. They said the Sleepless were stirring in the South. Whispers carried on the breeze, speaking of the nightmare creatures waking from their long slumber to slaughter a handful of villages on the border.

There were some that scoffed at the idea of the creatures coming back. They called them legends and lies, stories made up to scare the children. But those that had truly studied the histories were worried.

The Great Scriptures said that the Sleepless always came in cycles. They would kill, then rest, kill, then rest; and though men could fight them, the Sleepless could not die.

3. The music playing from the radio was the only sound in the darkness. The song was named “The Sleepless”, and it was a dreamy melody that made the listener think of a child insisting they were awake even as they fell asleep.

A. The music playing from the radio was the only sound in the darkness. The song was named “The Sleepless”, and it was a dreamy melody that made the listener think of a child insisting they were awake even as they fell asleep.

The song had been playing on repeat for days, weeks, months, maybe even years. Over and over, from beginning to end, the song played into the darkness. It was a tether and a torment to the listener, trapped motionless on the bed. To hear but not be able to speak or see; the song had become a singular reality.

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Prompt: 016. hand

1. “Don’t make me show you the back of my hand.”

A. “Don’t make me show you the back of my hand.” It was supposed to be a joke, but he realized he’d made a mistake when he felt a breath on the back of his right ear. When he turned his head to look, his mother was glaring at him from less than a foot away.

“I didn’t mean it,” he said.

“You better not have. Or I’ll show you the back of my hand, and I
won’t be joking.”

2. It was gone. Only a stump remained at the end of his wrist. They’d amputated his hand.

A. It was gone. Only a stump remained at the end of his wrist. They’d amputated his hand.

Tears gathered in his eyes. He’d trusted them when they said they wouldn’t do anything without his permission, yet they’d drugged him and cut off his hand. The betrayal stung even in the face of his loss.

The door began opening. He hurriedly wiped his eyes dry on the pillowcase and the shoulder of the hospital gown he wore.

3. It was supposed to have been a simple hand off. She should have known things weren’t going to be easy.

A. It was supposed to have been a simple hand off. She should have known things weren’t going to be easy, because when in her life had things ever been easy?

Police sirens rang out in the distance and she speed-walked away from the hotel. She flipped her hood up over her head and tried to look like a normal person taking a walk down a busy street, and not someone carrying a backpack full of contraband.

There was a buzzing in her ears and she could feel her pulse throbbing in the tips of her ears and at the sides of her neck. It felt like everyone she passed was looking at her, remembering her face to tell the police.

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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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