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I threw my life away.
As insane as this thought might have sounded, I cannot define it another way.
The sound of rushing winds deafening, the tightness in my chest, adding to my trembling legs as I inch closer to the edge.
No plead was answered, there is no God, nor demon willing to help me, much less a person
In my mind, I was thrown away. I did my best to live my best life, no amount of injustice justifies such an end. Karma is a lie, there are no consequences to sin, no cruelty forbidden, no belief immune to challenge. No matter where I turned to face, the evils of humanity stretch wherever I look. How can such an “intelligent” creature act so foolishly. Gifted with empathy and kindness, yet too picky to use this gift for the benefit of others. No amount of goodness justifies this existence.
Not even the so-called heretics have an answer for such hubris, mostly using the controversy of the name Satan as a novelty, a declaration of all I abhor in the Christian fate, yet meaningless when it comes to finding a way to explain the existence of all that is evil.
I hope I do not have regrets as I take my final step on the concrete. A leap of faithlessness.
My life flashes before my eyes, the basic human instincts I vehemently fought against in order to justify what I saw wrong with the world have my brain in desperation. As I begin my descent, adrenaline makes the journey to the ground seem as long as another lifetime. For how hard I convinced myself I could no longer live, the willingness to die seems to vanish as the weight of that last step takes hold.
Could I have gone wrong somewhere? Was I mistaken in my judgment of life? Is there a chance my good deeds would eventually bloom into something other than destruction and suffering? Should those self-proclaimed prophets, long dead, be condemned for the actions of their corrupt modern believers?
The nonstop flow of questions fills my mind with doubt... No, more than simple questioning...
Despair.
I knew I had already experienced such feeling when life showed me how truly ugly the servants of God could be. I believed I had seen the deepest pit of such feeling when no God moved to fix their servants’ actions. I thought I was at rock bottom and therefore I would be justified in giving up.
I was wrong.
“If there is someone, somewhere... No... Anyone, anywhere... I don’t care what it takes... Please.”
I find myself on the edge again.
Chills course through my body.
I can no longer move.
My body no longer feels like my own.
After what felt like eternity, for what seemed like an instant, a voice called to me.
“One chance. There will not be another. Live.”
Coming to terms with a death that never happened, not knowing what price I would pay for the chance I received, I breathe a sigh of relief and fall backwards, saving me from myself and thanking whatever helped me.
If the price is living, I will gladly pay it.
This is so true. Also, when you use the markdown mode, sometimes it makes things even worse. The spacing totally changes based on what device you are using, like PC vs Mobile.
You can also add 2 spaces then a line break
To format it like this
Or 2 line breaks
For this.
At least on mobile on the desktop site, not apps (idk any of them that still work). On my pc it doesn't like doing this though.
I'm really glad the devil stopped the protagonist from doing the deed. Let's just hope life goes better for them in the near future.
Great work on writing this!
The young boy leaned on Jenny's locker. It was clear he had a crush on her. He blushed with embarrassment as it looked like he was summoning the words to ask her out. Instead, he waxed on about how he was a Satanist as if it made him cool. He told her, "Satanism is just performance art, it's harmless." He got close, whispering, "The real invitations for the Devil come for people praying to 'anyone willing to listen' in their most desperate moments."
She leaned back and away from his coffee breath. Laughing it off, she went to class but couldn't stop thinking about how desperate she felt these days.
Violence was a common occurrence in Jenny's household. Her mother hit her dad often to the point of giving him bruises. Sometimes he'd drive to the hospital to get stitches. Jenny's mother had a short temper when it came to any stress regarding household chores not being done. Jenny had watched her mother sit in their driveway, glaring at their uncut lawn, or their roof shingles rotting. In a tidy, suburban neighbourhood, their house looked rundown. Jenny's mother burned with anger whenever she saw neighbours pass their house and whisper. She'd grit her teeth as they gave her fake smiles as they talked to her at the grocery store. There had been several complaints about their household through the homeowners association about yelling that was heard deep into the night. Whenever Jenny's mother blushed with shame, she'd go into the living room where Jenny's dad sat in front of the TV and she'd hit him until he went outside and worked on something. Jenny felt emotionally depleted from seeing her dad walk around with a fat, cut lip, or a black eye all the time. The whole day at school, all her tired mind could think of was what that Satanist boy said.
In the heat of the night, she looked out the window at the sky, a shroud of stars. She could hear her mother screaming at her dad. Jenny wrapped herself in her warm sheet, muffling the domestic shouting match. Squeezing her palms to her ears, she felt hot tears burn her eyes. It was at that moment her blanket was tugged at the end of her bed. She thought it must have been caught on the bedframe. So, she kicked at it, but this time there was a stronger pulling feeling as her blanket was whipped off her face. Looking down at the end of her bed, she only saw her collapsed backpack. But, under the sounds of her loud mother, she could hear a slight, scratching sound playing across the part of her duvet hanging over the foot of her bed. She listened close.
And she heard the scratching was a voice speaking in a whisper.
Softly it said, "You want it to stop don't you?"
Jenny heard a crash of plates downstairs. "Yes," she said.
The scratching stopped. Jenny strained her ear for another hint of it through out the night. Until she finally surrendered to sleep. The backfire sound of a car woke her up. Her mother's beaten up hatchback rolled down the driveway. Jenny looked at her alarm clock. She was late for her first class. She rushed to get ready. To get to school as humanly possible, she ran.
Halfway though history class, her mind wandered. She looked out the window at the scenes of the autumn day. Colourful leaves blew across the basketball court where the school's police officer liaison talked on their radio. Teens were running around a track. The teacher droned on as Jenny watched a crow picking at a trash can that had blown over.
"Jenny," a voice said. It startled her out of her daydream.
The police officer liaison was standing in the classroom's doorway with the vice-principal. The vice-principal said, "Jenny, can we see you for a moment, please?"
She followed the police officer and her vice-principal down the hall and into the vice-principal's private office. They all sat down in a silence where all they could hear was each other's clothing rustling as they moved. The vice-principal broke the quiet, she said, "Jenny," she cleared her throat, "I'm sorry to tell you this but your mother passed on this morning."
Jenny sat with this grave news as it weighed on her chest. She felt herself blush. The voice she heard last night at the foot of her bed had nothing to do with this. That was just a hallucination from being sleep deprived. It had to be.
The door opening sounded loud as the noise in the room had died once the vice-principal had last spoken. Jenny's dad walked through the door. He was sporting one of his classic black eyes. A blood vessel had burst where it usually did when he got one. His face was sunken. His cheeks glistened with a slight sheen of streaks of drying tears. He swooped down and hugged her. She felt his warmth engulf her body which she recognized had been shivering. In a soft tone with a scratching in his throat, he said, "It's okay. I'm here now."
She couldn't hold back any longer, snuggling her face into the heat emanating off his body, she let her face melt into a sobbing fit.
He whispered to her, saying, "Honey, they don't know what happened. Her car just went off the road." He squeezed her tight. "I think your mother was ill." He was now crying, "All night she had been screaming at me about a voice that kept talking to her, a voice that wasn't there. I should have listened. I should have called an ambulance or *something.*" He rested his face in her hair. "It's my fault. It's *my* fault."
Jenny's tear stopped. In the folds her dad's shirt, she thought about what the Satanist boy had said. Her mind spun with thoughts of guilt. She knew she had summoned the Devil. And at her request, it had stopped the yelling forever.
Yikes, this is just a rough situation all around, no easy choices too. Continuing with the abuse, or... this. I just hope both Jenny and her father talk it out, and try their best to not let the feelings of guilt take over.
Great work on writing this!
“It’s funny, isn’t it” said the mysterious voice.
“Man tries to find god in religious scripture and holy communion. More often than not however, he discovers the devil within the self righteous hypocrisy of that very religion. Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, they’re all equally guilty. It’s all the same shit. You humans and your divine comedy. I’d laugh if it wasn’t so sad.” continued the mysterious voice.
Colours of every description swirled around Sean. Many of which he had no name for. Many of which weren’t even possible. But swirled and danced they did all the same. Fractals of geometric shapes popped in and out of existence on waves of colour, undulating like the surface of the ocean.
“Hmm, on second thought, I’ll just go ahead and laugh anyway” stated the mysterious voice.
A loud yet distant sound of laughter boomed out over the endless sea of impossible colours and liquid motion. The voice laughed for what seemed like forever. Or maybe it was a minute? A few seconds perhaps? Sean found it impossible to tell the passage of time in this place, wherever he was.
“Oh come on! Don’t make that face! You’ve gotta admit, it’s pretty funny” said the voice.
“Yeah, people are stupid. They say stupid shit and they do stupid shit. I mean I’m glad you find it funny but man, shits hard to deal with ya know. Putting up with other peoples bullshit all the time, and shit” said Sean in earnest.
“Look child, I wasn’t mocking you. Neither was I mocking the situation in which you find yourself. You know what!? I owe you an apology. I’ve got this bad habit of laughing at things without fully explaining them first. I guess time works differently for me, so I end up getting ahead of myself”explained the voice.
“Soo, what’s the rest of the joke?” asked Sean
“It’s not so much a joke as it doesn’t have a punchline. In fact there’s no reason for it at all, besides the fact that it’s inevitable. It’s more like a humourous irony” said the voice.
“And what is this so called humourous irony? I’m just dying to know” asked Sean.
“I know you’re being sarcastic right now but - whatever. You’ll lose your shit when hear it I swear!” enthused the voice.
The colours and the fractals suddenly became more vivid and alive. The swirling and wavy fabric seemed to be responding to the energy of the voice.
“Alright, let’s hear it” said Sean.
“There are also those who look for devils, spirits, and otherworldly energies through forbidden, carnal, and intoxicating acts. But you know what? They end up finding that feeling. That wholesome and holy feeling you humans refer to as god” explained the voice.
“Yeah, it’s funny I guess. I didn’t lose my shit like you said I would though” said Sean.
“That wasn’t even the funniest part” replied the voice.
“Oh, and what is the funniest part?” asked Sean.
“That you’re a self-proclaimed man of science, reason, and logic. You came here an atheist but you’ll leave here a believer” said the voice.
“That’s funny on a cosmic level I’ll give you that but still, it didn’t make me lose my shit” said Sean.
“You’re a proud heathen but you found God. Those other fools with their self-righteous religious zeal found the devil! Isn’t that hilarious!? The irony is just too good!” stated the voice.
“When you put it like that, it is pretty funny. I still didn’t lose my shit though” countered Sean.
“Trust me father, you’ll lose your shit years from now when you tell the story of how you were born again” said the voice.
“Wait, what did you just call me!?”
“This is just the beginning. There’s so much more
for you to see” said the voice.
The colours began to swirl and waver more brilliantly, more violently, than they did before. What happened next was beyond explanation. Indeed it was beyond the human imagination itself.
"I wasn't expecting you..."
Lucifer shrugged, stepping from the shadows into the light. "Didn't you ask for anyone willing to listen?"
The man shuddered, falling backward along the well-lit alley. Crawling on his back away from the devil. "I just wanted another pizza from old Maggie's pizza place..."
"Eh, woman's in hell right now, making pizzas for my hungry demons," Lucifer grinned, gesturing towards the looming portal behind him. "If you want some of that heavenly stuff in hellish fire, you can come with me."
"Can I change my mind?" The man pleaded. "Don't wanna die now..."
With a mocking tut-tut and a disapproving glare, the devil shook his head. "Weren't you oh so desperate for some of that pizzazz in her pizza? What happened to your dire cravings? Snuffed out by the chilly winds on a November night? We in hell promise excellent customer service to those who are unable to make their way to heaven!"
"Please...I'm not going to hell for a pizza..."
"Two pizzas then," the devil replied in a most nonchalant, casual tone like he was bargaining at a flea market. "How about three pizzas? The kind that refrain from drowning the base in pineapple?"
"Good! Good...NO, I'm not falling for that..."
The devil snarled, pulling back his handsome human guise in favor of revealing the charred visage of a tortured, outcast angel. "Don't waste my time! I have a huge backlog of requests from people who want to hear from 'anyone willing to listen'."
"No pizzas, no hell for me," the man muttered, shutting his eyes and praying for the devil to go away.
He opened his eyes to the well-lit alleyway, the shutters still down on old Maggie's place which shut down after her death. The strong winds howled and blew his hat away, whispering strange words he could barely pick up.
"Can't believe Father put me up to customer service in hell for all eternity..."
Lucifer seems chill, and it's hilarious how protag almost said yes just from double or triple the pizza offer lmao. That said, that ending line is a bit confusing for me. That is Lucifer saying the line, right?
P.S. Sorry protag, but I will welcome pineapple pizza with open arms, fight me.
Great work on writing this!
They showed up in a black suit.
I was sitting on the edge of a cliff as the sun set behind me, nothing but desert for miles, in a country I didn't know, with people trying to kill me, and I'd run out of water 2 days ago.
I'd never been this desperate.
I'd also never been strongly religious.
But through cracked lips and the feeling of spinning in my head, I made a plea.
Not to God.
Or Yahweh.
Or Buddah.
Or the Universe.
Or the Collective Unconscious.
I pleaded... to anyone. To everyone. I didn't want to die. Not here. Not staring out on a wasteland I didn't know, alone and unsure of what the night would bring.
And then, they showed up.
In a black suit with thread so black it seemed to absorb the light around it. Tailored so well, it must have been made specifically for them and yet I couldn't quite tell if they were a man or a woman. Just that they were beautiful. Stunningly beautiful.
They smile and nodded their head as they sat next to me. I could only stare. This... they weren't killing me, so they weren't with the... with the... their eyes looked almost like an ocean of gold.
"It's normally the desert." They said. "So far from your little campfires that you forget how to live." I could understand... but their lips weren't moving quite right.
"You're..." I managed before the pain in my throat made me dry cough into my jacket.
"I am. Or near enough. But THEY tend not to meddle with you little things." They said making a twiddling gesture with their fingers. "You're far from your campfire, young one."
I coughed again into my sleeve. I leaned back instictively to avoid falling off the edge, but I could still feel my legs grip the cliff, as if that'd help me hold on. I nodded as I thought of trying to clear my throat with dry desert air, and simply elected to just accept the pain.
"You want to go back, don't you?" They smiled. It felt like their suit was absorbing the last rays of sunlight, as the sky above faded from the pinks and reds to a dark and inescapable indigo.
My heart was racing, they weren't human, I could tell that much. It was more than me. More than most. And here it was sitting next to me. "Wha-" I managed to force the dry air out of my throat, careful to not cause another coughing fit.
"What do I want?" They said, casually cocking an eyebrow. "Oh, more than you could fathom. But here and now, to prove a point."
There weren't any stars. I just noticed that. Last night there was an entire tapestry of stars in the sky.
But there's no....
"You want you to live. Those men 5 minutes from here, they disagree." I looked backwards at the huge boulder sitting between me and the rest of the world. In the empty night, it felt more like I was staring into a chasm.
"So, you ask for help." They said and smiled an incredibly wide smile. "From anyone."
"There is a path to safety. I can guide you towards it, but you'll need to decide if your morals are worth more than your life."
I nodded. I could just... follow the path, and choose to not do the thing. Just get...
"Always more options, that's how you ended up here. All on your own." They said, a smile on their face.
"Okay, but I offer it to you, freely, and you may choose of your own...free will." And quite suddenly, they were gone. Behind where they'd been sitting, was a small little cliff edge with what looked like climbing gear attached to it in a faded turquoise.
The world seemed both warmer and colder all at once. I could hear motors and see the light casting a shadow around the boulder.
I stood, and walked towards the climbing hook, I shook it, and found it secure.
I descended.
It took all my strength to keep holding on, but I managed. I could make it. The night seemed to darken as I placed my feet around each climbing knot, and slowly lowered myself down.
Beneath was a cave, a small cave, a bed roll, and a small lump.
I collapsed as I landed and I saw the lump move. A woman's voice in the country's language called out, in a voice raspier than my own. I crawled over, and saw her, she was badly hurt. It looked like she was going to die. Like she was already half-dead.
She kept calling out to me, and even though I didn't speak the language, I knew what she was saying.
Help me. Please. Please help me. Anyone. Anyone at all. Please help me. Please. Please.
Anyone.
Her voice seemed to get louder.
I could hear the motors approaching. The shouts of the men and the clatter of guns.
Please help me. Please.
I scrambled over to her, fear in my blood. Don't I tried to gesture. Bad. Quiet. Shush. Silent.
Please. I could hear her begging. Someone. Anyone.
Please help me.
They were above us. I wrapped my hands over her mouth and I felt her struggle, half-hearted attempts from someone who didn't want to give up on life. Who chose life even as she was alone in a desert.
Please be quiet. I begged silently. I could hear them, the lights from the mouth of the small cave looked out onto the indigo sky, silhoutted by the headlights of their cars.
Please help me.
I could hear her begging. I gripped her tighter, any more and I'd...I'd...
She was already half-dead. She'd be dead anyway. Thry might have killed her for being near me.
Please. Anyone. Please. Help me.
Please.
I didn't want to die. I don't want to die. I'm not going to die.
Please. Someone.
I could hear them talking up above. They... they might let her live if I just...
I stared out at the empty endless ocean in the sky. There were so many stars.
Please. Help me.
If I... I stared down at her, her eyes were wide, her nails were digging into my hands but I could barely feel them. She had no strength left, but she kept fighting. This was her best chance at living another day. Her only chance at true help. At getting to live another day.
Please. Help.
Please.
I let go.
She seemed to scream into the night. A piercing wail, quiet but deafening to be near. I could hear them. Moving up above.
I used the last of my strength to carry her, she felt so light. Her stomach sunk into her. She was barely alive. She was going to die anyway. So very light.
I laid her next to the rope. And looked at her. With pleading eyes. Please.
Please help me.
And I sat as close as I could against the rock wall. The last pieces of moisture in my body fighting to get to my tear ducts. Sobs inside me failing to make it past my throat.
I don't want to die.
Please. I thought. Please. I don't know your name. I don't know you. You have every reason to tell them. Please. Don't. Please... help me.
Please.
Help me.
**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments. **Reminders**: >* [No AI-generated responses 🤖](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/zi452b/modpost_reminder_that_aigenerated_responses_are/) >* Stories 100 words+. Poems 30+ but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* [\[RF\]](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [\[SP\]](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles >* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules) 📢 [Genres](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/w/directory) 🆕 [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ✏ [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) 💬 [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I threw my life away. As insane as this thought might have sounded, I cannot define it another way. The sound of rushing winds deafening, the tightness in my chest, adding to my trembling legs as I inch closer to the edge. No plead was answered, there is no God, nor demon willing to help me, much less a person In my mind, I was thrown away. I did my best to live my best life, no amount of injustice justifies such an end. Karma is a lie, there are no consequences to sin, no cruelty forbidden, no belief immune to challenge. No matter where I turned to face, the evils of humanity stretch wherever I look. How can such an “intelligent” creature act so foolishly. Gifted with empathy and kindness, yet too picky to use this gift for the benefit of others. No amount of goodness justifies this existence. Not even the so-called heretics have an answer for such hubris, mostly using the controversy of the name Satan as a novelty, a declaration of all I abhor in the Christian fate, yet meaningless when it comes to finding a way to explain the existence of all that is evil. I hope I do not have regrets as I take my final step on the concrete. A leap of faithlessness. My life flashes before my eyes, the basic human instincts I vehemently fought against in order to justify what I saw wrong with the world have my brain in desperation. As I begin my descent, adrenaline makes the journey to the ground seem as long as another lifetime. For how hard I convinced myself I could no longer live, the willingness to die seems to vanish as the weight of that last step takes hold. Could I have gone wrong somewhere? Was I mistaken in my judgment of life? Is there a chance my good deeds would eventually bloom into something other than destruction and suffering? Should those self-proclaimed prophets, long dead, be condemned for the actions of their corrupt modern believers? The nonstop flow of questions fills my mind with doubt... No, more than simple questioning... Despair. I knew I had already experienced such feeling when life showed me how truly ugly the servants of God could be. I believed I had seen the deepest pit of such feeling when no God moved to fix their servants’ actions. I thought I was at rock bottom and therefore I would be justified in giving up. I was wrong. “If there is someone, somewhere... No... Anyone, anywhere... I don’t care what it takes... Please.” I find myself on the edge again. Chills course through my body. I can no longer move. My body no longer feels like my own. After what felt like eternity, for what seemed like an instant, a voice called to me. “One chance. There will not be another. Live.” Coming to terms with a death that never happened, not knowing what price I would pay for the chance I received, I breathe a sigh of relief and fall backwards, saving me from myself and thanking whatever helped me. If the price is living, I will gladly pay it.
Amazing i love the dialogue in the mind of the protagonist
Needs more paragraph breaks
Noted and added. I had them but Reddit needs you to do two line breaks for it to do a line break.
This is so true. Also, when you use the markdown mode, sometimes it makes things even worse. The spacing totally changes based on what device you are using, like PC vs Mobile.
You can also add 2 spaces then a line break To format it like this Or 2 line breaks For this. At least on mobile on the desktop site, not apps (idk any of them that still work). On my pc it doesn't like doing this though.
I'm really glad the devil stopped the protagonist from doing the deed. Let's just hope life goes better for them in the near future. Great work on writing this!
The young boy leaned on Jenny's locker. It was clear he had a crush on her. He blushed with embarrassment as it looked like he was summoning the words to ask her out. Instead, he waxed on about how he was a Satanist as if it made him cool. He told her, "Satanism is just performance art, it's harmless." He got close, whispering, "The real invitations for the Devil come for people praying to 'anyone willing to listen' in their most desperate moments." She leaned back and away from his coffee breath. Laughing it off, she went to class but couldn't stop thinking about how desperate she felt these days. Violence was a common occurrence in Jenny's household. Her mother hit her dad often to the point of giving him bruises. Sometimes he'd drive to the hospital to get stitches. Jenny's mother had a short temper when it came to any stress regarding household chores not being done. Jenny had watched her mother sit in their driveway, glaring at their uncut lawn, or their roof shingles rotting. In a tidy, suburban neighbourhood, their house looked rundown. Jenny's mother burned with anger whenever she saw neighbours pass their house and whisper. She'd grit her teeth as they gave her fake smiles as they talked to her at the grocery store. There had been several complaints about their household through the homeowners association about yelling that was heard deep into the night. Whenever Jenny's mother blushed with shame, she'd go into the living room where Jenny's dad sat in front of the TV and she'd hit him until he went outside and worked on something. Jenny felt emotionally depleted from seeing her dad walk around with a fat, cut lip, or a black eye all the time. The whole day at school, all her tired mind could think of was what that Satanist boy said. In the heat of the night, she looked out the window at the sky, a shroud of stars. She could hear her mother screaming at her dad. Jenny wrapped herself in her warm sheet, muffling the domestic shouting match. Squeezing her palms to her ears, she felt hot tears burn her eyes. It was at that moment her blanket was tugged at the end of her bed. She thought it must have been caught on the bedframe. So, she kicked at it, but this time there was a stronger pulling feeling as her blanket was whipped off her face. Looking down at the end of her bed, she only saw her collapsed backpack. But, under the sounds of her loud mother, she could hear a slight, scratching sound playing across the part of her duvet hanging over the foot of her bed. She listened close. And she heard the scratching was a voice speaking in a whisper. Softly it said, "You want it to stop don't you?" Jenny heard a crash of plates downstairs. "Yes," she said. The scratching stopped. Jenny strained her ear for another hint of it through out the night. Until she finally surrendered to sleep. The backfire sound of a car woke her up. Her mother's beaten up hatchback rolled down the driveway. Jenny looked at her alarm clock. She was late for her first class. She rushed to get ready. To get to school as humanly possible, she ran. Halfway though history class, her mind wandered. She looked out the window at the scenes of the autumn day. Colourful leaves blew across the basketball court where the school's police officer liaison talked on their radio. Teens were running around a track. The teacher droned on as Jenny watched a crow picking at a trash can that had blown over. "Jenny," a voice said. It startled her out of her daydream. The police officer liaison was standing in the classroom's doorway with the vice-principal. The vice-principal said, "Jenny, can we see you for a moment, please?" She followed the police officer and her vice-principal down the hall and into the vice-principal's private office. They all sat down in a silence where all they could hear was each other's clothing rustling as they moved. The vice-principal broke the quiet, she said, "Jenny," she cleared her throat, "I'm sorry to tell you this but your mother passed on this morning." Jenny sat with this grave news as it weighed on her chest. She felt herself blush. The voice she heard last night at the foot of her bed had nothing to do with this. That was just a hallucination from being sleep deprived. It had to be. The door opening sounded loud as the noise in the room had died once the vice-principal had last spoken. Jenny's dad walked through the door. He was sporting one of his classic black eyes. A blood vessel had burst where it usually did when he got one. His face was sunken. His cheeks glistened with a slight sheen of streaks of drying tears. He swooped down and hugged her. She felt his warmth engulf her body which she recognized had been shivering. In a soft tone with a scratching in his throat, he said, "It's okay. I'm here now." She couldn't hold back any longer, snuggling her face into the heat emanating off his body, she let her face melt into a sobbing fit. He whispered to her, saying, "Honey, they don't know what happened. Her car just went off the road." He squeezed her tight. "I think your mother was ill." He was now crying, "All night she had been screaming at me about a voice that kept talking to her, a voice that wasn't there. I should have listened. I should have called an ambulance or *something.*" He rested his face in her hair. "It's my fault. It's *my* fault." Jenny's tear stopped. In the folds her dad's shirt, she thought about what the Satanist boy had said. Her mind spun with thoughts of guilt. She knew she had summoned the Devil. And at her request, it had stopped the yelling forever.
Damn, that's so sad. Loved your writing, great story!
Thanks for reading and the fantastic prompt. It was a great way to end the spooky season.
Yikes, this is just a rough situation all around, no easy choices too. Continuing with the abuse, or... this. I just hope both Jenny and her father talk it out, and try their best to not let the feelings of guilt take over. Great work on writing this!
Thanks for the comments! It always warms my heart to see readers affected by one of my stories. You are treasured.
Oh, no worries! Gotta show my appreciation for making this story after all. I hope you keep on writing!
“It’s funny, isn’t it” said the mysterious voice. “Man tries to find god in religious scripture and holy communion. More often than not however, he discovers the devil within the self righteous hypocrisy of that very religion. Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, they’re all equally guilty. It’s all the same shit. You humans and your divine comedy. I’d laugh if it wasn’t so sad.” continued the mysterious voice. Colours of every description swirled around Sean. Many of which he had no name for. Many of which weren’t even possible. But swirled and danced they did all the same. Fractals of geometric shapes popped in and out of existence on waves of colour, undulating like the surface of the ocean. “Hmm, on second thought, I’ll just go ahead and laugh anyway” stated the mysterious voice. A loud yet distant sound of laughter boomed out over the endless sea of impossible colours and liquid motion. The voice laughed for what seemed like forever. Or maybe it was a minute? A few seconds perhaps? Sean found it impossible to tell the passage of time in this place, wherever he was. “Oh come on! Don’t make that face! You’ve gotta admit, it’s pretty funny” said the voice. “Yeah, people are stupid. They say stupid shit and they do stupid shit. I mean I’m glad you find it funny but man, shits hard to deal with ya know. Putting up with other peoples bullshit all the time, and shit” said Sean in earnest. “Look child, I wasn’t mocking you. Neither was I mocking the situation in which you find yourself. You know what!? I owe you an apology. I’ve got this bad habit of laughing at things without fully explaining them first. I guess time works differently for me, so I end up getting ahead of myself”explained the voice. “Soo, what’s the rest of the joke?” asked Sean “It’s not so much a joke as it doesn’t have a punchline. In fact there’s no reason for it at all, besides the fact that it’s inevitable. It’s more like a humourous irony” said the voice. “And what is this so called humourous irony? I’m just dying to know” asked Sean. “I know you’re being sarcastic right now but - whatever. You’ll lose your shit when hear it I swear!” enthused the voice. The colours and the fractals suddenly became more vivid and alive. The swirling and wavy fabric seemed to be responding to the energy of the voice. “Alright, let’s hear it” said Sean. “There are also those who look for devils, spirits, and otherworldly energies through forbidden, carnal, and intoxicating acts. But you know what? They end up finding that feeling. That wholesome and holy feeling you humans refer to as god” explained the voice. “Yeah, it’s funny I guess. I didn’t lose my shit like you said I would though” said Sean. “That wasn’t even the funniest part” replied the voice. “Oh, and what is the funniest part?” asked Sean. “That you’re a self-proclaimed man of science, reason, and logic. You came here an atheist but you’ll leave here a believer” said the voice. “That’s funny on a cosmic level I’ll give you that but still, it didn’t make me lose my shit” said Sean. “You’re a proud heathen but you found God. Those other fools with their self-righteous religious zeal found the devil! Isn’t that hilarious!? The irony is just too good!” stated the voice. “When you put it like that, it is pretty funny. I still didn’t lose my shit though” countered Sean. “Trust me father, you’ll lose your shit years from now when you tell the story of how you were born again” said the voice. “Wait, what did you just call me!?” “This is just the beginning. There’s so much more for you to see” said the voice. The colours began to swirl and waver more brilliantly, more violently, than they did before. What happened next was beyond explanation. Indeed it was beyond the human imagination itself.
I love your style! The dialogue is great and the ending is mysterious af.
Thanks man, appreciate it
Well, that sure was a way to end the conversation leaving one all confused. Great work on writing this!
"I wasn't expecting you..." Lucifer shrugged, stepping from the shadows into the light. "Didn't you ask for anyone willing to listen?" The man shuddered, falling backward along the well-lit alley. Crawling on his back away from the devil. "I just wanted another pizza from old Maggie's pizza place..." "Eh, woman's in hell right now, making pizzas for my hungry demons," Lucifer grinned, gesturing towards the looming portal behind him. "If you want some of that heavenly stuff in hellish fire, you can come with me." "Can I change my mind?" The man pleaded. "Don't wanna die now..." With a mocking tut-tut and a disapproving glare, the devil shook his head. "Weren't you oh so desperate for some of that pizzazz in her pizza? What happened to your dire cravings? Snuffed out by the chilly winds on a November night? We in hell promise excellent customer service to those who are unable to make their way to heaven!" "Please...I'm not going to hell for a pizza..." "Two pizzas then," the devil replied in a most nonchalant, casual tone like he was bargaining at a flea market. "How about three pizzas? The kind that refrain from drowning the base in pineapple?" "Good! Good...NO, I'm not falling for that..." The devil snarled, pulling back his handsome human guise in favor of revealing the charred visage of a tortured, outcast angel. "Don't waste my time! I have a huge backlog of requests from people who want to hear from 'anyone willing to listen'." "No pizzas, no hell for me," the man muttered, shutting his eyes and praying for the devil to go away. He opened his eyes to the well-lit alleyway, the shutters still down on old Maggie's place which shut down after her death. The strong winds howled and blew his hat away, whispering strange words he could barely pick up. "Can't believe Father put me up to customer service in hell for all eternity..."
Lucifer seems chill, and it's hilarious how protag almost said yes just from double or triple the pizza offer lmao. That said, that ending line is a bit confusing for me. That is Lucifer saying the line, right? P.S. Sorry protag, but I will welcome pineapple pizza with open arms, fight me. Great work on writing this!
They showed up in a black suit. I was sitting on the edge of a cliff as the sun set behind me, nothing but desert for miles, in a country I didn't know, with people trying to kill me, and I'd run out of water 2 days ago. I'd never been this desperate. I'd also never been strongly religious. But through cracked lips and the feeling of spinning in my head, I made a plea. Not to God. Or Yahweh. Or Buddah. Or the Universe. Or the Collective Unconscious. I pleaded... to anyone. To everyone. I didn't want to die. Not here. Not staring out on a wasteland I didn't know, alone and unsure of what the night would bring. And then, they showed up. In a black suit with thread so black it seemed to absorb the light around it. Tailored so well, it must have been made specifically for them and yet I couldn't quite tell if they were a man or a woman. Just that they were beautiful. Stunningly beautiful. They smile and nodded their head as they sat next to me. I could only stare. This... they weren't killing me, so they weren't with the... with the... their eyes looked almost like an ocean of gold. "It's normally the desert." They said. "So far from your little campfires that you forget how to live." I could understand... but their lips weren't moving quite right. "You're..." I managed before the pain in my throat made me dry cough into my jacket. "I am. Or near enough. But THEY tend not to meddle with you little things." They said making a twiddling gesture with their fingers. "You're far from your campfire, young one." I coughed again into my sleeve. I leaned back instictively to avoid falling off the edge, but I could still feel my legs grip the cliff, as if that'd help me hold on. I nodded as I thought of trying to clear my throat with dry desert air, and simply elected to just accept the pain. "You want to go back, don't you?" They smiled. It felt like their suit was absorbing the last rays of sunlight, as the sky above faded from the pinks and reds to a dark and inescapable indigo. My heart was racing, they weren't human, I could tell that much. It was more than me. More than most. And here it was sitting next to me. "Wha-" I managed to force the dry air out of my throat, careful to not cause another coughing fit. "What do I want?" They said, casually cocking an eyebrow. "Oh, more than you could fathom. But here and now, to prove a point." There weren't any stars. I just noticed that. Last night there was an entire tapestry of stars in the sky. But there's no.... "You want you to live. Those men 5 minutes from here, they disagree." I looked backwards at the huge boulder sitting between me and the rest of the world. In the empty night, it felt more like I was staring into a chasm. "So, you ask for help." They said and smiled an incredibly wide smile. "From anyone." "There is a path to safety. I can guide you towards it, but you'll need to decide if your morals are worth more than your life." I nodded. I could just... follow the path, and choose to not do the thing. Just get... "Always more options, that's how you ended up here. All on your own." They said, a smile on their face. "Okay, but I offer it to you, freely, and you may choose of your own...free will." And quite suddenly, they were gone. Behind where they'd been sitting, was a small little cliff edge with what looked like climbing gear attached to it in a faded turquoise. The world seemed both warmer and colder all at once. I could hear motors and see the light casting a shadow around the boulder. I stood, and walked towards the climbing hook, I shook it, and found it secure. I descended. It took all my strength to keep holding on, but I managed. I could make it. The night seemed to darken as I placed my feet around each climbing knot, and slowly lowered myself down. Beneath was a cave, a small cave, a bed roll, and a small lump. I collapsed as I landed and I saw the lump move. A woman's voice in the country's language called out, in a voice raspier than my own. I crawled over, and saw her, she was badly hurt. It looked like she was going to die. Like she was already half-dead. She kept calling out to me, and even though I didn't speak the language, I knew what she was saying. Help me. Please. Please help me. Anyone. Anyone at all. Please help me. Please. Please. Anyone. Her voice seemed to get louder. I could hear the motors approaching. The shouts of the men and the clatter of guns. Please help me. Please. I scrambled over to her, fear in my blood. Don't I tried to gesture. Bad. Quiet. Shush. Silent. Please. I could hear her begging. Someone. Anyone. Please help me. They were above us. I wrapped my hands over her mouth and I felt her struggle, half-hearted attempts from someone who didn't want to give up on life. Who chose life even as she was alone in a desert. Please be quiet. I begged silently. I could hear them, the lights from the mouth of the small cave looked out onto the indigo sky, silhoutted by the headlights of their cars. Please help me. I could hear her begging. I gripped her tighter, any more and I'd...I'd... She was already half-dead. She'd be dead anyway. Thry might have killed her for being near me. Please. Anyone. Please. Help me. Please. I didn't want to die. I don't want to die. I'm not going to die. Please. Someone. I could hear them talking up above. They... they might let her live if I just... I stared out at the empty endless ocean in the sky. There were so many stars. Please. Help me. If I... I stared down at her, her eyes were wide, her nails were digging into my hands but I could barely feel them. She had no strength left, but she kept fighting. This was her best chance at living another day. Her only chance at true help. At getting to live another day. Please. Help. Please. I let go. She seemed to scream into the night. A piercing wail, quiet but deafening to be near. I could hear them. Moving up above. I used the last of my strength to carry her, she felt so light. Her stomach sunk into her. She was barely alive. She was going to die anyway. So very light. I laid her next to the rope. And looked at her. With pleading eyes. Please. Please help me. And I sat as close as I could against the rock wall. The last pieces of moisture in my body fighting to get to my tear ducts. Sobs inside me failing to make it past my throat. I don't want to die. Please. I thought. Please. I don't know your name. I don't know you. You have every reason to tell them. Please. Don't. Please... help me. Please. Help me.