Writing Prompt
STORY STARTER
He should have shaken the man’s hand.
Focused on a tragedy that occurs in one day, write a story that ends in this line.
Writings
Bodega
Richard went to the bodega every single day. It was much a part of his day as his morning shower or his evening glass of bourbon. Wake up, drink coffee, dress, stop at the bodega for a second coffee and a paper on the way to his train into the city. Off the train, stop at the bodega for a beer for the walk, sometimes a snack if he hadn’t had a decent lunch before home for the evening. Day in. Day ...
The Handshake
My mother and I held in our breath and watched the doctor carefully. My brother was injured during the war of Balbekahn Crest, and was just moments of slipping away. The deep gash on his chest wouldn't stop bleeding, and the doctor said he has been delirious for as long as twenty minutes.
"Save my baby boy," she kept shouting in between sobs.
"I'm doing all I can ma'am, but the blood won't subsi...
Fastened Up Tight
I overlooked the city while being stuck against a chair. I watched the middle hit fast and then skyscrapers fall fast. Far, but clear enough so I could see little, people ran through the roads trying to run away. I watched as blood began to soak on my hands, and with every second the guilt sunk deeper and deeper. Was this all my fault? If I made the deal would I have saved us? ...
The Deal
Everything went wrong from that point. Not just downhill; down into subterranean caverns where only creatures without eyes live.
It had been a stressful day at work, and all he wanted to do was get home and drink until he forgot all about the pain-in-the-*ss clients. But fate had another idea.
His patience (or lack thereof) couldn’t tolerate the traffic- he screeched onto a dirt road. It should...
All Your Fault
I bent down over the cliff side, screaming and shouting but the words were simply ripped out of my mouth by the howling wind. My already-tangled hair whipped around my head. The horizontal rain slammed against my chest like bullets.
I stretched a hand out the person far below, halfway down the cliff, clutching a ledge for dear life (literally), but it was no use; he was much too far away. In des...
If He Had Noticed
Had he done it
He would have noticed
A web of white lines
Like veins on a lotus
He might have noticed the callouses
littering his joints
He could have saved her
But now what’s the point
He didn’t shake his hand
And that was all it took
That and her life
Were gone in one look
And as her life slipped
through fingers like sand
He knew he should have
Shaken the mans hand
...
Taxi driver
“Will that be cash, credit or memories?” Her smooth lips forming the words, her eyes portraying indifference.
Unable to counteract, his head rose to meet her at eye level, acknowledging her presence. “Wait, wait, sorry what?”
Receptionists were short tempered at the best of times, and these certainly weren’t them. “Sir, will that be cash, or credit?”
Utterly confused, staring blankly at a nur...