Category: Writing (Prompts)

When Tony was a young boy, he used to have nightmares about a man sneaking into his room and taking his toys away. He had made sure to always go to bed hugging his favorite teddy bear, but in the dream, the teddy bear was always on the floor on the other side of the room. He’d cry and scream, and beg the man not to take his teddy bear away. But the man would never listen. He’d always make sure to grab the soft toy before exiting the room.

However, there was one night the dream didn’t play out as usual. This time, the teddy bear was still in Tony’s clutches. Thinking that the mysterious man would give up if he didn’t find the bear, Tony hid it under his blanket, away from the man. After silently combing the rest of the room and not finding the bear, instead of walking out of the room, the man looked at Tony and stepped towards him. It was as though he could sense the bear under the sheets.

“Go away!” Tony yelled at the man as he gripped the bear even tighter. He wasn’t going to lose the toy again. Not this time.

The man wordlessly continued towards the boy. And for the first time, Tony saw the face of the man, revealed by the moonlight shining through the windows of the room. Expecting the face of an adult man, Tony was horrified by what he saw – the man had the face of a cat. The fact that it wasn’t disfigured or grotesque made it much worse for Tony. He let out a scream and woke up crying. He had never felt a greater fear before in his life.

Since that nightmare, Tony decided to get rid of his teddy bear, thinking that it was a magnet for the mysterious cat-faced man. While the dreams stopped, his fear of cats and anything feline-like remained. He never looked at them the same way again.

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Writing Prompt from Reddit: Wednesday Writer’s Workshop: “Thought” Verb Exercise

“I can’t wait to see her again.” He smiled to himself.

It had been two weeks since he had last seen her. She spent the summer break at her parents’ place out of state. So he had been looking forward to this day. He kept his feet on the gas pedal as he drove towards her house. Traffic was great this evening – it was smooth all the way. Less than ten minutes after leaving his house, he was at hers.

He saw her standing outside as he parked his car. He couldn’t wait to tell her all about what had happened during his break. Elated, he hopped out of his car and dashed towards her. She had finished smoking a cigarette and was putting out the butt with her flip-flops.

“Baby!” he greeted her, arms outstretched.

While she was only dressed in a casual T-shirt and shorts, she stood radiating like a goddess under the moon light. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

A few paces from her, just out of arms reach, he saw the smile on her face straighten. Like a trampoline returning to its neutral state, it took the wind out from his step.

“I’ve put all your stuff in here,” she said as she handed him a paper bag. Then she turned and walked back into her house.

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Writing Prompt from Reddit: Write either a genuinely nice story or a story that looks nice and then has an unexpected turn. Don’t let any people reading know which you wrote until the end.

Another child, another wife gone. This was my fourth one, yet I was still here. It was hard to believe she was gone. It was only last week that I was holding her tightly in the hospital ward, waiting for her turn to deliver the baby. After the baby was born, she was selected to be killed. Random, they said. It sure didn’t feel like it.

We knew it was a risk before we had the child, but she wanted the experience of being a mother – even if it was only for a brief period. It was one of her goals in life. I felt somewhat happy that I helped her to accomplish her dreams, but I was miserable that I had to lose another woman in my life.

I paced the living room floor, bottle of whiskey in hand, taking a swig of it every time I felt like crying my eyes out. While I was the envy of some of my friends, I didn’t really feel like I deserved it. I mean, who would want their partners dead? I guess some of them did, but their partners didn’t want any kids so they had no way out without ending the relationship (they were cowards, but that’s another story).

I sat down and continued going through my late wife’s personal belongings. Putting away things to be kept in one box, and those to be disposed in a trash bag. It struck me as odd that she had a lot of letters and writings to God, despite her not being very religious. I don’t even remember the last time she went to church. I finished the bottle in my hand and walked to the kitchen to get myself another one.

I decided to call up my best friend on the phone. He would know what to say. I hadn’t seen him in years ever since he moved away but we kept in touch. He wanted to get away from here, to start a new life in a new country on the other side of the world. It was late at night where he was but he answered my call after two rings.

I could hear his sleepy voice on the other side of the phone.

“Hello?” he croaked.

I told him my dilemma.

“Okay,” came the reply.

“That’s it? I’ve survived four children and all you have to say is okay? Why isn’t this more surprising to you?” I said, slightly bothered by his nonchalant response.

I could hear the sigh over the phone as I pictured him swinging his feet off the side of his bed, sitting up, putting his fingers on the bridge of his nose and massaging it. It was exactly what he did when he replied, “oh dear, oh dear. You’ve been drinking again haven’t you, Yahweh?”

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Writing Prompt from Reddit: In order to control population growth, every time a baby is born the government randomly selects one of the parents to be euthanized. After four children, you start to wonder why you’ve never been chosen.