Write as much as you can in fifteen minutes using two words given to you.

Writing Prompt: Heaven and Mouse

Beatrice shuffled slightly and then opened her eyes. She was confused. She didn’t feel any pain in her body at all. The stiffness she felt in her bones for years weren’t there either. She didn’t even feel the ache of her bladder begging to be released. She sat up and looked around. Nothing looked familiar at all. In fact, it looked like she was in a waiting room of sorts. She was just pondering what was going on when somebody approached her. 

“Mrs. Smith?”

“That’s me. Please, call me Beatrice. Where am I?”

“Okay, Beatrice. I’m more than happy to tell you where you are. You just have to promise not to be alarmed. Can you do that for me?”

“I can try.”

“That’s all we ask. You are in Heaven. You passed away in your sleep. Welcome. We are so glad you are here. There are many people just beyond the door that are so happy to see you again.”

“This explains so much. I woke up for the first time in years with no pain. I thought it was a miracle. I guess, in a way, it is. My poor Vivian. She will be so heartbroken. I was all she had left.”

“Don’t worry about that, dear. She will find love very soon. A woman will come into her life and sweep her off her feet. Her name will be Evan.”

“Oh dear. I always knew that she liked boys and girls. I was so worried that that would keep her from getting into Heaven. I never told her that. I loved her for who she was.”

“I’m glad you didn’t. We accept anybody who has accepted their savior into their heart and practices being good all of their lives. Vivan has done more than we could ever hope. Her heart is pure. Enough worry. Leave that here. Are you ready to cross over to the other side?”

“I am. Thank you. Please look after my Vivian.

“I will.” Evan told her as she guided her to the other side with a smile on her face. “Blessed be. May you finally find peace.”

******

Vivian woke with a start. She had had a strange dream. It wasn’t a good dream, but it wasn’t exactly bad either. She sat up and tried to recall the dream. 

It took thirty minutes. By the time she hashed it out, she bolted up off the bed. She frantically got dressed almost knocking her pet mouse off the dresser as she did. She frantically apologized to the mouse and left the room bolting down the hall and to the door. She barely took the time to lock the door before she bolted toward her car and started the engine.

She drove as fast as she could to her mother’s house. She knew in her heart it was too late. Her mother was gone. It had been coming for years, but the pain of it was just too much to bear. She pulled into her mother’s driveway and quickly got out of the car. 

She let herself into her mother’s house and made her way straight to her mother’s bedroom. She found her mother’s lifeless body and fell to the floor in shock. She couldn’t believe her dream was accurate. Did she actually see her mother in Heaven? Did she actually hear her mother’s last words. She couldn’t comprehend any of it. 

“Vivian”

Vivan looked up in shock. She was surprised to see the woman that her mother had been talking to. She just kept staring at her. She couldn’t believe her eyes. This woman had been visiting her dreams for many weeks.

“I know you.”

“Yes. You do. I am Evan. I’ve been trying to prepare you for a while before your gift manifested.”

“My… gift?”

“Yes. You have the gift to communicate with the dead.”

Writing Prompt: Clown and Locket

Rose woke up before the sun. She didn’t care. She was excited. The fair was in town and her father had gotten tickets from his work to go the very first day. She couldn’t wait to go see everything there was to see and then come home and tell about it to her very jealous best friends. 

She wanted to feel bad they couldn’t come, but she wasn’t all that sad. This was the first thing that she had that they didn’t. They were always holding things they did without her over her head. For once, she had something they didn’t. While it made her feel bad, it also gave her a sense of pride. 

After sitting in bed for a little while longer, she finally decided to get up and shower and dress for the day. Her mother wouldn’t let her make up until she turned fifteen. That wasn’t for another six months. She made up for it by dressing as flashy as she could without crossing the boundaries. It irked her mother, but as she never broke any rules, her mother kept it to herself. She only made subtle suggestions on other things she could wear instead.

She decided to make breakfast for the family hoping it would earn her brownie points for a little bit extra spending money while she was at the fair. Her mother would appreciate it as she would most likely have to fight the twins tooth and nail to get ready to go. Even though they were as excited as her about going. She had just finished the last of the breakfast when her family started to wake.

After eating, the family quickly went to get ready for the day. Her parents were extremely happy that she cooked for them and they let her know it. They even told her how wonderful it all was. She was surprised to find that the twins ate all of their food with little complaint. The twins didn’t give any problems at all getting dressed and the family was out the door in less than an hour. Which was very unusual for them. 

The drive seemed to take hours, but it only took about fifteen minutes. It was still early, so they didn’t have to deal with a line to get in. The first place they went to was the ferris wheel. The twins were anxious to get on one. Once they got there and were waiting to get in line, Rose was surprised to be pulled aside by her parents.

“Your father and I talked very thoroughly about this. While we are still nervous, we both feel you’d be happier exploring the fair on your own.”

“Really?”

“Yes, baby. Please be responsible. Keep your phone on you at all times. Also, please text us to check in at least once an hour. Here’s some spending money. We’d like to have lunch as a family. We’ll text you where to go when it’s time.”

“Thank you, Mom! Thank you Dad! I love you!”

Rose hugged her mom and dad and watched as they walked back to the line with the twins who were impatiently waiting for the current ride to be over. She held off a squeal of delight and made her way to the place she really wanted to go. The maze. She had hardly made it ten steps forward when she was accosted by a clown. 

“Little girl. Should you be away from your Mommy and Daddy?”

“Excuse you! I’m fourteen years old. I’m practically grown.”

“Oh, child. You have a long way to go before you’re grown. Enjoy your youth while you have it.”

With that he promptly walked away. She shook her head. All adults were always telling her to enjoy her youth while she had it. They had no idea how annoying it was. She promptly went on her way. After looking for the maze for fifteen minutes, she finally found a map to consult. She was disappointed to discover that the maze didn’t seem to be a thing that year. 

She consoled herself by making a quick plan of the places that were there she wanted to go, including some new places that looked fun. She was just closing up the map and heading in the direction of the first place when she ran smack into somebody. She looked up to apologize and lost all words when she found herself eye to eye with Cody. Her biggest crush.

“Rose! I was hoping to find you here.”

“I-I-I What?”

“Oh Rose, you’re so adorable. I’ve always thought so. I’ve wanted to ask you out for a long time. I heard you talking about coming to the fair. I’ve been looking all over for you! Here!”

Cody reached out his hand to her. He held it out for a few seconds prompting her to open her hand. She did reluctantly. He promptly dropped a small beautiful necklace in her hands while beaming at her. She was shocked to find it was a beautiful locket with roses on it. 

“So, what do you say, Rose? Will you be my girl?”

“Yes!”

Writing Prompt: Calm and Cottage

Sarah woke up with a start. It took her a moment to orient herself and adjust to her surroundings. It all came back to her in an instant. The accident. The screaming. The crying. Everything. She knew she was safe now. The terror was over for her. She never had to live through the nightmare that was her life again. She felt a sense of calm wash over her. 

Getting out of the bed, she decided to explore all of her safe house. She was going to have to get used to not checking her phone or social media first thing in the morning. That would just lead him to her. It would lead them to her. She didn’t want that. She went through too much trouble to get herself put in safety to do that. 

Making herself a cup of coffee, she stepped out of the cottage onto her back porch. She always loved enjoying a cup of coffee while enjoying the scenery. It was one of her past times that she sorely missed once she’d chosen the life she found herself trapped in. 

She wouldn’t think about that. Not now. Not ever again. It was time to put it behind her. Everybody made mistakes. Even herself. She switched her thoughts to her family. It had been years since she was able to talk to them. Once it was safe, she was going to try to reach out to them again. She hoped they would forgive her for all that she put them through. She never meant to cause them pain.

Once she had finished her coffee, she went back into her cottage and straight to her bookshelf. One of the things she planned to take advantage of while she was laying low was catching up on her reading. She didn’t know that the friend who had been planning to help her escape had also been smuggling her books out of the house for her and putting them here. She could cry with relief. She was so thankful to him. She did miss their friendship dearly. She sincerely hoped he was safe. 

She wound up spending the rest of her day reading. She managed to finish the book she was working on and start another. She would have kept on reading had her stomach not reminded her that she had forgotten to eat anything and it was already dinner time. She was shocked how many hours had passed her by. It didn’t feel like any time had passed at all. 

She cooked herself a steak and a potato and took them to the living room to enjoy the book some more while she ate. She was just finishing her meal when she heard a noise outside. It was just getting dark outside. She was spooked. She had just written it off as her imagination playing tricks on her when she heard the sound again. 

She crept to the windows to the backyard and was shocked to find a wolf laying on her back porch. Her breath caught in her throat when the wolf turned and looked at her. It was alarming the way the wolf seemed to have a knowing look on its face. It was like the wolf knew who she was. It unnerved her.

Writing Prompt: Castle and Cake

The castle was decorated to the max. There were streamers and ribbons in every nook and cranny. Lights had been set out on every single walkway to the castle. This was an extraordinary night. Everybody was excited. The twins were turning sixteen. 

Everybody had watched these two grow up into the sweet girls they were today. They had turned into compassionate young women who cared about everybody and everyone around them. They didn’t let their social status cloud their judgment. They were humble and kind. Everybody loved to back in their presence. 

The only snag keeping everything from being absolutely perfect was the cake. Nobody could decide on the exact cake to make for the twins. While the twins were both kind and pure of heart, they were different in almost everything else. What one twin liked, the other twin generally didn’t care for all that much. Gwynn loved strawberries and vanilla, and Tabitha loved blueberries and chocolate. Gwynn loved painting and horseback riding, and Tabitha loved reading and writing. It goes on and on. 

“What about making two cakes? This is a special day. Why not make the cakes special as well.”

Everybody stared at Tom as if he’d grown a second head. He didn’t even flinch. He stared back at everybody keeping his stance. He knew he had a good idea and everybody else did as well. After conceding the point, they all got to work on making both of the beautiful cakes for the two beautiful girls. 

Just as they stored the cakes in their secret place until the big event, Gwynn walked in. She looked distraught and her clothes were disheveled. Everybody ran to her to help console her. Nobody knew exactly what had happened, but they all assumed the worst. Tabitha came in a few minutes later looking just as distraught. After several moments, Tabitha finally spoke up.

“It’s Shini. Somebody ran over our Shini.”

“No!”

“I’m afraid she’s right. We found her just outside the castle gates.”

“Oh that’s so horrible! I can’t believe this. That cat never leaves these walls!”

“That’s what we thought, too. I guess today she braved it.Gwynn and I went to give her her food today and we couldn’t find her. We searched for an hour before finally finding her there.”

Everybody was too devastated to say much else. The cat had been around for as long as anybody can remember and was just as beloved as the twins were. Addie went and got some cupcakes for the girls to cheer them up a bit, but that’s all the action anybody made during that time. 

Writing Prompt: Talent and Flute

Mia pressed her head against the window and watched the world pass her by. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. She was defying her family and risking everything. Even her relationship with her supposed supportive boyfriend. She just knew in her heart that it was the right thing to do. This was her future. This would lead her to great things. Couldn’t they be happy about that? Why were they so intent on keeping her in the small town where she had no room to grow and thrive. 

She thought about the email that she got the week before. They raved about her audition video. They told her that her talent was just what their school needed. They were prepared to pay for her tuition and her room and board. All she had to do was meet with them and discuss everything. They also wanted to get to know her. They wanted to know what other talents and passions she hid from the world.

At first she was floored. She wouldn’t have sent an audition video to anybody. Yes, she wanted to. Especially this specific school. She’d dreamed of going there ever since the school came to her school recruiting and offering full scholarships to the most talented. Only one person knew she was considering going. Faith.

She had immediately called Faith and demanded an explanation for doing what she did. Faith couldn’t be more smug about her deed. She told Mia that her talent with the flute would get her far in life. It shouldn’t be wasted away just because Mia’s family wanted a live-in maid to take care of them for the rest of their lives. 

Mia wanted to be mad at her friend for going behind her back. She couldn’t though. She was just so happy that she would have the opportunity to live the life she wanted to live. She pretended to admonish her friend a little more before finally giving it up and thanking her friend sincerely. She had tears in her eyes at the end of that call. 

Pulling herself out of her reverie, she realized she was there at last. The bus was coming to a stop. She got up and grabbed all of her belongings. This was it. This was the moment that would change her life forever. She thought she would be more nervous than she was. All she felt was excitement. She felt a hope that she had never felt in her life. This was it. She was here.

Writing Prompt: Explosion and Wind

Brayden followed the path of the wind. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but he knew that the wind was guiding him. He could feel it in every fiber of his being. The problem was that he was growing tired. He had been following the wind for the better part of two hours. He was just about to give up hope and call it quits when he saw it. The sight was remarkable. It was incredible and depressing at the same time. 

He could tell that it was caused by a major explosion. Nothing survived the impact. He took a few moments to read the energy in the air. It didn’t take him long to realize that this was no accident. This place had been attacked on purpose. He was afraid to look further. He didn’t want to find all the bodies he knew were bound to be underneath the rubble. 

He was just musing on his luck of being the one to find the mess when the wind he had been following turned and caressed his cheek before disappearing. He let out a huff of frustration. Sometimes being in tune with the wind could be a real pain in the ass. Especially when the wind was in a very feisty mood. Which was pretty often. The wind always seemed to choose him to find things like this as well so that he could report his findings to the Queen.

With a sigh, he grabbed his drawing pad out of his satchel, He sat down and began to make a sketch of the area. He knew he was going to have to make at least three more sketches before all was said and done so that he could take them to the Queen. She liked to see the situation at hand before she sent her men to go investigate. She had been burned too many times going blindly into things. 

It took him quite a few hours to get all the sketches he needed, but he managed to get them all. He was sickened by the sight before him. He couldn’t understand why somebody would come in and destroy such a beautiful place just for the sake of doing it. He wanted to cry, but he knew that could wait until later. For now, he had a journey to make. He must find the Queen and show her everything. Including the King’s ring found in the rubble.

Writing Prompt: Dream and Sun

The realm of dreams was a very strange realm. It harbored many different scenes from many different people. Some relaxing. Some alluring. Some downright terrifying. Every single dream needed to be monitored. If something killed a person in their dream, they would never wake up again. 

There were many guardians that monitored the realm as much as possible to keep this very thing from happening. Sometimes, things got missed. The guardians grieved when this happened. They could do nothing but watch as the dream flickered and disappeared entirely. They prayed for the loved ones that were left behind and for the ones who were bound to find the body. Some guardians were even known to go crazy after seeing too many.

Sasha was one of the best guardians in the realm. She was even known to interact in some of the dreams. It was one of her favorite past times. She also loved to cheer up other guardians when she could see that they were down. Nothing made her happier than to be able to bring somebody’s mood completely around. 

Her favorite types of dreams to explore always had a sun in them. Especially ones that seemed to have a bright day. She loved the sun. When guardians asked her why she loved the sun so much, she told them that she didn’t see the sun that much when she was a human. When they asked questions after that, she tended to shut them down or just change the subject. They all quickly got the point that it was a very sore subject that she would never wish to talk about.

All of the guardians were both blessed and cursed to retain all of their memories from their human lives. Some rejoiced in it, but some wished that they would never have to remember a single horrible memory that they carried with them. 

Every hundred years, the guardians were given a choice to continue living in the dream realm or to be given another human life. Most guardians chose to stay in the realm. They felt a sense of peace there. Especially the ones who had mastered turning nightmares into good dreams again. There were a few that grew bored of the routine of things. They wanted to take another stab at a life on Earth.

Sasha sometimes kept tabs on those who went back to Earth. She loved watching their dreams and seeing what had become of them. She never told any other guardian about doing so. They would tell her that she shouldn’t do that and that it wasn’t good for her. She didn’t care. She wanted to be prepared for when she finally chose to go back. She wasn’t ready yet, but eventually she knew she would be. And she wanted to learn how the world was as the years went by.

Writing Prompt: Hope and Lobster

Hope was bored. She had been at work for five hours and had seen as many customers. It was slow. She figured it would be. Today was the first day of the fair. Everybody was excited for it. There were rumors that some celebrities would be visiting the fair this year. She didn’t believe it, of course. She knew people would, though. She always found what people would fall for to be comical. 

She had also counted on the owner to give everybody short shifts for the day. Which he did. To everybody but her. For her, he seemed to find a twelve hour shift highly appropriate. When she confronted him about being the only one that had such a long shift, he just rambled on about her being the most reliable and listed the people he was sure were going to call off because they would be going to the fair instead. 

The thought of people calling off to go to the fair when they were only working four hours to begin with infuriated her. If she could do twelve hours and miss the entire first day, they could survive four. She knew that he was right about them. She wasn’t even shocked when shortly after they came in every single one that he predicted had called off. She only wished she was able to administer disciplinary action to them. She was the manager only in name. The owner handled all of the write ups and discharges. 

She sat at a booth by the bar. That was fine. If Perry wanted to pay her to sit around and do nothing, that was fine with her. At least she had the next two days off. She could go to the fair and enjoy her time then. She had just pulled out her book to start reading when she heard the tell tell sign of the bell at the door. With a sigh, she got up and placed her book in her back pocket.

“Welcome to Zoey’s Seafood Shack! Please feel free to sit anywhere you wish!”

She took a look at the woman who had just entered. She looked a little older than Hope. She also looked very poised and sophisticated. Despite that, she looked like she carried a lot of sorrow with her. Any other time, Hope would delve deeper to find out what troubled this woman. Today, she was too tired to care.

“Thank you, dear. May I ask, do you serve lobster?”

She resisted the urge to point out this was a seafood place. Afterall, it was a fair question she supposed. Maybe some seafood places didn’t serve lobster. Who was she to judge? She had to resist being cranky and be civil with her only customer. Especially if she wanted a good tip.

“We certainly do. Let me get you a menu, darling!”

“Thank you very much! I’m new here. I was supposed to be only visiting. Oh nevermind. You don’t want to hear my story. I’m sure.”

“Don’t say that. I’m happy to lend an ear if you need it.”

“Oh you’re too kind, my sweet. Perhaps next time. In the meantime, I’ll let you enjoy your downtime. That’s a good book you’re reading.”

As Hope gave the woman the menu and walked away, it dawned on her what the woman had said. There was absolutely no way the woman could have seen the book that Hope was reading. It was in her back pocket long before she walked up to her. She shuddered as a chilling suspicion went through her. This woman would change life for her as she knew it.