Writing Prompt
STORY STARTER
Submitted by Annabelle
He climbs out of bed, doesn’t bother to change, walks downstairs to kick ALL of their tails, and then returns to bed.
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Writings
Ruined Sleep Schedule
That’s how life has been since this started. All James wanted was to be allowed to have his schedule, but here his flat mates are, with their friends, drunk and annoying the hell outa him.
“Shut the hell up will you?” He yells. “Some of us are trying to sleep!”
The three of them look up from their DND session.
The blonde - Siobahn he reminds himself - looks up and signs to him. ‘What?’. James sighs and signs back - ‘shut up’.
Over Celebration
He climbs out of bed, doesn’t bother to change, walks downstairs to kick ALL of their asses, and then returns to bed, doing so without a single word. That’s not saying much - he isn’t the most talkative of people on the best of days, and he certainly wouldn’t count this day as anywhere near that.
He valued his sleep above all else yet these idiots were celebrating a win in their latest game for a sport he doesn’t particularly care about. It might have been his ticket out of poverty and towards some semblance of success, playing a game he was above averagely good at, but that didn’t mean he has to like it. Or celebrate it at all hours of the night like his brain dead teammates decided they needed to.
So, at the ungodly hour of 5am, he unleashes the wrath of a god he doesn't believe in to the teammates he barely tolerates. All it took was unplugging a speaker, glaring daggers, and a few pushes and kicks to get his message across. He returns to his warm bed and closes his eyes, and finally, mercifully, hears absolutely nothing.
Window: One Road Away
“He climbs out of bed, doesn’t bother to change, walks downstairs to kick all of their tails and then, returns to me.” I said as I closed down my white bilnders and turn to my friend, Sara. Sara has been my neighbour for more than a year now and we are pretty good friends. She was not having it when I constantly bother her with the same thing about my window neighbor who just happen to live one road away from me. He moved in a few months ago and since, I have been staying in home since since months and he moved here after a week.
My friend sadly smiled at me.I could never understand the painful smile.She is my only friend at current situation.I don’t have childhood, neither adulthood.I will be turning 29 soon; that’s what Sara said. I turned to her “ What ? Stop giving me that pathetic smile” “ Do you remember the name “ Marco “ ? She said softly. Whenever Sara mentioned that name, it hurts my mind and pains me a lot more on the emotional side. Her everyday question had been frustrating. Today I wanted to know the answer.I turned my back on her “ Sara, you know everything about me and yet, I have no memories, so you even know how sad is that ? “
Sara was shocked to see me this way but I was tired everyday waking up with no memories I turn to her “ who am I ?”
Suddenly, the same guy opens the gate of his apartment.I opened my blinder hurriedly. “ Maira “ Sara called by my name for the first time but I never felt once that it was my name. I looked at him, he also looked at me and smiled creepily. And then, he walked away as if he is never returning. Suddenly, a car towards him, I screamed calling him out but he never listened as usual. I always called him while he woke up from his bed but he never listened and the car passed through him. He vanished in the thin year. I get vivid memories and suddenly; I hear a name “Yuna” before blanking out.
I woke up with faint noise around.A white room and a white cloth. A white ceiling. “what am I doing here ?” And then it hit me , a man that man omg, it can’t be true can it be ? All the thoughts flashed on my mind.
“Sara” Before I could say anything , she said “ Yes he is dead now and you were hallucinating your husband killer everyday for past few months and he is none other than my brother.”
The ceiling was still white, but my vision was not. I couldn’t anticipate anything, neither any feelings. A void, I see that’s how it feels to feel void. My husband used to say that,” A feeling of void is worse than what you feel, yuna” , whenever I had overwhelming emotions. All I could do was stare at the blank white ceiling.
Fun ad Games
Reeking of sweat socks and old egg salad, the Graylin Community College Gymnasium was stuffy. Twenty-odd conference tables waited patiently on the scarred hardwood. At the tables, the players were much less patient.
Fingers were rapping. Toes were tapping. Wanda called her client over and over again. All eyes were on the big official clock hanging over the basketball hoop. There were only fifteen more minutes until an official forfeit. Wanda dialed again.
King Me checkers challenges started as a fun-filled parody of chess tournaments. King Me teams sprung up at schools and churches. Players wore costumes and used outrageous monikers. Bouncy houses were often featured.
From the Cleveland CheckMaters to the San Diego Daughtsmen, checker leagues were suddenly bigger than pickleball. It was all fun and games until the cartels moved in.
First year, online gambling for checker tournaments skyrocketed. Overnight, the highest-ranked players became superstars, well checker superstars. Chas “Checkers” McGee, Marly “Big Board” Baker, and the maestro of the checked board Gibson “Kingmaker” Kane were all crowd favorites.
The smart money said that checkers was going to go pro soon. To grab attention in such a crowded playing field, a player needed to be special. Sports Agent Wanda Washington wanted to represent special. So she was scouting for the next big thing in checkers at Fairmount Park. By the old pump house, players set up tables under the trees. Here Wanda spotted a lanky kid, roughly twelve years old, playing three checkers games at once. With a dimpled smile, the boy beat three adults at lightning speed. Wanda knew she had a winner.
Wada had been confident when she set up an exhibition match for her new client to play 25 simultaneous checker games against the entire Chester Crown Heads. She had even wrangled two bloggers and a local freelancer to cover the event. The minute hand of the gym clock ticked and Wanda waited to throw up in her purse.
The door creaked open and in walked Javon. Wrapped in a thick comforter and with only one shoe, the middle-schooler yawned. He bobbed his bedhair with a “what’s up” at her and walked towards the first table. With a plasticky snap the game commenced and ended just as quickly.
Shuffling in his blanklet Javon moved t o the next table. Wanda started a victory dance. Javon “The King Me Kid” Davison was born.
If I Hafta Go Down There…
“Honey!” He feels his wife shaking him awake. “Honey. Those kids are so loud.”
Joe looks at his clock. He thinks to himself, “One in the morning! What are those kids doing?” He folds back the covers and swings his feet over the edge of the bed. He rests for a moment, then stands. He walks toward the door, then realizes that he just has his skivvies on. He walks to the closet and grabs his bathrobe. Then, he finally lumbers out the door and down the stairs.
Joe hears the kids scramble around the room. They must have heard him coming down the stairs. He stops half way. “Hey. You kids settle down down there. Your mother is trying to sleep. If I hafta go down there, I’m gonna kick all your butts, whether you live here or not. And all your parents said I could do it.”
Joe listens. He hears a peep or two, but decides that his message has gotten through. He turns around and walks back up the stairs and into his bedroom. He folds his bathrobe and places it on top of his wardrobe. He climbs back into bed.
“Thanks honey.”
Joe grunts and falls back to sleep almost immediately.
“Joe. Joe. They’re at it again.”
Joe looks at his clock. It has only been half an hour. His dream was in full swing though.
Joe folds back the covers and swings his feet over the edge of the bed. He rests for a moment, then stands. He walks toward the door grabbing and donning his bathrobe on his way. He walks three quarters down the stairs and stops. The little squirts did not hear him as quickly this time and are still racing toward their creeping bags. Somebody slips and falls. Thud. Joe does not smile. But he does not check to see if the fallen is okay either.
“I thought I told you boys to settle down. Like I already told you, if I come all the way down there, I’m gonna kick all your butts and then you will go to sleep.
Joe listens to the silence. He is sure that nobody is even breathing.
He turns and walks back up the stairs. He lets his bathrobe fall to the floor before climbing into the bed once more. His wife has fallen asleep already. He figures that she just needed him to go down, and she would be okay. Either that or she was so tired, she did not care anymore.
Joe’s wife did not need to wake him the third time. He just hears his and his brother’s pipsqueaks horsing around. They always liked to get into trouble together anyway. Joe swipes the covers away and swings his legs over the side of the bed in one movement. He nearly trips over his bathrobe and just kicks it away. No use putting it on. He stomps all the way down stairs, kicks everybody’s butts, then goes back to bed.
Joe smiles as he lies down with the covers tucked around him. He hears a few sniffles from downstairs, but Joe goes back to sleep in an instant.
Roommates.
When he storms off upstairs the room erupts into angry whispers.
“Who woke him up?” Hisses the shapeshifter.
A snarl. “It was you, you fool!” The werewolf growled. “I was taking a wiz.”
The shapeshifter sighed. “Dude, you need to stop peeing on the trees, it’s killing them.” He gestured out the window, to where a rather sad looking tree drooped, devoid of leaves. “It wasn’t me either. I was sleeping too.”
“Yeah, I nearly sat on you!” Declared the witch, “stop transforming into a black cat!”
“They’re not unlucky.”
“Maybe, but they are hard to see. Next time I am using your whiskers in a spell.” The witch grumbled. “I know a spell that could help here, actually…”
“What is it with with you and spells?” Asked the werewolf.
“I could ask the same of you and Your tennis ball.” The witch brandished it suddenly. Seeing his eyes light up.
“Touché.”
“H-hey, guys? I think it was me.” Stammered the quiet centaur. “I got my tail caught in the door again…”
The room collectively rolled their eyes. “Such a klutz.” The shapeshifter sighed.
Soon the clumsy centaur was freed and the house settled into uneasy silence, waiting for nightfall, when the vampire landlord would wake up for real.
Mix Of Pets
He climbs out of bed, doesn’t bother to change, walks downstairs to kick ALL of Their tails, and then returns to bed .
Sleepwalking was his favorite pastime, during the day and part of the night Seeing the others and their ways of the world, dealing with life’s fright
Noise and commotion was heard by him, and he raced down the steps The living room parlor was filled with dogs, cats and others crazy pets
The front door flew open, and out they poured to the grassy lawn The others hid in the house, and stayed away from the inner harm
Dragons And Heat
Being keeper of the dragons and head of the town’s heating company is not for the weak. I wake at exactly midnight, when the night is at its coldest, and slip on my slippers. I walk downstairs and through the stable doors to where the dragons snooze. I used to hate waking them up, but they really don’t mind me. They love me. Carefully, I kick each of the dragon’s tails, signaling they must fly to each house and re-light the fireplaces. Birdy, a small green dragon, yawns as she jumps into the sky and flies to her assigned house. I watch as she breathes fire down the chimney, reviving the dead flames. All homes are now heated once more.
Having done my job, I walk back to bed, only to find a happy Birdy smiling back at me. “I did my job in record time!” She exclaimed. I laugh and let her on my bed. She curls into a ball and falls instantly back to sleep. How I love my job.
Dinosaurs & Basements
Jake returned to his bed wearing nothing but his boxers and vest. His room though tidy was cluttered with merchandise from his favourite game franchise ‘Dinosaurs & Basements’. He was OBSESSED! Ever since his friends had introduced him to it when he was just a kid.
He eats sleeps and breathes the game and became so good he became the T-Rex of his region. That’s the highest level in the game you could receive. Most people only make it to the Raptor rank and then stay stagnant.
Every night Jake goes to bed and allows his game to run without him physically playing. Whenever a herd of Dinosaurs comes to take his domain he’s set up an alarm to blast out from his phone. He’ll go downstairs to the desktop and defeat the herd before going back to sleep.
The players of his region learnt this habit of his and tonight they’ve been relentless. In herds of six to ten they attempt to break through Jake’s basement every ten or so minutes. At first he thought it was a piece of cake, but after two hours of having his sleep disrupted he found himself unable to stir himself out of bed when his alarm blared.
The next morning Jake smiles as he stretches, daylight caressing his face as he gets up out of bed. He doesn’t bother to change, he will just quickly check his game then go about his morning.
He approaches the desktop and notices something odd on the screen.
“No, no, no!” He runs over as he clicks on a notification.
“Your Basement Has Been Raided, You Have Been Demoted to Rank: Raptor!”
Jake slammed his fist down on the desk as tears burned his reddening face. All his years of work ruined!
It would take him months to even get close to having a basement the size of his old one and he would never regain his status. Not from lack of trying, but from lack of caring. He’d been defeated in the game he loved, his interest - extinct.