#the.plottery

[lazywiteralex]

@lazywriterkylie and I are taking on a month long writing challenge.

Prompt #1 Write a short story that tackles a conversation between two characters in a hospital waiting room.

I've got major Fruits Basket Brainrot rn so here's an agnsty little scene with 0 context

START

            Akane paced the waiting room, glancing at the large double doors, praying for and dreading their opening. Fujioka sat, face in his hands, leg bouncing nervously. He’d given up trying to convince her to sit down.

            “Akane?”

            “Don’t, bother, she won’t be able to hear anything until they give us an update,” Fujioka mumbled, sitting up. “Never though I’d miss the chatter box,”

            “You’ve been here for hours, how is there no update?” Yuki asked. He set his school bag and jacket on the chair beside him.

            “No news might be good news, it means he’s still fighting,” Fujioka whispered. He fiddled with the leather cord around his wrist the moon charm bouncing dully against his fingers.

            Yuki nodded to himself, taking in the grim scene. He caught Akane’s hands in his own as she passed him on her track. He pulled them apart, “If you keep doing that, you’ll make yourself bleed,”

            She blinked at him, “What?”

            “Your hands, you’re picking at your cuticles. You’ll hurt yourself if you continue,”

            She nodded her head, “R-right,” her gaze wandered to the doors again.

            Yuki gently rubbed his thumb over the irritated skin. “Let’s sit down, have you eaten?”

            She didn’t respond.

            Yuki sighed questions were pointless, she was a thousand miles away and wouldn’t be returning until those doors opened. He guided her to the chairs with the best view of the doors and sat her down.

            “Ms. Honda wanted to come too, but she had work. She would have come anyways but we didn’t want to overwhelm you. I brought your bento, you left it on the desk when they came to get you,” he unwrapped the box and opened up the top layer. “It’s cold but your snacks and fruit should be fine,” he tore open the small package of crackers and placed one in her hand. “Here, eat this,”

            She lifted it to her lips, her movements were stiff, like a robot with the simplest of programing.

            Yuki opened his water bottle, “I think your water bottle is still in your school bag. I sent it home with Kyo, I figured there wasn’t much you’d need in it,” he placed it in her hand and coaxed it to her lips. After she took a few sips he replaced the cap and set it on the ground.

            “What if he doesn’t make it?” she whispered.

            “He’ll be okay. If there’s one thing that I know about the Tanaka Family it’s that they are a quite resilient family,” Yuki patted her hand.

            “Tomorrow is never guaranteed,” she whispered. The ringing of her cellphone made Yuki jump. She pulled it out of her pocket and answered it. “Yes?” Pause. “No.” Pause. “Okay.” Pause. “Bye.” She hung up the phone and set it on her lap.

            “Who was that?” Yuki asked.

            “Dad, asking for updates,”

            “Oh,” It made sense that their parents would have been notified. “Are your parents coming home?”

            “Mom’s on a plane,”

            Yuki took her phone from her lap; she was in no condition to give directions if her mother called asking for them. Not to mention she’d probably forget the phone was on her lap as soon as those doors opened. It’d end up broken on the floor or at the very least abandoned.

            “Yuki?”

            The sound of his name took him by surprise, he hadn’t been sure she’d registered that it was him interacting with her. “Yes?”

            “I’m… scared,”

            He held her hand gently in his own. “I know,”

[thefirstbillionseconds]

I have the right to change my mind As often as I think That is why I write in pencil And say things with a wink But when I write “I Love You” I write it down in ink.

[August 7th: write a 5-line poem featuring the word “ink”.]

[thefirstbillionseconds]

August 5th: write a short story titled “Nail-Biter”

Have you ever met a nail-biter? Well nice to meet you, now you have! My problem started off like everyone else’s, at the Monster Truck Nativity Pageant for Christmas Eve Mass many years ago. I was in the choir of angels and I rode a small four-wheeler. I was five years old. So there I was, watching the Megadome fill up with people, astride my mini four-wheeler with Joseph looming over me in his monster truck. The other kids were excited but I was terrified. I started biting my nails because I saw the director doing it. That was the first time. They tasted salty and the satisfying sound my teeth made when they broke through the nail and came together was downright calming. I was hooked.

In the end the show was a hit. I drove my little four-wheeler around in circles with the other kids as Gabriel’s monster truck hit the big ramp and soared through the air proclaiming the birth of Christ. It was spectacular.

But my problem with nail-biting grew and by the time I was seven my parents had started to notice. They tried many things. Just telling me to stop, trying to calm me, bribing me, painting my nails. Nothing worked. I actually didn’t mind the taste of the paint. By the time I was a teenager I had no nails. My fingers were just weird rounded nubs at the end.

But the addiction was not gone. I just had to be more creative. It started with my parents. I would sneak into their room at night while they were fast asleep and carefully find a finger with a good nail on it. I would just take a nibble or two at the beginning. It didn’t take long to grow my confidence and before long I could chew a whole hand by morning. They eventually found out and kicked me out. I slept on friends couches after that. I did the same to them too and one by one they all kicked me out too. I ran out of friends.

Then the internet took off. I found a whole forum of people who nail-bite. These were my people. They understood me. Or I thought they did. We all got together in the Finger Lakes in New York. We were having a good time until I took the hand of my new-found friend and started to chomp down on crunchy crescents on the end of her fingers. She recoiled in horror to my surprise. It was then that I discovered they were all a group of recovery nail-biters and that they only ever bit their own nails. I felt duped. They kicked me out too.

I hit rock-bottom after that. I won’t go into too much detail, but there was an incident involving a Malibu book club, organic mimosas, and an actual real life ninja. I narrowly avoided jail and that was a wake up call for me. But the incident also inspired me. Those rich housewives in the book club, none of whom actually read the book they were discussing, had the most spectacular nails I had ever seen. They were magnificent. I knew my path forward.

They say that you should avoid your addictions, but I thought that was silly if the addiction wasn’t harming anyone. And so, I opened a nail salon. I charge people a boatload of money for organic, natural, vegan nail service. If you tell people you are using an ancient form of nail trimming that promotes health and spiritual well-being, then you can charge people 300 dollars to bite their nails off. I’m booked out for weeks. I’ve been featured in countless magazines and news stories, including a two page spread in Vogue. I have a mansion and many cars and a little tiny useless dog that I named Manny.

Life is good, and it’s all because I was a nail-biter.

[lazywriterkylie]

I'm committing to a writing challenge for this month! It was given by @the.plottery on Instagram, and it's got some amazing prompts that I'm excited to fulfill in order to improve my skills and freshen up my attention span lol.

So here is my piece for day 1's prompt:

Write a short story that tackles a conversation between two characters in a hospital waiting room.

It's a scene from an idea that popped into my head that I forgot about years ago. So here ya go.

START

“What if he wakes up?”

Sable crossed her arms and sighed, chewing her cheek and looking pissed,“... I haven’t decided…” 

“Will you try to talk to him?” 

“Maybe… Yes... No.. I don’t know.”

    She let out a frustrated growl and dropped into the hospital seat behind her, burying her face in her hands.

     Lilith sat tentatively in a chair beside her sulking classmate, placing a bandaged hand on Sable’s  shoulder. She gave the girl a ginger pat, brushing strands of blonde hair aside which fell loosely down around her face. Lilith shifted, unsure what to say. She opened her mouth to speak a few times, but eventually just gave up and sat in dull silence. The waiting room was dimly lit with bulbous lamps and a light from the hall that lead back to the offices, casting violent lines of light through the shadowy room. They were alone, and Lillith felt that familiar feeling of misplacement creep into her mind. She felt like an alien sitting here by Sable Gardner. 

Lilith suddenly realized how tired she was. It was nearly three in the morning. She had been brutally beaten, thrown off a building, held at gunpoint,  and now she was sitting in a stark hospital with someone from what felt like a completely different world. She eyed the girl casually, trying to piece together what she was feeling, but came up blank. Like the bland and abstract paintings that hung in bunches around the tacky little room, Lilith realized she had no idea what to make of her situation or her sudden company. Who even was this girl? Where should Lillith draw the line in her mind between head cheer-leader savage rogue? And what did that make herself? What would Beth have to say if she saw the two of them sitting together? 

 Her brain felt muddy. When had all of these changes taken place? 

She could only imagine what was going through Sable’s mind right now…

She swallowed hard, “we… we’re going to be okay, Sable.”

“How do you know?” she snapped back, raising her head and pushing away the hand of comfort, “you don’t know anything smart girl. That much is obvious from what you did today.” 

 Lilith jumped at the outburst and withdrew, studying the layers of panic and anger in Sable’s puffy bruised eyes. A shock of red from a broken vessel leaked from the corner of her left eye where Danny had punched her, making her intense gray irises look even more unnerving than usual. Lilith didn’t like eye contact to begin with, especially not with Sable, and under this withering gaze she felt herself shrink. She cast her eyes to the linoleum floor and studied the white speckled tiles as hot blood flushed her cheeks and ears. 

“He saw us Lillith,” Sable said, still fixing her with a look dripping in condescension, “If he wakes up, we might not walk out of this without another fight. We might not ever see our families again. We’re not just going to be ‘Okay, we quite possibly could die”.

Lillie shrugged and and with a sideways glance muttered, 

“I don’t know, I don’t think we are going to die… that sounds pretty dramatic… I mean, we didn’t do anything wrong! We were just protecting ourselves and everyone else. Danny-”

“Danny is registered.” Sable rolled her bloodied eyes so violently that Lillith cringed. 

“So? He was the one who attacked.” 

“SO,” Sable sat up and rounded on Lillith like a cat about to pounce, “So even if we can convince everyone that Danny was the one who attacked and not us, which is unlikely since he is already on the register, we are still going to get put on blast for not being legal which already is a huge blow to our credibility. Besides,” 

Sable seemed to deflate, and the aggression gave way to what Lillith could only guess was sheer exhaustion. 

“Besides?” she prompted. 

“Forget about it,” sable pulled the hood to her white hoodie over her head and leaned back, crossing her arms, “It doen’t matter. You will be fine. They will take one look at my record… at your record, and think I dragged you into this. Made you do it. Maybe even threatened you.” 

“But you didn’t” 

“Doesn’t matter. Danny’s dad is a big shot attorney and there was no footage to prove we were not involved in the threat.” 

Suddenly a thought came to Lillith’s mind so abruptly that she had to physically shake her head to get it to settle. 

“Oh my gosh… Sable, were you involved in that homicide last summer?” 

“What?” 

“Why else would your record incriminate you?” 

Sable sighed and closed her eyes, “according to police reports… sort of.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean they know I was there but not how involved I was.” 

Involved? What did that mean? 

“... you didn’t kill those boys did you?” 

“What? Ew! Of course not! I was trying to help Jade- those guys… one of them was unregistered and I was the only other person who could help.” Sable was stuttering, and Lillith realized that she must have been choking up a bit. 

“I saw on the news that it was a murder suicide…” 

“S- sort of.” she sighed again and shook her head, squeezing her purpled eyes shut. 

“It’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it,” Lilith placated, “I was just curious.” 

Sable cracked her eyes open and studied her with a furrowed brow. 

“How long have you had your powers?’

“Oh,” now it was LIllith’s turn to sputter, “ oh, you know… a little while.” 

“You hit that guy really hard,” Sable said with a small grin, and Lillith felt her mind go blank. 

“Huh?” 

“That big blonde dude. The one practically holding Danny’s hand the whole time. You sent him flying. I’m surprised you didn’t kill him on impact.” 

“Oh, that,” Lillith shrugged and looked away, anywhere but at the smirking cheerleader next to her, “I was just trying to get him to put his gun away. He was freaking me out.” 

“You were freaked out? Was this before or after I watched you get pitched over the side of a skyscraper and jump back up to the top like nothing happened? 

Lillith chuckled nervously, “Probably after.”

“Uh huh,” Sable nodded, mouth open as she looked Lilith over, “And you said you only got powers a little while ago? How long is a little while?” 

“Not very long… are you using your powers now?” Lillith asked back, suddenly hyper aware of everything she had said. 

“Sort of.” Sable leaned closer and squinted.

 “You’re lying.” 

Lillith stood up and walked a few paces back and forth, “How long have you had yours?” 

Sable’s smirk became a huge grin, “I woke up on my thirteenth birthday and knew immediately that I was different.” 

“So almost four years?’

“Yep.” 

Lillith nodded. Why hadn’t Sable registered three years ago? Legally, there was a six month grace period after you manifest powers, during which you must register yourself as an abilitied-human or face repercussions or fines. Registering didn’t cost anything, and it was pretty easy… 

“Ten years.” 

Sable stood up in shock, “Ten years!?” 

“Yeah.” Lillith felt a chill. She hadn’t told anyone that, why Sable? The confession slipped out almost on its own. Was this the work of Sable’s power? Or had something within LIllith finally decided to break and share. 

“You’ve had super strength for ten years? Since you were six?” 

Lillith nodded. 

“How?! How did nobody notice? And more importantly,” Sable strode forward and gave Lillith’s shoulder a little shove, which sent her stumbling, “Why were you not on any sports teams? Hello? You could have been an all-star! Volleyball could have really used you last season you know.” 

Lillith rubbed her arm where Sable shoved her and shrugged, rocking back and forth on her toes, squishing the fabric of her ratty old tennisshoes, “I didn’t want to draw attention to it I guess… I just want to look normal.” 

Sable stared at her for a few tense moments, shaking her head slowly. Finally she turned her head and looked at the illuminated hallway that lead to the hospital room where Danny lay comatose, a ticking time bomb. 

“When he wakes up, he’s going to out us to anyone who will Listen.” Sable said, returning to her solemnity. Lillith was finding it so hard to keep up with the constant shifts in mood. How exhausting it must be, she thought, to be Sabel. 

Suddenly an idea popped into her head and she began patting the pockets of her jeans before remembering her cellphone was probably shattered in the street back at the club. 

“Do you still have your phone?” she asked. 

“Yah why?” Sable was already holding it out when Lillith took it. 

“Because I might know the perfect person to fix our problem.” 

She took Sable’s unlocked phone and punched a number into the text recipients and mumbled a little prayer under her breath that Leap wasn’t asleep or tucked away, resting in some pocket dimension without cell towers. 

[duckyofweirdness]

April Write-A-Thon: Day 2

Day Two!!! I really liked this one. I may or may not add on to this... But that is for another day :)

***

Day 2: Chapel In The Winter

The wind thrashed against the solemn figure. Beads of snow fell against their uncovered arms like needle pricks. Hard labored breaths came from cracked lips, clouds of heat being non existent. A dilapidated building lay on the horizon. 

The figure kept their eyes forward. Fixation on the building kept them upright and distracted them from the gaping wound on their side, freely bleeding. Had they looked down they would have seen the bright crimson trail behind them. They would have seen the growing stain on their thin wife-beater. What they might not have seen was the large rock hidden under the snow.

Their feet caught, body pitched forward, no attempt to save themselves. They lay face down in the snow. It was comforting. Snow sprinkled on their back blanketing them. The ice crystals cooled the hot seething pain that they had all but forgot. If only they could fall asleep here. There would be no need for running. No more forest. No more dogs.

But the dogs were coming. Fast. Their barks echoed through the woods. It woke them up. They pushed themselves to their knees, then their feet. With a determination and renewed energy that could not be explained, they ran towards the far off building.

As they got closer, it became clear that the building was a church. The doors and windows had been boarded up and rotted away. A small opening was at the bottom, just big enough to squeeze through. The splintering wood embedded itself into their skin. They pushed past and made it inside the church. They got to their feet and took in the sights. Glass mosaics formed every window. Light shown through and painted the floor. 

Every sound was muted.

It was perfect. They walked through the chapel, running their fingers across each of the pews. The wood was still smooth. Clearly better made than the doors and protected from the harsh elements. It was warm inside. Had they known about this place before they might not have stayed in the forest so long, but as any human-made structure, humans were bound to find it. 

The dogs barked and scratched at the wooden barrier, desprete to get in, but too large to fit through the opening. The huntsman was coming up behind them. They knew they had to hide. They picked the first place they could find, which just so happened to be the box where the choir stood. It was higher up off the ground, offering a semblance of protection and distance.

They sat with their back to the wall, curling into themselves. The cold finally demanded to be felt. Fingers numb and an icy blue. They pushed their hand to their side, half to staunch the bleeding and half to feel the warmth seeping out.

Then the wooden barricade came down.

[duckyofweirdness]

April Write-A-Thon: Day 1

I found an April prompts list on Instagram (Account: the.plottery)

So... Here is the first one :D

Edit: I didn’t read the entire prompt... Off to a great start.

***

Day 1: Seagull POV

I have a bone to pick with pirates… Yes, those pirates. One eye, one leg, one hand-

Why are pirates so cheap? ‘Cause their half-off! (Ha! Classic.)

But for real, the record needs to be set straight. Seagulls are the original companions of pirates. We are the ones that traverse the sea, find land, and keep them company on long voyages. 

We were spies. Flying from one ship to another stealing secrets worth millions. We were alarm systems. Warning our, rather blind, crewmates of oncoming danger. We kept the deck clean… relatively. We were PIRATES!!

But nOooOOoo. Who does everyone think of to accompany pirates? Parrots. 

Eyesores of the sky. (Red is very out of fashion. Not to mention NOT stealthy!) All they can do is eat crackers!! Seagulls have a very sophisticated diet: everything. We are not picky. We are survivors. We rule the beaches. (What is the first thing you think of when you see a flock of seagulls? To run and hide? Good.) 

We are feathered, fear-inducing avians. (P.s. If you answered, ‘Chase or scare the flock’ you can stop reading now. You are very clearly Parrot people.)

For now, we feed on sand-crusted Cheetos (Yum!), but we will RISE!!!!

If you would like to join the seagull revolution, and end the blasphemy that is Parrots, 

Sign Here V

X _____________________ 

Danny the Seagull (AKA Leader of pending Seagull Army)