Writing Prompt
Writings
Writings
STORY STARTER
Mushroom1029384756
You wake up in a dark, empty room chained to the floor. There is a note next to your feet from yourself telling you to get out immediately.
Continue the story.
Writings
You want to act you are so much better than me, don’t you? I want to hear you say it. Say it!” She paced across the room again. She’d start in the middle, directly out from in front of her prisoner. She’d go to the window on the left side of the room, then going to the right side. It was a repeating process, when she stopped it would be back in the middle as she continued to yell at him. He tried moving, but the chains that kept his hands pinned to the floor restricted how much he could move. “Maybe it’s time to calm down, Alyssa. You need to let me out so we can talk.” She stopped in the middle of the room, getting closer to his face to scream some more. “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! You are not the one in control anymore! You have to listen to me!” And like that she was pacing again. He looked down at his feet, were that stupid note laid. It was addressed to him, obviously in his handwriting. He hadn’t remembered writing it, but he agreed with the contents. Get out immediately. He stared at her as she did her pacing. It was wild to him that just a couple of months ago, that was the girl that he was going to marry. Now he laid on her basement floor, a prisoner to her, waiting for her next move. She wasn’t always crazy, she never was crazy, actually. They had a normal relationship. They were high school sweethearts, getting engaged shortly after graduating highschool. He came home one day, her nowhere to be found. It was odd, she was always home when he arrived. After days of waiting, she finally made it back. She was changed, their relationship ended a week later. He never learned of what happened in those few days while she was gone, but something had messed her up. They went months without speaking. Then yesterday, she appeared at his front door. She seemed like her old self briefly. His last memory in his apartment, was her standing over him, his eyes getting really heavy. “Alyssa, don’t yell. I know you don’t like to yell. We can talk about this, sweetie. Whatever is wrong. Would you just sit down? For a minute?” She backed away from him, shaking her head. He could tell she had tears running down her face, she just crouched into her own ball, he could hear her cries. Alyssa, please. I still love you, we just need to work this out, baby.” She looked up at him, smiling. She slowly crawled over to him, hugging up against him. In her pocket, he saw his only escape. The key. And all he had to do was reach...
So I went to sleep last night and all was well. I woke up this morning and everything was wrong. The room was not mine. It was concrete. Concrete walls and concrete floors. A drab gray color. I was attached to the floor by chains. There was only three things in the room: me, the chains and a letter. My hands were free, so I got the letter and read it. “Get out immediately!”
If this were to have happened to me a decade ago, I would have thought I was in the Twilight Zone.
But not now. Just another day in the Life of Susan.
I sighed.
So I started thinking about how I could get out of this place. The chains had me bound tight. No keys in sight. The room had no door and the walls had no windows.
I brainstormed for a moment. Surely someone else has already made it through this. I just had to do what someone else did.
It did not take but a moment to remember a story I read about these men, Paul and Silas.
Something like this happened to them. They got thrown in prison for a crime that was no crime. They were chained and locked up tight in jail.
And they did get free.
All I had to do was what they did.
And all the did was sing. They sang praises to God and there was an incredible earthquake and there chains broke away from them. The jail became unlocked to them.
If anyone’s singing can cause an earthquake, mine definitely can. 🙂 It would definitely be noise.
So that became my survival plan. And it worked.
Sounds too simple. No guns and no bombs. No armies or soldiers. Just one lady with one voice and the Amazing God, Jesus the Christ.
And it worked.
I struggled against my shackles, desperately pulling and tugging at the metal wound tightly around my wrists, but it was of no use. I sigh.
"Really dude?" I yelled out into the dark. "This again? "
"There are easier ways to get me to take a break you know! There is no need for these melodramatics!"
A door at the other end of the room opens, revealing a familiar figure. I do my damnedest to glare at them, in spite of my position.
"I wouldn't have to resort to this if you just stopped working for one gosh darned minute, little sister." He eyes me disapprovingly.
"Ugh." I roll my eyes. "I swear, you pull one all-nighter and suddenly your brother goes into ultra protective mode and locks you up for a whole night. And you have the nerve to mock me!"
I grab the note to my left with my free hand, with the words encouraging my escape mocking me cheerfully. "Seriously?! What, is this an escape room now?"
My brother shrugs, completely unrepentant. "Hey, to be fair, it wasn't my idea. Mom suggested it- said you might stay in here and rest for a while longer if you had a puzzle to work on. Turning this," he gestured around him, "into a faux escape situation seemed to be a good idea at the time."
I ball up the piece of paper in my hand and throw it at him half-heartedly. He winces.
"Well. Guess it isn't?" He smiles sheepishly.
I fall back agains the wall with a huff, and cross my arms. Hints of a pout begin to appear. "I can't believe mom is in on this shtick too. Can't a scientist get any peace around here?"
It's his turn to roll his eyes. "If you stopped spending all your time in the lab instead of with us, maybe we wouldn't have to literally kidnap you to get you to sleep every once in a while."
"Whatever." I turn away from him childishly and proceed to ignore his attempts at further conversation. As usual.
He eventually sighs. "Fine, fine. I'll let you out. But you have to come to dinner with me and dad for tonight, okay? We haven't seen you in weeks. Mom misses you, you know!"
That, I wasn't ashamed to admit, got through to me, and I conceded. My older brother unlocked the cuffs which bound me to the wall, and helped me up. To be fair, it wasn't as bad as I made it out to be. The mattress Iusually slept on in here was actually fairly good, and I got some of my best sleep in this place, though I would never admit it out loud.
As the two of us walked out, I began muttering under my breath, already making plans for the next time they planned to "kidnap" me.
"I'm definitely setting up traps in the lab next time."
Thousands of thoughts instantly rush through my head.but the one that caught my attention was who am I? It wasn’t until I came to my senses that slowly water was filling up around me. I felt the fierce, cold water grasp my toes. I squirmed uncomfortably and marked my wrists on the tightly gripped cuffs.my whole body tingled as the water reached my knees.my heart jumped as the roof opened to reveal a blinding sun pounding at my eyes. I was baffled as helicopters encircled the area. Men in heavy duty armour came down from the helicopters using rope and I couldn’t believe my eyes as I saw what they were doing. One of them held a chainsaw, whilst the others held him up. They cut my chains off but then everything went black. One of the men had let go of the guy with the chainsaw and he had slipped and pierced my stomach. I awoke almost exactly 30 seconds after the cur and realised that I was 10 feet below water. Due to my training in NAVY SEALS, I knew what to do. The cut wasn’t deep, but due to the water I was loosing excessive blood. I could hold my breath for 5 minutes as long as I was at least only 20 feet down. Due to my body Weight, and the salinity of the water I calculated that I was sinking at 1 meter every 10 seconds. If I swam up now, I would pass out and given that we i was in the middle of the ocean, there would be no medical help to stabilise my body. I looked down and saw a circular imprint on the bed of the sea. Or was I still in the room? That didn’t matter. 3 minutes. He scanned the area and saw a red control box. As he swam to it, something grabbed his leg. He looked back to see a dark figure with a golden mask on his face. As I reached for the control box I must have hit my head because the next thing I knew, I. I. I mean , I. I don’t know! Everything still lay black. I thought back, and realised something that I had forgotten. I breathed. Suddenly i felt the water fill my lungs as I violently kicked and screamed. As I take my last breath, I...
Trapped.
It’s dark. The blackness is cold and I’m not wearing any clothes. I shiver. The darkness reminds me that I’m alone. It’s empty. There’s nothing to keep me company. No person, no furniture, nothing. Just an empty room that creates a clean slate for my mind to start flipping. I’m trapped. The chain weighs on my ankle and it’s too thick to break. I pick up the note that lies on the floor. Who left this for me and why do I have to leave? I’m scared. I call out for no one to hear me. I can hear nothing but my own breathing. Did something just move, is that what I’m seeing?!
I’m seeing. So it isn’t that dark. There’s light to see the room is unoccupied. I can read the note on the floor. I can see!
I reread the note, maybe it isn’t as bad as I thought. The note is gone! There was no one writing to hurt me. No one telling myself I needed to leave, that was just me.
I yank at the chain but my legs no longer in pain. Where is the metal, where is the weight? I’m free!
I look around. The room isn’t empty, it’s not even a room at all. It’s a hall. Going to a new place with new people.
A room full of people makes me feel alone. I look for a companion but no one is like me. They laugh and they speak but I sit quietly. The room may as well be empty.
Why can’t I see their light? The light on their faces and the light in their lives. So obviously it illuminates from their smiles. My worlds dark.
These people aren’t like me they make me want to flee. I feel so uncomfortable. I want to go home. I tell myself to leave immediately.
But society says I can’t. I have to interact. I have to connect. I’m chained to the floor.
I’m anxious. I’m trapped.
I immediately panicked. I have never in this situation before, yet here I am. Oh, my head ached as if I banged it.
I peered at the note. This is my hand writing. Who else could have written it. In the corner, there was a fingerprint made of blood. It said get out quickly. I searched the room for doors and windows, but all I found was a pencil, paper, and torn paper, which resembles the one I was holding.
Should I scream? Beg for help? That will get me no where. I began feeling around in the dark before stumbling on a latch. I, of course, pulled it. As I did so, i feo the warm light hit my skin. I thought for a second I was free until a hand clasped on my shoulder.
“London,” The old crooked voice spoke, “Party’s not over.” My head was pushed against the latch, closing the door to my freedom. “Please.” I winced.
“London, you know how this ends. With you and a note. Over and over again until you finally give up.” He croaked. My head aches and I fell to the floor. I could feel the warm oozing blood leak onto my forehead.
The old man walked back to the chair I just noticed. Pushed in the darkest corner. “Go on,” He groaned. “Write you note.”
I breathed out and picked up the pencil. I began to write the note that I hope will save my life next time I wake up.
I slid into another slumber before hearing the old man speak again. “Hopefully this time, the loop ends.”
Similar writing prompts
STORY STARTER
Your missing child returns to you, but you are convinced they are not your child.
Write a story based on the prompt