101 Writing Prompts

#20. Ten

Prompt: Write any story. The catch? Each sentence can only be ten words long.

Welcome to my story. I'm Reed, your author for today.

I'm here to tell you how it all happened. Ominous.

Are all days normal? Not anymore. But that day, yes.

Yes, that day was normal. The penultimate of normal days.

I would tell you how it started, but you know.

We all know how normal days start. Breakfast, School, Class.

And then we heard the alert. The doors slammed shut.

Lights flickered off. Screams, tears, hide, away from the windows!

I didn't cry. No tears, no sobs, no sound, nothing.

No sound because they'll find you. They will find you.

Was that a footstep? Shush, be quiet! Are you deaf?

Any sound will give us away. Hide, shut up! Hide!

A deafening explosion in the hallway. We hear it all.

Yep, we're dead. Say your prayers, we're screwed. Goodbye, world.

Dramatic, yeah, but that was us. We didn't know anything.

We knew what was going on. That we could glean.

It's always that thing that happens to someone else, though.

We're all someone else to someone else. Isn't that true?

Now I am a million people's someone else, far away.

We prayed. We cried. All silent, never making a sound.

Silence was good. It meant we were safe. No shots.

A scuff on a tile could be our demise. Quiet.

No one move! Outside, in the hall, was he back?

We hated him, that man with that malice. Why us?

How could he do that? Pull the trigger, feel nothing?

We were so full of emotions we were bursting. Dying.

Riddled with wounds, all feeling leaking out of us forever.

We were quiet. Not angry, not scared, not even breathing.

Numb. You know what numb feels like? Nothing at all.

Void. Devoid of all emotions, numb, cold, broken, shattered, gone.

The sirens came, the man was captured. No more harm.

No more harm, they said. Police, blue uniforms, you're safe.

Only one injured, what a blessing. A miracle. A gift.

Doesn't feel like a miracle, though. We're still scared. Always.

I'll never forget it. That fear, that bone chilling fear.

Will I ever forget it? Will I ever move on?

I guess it was a miracle, doesn't feel like one.

They send us to shrinks, we have class talk sessions.

Tell us what happened, Reed. It's safe here, you're safe.

But I keep my mouth shut, because he's out there.

Don't make a sound, because he's listening. In the hallway.

I know he's in prison. A criminal. Everyone knows that.

Not a miracle. It doesn't feel like he's in prison.

Safety is a state of mind. You think you're protected.

I guess I just have a new perspective, that's all.

Hello, wonderful reader! Hope you're having a great post-Thanksgiving!

Since I love to hear from you, comment your favorite story in this set! I know you have good taste if you're reading this ;)

Just a heads-up, the next ten prompts will be the first lines of songs that come up when I shuffle my playlist. Comment if you know any of them and we'll see what I can come up with!

Sayonara, my friend. See you next time!