Speed Writing Exercise

We challenged our members to create their own stories in groups. There's prompts, and oh, they only have less than two hours! Here's a selection of the submissions:

Shutter, click!

prompts: photo, people, emphasis I enter the sleepy house, everything is serenely quiet with the calming, familiar scent of lavender, and low murmur of the television. Slipping off my shoes, I head to the living room. I find him, sprawled out on the couch with drool hanging from an open mouth. A hand in a long-empty bowl of grape seeds. His shirt is rumpled and stained, riding up his stomach to expose his navel. He looked horrendous.

I reached for my camera.

Oh, I suppose I haven’t properly introduced myself. I’m a photographer. I like to take candid pictures of people going about their lives, doing anything and everything. The exciting, the mundane, there is beauty in it all. However, what I love most is the reactions people have to getting their photo taken. It’s not always pleasant, but it’s always interesting, and you can learn so much about your subject.

For example, I was walking in the park when I saw a kind, middle aged woman reading a romance novel. She looked so peaceful and serene, so I took out my camera to take a picture. Hearing the sound of the shutter, the woman looks up in pleasant surprise. She gingerly places her book down, an excited grin stretched across her face as she hurriedly fixes her hair, combing her fingers through the silky locks.

“Oh my, I wasn’t quite ready for that one! Do give me a warning first, dear. It is quite rude to catch a lady off guard.” The woman giggles out as she proceeds to stand up from the park bench, smoothing her dress down and whipping out her small, handheld compact mirror from her bag. She fixed her mascara, touched up her lipgloss and finished off with a spritz of perfume.

She straightened her back, smiling sweetly for the camera with her hands elegantly folded in front of her as the shutter went off once again.

“Now, what pose should I do for the next one?” She grinned in anticipation.

I recall another time when my eyes caught the sight of a street performer, a classy guitarist. He donned an ash gray tuxedo complete with a chiffon tie, and his hazel locks flowed effortlessly in the lush winds. He had a charismatic look in him, and he played his mahogany guitar with excellent skill. The crowd surrounding him listened to his soothing melodies as it calmed their hectic minds down.

It was tough for me to get a quick picture of him since the audience wasn’t a small one. But when I did manage to snap one once he finished performing his finale, and that the crowd had left their clusters, he turned his head towards me, startled by the sudden flash from my camera.

“ My, you caught me off guard there. ” He chuckled. I immediately apologized for taking a picture of him without permission, but he didn’t seem to mind it. “ I guessed I was so engrossed in my performance that I didn’t even see you, but thanks for the great photo. ” He winked at me with a huge grin plastered on his face.

Of course, I can’t not mention the time I tried to take a picture of my camera-shy friend, Gia. “Hey! Delete that picture right now!” she exclaimed angrily at me. She attempted to grab the camera, but I lifted it up high in the air. She hated having her photo taken from a young age, but the angle, the lighting, everything was perfect so I just couldn’t resist. She looked so mesmerizing.

“Wait a minute and just take a look! You look great in it, I promise!” Gia was seething with annoyance and paid no heed to my words. I looked into her eyes, and they glistened with mischief; what a perfect shot! I took another snap, and before I realised her devious plan, I started to feel a tickling sensation at my sides.

Gia has attacked my weak point, my ticklish stomach! We fell onto the couch, she was tickling me endlessly. I started to tear up. Whilst I was catching my breath, she took a look at the shots I had gotten. The annoyed look on her face turned into one of happiness, she exclaimed, “Wow, you really weren't joking! I thought you had taken an ugly photo of me. Can you send these to me?” I agreed to it happily. This was the first time Gia was happy with a photo I took!

All that to say, I love taking pictures of people around me, capturing the moment forever. And now here I am, in the middle of the night in the living room. I look down at him, face softly illuminated by the moon, through the viewfinder.

Shutter, click. I smiled and giggled softly at the image.

Maybe I’ll keep this one to myself.

Trauma and Friends

prompts: leadership, hospital, intention I was shifting in and out of consciousness. Ringing was incessant in my ears and the back of my head throbbed. Despite the ringing, I could hear countless voices around me before I finally blacked out again.

When I finally came to, I found myself in a colourless room, where walls and floors could not be told apart. The first things I felt were the sores of my joints, and a sourness in my mouth. I tried to move my limbs around just to find them restricted, restrained in a straightjacket. My heart sank, and panic arose in me.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” I shouted in a raspy voice. What I heard back was not a voice, but footsteps, heavy footsteps.

A man approached me, dressed in white, the same as that of the room. I stared at his leather shoes as he approached me. I did not dare to look at him, alarms blared in my head.

“Are you awake yet? Do you remember where you are?” He asked in an eerily gentle voice.

I gave no answer.

The man shifted before kneeling down to my eye-level. He lifted my chin forcefully and shone a flashlight into my eyes.

“Are you not going to speak Olin? You’re in a hospital, you’re sick. This time, there isn’t anyone around for you to hurt.” The voice that came out of him was now tired, but sure.

“I’m going to tell you straight up, there is no escape from here. I won’t let you.”

“Why are you keeping me here? What do you want?” I screamed, agitated. He kept looking down on me everytime he spoke. I stared at the name tag on his chest.

“Dr. Elias? What do you mean I’m sick? What did you do to me?” I continued.

At that moment, his phone rang. He let out a sigh and left the room without giving me an answer, leaving the door open slightly. I examined my surroundings after he left. The room was bare, and I could not set my sights on anything. I stood up, steadied myself and headed towards the only door in the room. I pushed the door open and saw him to the left of the hallway, having a heated argument on his phone.

‘I don’t trust him. He’s not giving me the answers I need. I don’t remember how I ended up there.’

I ran right down the hallway to get away from him. If this was a hospital, why is it so dark? Also, I felt like I was being followed. In the corner of my eyes, I could see the shadows stalking me. Everytime I looked at them, they disappeared, but they were always watching me. I could hear people chasing me, the doctor was working with other people.

With my arms still bound, I ran and ran, there was no use for me to keep quiet. My pants on their own were enough to alert both the shadows and the people chasing me of my location. I went through door after door, but each and every one of them just led me to more hallways.

All but one. One of the doors had little windows that let in strong sunlight. It was definitely the way out, I was sure of it. I gave a final sprint my all. Maybe I was an athlete, no one had managed to catch up to me until now. However, when I finally reached the door, I realised a crucial error of mine.

I had hope so I gave a final sprint and exhausted all of my energy. None of the doors that I had passed through were locked. However, when I reached the door, I could not use its handles. I struggled with the door, but I could not get the door to open.

Slow footsteps approached me from the shadows. Doctor Elias approached me with a wooden clipboard in hand.

“I told you, you couldn’t escape,” Those were his last words to me before he hit me on the head with his clipboard. One again, I was knocked unconscious… Once again?

______________

“Doctor, did he try to escape again?”

“For the fifth time, I told security to lock the doors automatically this time.”

“Apparently there was another issue with the power directed towards the door.”

“I would have never agreed to take the position of the head doctor of this mental institue if I knew that there was going to be a patient like him.”

“The criminal?”

“Even without his memories, he is still a pain to handle.”

The doctor and his assistant walked towards an all-white room and pulled the door open.

At the same time, the patient inside regained his conciousness and screamed.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” He shouted in a raspy voice.

“Are you awake yet? Do you remember where you are?” The doctor asked, masking his annoyance in a gentle voice.

Want more? Read the other submissions here!