Prompt: You destroyed her/him
“Cara has died,” a soldier came in, bowing as he gave the report. Lauralie smiled happily. If Flara were still alive, Lauralie would shove her victory in Flara’s face. She had done what Flara hadn’t. Sure, Flara had killed Hunter’s father and stolen his mother, but she, she ruined his life. She had taken a person who had meant more to Hunter than his mother, she had taken two people, and had utterly destroyed them, and thereby destroyed Hunter in the process. Man she was good. No one had anything on her when it came to destroying people’s lives. It gave her a thrill of joy knowing that she had held the life destroying title. With the girl’s in Hunter’s lives slowly getting taken off one by one, it wouldn’t be too much longer before Hunter’s world crumbled and fell away into darkness.
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Here's a little quarantine love :) Isn't it romantic?
Prompt: An overheard conversation, a desperate letter, and someone to spoil the fun Liviana couldn’t recall what had woken her up, but she was just about to roll over when she heard the sound of someone rustling about. Pretending to roll over in her sleep, she opened her eyes and watched as Alex hid a paper inside a book. The next morning, while Alex was still asleep, Liviana walked toward the book and found the piece of paper. Liviana, When we first met I had never felt so comfortable with someone so fast. It was like we had known each other forever. It was as if you were already my best friend. I was heartbroken to be unable to see you or talk to you again. We’ve definitely been on a rough and rocky ride, but it has made us stronger. It is our story, and it’s my favorite story. Each passing day I have found myself falling more and more in love with you. After all of this is over, I want to marry you. Liviana smiled and put the letter back. “What are you doing?” Alex asked. Liviana jumped and looked at him guiltily. “I, um..I was just...um,” she glanced around, not able to make eye contact with him. “Snooping,” Alex said. “Well, um...yeah,” she admitted. “Well, what do you think?” “I think,” Liviana said, wrapping her arms around Alex’s neck, “That I want to go on an actual date first.” Alex smiled, “I think I can arrange that,” he was just about to lean down and kiss her when Liviana’s young cousin walked in. “Ew, yuck,” she gagged, “Were you guys kissing?” There was a look of pure disgust on her face, as if she couldn’t imagine something worse than the thought of the two of them, or anyone for that matter, kissing. Alex and Liviana smiled and laughed at her cousin. “Not yet,” Alex said, “But I was going to. So if you don’t want to see, you might want to turn around.” Liviana’s cousin’s eyes narrowed in disgust, but in a huff, she turned around to give the two of them some privacy. Alex placed a gentle kiss on her lips with another smile and then left the room to plan a ‘real’ quarantined date for Liviana. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been having strange dreams as of late, and so I decided to bring out some dreams for today's prompt. They may or may not be based on some real dream situations.....hope you enjoy.
Prompt: When I’m really stressed about my life my brain manifests it as nightmares about being trapped in airports and missing my flights. Liviana woke up with a start, she couldn’t breathe. She kicked herself for feeling such fear, for being so scared. It wasn’t real. Of course it wasn’t. “What’s wrong?” Alec asked. He had taken to sleeping beside her ever since she had gotten sick. He didn’t care about the risk. He just wanted to be next to her. He wanted to be there if anything happened during the night. “Nothing,” Liviana breathed. Tears were streaming down her face as she struggled to wipe the memory of dinosaurs from her brain. She tried closing her eyes tightly to block them out, but it only made the visions even more clear, and caused the screams of terror and pain to ring out even worse until they were all she could hear. “It’s going to be okay,” Alec said, sliding onto the bed and holding Liviana to his chest. Her tears soaked through his shirt, causing the chest beneath it to run as if it, too, had been crying. “You know,” Alec said, “When I find myself getting stressed out by life,” Liviana moved her head to look at him. She was still crying, but the tears were coming slower now, “My brain manifests it as nightmares about being trapped in airports and missing my flights.” Liviana smiled. Her nightmare could have been worse, she guessed. Instead of being stuck behind a brontosaurus in a sunny field, she could have been trapped in a dank and depressing airport. As she thought of the brontosaurus, the vision of the nightmare came flooding back, overwhelming her ability to breathe. The field. The brontosaurus. It had all started out so well. The sun was shining. People were happy. Then the T-rex came. Or T-rexes. Multiple. From all sides. They scooped up her friends, her family, everyone she had ever met. Grabbed them. She could hear them screaming in fear. She could hear them screaming for help. She tried to run from them, but the brontosaurus was in her way, she couldn’t get past it, no matter which way she turned. “Help! Help! Liviana help us! Do something!” they screamed as one by one the T-rex who held them began to tear their limbs from their body. Liviana could hear the bones pop and the flesh tear. She could smell the blood that soaked the ground. She could hear them scream in agony as piece by piece they were torn apart. “Why don’t you do anything? Why don’t you care?” they continued to scream. Liviana tried. She tried to push past the brontosaurus. She tried to save them, but she was trapped. Unable to move, to leave. All she could do was listen to them beg for help, as the T-rex’s teeth grinded their bones into dust and swallowed. One. By. Agonizing. One. They died, and she was powerless to stop it. No, it wasn’t the same, but she appreciated Alec’s attempts at comfort all the same. But she would take unending airports and missed flights over the scream and smell of death any day. What do you dream about when you're stressed out or under a lot of pressure? How does your mind manifest it? What strange dreams do you have or have you been having as of late? I'm just going to let this prompt speak for itself......
Prompt: Letters appear for you and disappear when you are finished reading I walked into my bedroom and there it was. My letter. The white envelope was addressed to me, but held no return address. The letters had been appearing ever since I could remember. Always the same, a plain, white envelope addressed to me, no return address, no distinguishing marks on them whatsoever. Not even the postage marks could help me figure out where they had come from. It was as if they simply appeared on my desk. I guess it would make sense, after all, as soon as I finished reading them they would disappear, so why not appear too. I was never able to keep a single one of them. Not once. I had tried, oh how hard I had tried to keep them. I had tried putting them somewhere secret, I had tried not putting them down at all, but somehow, during the day, it would disappear and be lost to me. I learned how to read the letters slowly, savoring each word, trying to memorize them, because there would be no going back to them, no rereading them over and over again. It was a one chance kind of thing. I had to remember as much as I could in one go, because I didn’t get another chance. I ripped open the envelope. I didn’t care about trying to protect it like I once had, the envelope too would be lost with the letter. I carefully read through the letter. It was a horoscope of sorts. Telling me what to expect from the coming weeks, what I should do. It was a guideline to my future. The letter’s advice had never led me astray, all I had to do was follow its rules and I would have all that my heart desired. It was a perfect system, really. All I had to do was lure people into a forgotten warehouse each month and leave them there, and every month, like clockwork, I would get my prize. A letter leading me to all my heart's desires. Don’t judge me. You’d make the same deal with the devil. A little bit of backstory about this scene, this is shortly after Cara has died. If you recall, Cara is Hunter's adopted mother (Saria is is real mother- long story, read The Portal for more information about that situation).
Prompt: “I’m here,” he said, “You can talk to me, or not talk to me, but I’m here.” Carrie knocked on the door lightly. She didn’t get a response, but she didn’t let that stop her. She pushed the door open. Hunter was on his bed, sharpening what appeared to be a knife. His face was grim and focused. “Are you okay?” Carrie asked. She hated that question. Obviously he wasn’t okay. Who would be okay at a moment like this? “I’m fine,” Hunter said. He didn’t look up at her. Carrie walked closer to the bed, and sat in front of Hunter, holding out a bouquet of Moonflowers. While she didn’t know the full story behind the Moonflower, she did recognize that there was something special about them, at least for Hunter. “Look,” Carrie said when Hunter didn’t even reach out to take the flowers, “I’m here,” she put the flowers on the bed and placed her hand on Hunter’s knee, “You can talk to me,” she could feel Hunter tense slightly, “Or not talk to me,” Carrie added, “But I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.” Also know that I'm here. During all this craziness it can feel like we're all alone, but we are all here together. Stay connected, stay in touch, we'll get through this together. With today’s book I have chosen the book Inkheart because Inkheart is my go to book when I’m struggling. It’s helped me through a lot of situations, and I figured, with everything that is going on right now it might be a good idea to fall back onto the classics, the things you know will help make you feel better. So, yes, for those of you who know me, I am re-reading the Inkheart Trilogy (and yes, I have lost count the amount of times I have read it :p).
It is also a Hunter prompt, and as you all know, I LOVE my Hunter prompts. Hunter too has been a huge comfort to me. He has helped me through situations that Inkheart wasn’t. He has given me a lot of comfort and support over the years. And this prompt, while has some sad undertones, it also is a sweet and comforting one, and I hope you feel that. I hope that by reading this prompt today, and by reading The Portal and the rest the World In The Woods series you might feel and have the same comfort I was given over the years; that these stories will help you just as they have helped me. Prompt: In any book, randomly pick out 5 words and use them in your prompt. I chose the book Inkheart: Wooden Knives Flower Impenetrable Nightmares Hunter jerked awake. He had heard a sound. Someone was screaming. He got to his feet and raced down the hallway, stopping as the sound got louder. It was Carrie’s room. Without knocking he burst inside. “Are you alright?” Hunter asked, dropping his weapon as he rushed to her side. Carrie nodded her head, the screaming stopping short in her throat, but the tears didn’t stop coming. Now, without the screams to use up some of the energy inside of her, it all came rushing down her face in the form of tears. Hunter took her in his arms and let her cry into his shirt. “Your shirt’s all wet,” Carrie said, using her hand to try and dry the soaking wet spot on Hunter’s shirt. “It’ll dry,” Hunter said, taking her hand and simply holding it in his. While it wasn’t the first time he had had to deal with wet clothes, it was the first time the wetness had come from tears. “Want to talk about it?” Hunter asked. Carrie shook her head. No, talking about it wouldn’t do anything but make it more impossible to fall back asleep. “Are you alright here for a minute?” Hunter asked suddenly, “I’ll be right back.” Carrie looked at him in confusion, but she couldn’t seem to come up with any reason why he couldn’t leave, at least not without sounding like a child. So she let him leave. On his way out, he flipped on the light, but it did nothing to get rid of the impenetrable darkness that swallowed Carrie whole. Hunter raced down the hallway and toward the basement. Locked in a cabinet that not even Felicia had the key to, Hunter found a little wooden knife. He slipped it into his pocket before hurrying outside and picking a Moonflower. With his items in hand he rushed back to Carrie’s side. Carrie was curled up on her bed, staring at the floor, a terrified expression on her face, when Hunter entered the room. He hurried to her side and sat next to her. “Here,” he said, handing the flower to her. She took it, smelling the fragrance. “Put it on your nightstand, it’ll keep the nightmares away.” Cara had said the same thing to Hunter when he was a child. For years after the loss of his family, he was plagued with nightmares. He would often wake up screaming, tears running down his childish face. Cara had always been there, ready with a Moonflower and his little wooden knife. She had said that since the moonflower only bloomed at night, that the bloom held magical powers to keep the nightmares away because nothing bad could happen when something so beautiful and magical happened. “And this,” Hunter said, after Carrie placed the flower on the nightstand next to her bed, “Will help you fight off whatever nightmares come at you,” he handed her the wooden knife. Cara had felt that he was too young to have a real knife under his pillow at the time, so she had fashioned the knife herself to give to Hunter. Being able to hold onto it at night made him feel strong, and powerful. As he grew older, he had kept the tradition of sleeping with a knife under his pillow, although his knife grew more deadly the older he got. Carrie stared at the wooden knife in her hand, a small smile creeping onto her face. She could just imagine a small Hunter wrapping his childish fingers around the hilt as he tried to sleep. “Thank you,” she said softly. This time it was Hunter’s time not to say anything. He gently guided her to lay back on the mattress. While Carrie slipped the wooden knife under her pillow, Hunter tucked her in, just like Cara had done when he was a child. As Hunter kissed Carrie’s temple, Carrie reached out her hand to hold onto his, causing Hunter to sit back on the bed. He stroked her hair away from her face, and ran his hands lightly down her back, scratching it lightly to help her drift off. As Carrie snuggled down beneath the covers, relishing the feel of Hunter’s touch, Hunter softly, hesitantly, at first, began to sing. Carrie drifted off to the land of sleep on the wings of Hunter’s lullaby. Prompt: Only come back if you have backup. Or a burger. I’m starving. Actually burger THEN backup. Yeah do that.
“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” Skye said, planning on slipping back into the van to give Ryan some time to work her magic. Ryan took full advantage of the situation, wasting no time in wrapping the target around her little finger. Skye was just about to come back when Ryan spoke to her through the earpiece. “Only come back if you have backup,” Ryan paused a moment as if thinking about it, “Or a burger. I’m starving,” at that moment Ryan’s stomach began to growl as if to confirm that Ryan was telling the truth, “Actually burger,” Ryan said, she didn’t actually need back up. It was a fairly easy target, “THEN backup. Yeah, do that,” she smiled and signed off. Skye smiled. If Ryan closed this deal she could have all the burgers she wanted. Prompt: Free Write
Today is a free write, so we can write anything we want. I wanted to take this time to let you all know that I am also now on Instagram. I'm moving up in the world :). (Yes, I will be adding my Instagram information to my Contact page.) Along with that wonderful news of finally getting on Instagram I have some other pretty awesome news :). My book is now available on Balboa Press' webpage. https://www.balboapress.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/811097-the-portal You should definitely check it out. I am super stoked about this new endeavor. Now...you are probably wondering...well where is the prompt? Well never fear, I have today's prompt. It is mostly redundant of yesterday's prompt, but I added some at the end of it, to show Carrie apologizing and how Hunter takes it. “Good to see you unharmed,” Aiden smiled as he saw Carrie coming back home. “Unharmed?” Carrie asked incredulously. Unharmed? The word rankled. How dare he assume that she was unharmed? How dare he tell her what she was and what she wasn’t? Unharmed? The audacity of the word. Carrie could feel the anger of the word boiling up inside of her. Normally she could have just brushed it aside and move on, but she couldn’t today. For some reason that word pushed her over the edge and she couldn’t just let it slide on by. “You know them,” she turned to Hunter when she spoke. Aiden didn’t actually know them. He had only met Putar, and Putar wasn’t the one responsible for what had happened. But Hunter knew them. He had to. He was Hunter, he knew everything, “You knew what they did to the others,” she could see Hunter wince at the accusation, but it didn’t matter to her. She continued, “What they would gladly do to me,” another wince from Hunter. She didn’t know why she was turning all her attention to Hunter. He wasn’t the one who had said that it was good to see her unharmed, those weren’t his words. Still, there was something inside of her that hated him. There was a part of her that wanted to hurt him like he had hurt her, although she wasn’t sure why she had thought he had hurt her. He hadn’t done anything. Not really. Maybe she was mad that Hunter hadn’t told them; that he had kept it all a secret. Maybe it bothered her that he didn’t warn them that she was going to be changed, that she wouldn’t be the same after what she went through. Or maybe she was mad that while he went through everything he had gone through, he had remained the same. Those experiences hadn’t changed him. Yet they had changed her, and that bothered her. She thought she was stronger than that. She thought she could handle things better. Yet when push came to shove she had tumbled like a house of cards. She was weak, and that thought ate away at her. And having to see Hunter standing there in his perfection, the man who doesn’t crumble, the man who can withstand everything, made her blood boil. It was only yet another reminder of just how weak she was, and she hated herself for it. “Do you really think,” Carrie’s anger was making her eyes water, and she hated that too, “That I stand here unharmed?” she turned to look at Aiden, but her hatred was still directed at Hunter. “Sorry,” Aiden said, putting his hands in the air in surrender, “Welcome back anyway,” he lowered his hands and walked away. Carrie wiped furiously at the tears of anger and frustration that were spilling down her face. “What exactly happened?” Hunter asked, gently. He didn’t dare reach out and touch her, as if the sudden contact would send her into another fit of rage and she would physically lash out at him instead of simply yelling at him. “Why do you care?” The words themselves didn’t hurt. It was the way she said them. As if his worry over her was the worst thing in the world, that it was more torture to have him care than the torture she just endured. “Because,” Hunter said, trying to soothe the angry beast that was growing inside of Carrie, “I consider you a friend.” Friend. That word. That evil word. She hated that word. Whoever came up with a word like that and put it in Hunter’s mouth? It disgusted her. “You know what, don’t,” Carrie said, her tears of anger falling down her face once again, “We’re not friends. We’re coworkers….we’re team members, but we’re not friends, so leave me alone and stop worrying over me,” she stormed off. In normal circumstances those words never would have popped into her head, let alone out through her mouth, but these were far from normal circumstances. As she walked away she felt oddly vindicated. Like she had come out on top. Her vindication didn’t last too long, however. She had barely made it to her rooms when the vindication of getting the better of Hunter had worn off and she began to have remorse. Remorse for having lashed out at the wrong person. Remorse for what she had done. She just hoped that it wasn’t too late, that she hadn’t ruined things forever. Carrie made her way to Hunter’s place and knocked lightly on the door. He answered it immediately, his shirt on this time, as if he knew that she wouldn’t be able to stand the sight of his scars right now. “I’m sorry,” Carrie said softly, “I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. It was uncalled for,” she refused to look him in the eyes. She couldn’t. She felt too terrible to look at his face, and she didn’t think she could look at the pain in his face and know that she had caused it, “And hurtful. I shouldn’t have said it. I don’t know why I did. Things just boiled up inside of me, and I just...I just,” tears of remorse were coming out of her eyes. Man she hated that she was an emotional crier. It didn’t matter what the emotion was, she cried. Happy, cry. Mad, cry. “It’s okay,” Hunter said, he reached up and lifted her chin so at least her face was looking toward him, even though her eyes were still staring at the floor, “We’re okay,” he wiped away at the tears streaming from her eyes. The acceptance just made Carrie start crying more. She didn’t deserve it. She had been a horrible troll. He should yell at her. Tell her that it wasn’t okay. That they weren’t friends. That he wanted nothing to do with her. But he didn’t, and that somehow made her feel worse. Prompt: “Good to see you unharmed.” / “Unharmed? You know them. You knew what they did to the others, what they would gladly do to me. Do you really think I stand here unharmed?”
“Good to see you unharmed,” Aiden smiled as he saw Carrie coming back home. “Unharmed?” Carrie asked incredulously. Unharmed? The word rankled. How dare he assume that she was unharmed? How dare he tell her what she was and what she wasn’t? Unharmed? The audacity of the word. Carrie could feel the anger of the word boiling up inside of her. Normally she could have just brushed it aside and move on, but she couldn’t today. For some reason that word pushed her over the edge and she couldn’t just let it slide on by. “You know them,” she turned to Hunter when she spoke. Aiden didn’t actually know them. He had only met Putar, and Putar wasn’t the one responsible for what had happened. But Hunter knew them. He had to. He was Hunter, he knew everything, “You knew what they did to the others,” she could see Hunter wince at the accusation, but it didn’t matter to her. She continued, “What they would gladly do to me,” another wince from Hunter. She didn’t know why she was turning all her attention to Hunter. He wasn’t the one who had said that it was good to see her unharmed, those weren’t his words. Still, there was something inside of her that hated him. There was a part of her that wanted to hurt him like he had hurt her, although she wasn’t sure why she had thought he had hurt her. He hadn’t done anything. Not really. Maybe she was mad that Hunter hadn’t told them; that he had kept it all a secret. Maybe it bothered her that he didn’t warn them that she was going to be changed, that she wouldn’t be the same after what she went through. Or maybe she was mad that while he went through everything he had gone through, he had remained the same. Those experiences hadn’t changed him. Yet they had changed her, and that bothered her. She thought she was stronger than that. She thought she could handle things better. Yet when push came to shove she had tumbled like a house of cards. She was weak, and that thought ate away at her. And having to see Hunter standing there in his perfection, the man who doesn’t crumble, the man who can withstand everything, made her blood boil. It was only yet another reminder of just how weak she was, and she hated herself for it. “Do you really think,” Carrie’s anger was making her eyes water, and she hated that too, “That I stand here unharmed?” she turned to look at Aiden, but her hatred was still directed at Hunter. “Sorry,” Aiden said, putting his hands in the air in surrender, “Welcome back anyway,” he lowered his hands and walked away. Carrie wiped furiously at the tears of anger and frustration that were spilling down her face. “What exactly happened?” Hunter asked, gently. He didn’t dare reach out and touch her, as if the sudden contact would send her into another fit of rage and she would physically lash out at him instead of simply yelling at him. “Why do you care?” The words themselves didn’t hurt. It was the way she said them. As if his worry over her was the worst thing in the world, that it was more torture to have him care than the torture she just endured. “Because,” Hunter said, trying to soothe the angry beast that was growing inside of Carrie, “I consider you a friend.” Friend. That word. That evil word. She hated that word. Whoever came up with a word like that and put it in Hunter’s mouth? It disgusted her. “You know what, don’t,” Carrie said, her tears of anger falling down her face once again, “We’re not friends. We’re coworkers….we’re team members, but we’re not friends, so leave me alone and stop worrying over me,” she stormed off. In normal circumstances those words never would have popped into her head, let alone out through her mouth, but these were far from normal circumstances. As she walked away she felt oddly vindicated. Like she had come out on top. Her vindication didn’t last too long, however. She had barely made it to her rooms when the vindication of getting the better of Hunter had worn off and she began to have remorse. Remorse for having lashed out at the wrong person. Remorse for what she had done. She just hoped that it wasn’t too late, that she hadn’t ruined things forever. Oh anger, it makes you do stupid things sometimes. Do you think it's too late for her to patch things up with Hunter? Do you think he'll forgive her? Who couldn't use a love story right now? :p.
Prompt: “Sorry, I was asleep, what did you say?” “Hey,” Alec whispered, “Are you awake?” Liviana didn’t speak a word. It wasn’t as if she was asleep. In fact, quite the opposite, she was wide awake, but she didn’t want him to know that. Not yet. She wanted to know what he was going to say. She squeezed her eyes shut as he leaned over to glimpse her eyes. Convinced she was asleep, Alec continued, “I think I’ve started to fall in love with you. I know it’s totally crazy, and it wasn’t supposed to happen like this, or at all really, but it’s too late for all of that. I’ve started falling in love with you.” Alec placed a kiss on Liviana’s forehead, and Liviana slowly opened her eyes, hoping that she looked like she was just waking up. “Sorry,” Liviana yawned, “I was asleep, did you say something.” “No,” Alec whispered, “I was just checking up on you to make sure you were doing okay. Go back to sleep.” |
Skye BallantyneI am very excited to welcome you to my blog! Hope you enjoy! Categories |